LIBRARY  OF  PRINCETON 


ThTOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


THE 


HISTORY    or   THE    POPES, 


THEIE  CHURCH  AND  STATE, 


IN  THE 


SIXTEENTH  AND  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURIES. 


BY  / 

LEOPOLD  EANKE. 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  LAST  EDITION  OF  THE  GERMAN,  BY 

WALTEE    KEATING    KELLY,    ESQ.    B.A. 


OF  TRINITY  COLLEGE,  DUBLIN. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

LEA   &   BLANCHARD. 

1844. 


AUTHOU^S  PEEFACE. 


The  power  of  Rome  in  ancient  and  medieval  times  is  universally  knovpn,  and  in 
modern  times  she  has  also  enjoyed  a  grand  epoch  of  renovated  empire.  After  the  revolt 
from  her  rule  which  befel  her  in  the  former  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  she  succeeded 
in  once  more  constituting  herself  the  centre  of  faith  and  opinion  for  the  Latin  nations  of 
Southern  Europe,  and  made  bold,  and  not  unfrequently  prosperous  attempts,  to  reconquer 
her  authority  over  those  of  the  North. 

This  period  of  the  reconstruction  of  a  mixed  spiritual  and  temporal  power,  its  renova- 
tion and  internal  reform,  its  progress  and  decline,  it  is  my  purpose  to  portray,  at  least 
in  outline ;  an  undertaking  which,  however  imperfectly  I  may  have  accomplished  it,  I 
should  not  even  have  thought  of  attempting,  had  I  not  found  opportunity  to  avail  myself 
of  certain  aids  hitherto  unknown.  It  is  my  duty  in  the  first  place  to  indicate  generally 
the  nature  and  the  source  of  those  aids. 

I  have  already  laid  before  the  public  the  contents  of  our  Berlin  MSS. :  but  how  much 
wealthier  is  Vienna  in  treasures  of  this  kind  than  Berlin  ! 

Besides  its  Teutonic  basis,  the  character  of  Vienna  exhibits  an  European  feature :  the 
most  diversified  manners  and  tongues  meet  here,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  station, 
and  here  Italy  in  particular  enjoys  a  living  representation.  The  collections  too  of  this 
city  are  of  a  more  comprehensive  character,  a  fact  originating  directly  in  the  policy 
of  the  state  and  its  position  among  nations,  its  ancient  alliance  with  Spain,  Belgium,  and 
Lombardy,  and  its  intimate  relations  of  neighbourhood  and  religion  with  Rome.  Hence, 
even  the  original  collections  of  the  imperial  library,  though  bearing  only  on  national 
topics,  are  of  great  value.  To  these  some  foreign  acquisitions  have  subsequently  been 
added.  There  have  been  purchased  from  Modena,  from  the  house  of  Rangone,  a  num- 
ber of  volumes  similar  to  our  Berlin  "  Informazioni ;"  from  Venice,  the  invaluable  MSS. 
of  the  doge  Marco  Foscarini,  amongst  wliich  are  his  own  preparatory  notes  for  the  conti- 
nuation of  his  literary  work,  "Chronicles  of  Italy,"  of  which  no  trace  is  elsewhere  to  be 
found.  There  is  also  preserved  a  rich  collection  of  historico-political  MSS.,  left  by 
Prince  Eugene,  comprehensively  and  judiciously  planned  by  that  distinguished  states- 
man. The  reader  is  animated  with  pleasure  and  with  hope,  as  he  peruses  the  catalogue: 
amidst  all  the  unsatisfactoriness  of  printed  books,  what  an  unwrought  mine  of  information 
is  here  !  a  whole  futurity  of  study  !  And  yet  but  a  few  steps  further,  and  Vienna  lays 
before  us  still  more  valuable  stores.  The  imperial  archives  contain,  as  might  naturally  be 
surmised,  the  most  important  and  trustworthy  records  and  materials  for  the  elucidation 
of  German  and  general  history,  and  more  especially  of  that  of  Italy.  True  it  is,  by  far 
the  greater  part  of  the  Venetian  archives  have,  after  many  viscissitudes,  found  their  way 
back  to  Venice;  but  there  is  still  extant  in  Vienna  no  small  quantity  of  Venetian  papers; 
despatches,  original  or  copied ;  extracts  from  them  for  the  use  of  the  state,  called  rubri- 


iv  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 

caries ;  reports,  of  which  in  no  few  instances  no  second  copy  exists,  and  which  are  of 
great  value;  official  registers  of  government  functionaries;  chronicles  and  diaries.  The 
details  which  will  be  found  in  these  volumes  respecting  Gregory  XIII.  and  Sixtus  V., 
are  for  the  most  part  derived  from  the  Vienna  archives.  I  cannot  sufficiently  laud  the 
unrestricted  liberality  with  which  access  to  these  has  been  granted  me. 

I  ought  by  all  means  to  particularize  in  this  place  the  many  and  various  services 
rendered  me  towards  the  furtherance  of  my  task,  both  at  home  and  abroad ;  and  yet  a 
Ecruple,  whether  just  or  not  I  cannot  tell,  occurs  to  me.  I  should  have  to  record  a  mul- 
titude of  names,  and  among  them  some  of  high  note :  my  gratitude  would  almost  look 
like  boasting,  and  give  to  a  work,  that  has  every  reason  to  appear  in  modest  guise,  an 
air  of  ostentation  that  would  ill  become  it. 

Next  to  Vienna,  my  attention  was  chiefly  turned  to  Venice  and  Rome. 
In  Venice  it  was  formerly  the  almost  invariable  practice  of  the  great  houses  to  have 
cabinets  of  MSS.,  in  addition  to  their  libraries.  The  contents  of  the  former  related  as 
a  matter  of  course  principally  to  the  affairs  of  the  republic ;  they  served  to  show  the 
part  taken  by  the  respective  families  in  public  affairs,  and  were  preserved  as  records  of 
the  house  for  the  instruction  of  its  younger  members.  A  few  of  these  private  collections 
are  still  in  existence,  and  I  had  access  to  one  or  two  such.  But  vastly  the  greater 
number  were  lost  in  the  fatal  1797,  or  have  subsequently  perished ;  and  if  more  of  them 
have  been  preserved  than  might  have  been  expected,  the  credit  of  this  is  chiefly  due  to 
the  librarians  of  St.  Marc,  who  strove  in  the  general  wreck  to  save  as  much  as  the 
utmost  capabilities  of  their  institution  allowed.  This  library  possesses  an  ample  stock 
of  MSS.,  which  are  of  indispensable  importance  towards  the  history  of  the  city  and  the 
government,  and  which  even  throw  some  light  on  that  of  Europe  in  general.  Still  we 
must  not  expect  too  much  of  this  collection  :  it  is  a  somewhat  immature  assemblage  of 
private  ones  casually  brought  together,  without  completeness  or  unity  of  plan.  It  is  not 
to  be  compared  with  the  wealth  of  the  government  archives,  particularly  as  these  are 
now  arranged.  In  my  inquiry  into  the  conspiracy  of  the  year  1618,  I  have  already 
given  an  account  of  the  Venetian  archives,  which  I  will  not  here  repeat.  The  docu- 
ments of  most  interest  for  me,  as  regarded  my  Roman  investigation,  were  the  reports  of 
ambassadors  on  their  return  from  the  papal  court.  But  for  this  subject  too  I  had  much 
reason  to  wish  for  additional  aid  from  other  collections :  lacunae  are  no  where  avoidable  ; 
and  these  archives  have  necessarily  sustained  many  losses  in  their  various  wanderings. 
I  found  altogether  eight-and-forty  reports  respecting  Rome,  the  oldest  of  them  belonging 
to  the  year  1500;  nineteen  of  them  being  of  the  sixteenth,  twenty-one  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  a  nearly  complete  series  with  but  few  breaks  here  and  there ;  while  the 
eighteenth  century  numbered  but  eight,  but  these  very  instructive  and  welcome.  In 
far  the  greater  number  of  cases  I  saw  and  made  use  of  originals.  They  contain  a 
great  multitude  of  interesting  notices,  the  fruits  of  direct  personal  observation,  embody- 
ing evanescent  contemporary  traits.  This  it  was  that  first  prompted  and  encouraged  me 
to  the  task  of  composing  a  continuous  narrative. 

The  means  of  authenticating  and  extending  these  materials  could  manifestly  be  found 
only  in  Rome. 

But  was  it  to  be  expected,  that  in  that  city  a  foreigner  and  an  alien  in  religion  should 
be  allowed  freely  to  ransack  the  public  collections  in  order  to  unveil  the  secrets  of  the 
popedom?  This  would  not  perhaps  have  been  quite  so  ill-advised  as  it  may  appear,  for 
no  search  can  bring  anything  to  light  worse  than  vague  conjecture  surmises,  or  than  the 
world  has  already  made  up  its  mind  to  believe.  I  cannot  boast,  however,  that  the  thing 
was  so.  I  was  allowed  to  take  cognizance  of  the  treasures  of  the  Vatican,  and  to  make 
use  of  a  number  of  volumes:  still  I  was  by  no  means  indulged  with  the  freedom  I  could 
have  desired.     Fortunately,  however,  other  collections  were  thrown  open  to  me,  from 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE.  v 

which  very  extensive  and  authentic,  if  not  complete,  materials  were  to  be  gathered.     In 
the  palmy  days  of  aristocracy — that  is,  especially  in  the  seventeenth  century — it  was 
customary  throughout  all  Europe  for  the  noble  families  that  administered  affairs  of  state, 
to  hold  in  their  hands  a  portion  of  the  public  documents.     No  where,  perhaps,  did  the 
practice  prevail  to  a  greater  extent  than  in  Rome.     The  pope's  kinsmen,  who  at  all 
times  possessed  supreme  power,  were  in  the  habit  of  bequeathing,  as  heir-looms  to  the 
families  they  founded,  a  large  portion  of  the  state  papers  they  had  collected  durinf  their 
tenure  of  authority.     These  constituted  a  part  of  the  family  endowments.     In  the  palaces 
they  built  there  were  always  a  few  rooms  reserved,  usually  on  the  upper  floor,  for  books 
and  MSS.,  which  it  was  a  point  of  honour  with  succeeding  generations  to  fill  as  credita. 
bly  as  their  predecessors  had  done.     Thus,  in  a  certain  respect,  the  private  collections 
are  also  the  public  ones  ;  and  the  records  of  the  state  became  dispersed,  without  a  word  of 
objection  from  any  one,  throughout  the  houses  of  the  several  families  that  had  exercised 
the  control  of  public  affairs.     Somewhat  in  the  same  way  it  happened  that  the  lavish 
expenditure  of  the  public  wealth  enriched  the  papal  families,  and  that  the  Vatican  gal- 
lery, though  distinguished  for  the  number  of  masterpieces  it  contains,  cannot  yet  be 
compared  in  extent  and  in  historical  importance  with  some  private  collections,  as,  for 
instance  the  Borghese  or  the  Doria.     Thus  it  is  that  the  MSS.  preserved  in  the  Barbe- 
rini,  Chigi,  Altieri,  Albani,  and  Corsini  palaces  are  of  inestimable  value  as  regards  the 
history  of  the  popes,  their  ecclesiastical  and  their  civil  policy.     The  state  record  office, 
which  has  been  but  recently  founded,  is  chiefly  worthy  of  note  for  its  collection  of  regis- 
ters illustrative  of  the  middle  ages :  the  investigator  of  a  part  of  that  period  will  find 
there  much  that  is  worth  his  attention,  though,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  it  does  not  promise 
much  for  later  centuries.     If  I  have  not  been  purposely  deceived,  it  sinks  to  nothing  in 
comparison  with  the  splendid  wealth  of  the  private  collections.     Each  of  these,  as  may 
be  supposed,  embraces  more  especially  the  period  occupied  by  the  pope  of  the  family  ; 
but  since  the  pope's  relations  continued  in  high  station  after  his  death,  since  every  one 
is  eager  to  enlarge  and  complete  a  collection  he  has  once  begun,  and  Rome,  where  a 
trade  in  MSS.  had  sprung  up,  offered  opportunities  enough  to  this  end,  there  is  not  one 
of  these  private  collections  but  contains  useful  illustrations  of  other  periods  also,  both 
recent  and  remote.     The  richest  of  them  (in  consequence  of  valuable  documentary 
bequests)  is  the  Barberini :  the  Corsini  was  arranged  from  the  very  beginning  with  the 
utmost  circumspection  and  discrimination.     It  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  allowed  the 
use  of  all  tliese  collections,  and  of  others  of  less  importance,  sometimes  with  the  most 
unrestricted  freedom.     They  presented  to  me  an  unlocked  for  prize  in  the  shape  of 
authentic  materials,  directly  bearing  on  my  subject,  consisting  of  the  correspondence 
of  nunciatures,  with  the  instructions  imparted  to  them,  and  the  reports  they  sent  back; 
copious  biographical  details  of  numerous  popes,  related  with  so  much  the  more  freedom 
as  they  were  not  destined  for  the  public  eye ;  biographical  accounts  of  distinguished 
cardinals ;  official  and  private  journals ;  inquiries  respecting  special  occurrences  and 
circumstances ;  opinions  and  advices  ;  particulars  concerning  the  administration  of  the 
provinces,  their  trade  and  manufactures ;  statistical  tables  and  computations  of  income 
and  expenditure.     All  these  were  for  the  most  part  hitherto  wholly  unknown,  and  they 
are  generally  the  work  of  men  having  an  intimate  practical  knowledge  of  their  subject, 
and  of  a  trustworthiness  which  does  not  indeed  preclude  the  exercise  of  searching  and 
discriminating  criticism,  provided  only  it  deal  with  them  in  the  spirit  it  generally 
evinces  towards  well-informed  contemporaries.     The  oldest  of  these  MSS.  which  I  had 
an  opportunity  to  make  use  of,  related  to  the  conspiracy  of  the  Foscari  against  Nicholas 
V.     I  met  with  only  two  pertaining  to  the  fifteenth  century  :  as  we  enter  on   the 
sixteenth  century,  they  become  at  every  step  more  copious  and  numerous;  they  follow 
the  whole  course  of  the  seventeenth  century,  in  which  so  little  is  confidently  known 
2 


vi  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 

of  Rome,  affording  information  the  more  welcome  in  proportion  to  the  previous  scantiness 
of  our  knowledge  :  on  the  other  hand,  they  decline  in  number  and  intrinsic  worth  after 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  :  but  those  were  times  when  court  and  state 
had  already  lost  no  small  portion  of  their  efficiency  and  importance.  I  will  go  through 
these  Roman  MSS.,  as  well  as  the  Venetian,  in  detail  at  the  end  of  the  work,  citing 
whatever  has  struck  me  as  worthy  of  attention,  and  which  I  could  not  include  in  tljp 
body  of  the  narrative.  Indeed,  the  huge  mass  of  materials  now  before  us  in  many 
printed  and  manuscript  papers,  makes  a  strict  observance  of  limits  indispensable. 

An  Italian,  a  Roman,  or  a  Catholic,  would  enter  upon  the  execution  of  the  task  in  a 
totally  different  manner  from  that  I  have  pursued.  He  would,  by  the  expression  of  per- 
sonal veneration,  or  perhaps,  as  matters  stand  at  present,  of  personal  hatred,  give  his 
work  a  peculiar,  and,  I  doubt  not,  more  brilliant  colouring ;  in  many  things  too  he  would 
be  more  copious  in  detail,  more  ecclesiastical,  more  local.  A  Protestant  and  a  native 
of  Northern  Germany  cannot  compete  with  him  in  these  respects.  The  latter's  feelings 
with  regard  to  the  papal  power  are  much  more  those  of  indifference  :  he  must,  therefore, 
from  the  outset  renounce  that  warmth  of  tone  and  colouring  which  springs  from  partial 
or  hostile  prejudice,  and  which  might  perhaps  produce  a  considerable  impression  in 
Europe.  In  reality  we  feel  but  little  interest  in  mere  matter  of  ecclesiastical  and  canon- 
ical detail,  whereas  on  the  other  hand  our  position  afibrds  us  other,  and,  if  I  am  not 
mistaken,  more  just  points  of  view,  from  which  we  may  contemplate  history.*  For  what 
is  it  in  this  our  day  that  can  make  the  history  of  the  papal  power  of  importance  to  us  1 
Certainly  not  its  special  bearing  upon  ourselves,  seeing  that  it  no  longer  exercises  any 
real  influence  over  us  ;  nor  is  it  any  solicitude  it  excites  in  us :  the  times  when  we  had 
anything  to  fear  are  gone  by  ;  we  are  too  fully  secure  to  harbour  any  apprehension.  It 
can  be  nothing  else  than  its  development  and  range  of  action  on  the  great  scene  of  the 
world's  history.  The  papal  power  was  not  after  all  so  fixed  and  inflexible  as  is  commonly 
supposed.  If  we  put  out  of  consideration  those  principles  in  which  its  very  existence  is 
essentially  involved,  and  which  it  cannot  abandon  without  consigning  itself  to  certain 
ruin,  we  shall  find  that  in  other  respects  it  has  been  affected  to  its  very  core,  no  less 
than  the  other  powers,  by  every  fate  that  has  been  dealt  out  to  the  European  family. 
With  every  vicissitude  in  the  history  of  the  world,  with  each  successive  rise  of  nation 
after  nation  to  pre-eminence  over  the  rest,  with  every  fluctuation  of  the  general  tide  of 
society,  essential  metamorphoses  befel  the  papal  power,  its  maxims,  tendencies,  and 
pretensions;  and,  above  all,  its  influence  underwent  the  most  important  changes.  If 
indeed  we  cast  a  glance  over  the  long  catalogue  of  oft-repeated  names  through  the  many 
centuries  from  Pius  I.  in  the  second,  to  our  contemporaries  Pius  VII.  and  VIII.  in  the 
nineteentii,  we  are  readily  impressed  with  the  idea  of  an  uninterrupted  stability ;  but  let 
us  not  be  misled  by  appearances :  in  point  of  fact,  there  is  much  the  same  difference 
between  the  popes  of  the  several  ages  as  between  the  various  dynasties  of  a  kingdom. 
For  us,  who  stand  aloof,  the  observation  of  these  mutations  is  precisely  matter  of  the 
highest  interest.  We  read  in  them  a  portion  of  universal  history,  of  the  general  progress 
of  man.  We  read  this  not  exclusively  in  the  periods  of  Rome's  undisputed  sovereignty, 
but  perhaps  still  more  legibly  in  times  of  clashing  action  and  counter-action,  such  as 
those  which  this  work  proposes  to  embrace,  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries ; 
times  in  which  we  see  the  popedom  threatened  and  rudely  shaken,  yet  standing  its 
ground  with  head  erect,  nay  extending  its  influence  anew,  advancing  vigorously  for 
awhile,  then  lastly  halting  in  its  course,  and  once  more  bending  to  its  fall;  times  in 


•  Which  cannot  have  been  altered  by  the  events  that  have  occurred  since  the  first  publication  of  this  work. 
The  author,  on  revising  this  volume,  has  found  occasion  for  but  slight  additions  and  changes,  of  no  importance 
to  the  main  subject.     [Note  to  the  Second  Edition] 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE.  vu 

which  the  mind  of  the  western  nations  was  chiefly  engrossed  with  ecclesiastica  I  ques- 
tions, and  when  that  power,  which,  deserted  and  assailed  by  the  one  party,  was  stedfastly 
adhered  to  and  defended  with  fresh  zeal  by  the  other,  was  necessarily  an  object  of  high 
and  general  interest.  Such  is  the  point  of  view  from  which  our  natural  position  demands 
that  we  should  regard  this  power,  and  from  which  I  will  now  essay  to  portray  it. 

It  is  fit  that  I  should  begin  my  task  with  reminding  my  readers  of  the  posture  of  the 
papal  power  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  of  the  course  of  events  that 
led  thereto. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  I. 

author's  fueface Page  3 

BOOK   THE   FIRST. 
INTRODUCTION. 

CHAPTER  I.— Epochs  of  the  papact. 


Christianity  in  the  Roman  empire 17 

The  papacy  in  connexion  with  the  Prankish 

empire 30 

Relation  to  the  German  emperors 22 


Internal  progressive  improvement  of  the  hie- 
rarchy   22 

Contrasts  between  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries 26 


CHAPTER,  n.— The  church  and  its  territories  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  centurt. 

Extension  of  the  ecclesiastical  dominions  ....  28    I  Intellectual  tendency 34 

Growth  of  a  secular  spirit  in  the  church 32    |  Opposition  to  the  papacy  in  Germany 37 

CHAPTER  ni. — Political  complications — connexion  between  them  and  the  reformation. 

Leo  X 39   I  Clement  VII 44 

Adrian  VI 42   | 

BOOK   THE    SECOND. 

BEGINNING  OF  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLICISM. 


Introd  uction 53 

Opinions  analogous  to  protestantism  entertain- 
ed in  Italy ib. 

Attempts  at  inward  reforms,  and  at  a  reconcilia- 
tion with  protestants 57 

New  ecclesiastical  orders 64 


Ignatius  Loyola 66 

First  sittinjrsof  the  council  of  Trent 71 

The  Inquisition 74 

Progress  of  the  Jesuit  institution 77 

Conclusion 82 


BOOK   THE   THIRD. 


THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 


Introduction 82 

Paul  III 83 

Julius  III 92 

Marcellus  II 94 

PaulIV 95 


Remarks   on   the   progress  of  protestantism 

during  this  reign 103 

Pius  IV 105 

The  latter  sittings  of  the  council  of  Trent. .  108 

PiusV 115 


CONTENTS. 
BOOK   THE   FOURTH. 

COURT  AND  STATE.    TIMES  OF  GREGORY  XIII.  AND  SIXTUS  V. 


PAGE 

Introduction  123 

Administration  of  the  states  of  the  church  . .  123 

Finances 129 

Gregory  XIII 134 

Sixtus  V 139 

Extirpation  of  the  banditti 142 


PAGE 

Characteristics  of  the  administration 143 

Finances 146 

Architectural  enterprises  of  Sixtus  V 148 

General  changes  in  the  intellectual  tendency 

of  the  age 1 52 

The  Curia 157 


BOOK  THE  FIFTH. 
COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD.    1563—1569. 


Introduction 1 62 

Situation  of  Protestantism  about  the  year  1563  163 

Capacities  of  the  papacy  for  contest 167 

The  first  Jesuit  schools  in  Germany 169 

Beginning  of  the  counter-reformation  in  Ger- 
many    1 72 

Troubles  in  the  Netherlands  and  in  France. .  177 
Resistance  made   by  the  protestants  in  the 

Netherlands,  France,  and  Germany 181 


Contrasts  exhibited  throughout  the  rest  of 

Europe 1 84 

Crisis  in  the  Netherlands, 188 

Progress  of  the  counter-reformation  in  Ger- 
many    194 

The  Ligue 203 

Savoy  and  Switzerland 207 

Attempt  on  England 208 

Assassination  of  Henry  III 210 


PART   II. 


BOOK   THE   SIXTH. 


INTERNAL  DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL-    1589—1607. 


Introduction 213 

Ecclesiastico-political  theory 214 

Conflict  of  Doctrines 217 

Latter  times  of  Sixtus  V 219 

Urban  VII.,  Gregory  XIV.,  Innocent  IX.,  and 

their  conclaves,  1590,  1591 225 

Election  and  character  of  Clement  VIII.  . . .  227 
Absolution  of  Henry  IV 230 


Ferrara  under  Alfonso  II 236 

Conquest  of  Ferrara 240 

Commotions  among  the  Jesuits 243 

Political  situation  of  Clement  VIII 251 

Election  and  first  proceedings  of  Paul  V.  . .  254 

Disputes  with  Venice 256 

Issue  of  the  affairs  of  the  Jesuits 264 

Conclusion 265 


BOOK  THE   SEVENTH. 


COUNTER-REFORMATION.     SECOND  PERIOD.     1590—1630. 


CHAPTER   I. — PROGRESS  of  the  restoration  op  CATHOLICISM.      1-590—1617. 


Introduction 266 

§  1. — Measures  taken  on  behalf  of  Catholicism 
in  Poland  and  the  adjoining  countries  ...     ib. 

Attempt  on  Sweden 268 

Designs  on  Russia 273 


Internal  commotions  in  Poland 274 

§  2. — Continuation  of  a  counter-reformation 

in  Germany 276 

Nunciature  in  Switzerland 282 

Regeneration  of  Catholicism  in  France  ....   284 


CONTENTS. 


Breaking  out  of  war, 


CHAPTER  II.— GEKBRAL  WAR.— TRIUMPH  OP  CATHOLICISM.      1617—1623. 

PAGE  PAGE 

287  I  Gregory  XV 291 

CHAPTER  III. — GENERAL  OUTSPREAD  OF  CATHOLICISM. 


I.  Bohemia  and  the  hereditary  dominions  of 
Austria 293 

II.  The  Empire.    Transfer  of  the  Electorate  296 

III.  France 298 


IV.  United  Netherlands 299 

V.  State  of  Catholicism  in  England ib. 

VI.  Missions 302 


CHAPTER  IV.— COlfFLICTING  POLITICAL  RELATIONS.      NEW   VICTORIES  OF  CATHOLICISM.      1623 — 1628 256 

CHAPTER  V. — MANTUAN  WAR.— THIRTY  YEARS*  WAR. — REVOLUTION  IN  THE  STATE  OF  THINGS. 


Mantuan  Succession 313 

Urban  VIII 315 

The  power  of  the  emperor  Ferdinand  in  the 
year  1629 319 


Negociations  with  Sweden.     Electoral  diet  at 

Ratisbon .320 

Swedish  war. — Position  of  the  pope 323 

Restoration  of  the  balance  of  the  two  confes- 
sions    321 


BOOK    THE    EIGHTH. 

THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY.— 

LATER  EPOCHS. 


Introduction. . .    328 

The  escheat  of  Urbino ib. 

Increase   of  the    debts  of  the   ecclesiastical 

states 330 

Foundation  of  new  families 331 

War  of  Castro 334 

Innocent  X 338 

Alexander  VIT.  and  Clement  IX. 342 

Elements  of  the  Roman  population 345 

Edifices  erected  by  the  Popes 347 

Digression    concerning   queen   Christina    of 

Sweden 351 

Administration  of  Church  and  State 358 

The  Jesuits  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 

century 383 


The  Jansenists. 367 

The  position  of  the  court  of  Rome  with  re- 
gard to  the  two  parties 370 

Relation  of  the  Roman  see  to  the  temporal 

power 372 

Transition  to  the  later  epochs  of  the  papacy.  374 

Louis  XIV.  and  Innocent  XI 375 

The  Spanish  succession 379 

Altered  stale  of  Europe.    Internal  ferments.  381 

Suppression  of  the  order  of  Jesuits 383 

Joseph  II 387 

The  French  Revolution 388 

The  times  of  Napoleon 389 

The  Restoration 392 

Conclusion 395 


PART    III. 


APPENDIX. 
INDEX 


.  Page  397 
629 


LIST  OF  THE  POPES  AND  LEADING  SOVEREIGNS  OF  EUROPE 

IN  THE  SIXTEENTH  AND  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURIES. 


Alexander  VI. 


Pius  III. 
Julius  II. 


EMPERORS    KINGS  OP  FRANCE.        KINCS  OF  SPAIN 


Leo  X. 


Adrian  VI. 
Clement  VII. 
Paul  III. 


Julius  III. 


Marcellus  II. 


Pius  IV. 


Pius  V. 
Gregory  XIII. 


Sixtus  V. 


1492 

1493 

1498 

1503 

1503 

1504 

1509 

1513 

1515 

1516 

1519 

1522 

1523 

1534 

154 

1550 

1553 

155 

1556 

1558 

1559 

1560 

1564 

1566 

1572 

1574 

1576 

1585 

1589 

1590 

1590 

1591 

1592 

1598 

1603 

1605 

1610 

1612 

16191  .... 

1621  Gregory  XV 

1623  Urban  VIII 

1625 

1637 

1643 

1644 

1649 

1655 

1658 

1660 

1665 

1667 

1670 

1676 

1685 

163 

169 

1700 


Frederick  III. 
Maximilian   I. 


Charles  VIII. 
Louis  XII. 


Charles  V. 


Ferdinand  I. 


Urban  VII. 
Gregory  XIV. 
Innocent  IX. 
Clement  VIII. 


Henry  II. 


Maximilian  II. 


Rodolph  II. 


Leo  XI.  Paul  V. 


Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 


Philip  I. 


Francis  I. 


Charles  I.  (Emp.  Chs.  V.) 


Francis  II. 
Charles  IX. 


Henry  III. 


Henry  IV. 


Matthias 
Ferdinand  II. 


Ferdinand  III 


Innocent  X. 


Alexander  VII. 


Clement  IX. 
Clement  X. 
Innocent  XI. 


yexanderVIII 
Innocent  XII. 
'lement  XI. 


Louis  XIII. 


KINQS   OF   EKOLXMD. 


Henry  VII. 


Henry  VIIL 


Philip  II. 


Edward  VI. 
Mary. 

Elizabeth. 


Philip  IIL 


Leopold  I. 


Philip  IV. 


Louis  XIV. 


James  I. 


Charles  I. 


Charles  II. 


Philip  V. 


The  Commonwealth. 
Charles  II. 


James  II. 
William  and  Mary. 


x^hhto^-tgh 


THE  POPES   OE  EOME, 


THEIR  CHURCH  AND  STATE 


SIXTEENTH    AND    SEVENTEENTH   CENTFEIES. 


BOOK    THE    FIRST. 


INTRODUCTION. 


CHAPTER  I. 


EPOCHS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 


Christianity  in  the  Roman  Empire. 

If  we  take  a  general  survey  of  the  world  in 
the  earliest  times,  we  find  it  filled  with  a  mul- 
tude  of  independent  tribes.  We  see  them  set- 
tled round  the  Mediterranean,  from  the  coasts 
as  far  inland  as  the  country  had  yet  been  ex- 
plored; variously  parted  from  each  other,  all 
originally  confined  within  narrow  limits,  and 
living  under  purely  independent  and  peculi- 
arly constituted  forms  of  government.  The 
independence  they  enjoyed  was  not  merely 
political:  in  every  country  a  local  religion 
arose  ;  the  ideas  of  God  and  of  divine  things 
became  as  it  were  appropriated  to  certain 
places ;  national  deities  of  the  most  diversi- 
fied attributes  occupied  the  world  ;  and  the 
law  obeyed  by  their  votaries  became  insepar- 
ably identified  with  that  of  the  state.  We 
may  venture  to  assert  that  this  intimate  union 
of  religion  and  state,  this  twofold  freedom, 
which  was  shackled  only  with  the  light  obli- 
gations imposed  by  community  of  blood,  had 
the  largest  share  in  fashioning  the  character 
of  antiquity.  Men  were  confined  in  those 
days  within  narrow  limits,  but  within  these 
the  exuberance  of  a  young  and  uncoerced  ex- 
istence was  left  to  develope  itself  as  its  own 
free  impulses  prompted.  How  wliolly  was  all 
this  changed  when  the  power  of  Rome  gained 
the  ascendant !  We  see,  one  after  the  other, 
all  the  primitive  legislations  that  filled  the 
world  bow  down  and  disappear  ;  how  denuded 
of  free  peoples  did  the  earth  suddenly  become  ! 

In  other  times  states  have  been  convulsed 
because  their  subjects  had  ceased  to  believe 
in  the  religion  they  sanctioned ;  in  those  days 
the  subjection  of  the  state  necessarily  induced 
the  downfall  of  its  religion.  They  were  both 
inevitably  hurried  along  by  the   current  of 


political  power,  and  carried  together  into 
Rome:  but  what  significance  could  they  pos- 
sess when  uprooted  from  the  soil  to  which 
they  had  been  indigenous]  The  worship  of 
Isis  had  probably  a  meaning  in  Egypt :  it  was 
a  deification  of  the  forces  of  nature  as  they  are 
witnessed  in  that  country :  in  Rome  it  became 
a  mere  unmeaning  idolatry.  Nothing,  there- 
fore, could  ensue  from  the  reciprocal  contact 
of  the  several  mythologies,  but  their  mutual 
hostility  and  extinction.  No  system  of  philo- 
sophy could  be  devised  capable  of  reconciling' 
their  contradictions. 

But  even  had  this  been  possible,  it  would 
not  have  satisfied  the  wants  of  the  world. 

With  all  our  sympathy  for  the  downfall  of 
so  many  free  states,  we  cannot  deny  that  a 
new  life  was  directly  generated  from  their 
ruin.  Simultaneous  with  the  death  of  their 
independence,  was  the  downfall  of  the  barrier 
set  up  by  their  narrow  national  spirit.  The 
nations  were  subdued,  involved  in  one  com- 
mon system  of  conquest,  but  by  that  very 
means  they  were  united  and  blended  together. 
The  very  range  of  this  empire  being  desig- 
nated by  the  name  of  orbis  terrarum,  its  in- 
habitants looked  upon  themselves  as  a  single 
collective  body.  The  human  race  began  to 
be  conscious  of  its  common  nature. 

At  this  crisis  of  the  world's  progress  Jesus 
Christ  was  born. 

How  unpretending  and  obscure  was  his 
life :  his  occupation,  the  healing  of  the  sick, 
and  to  talk  of  God  in  signs  and  parables,  to  a 
few  fishermen  who  did  not  always  understand 
Him:  He  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head  :  but, 
even  taking  our  stand  upon  this  our  review 
of  the  world's  history,  we  may  affirm,  never 
has  this  earth  exhibited  anything  more  guile- 
less or  mighty,  sublimer  or  holier  than  his 
walk,  his  life,  and  his  death ;  in  every  sen- 
tence He  uttered  breathes  the  very  breath 
of  God ;  his  are  words,  as  St.  Peter  says,  of 
everlasting  life:   the  records  of  the  human 


18 


EPOCHS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 


[iNTROD. 


race  offer  nothing  worthy  of  remote  compari- 
son with  them. 

If  the  national  creeds  ever  contained  within 
them  a  germ  of  practical  religion,  this  had  now 
been  wholly  obscured ;  they  had,  as  already 
said,  no  longer  a  meaning:  in  Him,  who  was 
both  God  and  man,  there  stood  in  contrast 
with  them  the  eternal  and  universal  relation- 
ship of  God  to  the  world,  of  man  to  God. 

Christ  was  born  in  a  nation  between  which 
and  all  others  an  exclusive  and  uncompromis- 
ing ritual  law  had  drawn  the  strictest  line  of 
demarcation  ;  but  whose  measureless  merit  it 
was  to  have  clung  with  unchanging  and  in- 
vincible stedfastness  to  that  monotheism  it  had 
from  the  very  beginning  received  as  its  creed. 
Undoubtedly  it  did,  like  other  nations,  regard 
this  as  a  religion  intrinsically  belonging  to 
itself,  but  now  it  received  a  wholly  different 
significancy.  Christ  put  an  end  to  the  law  by 
fulfilling  it :  the  Son  of  man  proved  himself, 
according  to  his  own  expression,  Lord  also  of 
the  sabbath  ;  He  freed  that  which  was  essen- 
tial and  eternal  from  forms  whose  meaning  a 
narrow  understanding  had  failed  to  seize  ;  and 
now  from  out  a  people  hitherto  severed  from 
i  all  others  by  insurmountable  barriers  of  sen- 
timent and  custom,  there  arose  with  all  the 
energy  of  truth,  a  faith  that  invited  and  em- 
braced them  all.  The  common  God  of  all  was 
proclaimed,  who,  as  St.  Paul  preached  to  the 
Athenians,  "  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  races 
of  men  to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth." 
The  fitting  time,  as  we  have  seen,  was  ar- 
rived for  this  sublime  doctrine  :  there  existed 
a  human  race  to  adopt  it.  "  It  gleamed  over 
the  earth  like  a  sunbeam,"  as  Eusebius  says.* 
In  brief  time  we  behold  it  outspread  over  the 
whole  range  of  the  empire,  from  the  Euphrates 
to  the  Ebro,  the  Rhine,  and  the  Danube. 

But  guileless  and  gentle  though  it  was,  it 
was  in  the  very  nature  of  things  that  it  should 
encounter  strong  opposition  from  the  existing 
creeds,  which  had  attach,ed  themselves  to  the 
habits  and  wants  of  society,  and  to  all  tradi- 
tional feelings,  and  which  had  now  taken  a 
turn  that  enabled  them  to  reflect  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  empire. 

The  political  spirit  of  the  antique  religions 
came  forth  once  more  in  a  new  guise.  The 
sum  and  substance  of  all  the  old  independent 
systems  that  had  once  filled  the  world,  had 
fallen  into  the  grasp  of  one  ;  there  existed  but 
a  single  power  that  seemed  self-dependent ; 
religion  acknowledged  this  when  it  sanctioned 
the  payment  of  divine  honour  to  the  emperor. 
Temples  were  erected  to  him,  altars  heaped 
with  sacrifices,  oaths  were  sworn  by  his  name, 
and  festivals  were  solemnized  in  honour  of 
him ;  his  images  invested  the  place  where 
they  stood  with  the  right  of  sanctuary.  The 
adoration  paid  to  the  genius  of  the  emperor 


was,  perhaps,  the  only  universal  worship  in 
the  empire.*  All  idolatries  regarded  it  with 
favour,  for  it  afforded  them  countenance  and 
support. 

This  worship  of  the  Caesar  and  the  doctrine 
of  Christ  bore,  with  relation  to  the  local  reli- 
gion, a  certain  degree  of  mutual  resemblance, 
while  at  the  same  time  they  were  contrasted 
with  each  other  to  the  utmost  conceivable  de- 
gree. 

The  emperor  regarded  religion  in  its  most 
worldly  point  of  view,  as  bound  to  earth  and 
the  things  of  earth :  to  him  be  these  surren- 
dered, says  Celsus  ;  from  him  come  whatever 
each  man  possesses.  Christianity  regarded 
it  in  the  fulness  of  the  Spirit  and  of  heavenly 
truth. 

The  emperor  identified  religion  and  the 
state  :  Christianity  above  all  things  separated 
that  which  is  God's  from  that  which  is  Caesar's. 

Every  sacrifice  offered  to  the  emperor  was 
a  confession  of  the  lowest  thraldom.  That 
very  thing  wherein  had  consisted  the  freedom 
of  the  constitution,  the  ilnion  of  religion  and 
the  state,  was  now  the  confirmation  of  sub- 
jection. The  injunction  of  Christianity,  for- 
bidding its  followers  to  sacrifice  to  the  emper- 
ors, was  an  act  of  emancipation. 

Lastly,  the  worship  of  the  emperor  was  re- 
stricted within  the  limits  of  the  empire,  the 
supposed  orb  of  the  earth;  Christianity  was 
destined  to  embrace  the  world's  real  limits, 
and  the  whole  race  of  man.  The  new  faith 
sought  to  revive  among  the  nations  the  prime- 
val religious  sentiment,  (if  it  be  true  that  such 
a  thing  was  antecedent  to  all  idolatries)  or  at 
least  an  absolutely  pure  sentiment  u-nsullied 
by  any  necessary  relation  to  the  state,  and  set 
this  in  opposition  to  that  imperious  power, 
which,  not  content  with  earthly  things,  would 
grasp  divine  things  likewise.  By  this  means 
mankind  became  possessed  of  a  spiritual  ele- 
ment in  which  it  was  again  self-sustained, 
free,  and  personally  invincible;  a  new  vital- 
ity filled  the  bosom  of  the  freshened  earth  ;  it 
was  fructified  for  the  birth  of  new  productions. 

The  contest  lay  between  the  earthly  and 
the  spiritual,  thraldom  and  freedom,  slow  de- 
cay and  the  rekindling  of  youthful  vigour. 

This  is  not  the  place  for  describing  the  long 
strife  between  these  principles.  All  the  vital 
elements  of  the  Roman  empire  were  set  in 
motion,  and,  gradually  seized  and  penetrated 
by  the  Christian  system,  were  hurried  onward 
in  this  grand  spiritual  march.  "The  error  of 
idolatry,"  says  Chrysostom,  "  was  by  its  own 
self  extinguished.."! 


♦  Hist.  Eccl.  ii.  3. 


♦  Eckhel,  Doctrina  nummorum  veterum,  pt.  ii.  vol.  viii. 
p.  4-5G.  He  quotes  a  passage  from  Tertullian,  from  which 
it  would  appear,  tiiat  the  adoration  of  the  Csesar  waa  also 
at  times  the  most  fervent  of  all. 

'liuxtAvoi  KAi  TTPce  "EXAXK^tf.— Chrj-sosiomi  0pp.  od. 
Paris,  U.  540. 


INTROD.] 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE. 


19 


Already  paganism  appears  to  him  as  a  con- 
quered city,  whose  walls  are  demolished,  its 
halls  and  theatres  and  public  buildings  burned 
to  the  ground,  its  defenders  prostrate,  while 
only  here  and  there  a  few  aged  persons  and 
children  are  seen  surviving  amidst  its  ruins. 

Ere  long  these  too  were  no  more;  and  a 
transmutation  without  a  parallel  ensued. 

Out  of  the  catacombs  ascended  the  worship 
of  the  martyrs ;  on  the  spots  where  the  Olym- 
pic Gods  had  been  adored,  from  the  self-same 
columns  that  had  sustained  their  temples, 
arose  shrines  to  the  memory  of  those  who  had 
died  for  scorning  their  worship.  The  religious 
system,  begun  in  deserts  and  in  dungeons, 
overspread  the  world.  It  sometimes  excites 
surprise  that  precisely  a  secular  building  of 
the  pagans,  the  basilica,  should  have  been 
transformed  into  a  Christian  temple.  There 
is  something  very  suggestive  in  this.  The 
apsis  of  the  basilica  contained  an  Augustcum,* 
the  images  of  those  very  Cfesars  to  whom  di- 
vine honours  had  been  paid.  To  their  place 
succeeded,  as  we  see  in  so  many  basilicas  to 
this  day,  the  images  of  Christ  and  the  apos- 
tles ;  instead  of  the  world's  masters,  who 
were  themselves  regarded  as  gods,  appeared 
the  Son  of  God  clothed  in  the  nature  of  man. 
The  local  deities  faded  away.  On  every  high- 
way, on  the  mountain  cliffs  and  in  the  passes 
through  the  ravines,  on  the  housetops  and  on 


ranks,  consecrated  by  the  imposition  of  hands, 
withdrawn  from  all  secular  pursuits,  is 
pledged  to  devote  itself  "  to  spiritual  and 
divine  purposes."  At  first,  the  Church  con- 
ducted itself  in  accordance  with  republican 
forms,  but  these  disappeared  in  proportion  as 
the  new  faith  advanced  to  supremacy.  By 
and  by,  the  minister  of  religion  assumed  a 
position  diametrically  contrasted  with  that  of 
the  layman. 

It  was  not,  I  think,  without  a  certain  in- 
trinsic necessity  that  this  occurred.  In  the 
advance  of  Christianity  was  involved  an  eman- 
cipation of  religion  from  the  political  element, 
and  this  infers  the  establishment  of  a  distinct 
spiritual  class  with  peculiar  institutions.  In 
this  separation  of  the  Church  from  the  State, 
consists  perhaps  the  greatest  and  most  tho- 
roughly effective  peculiarity  of  the  Christian 
times.  The  spiritual  and  the  temporal  powers 
may  closely  affect  each  other,  they  may  exist 
in  the  most  intimate  communion  ;  but  per- 
fectly to  coalesce  is  what  they  can  do  at  the 
very  most  but  exceptionally  and  for  a  short 
while.  In  their  mutual  relations  and  bear- 
ings has  been  involved,  ever  since  those  days, 
one  of  the  most  important  considerations  pre- 
sented in  all  history. 

At  the  same  time,  the  constitution  of  this 
class  was  necessarily  modelled  on  that  of  the 
empire.     The  hierarchy  of  the  bishops,  me- 


the  mosaic  of  the  floors,  was  seen  the  emblem    tropolitan  patriarchs,  arose  in  correspondence 


of  the  Cross.  The  victory  was  complete  and 
decisive.  As  the  labarum  appears  over  the 
vanquished  dragons  on  the  coins  of  Constan- 
tino, so  the  worship  and  the  name  of  Christ 
towered  over  flillen  paganism.  Regarded  in 
this  aspect  too,  how  immense  is  the  impor- 
tance of  the  Roman  empire.  In  the  centur- 
ies of  its  rise  it  shattered  independence,  and 
prostrated  the  nations ;  it  annihilated  every 
feeling  of  self-reliance  involved  in  isolation  ; 
on  the  other  hand,  it  beheld  in  later  times  the 
true  religion  springing  up  in  its  bosom,  the 
purest  expression  of  a  common  consciousness 
prevailing  more  widely  far  than  the  limits  of 
its  empire,  the  consciousness  of  community  in 
the  one  true  God.  May  we  venture  to  say 
that  the  empire,  by  this  development,  an- 
nulled its  own  necessity]  The  human  race 
was  thenceforth  acquainted  with  the  depths 
of  its  own  nature  ;  it  had  found  its  own  unity 
in  religion. 

To  this  religion  the  Roman  empire  now 
gave  moreover  its  outward  form. 

The  heathen  priesthoods  were  assigned  in 
the  same  way  as  civil  offices  ;  in  the  Jewish 
system,  one  tribe  was  specially  charged  with 
spiritual  functions :  it  is  the  distinctive  of 
Christianity,  that  in  it  a  particular  class,  com- 
posed  of  members   voluntarily    seeking    its 


with  the  gradations  of  the  civil  administra- 
tion. It  was  not  long  before  the  Roman 
bishops  assumed  the  highest  rank.  It  is  in- 
deed an  idle  pretence  to  assert  that  they  en- 
joyed in  the  first  century,  or  at  any  period 
whatever,  a  supremacy  universally  recognized 
by  East  and  West ;  but  unquestionably  they 
speedily  attained  a  consequence  that  exalted 
tliem  above  all  other  ecclesiastical  dignita- 
ries. Many  circumstances  combined  towards 
this  consummation.  Seeing  that  in  every 
instance  the  superior  importance  of  a  provin- 
cial capital  endowed  its  bishop  with  a  peculiar 
preponderence,  how  much  more  must  this 
liave  been  the  case  with  the  ancient  capital  of 
the  entire  empire,  from  which  the  latter  even 
derived  its  name?*  Rome  was  one  of  the 
most  illustrious  apostolic  sees;  here  had  the 
greatest  number  of  martyrs  shed  their  blood  ; 
the  bishops  of  Rome  had  borne  themselves 
with  pre-eminent  firmness  during  the  perse- 
cutions, and  frequently  had  they  succeeded 
each  other  not  so  much  in  office  as  in  martyr- 
dom and  death.  But  now,  in  addition  to  all 
this,  the  emperors  were  disposed  to  favour 
the  rise  of  a  great  patriarchal  authority.  In 
a  law,  that  proved  decisive  of  the  supremacy 
over  Christendom,  Theodosius  the  Great  en- 
joins, that  all  nations  subject  to  his  clemency 


*  I  talfp.  this  fact  from  E.  Q.  Visconti,  Museo  Pio-Clem-       *  Casauboni  Exercitaiiones  ad  Annates  Ecclesiasticoa 
emino  VII.  p.  lUO,  ed.  of  1S07.  I  Baronii,  p.  260. 


20 


EPOCHS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 


[iNTROD. 


should  follow  the  faith  propounded  to  the  I 
Romans  by  St.  Paul.f  Valentinian  III.  for- 
bade the  bishops  both  of  Gaul  and  of  the  other 
provinces  to  depart  from  the  received  customs 
of  the  Church,  without  the  sanction  of  that 
venerable  authority,  the  pope  of  the  holy  city. 
Thenceforth  the  power  of  the  Roman  bishop 
grew  up  under  the  protection  of  the  emperor 
himself:  but  at  the  same  time  a  limit  was  set 
to  it  by  the  very  circumstance  of  this  political 
connexion.  Had  there  been  but  one  emperor, 
the  universal  supremacy  might  then  have 
been  firmly  established ;  but  this  was  forbid- 
den by  the  partition  of  the  empire.  It  was 
impossible  that  the  eastern  emperors,  who 
clung  so  jealously  to  their  ecclesiastical 
rights,  should  have  favoured  the  outspread  of 
the  power  of  the  western  patriarchs  in  their 
dominions.  In  this  respect,  too,  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  Church  reflected  that  of  the  em- 
pire. 

The  Papacy  in  connexion  with  the  Frank- 
ish  Empire. 

Hardly  had  this  grand  change  been  ac- 
complished, the  Christian  religion  planted, 
and  the  Church  founded,  when  new  events  of 
vast  magnitude  arose  :  the  Roman  empire,  so 
long  victorious,  was  now  in  its  turn  assailed 
by  its  neighbours,  invaded,  and  vanquished. 

In  the  huge  downfall  that  ensued,  Christi- 
anity itself  was  once  more  shaken  to  its 
foundations.  The  Romans  in  their  hour  of 
peril  bethought  them  once  more  of  the  Etru- 
rian mysteries,  the  Athenians  trusted  to  be 
saved  by  Achilles  and  iVIinerva,  the  Cartha- 
ginians prayed  to  the  genius  Ccslestis.  But 
these  were  only  transient  emotions ;  whilst 
the  empire  was  shattered  in  the  western  pro- 
vinces, the  entire  edifice  of  the  Church  held 
cut  unbroken  even  there. 

Nevertheless,  it  too  unavoidably  fell  into 
manifold  painful  trials,  and  found  itself  in  a 
wholly  altered  condition.  A  pagan  nation 
laid  hold  on  Britain  ;  Arian  kings  subdued  the 
greater  part  of  the  remaining  West ;  the 
Lombards,  for  a  long  time  Arians,  and  always 
dangerous  and  ill-disposed  neighbours,  found- 
ed a  powerful  realm  in  Italy  before  the  gates 
of  Rome. 

While  the  Roman  bishops,  thus  hemmed  in 
on  all  sides,  were  bestirring  themselves — 
and  that  with  all  the  shrewdness  and  pertina- 
city which  has  ever  since  been  their  peculiar 
characteristic — to  become  once  more  masters, 
at  least  in  their  old  patriarchal  diocese,  a 
new  and  still  heavier   calamity  befel  them. 


+  Codex-Theodos.  xvi.  1,2.  Cunclos  populos  quos  cle- 
menlise  nostrae  regit  lemperanipntimi,  in  tali  volumus 
religione  versari  quam  divinum  Petnim  Aposloluiii  tradi- 
disse  Romanis,  religio  usque  nunc  ab  ipso  insinuata  de- 
claral.  The  edict  of  Valentinian  III.  is  noticed  also  by 
Planck,  Geschichte  der  chrisllichkirchlichen  Gesell- 
schaflsverfassung,  i.  642. 


The  Arabs,  not  mere  conquerors  like  the  Ger- 
mans, but  men  inspired  to  fanaticism  by  a 
haughty  dogmatic  faith,  radically  and  invete- 
rately  hostile  to  Christianity,  swept  over  the 
West  as  they  had  done  over  the  East ;  they 
conquered  Africa  after  repeated  attacks, 
Spain  in  a  single  campaign  ;  and  Musa  boast- 
ed that  he  would  push  forward  through  the 
passes  of  the  Pyrenees  and  over  the  Alps  to 
Italy,  and  cause  the  name  of  Mohammed  to 
be  proclaimed  from  the  Vatican. 

The  situation  in  which  the  western  portion 
of  Roman  Christendom  was  then  placed,  was 
the  more  perilous,  inasmuch  as  at  that  mo- 
ment the  iconoclastic  controversy  was  raging 
with  the  most  bitter  animosity.  The  emperor 
of  Constantinople  had  adopted  a  different  side 
from  that  of  the  pope  of  Rome  ;  he  even  more 
than  once  practised  against  the  latter's  life. 
The  Lombards  were  not  slow  to  perceive  the 
advantage  likely  to  accrue  to  them  from  these 
dissensions.  Their  king  Astulphus  seized  on 
provinces  that,  till  then,  had  always  recog- 
nized the  emperor's  supremacy  :  he  advanced 
against  Rome,  and  summoned  that  city  too 
with  vehement  threats  to  surrender  to  him 
and  pay  him  tribute.* 

Help  there  was  none  in  the  Roman  world ; 
not  even  against  the  Lombards,  still  less 
against  the  Arabs,  who  meantime  began  to 
lord  it  over  the  Mediterranean,  and  threaten- 
ed Christendom  with  a  war  for  life  or  death. 

But,  happily,  the  means  of  help  were  no 
longer  confined  witliin  the  limits  of  ihe  Roman 
empire. 

Christianity,  in  accordance  with  its  primary 
destiny,  had  long  overspread  those  limits  :  in 
the  West  it  had  especially  laid  hold  on  the 
Germanic  tribes  ;  nay,  a  Christian  power  had 
already  arisen  amongst  these,  to  which  the 
pope  had  but  to  stretch  out  his  hands  to  pro- 
cure ready  allies  against  all  his  enemies  and 
the  most  energetic  succour. 

Of  the  Germanic  nations  the  Frankish 
alone  had  become  Catholic  on  its  very  first 
rise  in  the  Roman  empire.  This  step  on  its 
part  had  helped  it  to  great  advantages.  The 
Franks  found  natural  allies  a^ftiong  the  sub- 
jects of  their  Arian  enemies,  the  Burgundians 
and  West  Goths.  We  read  of  numerous  mi- 
racles said  to  have  occurred  to  Clovis  :  how 
St.  Martin  discovered  to  him  the  ford  over 
the  Vienne  by  means  of  a  hind  ;  how  St.  Hil- 
ary marshalled  his  way  in  a  pillar  of  fire  :  we 
shall  not  be  far  astray  if  we  conjecture,  that 
in  these  legends  are  veiled,  under  sensible 
imagery,  the  acts  of  assistance  rendered  by 


*  Anastasius  Bibliothecarius :  Vitae  Pontificum.  Vita 
Stpphani  III.  Paris  edit.  p.  8-3.  Tremens  ut  leo  pestiferas 
minas  Kouumis  dirigere  non  pesinebat,  asserens  omnes 
uno  gladio  jugulari,  nisi  suaesese^subderentditioni.  [Rag- 
ing like  a  lion,  he  ceased  not  to  utter  deadly  threats 
against  the  Romans,  declaring  that  he  would  put  them 
indiscriniinalely  to  tlie  sword  if  they  did  not  yield  to  his 
sway.] 


INTROD.] 


THE  PAPACY  AND  THE  FRANK  EMPIRE. 


21 


the  natives  to  a  participator  in  their  own 
creed,  to  whom,  as  Gregory  of  Tours  says, 
they  wished  victory  "  with  eager  inclination." 

But  the  attachment  to  Catholicism,  thus 
confirmed  from  the  very  first  by  consequences 
of  such  magnitude,  was  subsequently  revived, 
and  mightily  corroborated,  by  a  very  peculiar 
influence  from  another  quarter. 

Pope  Gregory  the  Great  happened  to  see 
some  Anglo-Saxons  in  the  slave  market  in 
Rome,  who  attracted  his  attention,  and 
prompted  him  to  cause  the  promulgation  of 
the  Gospel  amongst  the  people  to  which  they 
belonged.  Never,  perhaps,  did  a  pope  adopt 
a  resolution  pregnant  with  more  important 
results.  With  the  new  doctrine  a  spirit  of 
veneration  for  Rome  and  the  holy  see,  such 
as  had  never  before  existed  elsewhere,  be- 
came implanted  in  Germanic  Britain.  The 
Anglo-Saxons  began  to  make  pilgrimages  to 
Rome  ;  they  sent  their  youth  thither ;  King 
Offa  established  the  tribute  called  Peter's 
pence,  for  the  education  of  the  clergy,  and  the 
relief  of  pilgrims  ;  the  higher  orders  travelled 
to  Rome  to  die  there,  and  so  be  more  cordial- 
ly received  into  heaven  by  the  saints.  It  was 
as  though  that  nation  applied  to  Rome  and  the 
Christian  saints  the  old  Teutonic  superstition, 
that  the  gods  are  nearer  to  some  places  than 
to  others. 

But  in  addition  to  all  this,  results  far 
weightier  still  ensued  when  the  Anglo-Sax- 
ons began  to  propagate  these  views  and  feel- 
ings of  theirs  on  the  continent,  and  in  the 
Frankish  realm. 

The  apostle  of  the  Germans  was  an  Anglo- 
Saxon.  Bonifacius,  thoroughly  imbued  as  he 
was  with  the  reverence  for  St.  Peter  and  his 
successors  common  to  his  nation,  pledged 
Jiimself  from  the  very  first  to  adhere  faith- 
fully to  the  ordinances  of  the  Roman  see ; 
and  this  vow  he  most  scrupulously  fulfilled. 
He  imposed  on  the  German  church  he  found- 
ed an  extraordinary  obligation  to  obedience. 
The  bishops  were  required  distinctly  to  vow 
that  they  would  persist  to  their  lives'  end  in 
submissiveness  to  the  Romish  church,  St. 
Peter,  and  his  representative.  Nor  did  he 
eft'ect  this  only  with  the  German  bi.shops : 
those  of  Gaul  had  hitherto  maintained  a  cer- 
tain independence  of  Rome.  Bonifacius, 
whose  lot  it  was  to  preside  a  few  times  in  their 
synods,  there  found  an  opportunity  to  dispose 
this  western  part  of  the  Frankish  church  to' 
the  same  way  of  thinking ;  and  thenceforth 
the  Gallic  archbishops  received  the  pallium 
from  Rome.  In  this  manner  did  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  submissiveness  extend  over  the  entire 
Frankish  realm. 

And  this  realm  was  now  the  centre  of  the 
whole  Germanic  west.  The  murderous  fren- 
zy by  which  the  Merovingian  race  had 
wrought  its  own  destruction,  had  not  impair- 
ed   the   strength  of  the   empire.      Another 


family  rose  in  its  stead  to  the  supreme  power  ; 
men,  all  of  them,  full  of  energy,  of  command- 
ing will,  and  lofty  vigour.  Whilst  other 
realms  were  toppling  down  in  ruin,  and  the 
world  seemed  destined  to  fall  a  prey  to  the 
Moslem  sword,  it  was  this  race,  the  house  of 
Pepin  of  Heristall,  afterwards  called  the  Car- 
lovingian,  that  made  the  first  and  the  decis- 
ive stand  against  the  Mahommedan  con- 
querors. 

This  family  moreover  favoured  the  religious 
development  now  in  process  of  accomplish- 
ment ;  we  find  it  very  early  in  good  intelli- 
gence with  Rome  ;  the  labours  of  Boniface 
were  carried  on  under  the  special  protection 
of  Charles  Martel  and  Pepin  le  Bref.* 

Let  us  now  picture  to  ourselves  what  was 
the  temporal  position  of  the  Papal  power. 
On  the  one  side,  the  East  Roman  empire 
crumbling  to  ruin ;  weak,  incapable  of  pro- 
tecting Christendom  against  Islamism,  unable 
even  to  defend  its  own  territories  in  Italy 
against  the  Lombards,  and  yet  pretending  to 
an  all-commanding  voice  even  in  spiritual  mat- 
ters ;  on  the  other,  the  German  nations,  full 
of  life  and  vigour,  and  victorious  over  Islam- 
ism, devoted  with  all  the  fresh  ardour  of  youth 
to  the  authority  of  which  they  were  still  in 
need,  and  animated  with  a  boundless  volun- 
tary devotion. 

Already  Gregory  II.  was  fully  sensible  to 
the  value  of  the  prize  he  had  won.  "  All  they 
of  the  West,"  he  writes  in  the  fulness  of  his 
self-complacency  to  the  iconoclast  emperor, 
Leo  the  Isaurian,  "  have  their  eyes  bent  on 
our  humility;  they  regard  us  as  a  god  on 
earth."  But  his  successors  were  continually 
more  and  more  impressed  with  the  necessity 
of  separating  themselves  from  a  power  that 
only  imposed  duties  upon  them,  while  it  could 
render  them 'no  protection  in  return  ;  the  suc- 
cession or  the  Roman  name  and  empire  was 
not  sufficient  to  bind  them  ;  on  the  contrary, 
turning  to  those  from  whom  alone  they  could 
expect  any  help,  they  entered  with  the 
supreme  chiefs  of  the  West,  the  Frankish 
monarchs,  into  an  alliance,  that  every  year 
became  more  strict,  was  productive  of  the 
greatest  advantages  to  both  parties,  and  finally 
manifested  a  vast  and  important  bearing  on 
the  whole  scheme  of  history. 

As  Pepin  the  younger,  not  content  with  the 
reality  of  kingly  power,  began  to  long  for  the 
name  too,  he  felt  his  full  need  of  a  higher 
sanction ;  and  this  the  pope  afforded  him.     In 


*Bonafacii  Epistolae  ;  ep.  12  ad  Danielem  episc.  Sine 
patrocinio  principis  Fraiiconim  nee  populum  regere,  nee 
presbyteros  vel  uiaconos,  monachos,  vel  ancillas  Dei  de- 
lendere  possum,  nee  ipsos  pa^anorum  ritus  el  sacrilegia 
idolorum  in  Germania  sine  illius  mandalo  et  limore  pro- 
hibere  valeo.  [Witlioul  the  patronage  of  llie  sovereign 
of  the  Franks,  I  can  neillter  rule  the  people  nor  defend 
the  priests  and  deacons,  the  monks,  and  the  handmaids 
of  God,  nor  can  I  put  a  stop  to  pagan  rites  and  sacrilegi- 
ous idolatries  in  Germany,  without  his  mandate,  and  the 
awe  of  his  name.] 


22 


EPOCHS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 


[iNTROD. 


return,  the  newly-made  king-  took  upon  him  to 
defend  "the  Holy  Church,  and  God's  com- 
monvveath,"  against  the  Lombards.  To  defend 
them  merely,  was  not  enough  for  his  zeal ;  he 
very  soon  compelled  the  Lombards  to  surren- 
der the  Italian  territory,  the  Exarchate,  of 
which  they  had  despoiled  the  East  Roman 
empire.  Justice  obviously  demanded  that  this 
should  be  restored  to  the  emperor  to  whom  it 
belonged;  and  the  proposal  was  made  to  Pepin. 
His  answer  was,  that  "  he  had  not  taken  the 
field  for  the  sake  of  a  man,  but  solely  out  of 
his  veneration  for  St.  Peter,  to  the  end  that  he 
might  obtain  forgiveness  of  his  sins."*  He 
caused  the  keys  of  the  conquered  towns  to  be 
laid  on  St.  Peter's  altar.  This  was  the  foun- 
dation of  the  whole  temporal  dominion  of  the 
popes. 

In  this  lively  spirit  of  mutual  serviceable- 
ness  the  alliance  was  continued  and  further 
developed.  At  last  Charlemagne  wholly  rid 
the  pope  of  his  so  long  troublesome  and  oppres- 
sive neighbours  the  Lombards.  In  his  own 
person  he  manifested  the  most  profound  defer- 
ence for  the  holy  father;  he  visited  Rome, 
kissing  the  steps  of  St.  Peter's  as  he  ascend- 
ed ;  he  entered  the  vestibule,  where  the  pope 
awaited  him,  and  confirmed  to  the  pontift'the 
gifts  made  by  Pepin.  The  pope,  on  his  part, 
continued  the  monarch's  most  unswerving 
friend  :  the  relations  in  which  the  spiritual 
chief  stood  to  the  Italian  bishops  made  it  an 
easy  matter  for  Charlemagne  to  master  the 
Lombards,  and  possess  himself  of  their  king- 
dom. 

Now  this  course  of  events  was  forthwith  to 
lead  to  a  still  greater  result. 

The  pope  could  no  longer  abide  without 
foreign  aid  in  his  own  city,  where  the  strife  of 
opposite  factions  was  raging  with  the  utmost 
violence;  Charlemagne  accordingly^ncemore 
visited  Rome,  to  afford  him  the  assistance  he 
needed.  The  aged  monarch  was  now  full  of 
renown  and  victory.  He  had,  in  a  long  course 
of  warfare,  subdued  one  by  one  all  his  neigh- 
bours, and  well-nigh  united  under  his  sway  all 
the  Latin  and  Teutonic  nations  of  Christen- 
dom ;  he  had  led  them  to  victory  against  their 
common  enemy:  it  was  matter  of  remark  that 
he  possessed  all  the  seats  of  the  western  empe- 
rors in  Italy,  Gaul,  and  Germany,  and  their 
power  likewise.!  True,  since  their  day,  those 
countries  had  become  altogether  another 
world  ;  but  should  they,  therefore,  be  a  bar  to 
this  dignity  !     Thus  Pepin  received  the  royal 

*  Anastasiua :  affirmans  etiam  sub  juramento  quod  per 
nuUius  hominis  favorem  sese  cenamini  saepius  dedisset, 
nisi  pro  amore  Petri  et  venia  delictorum. 

t  So  I  understand  the  Annales  Laureshamensps :  ad 
annum  801.  Visum  est  et  ipsi  apostolico  Leoni,  ut  ipsum 
Carolum  regem  Francorum  imperaiorem  noniinare  debuis- 
eent,  qui  ipsam  Romam  tenebat,  ubi  semper  Ctesares 
seders  soliti  erant,  et  reliquas  sedes  quas  ipse  per  Ilaliam 
eeu  Galliam  nee  non  et  Germaniam  tenebat  (he  meant  to 
say:  ipsi  tenebanl) :  quia  Deus  omnipolens  has  omnes 
sedes  in  potestalem  ejus  concessit,  ideo  justum  eis  vide- 
baiur,  ut  ipse  cum  Dei  adjutorio  .  .  .  ipsum  nomen  haberet. 


diadem,  because  he  who  possesses  the  power 
is  no  less  entitled  to  the  dignity.  On  this 
occasion,  too,  the  pope  came  to  a  similar  reso- 
lution. Penetrated  with  gratitude,  and  in 
need,  as  he  well  knew,  of  permanent  protec- 
tion, he  crowned  Charlemagne  on  Christmas 
eve  of  the  year  800  with  the  crown  of  the 
western  empire. 

With  this  act  was  fully  accomplished  that 
series  of  historical  events,  which  had  begun 
with  the  first  incursions  of  the  German  tribes 
into  the  Roman  empire. 

A  Frank  sovereign  succeeded  to  the  position 
of  the  Western  Roman  emperors,  and  exer- 
cised all  their  prerogatives.  We  see  Char- 
lemagne fully  executing  the  most  indisputable 
acts  of  supreme  authority  in  the  territories 
that  had  been  conferred  on  St.  Peter.  In  like 
manner  his  nephew  Lothaire  appointed  his 
own  judges  there,  and  annulled  confiscations 
made  by  the  pope.  The  pope,  on  the  other 
hand,  supreme  head  of  the  hierarchy  in  the 
Roman  West,  became  a  member  of  the  Frank 
empire.  He  broke  off"  from  the  East,  and  gra- 
dually ceased  to  meet  with  any  further  recog- 
nition there.  The  Greek  emperors  had  long 
despoiled  him  of  his  eastern  diocese.*  To 
compensate  him  for  this,  the  western  churches 
(not  excepting  the  Lombard,  on  which  the 
Prankish  institutions  had  been  engrafted)  ren- 
dered him  an  obedience  such  as  he  had  never 
before  enjoyed.  Admitting  schools  in  Rome 
for  Frieslanders,  Saxons,  and  Franks,  by  means 
of  which  that  city  itself  began  to  be  german- 
ized,  he  commenced  tliat  blending  of  Latin 
and  German  elements,  which  has  since  shaped 
the  character  of  the  West.  In  the  moment 
of  its  utmost  adversity  his  power  struck  fresh 
root;  when  it  seemed  devoted  to  ruin,  it 
secured  for  itself  a  firm  and  lengthened  endu- 
rance. The  hierarchy,  formed  in  the  Roman 
empire,  ditliised  itself  amongst  the  German 
nations;  and  there  it  found  a  limitless  field  for 
an  ever  progressive  activity,  in  the  course  of 
which  it  first  fully  developed  the  germs  of  its 
nature. 

Relation  to  the  German  Emperors. — Internal 
progressive  Improvement  of  the  Hierarchy. 

We  pass  over  centuries,  in  order  to  arrive 
at  a  more  clear  conception  of  that  point  of 
development  to  which  they  led. 

The  Prankish  empire  is  prostrate ;  the 
German  is  risen  in  the  utmost  vigour. 

Never  has  the  German  name  stood  higher 
in  Europe  than  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  cen- 


*  Nicholas  I.  bewails  the  loss  of  the  patriarchal  power 
of  the  Koman  see  :  per  Epirum  veterem  Epirumque  novam 
alque  Illyricum,  Macedoniam,  Thessaliam,  Acliaiam,  Da- 
ciam  ripensem  Daciamque  mediterraneam,  Moesiam,  Dar- 
daniaii],  Preevalem,  andllie  loss  of  the  patrimony  in  Cala- 
bria and  Sicily.  Pagi  (Critica  in  Annales  Baronii)  couples 
this  letter  with  another  of  Adrian  l.'s  to  Charlemagne, 
from  which  it  appears  that  this  loss  resulted  out  of  the 
iconoclastic  controversy. 


INTROD.] 


THE  POPES  AND  THE  GERMAN  EMPERORS, 


23 


turies,  under  the  Saxon  and  first  Salique 
emperors.  We  see  Conrad  11.  hurrying-  from 
the  eastern  frontiers,  where  the  King  of  Poland 
had  been  forced  to  submit  to  personal  subjec- 
tion and  the  partition  of  his  territories,  and 
where  the  Duke  of  Bohemia  had  been  con- 
demned to  incarceration,  to  support  Burgundy 
against  the  pretensions  of  the  French  gran- 
dees. He  vanquishes  them  in  the  plains  of 
Champagne :  his  Italian  vassals  cross  the  St. 
Bernard  to  his  aid  :  he  causes  himself  to  be 
crowned  at  Geneva,  and  holds  his  diet  at  Solo- 
thurn.  Immediately  after  this  we  meet  him 
in  Lower  Italy.  "  He  put  an  end  by  his 
word,"  says  his  historian  Weppo,  "  to  the  dis- 
sensions on  the  confines  of  his  empire  in  Capua 
and  Benevento."  Henry  III.  ruled  with  no 
less  vigour :  at  one  time  we  find  him  by  the 
Scheldt  and  the  Lys,  victorious  over  the 
Counts  of  Flanders;  presently  in  Hungary, 
which  he  compelled,  at  least  for  a  consider- 
able time,  to  do  him  feudal  service,  beyond  the 
Raab,  and  scorning  all  limits  but  those  set  him 
by  the  elements.  The  King  of  Denmark  goes 
in  quest  of  him  to  Merseburg  ;  one  of  the  most 
powerful  princes  of  France,  the  Count  of 
Tours,  acknowledges  himself  his  vassal ;  and 
the  Spanish  histories  relate,  that  he  demanded 
of  Ferdinand  I.  of  Castile,  victorious  and 
powerful  as  the  latter  was,  that  he  should  be 
recognised  by  all  Christian  kings  as  their  liege 
suzerain. 

If  we  now  inquire  on  what  intrinsically 
rested  this  power,  so  wide  in  its  range,  and 
which  laid  claim  to  an  European  supremacy, 
we  shall  find  that  it  contained  within  it  a  very 
important  ecclesiastical  element.  The  Ger- 
mans conquered  whilst  they  made  converts. 
,  Their  marches  advanced  in  conjunction  with 
the  church  over  the  Elbe,  to  the  Oder  on  the 
one  side,  to  the  Danube  on  the  other :  monks 
and  priests  were  the  forerunners  of  German 
influence  in  Bohemia  and  Hungary.  By  this 
means  a  great  accession  of  strength  every 
where  accrued  to  the  spiritual  power.  In 
Germany  bishops  and  abbots  of  the  empire 
enjoyed,  not  only  in  their  own  possessions,  but 
beyond  them,  the  rights  of  counts,  nay,  some- 
times of  dukes ;  and  ecclesiastical  estates  were 
no  longer  described  as  situated  in  such  or  such 
a  county,  but  the  counties  as  in  such  and  such 
bishoprics.  In  Upper  Italy  almost  all  the  towns 
became  subject  to  the  viscounts  of  their  bishops. 
It  would  be  an  error  to  infer  from  this  that 
the  spiritual  powers  had  already  acquired  a 
special  independence.  As  the  disposal  of 
ecclesiastical  appointments  rested  with  the 
kings,  (the  chapters  used  to  send  back  the 
ring  and  crosier  of  their  deceased  superior  to 
the  court,  whence  it  was  again  bestowed  on 
his  successor,)  it  was  in  general  advantageous 
for  the  princes  to  eke  out  the  temporal  privi- 
leges of  the  men  of  their  choice,  on  whose 
devotedness  they  could  rely.     In  defiance*  of 


the  most  refractory  nobility,  Henry  III.  placed 
a  plebeian,  one  of  his  creatures,  in  the  chair 
of  St.  Ambrose  in  Milan  :  to  this  line  of  con- 
duct he  was  mainly  indebted  for  the  obedience 
he  subsequently  met  with  in  Upper  Italy. 
That  Henry  II.  proved  himself  of  all  these 
emperors  the  most  munificent  to  the  church, 
and  that  he  was  the  most  strenuous  in  insisting 
on  his  right  to  the  nomination  of  the  bishops,* 
are  facts  that  carry  with  them  their  mutual 
explanation.  Care  was  also  taken  that  the 
collation  should  be  without  prejudice  to  the 
rights  of  the  state.  The  property  of  the 
Church  was  exempted  neither  from  civil  bur- 
dens, nor  even  from  feudal  service :  we  fre- 
quently find  bishops  taking  the  field  at  the 
head  of  their  vassals.  On  the  other  hand, 
what  an  advantage  it  was  to  have  the  right  of 
nominating  the  bishops,  who,  like  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Bremen,  exercised  the  highest  spiri- 
tual authority  in  the  Scandinavian  dominions 
and  over  many  Wendish  tribes! 

If  then  the  ecclesiastical  element  was  of 
such  eminent  importance  in  the  institutions  of 
the  empire,  it  is  self-evident  how  much  this 
must  have  been  enhanced  by  the  relation  in 
which  the  emperors  stood  to  the  supreme  head 
of  the  entire  clergy,  the  pope  of  Rome. 

The  popedom  was  bound  to  the  German 
emperors  by  the  strictest  ties,  as  it  had  before 
been  to  the  Roman  emperors  and  to  the  suc- 
cessors of  Charlemagne.  True,  indeed,  the 
popes  had  exercised  acts  of  sovereign  autho- 
rity over  the  imperial  sceptre  before  it  passed 
definitively  to  the  Germans,  and  while  it  was 
yet  in  weak  and  wavering  hands.  But  when 
the  vigorous  princes  of  Germany  had  achieved 
the  conquest  of  that  dignity,  they  became,  if 
not  admittedly,  at  least  in  fact  what  the  Car- 
lovingian  race  had  been,  the  liege  lords  of  the 
popedom.  Otto  the  Great  shielded  with  a 
powerful  hand  the  pope  whom  he  had  seated 
in  the  pontifical  chair  :t  his  sons  followed  his 
example  :  the  fact  that  the  Roman  factions  did 
once  more  make  head,  and  seize  on  and  resign 
that  dignity  as  their  family  interests  fluctuat- 
ed, purchase  and  traflic  it  away,  did  but  more 
clearly  indicate  the  necessity  of  some  higher 
intervention.  It  was  well  known  how  vigor- 
ously this  was  exercised  by  Henry  III.  His 
synod  at  Sutri  deposed  the  intruders  upon  the 
popedom.  No  sooner  had  he  put  the  patrician 
ring  on  his  finger,  and  received  the  imperial 
crown,  than  he  declared  of  his  own  good  plea- 
sure the  individual  who  was  to  mount  the  papal 
chair.  Four  successive  German  popes  were 
nominated  by  him :  upon  the  occasion  of  a 
vacancy  in  the  highest  station  in  the  Church 


*  For  instances  of  this  strictness  see  Planck,  Geschichto 
der  cliristl.-kirchl.  Gesellschaftsverfassung,  iii.  407. 

t  In  Goldast,  Constitutt.  Imperiales,  i.  p.  221,  we  find  an 
instnimenl  (with  the  scholia  of  Dietrich  of  Nieni)  by  which 
the  right  of  Charlemagne  to  choose  a  successor  to  himself, 
and  in  future  the  popes  of  Rome,  is  transferred  to  the  Ger- 
man emperors.    It  is,  however,  undoubtedl/  a  fabrication. 


24 


EPOCHS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 


[iNTROD. 


the  delegates  from  Rome  presented  themselves 
at  the  imperial  court  exactly  as  the  envoys 
from  other  bishoprics,  to  receive  the  announce- 
ment of  a  successor  to  the  dignity. 

In  this  position  of  things  it  was  a  matter  of 
personal  interest  to  the  emperor  that  the 
papacy  should  wear  an  imposing  aspect  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world.  Henry  III.  promoted  the 
reformation,  which  was  undertaken  by  the 
popes  appointed  by  himself;  the  augmentation 
of  their  power  in  no  wise  moved  him  to  jeal- 
ousy. That  Leo.  IX.  held  a  synod  at  Rheims 
in  defiance  of  the  King  of  France,  instituted 
and  deposed  French  bishops,  and  received  the 
solemn  admission  of  the  principle,  that  the 
pope  is  the  sole  primate  of  the  universal 
church,  might  perfectly  suit  the  emperor's 
purposes,  so  long  as  he  himself  had  the  dis- 
posal of  the  popedom.  All  this  contributed 
to  uphold  that  paramount  majesty  which  he 
claimed  over  all  Europe.  What  the  arch- 
bishop of  Bremen  effected  for  him  in  the 
North,  the  pope  obtained  for  him  amongst  the 
other  powers  of  Christendom. 

But  there  was  a  great  danger  too  involved 
in  this  condition  of  things. 

The  ecclesiastical  order  had  become  in  the 
German  and  the  germanized  empire  a  totally 
different  institution  from  what  it  had  been  in 
the  Roman.  A  large  share  of  political  influ- 
ence had  been  transferred  to  it ;  it  was  pos- 
sessed of  princely  power.  We  have  seen 
that  it  still  depended  on  the  emperor,  the 
highest  secular  authority.  But  what  if  this 
authority  should  again  fall  into  weak  hands, 
and  if  at  the  same  time  the  supreme  head  of 
the  church,  thrice  powerful  through  his  uni- 
versally venerated  rank,  the  obedience  of  his 
subordinates,  and  his  influence  over  other 
states,  should  seize  the  favourable  moment, 
and  set  himself  in  opposition  to  the  imperial 
authority  1 

The  nature  of  the  case  involved  more  than 
one  element  conducive  to  such  a  contingency  ; 
but  there  was  an  inherent  principle  in  the  ec- 
clesiastical body,  essentially  opposed  to  so 
great  secular  influence,  which,  when  it  should 
have  gathered  sufficient  strength,  could  not 
fail  to  hurry  on  the  consummation.  It  seems, 
too,  to  me  to  have  carried  with  it  a  palpable 
inconsistency,  that  the  pope  should  have  ex- 
ercised on  all  sides  a  spiritual  power  of  the 
highest  order,  and  have  been  at  the  same  time 
subject  to  the  emperor.  The  case  would  have 
been  different,  had  Henry  III.  actually  com- 
passed his  design  of  elevating  himself  to  be 
the  head  of  all  Christendom  ;  but  as  he  did 
not  succeed  in  this,  it  needed  but  a  certain 
evolution  of  politics,  and  the  pope  might  by  all 
means  have  been  hindered  by  his  subordina- 
tion to  the  emperor  from  being  fully  and  free- 
ly, as  his  office  inferred,  the  common  father  of 
the  faithful. 

Circumstances  were   in  this  state  when 


Gregory  VII.  ascended  the  papal  chair.  Gre- 
gory was  a  man  of  a  bold,  bigoted,  and  aspir- 
ing spirit;  straightforward  he  was,  so  to 
speak,  as  a  scholastic  system,  invincible  in 
the  stronghold  of  logical  consequence,  and 
no  less  dexterous  in  parrying  just  and  well- 
founded  objections  with  specious  arguments. 
He  saw  the  goal  towards  which  things  were 
tending;  amidst  all  the  petty  bustle  of  every- 
day business  his  sagacity  detected  the  germs 
of  possible  mighty  events ;  he  resolved  to 
emancipate  the  papal  power  from  the  imperial 
yoke.  Having  once  fixed  his  mind  on  this 
object,  he  forthwith,  without  a  moment's  hesi- 
tation, or  casting  one  glance  behind,  laid  hold 
on  the  decisive  means  towards  its  attainment. 
The  resolution  which  he  caused  to  be  passed 
by  one  of  his  ecclesiastical  assemblies,  that 
for  the  future  no  spiritual  appointment  should 
ever  be  disposed  of  by  a  secular  patron,  was 
of  a  nature  to  overthrow  the  constitution  of 
the  empire  in  its  very  essence.  This  latter 
rested,  as  already  mentioned,  on  the  inter- 
connexion of  the  spiritual  and  temporal  insti- 
tutions :  the  bond  between  both  was  the  right 
of  investiture ;  the  determination  that  this 
ancient  right  should  be  wrested  from  the  em- 
peror was  of  the  nature  of  a  revolution. 

It  is  manifest  that  Gregory  could  never  have 
been  in  a  condition  to  entertain  this  design, 
much  less  to  accomplish  it,  had  he  not  been 
seconded  by  the  convulsions  of  the  empire 
during  the  minority  of  Henry  IV.,  and  the 
insurrection  of  the  German  populations  and 
princes  against  that  sovereign.  In  the  per- 
sons of  the  great  vassals  he  met  with  natural 
allies :  they  too  felt  themselves  oppressed  by 
the  preponderance  of  the  imperial  power; 
they  too  desired  to  become  free.  Then  the  pope 
too  was  in  a  certain  respect  one  of  the  mag- 
nates of  the  empire.  The  two  facts  are  in  per- 
fect accordance — that  the  pope  declared  Ger- 
many an  electoral  empire  (a  doctrine  tending 
prodigiously  to  the  augmentation  of  the  power 
of  the  princes),  and  that  the  princes  were  so 
little  disposed  to  murmur  if  the  pope  should 
shake  oft'  the  imperial  yoke.  Even  in  the 
contested  matter  of  the  investiture  their  in- 
terests went  hand-in-hand.  The  pope  was 
still  far  from  desiring  personally  to  nominate 
the  bishops ;  he  referred  the  choice  to  the 
chapters,  over  which  the  German  nobility  ex- 
ercised the  most  commanding  influence.  In 
a  word,  the  pope  had  the  aristocratic  interests 
on  his  side. 

But  even  with  these  allies  what  long  and 
sanguinary  conflicts  did  it  cost  the  popes  to 
accomplish  their  undertaking !  From  Den- 
mark to  Apulia,  says  the  hymn  in  praise  of 
St.  Anno,  from  Carlingen  to  Hungary,  the 
arms  of  the  empire  have  been  turned  against 
its  own  vitals.  The  strife  between  the  spiri- 
tua]  and  the  temporal  principles,  which  had 
before  gone  hand-in-hand,  spread  fatal  discord 


INTROD.] 


THE  POPES  AND  THE  GERMAN  EMPERORS. 


25 


throughout  Europe.      Frequently  were   tlie  i  tical   principle  was  soon  transformed  into  a 


popes  themselves  compelled  to  abandon  their 
capita],  and  see  rivals  usurp  their  seat  on  the 
apostolic  chair ! 

At  last,  however,  the  task  was  achieved. 
After  long  centuries  of  subjection,  after  other 
centuries  of  often  dubious  contest,  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Roman  see  and  of  its  ruler 
was  finally  establisbcd.  The  position  of  the 
popes  at  that  moment  was  in  fact  the  grand- 
est and  most  exalted.  The  clergy  were  whol- 
ly in  their  hands.  It  was  worthy  of  note  that 
tlie  most  resolute  popes  of  those  times,  includ- 
ing Gregory  VII.  himself,  were  Benedictines. 


kind  of  sovereignty.  The  ecclesiastico-poli- 
cal  character  winch  society  had  assumed 
throughout,  and  the  course  of  events,  necessa- 
rily tended  to  such  an  issue.  When  countries 
long  lost,  such  as  Spain,  were  finally  wrested 
from  Mohammedanism;  when  provinces  which 
had  not  yet  been  acquired,  such  as  Prussia, 
were  snatched  from  Paganism,  and  filled  with 
a  Christian  population;  when  even  the  capi- 
tals of  the  Greek  faith  submitted  to  the  Latin 
ritual ;  and  when  hundreds  of  thousands  were 
continually  taking  the  field  to  rear  the  banner 
of  tlie  cross  over  the  holy  sepulchre,  must  not 


By  the  introduction  of  celibacy  tiiey  convert-  the  high-priest,  whose  hand  was  in  all  these 
ed  the  entire  of  the  secular  clergy  into  a  kind  undertakings,  and  who  received  the  fealty  of 
of  monkish  order.  The  universal  bishopric  to  j  the  subdued,  have  been  invested  with  a  most 
which  they  made  pretensions  was  in  some  I  surpassing  grandeur  ]  Under  his  directions, 
degree  analogous  to  the  power  of  an  abbot  of  I  and  in  his  name,  the  western  nations  poured 


Cluny,  who  was  the  only  abbot  in  his  order 
in  like  manner  these  pope  saspired  to  be  the 
only  bishops  of  the  entire  Church.  They 
made  no  scruple  of  grasping  at  the  adminis- 
tration of  all  the  dioceses,*  and  even  com- 
pared their  own  legates  with  the  ancient 
Roman  proconsuls!  Whilst  this  close-knit 
and  universally  diffused  order,  powerful 
through  its  wealth,  and  absolute  controllers 
of  all  the  social  relations,  was  moulding  itself 
to  the  sway  of  a  single  chief,  the  secular 
powers  were  sinking  into  ru.n.  Already  in 
the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century  I'rior 
Gerohus  made  bold  to  say :  "  It  will  come  at 
last  to  this,  that  the  golden  statue  of  the  king- 
dom will  be  utterly  demolished,  and  every 
great  empire  divided  into  tetrarchies ;  not  till 
then  will  the  church  stand  up  free  and  unop- 
pressed,  under  the  protection  of  the  great 
crowned  priest."f  It  wanted  but  a  little  that 
this  should  have  been  literally  fulfilled.  For 
in  truth,  which  was  the  more  powerful  in 
England  in  the  thirteenth  century,  Henry  III., 
or  tiiose  four-and-twenty  to  whom  for  a  long- 
period  the  administration  was  committed  ; 
which  of  the  two  in  Castile,  the  king  or  the 
altoshomes !  The  power  of  an  emperor 
seemed  almost  superfluous  from  tlie  time  that 
Frederick  ceded  the  essential  attributes  of 
sovereignty  to  the  princes  of  the  empire. 
Italy  and  Germany  were  filled  with  independ- 
ent powers.  Comprehensiveness  and  unity 
were  qualities  to  be  found  almost  exclusively 
in  tiie  power  of  the  pope.  Thus  it  came  to 
pass  that  the  independence  of  the  ecclesias- 


*  One  of  the  main  points  in  reference  to  which  I  will 
cite  a  passage  from  a  letter  of  Henry  IV.  to  Gregory. 
(Mansi,  Concil.  n.  collectio  xx.  471.)  Rectoreg  sanctae 
ecclesiEe,  viilel.  archiepiscopas,  episcopos,  presbyleros 
sicut  servos  pedibus  tuis  calcasti.  [You  have  trampled 
like  slaves  under  your  feet  the  guides  and  guardians  of 
the  Holy  Church  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  archbishops,  bishops, 
and  priests.]  We  see  that  in  this  the  pope  had  the  pub- 
1^  voice  in  his  favour.  In  quorum  conculcatione  tibi 
favorem  ab  ore  vulgi  comparasli.  [By  trampling  on 
Ihem  you  have  won  for  yourself  the  apnlauseof  the  mnb.] 

t  Schriick  cites  this  passage  in  his  Kirchengeschichie, 
Th.  27,  117. 

4 


themselves   forth    in    immense    colonies,   as 
though  they  had  been  a  single  people,  and 
sought  to  possess  the  whole  world.     It  cannot 
create  surprise  if  he  then  exercised  unlimited 
sway  in  his  internal  administration,  if  a  king 
held  his  dominions  of  him  as  a  fief,  if  a  king  of 
Aragon  transferred  his  to  the  apostle   Peter, 
and  if  Naples  was  actually  transferred  through 
the  pope's  means  into  the  hands  of  a  foreign 
family  !      Marvellous   physiognomy  of  those 
times,  which  no  one  has  yet  pourtrayed  in  its 
entire  fulness  and  truth  !  the  most  extraordi- 
nary  combination   of   internal    discord    and 
splendid   progress  without,   of  independence 
and  subjection,  of  the  spiritual  and  the  tempo- 
ral.    And  how  contradictory  a  character  is 
exhibited  even  in  the  piety  of  those  times ! 
Sometimes  she  retires  into  the  rugged  moun- 
tain, or  the  lonely  forest,  to  devote  all  her 
harmless  days  to   Divine  contemplation  and 
prayer ;  longing  for  death  she  already  denies 
herself  every  enjoyment  offered   by  life ;  or 
with  youthful  fervour  she  labours,  if  dwelling 
amongst  men,  to  body  forth  in  serene,  sublime, 
and  profoundly  suggestive  forms,  the  myste- 
ries she  dimly  surmises,  the  ideas  in  which 
she  has  her  being : — but  one  moment  more, 
and  we  behold  another  Piety,  that  which  in- 
vented the  Inquisition,  and  plied  the  fearful 
judgment  of  the  sword  against  heretics :  "  We 
have  spared,"  says  the  leader  of  the  expedi- 
tion against  the   Albigenses,   "neither  sex, 
nor  age,  nor  rank,  but  put  all  alike  to  the 
sword."     Sometimes  the  two  make  their  ap- 
pearance together.      At  sight  of  Jerusalem 
the  Crusaders  dismount  from  their  horses,  and 
bare  their  feet,  to  approach  the  holy  walls  in 
the   guise   of  true  pilgrims;   in  the  hottest 
fights  they  believe  themselves  aided  by  the 
visible  presence  of  saints  and  angels.     But  no 
sooner  have  they  scaled  the  walls,  than  they 
rush   forth  to  pillage   and   bloodshed;   they 
butchered   many  thousand   Saracens  on  the 
site  of  Solomon's  temple ;  they  burned   the 
Jews  in  their  synagogues,  and  they  sullied 


26 


EPOCHS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 


[iNTROD. 


with  blood  the  holy  threshold  before  which 
they  had  come  to  olter  adoration  ; — an  incon- 
sistency this,  that  pervaded  the  whole  nature 
of  that  religio- political  constitution,  and  stamp- 
it  with  its  visible  impress. 

Contrasts  between  the  fourteenth  andjifteenlh 
Centuries. 

At  certain  stages  of  history  we  feel  peculi- 
arly disposed,  if  we  may  so  express  it,  to  in- 
vestigate the  divine  plan  of  tlie  world's  gov- 
ernment, and  the  forces  at  work  for  the  edu- 
cation of  the  human  race. 

However  imperfect  may  have  been  the  de- 
velopment we  have  just  depicted,  it  was  ne- 
cessary towards  the  complete  naturalization 
of  Christianity  in  the  West.  It  was  no  easy 
matter  thoroughly  to  imbue  with  the  ideas  of 
Christianity  tiie  refractory  spirits  of  the  north- 
ern tribes,  engrossed  as  they  were  by  their 
traditional  superstitions.  It  needed  a  long 
predominance  of  the  spiritual  order  to  achieve 
full  hold  upon  the  German  temperament. 
The  same  means  served  likewise  to  effect  that 
close  union  of  Germanic  and  Latin  elements 
on  which  is  founded  the  character  of  Europe 
in  more  recent  times.  There  is  a  community 
in  the  modern  world  whicli  has  always  been 
regarded  as  a  main  foundation  of  its  progres- 
sive improvement  in  Church  and  State,  in 
manners,  social  intercourse,  and  literature. 
To  bring  this  about,  it  was  necessary  that  the 
western  nations  should  for  once  constitute,  as 
it  were,  a  single  ecclesiastico-political  state. 
But  this  was  the  phenomenon  of  a  moment 
only  in  the  great  course  of  things.  Ai\er  tiie 
conversion  was  fully  effected,  new  necessities 
made  themselves  felt. 

It  was  already  indicative  of  the  dawn  of  a 
new  epoch,  that  the  national  languages  arose 
everywhere  at  the  same  time.  Slowly  but 
unceasingly  they  insinuated  themselves  into 
the  various  branches  of  mental  activity  ;  step 
by  step  the  idiom  of  the  Church  gave  way  be- 
fore them.  Universality  retired,  and  in  its 
stead  appeared  a  new  species  of  partition 
founded  on  a  higher  principle.  Hitherto  the 
spirit  of  the  Church  had  been  predominant 
over  the  sense  of  nationality ;  the  latter, 
modified  and  transformed,  but  again  indivi- 
dualized, entered  on  a  new  career. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  all  human  pro- 
ceedings, though  often  they  deviate  from  the 
beaten  track,  and  fbllov/  a  route  less  open  to 
observation,  are  invariably  subject  to  one 
mighty  and  unintermitting  system  of  se- 
quences. The  papal  power  was  promoted  by 
the  earlier  circumstances  of  history,  its  fur- 
ther progress  was  opposed  by  the  new.  When 
the  nations  no  longer  needed  the  impulse  of 
the  ecclesiastical  power  to  the  extent  they 
had  done  before,  they  presently  began  to  ofier 
it  resistance.     They  felt  conscious  of  their 


sufficiency  for  self-control.  It  is  worth  while 
to  recal  to  mind  the  more  important  occur- 
rences that  betokened  the  existence  of  this 
feeling. 

It  was  the  French,  as  is  well  known,  who 
offered  the  first  decisive  resistance  to  the  as- 
sumptions of  the  popes.  They  set  themselves 
with  national  unanimity  against  the  bulls  of 
excommunication  of  Boniface  VIII. ;  all  the 
popular  authorities  declared,  in  documents 
amounting  to  several  hundreds  in  number, 
their  cordial  acquiescence  in  the  steps  taken 
by  Philip  le  Bel. 

The  Germans  followed  next.  When  the 
popes  began  once  more  to  assail  the  imperial 
authority  with  all  the  old  animosity,  although 
the  latter  was  now  far  from  possessing  its  for- 
mer importance,  and  when  they  enlisted  foreign 
influence  in  their  aid,  the  electors  assembled 
on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  on  their  stone  seats 
in  the  field  of  Bense,  to  adopt  measures  in 
common  for  maintaining  "  the  honor  and  dignity 
of  the  empire."  It  was  their  purpose  to  secure 
the  independence  of  the  empire  against  the 
encroachments  of  the  pope  by  a  solemn  reso- 
lution. This  followed  soon  after  in  due  form, 
with  the  sanction  of  all  orders  of  potentates, 
emperor,  princes,  and  electors  ;  with  one  com- 
mon consent  they  took  their  stand  against  the 
principles  of  the  papal  policy.* 

England  did  not  long  remain  in  the  back- 
ground. No  where  had  the  pope  possessed 
greater  influence  or  dealtmore  arbitrarily  with 
benefices:  but  when  at  last,  Edward  III.  refus- 
ed to  continue  the  payment  of  the  tribute,  to 
which  former  kings  had  made  themselves 
liable,  his  parliament  united  with  him,  and 
promised  him  their  support.  The  king  took 
measures  to  prevent  the  other  encroachments 
of  the  papal  power. 

Thus  we  see  nation  after  nation  evincing 
their  sense  of  self-reliince  and  unity  :  the 
public  administration  will  not  hear  of  any 
higher  authority;  the  popes  no  longer  find 
allies  in  the  middle  classes,  and  their  influence 
is  resolutely  repulsed  by  princes  and  legisla- 
tive bodies. 

In  addition  to  all  this,  the  papacy  itself  had 
fallen  into  weakness  and  disorder,  which  gave 
the  temporal  princes,  who  had  hitherto  sought 
only  how  they  might  secure  themselves,  an 
opportunity  of  even  visiting  it  with  reprisals. 
The  great  schism  occurred.  Observe  the 
consequences  that  followed.  For  a  long  time 
it  was  optional  with  the  princes  to  adhere  to 
the  one  pope  or  the  other,  as  political  conven- 
ience dictated — the  ecclesiastical  power  had 
no  means  within  itself  to  heal  the  breach,  the 
secular  power  alone  could  eflect  this; — when 
an  assembly  was  held  in  Constance  to  this  end, 
votes  were  taken  not  individually  as  before, 

*  Licet  juris  iitriusque.  See  Olenschliiger,  Staatsgps- 
chichle  des  riJm.  Kaisertliums  in  der  eislen  Hiilfie  des 
1  Iten  Jahrhunderts,  Nr.  63. 


iNTROD.]      CONTRASTS  BETWEEN  THE  14TH  AND  15TH  CENTURIES.  27 


but  by  the  four  nations:  it  was  left  to  eacfi 
nation  to  determine  in  previous  committee  the 
vote  it  was  to  give — they  unanimously  deposed 
a  pope — the  newly-elected  pontiff  was  obliged 
to  arrange  concordats  with  each  several  nation, 
which  were  of* serious  importance,  at  least  from 
the  precedent  they  afforded  ;  during  the  coun- 
cil of  Basle  and  the  new  schism  some  king- 
doms held  themselves  neutral — nothing  but 
the  direct  efforts  of  the  princes  succeeded  in 
repairing  this  second  rupture  in  the  church.* 
Nothing  could  have  occurred  more  conducive 
to  the  preponderance  of  the  temporal  power 
and  to  the  independence  of  the  several  states. 

And  now  the  pope  was  once  more  in  a  posi- 
tion of  exalted  splendour ;  he  was  universally 
obeyed;  the  emperor  still  held  his  stirrup; 
there  were  bishops  not  only  in  Hungary  but 
in  Germany  too,  who  styled  themselves  bishops 
by  the  grace  of  the  apostolic  see  ;f  the  Peter's 
penny  continued  to  be  collected  in  the  north ; 
innumerable  pilgrims  from  all  countries  visited 
the  threshold  of  the  apostles  on  the  occasion  of 
the  Jubilee  of  1450  ;  an  eye-witness  compares 
them  for  multitude  to  swarms  of  bees,  or  flocks 
of  migratory  birds;  and  yet  for  all  that,  the 
old  condition  of  thi^gs  was  far  from  existing 
any  longer.  ^ 

if  we  would  seek  a  proof  of  this,  we  have 
but  to  call  to  mind  the  enthusiasm  which  the 
march  to  the  holy  sepulchre  excited  in  former 
times,  and  to  compare  it  to  the  coldness  vi^ith 
which  every  appeal  in  favour  of  a  combined 
resistance  to  the  Turks  was  received  in  the 
fifleenth  century.  How  much  more  urgent 
was  the  necessity  of  protecting  one's  own  land 
against  the  danger  that  incessantly  hovered 
round  it  in  the  most  palpable  reality,  than  of 
securing  the  custody  of  the  holy  sepulchre  to 
Christian  hands  !  ^neas  Sylvius  and  the 
niinorite  Capistrano  exerted  their  utmost  elo- 
quence, the  one  before  the  diet,  the  other  in 
the  market-place  before  the  people;  and  histo- 
rians tell  of  the  impression  produced  by  them 
on  the  public  mind;  but  we  do  not  find  that 
any  one  took  up  arms  in  consequence.  What 
pains  the  popes  took!  One  equipped  a  fleet; 
anotlier,  Pius  II.,  the  same  yEneas  Sylvius, 
betook  himself,  weak  and  ill  as  he  was,  to  the 
harbour,  where,  if  none  others,  those  at  least 
who  were  in  most  immediate  danger,  should 
assemble  :  he  wished  to  be  present,  he  said,  to 
do  what  he  alone  might,  to  lift  up  his  hands 
to  God  during  the  fight  like  Moses ;  but  neither 
exhortations,  nor  entreaties,  nor  example  could 
avail  with  his  contemporaries.  The  youth- 
ful emotions  of  a  chivalric  Christendom  were 
by-gone  things :  no  pope  might  call  them 
back  again. 

Other  interests  filled  the  times.     It  was  the 


period  when  the  European  kingdoms  were 
finally  consolidating  themselves  after  long  in- 
ternal struggles.  The  central  authorities 
succeeded  in  overcoming  the  factions  that 
had  hitherto  jeopardized  the  throne,  and  in 
gathering  all  their  subjects  round  them  in  new 
and  stricter  bonds  of  allegiance:  and  very  soon 
the  papacy,  which  sought  to  lord  it  over  all, 
and  intruded  every  where,  came  to  be  regard- 
ed in  a  political  light. 

Monarchy  began  to  evince  far  higher  pre- 
tensions than  it  had  hitherto  done. 

The  notion  is  frequently  entertained,  that 
the  papacy  was  almost  unrestricted  till  the 
Reformation  ;  whereas  in  reality,  during  the 
fifleenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
centuries  the  several  states  had  appropriated 
to  themselves  no  small  portion  of  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  the  clergy. 

In  France  the  encroachments  of  the  Roman 
see  were  for  the  greater  part  prevented  by 
means  of  the  pragmatic  sanction,  which  for 
more  than  half  a  century  was  regarded  as  the 
palladium  of  the  kingdom.  True,  Louis  XI. 
from  a  spurious  tenderness  for  religion  (to 
which  he  was  the  more  prone,  inasmuch  as  he 
was  wanting  in  the  genuine  feeling),  was 
induced  to  be  compliant  on  this  score  ;  but  his 
successors  insisted  but  the  more  strongly  on 
this  their  fundamental  law.  Accordingly 
when  Francis  I.  signed  his  concordat  with 
Leo  X.,  it  was  asserted  that  the  court  of  Rome 
had  by  that  instrument  recovered  its  ancient 
paramount  influence.  Now  it  is  true  that  the 
pope  was  again  put  in  possession  of  the  an- 
nates :  in  return,  however,  he  was  obliged  to 
give  up  many  other  sources  of  income,  and 
what  was  the  most  important  thing  of  all,  he 
ceded  to  the  king  the  right  of  nomination  to 
the  bishoprics  and  all  the  higher  benefices. 
It  is  undeniable  that  the  Gallican  church  did 
lose  its  rights,  but  this  far  less  m  favour  of 
the  pope  than  of  the  king.  Leo  X.  made  little 
difficulty  of  giving  up  the  axiom  for  which 
Gregory  VII.  had  agitated  the  world. 

Matters  were  not  pushed  so  far  in  Germany. 
The  Basle  resolutions,  which  in  France  as- 
sumed the  form  of  the  pragmatic  sanction,* 
were  exceedingly  enervated  in  Germany, 
where  they  had  also  been  adopted  at  first,  by 
the  concordat  of  Vienna.     But  this  alteration 


*  Declaration  of  Pope  Felix  in  Georgius,  Vita  Nicolai 
v.,  p.  65. 

t  Constance,  Schwerin,  Fiinfkirchen.  Schrock,  Kir- 
chengeschichte,  Bd.  33,  p.  60. 


*  We  reco<rnize  the  connection  from  the  following 
words  of  jEneas  Sylvius:  "Propter  decrela  Basiiiensis 
concilii  inter  sedein  aposlolicam  et  nalionem  vestram 
dissidium  coepit,  cum  vos  ilia  proisus  tenenda  diceretis, 
apostolica  vero  sedes  omnia  rejiceret.  Ilaque  fuit  denique 
coinposilio  facta— per  quam  aliqua  ex  decretis  concilii 
prffidicti  recepta  videnlur,  aliqua  rejecta.  Mnei  Sylvii 
Epislola  ad  Mart  inumMaierum  contra  murmur  {rravaminis 
Germanic®  nationis  1457."  In  Muller's  Reiclistagsthea- 
tumi  unter  Friedrich  III.,  p.  604.  [Differences  arose  be- 
tween the  apostolic  see  and  your  nation,  respecting  the 
decrees  of  the  council  of  Basle,  you  alleging  that  Ihey 
should  be  absolutely  abided  by,  while  the  apostolic  see 
rejected  them  all.  So  at  last  a  compromise  was  made,  in 
consequence  of  which  some  of  the  decrees  of  the  said 
council  appear  to  have  been  retained,  and  others  rejected.] 


28 


EPOCHS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 


[iNTROD. 


itself  was  not  obtained  without  sacrifice  on  the 
part  of  Rome.  In  Germany  it  was  not  enough 
to  come  to  terms  with  the  head  of  the  realm ; 
it  was  necessary  to  gain  over  the  several  states. 
The  archbishops  of  Mainz  and  Trier  obtained 
the  right  of  disposing  of  the  vacant  benefices, 
even  in  the  months  appropriated  to  the  pope  : 
the  elector  of  Brandenburg  was  granted  the 
privilege  of  appointing  to  the  three  bishoprics 
in  his  dominions;  less  important  states  too, 
Strasburg,  Salzburg,  and  Metz,  obtained  con- 
cessions.* Yet  this  was  not  enough  to  allay 
the  general  opposition.  In  the  year  1487  the 
entire  empire  resisted  a  tithe  which  the  pope 
sought  to  impose,  and  defeated  it.f  In  1500, 
the  imperial  government  accorded  the  papal 
legates  only  a  third  of  the  produce  of  indul- 
gences, reserving  the  other  two-thirds  to  itself 
to  be  devoted  to  the  war  against  the  Turks. 

In  England,  without  any  new  concordat,  and 
without  a  pragmatic  sanction,  concessions 
were  obtained  far  surpassing  those  of  Con- 
stance. Henry  VII.  possessed  the  undisputed 
right  of  nominating  to  the  episcopal  sees;  nor 
was  he  content  with  holding  the  promotion  of 
the  clergy  in  his  own  hands,  but  he  also  appro- 
priated half  the  annates  to  his  own  use.  When 
Wolsey  subsequently,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  had  the  dignity  of  legate 
conferred  on  him  in  addition  to  his  other  offi- 
ces, the  temporal  and  spiritual  powers  were  to 
a  certain  extent  amalgamated  together:  before 
ever  a  thought  of  Protestantism  was  enter- 
tained in  the  kingdom,  a  very  arbitrary  confis- 
cation of  numerous  convents  had  taken  place. 

Meanwhile  the  southern  countries  and  king- 
doms did  not  remain  behindhand.  The  king 
of  Spain  too  possessed  the  right  of  nominating- 
bishops.  The  crown  with  which  the  grand 
masterships  of  the  spiritual  orders  were  con- 
nected, which  had  established  and  which 
swayed  the  inquisition,  enjoyed  a  host  of 
ecclesiastical  attributes  and  immunities.  Not 
unfrequently  did  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  resist 
the  papal  functionaries. 

In  like  manner  as  the  Spanish,  the  Portu- 
guese spiritual  orders  of  St.  Jacob,  Avis,  and 
Christ,  which  had  inherited  the  wealth  of  the 
Templars,  were  in  the  patronage  of  the  crown. | 
King  Emanuel  obtained  from  Leo  X.  not  only 
a  third  of  the  cruciata,  but  also  a  tenth  of  the 
church  property,  with  the  express  right  of 
disposing-  of  them  at  his  good  pleasure,  and  in 
accordance  with  desert. 

In  every  direction,  in  short,  throughout  all 
Christendom,  in  the  south  as  well  as  in  the 


*  Schrock's  Kirchensesch.  Bd.  32,  p.  173.  Eichhorn's 
Staats-und  Kedusgeschic.hte.    Bd.  III.  §  47-2,  n.  c. 

i  Miiller's  Roichslheatnim,  Verst.  VI.,  ]).  130. 

t  Inslruuione  plena  delle  Cosp  di  Poi'losallo  al  Coadju- 
tordi  BergaiiiO,  numiodfslinato  inPonosallo:  MS.  among 
the  Inforniationi  Politithe  in  Ihe  royal  library  of  Berlin, 
vol.  xii.  Lpo  X.  granted  this  pationage  of  the  orders ;  ton- 
tentandosi  il  re  di  pagare  grandissinia  lompositione  di 
dello  pationato.  [the  king  consenting  to  pay  a  very  ample 
composition  for  the  same.] 


north,  was  manifested  a  common  tendency  to 
contract  the  power  of  the  pope.  What  the 
secular  power  particularly  coveted  was  a  par- 
ticipation in  the  ecclesiastical  revenues,  and 
the  right  of  bestowing  church  benefices  and 
offices.  The  popes  offered  no  strenuous  resist- 
ance. They  sought  to  uphold  what  they  could 
of  their  privileges,  and  quietly  ceded  the  rest. 
It  was  said  of  Ferdinand,  King  of  Naples,  by 
Lorenzo  Medici,  on  the  occasion  of  a  diflfer- 
ence  between  the  former  and  the  Roman  see: 
"He  will  make  no  difficulty  of  promising,  but 
by  and  by  when  his  obligations  should  be  ful- 
filled, he  will  meet  with  indulgence,  as  kings 
invariably  do  at  the  hands  of  the  popes.*" 
For  this  spirit  of  opposition  had  made  it  way 
even  into  Italy  :  we  are  told  of  Lorenzo  Medici 
himself,  that  in  this  matter  he  followed  the 
example  of  the  greater  sovereigns,  and  paid 
regard  to  so  much,  and  no  more,  of  the  pope's 
commands,  as  he  had  a  mind.f 

It  would  be  erroneous  to  look  on  these 
efforts  as  but  so  many  arbitrary  demonstra- 
tions of  strength.  The  ecclesiastical  tendency 
had  ceased  so  thoroughly  to  sway  the  vital 
habits  of  the  European  nations  as  had  been 
the  case  in  past  times :  the  development  of 
national  feelings,  and  the  consolidation  and 
perfectioning  of  state  policy  were  advancing 
rapidly,  and  assuming  an  important  aspect. 
Hence  the  relation  between  the  spiritual  and 
the  temporal  powers  demanded  a  -^thorough 
recon-struction  ;  and  truly  a  great  change  had 
become  apparent  in  the  popes  themselves. 


CHAPTER  IL 


THE  CHURCH  AND  ITS  TERRITORIES  IN  THE 
BEGINNING  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 

Extension  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Dominions. 

Whatever  judgment  may  be  passed  on  the 
popes  of  the  earlier  times,  certain  it  is  they 
had  always  grand  interests  in  view — the  care 
of  an  oppressed  religion,  the  struggle  with 
paganism,  the  propagation  of  Christianity 
among  the  northern  nations,  the  establishment 
of  an  independent  hierarchal  power.  Grand 
designs  and  achievements  nurture  the  dignity 
of  man's  nature,  and  these  their  efforts  upheld 
the  greatness  of  the  popes  at  a  loftier  pitch. 
But  now  those  times  were  gone  by,  and  with 
them  the  tendencies  they  had  occasioned  :  the 
schism  was  allayed ;  and  the  unpalatable 
conviction  was  to  be  digested,  that  no  hope 
remained  of  effecting  any  combined  system  of 

*  Lorenzo  to  John  de  Laufredinis,  Fabroni  Vita  Laurentii 
Medicii  II.,  p.  3t;2. 

t  Antonius  Gallus  de  rebus  Genuensibus;  Muratori 
Scriplt.  R.  It.  xxiii.  p.  281,  says  of  Lorenzo:  Regum  nia- 
joruiniiue  principum  contumacem  licentiam  adversus 
Komanam  ecclesiam  sequebatur  de  juribus  pontificis  nisi 
quod  ei  videretur  nihil  permittens. 


iNTROD.]  EXTENSION  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  DOMINIONS. 


29 


operations  against  the  Turks.  The  result 
was,  that  the  head  of  the  church  applied  him- 
self especially,  and  more  decidedly  than  at 
any  previous  time,  to  the  interests  of  her  tem- 
poral dominions,  and  devoted  all  his  efforts  to 
their  furtherance. 

This  course  was  in  accordance  with  what 
had  long  been  the  characteristic  temper  of 
the  age.  "  Formerly,"  it  had  been  said  by  a 
speaker  in  the  council  of  Basle,  "  I  was  of  opi- 
nion that  it  would  be  well  were  the  temporal 
power  wholly  dissevered  from  the  spiritual. 
But  now  I  have  learned  that  virtue  without 
strength  is  ridiculous,  that  the  Roman  pope, 
without  the  hereditary  possessions  of  the 
church,  would  be  but  the  lackey  of  kings  and 
princes."  This  speaker,  who  had  influence 
enough  in  the  assembly  to  determine  the  elec- 
tion of  pope  Felix,  declares  it  not  very  objec- 
tionable that  a  pope  should  have  sons,  who 
might  uphold  him  against  tyrants.* 

This  matter  was  subsequently  regarded  in 
another  light  in  Italy.  It  was  looked  on  as 
a  thing  of  course  that  a  pope  should  pi-omote 
the  interests  of  his  own  family,  and  he  would 
have  been  censured  if  he  had  not  done  so. 
"Others,"  says  Lorenzo  Medici,  writing  to 
Innocent  VIII.,  "  have  not  so  long  postponed 
their  efforts  to  become  popes,  and  have  given 
themselves  little  concern  to  evince  such  deli- 
cacy and  forbearance  as  your  holiness  has 
manifested  for  such  a  length  of  time.  Now  is 
your  holiness  not  only  excused  before  God  and 
man,  but  one  might  perhaps  even  venture  to 
blame  this  punctilious  conduct,  and  ascribe  it 
to  another  motive.  Zeal  and  duty  force  it 
upon  me  as  a  point  of  conscience  to  remind 
your  holiness,  that  no  man  is  immortal,  that  a 
pope's  importance  is  just  what  he  himself 
chooses  to  make  it ;  he  cannot  make  his 
dignity  hereditary ;  nothing  can  he  call  his  own 
but  the  honours  and  the  benefactions  he  has 
bestowed  on  his  kindred. "f  Such  was  the 
counsel  given  by  the  man  who  was  regarded 
as  the  wisest  in  Italy.  He  was  certainly  an 
interested  party  ;  he  had  married  his  daughter 
to  the  pope's  son ;  but  he  would  never  have 
ventured  to  express  himself  so  roundly  and 
unreservedly,  had  not  the  views  he  propounded 
been  those  admitted  currently  and  without 
question  among  the  higher  classes. 

There  is  an  intimate  correspondence  be- 
tween the  two  contemporaneous  facts,  that  the 
European  states  despoiled  the  pope  of  a  por- 
tion of  his  privileges,  and  that  the  latter  began 
to  apply  himself  to  purely  secular  enterprises. 
His  primary  quality,  in  his  own  eyes,  was  that 
of  an  Italian  prince. 

No  great  length  of  time  had  elapsed  since 
the  Florentines   had   overcome   their  neigh- 


*  See  an  extract  from  this  speech  in  Schrock,  vol. 
xxxii.  p.  90. 

t  A  letter  of  Lorenzo's,  without  date,  but  apparently  of 
the  year  1489,  since  it  speaks  of  the  fifth  year  of  Innocent 
VIII.    Fabroui  Vita  Laurentii  II.,  p.  390. 


hours,  and  the  house  of  Medici  had  established 
its  authority.  The  power  of  the  house  of 
Sforza  in  Milan,  of  that  of  Aragon  in  Naples, 
and  of  the  Venetians  in  Lombardy,  had  all 
been  achieved  and  secured  within  the  memory 
of  the  existing  generation.  Might  not  a  pope 
too  fairly  entertain  the  hope  of  founding  a  still 
greater  inalienable  sovereignty  in  the  domains 
which  were  regarded  as  the  hereditary  pos- 
sessions of  the  church,  but  v/hich  were  actually 
under  the  sway  of  a  great  nimiber  of  indepen- 
dent rulers] 

Pope  Sixtus  IV.  was  the  first  who  delibe- 
rately, and  with  effect,  applied  himself  to  the 
purpose ;  Alexander  IV.  followed  it  up  with 
extreme  vigour  and  extraordinary  success; 
Julius  II.  gave  the  scheme  an  unexpected  turn 
with  permanent  results. 

Sixtus  IV.  (1471 — 1484)  conceived  the  plan 
of  founding  a  principality  for  his  nephew  Giro- 
lamo  Riario  in  the  fair  and  fertile  plains  q& 
Romagna.  The  other  Italian  powers  were 
already  contending  for  the  preponderance  in 
those  regions  or  for  their  possession  ;  and  if 
the  question  had  been  one  of  right,  the  pope's 
title  was  manifestly  better  than  that  of  any  of 
them  :  but  he  was  far  from  being  a  match  for 
them  in  political  strength  and  in  warlike  re- 
sources. He  did  not  scruple  to  make  his 
spiritual  power  (in  its  nature  and  intention 
exalted  above  all  earthly  purposes)  subservient 
to  his  worldly  views,  and  to  plunge  it  into  all 
the  temporary  intrigues  in  which  these  invol- 
ved him.  As  the  Medici  chiefly  stood  in  his 
way,  he  mingled  in  the  dissensions  of  Florence, 
and  drew  down  upon  himself,  as  is  well  known, 
the  suspicion  that  he  had  been  privy  to  the 
conspiracy  of  the  Pazzi,  which  led  to  their 
murderous  attempt  before  the  altar  of  a  cathe- 
dral— that  he  had  been  accessary  to  this — he, 
the  father  of  the  faithful  !  When  the  Vene- 
tians ceased  to  favour  the  pretensions  of  his 
nephew,  as  they  had  long  done,  the  pope  was 
not  content  with  abandoning  them  to  their 
fate  in  a  war  to  which  he  himself  had  impelled 
them  ;  but  even  went  so  far  as  to  excommuni- 
cate them  for  continuing  it.*  He  acted  no 
less  arbitrarily  in  Rome ;  he  persecuted  the 
Colonnas,  the  opponents  of  the  Riarios,  with 
savage  ferocity,  wrested  Marino  from  them, 
and  caused  the  house  of  the  prothonotary  of 
Colonna  to  be  taken  by  storm,  himself  made 
prisoner  and  executed.  The  victim's  mother 
went  to  St.  Celso  in  Banchi,  where  the  corpse 
lay,  raised  the  severed  head  by  the  locks,  and 
cried  :  "  This  is  the  head  of  my  son ;  this  is 
the  faith  and  honour  of  the  pope.  He  pro- 
mised if  we  surrendered  Marino  to  him,  that 


*  The  Conimentarii  di  Marino  Sanuto  on  the  Ferrara 
war  were  printed  in  Venice  in  1S29  ;  at  p.  56,  he  treats  of 
the  pope's  desertion.  He  cites  the  words  of  the  Venetian 
ambassador:  "  Tulti  vedrannoavernoi  cominciato  qucsta 
guerra  di  volonta  del  papa:  egli  per6  si  mosse  a  roinpere 
la  lega."  [It  is  notorious  that  we  commenced  this  war  at 
the  pope's  desire :  but  he  broke  the  league.] 


30      THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY.       [introd. 


he  would  release  my  son ;  he  has  now  got 
Marino ;  'my  son  too  is  in  our  hands,  but  dead  ! 
Look  here,  and  see  how  the  pope  keeps  his 
plighted  word."* 

Such  were  the  means  by  which  Sixtus  IV. 
achieved  the  victory  over  his  enemies,  foreign 
and  domestic.  He  did  actually  succeed  in 
making  his  nephew  lord  of  Imola  and  Forli, 
but  it  cannot  be  questioned  that,  however  his 
temporal  splendour  gained  thereby,  his  spiri- 
tual influence  lost  infinitely  more.  An  attempt 
was  made  to  assemble  a  council  against  him. 

The  time  however  was  at  hand  when  the 
deeds  of  Sixtus  were  to  be  outdone.  Not  long 
after  him  Alexander  VI.  ascended  the  papal 
chair. 

Alexander  had,  all  his  days,  known  no  other 
principle  of  conduct  than  to  enjoy  the  world, 
to  live  in  luxury,  and  to  satisty  his  lust  and 
ambition.  It  seemed  to  him  arriving  at  the 
^ummit  of  bliss  when  he  was  at  last  invested 
^ith  the  highest  spiritual  dignity.  Old  as  he 
was,  this  feeling  seemed  daily  to  impart  to 
him  fresh  youth.  No  irksome  thought  was 
allowed  for  one  night  to  trouble  his  repose. 
His  only  thought  was,  how  to  compass  his  own 
advantages  and  heap  pomp  and  honours  on  his 
sons  :  never  did  he  seriously  devote  himself  to 
any  other  purpose.f 

This  was  the  sole  principle  at  the  bottom  of 
all  his  political  alliances  which  had  so  great 
influence  on  the  affairs  of  the  world  :  how  a 
pope  was  disposed  to  marry  his  children,  endow 
and  enrich  them,  was  a  weighty  consideration 
in  determining  all  the  political  relations  of 
Europe. 

Cffisar  Borgia,  Alexander's  son,  trod  in  the 
footsteps  of  Riario.  He  began  at  the  self-same 
point,  and  his  very  first  movement  was  to  drive 
Riario's  widow  from  Imola  and  Forli.  He 
held  on  his  course  with  daring  contempt  of 
consequences,  and  what  the  other  had  but 
attempted  or  but  begun,  he  carried  out  to  the 
end.  Let  us  observe  the  mode  of  proceeding 
he  adopted  :  it  may  be  described  in  a  few 
words.  The  ecclesiastical  state  had  hitherto 
been  kept  divided  by  the  factions  of  the  Guelfs 
and  Ghibellines,  the  Orsini  and  the  Colonnas. 
Like  the  other  papal  families,  and  as  Sixtus 
IV.  for  example  had  done,  Alexander  and  his 
Bon  allied  themselves  at  first  with  one  of  the 
two,  the  Orsini  or  Guelf  party.  With  the 
help  of  this  alliance  they  speedily  succeeded 
in  mastering  all  his  enemies.  They  drove  the 
Sforzas  from  Pesaro,  the  Malatestas  from 
Rimini,  and  the  Manfreddi  from  Faenza  ;  they 
seized  those  powerful  and  strongly  fortified 
towns,  and  presently  founded  them  into  a 
powerful  lordship.  No  sooner  had  they  ad- 
vanced so  far,  no  sooner  had  they  rid  them- 
selves of  their   enemies,    than   they   turned 


*  Alegretto  Alegrelti :  diari  Sanesi,  j).  817. 
+  Relatione  di  Polo  Capello,  1500.  MS.    (See  Appendix 
No.  III. 


against  their  friends.  In  this  respect  there 
was  a  marked  difference  between  the  Borgias 
and  their  predecessors,  the  latter  of  whom  had 
always  been  trammelled  by  the  party  to  which 
they  had  attached  themselves.  Cassar  Borgia, 
without  hesitation  or  compunction,  assailed 
his  own  confederates.  The  duke  of  Urbino, 
who  had  hitherto  aided  in  his  aggrandisement, 
found  himself  suddenly,  and  without  the  least 
warning,  entangled  in  his  toils,  and  with  ditfi- 
culty  escaped,  a  hunted  fugitive  in  his  own 
domains.*  Upon  this,  Vitelli,  Baglioni,  and 
the  heads  of  the  Orsini  determined  to  show 
him  at  least  that  they  were  capable  of  resist- 
ing him.  He  on  his  part  said :  "  It  is  right 
and  fit  to  betray  those  who  are  the  masters  of 
all  treachery ;  he  decoyed  them  with  delibe- 
rate, profoundly  calculated  cruelty  into  the 
trap  he  had  laid  for  them,  and  mercilessly  des- 
patched them.  Atler  he  had  tamed  both  par- 
ties in  this  fashion,  he  stepped  into  their 
places;  gathered  their  adherents,  the  inferior 
nobility,  round  him,  and  took  them  into  his 
pay  :  he  kept  the  territories  he  had  seized  in 
subjection  by  force  of  severity  and  terror. 

And  thus  Alexander  saw  his  warmest  wish 
fulfilled,  the  barons  of  the  land  annihilated, 
and  his  house  in  train  to  found  a  great  heredi- 
tary principality  in  Italy.  But  he  soon  had  to 
feel  practically  of  what  the  aroused  passions  are 
capable.  Csesar  would  not  brook  the  partici- 
pation of  his  power  with  any  relation  or  fav- 
ourite. He  had  caused  his  brother,  who  stood 
in  his  way,  to  be  murdered  and  thrown  into 
the  river.  He  had  his  brother-in-law  assailed 
on  the  very  steps  of  the  palace.f  His  wife 
and  his  sister  nursed  the  wounded  man;  the 
latter  dressed  his  food  with  her  own  hands  for 
fear  of  poison :  the  pope  had  a  guard  set  on 
his  house  to  protect  his  son-in-law  from  his 
son  :  Csesar  mocked  at  all  these  precautions, 
saying,  "  What  has  failed  a.t  noon  may  easily 
be  done  in  the  evening."  When  the  prince 
was  now  convalescent,  he  burst  into  his  cham- 
ber, turned  out  the  wife  and  the  sister,  called 
in  his  bravo,  and  had  his  unfortunate  brother- 
in-law  strangled.  For  as  to  his  father,  on 
whose  life  and  station  he  only  looked  as  means 

*  Many  other  interesting  particulars  relative  to  Caesar 
Borgia  are  to  be  found  tliroughout  the  fourth  volume  of 
MSTChronicleofSaints;  some  letters  of  his  too  are  given  ; 
one  to  Venice,  Dec.  Io02,  and  one  to  the  pope,  in  which 
he  subscribes  himself:  "  Vrx.  Stis.  humilissuiius  servus 
el  devotissima  factura." 

t  Diario  de  Sebastiano  di  Branca  de  Telini.  MS.  bibl. 
Barb.  n.  110-3,  relates  atrocities  of  Csesar's  such  as  the  fol- 
lowing :  II  prinio,  il  fratello  che  si  chianiava  lo  duca  di 
Gandia,  lo  lece  buttar  in  flume :  fece  ammazzare  lo  cog- 
nato,  che  era  figlio  del  duca  di  Calabria,  era  lo  piu  bello 
jovane  che  mai  si  vedesse  in  Roma:  ancora  fece  ammaz- 
zare Vitellozzodella  ciiti  di  Castello,  et  era  lopiu  valen- 
thuoino  che  fusse  in  quel  tempo.  [First  he  caused  his 
brother,  who  was  named  the  duke  di  Gandia,  to  be  thrown 
into  the  river:  he  had  his  broiher-in-law  assassinated, 
who  was  the  son  of  the  duke  of  Calabria,  and  the  hand- 
somest youth  ever  seen  in  Rome  :  furthermore,  he  caused 
the  assassination  of  Vitellozzo  of  the  city  of  Castello,  the 
most  gallant  man  of  that  day.]  He  calls  the  lord  of 
Faenza  lo  piu  bello  figlio  del  mondo,  the  handsomest 
youth  in  the  world.    (See  Appendix  No.  IX.) 


iNTROD.]         EXTENSION  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  DOMINIONS. 


31 


towards  his  own  aggrandisement,  he  had  not 
a  thought  of  treating  him  in  other  respects 
with  the  least  consideration.  He  slew  Alex- 
ander's favourite  Peroto  beneath  the  pontifical 
mantle,  as  the  victim  clung  close  to  his  patron  : 
the  blood  spurted  in  the  pope's  face. 

For  a  time  Csesar  had  Rome  and  the  eccle- 
siastical states  in  his  power.  Ho  was  a  man 
of  surpassing  beauty  ;  so  strong  that  in  the 
bull-fight  he  would  strike  off  the  bull's  head 
at  a  smgle  blow  ;  liberal-handed,  not  without 
traits  of  magnanimity;  voluptuous,  bloody; 
how  did  Rome  tremble  at  his  name  !  Cajsar 
needed  gold  and  had  enemies — every  night 
the  corpses  of  murdered  men  were  ibund  in 
the  streets.  Every  man  held  his  breath  :  for 
there  was  none  who  might  not  fear  that  his 
own  turn  would  come  next.  Those  whom 
violence  could  not  reach,  were  taken  off  by 
poison.* 

'I'liere  was  but  one  spot  on  the  earth  where 
such  deeds  were  possible ;  that  spot  alone, 
where  unlimited  temporal  power  and  the  high- 
est spiritual  authority  were  united  in  the 
same  individual.  This  spot  Cffisar  occupied. 
Even  monstrosity  has  its  perfection.  Many 
sons  and  nephews  of  the  popes  have  attempted 
similar  things,  but  none  ever  carried  them  to 
such  a  pitch.     Csesar  was  a  virtuoso  in  crime. 

VV'as  it  not,  from  the  very  first,  one  of  the 
most  essential  tendencies  of  Christianity  to 
render  such  violence  impossible  !  And  Chris- 
tianity itself,  and  the  position  of  the  supreme 
head  of  the  Church,  were  to  serve  to  call  it 
forth. 

In  truth  it  needed  not  then  that  a  Luther 
should  by  and  by  arise  to  denounce  in  such 
deeds  the  direct  opp^ite  of  Christianity.  The 
cry  arose  at  the  very  time,  that  the  pope  was 
preparing  the  way  tor  antichrist,  that  his  care 
was  devoted  to  the  fulfiment  of  the  satanic, 
not  of  the  heavenly  kingdom. f 

We  will  not  follow  in  detail  the  particulars 
of  Alezander's  history.  He  once  purposed, 
as  is  but  too  notorious,  to  take  off  one  of  the 
richest  cardinals  by  poison ;  but  the  latter 
succeeded  by  bribes,  promises,  and  entreaties, 
in  gaining  over  the  pope's  chief  cook;  the 
confection  which  had  been  prepared  for  the 
cardinal  was  set  before  the  pope,  and  he  died 
himself  of  the  poison  he  had  intended  for  an- 
olher.l  After  his  death  a  far  difierent  result 
arose  out  of  his  schemes  from  that  he  had 
contemplated. 

*  To  the  miillitude  of  notices  extant  on  this  head.  I 
have  added  something  from  Paolo  Capello.  (App.  No. 
in.)  Upon  all  remarkable  occasions  of  dealh,  men 
thought  immediately  of  poisoning  by  the  pope.  See  a 
Jptler  in  Sanuto  respecting  the  death  of  the  cardinal  of 
Verona :  Si  judica  sia  stato  atosicato  per  tuorli  le  faculti, 
perche  avunti  che  spirasse  el  papa  mando  giuiniie  attorno 
la  ca.xa.  [It  is  thought  he  was  poisoned  in  order  to  seize 
his  wealth,  because  before  he  died  the  pope  set  guards 
round  the  house.] 

t  A  loose  sheet  MS.  out  of  Sanuto's  Chronicle. 

t  Successo  di  la  morte  di  papa  Alessandro.  MS.  (See 
Appendix  No.  IV.) 


It  was  always  the  hope  of  the  papal  families 
to  acquire  for  themselves  hereditary  rank  and 
possessions ;  but  it  usually  happened,  that 
with  the  life  of  the  pope  fell  the  power  of  his 
kindred,  and  their  greatness  set  as  it  had 
risen.  If  the  Venetians  looked  on  unmoved 
at  Caesar  Borgia's  doings,  though  there  were 
indeed  other  reasons  for  this,  yet  one  of  the 
most  cogent  consisted  in  the  observation  of 
this  habitual  course  of  things.  They  judged, 
"it  was  after  all  but  a  fire  of  straw;  after 
Alexander's  death  things  would  return  of 
themselves  to  the  old  course.*" 

But  this  time  they  were  deceived  in  their 
expectations.  A  pope  succeeded,  who  indeed 
made  it  his  task  to  appear  the  very  opposite 
to  the  Borgias,  but  who,  for  that  very  reason, 
was  in  a  condition  to  carry  out  their  schemes: 
only  he  did  so  by  a  different  route.  Pope  Ju- 
lius II.  (1503 — 1513)  enjoyed  the  inestimable 
advantage  of  finding  opportunity  to  satisfy 
the  pretensions  of  his  family  by  peaceable 
means,  and  he  provided  for  them  the  hermi- 
tage of  Urbino.  Thereupon  he  was  at  liberty, 
unmolested  by  the  importunities  of  his  de- 
pendents, to  gratify  that  innate  passion  of  his, 
now  inflamed  by  the  circumstances  of  the 
times  and  by  the  consciousness  of  his  dignity, 
the  passion  for  war  and  conquest — but  that  on 
behalf  of  the  Church  and  for  the  benefit  of 
the  papal  see  itself.  Other  popes  had  sought 
to  provide  principalities  for  tlieir  nephews  or 
their  sons:  he  set  his  whole  ambition  on  en- 
larging the  domains  of  the  Church.  He  must 
be  regarded  as  their  founder. 

He  found  the  whole  territory  in  the  utmost 
confusion.  All  who  had  been  able  to  escape 
from  CEBsar  by  flight,  were  now  returned,  the 
Orsini  and  Colonna,  the  Vitelli  and  Baglioni, 
Vaani,  Malatesta  and  Montefeltri ;  the  fac- 
tions were  on  foot  again  in  every  part  of  the 
country,  and  they  fought  out  their  feuds  in 
the  very  Borgo  of  Rome.  Julius  has  been 
compared  to  Virgil's  Neptune  lifting  his  se- 
rene head  above  the  billows  and  calming  their 
fury  with  a  glance. f  He  was  dexterous 
enough  to  rid  himself  of  CaE?sar  Borgia,  and 
to  possess  himself  of  his  castles  and  his  duke- 
dom. He  contrived  to  keep  the  lesser  barons 
under  curb,  a  task  rendered  easy  to  his  hand 
by  Cssar's  practices:  he  was  cautious  not  to 
set  over  them  cardinals  whose  avarice  might 
cause  a  fresh  outbreak  of  the  old  refractory 
spirit  ;|  as  for  the  more  powerful  who  refused 

*  Priuli  Cronaca  di  Venezia.  MS.  Del  resto  poco  sti- 
mavano,  conoscendo  che  questo  acquislo  che  all'  hora 
faceva  il  duca  Valentinois  sarebbe  foco  di  paglia  che  poco 
dura. 

t  Tomaso  Inghirami,  in  Fea,  Notizie  intorno  Rafaele 
Sanzio  da  Urbino,  p.  57. 

t  Machiavelli  (Principe,  c.  xi.)  is  not  the  only  one  who 
reiiiarlfs  this:  in  Jovius,  Vita  Pompeji  Colonnae,  p.  140, 
the  Roman  barons  under  Julius  II.  complain,  principes 
urbis  familias  soliio  purpurei  galeri  honore  peitinaci  pon- 
tificum  livore  privari ;  [that  the  chief  families  of  the  city 
were  deprived  of  the  wonted  honours  of  the  purple  by 
the  obstinate  malevolence  of  the  pontifls.] 


32  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,  [introd. 


him  obedience,  he  grappled  with  them  without 
parley.  He  reduced  that  Baglione,  who  had 
again  mastered  Perugia,  within  the  bounds  of 
lawful  subjection.  John  Bontivoglio  was  com 
pelled  in  advanced  age,  witliout  the  power  of 
resistance,  to  render  up  the  sumptuous  palace 
he  had  founded  in  Bologna,  with  its  inscrip- 
tion in  which  he  had  too  hastily  declared  the 
fuhiess  of  his  good  fortune :  those  two  very 
powerful  cities  acknowledged  the  immediate 
authority  of  tiie  pontifical  chair. 

Yet  with  all  this,  Julius  was  for  a  long  time 
far  from  the  goal  in  view.  The  Venetians 
were  in  possession  of  the  greater  part  of  the 
coasts  of  the  ecclesiastical  state ;  they  were 
by  no  means  disposed  to  yield  them  up  freely, 
and  they  were  greatly  an  overmatch  for  the 
pope  in  war.  He  could  not  shut  his  eyes  to 
the  fact  that  his  assailing  them  would  be  the 
signal  for  a  general  commotion  of  all  Europe. 
Ought  he  to  risk  this! 

Old  as  Julius  already  was,  keenly  as  he 
had  experienced  a  long  life's  vicissitudes  of 
good  and  evil  fortune,  and  the  hardships  of 
war  and  exile,  aggravated  by  the  consequen- 
ces of  intemperance  and  debauchery — he  yet 
knew  not  what  it  was  to  entertain  fear  or 
irresolution  ;  even  in  his  advanced  years  he 
possessed  that  grand  quality  of  manhood,  in- 
domitable courage.  He  made  but  small  ac- 
count of  the  princes  of  his  time,  thinking  he 
could  overlook  them  all :  to  the  very  tumult 
of  a  general  war  did  he  look  with  most  hopes 
of  gain:  his  only  care  was  to  be  always  in 
command  of  money,  so  as  to  seize  the  favour- 
able opportunity  with  all  his  might:  he  de- 
sired, as  was  happily  said  by  a  Venetian,  to 
be  lord  and  master  of  the  game  of  the  world  ;* 
he  waited  the  fulfilment  of  his  desires  with 
impatience,  but  he  kept  them  confined  to  his 
own  breast.  If  we  inquire  what  was  the  cir- 
cumstance that  enabled  him  to  assume  his 
peculiar  attitue,  we  find  it  was,  above  all 
things,  that  he  was  free  to  avow  his  natural 
tendencies,  nay  openly  to  profess  them  and 
make  them  his  boast.  The  re-establishment 
of  the  state  of  the  Church  was  regarded  by 
the  world  of  that  day  as  a  glorious  enterprise, 
it  even  considered  it  a  religious  one  :  all  the 
pope's  steps  were  directed  towards  this  one 
end,  this  was  the  idea  that  animated  all  his 
thoughts;  they  were,  if  I  may  so  express 
myself,  steeped  in  it.  As  he  now  engaged 
in  the  boldest  operations,  staking  every  thing 
on  the  upshot  of  the  game,  (he  took  the  field 

*  Sommarlo  de  la  relation  (li  Domenigo  Trivixan.  MS. 
"II  fjapa  vol  esser  il  doaiinus  et  maislro  del  joi-.ho  del 
niundo."  There  also  exists  a  second  report  of  Polo  Ca- 
pello  of  the  year  1510,  whence  a  few  notices  are  inserted 
m  the  Appendix,  (No.  V.)  Franceso  Vettori,  Sommario 
deir  istoria  d'ltalia,  MS.  says  of  him  :  Julio  piu  fortxinato 
che  pntdente,  e  piu  animoso  clie  forte,  ma  ambitio.so  e 
desideroso  di  grandezze  oUra  a  rnodo.  [Julius  was  more 
fortunate  than  prudent,  and  more  courageous  than  strong, 
but  ambitious  and  desirous  of  grandeur  to  an  immoderate 
degree.] 


in  person,  and  was  drawn  into  Mirandola, 
which  he  had  conquered,  over  the  frozen 
ditches  and  through  the  breach,)  as  the  most 
decided  mischance  could  not  make  him  give 
way,  but  only  seemed  to  waken  new  resources 
within  him,  he  was  successful  accordingly. 
He  not  only  recovered  all  his  own  places  from 
the  Venetians,  but  in  the  hot  war  that  ensued, 
he  made  himself  master  at  last  of  Parma,  Pi- 
acenza,  and  even  Reggio,  and  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  a  power  such  as  never  pope  before 
him  has  possessed.  The  most  beautiful  of 
lands  from  Piacenza  to  Terracina  belonged  to 
him.  He  had  always  sought  to  appear  in  the 
character  of  a  liberator  ;  he  dealt  benignantly 
and  wisely  with  his  new  subjects,  and  ac- 
quired their  good  will  and  attachment.  Not 
without  alarm  did  the  rest  of  the  world  see 
so  many  warlike  populations  obedient  to  a 
pope.  Time  was,  says  Machiavel,  there  was 
no  baron  so  petty  who  did  not  despise  the  pa- 
pal power ;  now  it  is  looked  on  with  respect 
by  a  king  of  France. 

Growth  of  a  secular  spirit  in  the  Church. 

It  is  not  conceivable  but  that  the  whole  in- 
stitution of  the  church  should  take  part  in  the 
course  and  tendency  pursued  by  its  chief, 
that  it  should  aid  in  their  development,  and 
be  reciprocally  affected  by  them. 

Not  alone  the  highest  place  in  the  church, 
but  all  the  others  likewise  came  to  be  regard- 
ed as  temporal  possessions.  The  pope  nomi- 
nated cardinals  from  personal  favour,  or  to 
gratify  some  prince,  or,  as  was  not  unfre- 
quently  the  case,  simply  for  money.  Could  it 
be  reasonably  expected  that  they  would  fulfil 
their  spiritual  duties!  Sixtus  IV.  bestowed 
on  one  of  his  nephews  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant offices,  the  Penitenziaria,  which  exercised 
the  greatest  part  of  the  right  of  dispensation. 
He  took  occasion  at  the  same  time  to  aug- 
ment the  privileges  of  the  office,  publishing  a 
special  bull  to  that  efi^ect,  in  which  he  de- 
nounces all  who  should  dispute  the  propriety 
of  such  arrangetjients  as  a  stiff-necked  gene- 
ration and  children  of  malice.*  The  natural 
consequence  was,  that  the  nephew  looked  on 
his  office  only  as  a  benefice,  the  proceeds  of 
which  he  was  to  raise  as  high  as  possible. 

In  those  times  the  bishoprics  in  most  places 
were,  as  we  have  seen,  not  unendowed  with 
a  large  share  of  temporal  power :  they  were 
distributed  as  sinecures  in  accordance  with 
family  views  or  court  favour.  The  Roman 
curia  had  no  other  concern  than  how  to  turn 
vacancies  and  presentations  to  the  utmost 
account.      Alexander  took   double    annates, 


'  *  Bull  of  May  9,  1484.  Quoniani  nonnulli  iniquitatis 
filii,  elationis  et  pertinaciae  suae  spiritu  assumpto  poiesla- 
tem  majori  poenitentiarii  noslri  in  dubium  revocare  prae- 
sumunl,  decet  nos  adversus  tales  adhibere  remedia,  &c. 
Bullarium  Romanum,  ed.  Cocquelines,  iii.  p.  187. 


INTBOD.] 


GROWTH  OF  A  SECULAR  SPIRIT. 


33 


levied  double,  triple  tithes ;  and  it  was  all  but 
the  case  that  every  thing  was  matter  of  pur- 
chase and  sale.  The  taxes  of  the  papal  chan- 
cery augmented  day  by  day  ;  it  was  the  duty 
of  the  chief  administrator  to  abate  all  griev- 
ances in  that  department,  but  he  usually  re- 
ferred the  revision  of  the  taxes  to  those  who 
had  imposed  them.*  For  every  indulgence 
granted  by  the  datary's  office,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  pay  a  stipulated  sum.  The  disputes 
between  the  several  courts  and  the  curia 
commonly  turned  on  nothing  else  than  these 
exactions.  The  curia  sought  to  swell  them 
to  the  utmost  possible  extent ;  the  inhabitants 
of  every  country  sought  to  restrain  them  as 
much  as  they  could. 

Principles  such  as  these  necessarily  worked 
throughout  all  ranks  of  men  so  appointed 
down  to  the  lowest.  Men  renounced  indeed 
their  bishoprics,  but  retained  the  proceeds  of 
them,  at  least  for  the  greater  part,  and  some- 
times, in  addition  to  this,  the  collation  to  the 
cures  dependent  on  them.  Even  the  law  that 
the  son  of  a  clergyman  should  never  enjoy 
his  father's  appointment,  and  that  no  one 
should  bequeath  his  preferment  by  will,  was 
evaded :  smce  every  one  could  make  sure, 
provided  he  did  not  spare  his  gold,  of  obtain- 
ing for  coadjutor  whomsoever  he  pleased  ;  a 
certain  kind  of  virtual  inheritorship  became 
established  by  custom.  It  followed  of  course 
that  the  discharge  of  spiritual  functions  was 
much  neglected.  In  this  brief  statement  I 
shall  confine  myself  to  citing  observations 
made  by  right-minded  prelates  of  the  Roman 
court.  "  What  a  spectacle,"  they  exclaimed, 
"does  this  desolation  of  the  churches  present 
to  the  eyes  of  a  Christian  who  travels  over  the 
Christian  world !  All  the  shepherds  have 
abandoned  their  flocks,  and  have  letl  them  to 
the  care  of  hirelings."! 

In  all  places  incompetent  persons  were  en- 
trusted, without  scrutiny  or  selection,  with 
the  discharge  of  clerical  duties.  Since  the 
incumbents  of  benefices  thought  only  of  find- 
ing the  least  costly  substitutes,  they  pitched 
especially  on  the  mendicant  monks  as  fit  tor 
their  purpose.  These  occupied  the  bishoprics 
under  the  title,  unprecedented  in  such  a  sig- 
nification, of  suffragans,  and  the  cures  they 
held  in  the  capacity  of  vicars. 


*  Refonnationcs  cancellarije  apoplolica  Saii.  Dni.  Nri. 
Pauli  III.,  1510.  MS.  in  the  Baibfiini  library  in  Rome, 
No.  2275,  enumerates  all  the  abuses  that  had  crept  in 
since  the  reigns  of  Sixtiis  and  Alexander.  The  grievan- 
ces of  the  Germans  relate  especially  to  these  "  new  de- 
vices" and  offices  of  the  Roman  chancery.  §  14.  §  38. 

t  Consilium  delectorum  cardinalium  et  aliorum  praela- 
torum  de  emendanda,  ecclesia,  Smo.  Dino.  Paulo  III.  ipso 
jubenle,  conscriptum  anno  1538.  [The  counsel  of  select 
cardinals  and  other  prelates  respecting  tlie  reformation  of 
the  church,  drawn  up  at  the  special  command  of  his  holi- 
ness Paul  III.,  in  the  year  1538,]  frequently  printed  at 
the  immediate  time,  and  important  inasmuch  as  it  points 
out  unambiguously  the  root  of  the  evil  ns  far  as  it  lay  in 
the  administration.  In  Rome,  long  after  it  was  printed, 
it  continued  to  be  incorj.oialed  with  the  MSS  of  the 
Curia. 


Already  the  mendicant  orders  were  in  pos- 
session of  extraordinary  privileges:  these  had 
been  increased  by  Sixtus  IV.,  who  was  him- 
self a  Franciscan.  The  right  of  confessing' 
penitents,  of  administering  the  Lord's  Supper, 
of  bestowing  extreme  unction,  of  burying  in 
the  ground,  and  even  in  the  garb  of  the  order, 
rights  that  conveyed  both  importance  and  ad- 
vantage, he  had  confimed  to  them  in  their  full 
extent,  and  had  threatened  the  disobedient, 
the  secular  clergy,  and  those  who  should 
molest  the  orders,  particularly  with  respect 
to  bequests,  with  the  loss  of  their  prefer- 
ments.* 

Since  they  had  now  got  both  the  bishoprics 
and  the  cures  too  into  their  hands,  it  is  evi- 
dent what  enormous  influence  they  possessed. 
All  the  higher  appointments,  the  more  distin- 
guished dignities  and  their  revenue  were  en- 
joyed by  the  great  families  and  their  depend- 
ents, by  the  favourites  of  the  courts  and  of  the 
curia :  the  actual  discharge  of  the  several 
offices  was  in  the  hands  of  the  mendicant 
monks,  and  in  this  capacity  they  had  the  sup- 
port and  protection  of  the  pope.  It  was  they 
who  in  conjunction  with  others  plied  the  traf- 
fic in  indulgences,  to  which  so  enormous  an 
extension  was  given  at  this  period,  Alexander 
VI.  having  been  the  first  to  declare  officially 
that  they  released  from  purgatory.  But  the 
mendicant  orders  too  were  fallen  into  total 
worldliness.  What  intrigues  in  the  order 
for  the  higher  appointments  !  What  eager- 
ness at  election  time  to  get  rid  of  rivals  and 
persons  unfavourably  inclined !  The  latter 
were  sent  out,  if  possible,  as  preachers  or 
curates ;  against  the  former  they  did  not 
shrink  from  using  the  dagger  or  the  sword, 
and  poison  was  frequently  resorted  to.t  Mean- 
while, the  benefits  of  religion  were  put  up  for 
sale.  The  mendicant  monks,  obliged  to  serve 
for  sorry  pay,  eagerly  caught  at  contingent 
sources  of  profit. 

"  Woe,  woe !"  exclaims  one  of  those  pre- 
lates we  have  alluded  to ;  "  who  gives  my 
eyes  their  fountain  of  tears]  Even  those  set 
apart  are  fallen  off,  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord 
is  laid  waste.  Did  they  perish  alone  it  were 
an  evil,  yet  it  might  be  endured  ;  but  since 
they  pervade  all  Christendom  like  the  veins 
of  the  body,  their  decay  must  needs  bring 
with  it  the  ruin  of  the  world." 

*  Amplissimae  gratiae  et  privilegia  fratrum  mino'um 
conveniualium  ordinis  S.  Francisci,  qua  propterea  niara 
magnum  nuncupanlur,  31  Aug.  1-174.  BuUarium  Rom. 
III.,  3,139.  A  similar  bull  was  issued  in  favour  of  the  Do- 
minicans. Much  attention  was  given  to  this  Mare  Mag- 
num in  the  Laleran  counsel  of  1512;  but  privileges  aro 
more  easily  bestowed  than  revoked,  at  least  so  it  wa3 
then. 

t  In  a  voluminous  report  from  Caraffato  Clement,  which 
is  given  only  in  a  mutilated  form  by  Bromato,  Vita  di 
Paolo  I V'.,  it  is  said  in  the  manuscript  of  the  monasteries  : 
"Si  viene  ad  hoinicidi  non  solo  col  veneno,  ma  aperla- 
mente  col  coltello  e  con  la  spada,  per  non  dire  con  schi- 
opetti."  [Murders  are  committed  not  only  by  poison,  but 
openly  with  the  dagger  and  the  sword,  not  to  say  with 
fire-anns.] 


34 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,  [introd. 


Intellectual  Tendency. 

Could  we  unfold  the  book  of  history  such 
as  it  was  in  the  actual  occurrence,  might  the 
fleeting  events  of  time  await  our  questioning 
as  nature  does,  how  often  should  we  in  the 
former,  as  now  in  the  latter,  detect  the  new 
germ  amidst  the  decay  we  mourn,  how  often 
behold  life  issuing  out  of  death  ! 

Much  as  we  deplore  this  secularization  of 
spiritual  things,  this  corruption  of  religious 
institutions,  but  for  these  evils  the  human 
mind  would  hardly  have  been  able  to  seize 
upon  one  of  its  most  peculiar  and  productive 
paths. 

We  cannot  deny,  that  however  ingenious, 
diversified,  and  profound  are  the  productions 
of  the  middle  ages,  they  are  yet  based  upon 
general  views  of  the  world,  visionary  in  char- 
acter, and  little  in  accordance  with  the  real- 
ity of  things.  Had  the  church  endured  in 
full  and  conscious  strength,  it  would  have 
rigidly  adhered  to  these  views :  but  circum- 
stanced as  it  was,  it  left  the  mind  of  man  at 
liberty  to  follow  a  new  development  in  a 
wholly  different  direction. 

It  was  a  narrow  horizon  that  necessarily 
limited  the  intellectual  reason  of  those  ages: 
the  revived  knowledge  of  antiquity  burst  that 
confined  circle,  and  opened  to  view  a  loftier, 
a  more  comprehensive,  and  a  grander  pros- 
pect. 

It  was  not  that  the  middle  ages  had  been 
totally  unacquainted  with  the  ancients.  The 
eagerness  with  which  the  Arabs,  who  were 
so  instrumental  in  introducing  learned  pur- 
suits into  the  West,  collected  and  appropri- 
ated the  works  of  the  ancients,  was  not  much 
inferior  to  that  with  which  the  Italians  prose- 
cuted the  same  purpose  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury ;  and  Caliph  Mamun  may,  m  this  respect, 
be  fairly  compared  with  Cosmo  de'  Medici. 
But  let  us  observe  the  difference ;  unimpor- 
tant as  it  may  perhaps  appear,  it  is  one,  I 
think,  of  a  capital  nature,  ^i'he  Arabs  trans- 
lated :  they  often  downright  destroyed  the 
originals.  Since  they  overcharged  the  whole 
body  of  their  translations  with  their  own  pe- 
culiar ideas,  it  came  to  pass  that  they  theoso- 
phised  Aristotle,  so  to  speak,  perverted  astro- 
nomy into  astrology,  applied  the  latter  to 
medicine,  and  even  contributed  principally  to 
the  fashioning  of  that  visionary  view  of  the 
world  before-mentioned.  The  Italians  on  the 
contrary  read  and  learned.  From  the  Ro- 
mans they  proceeded  to  the  Greeks :  the  art 
of  printing  diffused  the  originals  in  number- 
less copies  throughout  the  world.  The  genu- 
ine drove  out  the  Arabic  Aristotle  ;  out  of  the 
unaltered  works  of  the  ancients,  men  learned 
the  sciences,  geography  directly  from  Ptole- 
my, botany  from  i)ioscorides,  medicine  from 
Galen  and  Hippocrates.  How  rapidly  then 
were   men  disencumbered  of   the  fantastic 


notions  that  had  filled  the  world,  and  the  pre- 
judices that  had  enthralled  the  mind. 

We  should  exaggerate,  however,  were  we 
to  ilnpute  to  those  times  the  immediate  dis- 
play of  originality  in  the  cultivation  of  litera- 
ture and  science,  the  discovery  of  new  truths 
or  the  production  of  grand  conceptions ;  men 
sought  only  to  understand  the  ancients ;  no 
attempt  was  made  beyond  this :  the  efficacy 
of  the  classic  writers  was  less  in  that  they 
prompted  the  growth  of  a  creative  spirit  in 
literature,  than  in  the  imitation  they  called 
forth. 

That  imitation  was  one  of  the  causes  that 
most  essentially  contributed  to  the  progress  of 
the  age. 

Men  vied  with  the  ancients  in  their  own 
languages.  Pope  Leo  X.  was  a  special  pa- 
tron of  this  pursuit.  He  himself  read  to  his 
social  circle  the  well  written  introduction  to 
the  history  of  Jovius,  declaring  his  opinion 
that  nothing  like  it  had  been  produced  since 
the  works  of  Livy.  A  patron  of  Latin  im- 
provisators, we  may  judge  how  charmed  he 
was  by  the  talents  of  a  Vida,  who  could  de- 
scribe such  things  as  the  game  of  chess  in  the 
full  tones  of  well  cadenced  Latin  hexameters. 
He  invited  to  his  court  from  Portugal  a  ma- 
thematician who  was  famed  for  setting  forth 
his  science  in  elegant  Latin ;  it  was  thus  he 
wished  to  see  jurisprudence  and  theology 
taught,  and  church  history  written. 

Things,  however  could  not  stop  at  this 
point.  However  far  this  imitation  of  the 
ancients  in  their  own  tongues  were  pushed, 
it  could  not  embrace  the  whole  intellectual 
field.  There  was  something  in  it  incomplete 
and  unsatisfactory,  and  it  was  an  accomplish- 
ment too  generally  diffused  to  admit  of  this 
defect  escaping  obvious  notice.  The  new 
conception  gradually  unfolded  itself  of  imitat- 
ing the  ancients  in  the  vernacular  tongue. 
Men  felt  their  own  position  with  regard  to 
them  to  be  like  that  in  which  the  Romans  had 
stood  to  the  Greeks :  they  resolved  to  vie  with 
them,  not  as  hitherto  in  details,  but  in  the 
whole  range  of  literature ;  and  they  rushed 
with  youthful  impetuosity  upon  this  new  field 
of  exertion. 

Fortunately  it  was  the  very  period  when 
the  vernacular  tongues  were  acquiring  in 
general  a  regular  and  authorized  form.  The 
merits  of  Bcinbo  consist  less  in  his  elegant 
Latin  style  or  in  his  experimental  essays  in 
Italian  poetry,  than  in  his  well-devised  and 
successful  endeavours  to  give  correctness  and 
dignity  to  the  popular  language,  and  to  estab- 
lish its  construction  on  fixed  rules.  This  is 
the  ground  on  which  Ariosto  builds  his  fame  : 
he  appeared  precisely  at  the  right  moment : 
his  own  literary  attempts  served  but  to  exem- 
plify the  principles  he  taught. 

If  we  contemplate  the  circle  of  works  to 
which  was  now  applied,  after  ancient  models, 


INTROD.] 


INTELLECTUAL  TENDENCY. 


35 


\ 


that  material  so  incomparable  for  its  liquid  i 
pliancy  and  its  euphony,  and  which  had  now 
been  prepared  for  use  with  so  much  discern- 
ment, the  following  remarks  will  force  them- 
selves upon  us. 

Little  success  attended  those  efforts  that 
were  g-overned  by  too  close  an  attachment  to 
classic  models.  Trag-edies  like  the  Rosmun- 
da  of  Rucellai,  which  as  their  editors  say 
were  modelled  after  the  antique,  didactic  po- 
ems like  his  Bees,  in  which  we  are  referred 
from  the  very  first  to  Virgil,  who  is  afterwards 
made  use  of  in  a  thousand  different  ways,  had 
no  success,  and  produced  no  real  effect.  Co- 
medies were  at  once  constructed  with  more 
freedom  ;  their  very  nature  demanded  that 
they  should  assume  the  colour  and  impression 
of  the  times ;  still  in  almost  every  case  they 
were  founded  on  some  fable  of  antiquity,  or 
some  piece  by  Plautus  :*  and  even  men  of 
such  genius  as  Bibbiena  and  Machiavel 
failed  to  assure  to  their  comedies  the  entire 
approbation  of  later  times.  In  works  of  a  dif- 
ferent kind  we  sometimes  meet  with  a  certain 
conflict  between  their  ancient  and  their  mo- 
dern constituent  parts.  Thus  in  the  Arcadia 
of  Sannazario,  how  singularly  do  the  prolix 
and  latinized  periods  of  the  prose  contrast  with 
the  simplicity,  the  genuine  feeling,  and  the 
music  of  the  verse. 

If  the  success  obtained,  great  as  it  was,  was 
not  complete,  that  need  not  excite  our  won- 
der. At  all  events  a  great  example  was  giv- 
en, an  attempt  made  that  proved  infinitely 
productive  ;  but  still  the  spirit  of  modern  lite- 
rature was  ill  at  ease  under  the  restrictions 
of  the  classic  forms.  Genius  was  enslaved 
by  rules  imposed  on  it  from  without,  not  the 
spontaneous  expression  of  its  own  nature. 
How  indeed  was  it  possible  to  achieve  the 
highest  things  through  mere  imitation  !  The 
great  masterworks  do  exercise  a  legitimate 
influence  upon  succeeding  times,  but  it  is  one 
of  mind  upon  mind.  We  are  all  agreed  in  the 
present  day  that  the  beautiful  tbrm  is  fitted  to 
train,  to  fashion,  to  excite ;  but  subjugate  it 
never  must. 


*  Marco  Minio,  among  so  many  other  interesting  mat- 
ters, relates  to  the  Signory  the  circumstance  of  the  pro- 
duction of  the  first  comedy  in  Rome:  this  letter  is  dated 
March  13,  1519.  "  Finita  dita  festa  (the  carnival)  se  ando 
ad  una  comedia,  che  fece  el  reverendmo.  Cibo,  dove  e 
stato  bellissima  cosa,  lo  apparato  tanto  suberbo  che  non 
si  potria  dire.  La  comedia  fu  questa,  che  fu  fema  una 
Ferrara  e  in  dita  sala  fu  fata  Ferraia  preciso  come  la  6. 
Dicono  che  Blonsignor  revmo.  Cibo  venendo  per  Ferrara 
e  volendo  una  comedia  li  fu  data  questa  comedia.  E  sta 
iratla  parte  de  li  Suppositi  di  Plauto  e  dal  Eunucho  de 
Terenzio,  molio  bellissima."  [On  the  termination  of  that 
festival  (the  carnival)  a  comedy  loUowed,  given  by  Car- 
dinal Cibo,  in  which  were  very  beautiful  things,  with 
such  a  grandeur  of  decoration  as  cannot  be  described. 
The  comedy  was  supposed  to  pass  in  Ferrara,  which  was 
represented  in  the  said  hall  precisely  as  it  exists.  They 
say  that  Monsignior  Cibo,  passing  through  Ferrara,  and 
desiring  to  see  a  comedy,  this  one  was  given  him.  It  is 
taken  iiom  the  Suppositi  of  Plautus,  and  from  the  Eunuch 
of  Terence,  and  is  very  beautiful.]  He  means,  no  doubt, 
the  Suppositi  of  Ariosto;  but  we  observe,  he  neither  men- 
tions the  author's  name  nor  the  title  of  the  piece,  but 
merely  from  what  it  waa  taken. 


Supposing  a  genius  partaking  of  the  ten- 
dencies of  the  times  to  have  applied  himself 
to  a  work,  differing  both  in  form  and  material 
from  the  remains  of  antiquity,  and  no  other- 
wise affected  by  them  than  as  regarded  the 
influence  of  their  spirit,  the  most  remarkable 
production  must  needs  have  been  the  result. 
The  romantic  epos  owes  its  peculiarities  to 
the  fact  that  it  falls  under  these  conditions  : 
the  poet  had  for  his  subject  a  Christian  fable 
of  a  heroic  character  ;  the  noblest  figures,  de- 
picted by  a  few  bold  general  traits,  were  set 
before  him;  important  situations,  but  little 
developed,  were  suggested  ;  and  even  the  po- 
etic form  was  ready  to  his  hand,  derived  im- 
mediately from  the  popular  entertainments. 
Then  came  the  tendency  of  the  age  to  adapt 
itself  to  the  antique,  a  tendency  whose  influ- 
ence was  manifested  in  fashioning,  in  beauti- 
fying, and  humanizing.  How  different  is 
Boiardo's  Rinaldo,  noble,  modest,  full  of  the 
hearty  love  of  adventure,  from  the  desperate 
son  of  Haymon  of  the  old  legend !  How 
transmuted  into  the  intelligible,  the  cheerful, 
and  the  charming,  is  all  that  was  violent,  fab- 
ulous, and  gigantic,  in  the  old  conception. 
Even  the  unadorned  old  stories  have  in  their 
simplicity  something  winning  and  agreeable : 
but  how  greatly  does  our  enjoyment  rise 
when  the  melody  of  Ariosto's  verse  plays 
round  us,  and  we  are  hurried  on  from  picture 
to  picture  in  the  company  of  an  accomplished 
and  cheerful  spirit.  The  unlovely  and  the 
formless  has  wrought  itself  into  outline,  and 
symmetry,  and  music* 

Few  times  are  susceptible  of  pure  beauty  of 
form ;  only  the  most  favoured  and  happy  periods 
produce  it.  Such  an  one  was  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  How  can  I  pretend  to  sketch,  even 
in  outline,  the  living  wealth  of  art,  in  concep- 
tion and  in  practice,  that  filled  those  times  ! 
We  may  boldly  assert,  that  all  that  is  most 
beautiful  in  the  productions  of  later  ages  in 
architecture,  sculpture,  and  painting,  is  com- 
bined in  that  short  epoch.  This  was  its  ten- 
dency, not  in  abstract  reasoning,  but  in  actual 
practice.  In  it  lived  and  wrought  the  men  of 
those  days.  I  would  even  say,  that  the  for- 
tresses then  erected  by  the  Prince  against  his 
foes,  and  the  notes  of  the  philologist,  written 
in  the  margins  of  his  authors,  have  something 
of  a  common  character.  A  severely  beautiful 
family  resemblance  pervades  all  the  produc- 
tions of  those  times. 

It  cannot  however  escape  notice  that  while 
an  and  poetry  sought  their  materials  in  ele- 
ments pertaining  to  the  Church,  they  did  not 
leave  the  import  of  these  untouched.  The 
romantic  epos,  presenting  us  with  a  church 
legend,  coinmonly  deals  with  it  in  a  tone  of 

*I  have  endeavoured  to  pursue  this  subject  in  detail, 
I  in  a  special  treatise  read  before  the  Koyal  Academy  of 
1  Sciences. 


36 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,    [introd. 


opposition.  Ariosto  found  it  necessary  to  dis- 
card from  his  fable  the  back-ground  that  con- 
tains its  original  signification. 

In  previous  times,  religion  had  had  as  much 
part  in  the  works  of  painters  and  sculptors  as 
art :  but  from  the  time  art  had  been  played  on 
by  the  breath  of  antiquity,  it  freed  itself  from 
its  apprenticeship  to  faith.  We  can  observe 
in  the  works  of  Raphael  how  from  year  to 
year  this  change  becomes  more  decidedly 
manifest.  Some  may  blame  this  if  they  will  ; 
but  it  would  almost  seem  that  the  co-operation 
of  the  profane  element  was  necessary  to  the 
full  development  and  bloom  of  art. 

And  was  it  not  highly  significant  that  a 
pope  himself  undertook  to  pull  down  the  old 
basilica  of  St.  Peter,  the  metropolitan  church 
of  Christendom,  every  spot  in  which  was  hal- 
lowed, in  which  were  gathered  together  the 
memorials  of  so  many  centuries'  veneration, 
and  to  erect  in  its  stead  a  temple  planned 
after  the  proportions  of  antiquity!  It  was  a 
purpose  in  which  art  was  exclusively  concern- 
ed. Both  the  factions  which  then  divided  the 
jealous  and  contentious  world  of  art,  united  in 
urging  Julius  II.  to  the  design.  Michael 
Angelo  wished  for  a  worthy  site  for  the  pope's 
monument,  which  he  proposed  to  complete 
upon  a  vast  scheme,  with  all  the  lofiy  gran- 
deur we  behold  in  all  his  Moses.  Braniante 
was  still  more  urgent.  He  longed  to  put  in 
operation  the  bold  conception  of  uplifting  on 
colossal  columns  towards  the  sky  an  imitation 
of  the  Pantheon  in  all  its  greatness.  Many 
cardnials  opposed  the  plan ;  it  would  even 
seem  that  there  was  a  general  feeling  against 
it:  a  multitude  of  personal  feelings  and  affec- 
tions are  bound  up  with  the  existence  of  every 
old  church,  and  so  it  was  in  unparalleled 
measure  with  this  the  highest  sanctuary  of 
Christendon  *.  But  Julius  II.  was  not  used  to 
defer  to  contradiction.  Without  further  con- 
sideration he  had  half  the  old  Church  pulled 
down,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  new  one 
with  his  own  hand. 

Thus  rose  again  in  the  heart  of  the  Chris- 
tian worship  the  forms  in  which  the  spirit  of 
the  old  religions  had  so  strikingly  embodied 
themselves.  Bramante  built  at  San  Pietro  in 
Montorio,  over  the  blood  of  the  martyr,  a  cha- 

*  Fea,  Notizie  inlorno  Rafaelle,  p.  41,  gives  the  follow- 
ing extract  from  the  unprinted  work  of  Panvinius,  De 
rebus  antiquis  iiieniorabilibus  et  de  pra?stantia  busilicje 
S.  Petri  Ajjostolorum  Principis  etc.  "  Qua  in  re  (in  the  p;o- 
jecl  01  the  new  building)  adversos  pene  habuil  cuncloi  uiii 
ordinum  ho. nines  et  prEeseni,>ii  cardinales,  non  quod  no- 
vam  non  cuperent  basilicam  magniliccntissimaui  extrui, 
sed  quia  antiquum  toio  terrarum  orbe  vtnerabileiu,  tot 
sanctorum  sepulchris  augustisslmain,  tot  celeberrirnis  in 
ea  gestis  insignem  fundilus  deleri  ingemiscant."  [In 
which  matter  he  had  men  of  almost  all  classes  against 
him,  and  especially  the  cardinals;  not  because  they  did 
not  wish  that  a  now  basilica  should  be  built  with  the 
uimosl  magnificence,  but  because  they  grieved  to  think 
that  the  old  one  should  be  pulled  down,  revered  as  it  was 
by  the  whole  world,  ennobled  by  the  sepulchres  of  so 
many  saints,  and  illustrious  lor  so  many  great  things  that 
had  been  done  in  it.] 


pel  in  the  light  and  cheerful  form  of  a  perip- 
teros. 

If  this  involved  a  contradiction,  it  was  one 
that  pervaded  the  whole  being  and  habits  of 
the  times. 

Men  went  to  the  Vatican  less  for  the  pur- 
pose of  adoration  on  the  threshold  of  the  Apos- 
tles, than  to  admire  the  great  works  of  ancient 
art  in  the  pope's  dwelling,  the  Belvedere 
Apollo  and  the  Laocoon.  As  strong  repre- 
sentations as  ever  were  made  to  the  pope, 
urging  him  to  s6t  on  foot  a  war  against  the  infi- 
dels; I  find  this  for  instance  in  a  preface  of  Na- 
vagero's;*  but  the  author  had  no  thought  in  this 
for  the  interests  of  Christianity,  or  for  the  con- 
quest of  the  holy  sepulchre ;  his  cherished  hope 
was,  that  the  pope  would  discover  the  lost  writ- 
ings of  the  Greeks,  and  perhaps  of  the  Romans. 

In  the  midst  of  this  abundant  scene  of  stu- 
dies and  productions,  of  intellect  and  art,  in 
the  enjoyment  of  the  expanding  temporal  pow- 
er belonging  to  the  highest  spiritual  dignity, 
now  lived  Leo  X.  His  title  to  the  honour  of 
giving  name  to  the  age  in  which  he  lived  has 
been  called  in  question,  and  it  is  possible  his 
merit  may  have  been  exaggerated.  Be  that 
as  it  may,  he  was  now  the  favourite  of  fortune. 
He  had  grown  up  among  the  elements  that 
fashioned  the  world  around  him ;  he  possessed 
liberality  of  mind  and  sensibility  enough  to 
promote  and  enjoy  them.  If  he  had  delighted 
in  the  Latin  works  of  direct  imitators,  the 
original  works  of  his  contemporaries  could  not 
fail  of  engaging  his  interest.  In  his  presence 
was  produced  the  first  tragedy,  and  (however 
objectionable  that  may  have  been  for  its  timid 
imitation  of  Plautus)  the  first  comedy  written 
in  the  Italian  language.  There  is  hardly  any 
which  he  was  not  the  first  to  see.  Ariosto 
was  amongst  the  acquaintances  of  his  youth ; 
Machiavel  composed  more  than  one  of  his 
works  at  his  express  desire ;  for  him  Raphael 
filled  chambers,  galleries,  and  chapels,  with 
ideals  of  human  beauty  and  of  purely  ex- 
pressed existence.  He  passionately  loved 
music,  the  practice  of  which,  in  a  high  degree 
of  perfection,  was  just  then  becoming  diffused 
throughout  Italy :  the  palace  rang  daily  with 
music,  the  pope  hummed  the  airs  that  were 
played.  It  may  be  that  all  this  was  a  sort  of 
intellectual  debauchery ;  if  so,  it  is  at  least  the 
only  one  that  becomes  a  man.  For  the  rest, 
Leo  X.  was  full  of  kindness  and  personal  sym- 
pathy. He  never,  or  if  at  all,  only  in  the 
mildest  terms,  refused  a  request,  although  it 
was  really  impossible  to  grant  everything. 
"He  is  a  good  man,"  said  one  of  those  obser- 
vant ambassadors,  "  very  liberal  and  good 
natured;  were  it  not  that  his  relations  drive 
him  upon  them,  he  would  avoid  all  dissen- 
sions."!   "  He  is  learned,"  says  another,  "and 

*  Naugerii  Prsefalio  in  Ciceronis  Orationrs,  t.  i. 
+  Zorzi.  Per  il  papa  non  voria  ni  guerra  ni  faliche,  ma 
quest!  soi  lo  intriga. 


INTROD.] 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  PAPACY  IN  GERMANY. 


37 


a  friend  to  the  learned:  religious  he  is  indeed, 
but  he  has  a  mind  to  live."*  Certainly  he  did 
not  always  observe  pontifical  decorum.  He 
sometimes  left  Rome,  to  the  sore  distress  of 
his  master  of  the  ceremonies,  not  only  without 
surplice,  but,  as  that  officer  has  noted  in  his 
journal,  "  what  is  worst  of  all,  with  boots  on 
his  feet."  He  passed  the  autumn  in  rural  re- 
creations, enjoying  hawking  at  Viterbo,  hunt- 
ing at  Corneto,  and  fishing  on  the  lake  of 
Bolsena.  He  then  spent  some  time  at  Malli- 
ana,  his  favourite  resort  Improvisator!  and 
men  of  light  quick  talents,  capable  of  enliven- 
ing every  hour  of  the  day,  accompanied  him. 
Towards  winter  the  party  returned  to  the  city. 
This  was  in  great  prosperity :  the  number  of 
its  inhabitants  increased  by  a  third  within  a 
few  years ;  it  offered  profit  to  the  artisan,  hon- 
our to  the  artist,  to  every  one  security.  Never 
had  the  court  been  more  animated,  cheerful, 
and  intellectual.  No  cost  was  too  great  for 
spiritual  or  secular  festivals,  plays  and  thea- 
trical entertainments,  presents  and  favours; 
nothing  was  spared.  It  was  heard  with  de- 
light that  Giuliano  Medici  was  thinking  of 
taking  up  his  residence  at  Rome  with  his 
young  wife.  "God  be  praised,"  says  cardinal 
Bibbiena  in  a  letter  to  him,  "  for  here  we  lack 
nothing  but  a  court  of  ladies." 

Alexander's  sensuality  must  ever  be  regard- 
ed with  loathing :  there  was  nothing  absolutely 
censurable  in  the  arrangements  of  Leo's  court : 
but  it  certainly  cannot  be  denied  that  his  life 
did  not  correspond  to  that  befitting  a  supreme 
head  of  the  Church. 

Life  easily  veils  its  own  incongruities:  so 
was  it  with  these,  till  men  pondered  and 
weighed  them,  and  then  they  could  not  fail 
to  be  apparent. 

Under  such  circumstances,  there  could  no 
longer  be  any  question  of  true  Christian  senti- 
ment and  conviction :  on  the  contrary,  there 
arose  a  direct  opposition  to  these. 

The  philosophical  schools  disputed  whether 
the  reasonable  soul  were  immaterial  indeed 
and  immortal,  but  single  and  common  to  all 
mankind,  or  whether  it  was  absolutely  mortal. 
The  most  noted  philosopher  of  the  day,  Pietro 
Pomponazzo,  took  upon  him  to  maintain  the 
latter  opinion.  He  likened  himself  to  Prome- 
theus, whose  heart  was  devoured  by  the  vul- 
ture because  he  sought  to  steal  his  fire  from 
Jupiter.  But  with  all  these  painlul  efforts, 
with  all  his  subtlety,  he  arrived  at  no  other 
result  than  that,  "if  the  law-giver  had  estab- 
lished the  immortality  of  the  soul,  he  had  done 
so  without  troubling  himself  about  its  truth. "f 


We  must  not  suppose  that  these  sentiments 
were  confined  to  a  few,  or  that  they  were  kept 
secret.  Erasmus  declares  his  astonishment  at 
the  blasphemies  that  met  his  ears ;  they  sought 
to  prove  to  him,  a  foreigner,  out  of  Pliny,  that 
there  is  no  difference  between  the  souls  of  men 
and  those  of  brutes.* 

Whilst  the  common  people  sank  into  almost 
heathenish  superstition,  which  sought  its  sal- 
vation in  an  ill-founded  mechanical  devotion, 
the  higher  classes  adopted  notions  of  an  anti- 
religious  tendency. 

What  was  young  Luther's  amazement  when 
he  visited  Italy.  At  the  moment  when  the 
sacrifice  of  the  mass  was  accomplished,  the 
priests  blurted  out  blasphemies  in  which  they 
denied  it. 

In  Rome  it  was  a  characteristic  of  good 
society,  to  dispute  the  fundamental  principles 
of  Christianity.  "  One  passes  no  longer,"  says 
P.  Ant.  Bandino,f  "  for  an  accomplished  man, 
unless  he  entertain  some  heterodox  notions  of 
Christianity."  At  court  they  spoke  of  the 
institutions  of  the  catholic  church,  of  passages 
in  the  holy  Scriptures,  only  in  a  tone  of  jesting; 
the  mysteries  of  faith  were  held  in  derision. 

We  see  how  everything  conforms  to  certain 
laws,  how  one  thing  begets  another ;  the  eccle- 
siastical pretensions  of  the  sovereigns  produce 
the  temporal  claims  of  the  popes ;  the  corrupv 
tion  of  the  ecclesiastical  institutions  elicit  the 
development  of  a  new  intellectual  tendency, 
until  at  last  the  very  basis  of  faith  becomes 
affected  in  public  opinion. 

Opposition  to  the  papacy  in  Germany. 

I  regard  as  surpassingly  interesting  the  re- 
lation on  which  Germany  entered  to  this  intel- 
lectual development.  Jt  took  part  in  it,  but 
in  a  totally  different  spirit. 

If  in  Italy  it  was  poets,  such  as  Boccacio 
and  Petrarch,  who  promoted  the  study  of  an- 
cient literature  in  their  day,  and  created  the 
national  impulse  in  that  direction,  in  Germany 
this  was  the  work  of  a  spiritual  fraternity,  the 

procedalur.  ISJunii,  1518.  [Peter  of  Blantiia  has  assprt- 
ed,  thai  accordinc;  to  the  principles  of  philosoj)hy  and  the 
opinions  of  Aristotle,  the  rational  soul  is  or  appears  to  be 
mortal,  contrary  to  the  determination  of  the  Lateran  coun- 
cil :  the  pope  commands  that  the  said  Peter  retract,  other- 
wise that  he  be  proceeded  against.] 

*  Burieny,  Life  of  Erasmus,  i.  139.  I  will  here  quote 
also  the  followin?  passage  from  Paul  Canensius,  in  his 
Vita  Pauli  11.  "  Pari  ciuoque  dilisrentia  e  medio  Komanse 
curis  nefandum  nonnuUorum  jitvenum  sectam  sceles- 
tamque  opinionem  subtulit,  qui  depravatis  moribus  assere- 
bant  noslram  fideni  orthodoxam  polius  quibusdam  sancto- 
rum astutiis  quam  verjs  rerum  testimoniis  subsistere." 
[With  equal  diligence  he  eradicated  from  the  Roman 
court  an  infamous  heresy,  and  abominable  opinion  of 
some  profligate  young  men,  who  asserted  that  our  orthodox 
faith  reposed  rather  on  certain  subtleties  of  the  saints, 
than  on  real  substantial  evid'-nce.]  The  Triumph  of 
Charlemagne,  a  poem  by  Ludovieo,  breathes  a  spirit  of 


*  Mario  Minio,  Relazione.    E  docto  e  amador  di  docti ; 
ben  religioso,  ma  vol  viver.   He  calls  him  "  bona  persona." 

t  Pomponazzo  was  very  seiiously  assailed  on  the  sub-  „-  ,  -     

ject,  as  appears,  anong  other  proofs,  from  extracts  out  of  j  strongly  marked  materialism,  as  we  see  from  the'^quoti 

papal  letters  by  Contelori.    "  Petrus  de  Mantua,"  it  is  tions  of  Daru  in  the  fortieth  book  of  his  Hisioire  de  Venise. 

there  said,  "asseruit  quod  anima   rationalis  secundum  t  In  Caracciolo's  MS.  Life  of  Paul  IV.     In  quel  tempo 

propria  philosophiae  et  mentem  Aristolelissit  seu  videatur  non  pareva  fosse  galantuomo  e  buon  corlo!:iano  colui  che 

morlalis,  contra  determinuioneni  concilii  Lateranensis  :  de'  dogmi  della  chiesa  non  avevaqualche  opinion  erronea 

papa  mandal  ut  dictus  Petrus  revocel ;  alias  contra  ipsum  ed  heretica. 


38        THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,    [introd. 


Hieronymites,  a  fraternity  bound  together  by 
laborious  industry  and  sequestration  from  the 
world.  It  was  one  of  its  members,  the  pro- 
found and  blameless  mystic  Thomas  a  Kempis, 
in  whose  school  were  formed  all  the  worthy 
men,  who  first  borrowed  from  the  light  of 
ancient  literature  newly  risen  in  Italy,  and 
then  returned  to  diffuse  it  through  Germany.* 

The  difference  thus  observable  in  the  be- 
ginning, marked  the  subsequent  progress 
likewise. 

In  Italy  men  studied  the  works  of  the  an- 
cients to  learn  the  sciences  from  them ;  in 
Germany  they  founded  schools ;  there  men 
sought  the  solution  of  the  highest  problems 
affecting  the  human  soul,  if  not  by  indepen- 
dent thought,  at  least  at  the  hand  of  the  an- 
cients ;  here  the  best  books  were  devoted  to 
the  education  of  youth. 

In  Italy  men  were  captivated  by  the  beau- 
tiful in  form,  and  began  to  imitate  the  an- 
cients ;  they  achieved,  as  we  have  seen,  a 
national  literature.  In  Germany  these  stu- 
dies took  a  spiritual  direction.  The  renown 
of  Reuchlin  and  of  Erasmus  is  familiar  to 
every  one :  if  we  inquire  what  constituted 
the  highest  merit  of  the  former,  it  was  that 
he  wrote  the  first  Hebrew  grammar,  a  monu- 
ment of  which  he  hoped  equally  as  the  Italian 
poets,  "  that  it  would  be  more  durable  than 
brass."  If  he  was  the  first  thus  to  make  the 
study  of  the  Old  Testament  possible,  Erasmus 
applied  his  industry  to  the  New ;  he  was  the 
first  who  caused  it  to  be  printed  in  Greek ; 
his  paraphrases  and  annotations  wrought  an 
effect  that  even  far  exceeded  his  intention. 

While  the  course  now  entered  on  in  Italy 
withdrew  men  from  the  Church,  or  set  them 
in  opposition  to  it,  something  of  a  similar 
kind  happened  in  Germany.  There  that  free- 
dom of  thought  which  can  never  be  wholly 
suppressed  intruded  into  literature,  and  here 
and  there  assumed  the  form  of  decided  unbe- 
lief A  more  profound  theology  too,  sprung 
from  unknown  sources,  had  been  discounte- 
nanced by  the  Church,  but  defied  its  power  to 
put  it  down.  This  now  became  mixed  up 
with  the  literary  movements  in  Germany.  In 
this  point  of  view  it  seems  to  me  worthy  of 
remark,  that  so  early  as  the  year  1513,  the 
Bohemian  brethren  made  advances  to  Eras- 
mus, whose  views  and  sentiments  yet  differed 
widely  from  theirs.f 

And  thus  the  development  of  the  age  on 
both  sides  of  the  Alps  led  to  an  opposition 
against  the  Church.  Beyond  them  this  was 
connected  with  literature  and  science,  on  this 
side  it  arose  out  of  spiritual  studies  and  a 
profounder  theology.  There  it  was  negative 
and  incredulous;   here  it  was  positive  and 

*  Meiners  has  the  merit  of  having  first  brought  to  light 
this  genealogy  from  the  Davenlria  lUustrala  of  Revius. 
Biographies  of  celebrated  men  of  the  times  of  the  revival 
of  letters,  ii.  308. 

t  Fiisslin ;  Kirchen-  und  Ketzergeschichte,  ii.  82. 


believing ;  there  it  utterly  abrogated  the  very 
basis  of  the  Church,  here  it  re-established  it ; 
there  it  was  mocking,  satirical,  and  pliantly 
submissive  to  power  ;  here  it  was  full  of  ear- 
nestness and  deep  indignation,  and  rose  up 
against  the  Roman  church,  turning  upon  it 
the  boldest  attack  it  ever  sustained.  It  has 
been  regarded  as  a  fortuitous  circumstance, 
that  this  was  directed  in  the  first  mstance 
upon  the  abuses  practised  in  the  matter  of 
indulgences.  But  as  the  conversion  into  an 
outward  thing  of  that  which  was  most  essen- 
tially a  concern  of  the  inward  man,  (a  princi- 
ple involved  in  the  doctrine  of  indulgences) 
was  a  most  crying  exemplification  of  that 
fatal  vice  on  the  whole  system,  the  worldli- 
ness  that  had  seized  upon  the  Church,  it  was 
of  all  things  the  most  diametrically  opposite 
to  the  conceptions  drawn  from  the  profounder 
German  theology.  To  a  man  like  Luther, 
with  a  deep  and  lively  sense  of  religion,  filled 
with  the  notions  of  sin  and  justification,  as 
they  had  been  expressed  in  the  books  of  Ger- 
man theology  before  his  time,  strengthened 
therein  through  the  Scriptures,  which  he  im- 
bibed with  a  thirsting  heart,  nothing  in  the 
world  could  be  so  shocking  and  repulsive  as 
the  system  of  indulgences.  The  notion  of  a 
pardon  for  sin  to  be  had  for  money  must  needs 
have  been  most  deeply  offensive  to  him  whose 
conclusions  on  this  very  point  had  been  built 
on  considerations  of  the  eternal  relations  be- 
tween God  and  man,  and  who  had  learned  to 
interpret  Scripture  for  himself 

He  did  by  all  means  set  himself  to  oppose 
the  abuse ;  but  soon  the  weak-grounded  and 
prejudiced  opposition  he  encountered  led  him 
step  by  step  further :  he  was  not  long  blind 
to  the  connexion  between  that  monstrous 
abuse  and  the  general  corruption  of  the 
church.  His  was  not  a  nature  to  quail  before 
any  extremity  :  he  grappled  with  unhesitat- 
ing boldness  with  the  very  head  of  the  church. 
Out  of  the  midst  of  the  most  devoted  depend- 
ents and  champions  of  the  papacy,  the  mendi- 
cant monks,  arose  the  boldest  and  most  vigor- 
ous opponent  it  had  ever  encountered.  For- 
asmuch as  Luther  held  up  its  own  proper 
principles,  in  their  fullest  precision  and  clear- 
ness, in  the  face  of  a  power  that  had  so  widely 
lapsed  therefrom,  forasmuch  as  he  proclaimed 
that  which  had  already  become  a  general 
conviction,  forasmuch  as  his  opposition,  which 
had  not  yet  developed  the  wliole  system  of  its 
positive  principles,  was  welcome  to  the  re- 
jectors of  the  faith,  and  yet  because  it  did  ac- 
tually involve  those  principles,  was  satisfac- 
tory to  the  serious  feelings  of  believers,  it 
followed  that  his  writings  wrought  an  incal- 
culable effect :  in  a  moment  they  filled  Ger- 
many and  the  world. 


A.  D.  1513—22.] 


UNDER  LEO  X. 


39 


CHAPTER   III. 

POLITICAL    COMPLICATIONS.       CONNEXION  BE- 
TWEEN THEM  AND  THE  REFORMATION. 

Thus  simultaneously  with  the  secular 
aspirations  of  the  papacy  had  arisen  a  twofold 
movement ;  the  one  was  religious ;  a  revolt 
was  already  begun,  of  which  it  was  foreseen 
that  it  contained  an  immense  futurity  within 
it ;  the  other  political — the  antagonising  ele- 
ments were  in  the  most  vehement  fermenta- 
tion, and  tending  rapidly  to  new  combinations. 
Both  these  movements,  their  reciprocal  action, 
and  the  opposing  currents  they  engendered, 
thenceforth  for  many  centuries  shaped  the 
history  of  the  papacy. 

Would  that  never  prince  or  state  might 
imagine  that  any  good  may  befal  them  which 
they  owe  not  to  themselves,  which  they 
shall  not  have  won  by  their  own  native 
strength ! 

Whilst  the  Italian  powers  sought  the  one 
to  overcome  the  others  with  the  aid  of  foreign 
nations,  they  destroyed  with  their  own  hands 
the  independence  they  had  enjoyed  during 
the  fifteenth  century,  and  exposed  their  coun- 
try to  be  the  common  battle  prize  for  the  rest 
of  Europe.  A  great  share  in  this  result  must 
be  imputed  to  the  popes.  They  had  now 
assuredly  acquired  a  might,  such  as  had  never 
before  been  possessed  by  the  Roman  see  ;  but 
they  had  not  acquired  it  of  themselves  :  they 
owed  it  to  Frenchmen,  Spaniards,  Germans, 
and  Swiss.  But  for  his  league  with  Louis 
XII.,  Csesar  Borgia  would  hardly  have  accom- 
plished much.  Enlarged  as  were  the  views 
of  Julius  II.,  heroic  as  were  his  achievements, 
he  must  have  succumbed  but  for  the  aid  of 
the  Spaniards  and  the  Swiss.  How  could  it 
be,  but  that  they  who  had  fought  out  the  vic- 
tory should  seek  to  enjoy  the  preponderance 
that  thence  accrued  to  them'!  Julius  II.  saw 
this  clearly.  His  purpose  was  to  maintain  a 
certain  balance  among  the  other  powers,  and 
to  make  use  only  of  the  least  potent  among 
them,  the  Swiss,  whom  he  might  hope  to  lead. 

But  it  proved  otherwise.  Two  great 
powers  grew  up,  and  contended  with  each 
other,  if  not  for  universal  dominion,  at  least 
for  the  supremacy  in  Europe,  powers  so 
mighty  that  a  pope  was  far  from  being  able 
to  match  them  ;  and  they  fought  out  their 
quarrel  on  Italian  ground. 

First  came  the  French.  Not  long  after 
Leo's  accession  they  appeared  in  greater  force 
than  they  had  ever  before  crossed  the  Alps, 
to  reconquer  Milan  ;  at  their  head  Francis  I., 
in  the  ardour  of  youth  and  chivalry.  Every- 
thing hung  on  the  question  whether  or  not 
the  Swiss  would  be  able  to  resist  them.  The 
battle  of  Marignano  was  therefore  so  impor- 
tant, because  the  Swiss  were  wholly  routed, 


and  because  they  never  since  that  defeat  have 
exercised  an  independent  influence  in  Italy. 

The  battle  had  remained  undecided  the 
first  day,  and  already  bonfires  had  been  light- 
ed in  Rome  upon  intelligence  of  a  victory 
won  by  the  Swiss.  The  earliest  tidings  of 
the  second  day's  result,  and  of  the  real  issue  of 
the  fight,  were  received  by  the  envoy  of  the 
Venetians,  who  were  in  alliance  with  the 
king,  and  who  themselves  contributed  in  no 
small  degree  to  the  event.  He  hastened  at 
the  earliest  hour  to  the  Vatican  to  impart  the 
news  to  the  pope :  the  latter  came  out  but 
partly  dressed  to  give  him  audience.  "  Your 
holiness,"  said  the  envoy,  "gave  me  bad 
tidings  last  night,  and  false  ones  too  :  to-day 
I  bring  your  holiness  in  return  good  news, 
and  true ;  the  Swiss  are  beaten."  He  read 
him  the  letter  he  had  received,  written  by 
men  known  to  the  pope,  and  putting  the  mat- 
ter beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt*  The 
pope  did  not  disguise  his  deep  dismay.  "  Then 
what  will  become  of  us,  what  will  become 
even  of  you?"  "  We  hope  the  best  for  both." 
"  Sir  envoy,"  replied  the  pope,  "  we  must 
throw  ourselves  into  the  king's  arms,  and  cry 
him  mercy."! 

In  fact  the  French  through  this  victory 
acquired  the  decided  preponderence  in  Italy. 
Had  they  followed  it  up  with  resolution,  nei- 
ther Tuscany  nor  the  States  of  the  Church, 
both  so  easily  moved  to  rebellion,  would  have 
been  able  to  offer  much  resistance,  and  the 
Spaniards  would  have  found  it  difficult  to 
maintain  themselves  in  Naples.  "  The  king," 
says  Francis  Vettori  unconditionally,  "  might 
have  become  lord  of  Italy."  How  much  rest- 
ed at  that  moment  upon  Leo  ! 

Lorenzo  Medici  said  of  his  three  sons,  Ju- 
lian, Peter,  and  John,  that  the  first  was  good, 
the  second  a  fool,  the  third  prudent.  This 
third  was  pope  Leo  X. ;  he  now  showed  him- 
self competent  to  encounter  the  difficult  posi- 
tion into  which  he  had  fallen. 

Against  the  advice  of  his  cardinals  he  be- 
took himself  to  Bologna,  to  have  speech  with 
the  king-l  Here  they  concluded  the  concor- 
dat, in  which  they  shared  between  them  the 
rights  of  the  Gallican  church.  Leo  was 
forced  to  give  up  Parma  and  Placenza ;  but 
for  the  rest  he  succeeded  in  conjuring  the 

*  Summario  de  la  relationp  di  Zorzi.  E  cussi  desmissi- 
ato  venne  fuori  non  compilo  di  veslir.  L' orator  uisse : 
Pater  sante  eri  via.  sant^.  nii  dette  una  cattiva  miova  e 
falsa,  io  le  daro  ozi  una  bona  e  vera,  zoe  Sguizari  6  rotti. 
The  letters  were  from  Pasqualiso,  Dandolo,  and  othTS. 

+  Domine  oraror,  vederemo  quel  fara  il  re  Christmo.  se 
metteremo  in  le  so  man  dimandando  misericordia.  Lui 
orator  disss:  Pater  sante,  vostra  santili  non  avri  raal 
alcuno. 

t  Zorzi.  "  Questo  papa  6  savio  e  praticho  di  state,  o  si 
pensd  con  li  suoi  consultori  di  venir  abocharsi  a  Bologna 
con  vergocna  di  la  sede  (ap.) :  molti  cardinali,  tra  i  qual 
il  cardinal  Hadriano,  lo  disconsejava:  pur  vi  volse  an- 
dar."  [This  pope  is  learned  and  practised  in  matters  of 
state,  and  he  consulted  with  his  advisers  about  going  to 
have  speech  at  Bologna  to  the  degradation  of  the  (aposto- 
lic) see.  Many  cardinals,  amons  them  cardinal  Hadrian, 
dissuaded  him,  but  he  would  go  there.] 


40 


CONNEXION  OF  POLITICS  WITH  THE  REFORMATION,  [a.  d.1513-22. 


storm,  inducing  the  king  to  turn  his  steps 
homewards,  and  himself  remaining  secure  in 
the  possession  of  his  dominions. 

What  a  stroke  of  fortune  for  him  this  was, 
is  apparent  from  the  immediate  effects  of  the 
mere  approach  of  the  French.  It  is  highly 
deserving  of  remark  that  Leo,  after  his  allies 
had  been  defeated,  and  he  had  been  forced  to 
yield  up  a  portion  of  his  territory,  was  able  to 
keep  hold  on  two  provinces  but  just  won,  ac- 
customed to  independence,  and  lull  of  all  the 
elements  of  insurrection. 

A  constant  theme  for  censure  has  been  his 
attack  on  Urbino,  a  princely  house  that  had 
afforded  refuge  and  sustenance  to  his  own 
family  in  their  season  of  exile.  The  cause 
was  this :  the  duke  of  Urbino  had  accepted 
the  pope's  pay,  and  had  deserted  him  in  the  mo- 
ment of  crisis.  Leo  said,  "  if  he  did  not  visit 
him  with  punishment  for  this,  there  would  be 
no  baron  in  the  states  of  the  church  so  feeble 
as  not  to  resist  him.  He  had  received  the 
pontificate  in  credit,  and  would  so  maintain 
it."*  But  as  the  duke  received  support,  at 
least  in  secret,  from  the  French,  as  he  had 
allies  in  the  state  and  even  in  the  college  of 
cardinals,  the  conflict  was  yet  of  a  hazardous 
nature.  The  warlike  prince  was  not  easily 
to  be  expelled  from  his  possessions :  the  pope 
was  seen  at  times  to  tremble  at  the  receipt  of 
unfavourable  news,  and  to  be  reduced  to  ex- 
treme perplexity.  It  is  said  a  plot  was  form- 
ed to  poison  him,  in  the  course  of  treatment 
for  a  malady  under  which  he  laboured. f  The 
pope  succeeded  in  mastering  this  foe,  but  it  is 
manifest  how  much  pains  the  conquest  cost 
him.  The  defeat  of  his  party  by  the  French 
affected  him  in  his  very  capital,  nay  iii  his 
own  palace. 

Meanwhile,  the  second  great  power  had  be- 
come consolidated.  Strange  as  it  appeared 
that  one  and  the  same  monarch  should  rule  in 
Vienna,  Brussels,  Valladolid,  Saragossa,  and 
Naples,  and  besides  all  these  in  a  new  contin- 
ent too,  this  had  been  brought  about  by  an  easy 
and  scarcely  noticed  interlacement  of  family 
interests.  This  elevation  of  the  house  of  Aus- 
tria, which  linked  together  so  many  different 
nations,  was  one  of  the  greatest  and  most 
pregnant  changes  that  Europe  had  ever  wit- 
nessed. At  the  moment  when  the  nations 
parted  from  their  old  centre,  they  were  thrown, 
through  their  political  circumstances,  into  a 
new  system  of  combinations.  The  power  of 
Austria  forthwith  set  itself  against  the  pre- 
ponderant influence  of  France.     Charles  V. 


*  Franc.  VeUori  (Sommario  della  storiad'  Italia)  a  very 
intimate  friend  of  the  Medici,  gives  tiiis  explanation. 
The  defender  of  Francesco  Maria,  Giov.  Batt.  Leoni 
(Vita  di  Francesco  Maria,)  relates  facts  that  tend  very 
much  to  the  same  purport,  p.  166,  et  seq. 

■|-  Fea,  in  his  Naiizie  intorno  Rafaele,  p.  35,  has  com- 
municated from  the  acts  of  the  consistory  the  sentence 
against  the  three  cardinals,  which  expressly  refers  to 
their  understanding  with  Francesco  Maria. 


acquired  through  the  imperial  dignity  a  legi- 
timate claim  to  paramount  rank,  at  least  in 
Lombardy.  War  arose  without  much  delay 
out  of  these  Italian  circumstances. 

The  popes,  as  we  have  said,  had  hoped  to 
attain  to  complete  independence  through  the 
enlargement  of  their  dominions.  They  now 
saw  themselves  hemmed  in  between  two  far 
superior  powers.  A  pope  was  not  so  insigni- 
ficant that  he  could  remain  neutral  in  a  strife 
between  them  ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  was  he 
strong  enough  to  give  a  preponderance  to  the 
scale  into  which  he  cast  his  force  :  he  could 
only  look  for  safety  to  the  dexterous  use  he 
made  of  events.  Leo  is  reputed  to  have  said, 
that  when  one  had  concluded  terms  with  either 
party,  he  must  not  omit  to  treat  with  the 
other.*  So  double-tongued  a  policy  was  the 
forced  result  of  the  position  in  which  he  was 
placed. 

Leo  nevertheless  could  hardly  entertain 
any  serious  doubt  as  to  which  party  it  was  his 
interest  to  adopt.  Even  had  it  not  been  of 
infinite  importance  to  him  to  recover  Parma 
and  Piacenza  ;  had  the  promise  of  Charles  V. 
so  greatly  in  his  favour,  to  seat  an  Italian 
sovereign  in  Milan,  been  insufficient  to  deter- 
mine him  ;  there  was  yet,  it  appears  to  me,  a 
still  more  decisive  motive  to  fix  his  choice. 
This  was  derived  from  religious  considera- 
tions. 

Throughout  the  whole  period  we  are  con- 
templating, there  was  nothing  princes  had  so 
much  at  heart,  in  all  their  involved  dealings 
with  the  Roman  see,  as  to  elicit  a  spiritual 
opposition  against  it.  Charles  VIII.  of  France 
had  no  more  trusty  support  against  Alexander 
VI.  than  the  Dominican  Geronimo  Savonarola 
of  Florence.  When  Louis  XII.  had  abandon- 
ed all  hope  of  reconciliation  with  pope  Julius 
II.,  he  summoned  a  council  to  meet  at  Pisa  ; 
ineffectual  as  was  the  attempt,  it  appeared  to 
Rome  a  matter  of  the  utmost  peril.  But  when 
had  a  bolder  or  a  more  prosperous  foe  than 
Luther  ever  stood  up  against  the  pope  1  His 
mere  appearance,  his  existence,  gave  him  a 
weighty  political  importance.  In  this  light 
Maximilian  viewed  the  matter  :  he  would  not 
have  suffered  any  violence  to  befal  the  monk ; 
he  recommended  him  to  the  special  protection 
of  the  elector  of  Saxony :  "  there  might  some 
time  or  other  be  need  of  him."  From  that 
time  forth  Luther's  influence  increased  day  by 
day.  The  pope  had  failed  in  all  his  attempts 
to  silence  him  either  by  persuasion  or  terror, 
or  to  get  him  into  his  hands.  Let  it  not  be 
supposed  that  Leo  was  deceived  as  to  the 
magnitude  of  the  danger :  how  often  did  he 
urge  the  able  men  with  whom  he  was  sur- 
rounded in  Rome,  to  engage  in  that  contest. 


*  Suriano,  Relatione  di  1533.  Dicesi  del  papa  Leone 
che  quando  '1  aveva  falto  lega  con  alcuno  prima,  soleva 
dir  che  pero  non  si  dovearestardetratar  cum  loallroprin- 
cipe  opposto. 


A.  D.  1513-22.] 


UNDER  LEO  X. 


41 


But  there  was  yet  another  means  left.  As 
he  should  have  had  reason,  had  he  declared 
against  the  emperor,  to  fear  so  dangerous  an 
opposition  protected  and  encouraged,  so  he 
might  hope,  if  he  allied  himself  with  that  po- 
tenate,  to  put  down  the  religious  revolution 
with  his  assistance. 

The  diet  of  Worms,  in  the  year  1521,  took 
the  state  of  political  and  ecclesiastical  affairs 
into  consideration.  Leo  concluded  a  league 
with  Charles  V.  for  the  reconquest  of  Milan. 
The  very  same  day  on  which  this  alliance  was 
made  has  been  assigned  as  the  date  of  the 
edict  published  respecting  Luther.  Other 
motives  may  indeed  have  co-operated  towards 
the  promulgation  of  that  document,  but  no  one 
will  endeavour  to  persuade  himself  that  it  was 
not  most  intimately  connected  with  the  politi- 
cal treaty. 

And  not  long  was  it  ere  the  double  eflects 
of  this  alliance  were  manifested. 

Luther  was  imprisoned  and  kept  concealed 
in  the  Wartburg.*  The  Italians  at  once  re- 
fused to  believe  that  Charles  had  let  him  go 
from  a  conscientious  unwillingness  to  violate 
the  safe-conduct  granted  him.  *'  Since  he 
perceived,"  said  they,  "  that  the  pope  was 
alarmed  at  Luther's  doctrine,  he  designed  to 
keep  him  in  check  by  means  of  it."f  However 
that  may  be,  Luther  did  actually  disappear  for 
a  moment  from  the  scene  of  the  world ;  he 
was  in  a  certain  degree  out  of  the  pale  of 
the  law,  and  the  pope  had  in  any  case  effect- 
ed the  adoption  of  decisive  measures  against 
him. 

Meanwhile  the  combined  forces  of  the  pope 
and  the  emperor  had  been  prosperous  in  Italy. 
One  of  the  pope's  nearest  relations,  cardinal 
Giulio  Medici,  the  son  of  his  father's  brother, 
was  himself  in  the  field,  and  entered  Milan 
with  the  victorious  army.  It  was  asserted  in 
Rome  that  the  pope  had  it  in  contemplation  to 
bestow  that  dukedom  upon  him.  But  I  find 
no  direct  proof  of  this,  and  it  is  very  unlikely 
the  emperor  would  have  easily  given  his  con- 
sent. But  even  without  this,  the  advantage 
gained  was  not  easily  to  be  calculated.  Parma 
and  Piacenza  were  taken  ;  the  French  remov- 
ed, the  pope  would  inevitably  possess  a  great 
influence  over  the  new  sovereign  of  Milan. 

It  was  one  of  the  most  important  of  moments. 
A  new  political  development  was  begun ;  a 
great  movement  in  the  church  had  arisen.  It 
was  a  moment  in  which  the  pope  might  have 
flattered  himself  with  the  hope  of  leading  the 
former,  and  with  the  assurance  that  he  had 
stayed  the  latter.    He  was  still  young  enough 

*  Luther  was  supposed  to  be  dead  :  it  was  reported  thai 
he  had  been  murdered  by  the  papal  party.  Pallavicini 
(Istoria  del  Concilio  di  Trenlo,  I.  c.  28)  infers  from  Alean- 
der's  letters,  that  the  nuncios  were  in  danger  of  their  lives 
on  that  account. 

t  Vettori :  Carlo  si  excus6  di  non  poler  procedere  piu 
oltre  rispetto  al  salvocondotto,  ma  la  verita  fu  che  conos- 
cendo  che  il  papa  lemeva  molto  di  quesla  doctrina  di  Lu-  i 
there,  lo  voile  tenere  con  questo  freno.  ' 


to  indulge  the  anticipation  of  turning  the  aus- 
picious moment  to  full  account. 

Strange  delusive  lot  of  man  !  Leo  was  in 
his  villa  Malliana  when  the  news  was  brought 
him  of  the  entrance  of  his  own  party  into 
Milan.  He  abandoned  himself  to  the  feeling 
naturally  occasioned  by  a  happily  completed 
enterprise.  He  looked  on  with  glee  upon  the 
rejoicings  celebrated  by  his  people  out  of 
doors ;  moved  to  and  fro  till  a  late  hour  in 
the  night  between  the  window  and  tlie  fire 
on  the  hearth — the  month  was  November.* 
Somewhat  exhausted,  but  in  the  utmost  de- 
light, he  reached  Rome ;  and  there  the  festi- 
vities for  the  victory  were  not  yet  quite  ended, 
when  he  was  seized  with  a  mortal  sickness. 
"  Pray  for  me,"  he  said  to  his  servants,  "  that 
I  may  yet  make  you  all  happy."  He  loved 
life,  we  see,  but  his  hour  was  come.  He  had 
not  time  to  receive  the  eucharist  and  extreme 
unction.  So  suddenly,  so  prematurely,  in  the 
midst  of  such  great  hopes  did  he  die,  "  as  the 
poppy  fades."! 

The  Roman  people  could  not  forgive  him 
that  he  had  departed  without  the  sacraments, 
that  he  had  expended  so  much  money  and  yet 
left  abundant  debts  behind.  They  followed 
his  corpse  with  jeers.  "  You  sneaked  in  like 
a  fox,"  they  said,  "  ruled  like  a  lion,  and  have 
gone  off  like  a  dog."J  After  times,  on  the 
other  hand,  have  designated  a  century  and  a 
great  epoch  in  the  progress  of  mankind  by 
his  name. 

We  have  called  him  a  favourite  of  fortune. 
After  he  had  overcome  the  first  mischance, 
wliich  affected  not  himself  so  much  as  other 
members  of  his  house,  his  lot  carried  him  for- 
ward from  enjoyment  to  enjoyment,  from  suc- 
cess to  success.  But  even  disappointments 
themselves  seemed  constrained  to  promote  his 
prosperity.  His  life  passed  away  in  a  sort  of 
intellectual  intoxication,  in  the  continual  ful- 
filment of  all  his  wishes.  To  this  end  too  his 
personal  qualities  contributed,  his  good-nature 
and  liberality,  his  activity  of  imagination,  and 
his  abundant  readiness  to  acknowledge  desert. 

These  qualities  themselves  are  the  fairest 

*  Copia  di  una  lettera  di  Roma  alii  Sgri.  Bolognesi  a  dS 
3  Dcbr.  1521,  scritta  per  Bartholomeo  Argilelli,  in  the  32d 
vol.  of  Sanuto.  The  intelligence  was  conveyed  to  the 
pope  Nov.  24,  during  the  Benedicite.  He  took  this  also 
for  a  particularly  good  omen  ;  and  said,  Questa  e  una 
buona  nuova  che  havete  portato.  The  Swiss  began  imme- 
diately to  fire  feiiz  de  joie.  The  pope  sent  to  beg  they 
would  desist,  but  in  vain. 

t  People  spoke  immediately  of  poison.  Lettera  di 
Hieronymo  Bon  a  suo  barba  a  di  5  Dec,  in  Sanuto.  Non 
si  sa  certo  se'l  pontefice  sia  mono  di  veneno.  Fo.  aperto. 
Maistro  Ferando  judica  sia  stato  venenato :  alcuno  de  li 
altri  no :  e  di  questa  opinione  Mastro  Severino,  che  lo  vide 
aprire,  dice  che  non  6  venenato.  [It  is  not  known  for 
certain  whether  or  not  the  pope  died  of  poison.  He  was  « 
opened.  Master  Ferando  judged  that  he  was  poisoned: 
some  of  the  others  said  no  ;  and  of  this  opinion  was  Master 
Severino,  who  saw  him  opened,  and  said  he  was  not 
poisoned.] 

t  Capitoli  di  una  lettera  scritta  a  Pioma,  21  Dec.  1.521. 
"  Concludo  che  non  6  morto  mai  papa  cum  peggior  fama 
dapoi  6  la  chiesa  di  Dio."  [Ijudgethal  never  diedapope 
in  worse  repute  since  the  existence  of  God's  church.] 


43  CONNEXION  OF  POLITICS  WITH  THE  REFORMATION,     [a.  d.  1522-3. 


boons  of  nature,  fortune-gifts,  which  fall  but 
seldom  to  the  lot  of  men,  and  which  yet  are 
essential  to  all  the  enjoyments  of  life.  Busi- 
ness but  little  disturbed  his  pleasures.  As  he 
did  not  trouble  himself  about  details,  and  look- 
ed only  to  leading  matters,  they  were  not 
oppressive  to  him,  and  exercised  only  the 
nobler  faculties  of  his  mind.  For  the  very 
reason  that  he  did  not  devote  every  day  and 
hour  to  them,  it  would  seem  that  he  could  deal 
with  them  upon  large  and  unrestricted  views, 
and  that  in  all  the  entanglements  of  the  mo- 
ment he  had  constantly  before  his  eyes  the 
leading  idea,  the  clue  to  all  the  mazes  of  the 
labyrinth.  All  the  grander  impulses  bestow- 
ed on  affairs  were  his  own  work.  In  his  last 
moments  all  the  purposes  of  his  policy  met 
together  in  cheering  prosperity.  We  may 
even  regard  it  as  a  good  fortune  that  he  then 
died.  Times  of  another  complexion  followed, 
and  it  is  hard  to  imagine  that  he  could  have 
successfully  made  head  against  their  unpropi- 
tious  nature.  His  successors  had  to  endure 
their  whole  burden. 

The  conclave  lasted  very  long.  "  My 
lords,"  at  last  said  Cardinal  Medici,  whom  the 
return  of  his  house's  foes  to  Urbino  and  Peru- 
gia filled  with  alarm,  so  that  he  feared  even 
for  Florence  :  "My  lords,  I  see  that  none  of  us 
here  assembled  can  become  pope.  I  have  pro- 
posed three  or  four  to  you,  but  you  have  reject- 
ed them :  on  the  other  hand,  I  cannot  accept 
those  whom  you  put  forward.  We  must  look 
about  for  some  one  else  not  present."  The 
suggestion  was  approved  of,  and  he  was  asked 
whom  he  had  in  view.  "  Take,"  he  answered, 
"  cardinal  Tortosa,  a  venerable  and  aged  man, 
who  is  universally  regarded  as  a  saint."* 
This  was  Adrian  of  Utrecht,!  formerly  profes- 
sor in  Louvain,  the  tutor  of  Charles  V.,  through 
whose  personal  regard  he  had  been  raised  to 
the  rank  of  a  governor  of  Spain,  and  to  the 
dignity  of  cardinal.  Cardinal  Cajetan,  who 
yet  did  not  belong  to  the  Medici  party,  rose  to 
speak  in  praise  of  the  proposed  candidate. 
Who  could  have  believed  that  the  cardinals, 
ever  accustomed  to  consult  their  personal 
intei'ests  in  the  election  of  a  pope,  should  have 
pitched  upon  an  absent  Netherlander,  whom 
very  few  of  them  knew,  and  with  whom  not 

*  Letlera  di  Roma  a  dl  19  Zener.  in  Sanuto.  Medici, 
dubilando  de  li  casi  suoi,  se  le  cosa  fosse  troppo  ita  in 
longo,  deliber6  metlere  cunclusione,  et  liavendo  in  animo 
queslo  c'e.  Deilusense  per  esser  imperialissimo — disse  : 
«tc.  [Medici  bein?  dubious  as  to  his  own  affairs,  if  the 
mauer  was  loo  Ions;  protracted,  and  having  in  his  eye  that 
cardinal  Tortosa  wasonestrongly  attached  to  the  emperor 
—said,  &c.] 

t  So  he  calls  himself  in  a  letter  of  1514,  to  be  found  in 
■Caspar  Burma nnus  :  Adrianus  VI.  sive  analecta  hislorica 
■de  Adriano  VI.  p.  2W.  In  original  doctiments  of  his 
native  country  he  is  called  Meysler  Aryan  Florisse  van 
Ulrecht.  Modern  writers  have  soineliines  given  him  the 
name  of  Boyens,  because  his  father  signed  himself  Floris 
Boyens  ;  but  that  means  only  Bodewin's  son,  and  is  not.  a 
family  name.  See  Burmunn  in  the  notes  to  Moringi  Vila 
AdriaBi,  p.'i. 


one  of  them  could  stipulate  for,  any  private 
advantage  ?  They  suffered  themselves  to  be 
surprised  into  this  determination ;  and  when 
the  thing  was  done  they  scarce  knew  how  it 
had  come  about.  They  were  half  dead  with 
terror,  says  one  of  our  informants.  It  is  assert- 
ed they  had  persuaded  themselves  for  a  mo- 
ment that  the  object  of  their  choice  would  not 
accept  the  appointment.  Pasquin  derided 
them,  representing  the  pope  elect  in  the  cha- 
racter of  a  school-master,  and  the  cardinals  as 
schoolboys  whom  he  was  chastising. 

On  a  worthier  man,  however,  the  choice  had 
not  for  a  long  time  fallen.  Adrian  was  a  man 
of  thoroughly  unblemished  reputation,  upright, 
pious,  active,  very  serious,  so  that  no  more 
than  a  faint  smile  was  ever  seen  upon  his  lips, 
but  full  of  bene  volent  and  pure  intentions ;  a 
genuine  clergyman.*  What  a  contrast  v,'hen 
he  now  entered  the  city  where  Leo  had  kept 
his  court  with  such  lavish  splendour  !  There 
is  a  letter  of  his  extant,  in  which  he  says,  he 
would  rather  serve  God  in  his  priory  in  Lou- 
vain than  be  pope.f  Indeed,  he  continued  in 
the  Vatican  the  life  he  had  led  as  professor. 
It  was  characteristic  of  him,  and  we  may  be 
permitted  to  relate  it,  that  he  had  even  brought 
with  him  the  old  woman  his  attendant,  who 
continued  to  provide  for  his  domestic  wants  as 
before.  He  made  no  alteration  in  his  personal 
habits  :  he  rose  with  the  dawn,  read  his  mass, 
and  then  proceeded  in  the  usual  order  to  his 
business  and  his  studies,  which  he  interrupted 
only  with  the  most  frugal  dinner.  It  cannot 
be  said  of  him  that  he  was  a  stranger  to  the 
general  culture  and  acquirements  of  his  age; 
he  loved  Flemish  art,  and  prized  the  learning 
that  was  adorned  with  a  tinge  of  elegance. 
Erasmus  testifies  that  he  was  especially  pro- 
tected by  him  from  the  attacks  of  the  bigots  of 
the  schools.]:  But  he  disapproved  of  the  almost 
heathenish  tendency  to  which  they  gave  them- 
selves up  in  Rome  at  that  day,  and  he  would 

*  Literae  ex  Victorial  directivse  ad  Cardinalem  de 
Flisco,  in  the  33rd  vol.  of  Sanuto,  describe  him  thus: 
•'  Vir  est  sui  lenax ;  in  concedendo  parcissimus  ;  in  reci- 
piendo  nuUus  aut  rarissiaius.  In  sacriticio  cotidianus  et 
mavulinus  est.  Quern  amel  aut  si  quern  amel  nuUi  ex- 
ploralum.  Ira  non  asitur,  jocis  noa  ducitur.  Neque  ob 
pnntificatum  visus  est  exultasse :  quin  constat  graviter 
ilium  ad  ejus  famam  nuntii  ingemuisse.  [He  is  a  man 
tenacious  of  his  own,  very  chary  in  conceding,  and  never 
or  very  rarely  accepting.  He  is  punctual  in  the  daily  and 
early  performance  of  mass.  Whom  he  loves,  or  whether 
he  loves  any  one,  is  known  to  none.  He  is  not  to  be 
driven  by  anger  nor  to  be  led  by  mirthful  sallies.  Nor 
did  he  seem  to  exult  at  obtaining  the  ponliticaie  ;  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  known  that  he  \vas  afflicted  with  grief  on 
hearing  the  intelligence.]  In  Burmann's  collection  there 
is  an  Itlnerarinm  Adriani  by  Ortiz,  who  accompanied  the 
j.ope  and  knew  him  intimately.  He  asserts,  p.  223,  that 
he  never  observed  any  thing  in  him  deserving  of  censure, 
that  he  was  a  mirror  of  every  virtue. 

t  Florence  Oem  Wyngaerden :  Vittoria,  15  Feb.  1523, 
in  Burmann,  p.  398. 

t  Erasmus  says  of  him,  in  one  of  his  letters:  "Licet 
scholasticis  disciplinisfaveret,  satis  tamen  aequus  in  bonas 
lileras."  [Although  he  favoured  scholastic  pursuits,  he 
was  nevertheless  Well  enough  disposed  towards  polite 
learning.]  Jovius  relates  with  satisfaction,  how  n.uch  the 
fame  of  a  scripuir  annalium  valde  elegans  availed  him 
with  Adrian,  especially  as  he  was  no  poet. 


A.  D.  1522-3.] 


UNDER  ADRIAN  VI. 


43 


not  so  much  as  hear  of  the  sect  of  the  poets. 
No  one  could  more  earnestly  desire  than 
Adrian  VI.  (lie  retained  his  original  name)  to 
heal  the  diseased  condition  in  which  he  found 
Christendom. 

The  progress  of  the  Turkish  arms  and  the 
fall  of  Rhodes  and  Btdgrade  were  further  spe- 
cial motives  prompting  his  thoughts  towards 
re-establishing  of  peace  among  the  Christain 
powers.  Although  he  hnd  been  the  emperor's 
instructor,  he  forthwitli  assp.med  a  neutral  po- 
sition :  the  imperial  ambassador,  who  hoped  on 
the  new  outbreak  of  war  to  move  him  to  a  de- 
cided declaration  in  favour  of  his  pupil,  was 
obliged  to  leave  Rome  without  accomplishing 
his  purpose.*  When  tiie  news  of  the  conquest 
of  Rhodes  was  read  to  the  pope,  he  looked 
down  to  the  ground,  said  not  a  word,  but  sighed 
deeply.f  The  danger  of  Hungary  was  palpa- 
ble. He  feared  even  for  Italy  and  for  Rome. 
His  whole  endeavour  was  to  bring  about  if 
not  a  peace,  at  least  a  truce  for  three  years, 
in  order  to  a  general  campaign  in  the  mean- 
time against  the  Turks. 

He  was  not  less  resolved  to  meet  the  de- 
mands of  the  Germans.  With  regard  to  the 
abuses  that  had  made  their  way  into  the 
church,  no  one  could  express  himself  more 
strongly  than  did  he.  "  We  know,"  he  says 
in  the  instructions  for  the  Nuncio  Chieregato, 
whom  he  sent  to  the  diet,  "  that  for  a  consid- 
erable tmie  many  abominable  things  have 
found  a  place  near  the  holy  chair,  abuses  in 
spiritual  things,  exorbitant  straining  of  pre- 
rogatives, everything  turned  to  evil.  The 
disease  has  spread  from  the  head  to  the  limbs, 
from  the  pope  to  the  prelates  :  we  are  all  gone 
astray,  there  is  none  that  has  done  rightly,  no 
not  one."  He  now  promised  on  the  contrary 
all  that  became  a  good  pope ;  to  promote  the 
virtuous  and  the  learned,  to  suppress  abuses, 
gradually  at  least,  if  not  at  once  ;  and  he  held 
out  a  hope  of  reformation  both  in  the  head  and 
the  members,  such  as  had  often  been  eagerly 
desired.f 

But  to  reform  the  world  is  not  so  easy  a 
task.  The  good  intentions  of  an  individual, 
however  high  his  station,  reach  but  a  little 
way  towards  such  a  consummation.  Abuses 
for  the  most  part  strike  root  too  deeply ;  they 
grow  up  enlwnied  with  the  very  growth  of 
the  body  they  encumber. 

The  tall  of  Rhodes  was  far  from  inducing 
the  French  to  make  peace :  on  the  contrary, 
perceiving  that  the  loss  would  give  the  em- 
peror  fresh   occupation,   they  concerted   the 


*  Gradenigo,  in  his  Rplalione,  names  the  viceroy  of 

Naples.     Girolamo  Npgro,  some  highly  interesting  li'tters  1 

from  whoiii  respecting  this  perio.l  we  find  in  theLeitere 

Idi  prin.;ipi,  t.  i.  says,  p.  lOJ,  of  John  Manu'-I:  "Su  parti 

mezo  disperaio."  i 

t  Negio,  from  the  narration  of  the  Venetian  Secretary, 
p.  110.  I 

t  In3tru"lio  pro  te  Francisco  Chieregato,  &c.  &c.,  to  be  ' 
found  in  Rainaldus,  toin.  xi.  p.  3u3,  and  elsewhere.  i 


more  vigorous  measures  against  him.  They 
formed  connexions  in  Sicily,  not  without  the 
privity  of  the  cardinal  who  was  most  in 
Adrian's  confidence,  and  they  made  an  at- 
tempt upon  that  island.  The  pope  found  him- 
self constrained  at  last  to  enter  into  a  league 
on  his  own  part  with  the  emperor,  which  was 
virtually  directed  against  France. 

'I'he  Germans  too  were  no  longer  to  be  con- 
ciliated by  what  would  once  have  been  con- 
sidered a  reformation  of  head  and  members; 
and  then  how  difhcult,  how  almost  impracti- 
cable would  such  reform  have  been  ! 

Had  the  pope  thoug-ht  to  suppress  those 
dues  accruing  to  the  curia,  in  which  he  per- 
ceived a  colour  of  simony,  he  could  not  have 
done  so  without  violence  to  the  legitimate 
rights  of  those  whose  offices  were  founded 
thereon,  offices  which  in  most  instances  they 
had  purchased. 

Did  he  contemplate  a  change  in  the  system 
of  marriage  dispensations,  and  some  relaxa- 
tion in  the  existing  prohibitions  I  it  was  re- 
presented to  him  that  such  a  course  would  in- 
fringe upon  and  weaken  the  discipline  of  the 
church. 

To  check  the  monstrous  abuse  of  indulgencea 
he  would  gladly  have  revived  the  old  pe- 
nances: but  the  Penitenziaria  set  before  him 
the  risk  he  would  then  run  of  losing  Italy, 
while  he  sought  to  retain  Germany.* 

In  short,  at  every  step  ho  saw  himself  sur- 
rounded 'oy  a  thousand  difficulties. 

Add  to  this,  that  he  found  himself  at  Rome 
in  a  strange  element,  which  he  could  not  rule, 
inasmuch  as  he  was  not  familiar  with  it,  and 
did  not  understand  its  constitution  or  its  inhe- 
rent forces.  He  had  been  joyfully  welcomed  : 
it  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth  that  he  had 
somewhere  about  5U00  vacant  benefices  to 
bestow,  and  every  one's  hopes  were  on  the 
alert.  But  never  did  pope  show  himself  more 
chary  and  reserved  on  this  particular.  Adrian 
would  know  who  it  was  for  whom  he  provided, 
to  whom  he  commmitted  ecclesiastical  posts: 
he  set  to  work  with  scrupulous  conscientious- 
ness,! ^nd  disappointed  innumerable  expecta- 
tions. The  first  decree  of  his  pontificate  sup- 
pressed the  reversionary  rights  formerly  an- 
nexed to  ecclesiastical  dignities:  he  even  re- 
called those  which  had  been  already  conceded. 
It  could  not  be  but  that  the  publication  of  this 
decree  in  Rome  should  stir  up  feelings  of  the 
bitterest  animosity  against  him  in  abundance. 
Hitherto  a  certain  freedom  of  speech  and  of 
writing  had  been  enjoyed  at  court:  this  he 
would  no  longer  permit.     The  impoverished 

*In  the  first  book  of  ihe  Historia  de  Concilio  Triden 
tino,  by  P.  Sarpi,  ed.  of  l'J29,  p.  2-3,  there  is  a  goo  1  exposi- 
tion of  the  state  of  things  extracted  frum  a  diary  of 
Chieregato. 

tOni-i  Itinerarium,  c.  xxviii.,  c.   xxix.,  partiiularly 
wo.thy  of  credit,  as  he  says,  "  cum  provision's  et  alia  hu-  * 
ju3iiio.li  testis  oculatus  inspex^rim."  [I  personally  loolied 
into  appouumeuts  and  other  things  of  thai  kind.j 


44  CONNEXION  OF  POLITICS  WITH  THE  REFORMATION,  [a.  d.  1523-34. 


state  of  the  exchequer,  and  the  increasing  de- 
mands upon  it,  obliged  him  to  impose  some 
new  taxes,  and  this  was  looked  on  as  intole- 
rable on  the  part  of  one  who  expended  so 
little.  Dissatisfaction  generally  prevailed.* 
He  was  well  aware  of  this :  it  had  its  effect 
upon  him.  He  trusted  the  Italians  still  less 
than  before :  the  two  Netherlanders  to  whom 
he  confided  authority,  Enkefort  and  Hezius, 
the  former  his  datary,  the  latter  his  secretary, 
were  not  masters  of  business  or  of  courtly 
affairs.  He  himself  found  it  impossible  to 
direct  them ;  besides,  he  was  bent  on  still 
pursuing  his  studies,  not  reading  only  but  even 
writing.  He  was  not  very  accessible ;  busi- 
ness was  procrastinated,  tediously  prolonged, 
and  unskilfully  handled. 

Thus  it  was  that  in  circumstances  of  great- 
est general  moment  nothing  effectual  was 
done.  War  was  renewed  in  Upper  Italy. 
In  Germany,  Luther  was  again  at  work.  In 
Rome,  which  was  besides  afflicted  with  the 
plague,  discontent  was  universal. 

Adrian  once  said :  "  How  much  it  imports 
on  what  times  is  cast  even  the  best  of  men  !" 
The  whole  feeling  of  his  position  is  embodied 
in  this  painful  exclamation :  fitly  has  it  been 
engraved  on  his  monument  in  the  German 
church  at  Rome. 

At  least  it  is  not  ascribable  exclusively  to 
Adrian's  personal  character  if  his  times  were 
barren  of  result.  The  papacy  was  enveloped 
in  the  march  of  mighty  necessities  swaying 
the  destinies  of  the  world,  necessities  that 
would  have  inhnitely  tasked  the  powers  of 
men  the  most  practised  in  statesmanship,  and 
the  most  fertile  in  expedients. 

Among  all  the  cardinals  there  was  none 
who  seemed  more  peculiarly  fitted  to  wield 
the  papacy,  more  equal  to  sustain  the  burthen 
of  that  station,  than  Giulio  de'  Medici.  He 
had  already  under  Leo  the  chief  share  in  pub- 
lic business,  and  had  held  the  whole  of  its  de- 
tails in  his  hands ;  even  under  Adrian  loo  he 
had  retained  a  certain  degree  of  power.f  He 
did  not  let  the  highest  dignity  a  second 
time  escape  him.  He  took  the  name  of  Cle- 
ment VII. 

The  new  pope  avoided  with  great  caution 
the  evils  that  had  made  themselves  felt  under 
his  two  immediate  predecessors,  Leo's  insta- 
bility, profuseness,  and  objectionable  habits, 
and  Adrian's  discordancy  with  the  tempera- 
ment of  his  court.     Every  thing  under  him 


*  Lettere  di  Negro.    Capitolo  del  Berni. 

E  quando  un  srgue  il  libera  costume 

Di  slbgarsi  scrivendo  e  di  cantare, 

Lo  minaccia  di  far  biiUare  in  fiiime. 

[And  when  any  one  indulges  in  tlie  liberal  custom  of 

venting  his  feelings  in  writing  or  in  song,  they  threaten 

to  pitch  him  into  the  river.] 

•f  The  Relatione  di  Mari  o  Foscari,  1.326,  says  of  him  in 
reference  lo  thosetimes:  "  Stavacon  grandissini;i.reputa- 
tion  e  governava  il  papato  e  havia  piu  zente  alia  sua  au- 
dientia  che  il  papa.  [He  enjoyed  the  highest  reputation, 
and  had  the  government  of  the  papacy:  his  aujiencps 
were  more  numerously  attended  than  those  oi  the  pope.] 


was  controlled  by  sound  discretion ;  at  least 
in  himself  nothing  was  apparent  but  blameless 
rectitude  and  moderation.*  The  pontifical 
ceremonies  were  carefully  observed,  he  gave 
audience  with  unwearied  assiduity  from  an 
early  hour  till  evening,  and  promoted  the  arts 
and  sciences  in  the  course  they  had  once  for 
ail  assumed.  Clement  VII.  was  himself  very 
well  informed.  He  could  converse  with  equal 
knowledge  of  his  subject,  whether  the  topic 
related  to  mechanics  and  hydraulic  architec- 
ture, or  to  philosophy  and  theology.  In  every- 
thing he  manifested  extraordinary  acuteness; 
his  sagacity  penetrated  the  most  difficult  cir- 
cumstances, and  saw  through  them  to  the 
very  bottom  :  never  was  man  heard  to  debate 
with  greater  skill.  In  Leo's  time  he  ^"had 
proved  himself  unsurpassed  for  prudence  in 
counsel  and  circumspect  ability  in  practice. 

But  the  storm  is  the  test  of  the  pilot's 
powers.  Clement  received  the  popedom,  if  we 
consider  it  only  in  the  light  of  an  Italian  sove- 
reignty, in  a  most  critical  condition. 

The  Spaniards  had  contributed  the  most  to 
enlarge  and  uphold  the  states  of  the  church  ; 
they  had  established  the  Medici  in  Florence. 
Thus  leagued  with  the  popes,  their  own  ad- 
vancement in  Italy  had  accompanied  that  of 
the  Medici.  Alexander  VI.  had  opened  Lower 
Italy  to  them ;  Julius  had  given  them  access 
to  the  middle  regions  ;  and  through  their  com- 
bination with  Leo,  in  the  attack  on  Milan, 
they  had  become  masters  in  Upper  Italy.  In 
this  course  of  events,  (/lement  had  personally 
afforded  them  manifold  assistance.  There  is 
extant  an  instruction  of  his  to  his  ambassadors 
at  the  Spanish  court,  in  which  he  enumerates 
the  services  he  had  rendered  to  Charles  V. 
and  his  house.  He  it  was  above  all  who  had 
brought  it  about  that  Francis  I.  in  his  first 
expedition  did  not  push  on  to  Naples:  to  his 
instrumentality  it  had  been  owing  that  Leo 
offered  no  impediment  to  the  election  of 
Charles  V.  to  the  imperial  dignity,  and  re- 
pealed the  old  constitution,  by  which  it  was 
enacted  that  no  J^ing  of  Naples  should  be  em- 
peror at  the  same  time.  In  spite  of  all  the 
promises  of  the  French,  he  had  aided  towards 
the  conclusion  of  the  alliance  bewteen  Leo 
and  Charles  for  the  reconquest  of  Milan,  and 
to  promote  that  enterprise  he  had  spared 
neither  the  means  of  his  country  and  his 
friends,  nor  his  own  person ;  he  had  procured 
the  popedom  for  Adrian,  and  when  he  did  so 
it  seemed  almost  the  same  thing  whether 
Adrian  or  the  emperor  was  made  pope.f  I 
will  not  inquire  how  much  of  Leo's  policy  is 

*  Vettori  says  that  so  good  a  man  had  not  been  pope  for 
the  last  hundred  years:  non  su|)erbo,  noa  simoniaco,  non 
avaro,  non  libidinoso,  sobrio  nel  vicio,  parco  nel  vestire, 
religioso,  devolo.  [Not  proud,  not  simoniacal,  not  avari- 
cious, not  lustful,  temperate  in  diet,  frugal  in  apparel,  re- 
ligious and  devout.] 

t  In.^trutlione  al  Card,  reverendmo'  di  Farnese,  che  fu 
poi  Paulo  III.,  quando  ando  legato  all'  Imperatore  Carlo 
v.,  doppo  il  sacco  di  Eoma.    (Appendix,  No.  XV.) 


A.  D.  1523-34.] 


UNDER  CLEMENT  VII. 


45 


ascribable  to  the  counsellor,  and  how  much  to 
the  sovereign;  certain  it  is  that  Cardinal 
Medici  was  always  on  the  emperor's  side. 
After  he  had  become  pope  too  he  aided  the 
imperial  troops  with  money,  provisions,  and 
grants  of  ecclesiastical  revenues;  once  again 
they  were  partially  indebted  for  victory  to  his 
support. 

Thus  closely  was  Clement  leagued  with  the 
Spaniards;  but,  as  not  unfrequenlly  occurs, 
prodigious  evils  ensued  from  this  alliance. 

The  popes  had  occasioned  the  growth  of  the 
Spanish  power,  but  this  had  never  been  their 
direct  purpose.  They  had  wrested  Milan  from 
the  French;  but  they  had  not  entertained  a 
desire  to  transfer  it  to  the  Spaniards.  (5n  the 
contrary,  more  than  one  war  had  been  carried 
on  to  prevent  the  possession  of  Naples  and 
Milan  by  one  and  the  same  power.*  That 
now  the  Spaniards,  so  long  masters  in  Lower 
Italy,  were  daily  obtaining  firmer  footing  in 
Lombardy,  and  that  they  delayed  the  investi- 
ture of  Sforza,  was  regarded  in  Rome  with 
impatience  and  displeasure. 

Clement  was  also  personally  dissatisfied. 
We  see  from  the  instructions  before  cited,  that 
already  as  cardinal  he  had  often  thought  him- 
self treated  with  less  consideration  than  was 
due  to  his  deserts:  he  still  continued  to  meet 
with  little  deference,  and  the  expedition 
against  Marseilles  was  undertaken  in  1524, 
in  direct  opposition  to  his  advice.  His  minis- 
ters— so  say  themselves — perpetually  looked 
for  still  grosser  marks  of  disrepect  towards 
the  apostolic  see.  They  recognized  in  the 
Spaniards  nothing  but  imperiousness  and  in- 
solence.f 

How  straitly  did  Clement  seem  knit,  through 
the  course  of  events  and  his  personal  position, 
in  the  bonds  of  necessity  and  inclination  with 
the  Spaniards !  But  now  a  thousand  reasons 
presented  themselves  to  make  him  execrate 
the  power  he  had  helped  to  found,  to  oppose 
the  very  cause  he  had  hitherto  favoured  and 
furthered. 

Of  all  political  efforts,  the  hardest  perhaps 
is  to  abandon  the  course  in  which  one  has  hith- 
erto moved,  to  undo  the  results  he  has  himself 
elicited. 

And  how  much  depended  now  on  such  an 
effort!  The  Italians  felt  thoroughly  that  upon 
the  issue  depended  the  decision  of  their  fate 
for  centuries.  A  great  community  of  feeling 
had  sprung  up  in  the  nation.  I  am  firmly  per- 
suaded that  this  owed  its  origin  to  the  literary 
and  artistic  progress  of  Italy,  in  which  it  left 
all  other  nations  so  far  behind  !     The  haught- 


*  It  is  expressly  stated  in  tlio  before-mentioned  instruc 
lion,  that  the  pope  had  shown  himself  ready  to  acquiesce 
even  in  what  was  disagreeable  to  him,  purche  lo  slato  di 
Milano  restassp'al  duca,  al  quale  efTetto  si  erano  fatte  lulte 
le  guerre  d'ltalia.  [In  order  that  the  state  of  Milan  might 
remain  in  the  duke's  possession,  a  thing  which  had  been 
the  object  of  all  the  wars  of  Italy.] 

t  M.  Giberto  datario  a  Dun  Michele  di  Silva.  Lettere 
di  Principi,  I.  197  b. 


iness  too  and  the  rapacity  of  the  Spaniards, 
both  officers  and  privates,  seemed  absolutely 
intolerable.  It  was  with  a  mixture  of  con- 
tempt and  rage  that  the  Italians  beheld  those 
foreign  half-barbarous  masters  in  their  country. 
Things  were  moreover  at  such  a  pass,  that 
these  intruders  might  possibly  be  got  rid  of. 
But  the  fact  was  not  to  be  disguised,  that  if 
the  attempt  were  not  made  with  all  the  na- 
tion's might,  if  the  enterprise  should  prove 
unsuccessful,  all  was  lost  forever. 

I  could  wish  it  were  in  my  power  fully  to 
develope  the  history  of  this  period,  to  set 
forth  in  detail  the  whole  struggle  of  the  roused 
powers  of  Italy.  Here,  however,  we  can  only 
mark  some  leading  points. 

The  first  step  taken,  and  it  seemed  ex- 
tremely well  devised,  was  an  attempt  made 
in  the  year  1525  to  gain  over  the  emperor's 
best  general,  who  was  decidedly  very  much 
dissatisfied.  What  more  would  be  wanted  if,  aa 
was  hoped,  the  emperor  should  lose  with  his 
general  the  army  too  by  means  of  which  he 
ruled  Italy]  Promises  were  not  spared;  the 
offer  even  of  a  crown  was  held  out.  But  how 
erroneous  was  the  calculation!  How  wholly 
was  their  self-complacent  cunning  shivered 
upon  the  stubborn  material  on  which  it  made 
essay  !  Pescara,  the  general  in  question,  was 
born  indeed  in  Italy,  but  of  Spanish  blood;  he 
spoke  nothing  but  Spanish,  would  be  nothing 
but  a  Spaniard,  and  had  no  tincture  of  Italian 
art  or  literature:  his  mental  character  had 
been  fashioned  by  the  Spanish  romances, 
which  breathe  only  the  spirit  of  loyalty  and 
fidelity.  He  was  by  nature  opposed  to  a  na- 
tional Italian  enterprize.*  No  sooner  had 
overtures  been  made  to  him  than  he  communi- 
cated them  to  his  comrades,  and  to  the  empe- 
ror: he  made  no  other  use  of  them  than  to 
extract  their  secrets  from  the  Italians,  and  to 
frustrate  all  their  plans. 

But  these  very  proceedings  rendered  a  de- 
cisive contest  with  the  emperor  unavoidable; 
for  how  was  it  henceforth  possible  that  any  re- 
mains of  mutual  confidence  should  subsist  be- 
tween the  parties] 

In  the  summer  of  1.526,  we  see  the  Italians 
at  last  going  to  work  with  their  own  strength. 
The  Milanese  are  already  in  the  field  against 
the  Imperialists.  A  Venetian  and  a  papal  army 
advance  to  their  support.  Swiss  aid  is  pro- 
mised, and  the  alliance  of  France,  and  of 
England  has  been  secured.    "This  time,"  said 


*  Vettori  sums  up  his  character  in  the  most  opprobioua 
manner.  Era  superbo  oltre  modo,  invidioso,  ingrato,  avaro, 
venenoso  e  crudele,  senzareligione,  senzahumaniti,  nato 
proprio  per  distruggere  Tllalia.  [He  was  haughty  beyond 
measure,  envious,  ungrateful,  covetous,  virulent  and  cruel, 
without  reliffion,  without  humanity,  born  expressly  for  the 
destruction  of  Italy.]  Morone,  too,  said  once  to  Guicciar- 
dini,  there  was  no  more  faithless,  malicious  man  than 
Pescara  (Hist,  d'ltalia,  XVI.,  476,)  and  yet  he  made  him 
the  offer.  I  do  not  cite  these  judgmentts  as  though  they 
were  true;  only  they  show  thai  Pescara  had  evinced 
nothing  but  enmity  and  haired  towards  the  Italians. 


46 


CONNEXION  OF  POLITICS  WITH  THE  REFORMATION,  [a.  d.  1523-34. 


Giberto,  the  most  confidential  minister  of 
Clement  VII.,  "  the  matter  concerns  not  a 
petty  revenge,  a  point  of  honour,  or  a  single 
town.  This  war  decides  the  liberation  or  the 
perpetual  thraldom  of  Italy."  He  expresses 
no  doubt  of  a  successful  issue.  "  Posterity 
will  envy  us  that  that  their  lot  had  not  been 
cast  on  our  days,  that  they  might  have  wit- 
nessed so  high  fortune  and  have  had  their  part 
in  it."  He  hopes  there  will  be  no  need  of 
foreign  aid.  "  Ours  alone  will  be  the  glory, 
and  so  much  the  sweeter  the  fruit,"* 

With  these  thoughts  and  hopes  Clement 
entered  on  his  war  against  the  Spaniards.f  It 
was  his  boldest  and  loftiest  conception,  his 
most  unfortunate  and  fatal. 

The  affairs  of  the  State  and  of  the  Church 
are  most  intimately  interwoven.  The  pope 
seemed  to  have  left  the  commotions  of  Ger- 
many wholly  out  of  consideration,  and  from 
these  originated  the  first  reaction. 

At  the  moment  when  the  troops  of  Clement 
VII.  advanced  into  Upper  Italy,  in  July  1526, 
the  diet  had  assembled  at  Spires  to  come  to 
a  definitive  resolution  with  regard  to  the  dis- 
sensions in  the  church.  That  the  imperial 
party,  that  Ferdinand  of  Austria  who  repre- 
sented the  emperor,  and  who  himself  had  de- 
signs upon  Milan,  should  have  been  very 
eager  to  uphold  the  power  of  the  pope  on  this 
side  the  Alps,  at  the  very  time  when  beyond 
them  they  were  attacked  by  him  with  the  ut- 
most determination,  would  have  been  contrary 
to  the  nature  of  things.  Whatever  intentions 
might  have  been  entertained  or  announced  be- 
fore,|  the  state  of  open  war  between  the  pope 
and  the  emperor  put  an  end  to  all  considera- 
tions in  favour  of  the  former.  Never  had  the 
towns  spoken  out  more  freely  than  on  this  oc- 
casion ;  never  had  the  princes  pressed  more 
urgently  for  a  removal  of  their  burthens.  The 
proposal  was  made  that  the  books  containing  the 
new  statutes  should  be  forthwith  burned  with- 
out reserve,  and  that  the  holy  Scriptures  should 
be  taken  as  the  sole  rule  of  faith.  Although 
some  opposition  arose,  yet  never  was  a  reso- 
lution adopted  with  more  firmness.  Ferdinand 
signed  a  decree  of  the  diet,  by  virtue  of  which 
it  was  left  open  to  the  states  so  to  comport 
themselves  in  matters  of  religion,  as  each 
might  think  to  answer  to  God  and  the  empe- 
ror, that  is,  to  act  according  to  their  own 
judgment;  a  resolution  in  which  not  a  thought 
was  bestowed  on  the  pope,  and  which  may  be 
regarded  as  the  beginning  of  the  actual  refor- 


mation, and  of  the  establishment  of  a  new 
church  in  Germany.  In  Saxony,  Hesse,  and  j 
the  neighbouring  countries,  measures  in  ac- 
cordance with  this  resolution  were  taken 
without  further  delay.  The  legal  existence 
of  the  protestant  party  in  the  empire  rests 
essentially  on  the  decree  of  Spires,  of  the  year 
1526. 

We  may  assert  that  this  state  of  public  feel- 
ing in  Germany  was  decisive  for  Italy  likewise. 

Zeal  for  their  vast  undertaking  was  far 
from  being  universal  among  the  Italians,  nor 
was  there  anything  like  perfect  unity  among 
those  who  actually  took  part  in  it.  The  pope, 
able  as  he  was,  and  thoroughly  Italian  in  feel- 
ing, was  yet  not  of  that  order  of  men  by  whom 
fate  will  submit  to  be  mastered.  His  penetra- 
tion seemed  at  times  prejudicial  to  him.  He 
seemed  to  know  more  clearly  than  was  expe- 
dient, that  he  was  the  weaker  party;  all  pos- 
sible contingencies,  every  shape  of  danger 
presented  themselves  to  his  mind  and  be- 
wildered him.  There  is  a  practical  inventive- 
ness that  in  business  instinctively  perceives 
the  simple  principle,  and  unerringly  seizes 
on  the  feasible  or  expedient.  He  possessed 
it  not.*  In  the  most  important  moments  he 
was  seen  to  hesitate,  waver,  and  think  of 
economizing  money.  As  his  allies  now  failed 
to  keep  their  engagements  with  him,  the  re- 
sults anticipated  were  far  from  being  obtained, 
and  the  imperialists  still  kept  their  ground  in 
Lombardy,when  in  Nov.  1526,  George  Frunds- 
berg  crossed  the  Alps  with  an  imposing  army 
of  lansquenets,  to  bring  the  contest  to  an  end. 
Both  general  and  men  were  full  of  Lutheran 
sentiments.  They  came  to  revenge  the  empe- 
ror upon  the  pope.  The  latter's  breach  of 
the  alliance  had  been  represented  to  them  as 
the  cause  of  all  the  mischief  then  felt,  the  pro- 
tracted wars  in  Christendom,  and  the  success 
of  the  Ottomans,  who  were  at  that  moment 
overrunning  Hungary.  "  If  I  make  my  way  to 
Rome,"  said  Frundsberg,  "  I  will  hang  the 
pope." 

Painful  is  it  to  witness  the  storm  gathering 
and  rolling  onwards  from  the  narrowing  hori- 
zon. That  Rome,  so  full  it  may  be  of  vices, 
but  not  less  full  of  noble  eflforts,  intellect,  and 
mental  accomplishments,  creative,  adorned 
with  matchless  works  of  art,  such  as  the  world 
had  never  before  produced,  a  wealth  ennobled 
by  the  stamp  of  genius,  and  of  living  and  im- 
perishable efficacy,  that  Rome  is  now  threat- 
ened with  destruction.  As  the  masses  of  the 
Imperialists  draw  together,  the  Italian  troops 


*  G.  M.  Giberto al  vescovodi  Veruli.  LeltrediPrincipi, 
I.  p.  192  a. 

t  Foscari  tco,  says,  "  QupUo  fa  a  presente  di  voler  far 
lega  con  Francia,  fa  per  ben  suo  e  d'llalia,  non  perch6 
ama  Francesi."  [His  present  desire  to  ally  himself  with 
France  is  directed  to  his  own  good  and  that  of  Italy,  and 
is  not  prompted  by  any  love  for  the  French.]  I 

t  The  instructions  of  the  emperor,  which  had  caused  ' 
the  protestants  some  alarm,  were  of  the  dale  of  Blarch  1526,  ] 
a  period  in  which  the  pope  was  not  yet  in  alliance  with 
France. 


*  Suriano,  Rel.de  loSS, finds  inhim  "core  frigidissimo; 
el  quale  fa  la  Beatne.  S.  esser  dotata  di  non  vulgar  timi- 
diid,  non  dire  pussillanimitil:  il  che  peio  paniii  avere 
trovato  coiiiuneniente  in  la  natura  fiorentini.  Qursta 
timiditCi  causa  che  S.  S*.  6  molio  irresolula."  [A  very 
cold  heart;  for  which  reason  his  holiness  is  possessed 
with  no  common  timidity,  not  lo  say  cowardice.  This, 
by  the  by,  I  think  I  have  commonly  noticed  among  Flo- 
rentines. This  timidity  causes  his  holiness  to  be  very 
undecided.] 


A.  D.  1523-34.] 


UNDER  CLEMENT  VII. 


47 


disperse  before  them :  the  only  army  that  yet 
remains  follows  thoin  from  a  distance.  The 
emperor,  who  had  long  been  unable  to  pay  his 
army,  could  not,  even  if  he  would,  g-ive  it  any 
other  direction.  It  marches  under  the  impe- 
rial banner,  but  follows  its  own  stormy  im- 
pulses. The  pope  still  hopes,  negotiates, 
concedes,  concludes:  but  he  either  will  not 
or  cannot  lay  hold  on  the  only  means  that  can 
save  him,  namely,  contenting  the  army  with 
the  money  it  thinks  it  may  demand.  Well, 
then,  shall  at  least  a  resolute  stand  be  made 
against  the  enemy  with  the  weapons  that  are 
at  command!  Four  thousand  men  were  suf- 
ficient to  close  the  passes  of  Tuscany ;  yet  the 
attempt  is  not  once  made.  Rome  numbered 
perhaps  thirty  thousand  inhabitants  capable 
of  bearing  arms ;  many  of  tliem  had  seen  ser- 
vice ;  they  went  about  with  swords  by  their 
sides,  fought  with  each  other,  and  boasted 
loudly  of  their  deeds.  But  to  resist  the  enemy, 
who  brought  with  them  certain  havoc,  never 
more  tiian  five  hundred  men  were  mustered 
out  of  the  city.  The  pope  and  his  power  were 
vanquished  at  the  first  onset.  On  the  6lh  May 
1527,  two  hours  before  sunset,  the  Imperialists 
burst  into  Rome.  Old  Frundsberg  was  no 
longer  at  their  head :  he  had  been  invalided 
and  left  behind,  having  been  struck  with  ap- 
oplexy on  failing  to  meet  with  the  usual  obe- 
dience on  the  occasion  of  a  disturbance  among 
his  troops.  Bourbon,  who  had  led  the  army  so 
far,  fell  upon  the  first  setting  up  of  the  storm- 
ing ladders;  and  now  restrained  by  no  leader, 
the  bloodthirsty  soldiery,  hardened  by  long 
privations,  and  rendered  savage  by  their  trade, 
burst  over  the  devoted  city.  Never  fell  a 
richer  booty  into  more  violent  hands,  never 
was  plunder  longer,  more  continuous,  or  more 
destructive.*  The  splendour  of  Rome  fills 
the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century ;  it 
distinguishes  a  wonderful  period  in  the  intel- 
lectual development  of  mankind  :  that  day  it 
came  to  an  end.  And  thus  did  the  pope,  who 
had  sought  the  liberation  of  Italy,  see  himself  i 
beleaguered  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angeio,  and 
as  it  were  a  prisoner.  We  may  assert,  that 
by  this  great  blow,  the  preponderance  of  the 
Spanish  power  m  Italy  was  irrevocably  estab- 
lished. 

A  new  expedition  of  the  French,  which 
promised  much  at  first,  failed  completely  in 
the  end;  they  were  constrained  to  give  up  all 
their  pretensions  in  Italy. 

*  Veltori :  La  urcisione  non  fu  molta,  perr.he  rari  si 
urcidono  quelli  che  non  si  vogliono  difendere;  ma  la 
preda  lu  jnestimabile  in  danaii  conuinlo,  di  gioie,  d'oro  e 
d'argenlo  lavoralo,  di  veslile,  d'arazzi,  paramenti  di  casa, 
mercanlie  d'ogni  soite  e  di  taglie.  [Tlie  slaughter  was 
not  great,  because  few  were  killed  but  those  who  attempted 
to  defend  themselves ;  but  the  booty  was  inestimable  in 
specie,  jewels,  wrought  euld  and  silver,  gamients,  tapestry, 
household  furniture,  meichandize  of  every  kind,  and  ran- 
som.] The  pope,  he  says,  was  not  to  be  blamed  for  the 
misfortune ;  it  whs  owing  to  tho  inhabitants,  superbi,  avari, 
homicidi,  invidiosi,  libidinosi  e  simulaiori,  [proud,  cov- 
etous, murderers,  envious,  lustful  and  hypocritical,]  as 
he  calls  them.    Such  a  population  could  not  sastain  itself. 


Not  less  important  was  another  occurrence. 
Before  Rome  was  yet  captured,  when  it  was 
merely  seen  that  Bourbon's  route  lay  thither, 
the  enemies  of  the  Medici  at  Florence  had 
availed  themselves  of  the  confusion  of  the 
moment,  once  more  to  expel  the  family  of  the 
pope.  Clement  felt  almost  more  acutely  the 
revolt  of  his  native  city  than  the  capture  of 
Rome.  With  amazement  men  beheld  him 
again  connecting  himself  with  the  Spaniards 
after  enduring  such  deep  indignities  at  their 
hands.  His  motive  was  that  he  saw  in  Spanish 
aid  the  only  means  of  reinstating  his  party  in 
Florence.  It  seemed  to  him  better  to  endure 
the  domination  of  the  emperor  than  the  refrac- 
toriness of  the  rebels.  The  worse  the  fortune 
of  the  French,  the  nearer  did  he  draw  to  the 
Spaniards.  When  at  last  the  former  were 
completely  defeated,  he  concluded  with  the 
latter  the  treaty  of  Barcelona.  So  wholly  did 
he  change  his  policy,  that  he  now  himself 
made  use  of  the  same  army  that  had  taken 
Rome  before  his  eyes,  and  kept  himself  so 
long  besieged — that  he  made  use  of  this,  only 
recruited  and  improved,  to  subjugate  his  na- 
tive city. 

Thenceforth  Charles  was  more  powerful  in 
Italy  than  any  emperor  for  many  centuries. 
The  crown  which  he  received  at  Bologna  had 
once  more  its  full  significance.  Milan  gradu- 
ally owned  allegiance  to  him  no  less  than 
Naples:  in  Tuscany,  his  restoration  of  the 
Medici  in  Florence  procured  him  direct  influ- 
ence throughout  his  lite ;  the  remaining  pow- 
ers sided  with  him  or  submitted  :  with  the 
combined  strength  of  Spain  and  Germany  he 
held  all  Italy  between  the  Alps  and  the  sea 
in  subjection  to  his  victorious  arms,  and  to  the 
rights  of  the  imperial  crown. 

Such  was  the  course  and  result  of  the  Italian 
war.  Since  that  period  foreign  nations  have 
not  ceased  to  rule  in  Italy.  Let  us  now  look 
to  the  course  of  religious  differences,  which 
were  so  intimately  connected  with  those  of  a 
political  kind. 

If  the  pope  acquiesced  in  seeing  the  Spanish 
power  paramount  all  around  him,  he  might  at 
least  hope  through  the  aid  of  that  mighty 
emperor,  who  was  pictured  to  him  as  catholic 
and  devout,  to  have  his  authority  re-established 
in  Germany.  This  had  been  stipulated  by  an 
article  in  the  treaty  of  Barcelona.  The  em- 
peror promised  with  all  his  might  to  efi^ect  the 
reduction  of  the  Protestants,  and  he  seemed 
too  resolved  on  doing  so.  He  returned  a  very 
ungracious  answer  to  the  Protestant  delegates 
who  waited  on  him  in  Italy.  On  his  journey 
into  Germany  in  the  year  1530,  some  members 
of  the  curia,  particularly  cardinal  Campeggi, 
the  legate  who  accompanied  him,  struck  out 
some  bold  plans,  most  perilously  threatening 
to  Germany. 

There  exists  a  memorial  presented  by  him 
to  the  emperor  at  the  time  of  the  diet  of  Augs- 


48  CONNEXION  OF  POLITICS  WITH  THE  REFORMATION,  [a.  d.  1523-34. 


burg,  in  which  he  sets  these  forth.  I  must  in 
deference  to  the  cause  of  truth,  thoug-h  with 
extreme  reluctance,  say  a  word  respecting 
this  document. 

Cardinal  Campeggi  did  not  content  himself 
with  deplormg  the  disorders  in  religion,  but 
specially  pointed  out  their  political  conse- 
quences; how  the  nobility  had  sunk  in  the 
cities  of  the  empire  through  the  operation  of 
the  Reformation,  how  neither  spiritual  nor 
temporal  princes  any  longer  met  with  due 
obedience,  and  how  even  the  majesty  of  the 
emperor  was  no  longer  regarded.  He  then 
suggests  the  remedy  for  the  evil. 

The  mystery  of  his  curative  system  was  not 
very  profound.  No  more,  he  states,  was  neces- 
sary than  that  a  compact  should  be  entered 
into  between  the  emperor  and  the  well-dis- 
posed princes,  whereupon  endeavours  should 
be  made  to  convert  the  disaffected  either  by 
promises  or  threats.  But  what  if  they  remain- 
ed stubborn  ]  It  would  then  be  right  to  extir- 
pate such  pestilent  weeds  with  fire  and  sword.* 
The  grand  thing  was  to  confiscate  their  pro- 
perty temporal  and  spiritual,  in  Germany  as 
well  as  in  Hungary  and  Bohemia ;  for  this  is 
lawful  and  right  with  regard  to  heretics. 
When  they  should  have  been  thus  mastered, 
holy  inquisitors  should  be  appointed  to  trace 
out  any  remnants  left  of  them,  and  to  proceed 
against  them  as  had  been  done  in  Spain  against 
the  Moors.  Furthermore,  the  university  of 
Wittemberg  should  be  put  under  ban,  and  the 
students  declared  unworthy  of  imperial  or 
papal  favour,  the  books  of  the  heretics  should 
be  burned,  and  the  monks  sent  back  to  con- 
vents they  had  abandoned,  and  no  heretics 
tolerated  at  any  court.  But  above  all  things, 
a  vigorous  confiscation  was  necessary.  "  Even 
should  your  majesty  deal  only  with  the  ring- 
leaders," says  the  legate,  "you  may  exact 
from  them  a  large  sum  of  money,  which  in 
any  case  is  indispensable  for  operations  against 
the  Turks." 

So  runs  this  scheme  ;t  these  are  its  main 
propositions.  How  every  word  breathes  of 
oppression,  blood,  and  rapine !  We  cannot 
wonder  if  the  worst  was  apprehended  by  the 
Germans  of  an  emperor  who  went  among  them 
under  such  escort,  and  if  the  Protestants  con- 
sulted together  as  to  the  extent  to  which  they 
might  be  warranted  in  carrying  measures  of 
self-defence. 

Fortunately,  as  matters  stood,  no  such  pro- 
ceedings as  those  suggested  by  the  legate 
were  to  be  apprehended. 

The  emperor  was  far  from  being  strong 


*  Se  alcuni  ve  ne  fossero,  che  dio  non  voglia,  le  quali 
obstinemente  perseverassero  in  quesla  diabolica  via, 
quella,  (S.  M.)  potri  mpllere  la  mano  al  ferro  et  al  foco 
et  radicilus  extirpare  quesla  mala  venenosa  pianta. 

t  Such  a  scheme  ihey  ventured  to  call  an  inslmclion. 
Inslruclio  data  Caesari  a  reverpndmo-  Cainpeegio  in  diela 
Auguslana  1530.  I  found  it  in  a  Roman  library  in  the 
handwriting  of  the  time,  and  undoubtedly  genuine. 


enough  to  carry  them  out.     This  was  convinc- 
ingly demonstrated  at  the  time  by  Erasmus. 

But  even  had  he  possessed  the  power,  his 
will  would  hardly  have  inclined  that  way. 

He  was  by  nature  rather  kind,  considerate, 
deliberate,  and  averse  to  precipitation  than 
otherwise.  The  more  closely  he  examined 
these  dissensions,  the  more  they  touched  a 
chord  in  his  own  mind.  His  very  proclama- 
tion for  a  diet  announced  his  desire  to  hear 
the  different  opinions,  weigh  them  and  endea- 
vour to  reduce  them  to  the  standard  of  Christian 
truth.  Towards  any  such  violent  measures 
as  those  above  mentioned,  he  was  far  from 
disposed. 

Even  those  who  systematically  doubt  the 
purity  of  human  intentions,  cannot  apply  their 
opinions  here.  It  would  not  have  been  for 
the  interest  of  Charles  to  employ  violence. 

Was  he,  the  emperor,  to  make  himself  the 
executor  of  the  pope's  decrees?  Should  he 
subdue  for  the  pope,  not  merely  for  the  exist- 
ing one,  but  for  all  his  successors  likewise, 
those  enemies  who  would  give  them  the  most 
occupation]  The  friendly  disposition  of  the 
Roman  see  was  far  from  being  sufficiently 
secure  to  warrant  this. 

On  the  contrary,  the  existing  state  of  things 
offered  him  spontaneously  and  naturally  an 
advantage,  which  he  had  but  to  lay  hold  on 
to  attain  more  unconditional  superiority  than 
that  he  yet  possessed. 

It  was  generally  admitted,  whether  justly 
or  not  I  will  not  inquire,  that  only  an  assembly 
of  the  Church  could  be  adequate  to  the  settle- 
ment of  such  important  differences.  Councils 
had  maintained  their  credit  for  this  very  rea- 
son, that  the  popes  entertained  a  natural  re- 
pugnance to  them ;  and  every  act  of  opposition 
shown  by  the  latter,  had  all  along  exalted  their 
favourable  reputation.  In  the  year  1530, 
Charles  applied  his  thoughts  seriously  in  this 
direction.  He  promised  a  council  within  a 
brief  specified  period. 

It  had  long  been  the  habitual  most  earnest 
wish  of  the  princes,  in  all  their  entanglements 
with  the  papal  see,  to  be  backed  by  some 
spiritual  power.  Charles  would  therefore 
acquire  in  a  council  assembled  under  these 
circumstances  the  most  efficient  of  allies. 
Called  together  at  his  instigation,  and  held 
under  his  influence,  the  execution  of  its  de- 
crees would  act  two  ways  :  they  would  make 
themselves  felt  by  the  pope  equally  as  by  his 
opponents.  The  old  notion  of  a  reformation 
in  head  and  members  would  be  realized;  and 
what  a  predominance  would  this  give  to  the 
temporal  authority,  above  all  to  the  emperor 
himself! 

This  course  was  rational ;  it  was,  if  you 
will,  unavoidable;  but  it  was  at  the  same  time 
for  the  emperor's  best  interest. 

On  the  contrary,  nothing  more  grave  could 
befal  the  pope  and  his  court.     I  find  that  on 


A.  D.  1523-34.] 


UNDER  CLEMENT  VII. 


49 


the  first  serious  apprehension  of  a  council,  the 
price  of  all  the  vendible  offices  of  the  court 
fell  considerably.*  It  is  evident  how  much 
danger  was  apprehended  to  the  existing  state 
of  things. 

But  in  addition  to  all  this,  Clement  VII. 
was  influenced  by  personal  considerations  like- 
wise. That  he  was  not  of  the  legitimate 
birth,  that  he  had  not  risen  to  the  supreme 
dignity  by  perfectly  pure  means,  an^l  that  from 
personal  motives  he  had  suffered  himself  to 
carry  on  a  costly  war  with  the  forces  of  the 
Church  against  his  native  land,  matters  all  of 
them  which  must  weigh  heavily  against  a 
pope,  occasioned  him  well-grounded  alarm. 
Clement,  says  Soriano,  shunned  as  much  as 
possible  the  very  mention  of  a  council. 

Although  he  did  not  flatly  reject  the  pro- 
posal (he  durst  not,  with  any  regard  to  the 
honour  of  the  papal  see),  it  cannot  be  matter 
of  doubt  with  what  heart  he  set  about  carry- 
ing it  into  effect. 

He  did  give  way  indeed,  he  was  fully 
compliant;  but  at  the  same  time  he  put  for- 
ward the  opposing  arguments  in  their  strong- 
est form,  depicted  in  the  liveliest  manner  all 
the  difficulties  and  dangers  incident  to  a  coun- 
cil, and  declared  his  belief  that  the  result  was 
more  than  doubtful. f  He  stipulated  too  for 
the  co-operation  of  all  other  princes,  and  for  a 
previous  subjection  of  the  Protestants,  things 
that  might  very  well  figure  in  an  abstract 
scheme  of  papal  doctrine,  but  utterly  imprac- 
ticable in  the  existing  state  of  things.  But 
how  indeed  could  it  have  been  expected  of 
him,  that  during  the  delay  appointed  by  the 
emperor  he  should  proceed,  not  merely  in  out- 
ward show  and  form,  but  vigorously  and  de- 
cisively, upon  a  work  so  repugnant  to  him? 
Charles  often  upbraided  him  with  his  back- 
wardness, ascribing  to  it  all  the  farther  mis- 
chief that  ensued.  No  doubt  he  hoped  to 
evade  the  necessity  that  hung  over  him. 

But  it  clung  to  him  sternly  and  fast.  When 
Charles  again  visited  Italy  in  1533,  still  full 
of  what  he  had  seen  and  projected  in  Ger- 
many, he  pressed  him  in  person  (he  held  a 
congress  with  the  pope  in  Bologna)  and  with 
increased  earnestness  on  the  subject  of  a  coun- 
cil, which  he  had  so  oflen  demanded  in  writ- 
ing. The  different  opinions  and  inclinations 
were  now  brought  into  direct  collision:  the 
pope  adhered  to  his  stipulated  conditions,  while 
the  emperor  on  his  part  represented  to  him 


the  impossibility  of  their  fulfilment.  They 
could  not  come  to  any  agreement.  In  the 
briefs  which  were  issued  on  these  matters,  a 
certain  discrepancy  is  observable  ;  in  some  the 
pope  seems  more  disposed  to  the  emperor'a 
views  than  in  others.*  But  however  that  may 
have  been,  he  had  no  alternative  but  to  pro- 
ceed to  a  fresh  proclamation  of  the  council. 
If  he  would  not  close  his  eyes  to  the  light,  he 
could  not  doubt  that  on  the  return  of  the  em- 
peror, who  had  set  out  for  Spain,  bare  words 
would  avail  no  longer  ;  that  the  danger  he 
apprehended,  and  with  which  a  council  sum- 
moned under  such  circumstances  really  me- 
naced the  Roman  see,  would  burst  upon  his 
head. 

The  situation  was  one,  in  which  the  pos- 
sessor of  a  power  of  whatever  kind  might 
well  be  excused,  if  he  adopted  even  a  des- 
perate resolution  to  ensure  his  safety.  The 
political  preponderance  of  the  emperor  was 
already  excessive;  and  even  though  the  pope 
resigned  himself  to  this,  he  could  not  but  feel 
his  own  depressed  condition.  He  was  deeply 
mortified  that  Charles  V.  had  decided  the  old 
disputes  of  the  Church  with  Ferrara  in  favour 
of  the  latter:  he  bore  it  with  outward  calm- 
ness, but  gave  vent  to  his  complaints  among 
his  friends.  But  how  much  mare  afflicting 
was  it  when  that  monarch,  to  whom  he  had 
looked  for  the  immediate  suppression  of  the 
Protestants,  on  the  very  contrary  availed  him- 
self of  the  pretext  of  the  religious  dissensions, 
to  obtain  an  ecclesiastical  predominance,  un- 
paralleled for  centuries,  and  perilled  even  the 
spiritual  authority  and  dignity  of  the  Roman 
see !  Was  it  to  be  Clement's  fate  to  fall 
wholly  into  his  hands,  and  be  totally  at  his 
mercy] 

He  formed  his  resolution  at  once  in  Bologna : 
Francis  I.  had  often  already  proposed  to  Cle- 
ment an  alliance  to  be  cemented  by  ties  of 
blood,  which  the  latter  had  always  declined. 
In  his  present  need  the  pope  himself  recurred 
to  this.  It  is  expressly  affirmed,  that  the  spe- 
cial ground  on  which  Clement  again  lent  an 
ear  to  the  king  of  France  was  the  demand 
made  for  a  council. f 


*  Lettera  anonima  all'  arcivescovo  Pimpinello.  (Let- 
ters di  Principi,  iii.  5.)  Gli  ufficii  solo  con  la  fama  del 
conciliosono  invilili,  che  non  se  ne  irovano  danari.  I 
see  thai  Pallavicini  loo  ciies  ihis  letter,  iii.  7.  1 ;  I  know 
not  how  he  comes  to  ascribe  it  to  Sanga. 

t  Ex.  gr.  Air  iinperatore :  di  man  propria  di  papa  Cle- 
mente,  Lettere  di  Principi,  ii.  197.  Al  conlrario  nessun 
(rimedio)  6  piu  pericoloso  e  per  partorir  niaggiori  mali  (del 
concilio),  quando  non  concorrono  le  debite  circonstanze. 
[On  the  contrary,  no  remedy  can  be  more  perilous  or 
pregnant  with  greater  evils  (than  the  council)  if  the  re- 
quisite circumstances  do  not  concur.] 


♦  Valuable  information  respecting  the  negotiations  at 
Bologna,  derived  from  the  archives  of  the  Vatican,  is  to 
be  found  in  one  of  the  best  chaptersof  Pallavicini,  lib.  iii. 
c.  12.  He  mentions  the  discrepancy  spoken  of  in  the 
text,  and  states  that  it  rested  on  explicit  negotiations. 
Indeed  we  find  in  the  despatches  to  the  catholic  states  in 
Rainaldus,  xx.  659,  Honleder,  I.  xv.  a  repetition  of  the 
stipulation  for  a  general  co-operation;  the  pope  promises 
to  coramunicate^the  result  of  his  efforts;  in  the  list  of 
points  proposed  to  the  Protestants,  it  is  said  expressly  in 
the  seventh  article:  Quod  si  forsan  aliqui  princlpes  ve- 
lint  tarn  pio  negotio  deesse,  nihilominus  summus  D^s-  nr. 
procedet  cum  "saniori  parte  consentiente.  But  if  per- 
chance any  princes  shall  refuse  to  co-operate  in  so  pious 
a  matter,  our  supreme  lord  shall  nevertheless  proceed 
with  the  consent  of  the  more  sound  minded  part.]  It, 
would  seem  that  this  was  the  discrepancy  Pallavicini 
had  in  view,  although  he  mentions  another. 

t  Soriano  Relatione,  1535.  II  papa  and6  a  Bologna 
contra  sua  voglia  e  quasi  sforzato,  come  di  buon  logo  ho 
inteso,  e  fu  assai  di  cio  ovidente  segao  che  S.  S*.  con- 


50        CONNEXION  OF  POLITICS  WITH  THE  REFORMATION,     [a.  d.  1523-34. 


Purely  political  motives  would  never  per- 
haps have  prompted  this  pope  again  to  attempt 
effecting  a  balance  of  power  between  the  two 
great  rivals,  and  to  divide  his  favour  equally 
between  them ;  but  upon  this  course  he  was 
now  determined,  in  consideration  of  the  dan- 
gers threatening  the  Church  over  which  he 
presided. 

Shortly  after  this  Clement  had  another 
meeting  with  Francis  I. :  it  took  place  at 
Marseilles,  and  the  strictest  alliance  was  con- 
cluded between  them.  Precisely  as  at  an- 
other period,  in  the  P^'lorentine  emergency,  the 
pope  had  cemented  his  friendship  with  the 
emperor  by  the  marriage  of  a  natural  daughter 
of  the  latter  with  one  of  his  own  nephews,  so 
now  in  the  embarrassment  of  the  Church  he 
sealed  the  league  he  had  formed  with  Fran- 
cis I.  by  betrothing  his  young  niece  Catherine 
de'Medici  with  the  king's  second  son.  On 
the  former  occasion  he  had  reason  to  fear  the 
French  and  their  indirect  influence  on  Flo- 
rence ;  on  the  present,  the  emperor  and  his 
intentions  with  regard  to  a  convocation  of 
the  Church. 

And  now  he  took  no  further  pains  to  con- 
ceal his  aim.  We  have  a  letter  from  him  to 
Ferdinand  I.,  in-  which  he  declares  that  his 
exertions  to  obtain  a  co-operation  of  all  Chris- 
tian sovereigns  towards  the  council  had  not 
been  successful :  king  Francis  I.,  with  whom 
he  had  spoken,  held  the  present  moment  un- 
suited  to  such  a  project,  and  refused  to  adopt 
it ;  but  he,  the  pope,  hoped  on  another  oppor- 
tunity to  obtain  a  favourable  decision  from 
the  Christian  sovereigns.*  I  cannot  conceive 
how  a  doubt  can  exist  as  to  the  purposes  of 
Clement  VII.  Even  again,  in  his  last  docu- 
ment addressed  to  the  catholic  princes  of  Ger- 
many, he  had  repeated  his  conditions  as  to  an 
universal  participation  in  the  proposed  mea- 
sure: his  present  declaration,  that  he  could 
not  succeed  in  obtaining  this,  is  tantamount 
to  an  unambiguous  refusal  to  give  effect  to 
his  announcement  of  a  council.f     His  alliance 


eum()  di  giorni  cento  in  tale  viaggio  il  quale  polea  far  in 
sei  di.  Considerando  dunque  Clenienle  quesli  tali  casi 
8Uoi  8  per  dire  cosi  la  servitii  nella  quale  egli  si  trovava 
per  la  materia  del  concilio,  la  quale  Csesare  non  lasciava 
di  stimolare,  comincii)  a  rendersi  piu  facile  al  Clirislian- 
issimo.  Equivi  si  irattii  I'andala  di  Marsilia,  ct  insieme 
la  practicadel  malriiuonio,  essendo  gia  la  nipoie  nobile 
el  habile.  [The  pope  went  4o  Bologna  contrary  to  his 
will  and  almost  upon  compulsion,  as  I  have  heard  from 
good  authority;  an  evident  proof  of  which  was,  that  his 
holiness  spent  a  hundred  days  on  the  journey,  whereas  he 
might  have  completed  it  in  six.  Clenienl  then,  reflecting 
on  the  present  condition  of  his  affairs,  and  on  the  servi- 
tude, so  to  speak,  in  which  he  was  placed  as  regarded  the 
serious  matter  of  the  council,  which  the  emperor  never 
ceased  to  urge,  began  to  be  more  compliant  towards  the 
most  christian  king.  Thereupon  negotiations  were  en- 
tered into  for  the  conference  at  Marseilles,  and  for  the 
marriage,  the  pope's  niece  beina  now  marriageable.]  At 
a  previous  period  the  pope  would  have  alleged  her  birth 
and  her  age  as  a  pretext  for  evading  the  match. 

*20lh  March,  15.i4.    Pallavicini,  III.  xvi.  3. 

tLa  Serta.  V".  dunque  in  maloiia  del  concilio  puf) 
esser  certissima  che  dal  canto  di  Clemente  fu  fuggita  con 
tuiti  li  raezzj  e  cod  lulte  le  vie.    [As  regards  the  council, 


with  France  gave  him  alike  courage  and  a 
pretext  for  this.  I  cannot  persuade  myself 
that  this  council  would  ever  have  taken  place 
under  his  pontificate. 

This  however  was  not  the  only  consequence 
of  his  new  league.  Another  and  unexpected 
one  forthwith  developed  itself,  one  which  is 
of  the  utmost  importance,  especially  for  the 
German  people. 

Very  singular  was  the  combination  result- 
ing from  the  alliance,  as  regarded  the  inter- 
mixture of  ecclesiastical  and  temporal  inte- 
rests. Francis  I.  was  then  on  terms  of  the 
best  understanding  with  the  Protestants,  and 
now  becoming  so  closely  connected  with  the 
pope,  he  to  a  certain  degree  linked  together 
the  Protestants  and  the  pope  in  one  system. 

And  here  we  have  evidenced  the  political 
strength  of  the  position  the  Protestants  had 
assumed.  The  emperor  could  not  entertain 
the  thought  of  so  unconditionally  subjecting 
them  again  to  the  pope ;  on  the  contrary,  he 
availed  himself  of  their  proceedings  to  keep 
the  latter  in  check.  Gradually  it  appeared 
that  the  pope  too,  on  his  part,  had  no  wish  to 
see  them  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  the  emperor; 
it  was  not  altogether  unconsciously  that  Cle- 
ment was  in  a  measure  leagued  with  them ; 
he  hoped  to  be  able  to  turn  their  opposition  to 
the  emperor  to  account,  and  to  occasion  him 
some  trouble  in  his  turn. 

It  was  immediately  remarked  at  the  time, 
that  the  king  of  France  had  persuaded  the 
pope  that  the  principal  Protestant  princes  were 
dependent  on  him,  and  had  induced  him  to 
hope  he  would  prevail  on  them  to  impede  the 
assembly  of  the  council.*  But  if  we  are  not 
much  mistaken,  these  engagements  went  still 
fxirther.  Shortly  after  his  conference  with 
the  pope,  Francis  held  another  with  Philip  of 
Hesse.  They  agreed  together  on  the  resto- 
ration of  the  Duke  of  Wurtemberg,  who  at 
that  time  had  been  dispossessed  by  the  house 
of  Austria ;  Francis  I.  consented  to  aid  with 
supplies  of  money.  Landgrave  Philip  effected 
the  enterprise  with  surprising  rapidity  in  a 
brief  campaign.  It  is  certain  he  had  intended 
to  push  his  way  into  the  hereditary  dominions 
of  the  house  of  Austria, f  and  it  was  generally 
surmised  that  the  king  purposed  an  attack  on 
Milan  for  once  from  the  side  of  Germany. | 


your  serenity  may  therefore  be  assured  that  Clement  took 
all  possible  ways  and  means  to  avoid  it.] 

*Sarpi,  Historia  del  Concilio,  Tridentino,  lib.  i.  p.  68. 
Soriano  does  not  confirm  all  Sarpi's  assertions,  but  a  con- 
siderable part  of  them  he  does.  That  ambassador  says, 
Avendo  fatto  credere  a  Clemente  che  da  S.  M.  Chma.  di- 
pendessero  quelli  Sri.  principal issimi  e  capi  della  fat- 
tione  luterana — si  che  almeno  fugisse  il  concilio.  This  is 
all  I  have  ventured  to  assert. 

tin  his  instruction  to  his  ambassador  to  France,  Aus. 
1532,  (Rommel  Urkundenbuch  61.)  he  excuses  himself 
"  for  our  not  having  proceeded  to  attack  the  king  in  his 
hereditary  possessions"— (dass  wir  nit  fuitzugen,  den 
Kiinig  in  seinen  Erblanden  auzugreifen.) 

tJovJus,  Historiae  sui  temporis,  lib.  xxiii.  p.  129:  Pa- 
ruta,  Storia  Venez.  p.  389. 


A.  D.  1523-34.] 


UNDER  CLEMENT  VII. 


51 


A  still  further  view  is  set  before  us  by  Marino 
Giustiniuno,  in  those  days  Venetian  ambassa- 
dor to  France.  He  positively  assures  us  that 
these  German  movements  were  concerted  by 
Clement  and  Francis  at  Marseilles,  and  adds, 
that  it  was  assuredly  not  foreig-n  to  the  plan 
to  cause  the  troops  engaged  in  them  to  march 
upon  Italy  :  the  pope  would  privately  have 
lent  his  co-operation  to  the  enterprize.*  It 
would  be  somewhat  rash  to  regard  these  as- 
sertions, however  confidently  made,  as  fully 
authentic  ;  still  further  proofs  were  necessary 
to  this :  but  even  though  we  should  not  re- 
ceive them,  still  we  are  met  beyond  the  pos- 
sibility of  doubt  by  one  very  remarkable  phe- 
nomenon. Who  could  have  surmised  it  'i  At 
the  moment  the  pope  and  the  Protestants  were 
pursuing  each  other  with  the  most  implacable 
hatred,  whilst  they  were  waging  a  spiritual 
war  against  each  other  that  filled  the  world 
with  discord,  they  were  on  the  other  hand 
bound  together  by  the  like  political  interests. 

Now  whereas,  on  previous  occasions  of  Ita- 
lian politics,  nothing  had  proved  so  pernicious 
to  the  pope  as  the  ambiguous  supersubtle  po- 
licy he  pursued,  the  same  system  produced 
him  still  more  bitter  fruit  in  spiritual  con- 
cerns. 

King  Ferdinand,  threatened  in  his  heredi- 
tary possessions,  hastened  to  conclude  the 
peace  of  Kadan,  by  which  he  abandoned  VVur- 
temberg,  and  even  entered  into  a  close  un- 
derstanding with  the  Landgrave.  Tliose  were 
Philip  of  Hesse's  happiest  days.  That  he  had 
with  a  strong  hand  helped  an  exiled  German 
prince   to  his  rights,  made  him  one  of  the 

♦Relatione  del  clarrissimo  M.  Marino  Guistinian  el 
Kr.  venulo  d'ambasciator  al  Christianissimo  re  di  Francia 
del  1535.  (Archivio  Venez.)  Francesco  fece  I'abocca- 
mento  di  MarsiliaconClemente,  nelqual  videndoloroclie 
Cesare  slava  fermo — conchiuiero  il  moinmento  delle  armi 
in  GeTniania,  soUo  prelesto  di  voler  metier  il  duca  di  Vir- 
tenberg  in  casa;  nel  quale  se  Iddio  non  avesse  posto  la 
mano  con  il  mezzo  di  Cesare,  il  quale  all'  iniproviso  e  con 
gran  preslezza,  senza  saputa  del  Xmo ;  con  la;resiitulion  del 
ducato  di  Vitenberg  fece  la  pace,  tulle  quelle  genti  veni- 
vano  in  Italia  sollo  il  favor  secrelo  di  Clemenle.  [Francis 
held  a  conference  al  Marseilles,  with  Clement,  wherein 
seeing  the  emperor's  firmness,  Ihey  resolved  on  tke  war  in 
Oermany,  under  pretext  of  reinstating  the  duke  of  Wiir- 
temburg  ;  in  the  course  of  which  if  Gocl  had  not  interfered 
through  the  emperor,  who  suddenly  and  with  great  haste 
made  peace  unknown  lo  the  most  christian  king  by  the 
restilulion  of  the  duchy  of  Wiinemburg,  all  those  forces 
would  have  entered  Italy  under  the  secret  countenance 
ofClemenl.]  More  accurate  information  will,Ilhink,  be 
yet  obtained.  Soriano  superadds  the  following.  Di  tuui 
li  desiderii  (del  re)  s'accommodu  Clement,  con  parole  tali 
che  lo  facevano  credere  S.  S.  esser  disposla  in  tuUo  alle 
sue  voglie,  senza  pero  far  provisione  alcuna  in  scrittura. 
[Clement  acceded  lo  all  the  kins's  desires  in  such  terms 
as  led  him  lo  believe  that  his  holiness  was  disposed  in 
evei7  thing  to  comply  with  his  will,  but  at  the  same  time 
without  making  any  stipulation  in  writins.]  That  an 
Italian  expedition  was  talked  of,  cannot  be  denied.  The 
pope  maintained  that  he  had  declined  it:  "non  avere 
bisosno  di  mo;o  in  Italia"  [that  he  did  not  want  any 
movement  in  Italy.]  The  king  had  told  him  he  should 
remain  quiet,  "  con  le  mani  accorte  nelle  manichi"  [with 
his  hands  lucked  up  in  his  sleeves.]  Probably  the  French 
asserted  what  the  Italians  denied,  so  that  the  ambassador 
in  France  is  more  positive  than  Ihe  ambassador  in  Rome. 
If,  however,  the  pope  said  he  did  not  want  a  movement 
in  Italy,  il  is  obvious  how  Utile  that  expression  excludes 
the  idea  of  a  movement  in  Germany. 


most  respected  chiefs  of  the  empire.  But  he 
had  by  the  same  means  achieved  another  im- 
portant result.  This  treaty  of  peace  con- 
tained likewise  a  momentous  decision  respect- 
ing the  religious  controversies.  The  imperial 
chamber  was  directed  to  entertain  in  future 
no  complaints  concerning  confiscated  Church 
property. 

I  know  not  that  any  other  single  occurrence 
ever  operated  so  decisively  as  this  enterprise 
of  Philip  of  Hesse's  for  the  preponderance  of 
the  Protestant  name  in  Germany.  That  di- 
rection to  the  imperial  chamber  involves  a 
judicial  security  for  the  new  party  of  extra- 
ordinary importance.  Nor  were  its  effects 
long  delayed.  We  may,  I  think,  regard  the 
peace  of  Kadan  as  tlie  second  grand  epoch  of 
the  rise  of  a  Protestant  power  in  Germany. 
After  it  had  for  a  long  period  made  a  feebler 
progress,  it  began  anew  to  spread  in  the  most 
triumphant  manner.  Wurtemberg,  which  had 
been  taken,  was  reformed  forthwith.  The 
German  provinces  of  Denmark,  Pomcrania, 
the  March  of  Brandenburg,  the  second  branch 
of  Saxony,  one  branch  of  Brunswick,  and  the 
Palatinate,  followed  shortly  after.  Within  a 
few  years  the  reformation  of  the  Church 
spread  over  the  whole  of  Lower  Germany, 
and  obtained  firm  and  permanent  footing  in 
Upper  Germany. 

And  pope  Clement  had  been  privy  to  an  en- 
terprise which  led  to  this  result,  which  so  im- 
measurably augmented  the  desertion  from  the 
Church's  ranks,  nay  he  had  perhaps  approved 
of  it. 

The  papacy  was  in  an  utterly  untenable 
position.  Its  secular  tendencies  had  engen- 
dered in  it  a  coruption  that  had  caused  it 
numberless  opponents  and  dissidents  ;  but  the 
continuation  of  that  tendency,  the  further 
commingling  of  spiritual  and  temporal  inter- 
ests, brought  it  wholly  to  the  ground.  Even 
the  English  schism  arose  essentially  from  this 
source. 

It  is  very  deserving  of  attention,  that  how- 
ever hostilely  Henry  VIII.  may  have  declared 
against  Luther,  and  however  closely  connect- 
ed he  may  have  been  with  the  Roman  see, 
nevertheless  on  the  first  difference  in  purely 
political  matters  in  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1525,  he  threated  the  papacy  with  ecclesias- 
tical innovations.*  Matters  were  accommo- 
dated, indeed  on  that  occasion  ;  the  king  made 
common  cause  with  the  pope  against  the  em- 
peror. When  Clement  was  besieged  in  the 
castle  of  St.  Angelo,  and  abandoned  by  every 
one,  Henry  VIII.  found  means  to  furnish  him 
with  aid;  for  this  reason  Clement  was  per- 
haps personally  inclined  to  him,  more  than  to 


*  Wolsey  had  written,  threatening  "  che  ogni  provincia 
doventari  Lulherana;"  [that  every  province  will  become 
Lutheran;]  an  expression  that  may  fairly  be  considered 
as  the  first  symptom  of  secession  from  Rome  shown  by  the 
English  government.  (See  Gibeno  ai  nuatii  d'lnghilter- 
ra:  Letters  di  Principi,  i.  p.  147.) 


52         CONNEXION  OF  POLITICS  WITH  THE  REFORMATION,     [a.  d.  1523-34. 


any  other  potentate.*  But,  since  tliat  period,  definitive  sentence  in  the  year  1534,  he,  too, 
the  question  of  the  king's  divorce  had  arisen.  ^  wavered  no  longer,  but  pronounced  the  total 
It  is  not  to  be  denied,  that  in  the  year  1528,  separation  of  his  kingdom  from  the  pope's 
the  pope,  if  he  did  not  promise  a  satisfactory  authority.  So  weak  were,  already,  the  ties 
decision  of  the  question,  at  least  held  out  a  that  bound  together  the  Roman  see  and  the 
show  of  its  probability,  "so  soon  as  the  Ger-  several  national  churches,  that  it  needed  only 
mans  and  Spaniards  should  have  been  driven  the  resolve  of  a  sovereign  to  wrest  his  king- 
out  of  Italy."f     The  very   contrary  of  this   dom  from  the  connexion. 

took  place,  as  we  know.  The  Imperialists  j  These  events  filled  up  the  last  year  of  Cle- 
now  first  acquired  a  footing  of  real  stability  ;  ment's  life  :  they  were  the  more  bitter  to  him, 
we  have  seen  into  what  strict  alliance  Cle- |  inasmuch  as  he  was  not  wholly  blameless 
xnent  entered  with  them  :  under  such  circum-  >  with  regard  to  them,  and  his  mischances  stood 
stances  he  could  not  fulfil  the  expectations,  in  a  painful  relationship  with  his  personal 
which,  be  it  observed,  he  had  warranted  only  qualities.  And  day  by  day  the  course  of 
by  a  passing  hint.]:  No  sooner  was  the  peace  events  assumed  a  more  perilous  aspect.  Fran- 
of  Barcelona  concluded,  than  he  called  the  cis  I.  was  already  threatening  a  fresh  attack 
case  before  the  tribunal  of  Rome.  The  wife  on  Italy,  and  in  this  he  asserted  he  was  sanc- 
from  whom  Henry  wished  to  part,  was  the  tioned,  not,  indeed,  by  the  written,  but  at 
emperor's  aunt ;  the  validity  of  the  marriage  least  by  the  orally  expressed  approval  of  the 
had  been  expressly  declared  by  a  former  pope  ;  '  pope.  The  emperor  would  no  longer  be  put 
was  there  a  possibility  of  doubt  as  to  the  de-  .off  with  pretences,  and  urged  the  summoning 
cision,  when  once  the  suit  was  brought  in  ;  of  a  council  more  pressingly  than  ever.  Fam- 
usual  form  before  the  judiciary  court  of  the  ily  discords  swelled  the  catalogue  of  his 
curia,  particularly  under  the  permanent  influ-  troubles.  After  all  the  pains  it  had  cost  to 
ence  of  the  Imperialists'!  Hereupon,  Henry, ;  bring  Florence  under,  the  pope  was  doomed 
without  more  ado,  adopted  the  course  that  had  j  to  see  his  two  nephews  fall  at  variance  with 
before  this  time  presented  itself  to  him.  In  es- ;  each  other,  and  break  out  into  the  most  savage 
sentials,  in  what  regarded  dogmas,  he  was,  and  ',  hostility.  His  reflections  on  this  catastrophe, 
continued,  undoubtedly  catholic  ;   but  that  af-   his  fear  of  coming  events,  "  sorrow  and  secret 


fair  of  his,  which  was  dealt  with  so  openly  in 
Rome  in  its  political  bearings,  now  excited 
him  to  an  opposition  to  the  temporal  power  of 
the  papacy,  that  every  day  grew  more  vehe- 
ment. To  every  step  taken  in  Rome  to  his 
disadvantage  he  responded  with  some  measure 
against  the  curia  ;  from  stage  to  stage  his  se- 
paration from  it  became  continually  more  for- 
mal.     When  the  curia  at  last  pronounced  its 


*  Contarini,  Relatione  di  1530,  expressly  affirms  this. 
Soriano,  too,  says  in  1533,  Ansjlia  S.  Santita  ania  e  era 
conjunctissimo  prima.  [His  holiness  loves  the  king  of 
England,  and  was  at  first  on  terms  of  the  strictest  friend- 
ship with  hirn.]  The  king's  design  of  obtaining  a  di- 
vorce he  flatly  declares  to  be  a  "pazzia"  [a  piece  of 
folly]. 

+  1-  rom  the  despatches  of  Doctor  Knight  of  Orvieto,  l.st 
and  9th  Jan.  1528;  Herbert's  Life  of  Henry  ATII.,  p.  218. 

t  The  whole  situation  of  affairs  is  e.vplained  by  the  fol- 
lowing passage  of  a  letter  from  the  papal  Secretary  San- 
ga  to  Campeggi,  dated  Vilerbo,  2nd  September,  l.o28,  at 
the  moment  the  Neapolitan  enterprise  had  failed,  (an 
event  alluded  to  in  the  letter,)  and  when  Campeggi  was 
preparing  to  go  to  England: — Come  vostra  Slgn.Tlevma. 
sa,  tenendosi  N.  Signore  obligatissimo  come  fa  a  quel  Se- 
rennio.  re,  nessuna  cosa  6  si  grande  della  quale  non  desi- 
deri  coinpiacerli,  ma  bisogna  ancora  che  sua  Beatitudine, 
vedendo  1'  imperatore  vitlorioso  e  sperando  in  questa  vit- 
toria  non  trovarlo  aliena  della  pace, — non  si  precipiti  a 
dare  all'  imperatore  causa  di  nuova  rottura,  la  quale  leve- 
ria  in  perpetuo  ogni  speranza  di  pace:  oltre  che  al  certo 
metteria  S.  Sa.  a  fuoco  et  a  totals  eccidiotutto  il  suo  stato. 
(Leltere  di  diversi  autori,  Venetia,  1556, p.  39.)  [Ourlord 
the  pope,  esteeming  himself,  as  your  most  reverend  lord- 
ship knows,  most  deeply  obliged  to  that  most  serene 
king,  there  is  nothing  of  such  magnitude  that  he  would 
not  willingly  do  to  gratify  him;  but  still  there  is  need 
that  his  holiness,  seeing  that  the  emperor  is  victorious, 
and  having  reason,  therefore,  to  expect  to  find  him  not 
averse  to  peace,  should  not  rashly  give  the  emperor  cause 
for  a  new  rupture,  which  would  forever  obliterate  all 
hope  of  peace:  besides,  that  his  holiness  would  undoubt- 
edly bring  down  ruin  and  destruction  upon  his  whole 
Btate.J 


anguish,"  says  Soriano,  "  brought  him  to  the 
grave."* 

We  have  designated  Leo  as  fortunate : 
Clement  was  perhaps  a  better  man — in  any 
case,  freer  from  faults,  more  active,  and  in 
particulars  even  more  acute ;  but  in  all  his 
concerns,  active  and  passive,  ill-luck  attended 
him.  In  truth  he  was  the  most  ill-fated  man 
that  had  ever  filled  the  pontiff's  chair.  He 
met  the  superiority  of  the  hostile  forces  that 
surrounded  him  on  all  sides  with  an  uncertain 
policy,  dependent  on  the  probability  of  the 
moment,  and  this  was  utter  ruin.  The  at- 
tempts, to  which  the  most  distinguished  of 
his  predecessors  had  devoted  themselves,  to 
found  an  independent  temporal  power,  it  was 
his  fate  to  see  issue  in  a  directly  opposite  re- 
sult :  he  had  to  endure,  that  those  from  whose 
grasp  he  sought  to  wrest  Italy  should  consol- 
idate their  dominion  there  forever.  The  great 
Protestant  secession  proceeded  unremittingly 


*  Soriano.  L'  imperatore  non  cessava  di  sollecitar  il 
concilio. — S.  M.  Chrisms,  dimando  che  da  S.  SA.  li  fussi- 
no  osservate  le  promesse  essendo  le  conditioni  poste  fra 
loro.  Percio  S.  S-i.  si  pose  a  grandissimo  pensiero,  e  fu 
queslo  dolore  et  atlanno  che  lo  condusse  alia  morle.  II 
dolor  fu  accresciunlo  dalle  pazzie  del  cardinal  de  Medici, 
il  quale  allora  piu  che  mai  intendeva  a  rinuntiare  il  ca- 
pello  per  la  concurrenza  alle  cosedi  Fiorenza.  [The  em- 
peror persisted  incessantly  in  demanding  the  council. — 
His  Hiost  Christian  majesty  recjuired  that  his  holiness 
should  fulfil  what  he  had  promised  on  the  conditions  sti- 
pulated between  them.  His  holiness  was  thereby  cast 
into  a  state  of  profound  and  melancholy  reflection,  and  this 
grief  and  vexation  it  was  that  led  to  his  death.  His  grief 
was  augmented  by  the  mad  schemes  of  the  cardinal  da 
Medici,\vho  was  at  that  time  more  than  ever  bent  on  re- 
nouncing the  cardinal's  hat,  lo  enter  the  lists  of  political 
competition  at  Florence.] 


A.D.  1513-41.]    OPINIONS  ANALAGOUS  TO  PROTESTANTISM  IN  ITALY.     53 


before  his  eyes;  whatever  means  he  employed 
against  it,  all  helped  to  spread  it  more  widely. 
He  left  the  papal  see  infinitely  sunk  in  repu- 
tation, without  spiritual,  without  temporal 
authority.  Tiiat  North  Germany,  which  from 
of  old  had  been  so  important  to  the  papacy, 
through  whose  first  conversion  in  remote  times 
the  power  of  the  popes  in  the  West  had  been 
mainly  established,  whose  revolt  against  the 
emperor  Henry  IV.  had  so  greatly  served 
them  towards  the  completion  of  their  hierar- 
chy, that  country  had  now  stood  up  against 
them.  To  Germany  belongs  the  imperishable 
merit  of  having  restored  Christianity  in  a 
purer  form  than  it  has  worn  since  the  first 
centurifes,  of  having  re-discovered  the  true 
religion.  Armed  with  such  weapons  it  was 
irresistible.     Its  convictions  made  themselves 


paths  through  every  neighbouring  land. 
They  had  already  possessed  Scandinavia ; 
they  spread  in  England,  contrary  to  the  king's 
intention,  but  under  protection  of  the  mea- 
sures he  had  adopted ;  in  Switzerland  they 
achieved  for  themselves,  with  a  few  modifica- 
tions, an  unassailable  existence  ;  they  made 
bold  progress  in  France  ;  in  Italy,  and  even 
in  Spain,  we  find  traces  of  them  as  early  as 
under  Clement's  reign.  Ever  furtiier  and 
further  spreads  the  vast  inundation.  There 
is  a  power  in  these  opinions  that  convinces 
and  captivates  all  minds;  and  the  struggle 
between  spiritual  and  temporal  interests  in 
which  the  papacy  had  engaged,  seems  to  have 
been  directly  adapted  to  procure  them  com- 
plete dominion. 


BOOK   THE    SECOND. 


BEGINNING  OF  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLICISM. 


Introduction. 

It  is  not  in  our  day  that  the  influence  of 
public  opinion  first  made  itself  felt  in  the 
world  ;  in  every  age  of  modern  Europe  it  has 
been  an  important  element  in  social  life.  Who 
can  tell  whence  it  arises,  how  it  is  fashioned  ? 
We  may  regard  it  as  the  most  peculiar  pro- 
duction of  our  common  nature,  as  the  nearest 
expression  of  the  inward  movements  and  re- 
volutions of  the  great  frame  of  society.  It 
springs  from  and  is  fed  by  secret  sources-: 
without  requiring  much  force  of  reasoning,  it 
seizes  on  men's  minds  by  involuntary  convic- 
tion. But  it  is  only  in  its  most  general  out- 
lines it  is  consistent  with  itself ;  within  these 
it  is  reproduced  with  various  special  modifi- 
cations, in  innumerable  greater  and  smaller 
circles.  And  since  a  host  of  new  observations 
and  experiences  are  perpetually  flowing  in 
upon  it,  simtie  there  are  original  minds  that 
are  moved  indeed  by  it,  but  not  wholly  borne 
along  by  its  current,  and  that  exercise  upon 
it  a  vigorous  reaction,  it  is  hence  involved  in 
an  endless  series  of  metamorphoses — it  is 
transient,  multiform,  sometimes  more,  some- 
times less  in  unison  with  truth  and  justice, 
being  rather  a  tendency  of  the  moment  than 
a  fixed  system.  Frequently  it  only  accompa- 
nies the  occasion  that  calls  it  forth,  and  fa- 
shions itself  to  its  complexion  ;  but  now  and 
then,  when  it  encounters  an  unaccomodating 
will  which  it  cannot  overcome,  it  chafes  and 
swells,  and  assumes  a  character  of  exorbitant 
demand.  It  must  be  admitted  that  it  com- 
monly displays  a  just  apprehension  of  wants 


and  deficiencies,  but  the  course  of  proceeding 
which  these  demand  it  is  not  in  its  nature  to 
conceive  with  any  instinctive  accuracy.  Thus 
it  happens,  that  in  the  course  of  time  it  often 
runs  into  directly  opposite  extremes.  It  help- 
ed to  establish  the  papacy,  it  helped  likewise 
towards  its  demolition.  In  the  times  under 
our  consideration  it  was  at  one  period  utterly 
profane  ;  it  became  thoroughly  spiritual.  We 
have  reinaiked  how  throughout  all  Europe  it 
inclined  to  Protestantism  ;  we  shall  also  see 
how  in  a  large  part  of  the  same  quarter  it 
took  another  colouring. 

Let  us  set  out  with  observing  how  the 
doctrines  of  the  Protestants  made  way  even 
in  Italy. 

Opinions  analogous  to  Protestantism  enter- 
tained in  Italy. 

Literary  associations  exercised  an  incalcu- 
lable influence  on  the  development  of  learning 
and  art  in  Italy.  They  grew  up  sometimes  round 
a  prince,  sometimes  round  a  distinguished  scho- 
lar, or  a  private  individual  of  literary  tastes 
and  easy  fortune,  occasionally,  too,  in  the  free 
companionship  of  equals.  Such  institutions 
are  usually  most  valuable  when  they  arise, 
naturally  and  without  formal  plan,  out  of  the 
immediate  wants  of  their  day.  It  is  with 
pleasure  we  explore  the  vestiges  of  their 
course. 

At  the  same  period  as  the  protestant  move- 
ments began  in  Germany,  literary  meetings, 
assuming  a  religious  colour,  made  their  ap- 
pearance in  Italy. 

Just  when  it  was   the  fashion  of  society, 


54  BEGINNING  OF  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLICISM,      [a.  d.  1513-41. 


under  Leo  X.,  to  doubt  or  deny  the  truth  of 
Christianity,  a  reaction  exhibited  itself  in  the 
minds  of  able  men,  men  who  possessed  the 
acquirements  of  their  age,  without  merging  in 
it  their  individual  character.  It  was  very 
natural  tliat  they  should  seek  each  other's 
society.  The  human  mind  needs  the  support 
of  kindred  opinion — at  least  it  always  loves  it ; 
but  it  is  indispensable  to  it  in  religious  convic- 
tions, the  very  basis  of  which  is  the  profoundest 
feeling  of  community. 

So  early  as  in  Leo's  times  mention  is  made 
of  an  Oratory  of  Divine  Love,  which  had  been 
founded  by  some  distinguished  men  in  Rome 
for  their  mutual  edification.  They  met  to 
worship  God,  to  preach  and  practise  spiritual 
exercises  in  the  Trastevere,  in  the  church  of 
St.  Silvestro  and  Dorotea,  not  far  from  the 
place  where  the  apostle  Peter  was  supposed 
to  have  resided,  and  superintended  the  first 
assemblies  of  the  Christians.  They  were  in 
number  about  50  or  60.  Contarini,  Sadolet, 
Giberto,  and  Carafiu,  all  of  whom  afterwards 
became  cardinals,  Gaetano  da  Thiene,  who 
has  been  canonized,  Lippomano,  a  spiritual 
writer  of  much  repute  and  industry,  and  some 
other  celebrated  men,  were  of  the  number. 
Julian  Bathi,  minister  of  the  church  where 
they  met,  was  the  centre  round  which  they 
were  grouped.* 

It  was  far  from  being  the  case,  as  might 
easily  be  supposed  from  their  place  of  meet- 
ing, that  their  general  views  were  directly 
opposed  to  those  of  Protestantism  ;  on  the  con- 
trary, they  coincided  with  them  to  a  certain 
extent,  as  for  instance,  in  the  purpose  (the 
same  as  that  from  which  Luther  and  Melanc- 
thon  set  out)  to  stay  the  general  corruption  of 
the  church  by  the  revived  force  of  religious 
conviction.  Their  numbers  were  made  up  of 
men  who  subsequently  displayed  great  diver- 
sity of  sentiment ;  at  that  time  they  all  enter- 
tained a  community  of  opinion.  But  very  soon 
more  decided  and  heterogeneous  tendencies 
ajose  among  them. 

We  again,  after  a  lapse  of  a  few  years,  meet 
a  part  of  this  Roman  society  in  Venice.  Rome 


*  I  extract  this  note  from  Caracciolo,  Vita  di  Paulo  IV., 
MS.  Quei  pochi  huomini  da  bene  ed  eruditi  prelati  che 
erano  in  Roma  quel  tempo  di  Leone  X.,  vedendo  la  cillii 
di  Roma  6  tutto  il  resto  d'ltalia,  dove  per  la  vicinanza 
alia  sede  apostolica  doveva  piu  fiorire  I'osservanza  de  riti, 
essere  cosi  maltiatato  il  culto  divino, — si  uniron'  in  un' 
oratorio  chiamalo  del  divino  aniore  circa  sessanta  di  loro 
per  fare  quivi  quasi  in  una  torre  ogni  sforzo  perguardare 
le  divine  legsi.  [Those  few  men  of  worth  and  learned 
prelates  who  were  in  Rome  in  those  days  of  Leo  X.,  seeing 
divine  worship  so  ill  conducted  in  the  city  of  Rome  and 
throughout  all  the  rest  of  Italy,  where  the  observance  of 
religious  rites  should  have  more  especially  flourished,  from 
the  vicinity  of  the  apostolic  see, — united  themselves,  to 
the  number  of  about  si.\ty,  in  an  oratory  called  that  of 
Divine  Love,  there  to  make,  as  in  a  strong  tower,  every 
effort  to  maintain  the  divine  laws.]  In  the  Vila  Cajetani 
Thienasi,  (AA.  SS.  Aug.  II.)  c.  i.  7—10,  Caracciolo  has  re- 
peated this,  and  with  fuller  details,  though  in  the  latter 
place  he  reckons  but  fifty  members.  The  Historia  Cleri- 
coRim  Regularium,  vuIl'o  Tlieaiinorum,  by  Joseph  Silos, 
confirms  it  in  many  passages,  which  are  printed  in  the 
Commentarius  priBvius  to  the  Vita  Cajetani. 


had  been  sacked,  Florence  subdued ;  Milan 
had  become  the  continual  haunt  of  armies.  In 
the  midst  of  this  general  ruin  Venice  had 
maintained  itself  untouched  by  foreigners  and 
their  armies,  and  was,  therefore,  regarded  as 
the  common  place  of  refuge.  In  that  city  met 
together  the  scattered  literati  of  Rome,  and 
the  patriots  of  Florence,  whose  native  land 
was  forever  closed  against  them.  In  these 
latter,  particularly,  was  manifested  a  very 
strong  spiritual  tendency,  not  unmarked  by 
the  influence  of  Savonarola's  doctrines,  as 
instances  of  which,  we  may  mention  the  his- 
torian Nardi,  and  Bruccioli,  the  translator  of 
the  Bible.  The  same  feelings  were  shared 
by  other  refugees  also,  such  as  Reginald  Pole, 
who  had  quitted  England  to  escape  from  the 
innovations  of  Henry  VIII.  They  met  with  a 
ready  welcome  from  their  Venetian  hosts.  At 
Peter  Bembo's,  in  Padua,  who  kept  open 
house,  the  constant  topics  of  conversation 
related  to  classic  literature  and  Ciceronian 
Latin.  More  profound  discussions  cccupied 
the  guests  of  the  learned  and  intelligent  Gre- 
gorio  Cortese,  abbot  of  San  Georgio  Slaggiore 
at  Venice.  Bruccioli  lays  the  scene  of  some 
of  his  dialogues  in  the  groves  and  bowers  of 
San  Georgio.  Not  far  from  Treviso  was  the 
villa  of  Luigi  Priuli,  named  Treville.*  His 
was  one  of  those  pure  and  finished  Venetian 
characters,  such  as  we  now  and  then  encoun- 
ter even  in  the  present  day,  full  of  calm  suscep- 
tibility for  true  and  noble  sentiments,  and  for 
disinterested  friendship.  The  chief  occupa- 
tions of  his  circle  lay  in  spiritual  studies  and 
and  discourse.  There  was  the  Benedictine 
Marco  of  Padua,  a  man  of  deep  piety,  the 
same  apparently  from  whom  Pole  asserts  he 
drew  his  ghostly  nurture.  Caspar  Contarini 
might  be  regarded  as  the  head  of  the  whole 
band,  a  man  of  whom  Pole  says,  that  nothing 
was  unknown  to  him  which  the  human  mind 
had  discovered  by  its  own  powers  of  investi- 
gation, or  which  God's  grace  had  imparted  to 
it ;  and  to  this  store  of  wisdom  he  added  the 
adornment  of  virtue. 

If  we  now  inquire  what  were  the  leading 
convictions  of  these  men,  we  shall  find  fore- 
most among  them  that  doctrine  of  justification, 
which,  as  taught  by  Luther,  had  originated 
the  whole  Protestant  movement.  Contarini 
wrote  a  special  tract  on  the  subject,  which 
Pole  knows  not  how  sufficiently  to  praise. 
"  Thou  hast,"  he  says  to  him,  "  brought  to 
light  that  jewel  which  the  Church  kept  half- 
buried."  Pole  himself  finds  that  Scripture  in 
its  profounder  connexion  preaches  nothing  but 
this  doctrine  ;  he  congratulates  his  friend  that 
he  had  begun  the  disclosure  of  that  "  holy, 
fruitful,  and  indispensable  truth. "f  To  the 
circle  of  friends  who  attached  themselves  to 


♦  Epistolse  ReginaUli  Poli,ed.Quirini,  torn.  ii.  Diatriba 
ad  Epislolas  Si.'hi'lhornii,  clxxxiii. 
t  Epistolae  Poll,  torn.  iii.  p.  57. 


A.  D.  1513-41.]    OPINIONS  ANALOGOUS  TO  PROTESTANTISM  IN  ITALY.      55 


this  doctrine  belonged  M.  A.  Flaminio.  He 
resided  a  long  time  with  Pole :  Contarini 
wished  to  take  him  with  him  to  Germany. 
Observe  how  decidedly  he  proclaims  the  doc- 
trine in  question.  "  The  Gospel,"  he  says  in 
one  of  his  letters,*  "  is  nothing  else  than  the 
glad  tidings  that  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God, 


Flaminio  revised  it."*  According  to  this  ac- 
count therefore,  with  a  pupil  and  friend  of 
Valdez  rests  the  authorship  of  this  book,  which 
in  reality  had  an  incredible  success,  and  for  a 
length  of  time  made  the  doctrine  of  justifica- 
tion popular  in  Italy.  Valdez,  for  all  that, 
was  not  exclusively  devoted  to    theological 


clothed  in"  our  flesh,  has  satisfied  the  justice  |  pursuits;  being  in  the  discharge  of  an  impor- 
of  the  eternal  Father  for  us.  He  who  believes  tant  secular  office,  he  founded  no  sect,  and 
this  enters  the  kingdom  of  heaven  :  he  enjoys   this  book  was  the  result  of  a  liberal  study  of 


the  universal  forgiveness  ;  from  being  a  carnal 
he  becomes  a  spiritual  creature,  from  being  a 
child  of  wrath  he  becomes  a  child  of  grace  ;  he 
lives  in  a  sweet  peace  of  conscience."  It  is 
scarcely  possible  to  find  expressions  more  ortho- 
do.xly  Lutiieran. 

These  convictions  spread  just  like  a  literary 
opinion  or  tendency  over  a  great  of  Italy. f 

Now  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  how  suddenly 
a  controversy  upon  a  point  that  had  previously 
been  only  now  and  then  mentioned  among  the 
school-men,  could  seize  upon  and  engross  a 
century,  and  call  forth  the  activity  of  every 
mind.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  the  doctrine 
of  justification  was  the  parent  of  the  greatest 
agitations,  ruptures,  and  even  revolutions.  It 
would  seem  to  have  befallen  by  way  of  coun- 
terpoise to  the  worldliness  settled  upon  the 
church,  now  almost  blind  to  the  notion  of  man's 
hnmediate  relation  to  God,  that  so  transcen- 
dental a  question,  affecting  the  profoundest 
mystery  of  that  relation,  became  the  universal 
subject  of  men's  thoughts. 

Even  in  pleasure-loving  Naples  it  was  widely 
promulgated,  and  that  by  a  Spaniard,  Juan 
Valdez,  one  of  the  viceroy's  secretaries.  Un- 
fortunately the  writings  of  Valdez  have  wholly 
disappeared ;  but  we  have  at  least  very  dis- 
tinct evidence  as  to  their  character,  from  the 
objections  made  to  them  by  his  opponents. 
About  the  year  1540,  a  little  book  "  On  the 
Benefits  bestowed  by  Christ,"  obtained  circu- 
lation, which,  as  a  notification  by  the  Inquisi- 
tion expresses  it,  "treated  in  an  insinuating 
manner  of  justification,  undervalued  works  and 
merits,  and  ascribed  every  thing  to  faith  alone  ; 
and  forasmuch  as  that  was  the  very  point  on 
which  so  many  prelates  and  monks  stumbled, 
the  book  had  been  diffused  to  an  unusual 
extent."  The  name  of  the  author  has  been 
frequently  inquired  after;  this  notification 
distinctly  identifies  him.  "  It  was  a  monk  of 
San  Sererino,"  it  asserts,  "a  pupil  of  Valdez  : 

*  To  Theodorina  Saxili,  12ih  Feb.  1542.  Letters  Volgari 
(Raccolla  del  Manuzio),  Vinegia,  1553.  ii.  43. 

t  Anion?  other  documents,  Sadolel's  letter  to  Contarini 
(Epistolae  Sadoleti  lib.  ix.  p.  365,)  upon  his  Commentary 
on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  is  very  remarkable,  "  in 
nuibus  commentariis,"  says  Sadolel,  "  mortis  et  crucis 
Christ!  mysterium  totum  aperire  atque  illustrare  sum 
conatus  ;"  [in  which  commentary  I  have  endeavoured  to 
unfold  and  illustrate  the  whole  mystery  of  Christ's  death 
and  passion.]  He  had  not  however  quite  satisfied  Conta- 
rini, nor  did  he  quite  concur  in  opinion  with  the  latter. 
He  promises  meanwhile  to  undertake  in  the  new  edition, 
a  clear  explanation  of  the  doctrines  of  original  sin  and 
grace :  "  de  hoc  ipso  morbo  naturae  noslrse  et  de  repara- 
tione  arbilrii  nostri  a  spirilu  sancio  facta." 


Christianity.  His  friends  thought  with  rup- 
ture of  the  sweet  days  they  enjoyed  with  him 
at  Chiaja  and  Posiiippo,  "  where  nature  smiles 
and  rejoices  in  her  rich  array."  Valdez  was 
gentle,  of  pleasing  manners,  not  without  vigo- 
rous reach  of  mind.  His  friends  used  to  say 
of  him,  "A  part  of  his  soul  served  to  animate 
his  feeble  slender  body  ;  with  the  greater  part, 
the  clear  unclouded  intellect,  he  was  ever  up- 
lifted to  the  contemplation  of  truth." 

Valdez  had  extraordinary  influence  among 
the  nobility  and  the  learned  of  Naples:  even 
the  women  took  a  lively  interest  in  these  reli- 
gious and  intellectual  movements.  Among 
these  was  Vittoria  Colonna.  After  the  death 
of  her  husband  Pescara,  she  had  given  herself 
up  wholly  to  study.  Her  poems  and  her  let- 
ters displayed  a  heartfelt  morality  and  a  reli- 
gion void  of  hypocrisy.  How  beautifully  does 
she  console  a  female  friend  for  the  loss  of  her 
brother,  "  whose  peaceful  spirit  has  passed  into 
the  everlasting  true  peace.  She  must  not 
complain,  since  she  can  now  speak  to  him, 
without  his  absence  hindering  her,  as  so  often 
before,  from  being  understood  by  him."f  Pole 
and  Contarini  were  among  her  most  confiden- 
tial friends.  I  am  not  disposed  to  think  that 
she  devoted  herself  to  spiritual  exercises  of  a 
monastic  life.  At  least  Aretino  writes  to  her 
with  much  naivete,  that  "  it  surely  is  not  her 
opinion  that  the  silent  tongue,  the  downcast 
eyes,  and  the  coarse  raiment  are  the  great 
essentials,  but  purity  of  soul." 

The  house  of  Colonna  generally,  and  in  par- 
ticular Vespasiano  duke  of  Palliano,  and  his 
wife  Julia  Gonzaga,  the  same  who  was  reput- 


*  Schelhorn,  Gerdesius,  and  others,  have  ascribed  this 
book  to  Aonius  Palearius,  who  says  in  a  discourse,  "  hoc 
anno  Tusce  scripsi,  Christi  morte  quanta  commoda  allata 
sint  humano  generi,"  [this  year  I  wrote  in  the  Italian 
language,  a  work  on  the  numerous  advantages  conferred 
on  mankind  by  the  death  of  Christ.]  The  words  of  the 
compendium  of  the  inquisitors,  which  I  found  in  Carac- 
ciolo,  Vita  di  Paulo  IV.  MS.,  are  on  the  other  hand  as 
follows :  Quel  libro  del  beneficio  di  Christo,  fu  il  suo  autore 
unmonaco  di  Sanseverino  in  Napoli,  discepolo  del  Valdez, 
fu  revisore  di  detto  libro  il  Flaminio,  fu  stampato  molte 
volte,  ma  particolarmente  a  Modena  de  mandate  Moroni : 
insannC)  molti,  perche  Irattava  della  giustificatione  con 
doice  modo,  ma  hereticamente.  Now  the  passeige  quoted 
from  Palearius,  does  not  so  distinctly  indicate  this  book 
as  to  make  it  certain  none  other  is  meant :  Palearius  says, 
that  he  was  called  to  account  for  it  the  same  year;  while, 
on  the  contrary,  the  words  of  the  compendium  admit  of  no 
doubt,  and  it  goes  on  to  say,  "  quel  libro  fu  da  molti  appro- 
bato  solo  in  Verona,  fu  conosciuto  e  reprobato,  dope  molti 
anni  fu  posto  nel  Indice."  For  these  reasons,  I  hold  the 
opinion  of  the  above  mentioned  scholars  to  be  erroneous. 

t  Letters  Volgari,  i.  92.  Lettere  di  diversia  Autori,  p. 
60-1.    A  very  useful  collection,  especially  the  first  part. 


56         BEGINNING  OF  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLICISM,     [a.  d.  1513-41. 


ed  the  most  beautiful  woman  in  Ital}',  partici- 
pated in  these  religious  sentiments.  Valdez 
dedicated  one  of  his  books  to  Julia. 

But  these  doctrines  made  moreover  an  un- 
common progress  among  the  middle  classes. 
The  report  of  the  Inquisition  almost  seems 
exaggerated,  when  it  reckons  three  thousand 
schoolmasters  attached  to  them.  But  how 
deeply  must  even  a  smaller  number  have 
wrought  upon  the  minds  of  youth  and  upon 
the  people ! 

Scarcely  with  less  cordiality  was  the  doc- 
trine received  in  Modena.  The  bishop  him- 
self, Morone,  an  intimate  friend  of  Pole  and 
Contarini,  was  in  its  favour.  The  work,  "  On 
the  Benefits  bestowed  by  Christ,"  was  printed 
at  his  express  command,  and  numerous  copies 
of  it  circulated.  His  chaplain,  Don  Girolamo 
da  Modena,  was  president  of  a  society,  in 
which  the  same  principles  prevailed.* 

Mention  has  from  time  to  time  been  made 
of  the  Protestants  of  Italy,  and  we  have  al- 
ready adduced  many  of  the  names  recorded 
in  their  lists.  Certainly  some  of  the  convic- 
tions predominant  in  Germany  had  taken  root 
among  these  men  ;  they  sought  to  build  doc- 
trine on  the  basis  of  scriptural  testimony,  and 
in  the  article  of  justification  they  approxima- 
ted closely  to  the  Lutheran  opinions ;  but  that 
they  participated  in  these  on  all  other  points 
cannot  be  asserted  ;  the  sense  of  the  Church's 
unity  and  reverence  for  the  pope  had  struck 
too  deeply  into  their  minds,  and  many  catho- 
lic usages  were  too  intimately  interwoven 
with  the  national  character  to  have  been  so 
easily  shaken  off. 

Flaminio  composed  an  exposition  of  the 
Psalms,  the  dogmatic  contents  of  which  have 
been  approved  of  by  Protestant  writers  ;  but 
even  to  this  he  prefixed  a  dedication,  in 
which  he  called  the  pope  "  The  Warder  and 
Prince  of  all  Holiness,  the  Vicegerent  of  God 
on  earth." 

Giovan  Battista  Folengo  ascribes  justifica- 
tion to  grace  alone  ;  he  speaks  even  of  the 
utility  of  sin,  which  is  not  far  removed  from 
the  sinfulness  of  good  works :  he  is  vehement 
in  his  zeal  against  trusting  in  fasts,  frequent 
prayers,  masses  and  confessions,  nay  even  in 
the  priestly  calling,  tonsure,  and  mitre  ;f  and 
yet  he  died  quietly,  somewhere  about  his  six- 
tieth year,  in  the  same  Benedictine  convent 
in  which  he  had  taken  the  vows  in  his  six- 
teenth.! 

Not  far  otherwise  was  it  for  a  long  while 
with  Bernardino  Ochino.     If  we  believe  his 


*  In  Schelhorn's  Amoenitatt.  Literar.  torn.  xii.  p.  564, 
are  reprinted,  the  Articuli  contra  Moronum,  published  by 
Vergerio  in  the  year  1558,  and  in  which  these  accusations 
do  not  fail  to  appear.  The  more  exact  notices  I  take  from 
the  compendium  of  the  inijuisitors. 

+  Ad  Psalm.  67.  f.  2^16.  An  extract  from  these  explana- 
tions is  given  in  the  "Italia  Reformata"  of  Gerdesius,  p. 
8o7— 261. 

t  Thuani  Historis  ad  a.  1539,  i.  473. 


own  words,  it  was  from  the  very  first  a  deep 
longing,  as  he  expresses  himself,  "  after  the 
heavenly  paradise  that  is  achieved  through 
God's  grace,"  that  led  him  to  become  a  Fran- 
ciscan. His  zeal  was  so  deep-seated,  that  he 
soon  passed  over  to  the  severer  penitential 
practices  of  the  Capuchins.  He  was  named 
general  of  the  order  in  its  third,  and  again  in 
its  fourth  chapter,  and  filled  the  ofhce  with 
extraordinary  credit.  But  however  rigorous 
was  his  life,  (he  always  went  on  foot,  slept 
on  his  cloak,  never  drank  wine,  and  was  most 
strict  in  enforcing  the  vow  of  poverty  on 
others,  as  tlie  most  efficacious  means  towards 
evangelical  perfection,)  yet  even  he  was  by 
degrees  convinced  and  penetrated  by  the 
doctrine  of  justification  through  grace.  He 
presented  it  in  the  most  urgent  manner  in 
the  confessional  and  from  the  pulpit.  "  I 
opened  my  heart  to  him,"  says  Bembo,  "  as  I 
could  have  done  to  Christ  himself;  it  seemed 
to  me  that  I  had  never  beheld  a  holier  man." 
The  cities  poured  out  their  multitudes  to  hear 
him  preach ;  the  churches  were  too  small  to 
contain  them ;  the  learned  and  the  common 
people,  both  sexes,  old  and  young,  all  were 
gratified.  His  coarse  garb,  his  beard  that 
swept  his  breast,  his  gray  hairs,  his  pallid 
meagre  countenance,  and  the  feebleness  he 
had  contracted  from  his  obstinate  fasts,  gave 
him  the  aspect  of  a  saint.* 

Thus  was  there  yet  a  line  within  Catholi- 
cism, which  the  opinions  analogous  to  the  new 
doctrines  never  overstepped.  Priesthood  and 
monachism  encountered  no  direct  opposition 
in  Italy  ;  none  there  entertained  a  thought  of 
assailing  the  primacy  of  the  pope.  How,  for 
instance,  should  that  principle  have  failed  to 
command  the  strong  attachment  of  a  Pole, 
who  had  fled  from  England  rather  than  ac- 
knowledge his  king  as  head  of  the  English 
Church  ]  They  thought,  as  Ottonel  Vida,  a 
pupil  of  Vergerios,  declared  to  the  latter,  that 
"  in  the  Christian  Church  every  one  had  his 
appointed  office ;  to  the  bishop  belonged  the 
care  of  the  souls  in  his  diocese,  whom  he  was 
to  protect  from  the  world  and  the  evil  one  ;  it 
was  the  metropolitan's  duty  to  see  to  the 
residence  of  the  bishops ;  the  metropolitans 
were  in  their  turn  subject  to  the  pope,  to 
whom  was  committed  the  general  control  of 
the  Church  which  he  was  to  guide  with  holi- 
ness of  mind.f  Every  man  must  fulfil  his 
several  calling."|  These  men  regarded  sepa- 
ration from  the  Church  as  the  worst  of  evils. 
Isidore  Clario,  a  man  who  improved  the  Vul- 
gate with  the  aid  of  the  Protestant  works, 
and  prefixed  to  it  an  introduction  which  has 
been  subjected  to  expurgation,  warned  the 


*  Boverio,  Annali  di  Frati  Minori  Capuccini,  i.  375. 

Gratiani  Vie  de  Commendone,  p.  143. 
t  In  the  original,  "mil  heiligem  Geiste."  (Translator.) 
t  Oitonello  Vida  Dot.  al  Vescovo  Vergerio ;   Lettere, 

Tol.  ix.  I.  80. 


A.  D.  1541.] 


ATTEMPTS  AT  INTERNAL  REFORM. 


57 


Protestants  from  such  a  project  in  a  special 
treatise.  "  No  corruption,"  he  says,  "  could 
be  so  great  as  to  warrant  a  revolt  from  the 
hallowed  communion  of  the  Church.  Were 
it  not  better  to  repair  what  we  have,  than  to 
commit  ourselves  to  dubious  attempts  at  pro- 
ducing something  else?  Our  sole  thought 
should  be  how  the  old  institution  may  be 
ameliorated  and  freed  from  its  defects." 

With  these  modifications  there  was  a  mul- 
titude of  adherents  to  the  new  doctrine  in 
Italy  ;  among  them  Antonio  dei  Pagliarici  of 
Siena,  to  wliom  had  been  imputed  the  author- 
ship of  the  book,  "  Of  the  Benefits  bestowed 
by  Christ ;"  Carnesecchi  of  Florence,  who 
was  considered  as  an  adherent  to  its  doc- 
trines and  a  promoter  of  its  circulation ;  Gio- 
van  Battista  Rotto  of  Bologna,  who  had  pa- 
trons in  Morone,  Pole,  and  Vittoria  Colonna, 
and  found  means  to  aid  the  poorest  of  his  fol- 
lowers with  money  ;  Fra  Antonio  of  Volterra, 
and  some  man  of  eminence  in  almost  every 
city  of  Italy.*  It  was  a  system  of  opinion  de- 
cidedly religious,  but  tempered  by  the  forms 
of  the  Church,  that  stirred  the  whole  land 
from  end  to  end  in  all  its  circles. 

Attempts  at  inward  reform,  and  at  a  recon- 
ciliation with  the  Protestants. 

The  saying  is  attributed  to  Pole,  that  men 
should  content  themselves  with  their  own 
inward  convictions,  without  concerning  them- 
selves to  know  if  errors  and  abuses  existed  in 
the  Church. f  But  precisely  from  a  party  to 
which  he  himself  belonged,  proceeded  the 
first  attempt  at  reformation.  That  was  per- 
haps the  most  honourable  act  of  Paul  III.  with 
which  he  marked  the  commencement  of  his 
reign,  namely,  the  calling  to  the  college  of 
cardinals  several  distinguished  men,  without 
regard  to  anything  besides  their  merits.  He 
began  with  that  Venetian  Conlarini,  already 
mentioned,  who  again  is  supposed  to  have 
suggested  the  names  of  the  rest.  They  were 
men  of  irreproachable  manners,  in  high  re- 
pute for  learning  and  piety,  and  who  must 
have  been  intimately   acquainted  with    the 


*  The  extract  from  the  compendium  of  the  inquisitors 
is  our  authority  on  this  subject.  Bologna,  it  says,  fu  in 
molli  pericoli,  perche  vi  furono  heretici  principali,  fra 
quali  fu  un  Gio  B».  Rotto,  il  quale  haveva  amicizia  et  ap 
poggio  di  persone  poteniissiine,  come  di  Moione,  Polo 
Marchesa  di  Pescara,  e  raccoglieva  danari  a  tuito  suo 
poiere,  e  gli  compartiva  ira  gli  heretici  o,;culti  e  poveri 
che  stevano  in  Bologna:  abjun")  poi  nelle  mani  del  padre 
Salmerone  (the  Jesuit,)  per  ordine  del  legato  di  Bologna 
(compend.  fol.  ix.  c.  94.)  [Bologna  was  beset  with  dan- 
ger, because  the  principal  heretics  were  there,  among 
ihein  one  Gio  B^.  Roiio,  who  enjoyed  the  friendship  and 
patronage  of  very  influential  people,  such  as  Morone, 
Pole,  and  the  Marchesa  di  Pescara,  and  who  collected 
money  with  all  his  might,  and  distributed  it  among  the 
secret  and  needy  heretics  of  Bologna.  H'B  afterwards 
read  his  recantation  before  father  Salmerone,  by  order  of 
the  legate  of  Bologna.]  The  same  course  was  pursued  in 
all  the  towns. 

+  Passages  from  Atanagi  in  Mc  Crie's  Reformalion  in 
Italy.    German  translation,  p.  172. 

8 


wants  of  the  several  countries;  Caraffa,  who 
had  resided  long  in  Spain  and  the  Nether- 
lands ;  Sadolet,  bishop  of  Carpentras  in 
France  ;  Pole,  a  refugee  from  England  ;  Gi- 
berto,  who,  after  he  had  long  taken  part  in 
the  general  administration  of  affairs,  conduct- 
ed his  bishopric  of  Verona  with  exemplary 
excellence;  Federigo  Fregoso,  archbishop  of 
Salerno,  almost  all,  as  we  see,  members  of 
the  oratory  of  Divine  Love,  and  several  of 
them  participating  in  the  tendencies  akin  to 
Protestantism.* 

It  was  these  same  cardinals  who  now,  by 
command  of  the  pope,  concocted  a  project  of 
church  reform.  It  became  known  to  the 
Protestants,  who  rejected  it  with  derision. 
They  had  themselves  indeed  by  this  time  ad- 
vanced much  further.  But  it  can  hardly  be 
denied  that  it  was  a  matter  of  strange  signi- 
fication for  the  catholic  church,  to  see  the 
evil  thus  grappled  with  in  Rome  itself — that 
in  language  addressed  to  a  pope,  was  urged 
the  reproach  of  the  popes,  staled  in  that  in- 
troduction to  this  document,  that  "  they  had 
frequently  selected  servants,  not  to  learn 
from  them  what  their  duty  demanded,  but 
that  they  might  be  flattered  by  them  with  the 
declared  lawfulness  of  what  their  desires  co- 
veted ;"  that  such  abuse  of  supreme  power 
was  declared  to  be  the  most  prolific  source  of 
corruption.! 

Nor  did  matters  rest  here.  There  are 
extant  some  short  pieces  by  Caspar  Contarini, 
in  which  he  waged  the  most  vehement  war 
on  abuses,  especially  those  abuses  which 
were  profitable  to  the  curia.  The  custom  of 
compositions,  that  is,  the  taking  of  money 
even  for  the  bestowal  of  religious  favours,  he 
pronounces  simony,  which  may  be  regarded 
as  a  species  of  heresy.  It  was  taken  amiss 
that  he  inculpated  former  popes.  "  What  !'* 
he  exclaimed,  "  shall  we  concern  ourselves  so 
much  about  the  fame  of  three  or  four  popes, 
and  not  rather  amend  what  is  deformed,  and 
win  ourselves  a  good  name  1  It  would  in- 
deed by  a  trying  task  to  defend  all  the  acts 
of  all  the  popes."  He  attacks  the  abuse  of 
dispensations  most  earnestly  and  effectively. 
He  considers  it  idolatrous  to  say,  as  was  ac- 
tually maintained,  that  the  pope  was  bound 
by  no  rule  but  that  of  his  own  will  in  con- 
firming or  suspending  the  positive  law.  It  is 
worth  while  to  hear  his  remarks  on  this  sub- 
ject. "  The  law  of  Christ,"  he  says,  "  is  a 
law  of  liberty,  and  forbids  such  gross  servi- 
tude, which  the  Lutherans  were  perfectly 
justified  in  likening  to  the  Babylonish  captiv- 

*  Vita  Reginaldi  Poli  in  the  edition  of  his  letters  by 
Quirini,  torn.  i.  p.  12.  Floribelli  de  vita  Jacobi  Sadojeli 
Commentarius,  prefixed  to  the  Epp.  Sadoleti  Col.  1590, 

t  This  is  the  Consilium  delectorum  Cardinalium  et  ali- 
orum  Pralatorum  de  emendanda  ecclesia.  It  is  signed 
by  Contarini,  Caraffa,  Sadolet,  Pole,  Fregoso,  Giberto, 
Cortese,  and  Aleander. 


58 


BEGINNING  OF  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLICISM,     [a.  d.  1541. 


ity.  But  furthermore,  can  that  be  indeed 
called  a  government,  the  rule  whereof  is  the 
will  of  a  man  by  nature  prone  to  evil,  and  of 
innumerable  affections  ]  No !  all  true  do- 
minion is  a  dominion  of  reason.  It  has  for 
its  end  to  lead  those  who  are  subject  to  it  by 
the  right  means  to  their  great  end,  happiness. 
The  authority  of  the  pope  is  likewise  a  do- 
minion of  reason  ;  God  has  bestowed  it  on  St. 
Peter  and  his  successors,  to  guide  the  flocks 
confided  to  them  to  everlasting  blessedness. 
A  pope  must  know  that  they  are  free  men 
over  whom  he  exercises  it.  He  must  not 
command,  or  forbid,  or  dispense  according  to 
his  own  good  pleasure,  but  in  obedience  to 
the-^ule  of  reason,  of  God's  commands,  and  of 
love:  a  rule  that  refers  everything  to  God, 
and  to  the  greatest  common  good.  For  the 
positive  law  is  not  arbitrarily  imposed,  but  in 
unison  with  natural  rights,  the  command- 
ments of  God,  and  circumstances;  only  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  same  laws  and  the  same 
things,  can  it  be  altered."  "  Be  it  the"  care 
of  your  holiness,"  he  says  to  Paul  HI.,  "  not 
to  depart  from  this  rule.  Turn  not  to  the 
impotence  of  the  will,  which  chooses  evil,  to 
the  servitude  which  ministers  to  sin.  Then 
wilt  thou  be  mighty,  then  wilt  thou  be  free  : 
then  will  the  life  of  the  Christian  common- 
wealth be  sustained  in  thee.* 

Here,  we  see,  was  an  attempt  to  found  a 
rational  papacy ;  the  more  remarkable,  mas- 
niuch  as  it  set  out  from  the  same  doctrine 
concerning  justification  and  free-will,  which 
served  as  the  principle  of  the  Protestant  de- 
fection. We  do  not  merely  conjecture  this, 
as  knowing  that  Contarini  cherished  these 
views ;  he  affirms  it  in  express  terms.  He 
lays  it  down  that  man  is  prone  to  evil ;  that 
this  comes  of  the  impotence  of  tiie  will,  which, 
as  soon  as  he  turns  to  evil,  becomes  rather 
passive  than  active ;  that  only  by  Christ's 
grace  he  becomes  free.  He  distinctly  recog- 
\  nizes  the  papal  authority ;  but  he  requires 
that  it  be  guided  with  a  view  to  God  and  to 
the  greatest  common  good. 

Contarini  laid  his  essay  before  the  pope.  On 
a  fine  day  in  November,  1538,  he  journeyed 
with  him  to  Ostia.  "  On  the  way  thither,"  he 
writes  to  Pole,  "  this  our  good  old  man  drew 
me  aside,  and  talked  with  me  alone  about  the 
reform  of  the  compositions.  He  said  he  had  by 
him  the  little  treatise  I  had  written  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  that  he  had  read  it  in  his  morning 
hours.  I  had  already  given  up  all  hope;  but 
now  he  spake  to  me  with  such  Christian  feel- 
ing, that  I  have  conceived  fresh  hope  that  God 
will  accomplish  something  great  and  not  suffer 


*  G.  Contarini  Cardinalis  aJ  Paulum  III.  P.  M.  de  po- 
teslate  ponlificis  in  coinjiositionibus:  Printed  in  Rocca- 
berte's  BibliolVieca  Ponlilicia  Maxima,  torn.  xiii.  Tliere 
is  also  a  Tractatus  de  rompositionibus  datarii  Revmi.  D. 
Gasparis  Contarini,  1536,  no  copy  of  which  I  have  any- 
where found  in  print. 


the  gates  of  hell  to  prevail  over  his  Spi- 
rit."* 

It  may  easily  be  conceived  that  a  thorough 
reform  of  abuses  with  which  were  bound  up 
so  many  personal  rights  and  claims,  and  so 
many  habits  of  society,  was  of  all  things  the 
most  difficult  that  could  be  undertaken.  Pope 
Paul,  however,  appeared  gradually  disposed 
to  proceed  seriously  to  the  task. 

Thus  he  named  commissions  for  carrying 
out  reform  f  in  chamber,  ruota,  chancery,  and 
penitenziera:  he  also  called  back  Giberto  to 
his  counsels.  Bulls  were  issued  also  of  a 
reforming  character,  and  preparations  were 
made  for  the  general  council  which  Clement 
had  dreaded  and  shunned,  and  which  Paul  HI. 
might  have  found  many  reasons  of  a  private 
nature  to  avoid. 

How,  now,  if  an  amelioration  had  actually 
taken  place,  the  Roman  court  been  reformed, 
and  the  abuses  of  the  constitution  removed? 
How  if  then  the  same  dogma  from  which  Lu- 
ther had  set  out  had  become  for  the  Church  a 
principle  of  renovation  in  life  and  doctrine'? 
would  not  a  reconciliation  in  that  case  have 
been  possible?  For  even  the  Protestants  but 
slowly  and  reluctantly  tore  themselves  away 
from  the  unity  of  the  Church.  To  many  this 
seemed  possible,  and  no  few  built  great  hopes 
on  a  religious  conference.  Theoretically 
speaking,  the  pope  should  not  have  consented 
to  the  latter,  since  its  object  was  to  decide, 
not  uninfluenced  by  the  secular  power,  upon 
religious  controversies,  over  which  he  himself 
laid  claim  to  paramount  authority.  Accord- 
ingly, he  was  very  guarded  on  the  subject  of 
the  conference,  though  he  suffered  it  to  pro- 
ceed, and  sent  his  delegates  to  attend  it. 

He  proceeded  with  great  circumspection  in 
the  matter;  invariably  selected  moderate  men, 
persons  who  subsequently,  on  many  occasions, 
incurred  the  suspicion  of  Protestantism.  Fur- 
thermore, he  gave  tiiem  sound  admonitions  as 
to  their  personal  and  political  conduct. 

Thus,  for  instance,  when  he  sent  Morone, 
who  was  still  young,  to  Germany,  in  1536,  he 
failed  not  to  enjoin  him  that  "  he  should  con- 
tract no  debts,  that  he  should  pay  in  the  lodg- 
ings assigned  him,  and  dress  without  luxury, 
and  also  without  meanness;  that  he  should, 
indeed,  visit  the  churches,  but  by  all  meana 
without  any  show  of  hypocrisy,"  He  was  to 
represent  in  his  person  that  Roman  reform  of 
which  so  much  had  been  said ;  and  he  was 
counselled  to  maintain  a  dignity  tempered 
with  cheerfulness.|  In  the  year  1540  the 
bishop  of  Vienna  had  counselled  a  very  ex- 
treme course.  In  his  opinion  it  was  advisable 
to  lay  before  the  adherents  of  the  new  sect 

*  Caspar  C.  Contarenus  Reginaldo  C.  Polo.  Ex.  ostiia 
Tiberinis,  11  Nov.  1538.    (Epp.  Poli,  ii.  142.) 

+  Acta  Consistorialia,  (6  Aug.  1540,)  in  Rainaldus,  An- 
nales  Ecclesiastici,  toni.  xxi.  p.  146. 

t  Instructio  pro  causa fidei  et  consilii,dataepiscopoIVIu. 
linae,  24  Oct.  1536.  MS.    (App.  No.  XXII.) 


A.  D.  1541.] 


ATTEMPTS  AT  INTERNAL  REFORM. 


59 


those  articles  of  Luther  and  Melancthon's 
which  had  been  declared  heretical,  and  to  ask 
them  yes  or  no,  whetiier  they  were  disposed 
to  renounce  them.  But  to  such  a  course  as 
this  the  pope  by  no  means  counselled  his  nun- 
cio. "They  would  rather  die,  we  fear,"  he 
says,  "  than  make  such  a  recantation."*  He 
only  wishes  to  see  a  hope  of  reconciliation  :  at 
the  first  glimpse  of  it  he  will  send  a  formula 
conceived  in  terms  free  from  offence,  already 
drawn  up  by  wise  and  venerable  men.  "  Would 
it  were  now  come  to  that!  Hardly  do  we 
dare  to  expect  it !" 

But  never  did  the  two  parties  approach  each 
other  nearer  than  in  the  Ratisbon  Conference, 
in  the  year  1541.  The  aspect  of  politics  was 
singularly  favourable.  The  emperor,  who 
needed  the  strength  of  the  empire,  for  the 
purposes  of  a  war  against  Turkey  or  France, 
longed  for  nothing  more  ardently  than  a  recon- 
ciliation. He  chose  for  speakers  the  most  in- 
telligent and  moderate  men  among  the  cathol  ic 
theologians,  Gropper,  and  Julius  Pflug.  On 
the  other  side,  Landgrave  Philip  was  again 
on  good  terms  with  Austria,  and  hoped  to 
obtain  the  chief  command  in  the  war  now  in 
preparation  :  the  emperor  beheld  him  with 
admiration  and  delight  ride  into  Ratisbon  on 
his  stately  charger,  himself  as  vigorous  as  the 
steed.  The  placid  Bucer,  and  the  yielding 
Melancthon  appeared  on  the  Protestant  side. 
How  earnestly  the  pope  desired  a  happy  result 
was  evinced  by  the  choice  of  the  legate  he 
sent,  that  same  Caspar  Contarini,  whom  we 
have  seen  so  deeply  engaged  in  the  new  course 
of  sentiment  that  had  arisen  in  Italy,  and  so 
active  in  devising  schemes  of  general  reform. 
He  now  assumed  a  more  important  position, 
midway  between  two  systems  of  opi;iion,  be- 
tween two  parties  that  divided  tlie  world, 
commissioned  in  an  advantageous  moment, 
and  earnestly  purposing  to  reconcile  them  ;  a 
position,  which  if  it  does  not  make  it  our  duty, 
yet  affords  us  permission  more  nearly  to  ex- 
amine his  personal  characteristics. 

Messer  Gasper  Contarini,  the  eldest  son  of 
n  noble  house  in  Venice  that  traded  to  the 
Levant,  had  devoted  himself  especially  to  phi- 
losophical studies.  His  manner  of  proceeding 
in  this  is  not  unworthy  of  remark.  He  set 
apart  three  hours  daily  for  his  special  studies, 
never  devoting  to  them  more,  and  never  less. 
He  began  each  time  with  accurate  repetition: 
whatever  he  did  he  did  thoroughly,  never 
slurring  over  any  subject  before  him.f 

He  did  not  suffer  the  subtleties  of  Aristotle's 


*  Instructiones  pro  Revmo-  D.  ep.  Mulinpnsi  apostolico 
nuncio  inlprfuturoconventui  Germanoium  Spirse,  12Muii, 
ir)40,  celebrando.  "  Timendum  est  alqup  atleo  eenn  scien- 
dum, isla  qu£e  in  his  aniculis  pie  el  prudrnter  conlincn- 
tur  non  solum  frelos  salvo  conductu  esse  eos  recusaturos, 
verum  etiam  ubi  mors  praespns  imminerel,  ilium  polius 
praelpcturos."    App.  No.  XXV. 

t  Joiumnis  CascB  Vila  Gasparis  Conlarini ;  in  Jo.  Casae 
Monumenla  Lalini,  ed.  Hal.  1708,  p.  88. 


commentaries  to  beguile  him  into  similar 
point-splitting.  He  found  that  nothing  is  more 
astute  than  untruth. 

He  displayed  the  most  decided  talent,  but 
still  greater  perseverance.  He  did  not  aim 
at  the  graces  of  language,  but  expressed  him- 
self simply  and  to  the  purpose. 

As  nature  unfolds  the  growing  plant  in 
regular  succession,  yearly  producing  ring  on 
ring,  so  did  his  mind  develope  itself. 

When  he  was  admitted  at  rather  an  early 
age  into  the  council  of  the  Pregadi,  the  senate 
of  his  native  city,  he  did  not  for  a  while  ven- 
ture to  speak  ;  he  could  have  wished  to  do  so; 
he  could  have  found  matter  worth  delivering; 
still  he  could  not  summon  up  resolution  ;  but 
when  at  length  he  conquered  liis  timidity,  he 
spoke,  neither  very  engagingly,  indeed,  nor 
wittily,  nor  warmly  and  energetically,  but  so 
simply,  and  with  such  solidity  of  reasoning, 
that  he  acquired  the  highest  consideration. 

He  was  cast  upon  most  agitated  times.  He 
was  born  to  see  his  native  city  stripped  of  its 
territory,  and  he  contributed  towards  its  reco- 
very. On  the  first  arrival  of  Charles  V.  in 
Germany,  he  was  sent  as  ambassador  to  him, 
and  there  he  witnessed  the  beginning  of  the 
division  in  the  Church.  They  entered  Spain 
as  the  ship  Vittoria  returned  from  the  first 
circumnavigation  of  the  globe:*  he  was  the 
first,  so  far  as  I  can  discover,  to  solve  the  enig- 
ma, that  she  entered  port  a  day  later  than  she 
should  have  done,  according  to  the  reckoning 
in  her  log-book.  He  helped  to  reconcile  the 
emperor  and  the  pope,  under  whose  orders  he 
passed,  after  the  taking  of  Rome.  Of  his 
sagacious  penetrating  views  of  men  and  things, 
and  his  judicious  patriotism,  there  are  clear 
proofs  in  his  small  book  on  the  Venetian  con- 
stitution, a  very  instructive  and  well-arranged 
little  work,  and  in  his  reports  of  his  embassies, 
which  exist  here  and  tliere  in  manuscript.! 

One  Sunday,  in  the  year  153-5,  just  as  the 
great  council  was  asseinbled,  and  Contarini, 
w  ho,  meanwhile,  had  been  advanced  to  the  most 
important  offices,  was  seated  by  the  balloting 
urn,  the  news  arrived,  that  pope  Paul  whom 
he  did  not  know,  and  with  whom  he  had  no 
manner  of  connexion,  had  named  him  cardinal. 
Every  one  hastened  to  congratulate  the  aston- 
ished man,  who  would  hardly  believe  the  re- 
port. Aluise  Mocenigo,  who  had  hitherto 
been  opposed  to  him  in  political  matters,  ex- 
claimed that  the  republic  lost  in  him  her  best 
citizen.]: 

*  Beccalello,  Vila  del  C.  Contarini,  (Epp.  Poli,  lii.)  p. 
103.  There  is  also  a  separate  edition,  but  which  has  only 
been  detached  from  the  volume  of  letters,  and  has  simi- 
larly numbered  pages. 

t  The  first  belongs  to  the  year  1.j25,  the  second  to  the 
year  1.5:30.  The  lirst  is,  above  all,  very  important  in  rela- 
tion to  the  earlier  limes  of  Charles  V.  I  found  no  trace  of 
it,  either  in  Vienna,  or  in  Venice.  I  discovered  one  copy 
in  Home,  but  never  mel  with  another  elsewhere.  (App. 
No.  XVIIl.) 
}:DanielBarbarotoDominicoVeniero:LettereVolgari,i.73. 


60 


BEGINNING  OF  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLOCISM.    [a.  d.  1541. 


This  honourable  fortune,  nevertheless  pre- 
sented to  him  one  painful  aspect.  Should 
he  abandon  his  free  native  city,  that  offered 
him  its  highest  dignities,  and  in  any  case  a 
sphere  of  action  in  full  equality  with  the  heads 
of  the  state,  to  enter  the  service  of  a  pope, 
often  swayed  by  passion  and  restiicted  by  no 
binding  law  1  Should  he  withdraw  from  the 
republic  of  his  forefathers,  whose  manners 
harmonized  with  his  own,  to  measure  him- 
self against  the  rest  in  the  luxury  and  splen- 
dour of  the  Roman  court  1  The  consider- 
ation, that  in  such  trying  times  the  example 
of  contempt  for  so  high  a  dignity  would  have 
injurious  effects,  was,  we  are  assured,  what 
chiefly  determined  him  to  accept  it.* 

The  whole  zeal  which  he  had  hitherto  de- 
voted to  his  native  city,  he  now  bestowed  on 
theaftairsof  the  Church.  Heoften  had  against 
him  the  cardinals,  who  thought  it  strange  that 
a  new  comer  hardly  installed,  and  a  Venetian, 
should  take  upon  him  to  reform  the  Roman 
court:  sometimes  too  he  encountered  the  re- 
sistance of  the  pope.  He  once  opposed  the 
nomination  of  a  cardinal.  "  We  know,"  said 
the  pope,  "how  tiie  land  lies;  the  cardinals 
like  it  not  that  another  should  be  made  equal 
in  honour  with  themselves."  Hurt  at  this, 
Contarini  replied ;  "  I  do  not  think  that  the 
cardinal's  hat  constitutes  my  greatest  honour." 

He  continued  to  maintain  in  Rome  all  his 
previous  gravity,  simplicity,  and  activity,  all 
his  dignity  and  gentleness  of  character.  Na- 
ture leaves  not  the  simple  weed  without  the 
adornment  of  its  blossoms,  in  which  its  very 
being  breathes  and  imparts  itself.  To  man, 
she  gives  the  disposition,  the  combined  product 
of  all  the  higher  powers  of  his  organization, 
which  shapes  his  moral  demeanour  and  be- 
stows its  expression  on  his  aspect.  Contarini's 
was  characterized  by  gentleness,  innate  truth, 
pure  morality ;  above  all,  by  that  deep  reli- 
gious conviction  that  blesses  while  it  enlight- 
ens its  possessor. 

Endowed  with  a  temper  like  this,  full  of 
moderation,  and  almost  of  like  views  with  the 
Protestants  upon  the  weightiest  points  of  doc- 
trine, Contarini  appeared  in  Germany,  where 
he  hoped  by  a  doctrinal  reform  based  on  that 
same  great  principle  common  to  himself  and 
the  Lutherans,  and  by  the  suppression  of 
abuses,  to  heal  the  division  in  the  Church. 

But  had  it  not  already  gone  too  far?  Had 
not  the  dissentient  opinions  already  struck  too 
deep  root !  This  is,  1  think,  a  question  not  to 
be  decided  oft-hand. 

Marmo  Giustiniano,  another  Venetian  who 
left  Germany  shortly  before  the  meeting  of 
this  diet,  and  who  seems  to  have  carefully 
observed  the  position  of  things,  represents  tiie 
scheme  as  at  least  very  feasible  ;f  only  a  few 

*  Casa,  p.  1U2. 

t  Relaziorifi  del  clarmo-  M.  Marino  Giustinian  Kavi- 
(ritornato)  dalla  legazoine  di  Gemiania  solto  Ferdinando, 
re  di  Romani.  Bibl.  Corsini  in  Rome,  n.  481. 


important  concessions  he  thinks  were  indis- 
pensable. He  particularizes  the  following: 
"  The  pope  must  no  longer  claim  to  be  Christ's 
representative  in  secular  as  well  as  in  spirit- 
ual matters — substitutes  of  blameless  life,  and 
capable  of  instructing  the  people,  must  be 
appointed  in  the  place  of  the  unlearned  and 
the  profligate  bishops  and  priests — neither 
sale  of  masses,  nor  accumulation  of  benefices, 
nor  abuse  of  compositions,  must  any  longer  be 
tolerated — the  breach  of  fasting  ordinances 
must  be  visited  at  the  very  most  with  light 
punishments — then  if  the  communion  in  both 
kinds  be  accorded,  and  the  marriage  of  priests 
sanctioned,  all  parties  in  Germany  will  forth- 
with abjure  their  dissensions,  yield  obedience 
to  the  pope  in  spiritual  things,  assent  to  the 
mass,  submit  to  oral  confession,  and  even  ad- 
mit the  necessity  of  good  works  as  fruits  of 
faith,  in  so  far  as  they  spring  from  faith.  As 
the  present  discord  arose  out  of  abuses,  so  it 
will  be  allayed  by  their  abolition." 

In  relation  to  this  subject  let  us  recollect, 
that  Landgrave  Philip  of  Hesse  had  declared 
the  year  before,  that  the  temporal  power  of 
the  bishops  might  be  tolerated  in  proportion 
as  means  were  found  for  the  suitable  exercise 
of  their  spiritual  authority  ;  and  that  with  re- 
spect to  the  mass,  matters  might  easily  be 
accommodated,  provided  the  question  of  the  two 
kinds  were  conceded.*  Joachim  von  Branden- 
berg  declared  his  readiness  to  acknowledge 
the  pope's  supremacy,  doubtless  under  certain 
conditions.  Meanwhile,  advances  were  made 
from  the  other  side  also.  The  imperial  am- 
bassador reiterated,  that  concessions  must  be 
made  by  both  parties,  so  far  as  ever  it  was 
possible,  consistently  with  the  honour  of  God. 
Even  the  nonprotesting  party  would  have  w^el- 
comed  the  withdrawal  of  spiritual  power 
throughout  all  Germany  from  the  bishops, 
who  had  become  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
secular  princes,  and  its  transference  to  super- 
intendents, and  the  adoption  of  one  general 
measure  tor  the  conversion  of  Church  property. 
Men  began  already  to  talk  of  neutral  things 
which  might  be  retained  or  omitted  ;  and  even 
in  the  ecclesiastical  electorates,  prayers  were 
offered  up  for  the  prosperous  issue  of  the  work 
of  reconciliation. 

We  will  not  debate  the  degree  of  possibility 
and  probability  of  this  consummation  ;  it  was 
in  any  case  very  difficult,  but  if  there  appeared 
even  a  glimmering  of  hope,  the  attempt  de- 
served well  to  be  made:  thus  much  we  see, 
that  a  great  inclination  to  such  a  result  had 


*  Despatch  of  the  Landgrave  in  Rommelg  Urkunden- 
buch,  p.  So.  Compare  that  of  the  bishop  of  Lunden  in 
Seckendorf,  p.  299.  Contarini  al  C.  Farncse,  2Slh  April, 
1541,  Epp.  (Poli,  III.  p.  cclv.)  The  landgrave  and  the 
elector  demanded  the  rijiht  of  marriage  for  bolh  orders  of 
the  prieslhdod,  and  the  sacrament  in  boih  kinds.  The 
former  made  more  difficulty  with  respect  to  the  pope's 
supremacy,  the  latter  with  respect  to  the  doctrine  "  de 
missaquod  sit  sacrificiuni,"  [that  the  mass  is  a  sacrifice.] 


A.  D.  1541.]  ATTEMPTS  AT  A  RECONCILIATION  WITH  THE  PROTESTANTS.  61 


manifested  itself,  and  that  vast  expectations 
were  built  upon  it. 

It  was  now  asked,  whether  the  pope  too, 
without  whom  nothing:  could  be  done,  was  dis- 
posed to  abate  something  from  the  strictness 
of  his  demands.  With  respect  to  tiiis,  a  pas- 
sage in  his  instructions  to  Contarini  on  his  de- 
parture for  the  conference,  is  very  worthy  of 
attention.* 

He  had  not  conferred  upon  him  the  unlimi- 
ted authority  which  was  pressed  for  on  the 
part  of  the  Imperialists.  lie  suspected  that 
demands  might  be  put  forward  in  Germany, 
which  no  legate,  nor  even  himself  the  pope 
could  concede  without  consulting  the  other 
nations.  But  he  did  not  absolutely  reject  all 
negotiations  thereupon.  "  We  must  first  see," 
he  says,  "  whether  the  Protestants  accord  with 
us  in  the  main  principles,  for  example,  the  su- 
premacy of  the  holy  see,  the  sacraments,  and 
son)e  others."  If  we  now  ask  what  are  these 
others,  we  find  that  the  pope  does  not  express 
himself  very  clearly  respecting  them.  He  de- 
scribes them  generally  as  "  whatever  is  sanc- 
tioned as  well  by  the  holy  Scriptures  as  by 
the  perpetual  usage  of  the  Church,  matters 
all  of  them  well  known  to  the  legate."  "  Upon 
this  basis,"  he  adds,  "endeavours  may  then 
be  made  to  arrange  all  differences."! 

There  cannot  be  a  question,  but  that  this 
vagueness  of  expression  was  purposely  adopt- 
ed ;  Paul  III.  might  have  desired  to  see  how 
far  Contarini  could  bring  matters,  and  might 
have  been  unwilling  to  bind  himself  before- 
hand to  a  ratification  of  all  his  acts.  He  al- 
lowed the  legate  a  certain  latitude.  Undoubt- 
edly it  would  have  cost  the  latter  new  and 
arduous  efforts,  to  make  that  result  acceptable 
to  the  intractable  Roman  curia,  which  should 
have  been  compassed  in  Ratisbon  with  much 
straining,  and  without  the  possibility  of  fully 
contenting  all  parties;  but  on  the  main  object 
of  reconciling  and  uniting  the  assembled  di- 
vines, everything  in  the  first  instance  depend- 
ed. The  conciliatory  tendency  was  still  much 
too  loose  and  undefined,  it  scarcely  admitted 
of  a  name  ;  nor  till  it  had  acquired  consistence 
and  stability  could  it  promise  to  possess  greater 
efficacy. 

The  discussion  began  on  the  5th  of  April, 
1541,  and  a  plan  of  proceeding  proposed  by 


*  Instructio  data  Revmo.  Cli.  ContarnPO  in  Germaniam 
legato,  d.  28  mensis  Jannarii,  1541.  MS.  in  many  libraries  ; 
printed  in  Quirini;  Epp.  Poli,  iii.  ccl.'c.xxvi. 

t  Vidpnduiii  inprimis  est  an  Prolestantes  et  ii  qui  ab 
ecclesia;  gremio  defecerunt  in  principiis  nobiscum  con- 
veniani  cujusmodi  p.st  hujus  sanct<E  sedis  priniatus,  tan- 
quain  a  Dfo  el  Salvatore  noslro  inslitulus,  sacrosanctae 
ecclesiae  sacranipnta  et  alia  qucedam,  quae  tarn  sacrarum 
litteramrn  aucloiilate  turn  universalis  ecclesiae  perpetua 
observatione  hoc  lenus  observata  et  comprobata  fuere,  et 
tibi  noui  esse  benesciaius,  quibus  statim  initio  aiimissis 
omnis  super  aliis  controversiis  coniordiatentarelur.  We 
must  with  respect  to  this  subject  keep  steadily  in  view 
the  position  ol  the  pope,  whicli  was  in  the  highest  degree 
ortholox,  and  by  its  very  nature  infle.xible,  in  order  to 
perceive  how  much  lay  in  such  a  turn  of  alEiirs. 


the  emperor,  and  admitted  with  some  slight 
alterations  by  Contarini,  was  adopted.  Just 
at  this  point  the  legate  deemed  it  expedient 
to  depart  a  step  from  his  instructions.  The 
pope  had  required  in  the  very  first  place  the 
recognition  of  his  supremacy.  Contarini  saw 
clearly,  that  upon  this  topic,  so  fitted  to  stir 
the  passions,  the  design  might  be  wrecked  in 
the  very  onset:  he  therefore  suftered  the 
question  touching  the  papal  supremacy  to  be 
the  last  in  the  list  proposed  for  discussion, 
holding  it  better  to  begin  with  those  on  which 
he  and  his  friends  approximated  to  the  Pro- 
testants, questions  decidedly  of  the  highest 
importance,  which  concerned  the  fundamental 
principles  of  faith.  He  himself  bore  the  largest 
part  in  the  deliberation  on  these  points.  His 
secretary  assures  us  that  nothing  was  resolved 
on  by  the  catholic  theologians,  not  even  a 
single  variation  proposed,  until  his  opinion  had 
been  previously  consulted.*  Morone,  bishop 
of  Modena,  and  Tomaso  da  Modena,  Maestro 
di  Sacro  Pain zzo,  both  men  who  entertained 
the  same  views  touching  the  article  of  justifi- 
cation, aided  him  with  their  advice. j  The 
main  difficulty  arose  on  the  part  of  a  German 
theologian,  Luther's  old  antagonist,  Doctor 
Eck:  but  upon  compelling  him  to  close  dis- 
cussion point  by  point,  even  he  was  brought 
at  last  to  a  satisfactory  explanation.  In  fact 
the  two  parties  speedily  agreed — who  could 
have  ventured  to  hope  it! — upon  the  four  im- 
portant articles  of  human  nature,  original  sin, 
redemption,  and  even  justification.  Contarini 
acquiesced  in  the  main  point  of  the  Lutheran 
doctrine,  that  man's  justification  ensues  with- 
out merit,  through  faith  alone,  adding  only 
thereto,  that  this  faith  must  be  lively  and 
active.  Melancthon  admitted  that  this  was 
precisely  the  Protestant  creed.  J  Bucer  boldly 
maintains,  that  in  the  articles  mutually  ad- 
mitted, was  included  "  every  thing  necessary 
towards  a  godly,  righteous,  and  tioly  life,  in 
the  eyes  of  God  and  among  men. "J 

They  were  equally  content  on  the  other 
side.  The  bishop  of  Aquila  calls  this  a  holy 
conference,  and  doubts  not  that  it  will  bring 
about  the  reconciliation  of  Christendom.  Con- 
tarini's  friends,  who  sympathized  with  him  in 
feeling  and  opinion,  were  delighted  to  hear 
of  the  progress  he  had  made.  "  When  I  ob- 
served this  unanimity  of  sentiment,"  says 
Pole  in  a  letter  to  the  former,  "  I  experienced 
a  feeling  of  pleasure  such  as  no  harmony  of 


*  Beccatelli,  Vita  del  Cardinal  Contarini,  p.  cxvii. 

t  Pallavicini,  IV.  xiv.  p.  433,  from  Conlarini's  letters. 

t  Melancthon  to  Camerarius,  10th  May,  (Epp.  p.  360.) 
"  Adsentiunter  justificari  homines  fide,  et  quidem  in  earn 
sententiam  ut  n'os  docemus."  [They  admit  that  men  are 
justified  by  faith,  and  that  too  in  the  sense  in  which  we 
teach.]  Compare  Planck,  Geschichte  des  protestantischen 
Lehrbegriffs,  III.  ii.  03. 

§  All  the  negotiations  and  writings  (i)r  the  reconciliation 
of  the  religious  parties,  executed  by  his  Imperial  Majesty, 
A.  D.  1541,  by  Martin  Buoer,  in  Honleder,  book  i.  chap. 
37,  p.  280. 


62 


BEGINNING  OP  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLICISM,    [a.  d.  1541. 


tones  could  have  afforded  me  :  not  alone  be- 
cause I  foresee  the  coming  of  peace  and  union, 
but  also  because  these  articles  are  the  found- 
ations of  the  Christian  faith.  They  seem,  in- 
deed, to  treat  of  a  variety  of  matters,  of  faith, 
works,  and  justification ;  on  this  latter,  how- 
ever, justification,  repose  all  the  rest;  and  I 
wish  you  joy,  and  I  thank  God,  that  the  theo- 
logians of  both  parties  are  agreed  thereon. 
We  hope  that  he  who  has  begun  so  mercifully 
will  also  complete  what  he  has  begun."* 

This,  if  I  err  not,  was  a  crisis  of  essential 
importance  for  Germany,  nay  for  the  world. 
With  respect  to  the  former,  the  points  we 
have  touched  on  tended  in  their  consequences 
to  a  change  in  the  whole  spiritual  constitution 
of  the  nation,  and  to  putting  the  latter,  as  re- 
garded the  pope,  in  a  freer,  more  independent 
position,  elevated  above  the  reach  of  his  tem- 
poral encroachment.  The  unity  of  the  church 
would  have  been  maintained,  and  with  it  that 
of  the  nation.  But  the  results  would  have 
been  still  infinitely  more  extensive.  If  the 
moderate  party,  that  had  planned  and  con- 
ducted this  peace-making  effort,  had  been  able 
to  keep  the  upper  hand  in  Rome  and  in  Italy, 
what  a  wholly  altered  aspect  must  the  Catho- 
lic world  have  needs  assumed  ! 

But  so  vast  a  result  was  not  to  be  obtained 
without  a  vehement  struggle. 

The  resolutions  adopted  at  Ratisbon  required 
to  be  confirmed  on  the  one  side  by  the  pope's 
sanction,  on  the  other  by  the  assent  of  Luther, 
to  whom  a  special  embassy  even  was  deputed. 

Buthere  arose  numerous  difficulties.  Luther 
could  not  persuade  himself  that  the  doctrine 
of  justification  had  taken  root  amongst  the 
other  party  likewise.  He  justly  regarded  his 
old  adversary  as  incorrigible,  and  yet  he  too 
had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  matter.  Lu- 
ther saw  in  the  concerted  articles  nothing  but 
a  patchwork  made  up  from  both  systems;  he 
therefore,  ever  regarding  himself  as  he  did, 
as  one  engaged  in  a  fight  between  heaven  and 
hell,  thought  that  here  too  he  discerned  Sa- 
tan's hand.  He  most  urgently  dissuaded  his 
sovereign  the  elector  from  proceeding  in  per- 
son to  the  diet.  "  He  was  just  the  very  one 
whom  the  devil  was  looking  for."f  The  ap- 
pearance of  the  elector  at  the  diet,  and  his 


*  Polus  ConlarenoCapranicae,  17  Maji  1541.  Epp.Poli, 
torn.  iii.  p.  25.  Ths  letters  of  the  bishop  of  Aquila  in  Rai- 
naldus,  1541,  No.  11,  1-2,  are  also  deserving  of  attention. 
It  was  thought,  that  if  once  the  question  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per was  set  at  rest,  every  other  difficulty  would  be  easily 
overcome.  Id  unum  est  quod  omnibus  spem  maximam 
fecit,  asserlio  Casaris  se  nuUo  paclo  nisi  rebus  bene  com- 
positis  discessurum,  atque  etiam  quod  omnia  scitu  con- 
siliisque  revmi.  legati  in  coUoquio  a  nostris  Iheolojis  tract- 
antur  et  disputanl'ur.  [What  above  all  things  fills  every 
one  with  the  highest  hopes,  is  the  declaration  of  the  em- 
peror, that  he  will  on  no  account  depart  till  matters  are 
satisfactorily  arranged,  and  also  that  our  divines  conduct 
themselves  in  the  disputation,  in  all  respects,  with  the 
knowledge  and  by   the  advice  of  the  most  revJ  legate.] 

t  Luther  to  John  Frederick,  in  de  Weite's  collection, 
T.  353. 


assent  to  the  conclusions  adopted,  would  in- 
deed have  had  immense  weight. 

Meanwhile,  the  articles  in  question  had 
arrived  in  Rome,  where  they  excited  an  ex- 
traordinary sensation.  The  cardinals  Caraffa 
and  San  Marcello,  particularly  took  great 
offence  at  the  declaration  respecting  justifica- 
tion, and  it  was  with  difficulty  Priuli  could 
make  its  real  import  clear  to  them.*  The 
pope,  however,  did  not  express  himself  in  such 
positive  terms  as  Luther.  Cardinal  Farnese 
wrote  to  the  legate,  that  his  holiness  neither 
sanctioned  nor  rejected  this  conclusion :  but 
all  others  who  hadseen  it  were  of  opinion,  that, 
provided  always  its  meaning  was  in  accord- 
ance with  the  Catholic  faith,  it  might  have 
been  conceived  in  clearer  language. 

However  strong  this  theological  opposition 
might  have  been,  it  was  yet  neither  the  only 
one,  nor  perhaps  the  most  efficacious.  Another 
rose  out  of  the  bearing  of  politics. 

A  reconciliation,  such  as  that  contemplated, 
would  have  given  Germany  an  universal  unity, 
and  bestowed  extraordinary  strength  upon  the 
emperor,  who  would  have  been  able  to  avail 
himself  of  that  unity.f  As  tlie  head  of  the 
moderate  party  he  would  of  necessity  have 
obtained  a  great  pre-eminence  in  the  eyes  of 
all  Europe,  especially  whenever  a  general 
council  took  place.  All  the  usual  feelings  of 
enmity  were  naturally  aroused  at  such  a  pros- 
pect. 

Francis  I.  looked  on  himself  as  especially 
threatened,  and  neglected  nothing  tiiat  could 
throw  impediments  in  the  way  of  an  union  of 
parties.  He  complained  vehemently  of  the 
concessions  made  by  the  legate  at  Ratisbon,J 


*  I  cannot  forgive  Quirini  for  his  failure  to  give  without 
curtailment  Priuli's  letter  on  these  circumstances,  which 
he  had  in  his  hands. 

t  There  always  existed  an  Imperial  party,  which  strove 
for  that  result.  In  this  lies,  among  other  things,  the  whole 
secret  of  the  archbishop  of  Lunden's  negotiations.  Here- 
presented  to  the  emperor:  "  Che  se  S.  M.  volesse  tolerare 
che  i  Lutherani  stessero  nelli  loro  errori,  disponeva  a 
modo  e  voler  suo  di  tutta  la  Germania."  Inslruzione  di 
Paolo  III.  a  Montepulciano,  1539.  [That  if  the  emperor 
would  tolerate  the  persistence  of  the  Lutherans  in  their 
errors,  he  might  dispose  of  all  Germany  at  his  own  will 
and  pleasure.]  The  emperor  too,  at  that  time,  wished  for 
toleration. 

t  He  spoke  on  the  subject  with  the  papal  ambassadors 
at  his  court.  II  C.  di  Mantova  al  Ci.  Contarini  in  Quirini, 
III.  cclxxviii:  Loces,  17  Maggio  1541.  S.  Ma.  Chma.  di- 
veni  va  ogni  dl  piu  ardente  nelle  cose  della  chiesa,  le  quali 
era  resoluto  di  voler  difendere  e  sostenerp  con  tutte  le 
forze  sue  e  con  la  vita  sua  e  di  figliuoli,  giurandomi  che 
da  questo  si  moveva  principalmenie  a  far  questo  officio. 
[His  most  Christian  Majesty  grew  every  day  more  ardent 
with  respect  to  the  affairs  of  the  church,  which  he  was  re- 
solved to  defend  and  uphold  with  all  his  might,  and  with 
his  own  life  and  those  of  his  sons,  vowing  to  me  that  it  was 
chiefly  on  this  account  he  was  moved  to  take  upon  him- 
self such  duties.]  Granvella,  on  the  other  hand,  had  dif- 
fererenl  instructions.  M'affermCi,  says  Conlarino  in  a 
letter  to  Farnese,  ibid,  cclv.,  con  giuramenlo  havere  in 
mano  letteredel  re  Christ-no.,  il  quale  scrivea  questi  prin- 
cipi  Protestant!  che  non  si  accordino  in  alcun  modo,  e  che 
lui  avpva  voluto  veder  I'opinioni  loro,  le  quali  non  li  spi- 
acevano.  [He  assured  me  on  oath  that  he  held  letters  in 
his  hands  from  the  most  Christian  king,  who  wrote  to  these 
Protestant  princes  that  they  should  not  in  any  wise  assent, 
and  that  he  had  been   desirous  to  learn  their  opinions, 


A.  D.  1541.]  ATTEMPTS  AT  A  RECONCILIATION  WITH  THE  PROTESTANTS.  63 


saying  that  "  his  conduct  discouraged  the  good 
and  emboldened  the  bad  ;  he  would  go  to  such 
extremities  out  of  complaisance  to  the  empe- 
ror, that  the  matter  would  be  past  cure.  The 
advice  of  other  princes  also  ought  surely  to 
have  been  taken."  He  affected  to  consider 
the  pope  and  the  church  in  danger ;  and  pro- 
mised he  would  defend  them  with  his  life,  and 
with  all  the  might  of  his  kingdom. 

And  already  at  Rome  other  scruples  had 
taken  fast  hold,  besides  those  of  a  theological 
character  already  mentioned.  It  was  noticed 
that  the  emperor,  on  opening  the  diet  and  an- 
nouncing the  intention  of  assembling  a  gene- 
ral council,  had  not  said  that  it  was  for  the 
pope  alone  to  convene  it.  Indications,  it  was 
thought,  existed  that  he  pretended  to  that 
right  for  himself.  In  the  old  articles  agreed 
on  with  Clement  VII.  at  Barcelona,  there  was 
a  passage  which  some  were  disposed  to  think 
aimed  that  way.  And  did  not  the  protestants 
unceasingly  assert,  that  the  right  of  conven- 
ing a  council  belonged  to  the  emperor?  How 
ready  might  he  not  be  to  yield  to  them  on 
a  point  in  which  his  own  advantage  so  visibly 
coincided  with  their  doctrine.*  Herein  was 
involved  the  greatest  danger  of  a  rupture. 

In  the  mean  time  Germany  too  was  on  the 
alert.  Giustiniana  assures  us,  that  the  power 
the  landgrave  had  acquired  by  putting  him- 
self at  the  head  of  the  protestant  party,  al- 
ready excited  a  desire  in  other  sovereigns  to 
attain  a  similar  accession  of  strength  at  the 
head  of  the  catholics.  One  who  took  part  in 
the  diet,  acquaints  us,  that  the  dukes  of  Bava- 
ria entertained  an  abhorrence  of  every  propo- 
sition for  agreement :  the  elector  of  Mainz 
was  also  decidedly  opposed  to  it.  He  warns 
the  pope  in  a  special  letter  against  a  national 
council,  nay,  against  any  council  to  be  held 
in  Germany ;  "  the  pope  would  be  constrained 
by  it  to  inordinate  concessions."!  There  are 
other  documents  too  extant,  in  which  catho- 
lics complain  directly  to  the  pope  of  the  pro- 
gress made  by  protestantism  in  the  diet,  the 
obsequiousness  of  Gropper  and  Pflug,  and  the 
withdrawal  of  the  catholic  princes  from  the 
discussion.  J: 

In  short,  in  Rome,  France,  and  Germany, 
there  arose  a  keen  opposition  to  the  concilia- 
tory project  of  Charles  V.  on  the  part  of  his 
enemies,  and  of  those  who  were  either  truly 


which  were  not  displeasing  to  him.]  According  to  this, 
Francis  I.  would  have  caused  impediments  on  both  sides 
10  a  reconciliation. 

*Ardin5hello  al  nome  del  C.  Farnese  al  C'.  Contarini, 
29Mag2io,  1541. 

tLiterae  Cardinalis  Mogunlini,  in  Rainaldus,  1541,  No. 
27. 

t  Anonymous,  likewise  in  Rainaldus,  No.  25.  The  side 
from  which  they  came  is  obvious,  from  the  fact  that  Eck 
is  thus  spoken  of  in  them :  "  Unus  duntaxat  peritus  The- 
ologus  ailhibltus  est."  [One  able  divine  at  least  was 
brought  forwanls.]  They  are  full  of  insinuations  against 
the  emperor.  "  Nihil,"  ihey  say,  "  ordinabilur  pro  robore 
ecclesiae,  quia  timelur  illi  (Csesari)  displicere."  [Nothing 
will  be  arranged  conducive  to  the  strength  of  the  church, 
because  of  the  fear  of  offending  him  (the  emperor.)] 


or  ostensibly  the  most  zealous  for  Catholicism. 
In  Rome  they  remarked  an  unusual  intimacy 
between  the  pope  and  the  French  ambasador ; 
it  was  said  his  holiness  purposed  a  marriage 
between  his  niece  Vittoria  Farnese  and  one  of 
the  house  of  Guise. 

These  movements  could  not  fail  of  a  lively 
reaction  upon  the  theologians.  Eck,  inde- 
pendently of  all  this,  adhered  to  Bavaria. 
"  The  emperor's  enemies,"  says  Contarini's 
secretary,  "in  Germany  and  without  it,f,who 
feared  her  greatness  should  he  combine  all 
Germany  in  unity,  began  to  sow  dissension 
among  the  theologians.  Carnal  envy  broke 
up  the  conference."*  Considering  the  natural 
difficulties  of  the  matter,  it  is  no  wonder  if 
from  that  time  forth  there  was  no  further  pos- 
sibility of  agreeing  on  a  single  article. 

They  overstep  the  bounds  of  justice  who 
ascribe  the  blame  of  this  solely,  or  even  princi- 
pally, to  the  protestants.  The  pope  very  soon 
announced  it  to  his  legate  as  his  decided  will, 
that  he  should  neither  in  his  public  nor  his 
private  capacity  sanction  any  resolution  in 
which  the  Catholic  opinions  were  expressed 
in  other  words  than  such  as  admitted  of  no 
ambiguity.  The  formulas  in  which  Contarini 
had  thought  to  reconcile  the  various  opinions 
as  to  the  pope's  supremacy,  and  the  power  of 
councils,  were  unconditionally  rejected  at 
Rome.f  The  legate  was  constrained  to  abide 
by  explanations,  that  even  seemed  in  contra- 
diction with  his  own  previous  language. 

But  that  some  practical  result  might  be  ob- 
tained, the  emperor  wished  at  least  that  both 
parties  should  for  the  present  abide  by  the  ar- 
ticles mutually  assented  to,  extending  tolera- 
tion to  the  several  opinions  entertained  on 
other  points.  But  neither  Luther  nor  the  pope 
could  be  brought  to  consent  to  this.  It  was 
announced  to  the  cardinal  as  the  unanimous 
determination  of  the  whole  college,  that  no 
toleration  with  regard  to  such  essential  arti- 
cles, should  under  any  condition  be  admitted. 

After  such  great  hopes  and  so  prosperous  a 
beginning,  Contarini  returned  home  wholly 
frustrated.  He  had  wished  to  accompany  the 
emperor  to  the  Netherlands,  but  he  was  not 
permitted.  He  was  forced  to  return  to  Italy, 
to  endure  the  slanders  that  were  spread  from 
Rome  over  the  whole  country  touching  his 
conduct,  and  the  reputed  concessions  he  had 
made  to  the  protestants.  He  had  loftiness 
enough  of  soul  to  feel  still  more  keenly  the  ill 
success  of  designs  of  such  enlarged  utility. 

How  grand  a  position  was  that  which  mod- 
erate Catholicism  had  assumed  in  his  person. 
But  now  that  it  had  failed  to  carry  out  its  vast 

*  Baccatelli  Vita,  p.  119.  "  Hora  il  diavolo,  chesempra 
alle  buone  opere  s'  atlraversa,  fece  si  che  sparsa  rjuesta 
fama  della  concordia  che  tra  Catholici  e  Proieslanti  si 
preparava.gli  invidi  dell'  imperatore,  in  Gerinania  e  fuori, 
che  la  sua  grandezza  temevano  quando  lutti  gli  Alemani 
fussero  stati  uniti,  cominciarono  a  seminare  zizania  tra 
quelli  theologi  coUocutori." 

t  Ardinghello  a  Contarini.    Ibid.  p.  224. 


64 


BEGINNING  OF  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLICISM,  [a.  d.  1520-40. 


and  comprehensive  designs,  it  became  a  ques- 
tion whether  it  would  be  able  even  to  maintain 
its  own  existence.  To  every  great  tendency  is 
imperatively  assigned  the  task  of  vindicating 
itself,  and  winning  its  own  way  ;  if  it  cannot 
attain  to  command,  its  doom  is  speedy  ruin. 

New  Ecclesiastical  Orders. 

Meanwhile  another  tendency  had  already 
developed  itself,  in  its  origin  nearly  related  to 
that  already  indicated,  but  continually  diverg- 
ing from  it,  and  though  likewise  founded  on 
the  idea  of  reform,  yet  directly  opposed  to 
protestantism. 

If  Luther  repudiated  the  existing  priest- 
hood in  its  very  principle  and  conception,  so 
on  the  other  hand  there  arose  in  Italy  a  move- 
ment towards  the  re-establishment  of  that  very 
principle,  and  the  renewal  of  its  credit  and 
consideration  in  the  church,  by  means  of  a 
more  rio-id  observance  of  its  tenour.  Both 
parties  were  aware  of  the  corruption  of  the 
ecclesiastical  institutions:  but  whereas  in 
Germany  men  would  be  content  with  nothing 
but  the  abolition  of  monachism,  in  Italy,  they 
desired  its  renovation  ;  whilst  there  the  clerk 
shook  off  so  many  fetters  he  had  previously 
worn,  here  it  was  contemplated  to  place  him 
in  a  still  more  restricted  condition.  On  this 
side  of  the  Alps  men  struck  into  a  wholly 
new  path ;  beyond  them,  on  the  other  hand, 
they  repeated  attempts  that  had  been  made 
from  time  to  time  during  the  course  of  centu- 
ries. 

For  it  was  a  thing  of  old  occurrence  that 
the  institutions  of  the  church  should  yield  to 
the  growth  of  worldly  tendencies,  and  then 
again  bethink  them  of  their  origin,  and  amend 
their  errors.  How  necessary  had  the  Carlo- 
vingians  found  it  to  enforce  upon  the  clergy 
the  rule  of  Chrodegang,  enjoining  them  to 
community  of  life  and  voluntary  subordina- 
tion !  The  simple  rule  of  Benedict  of  Nursia 
was  not  long  sufficient  even  for  the  convents : 
during  the  Tenth  and  eleventh  centuries  small 
secluded  congregations,  with  peculiar  regula- 
tions after  the  model  of  Clugny,  were  every 
where  thought  requisite.  All  this  had  an  im- 
mediate effect  on  the  secular  clergy  ;  they  be- 
came, by  the  enforcement  of  celibacy,  as  al- 
ready said,  themselves  almost  reduced  to  the 
form  of  a  monastic  order.  Notwithstanding 
all  this,  and  in  spite  of  the  great  religious  im- 
pulse given  to  the  nation  by  the  crusades,  so 
that  even  the  knights  and  nobles  submitted 
their  trade  of  war  to  the  forms  of  monkish 
laws:  all  these  institutions  had  fallen  deeply 
into  corruption  when  the  mendicant  orders 
arose.  At  first,  they  unquestionably  contri- 
buted to  the  restoration  of  primitive  simplicity 
and  severity,  but  we  have  seen  how  they  too 
gradually  degenerated,  and  became  tinctured 
with  worldliness ;  and  how  precisely  in  them 


was  evinced  one  of  the  most  glaring  instances 
of  the  church's  corruption. 

So  early  as  the  year  1520,  and  since  with 
continually  increasing  earnestness  in  propor- 
tion to  the  progress  made  by  protestantism, 
there  was  felt  in  the  countries  not  yet  invaded 
by  the  new  doctrine,  a  sense  of  the  necessity 
of  again  reforming  the  hierarchal  institutions. 
The  feeling  was  manifested  even  in  the  orders 
themselves,  sometimes  in  the  one,  sometimes 
in  the  other. 

In  spite  of  the  great  seclusion  of  the  order 
of  Camaldoli,  Paolo  Giustiniani  found  it  in-' 
volved  in  the  general  corruption.  In  tiieyear 
1522,  he  formed  a  new  congregation  of  the 
order,  which  received  the  name  of  Monte 
Corona,  from  the  mountain  on  which  after- 
wards stood  its  principal  establishment.*  Gi- 
ustiniani  held  three  thing  essential  to  the  at- 
tainment of  spiritual  perfection:  solitude, 
vows,  and  the  separation  of  the  monks  into 
distinct  cells.  He  descants  with  peculiar 
satisfaction  in  one  of  his  letters,  on  those  lit- 
tle cells  and  oratories  still  to  be  found  here 
and  there  on  the  loftiest  mountains  amidst 
the  wild  charms  of  nature,  that  seem  to  invite 
the  soul  at  once  to  sublime  aspirations,  and  to 
profound  repose. f  The  reforms  effected  by 
these  hermits  were  felt  all  over  the  world. 

Among  the  Franciscans,  who  were  per- 
haps the  most  deeply  tainted  of  all,  a  new 
experiment  of  reform  was  made,  in  addition 
to  the  many  that  had  preceded  it.  The  Ca- 
puchins proposed  to  revive  the  regulations  of 
the  first  founder,  the  midnight  worship,  the 
prayers  at  stated  hours,  discipline  and  silence, 
with  all  the  personal  austerity  of  the  original 
institution.  We  cannot  avoid  smiling  at  the 
importance  they  attached  to  trivial  things  ;  it 
cannot,  however,  be  questioned,  that  they  once 
more  evinced  great  energy  of  conduct,  as  for 
instance  during  the  plague  of  1528. 

After  all,  but  little  had  been  gained  by  the 
reform  of  the  religious  orders,  so  long  as  the 
secular  clergy  were  so  wholly  estranged  from 
their  calling.  An  amelioration,  to  signify 
anything,  must  needs  affect  the  latter. 

Here  we  again  encounter  members  of  the 
Roman  oratory  before-mentioned.  Two  of 
them,  men  as  it  seemed  of  wholly  opposite 
character,  undertook  to  prepare  the  way  for 
this  desirable  measure  :  the  one,  Gaetano  de 
Thiene,  pacific,  retiring,  gentle,  of  few  words, 
wrapt  in  the  charmed  reveries  of  spiritual  en- 
thusiasm ;  a  man  of  whom  it  was  said,  that  he 
could  wish  to  reform  the  world  without  its  be- 
ing known  that  he  was  in  it  :|:  the  other,  John 


*  It  is  reasonable  to  date  the  foundation  from  the  draw- 
ing up  of  the  rules,  after  Mosacio  was  ceded  to  the  new 
consrrocai  ion  in  1522.  Basciano,  the  sur.cessor  of  Giusti- 
niani,  "was  the  first  founder  of  Monte  Corona.  Helyot, 
Histoiredes  Ordres  Montasiques,  V.  p.  271. 

+  Lettera  del  C.  Giiisiiniano  al  vesfovo  Teatino  in  Bro- 
niato,  Sloria  di  Paolo  IV.  lib.  iii.  §  19. 

tCaracciolua,  Vita  S.  Cajentani  Thiensei,  c.  ix.  p.  101. 
In  conversatione  hurailis,  mansuetus,  rnodestus,  pauci 


A.  D.  1520-40.] 


NEW  ECCLESIASTICAL  ORDERS. 


65 


Peter  Caraffa,  of  whom  we  shall  have  yet  to 
epeak  at  length,  sanguine,  turbulent,  impetu- 
ous and  bigoted.  But  Caraffa,  too,  owned,  as 
he  said,  that  his  heart  was  but  the  more  op- 
pressed the  more  it  had  pursued  its  own  de- 
sires ;  that  it  could  find  no  rest  but  in  aban- 
doning itself  for  God,  and  in  converse  with 
heavenly  things.  Thus  these  two  men  agreed 
in  that  craving  for  seclusion,  which  was  in 
the  one  an  instinct  of  nature,  in  the  other  the 
longing  after  a  cherished  ideal  of  perfection, 
and  in  a  desire  to  be  active  in  the  cause  of 
religion.  Convinced  of  the  necessity  of  a  re- 
form, they  combined  in  founding  an  institu- 
tion (since  called  the  order  of  Theatines),  that 
had  for  its  objects,  contemplation,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  amendment  of  the  clergy.* 

Gaetano  belonged  to  the  protonotari  parle- 
cipanti:  he  gave  up  his  emoluments  :  Caraffii 
held  the  bishopric  of  Chieti,  and  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Brindisi ;  he  resigned  them  both.f 
On  the  14th  Sept.  1524,  in  company  with  two 
intimate  friends,  they  solemnly  took  the  three 
vows.|;  To  the  vow  of  poverty  they  added 
the  special  clause,  that  not  only  would  they 
possess  nothing,  but  that  they  would  abstain 
from  begging,  waiting  only  in  their  dwelling 
for  alms.  After  a  short  abode  in  the  city  they 
withdrew  to  a  small  house  on  the  Monte 
Pincio,  near  the  Vigna  Capisucchi,  which  was 
afterwards  converted  into  the  Villa  Medici, 
and  where,  although  it  was  within  the  walls, 
a  deep  solitude  reigned  in  those  days.  Here 
they  lived  in  that  poverty  they  had  imposed 
on  themselves,  in  spiritual  exercises,  and  in 
the  strictly  appointed  and  monthly-repeated 
study  of  the  gospel :  they  then  descended  to 
the  city  to  preach. 

They  did  not  call  themselves  monks,  but 
regular  clergy :  they  were  priests  with  monk's 
vows.  Their  purpose  was  to  establish  a  sort 
of  seminary  for  the  priesthood.  Their  founda- 
tion deed  permitted  them  e.xpressly  to  receive 
secular  clergy.  They  did  not  originally  adopt 
a  determined  colour  and  form  of  garb,  leaving 
these  to  be  determined  by  the  local  customs 
of  the  clergy.     The  forms  of  service  too,  they 


sermonis, — meminique  me  ilium  ssepe  vidisse  inter  pre- 
candura  lacrymaniem.  He  is  very  well  described  by  ihe 
testimony  of  a  pious  society  in  Ricenza,  which  is  also  to 
be  found  in  the  same  work,  c.  i.  No.  12. 

*  Caracciolus,  c.  ii.  §  19,  specifies  it  as  their  views 
"clericis  quos  ingenli  populorum  exitio  improbitas  insci- 
liaque  corrup^senl,  clericos  alios  debere  suffici,  quorum 
opera  damnuA  quod  illi  per  pravum  exemplum  imulis- 
sent  sanareiur."  [That  other  clergy  should  be  substituted 
for  those  whom  vice  and  ignorance  had  corrupted,  to  the 
great  ruin  of  the  peoj)le,  so  that  with  the  aid  of  the  latter 
the  mischief  done  by  the  evil  example  of  the  former  might 
be  cured.] 

t  We  find  it  authenticated  by  a  letter  of  the  papal  da- 
lary  of  Sept.  22,  1524.  (Letteredi  Principi,  i.  p.  135)  that 
the  pope  long  hesitated  to  accept  the  resignation  ("  non 
volenJo  privare  quelle  chiese  di  cosi  bunn  pastore — not 
being  willing  to  deprive  those  churches  of  so  good  a  pas- 
tor.") He  only  yielded  to  Caraft'a's  repeated  and  urgent 
entreaties. 

t  The  acts  on  this  subject  are  to  be  found  in  the  Com- 
mentarius  praevius  AA.  SS.,  Aug.  II,  249, 


proposed  should  every  where  be  in  conformity 
with  national  usage.  Thus  they  freed  them- 
selves from  many  restrictions  under  which 
the  monks  laboured  :  they  declared  expressly 
that  no  usage  should  be  binding  on  the  con- 
science, either  as  regarded  life  or  worship;* 
on  the  other  hand  they  resolved  to  dedicate 
themselves  to  clerical  duties,  to  preaching, 
the  ministration  of  the  sacraments,  and  the 
care  of  the  sick. 

And  now,  a  thing  that  had  fallen  into  total 
disuse  in  Italy,  priests  were  seen  in  the  pul- 
pit with  the  baret,  the  cross,  and  the  clerical 
gown.  This  occurred  chiefly  in  the  oratory 
of  Divine  Love,  frequently  also  in  the  streets 
in  the  form  of  missions.  Caraffa  himself 
preached  with  all  that  overflowing  eloquence 
that  remained  his  own  till  his  death.  He  and 
his  associates,  most  of  them  men  of  noble  birth, 
and  who  might  have  enjoyed  all  the  pleasures 
of  the  world,  began  to  visit  the  sick  in  private 
houses  and  hospitals,  and  to  stand  by  the  bed 
of  the  dying. 

Here  we  behold  a  resumption  of  clerical 
duties  of  very  great  importance.  This  order 
did  not  indeed  become,  properly  speaking,  a 
seminary  for  priests;  its  numbers  were  never 
sufficient  for  that  purpose ;  but  it  grew  to  be 
a  seminary  for  bishops.  It  became  in  time  the 
peculiar  order  of  the  nobility  ;  and  as  it  was 
sedulously  observed  from  the  first  that  the 
new  members  should  be  of  noble  descent,  so 
in  later  times  proofs  of  nobility  were  here  and 
there  required  for  admission  into  the  order. 
It  will  readily  be  admitted  that  the  original 
plan  of  living  upon  alms,  without  having  re- 
course to  begging,  could  only  be  carried  out 
under  such  conditions. 

The  main  thing,  however,  was,  that  the 
happy  thought  of  conjoining  clerical  duties 
and  consecration  to  the  ministry  with  monks' 
vows,  was  elsewhere  approved  and  imitated. 

Upper  Italy  had  been  visited  since  the  year 
1521  with  continual  war,  and  in  its  train  with 
devastation,  famine,  and  disease.  How  many 
children  were  there  made  orphans,  and  threat- 
ened with  ruin  in  body  and  soul.  Happily, 
pity  dwells  among  men  close  by  misfortune. 
A  Venetian  senator,  Girolamo  Miani,  gathered 
together  the  children  who  were  fugitives  in 
Venice,  and  received  them  in  his  house,  seek- 
ing them  out  through  the  islands  and  the  city. 
Without  paying  much  heed  to  the  scolding  of 
his  sister-in-law,  he  sold  his  plate  and  the 


*  Rule  of  the  Theatines  in  Bromato's  Vitu  di  Paolo  IV. 
lib.  iii.  §  25.  Nessuna  consueludine,  nessun  modo  di 
vivere  o  rito  che  sia,  tanto  di  quelle  cose  che  spettano  al 
cullo  divino  e  in  qualunque  modo  fannosi  in  chiesa, 
quanto  di  quelle  che  pel  viver  comune  in  casa  o  fuori  da 
noi  si  sogliono  praticare,  non  permettiamo  in  veruna  nia- 
niera  che  acquistino  vigore  di  precetlo.  [We  do  not  per- 
mit that  any  usage,  or  any  manner  of  living  or  rite  what- 
ever, either  in  those  things  that  concern  divine  worship, 
or  which  are  in  any  way  practised  in  church,  or  in  those 
which  relate  to  living  in  community  with  us  or  otherwige, 
shall  in  anywise  acquire  force  of  prescription.] 


66 


BEGINNING  OF  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLICISM,   [a.  d.  1520-43. 


handsemest  tapestry  in  his  house,  to  procure 
for  the  children  lodging,  food,  raiment,  and 
instruction.  By  degrees  he  devoted  his  whole 
energy  to  this  vocation.  His  success  was  par- 
ticularly great  in  Bergamo.  The  hospital 
which  he  founded  there  was  so  strenuously  sup- 
ported, that  he  was  encouraged  to  make  simi- 
lar experiments  in  other  towns.  By  and  by 
hospitals  of  the  same  kind  were  established  at 
Verona,  Brescia,  Ferrara,  Como,  Milan,  Pavia, 
and  Genoa.  Finally,  he  entered  with  some 
friends  of  like  sentiments  into  a  congregation 
of  regular  clergy,  modelled  on  that  of  the 
Theatines,  designated  by  the  name  di  So- 
masca.  Their  main  object  was  education. 
Their  hospitals  received  a  common  constitu- 
tion.* 

No  city  had  felt  more  severely  all  the  hor- 
rors of  war  than  Milan,  exposed  as  it  had 
been  to  repeated  sieges  and  captures,  now  by 
the  one  party,  now  by  the  other.  To  mitigate 
the  efiects  of  these  evils  by  deeds  of  mercy, 
and  to  repair  the  barbarism  they  entailed  by 
instrnction,  preaching,  and  example,  was  the 
object  of  the  three  founders  of  the  order  of 
Barnabites,  Zaccaria,  Ferrari,  and  Morigia. 
We  learn  from  a  Milanese  chronicle  with 
what  astonishment  men  first  beheld  these  new 
priests  going  through  the  streets,  all  alike  in 
homely  garb,  with  their  round  barets,  with 
downcast  heads,  and  all  still  young.  They 
had  their  dwelling  near  the  church  of  S.  Am- 
brosio,  where  they  lived  in  community.  The 
countess  Lodovica  Torella,  who  sold  her  pa- 
ternal inheritance  Guastalla,  and  devoted  the 
proceeds  to  good  works,  was  their  special  pro- 
tectress.f  The  Barnabites  had  likewise  the 
form  of  regular  clergy. 

But  whatever  all  these  congregations  might 
effect  in  their  own  circles,  they  were  debarred 
from  the  exercise  of  any  universal  or  deep- 
.searching  influence,  either  by  the  limited  na- 
ture of  their  aim,  as  in  the  case  of  the  last- 
named  order,  or  by  the  inherent  limitation  of 
their  means,  as  m  that  of  the  Tlieatines. 
They  are  deserving  of  attention,  because  their 
spontaneous  rise  is  evidence  of  a  great  ten- 
dency that  contributed  immensely  to  the  re- 
generation of  Catholicism :  but  to  resist  tlie 
bold  march  of  Protestantism  was  a  task  de- 
manding other  powers.' 

And  these  arose  and  entered  upon  a  similar 
path,  but  the  mode  in  which  they  were  pro- 
duced was  very  unexpected,  and  quite  unpa- 
ralelled. 

♦  Approbatio  societatis  lam  ecclesiaslicarum  qiiam  secii- 
larium  personarum,  nupcr  inslitiUae  ad  erigendum  hospi- 
talia  pro  subventione  pauperumorphanonim  et  inulierum 
convertitarum  (which  last  object,  the  support  of  converted 
women,  was  in  some  places  combined  with  the  first.) 
Kull  of  Paul  III.  5  June,  lolO.  BuUarium,  Cocquelines 
IV.,  p.  173. 

It  appears,  however,  from  the  bull  of  Fius  V.  Injunctuni 
nobis,  Dec.  6,  1.568,  that  the  members  of  this  congregation 
took  their  first  vows  at  that  date. 

t  Chronicle  of  Burigozzo  in  Custode :  continuation  by 
Verri,  Sioria  di  Milano  IV.  p.  88. 


Ignatius  Loyola. 

The  Spanish  chivalry  was  the  only  one  in 
the  world  that  still  retained  something  of  its 
religious  character.  The  war  with  the  Moors, 
scarce  ended  in  the  peninsula,  and  still  car- 
ried on  in  Africa ;  the  vicinity  of  the  subju- 
gated Moors  who  remained  in  Spain,  and 
with  whom  the  victors  continued  to  hold  an 
intercourse,  characterized  by  all  the  rancour 
of  discordance  in  faith  ;  and  the  adventurous 
expeditions  again.st  other  unbelievers  beyond 
the  ocean,  all  fostered  and  perpetuated  this 
spirit.  It  was  idealized  in  books  like  Amadia 
de  Gaul,  full  of  a  simple,  enthusiastic,  loyal 
gallantry. 

Don  Ifiigo  Lopez  de  Recalde,*  the  youngest 
son  of  the  house  of  Loyola,  was  born  in  the 
castle  of"  that  name,  between  Azpeitia  and 
Azcoitia  in  Guipuscoa,  of  a  race  belonging  to 
the  noblest  of  the  land  (de  parientes  mayores,) 
the  head  of  whom  claimed  of  right  to  be  al- 
ways summoned  by  a  special  writ  to  do  hom- 
age. He  was  brought  up  at  the  court  of 
Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  and  in  the  suite  of 
the  duke  of  Najara.  Ifiigo  was  deeply  im- 
bued with  the  spirit  of  his  class  and  nation. 
He  longed  for  knightly  renown  ;  for  none  had 
fine  arms  and  horses,  the  fame  of  valour,  the 
adventures  of  the  duel  and  of  love,  more 
charms  than  for  him:  but  the  religious  bent 
of  his  people  was  equally  marked  in  him  :  he 
celebrated  the  first  of  the  apostles  in  a  chi- 
valric  romance,  composed  in  this  earlier  pe- 
riod of  his  life.f 

In  all  probability,  however,  we  should  have 
read  his  name  among  those  of  the  other  brave 
Spanish  cavaliers,  to  whom  Charles  V.  sup- 
plied such  ample  opportunity  to  distinguish 
themselves,  had  he  not  unluckily  been  se- 
verely wounded  in  both  legs  in  defence  of 
Pampeluna  against  the  French,  in  1521.  Be- 
ing carried  to  his  lodgings,  he  twice  endured 
the  opening  his  wounds  with  singular  forti- 
tude, in  the  worst  agony  of  the  operation  only 
strongly  clenching  his  fists :  he  recovered, 
indeed,  but  tlie  cure  was  most  unfavourable. 

He  was  versed  in  the  romances  of  chivalry, 
and  greatly  attached  to  them,  particularly  to 
Amadis  de  Gaul :  he  now,  during  his  confine- 
ment, had  opportunity  to  read  the  lives  of 
Christ  and  of  some  of  the  saints. 

Visionary  by  nature,  his  course  forever 
barred  upon  a  bath  that  seemed^ to  promise 
him  the  most  brilliant  fortune,  compelled  to 
inactivity,  and  at  the  same  time  excited  and 
agitated  by  his  sufferings,  he  fell  into  a  state 
of  mind  the  most  singular  that  can  be  con- 
ceived.    The  deeds  of  St.  Francis  and  St. 


*  So  stands  the  name  in  judicial  acts;  that  no  one 
knows  how  he  came  by  the  name  Recalde,  is  no  proof 
against  its  authenticity.  Acta  Sanctorum,  31  Julii.  Com- 
mentarius  praevius,  p.  410. 

t  Maffei,  Vita  Ignatii. 


A,  D.  1520—43.] 


IGNATIUS  LOYALA. 


67 


Dominic,  that  were  here  displayed  before  him 
in  all  the  lustre  of  ghostly  fame,  seemed  to 
him  no  less  worthy  of  imitation  than  those  of 
his  chivalric  models;  and  as  he  read  he  felt 
himself  possessed  of  the  courage  and  the 
strength  to  follow  their  footsteps,  and  to  vie 
with  iheni  in  austerity  and  self-denial,* 

Frequently,  indeed,  these  ideas  gave  way 
to  very  mundane  thoughts.  He  would  picture 
to  himself  how  he  would  visit  the  city  where 
dwelt  the  lady  to  whose  service  he  had  dedi- 
cated his  heart — "  She  was  no  countess,"  he 
6ays  himself,  "  no  duchess,  but  something 
higher  still" — how  he  would  address  her  with 
gay  and  graceful  discourse,  how  he  would 
testify  his  devotion  to  her,  and  what  knightly 
devoirs  he  would  accomplish  to  her  honour. 
Wholly  immersed  in  these  varying  fancies, 
his  mind  fluctuated  alternately  between  them. 

But  the  longer  his  recovery  was  protracted, 
and  the  worse  issue  it  seemed  to  promise,  the 
more  did  his  religious  reveries  gain  the  upper 
hand.  Shall  we  do  him  wrong  if  we  impute 
this  result  to  his  growing  conviction  that  he 
could  never  be  fully  restored  to  his  former 
vigour,  nor  ever  again  be  fit  for  military  ser- 
vice, and  the  pursuit  of  knightly  honour? 

Nor  was  the  transition  so  abrupt,  or  to  so 
opposite  an  extreme  as  it  may  at  first  sight 
perhaps  appear.  In  his  spiritual  exercises, 
the  origin  of  which  was  coincident  with  the 
first  extatic  contemplation  of  his  awakened 
soul,  he  sets  two  camps  before  his  mind's  eye, 
the  one  at  Jerusalem,  the  other  at  Babylon, 
Christ's  and  Satan's,  on  that  side  all  the  good, 
on  this  all  the  bad,  both  armed  and  ready  for 
mutual  combat.  Christ  is  a  king  who  pro- 
claims his  intention  of  subjugating  all  the 
countries  of  the  unbelievers.  Whoso  will  fol- 
low his  banners  must,  however,  eat  of  the 
same  food  and  wear  the  same  raiment  as  his 
King,  and  endure  the  same  hardships  and 
vigils  as  he :  according  to  this  measure  he 
shall  be  admitted  to  share  in  the  victory,  and 
in  the  soldier's  reward.  Each  man  shall  then 
declare  before  Christ,  the  Virgin,  and  the 
whole  heavenly  host,  that  he  will  follow  his 
lord  with  all  possible  fidelity,  partake  of  every 
mischance  with  him,  and  serve  him  in  true 
poverty,  bodily  and  spiritual.f 

Such  fantastic  conceptions  as  these  it  may 
have  been  that  facilitated  his  transition  from 


♦  The  Acta  Antiquissima,  a  Lodovico  Consalvo  ex  ore 
Sancti  excerpla,  AA.  SS.  1.1.  p.  634,  gives  us  very  au- 
thentic information  on  this  subject.  The  thought  occurred 
to  him  once:  "Quid  si  ego  hoc  agerem  quod  fecit  b.Fran- 
ciscus?  quid  si  hoc  quod  b.  Dominicus  ■!"  [Whatiflwere 
to  do  like  St.  Francis  or  St.  Dominick?]  Again:  "  De 
muchas  cosas  vanas  que  si  le  ofrecian,  una  tenia."  [Of 
many  vain  thoughts  that  occurred  to  him,  one  clung  fast 
to  his  mind,]  namely,  the  honour  he  thought  lo  pay  his 
lady.  "  Non  era  condesa,  ni  duquesa  ;  mas  era  su  eslado 
mas  alto  que  ninguno  destas."  A  singularly  naif  ac- 
knowledgment. 

+  Exercitia  Spirilualia:  secunda  hebdom.  Contempla- 
tioregni  Jesu  Christi  exsimilitudine  regis  terrenisubditos 
sues  evocanlis  ad  belluni,  and  other  passages. 


mundane  to  ghostly  chivalry,  for  this  was  the 
end  of  his  aspirations,  a  chivalry,  the  very 
ideal  of  which  was  embodied  in  the  acts  and 
the  self-denying  practices  of  the  saints.  He 
tore  himself  from  his  paternal  house  and  his 
relations,  and  climbed  the  Montserrat,  not 
impelled  by  anguish  for  his  sins,  nor  by  any 
peculiar  religious  longings,  but  only,  as  he 
himself  has  told  us,  by  his  thirst  to  achieve 
such  great  deeds  as  those  by  which  the  saints 
had  won  their  renown,  to  undergo  penances 
as  hard  or  even  harder;  and  to  serve  God  in 
Jerusalem.  He  hung  up  arms  and  armour 
before  an  image  of  the  Virgin  ;  holding  before 
it,  as  he  knelt  or  stood  in  prayer  with  his  pil- 
grim's staff  in  his  hand,  a  vigil  different  from 
that  of  incipient  knighthood,  but  expressly 
suggested  by  the  romance  of  Amadis,*  in  which 
all  the  details  of  the  rite  are  so  accurately  de- 
picted. He  gave  away  the  knightly  dress  in 
which  he  had  arrived,  and  provided  himself 
with  the  coarse  garb  of  the  hermits,  whose 
lonely  dwellings  were  hewn  out  between  those 
naked  rocks.  After  he  had  made  a  general 
confession,  he  did  not  immediately  betake 
himself  to  Barcelona  in  pursuance  of  his  inten- 
tion to  visit  Jerusalem,  fearing  that  he  should 
be  recognized  on  the  main  roads,  but  first  to 
Manresa,  from  which  place  he  proposed,  after 
fresh  penances,  to  reach  the  harbour. 

But  here  other  trials  awaited  him :  the 
ideas  to  which  he  had  yielded,  rather  from 
caprice  than  from  any  settled  conviction,  had 
actiuired  almost  complete  mastery  over  hiin. 
In  the  cell  of  a  Dominican  convent  he  gave 
himself  up  to  the  severest  penances,  rose  at 
midnight  to  pray,  passed  seven  hours  daily  on 
his  knees,  and  scourged  himself  regularly 
thrice  a  day.  Not  only,  however,  did  he  find 
these  severities  so  great  that  he  doubted  whe- 
ther he  should  be  able  to  continue  them  all  his 
life  ;  but,  what  was  still  more  serious,  he  felt 
that  they  did  not  give  him  peace.  He  had 
spent  three  whole  days  on  JVlontserrat,  making 
a  general  confession  of  all  his  past  life  ;  still 
he  thought  he  had  not  done  enough.  He  re- 
peated it  in  Manresa  ;  dragged  back  forgotten 
sins  to  light,  and  even  searched  sedulously 
after  the  merest  trifles  ;  but  the  more  painfully 
he  explored,  the  more  afflicting  were  the 
doubts  that  assailed  him.  He  believed  he  was 
not  accepted  by  God  nor  justified  before  him. 
He  read  in  the  works  of  the  fathers  that  God 
had  once  been  softened  by  abstinence  from  all 
food,  and  moved  to  be  gracious.  So  he  ab- 
stained on  one  occasion  from  one  Sunday  to 
another,  from  all  use  of  aliment.  His  confes- 
sor forbade  him  this  practice,  and  he,  who 
exalted  the  idea  of  obedience  above  every 
other,  desisted  from  it.     Now  and  then  it  did 

*  Acta  Antiquissima :  Cum  mentem  rebus  iis  refertam 
haberet  quae  ab  Amadeo  de  Gaula  conscriptae  et  ab  ejus 
generis  scriptoribus  (a  curious  mistake,  for  Amadis  is 
surely  not  an  author)  nonnuUae  illi  similes  occurrebant. 


68 


BEGINNING  OF  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLICISM.       [a.  d.  1520-43. 


appear  to  him  as  if  his  melancholy  was  remov- 
ed, as  if  a  heavy  garment  had  fallen  from  his 
shoulders,  but  soon  all  his  old  anguish  return- 
ed. It  seemed  to  him  as  if  his  whole  life  had 
been  one  uninterrupted  series  of  sin  upon  sin. 
Sometimes  he  deliberated  whether  or  not  he 
should  throw  himself  out  of  tlie  window.* 

We  are  involuntarily  reminded  by  these 
details  of  the  painful  state  in  which  Luther 
was  sunk  some  twenty  years  before,  by 
similar  doubts.  Religion's  great  demand,  a 
a  full  reconciliation  with  God,  and  a  conscious 
assurance  thereof,  could  never  in  the  ordinary 
way  proposed  by  the  church  be  satisfied  to  the 
filling  up  the  fathomless  depths  of  a  soul  at 
war  with  itself.  But  very  different  were  the 
paths  by  which  they  both  issued  from  this  laby- 
rinth. Luther  attained  to  the  doctrine  of  re- 
conciliation through  Christ,  altogether  without 
works ;  this  it  was  that  first  unlocked  to  him 
the  meaning  of  the  Scripture,  which  became 
his  strong  support.  For  Loyola,  we  do  not 
learn  that  he  searched  the  Scriptures,  or  that 
any  dogma  had  made  an  impression  on  him. 
Living  in  a  world  of  inward  emotions,  in 
thoughts  that  sprang  up  in  his  own  mind,  he 
believed  that  he  experienced  the  suggestions 
now  of  the  good,  now  of  the  evil  spirit.  At 
last  he  came  to  be  able  to  discriminate  them, 
remarking  that  the  soul  was  cheered  and  com- 
forted by  the  former,  and  harassed  and  tor- 
tured by  the  latter.f  One  day  it  seemed  to 
him  as  if  he  had  awoke  out  of  a  dream.  He 
thought  he  could  palpably  perceive  that  all  his 
torments  were  assaults  of  Satan.  From  that 
hour  he  resolved  to  have  done  forever  with  all 
his  past  life,  to  tear  open  those  wounds  no 
more,  nor  ever  to  handle  them  again.  This 
was  not  so  much  a  return  of  peace  as  a  resolu- 
tion :  it  was  rather  an  engagement  entered 
into  at  the  free  option  of  the  will  than  a  con- 
viction enforcing  its  subjection.  It  had  no 
need  of  the  Scriptures,  it  was  based  on  the 
feeling  of  an  immediate  intercourse  with  the 
world  of  spirits.  It  would  never  have  sufficed 
for  Luther.  Luther  desired  no  inspirations, 
no  visions  ;  he  held  them  all  for  things  of  per- 
dition ;  he  would  have  nothing  but  the  simple, 


*  Maffei,  Ribadeneira,  Orlandino,  and  all  his  other  bio- 
graphers, recount  these  struggles  :  but  the  most  authentic 
testimony  is  that  of  Ignatius  himself.  The  following  pas- 
sage in  his  writings,  depicts  the  condition  he  was  in. 
Cum  his  cogitationibusagitaretur,  tentabalursaepe  graviter 
magno  cum  impetu  ul  magno  ex  foramine  quod  in  cellula 
eral  sese  dejiceret.  Nee  aberat  foramen  ab  eo  loco  ubi 
preces  fundebat.  Sed  cum  videret  esse  peccatum  se  ipsum 
occidere,  rursus  clamabat,  Domine,  non  Aiciam  quod  te 
otfendat.  [Agitated  with  these  thoughts,  he  was  often 
sorely  tempted  with  a  vehement  impulse  to  throw  himself 
out  of  a  large  window  in  the  cell,  not  far  from  where  he 
poured  foith  his  prayers.  But  seeing  it  was  a  sin  to  slay 
himself,  he  cried  out  again,  '-Lord,  I  will  not  do  what  is 
offensive  to  thee."] 

+  One  of  his  most  peculiar  and  most  original  percep- 
tions, the  beginning  of  which  he  himself  refers  to  his  fan- 
tasies in  illness.  It  grew  to  certainty  while  he  was  at 
Manresa.  It  is  greatly  expanded  in  the  "  Spiritual  Exer- 
cises," in  which  we  find  explicit  rules :  Ad  motus  animae 
quos  diversi  excitant  spiriius  discernendos,  ut  boni  solum 
admillaniur  et  pellaniur  mali. 


written,  indubitable  word  of  God.  Loyola,  on 
on  the  other  hand,  lived  wholly  in  fantasies 
and  inward  visions.  He  thought  that  no  one 
so  well  understood  Christianity  as  an  old  wo- 
man, who  had  told  him  in  his  anguish  that 
Christ  was  yet  to  appear  to  him.  At  first  he 
could  scarcely  feel  assured  of  the  fact,  but  by 
and  by  he  was  satisfied  that  he  beheld  at  one 
time  Christ,  at  another  the  Virgin,  with  his 
bodily  eyes.  He  stood  on  the  steps  of  the 
church  of  St.  Dominick  at  Manresa,  and  wept 
aloud  because  he  beheld  the  mystery  of  the 
Trinity  visibly  revealed  to  him  at  that  mo- 
ment.* He  spoke  of  nothing  else  that  whole 
day,  and  was  inexhaustible  in  similes  and  com- 
parisons. The  mystery  of  creation  suddenly 
flashed  upon  him  in  mystic  symbols.  He 
beheld  in  the  host  him  who  was  God  and  man. 
Once  on  his  way  along  the  banks  of  the  Llo- 
bregat  to  a  distant  church,  he  sat  down  and 
bent  his  eyes  on  the  deep  stream  before  him  : 
when  suddenly  he  felt  himself  in  an  ecstasy, 
wherein  the  mysteries  of  faith  were  visibly 
revealed  to  him  :  he  rose  up,  he  thought,  ano- 
ther man.  Thenceforth  for  him  there  was  no 
more  need  of  testimony,  of  Scripture.  Even 
had  there  been  no  such  thing  he  would  yet 
haveg  one  unhesitatingly  to  death  for  the  faith 
he  had  hitherto  cherished,  the  truth  of  which 
he  now  saw  with  his  eyes.f 

If  we  have  rightly  seized  the  main  features 
of  this  most  strange  state  of  mind,  of  this  chi- 
valry of  abstinence,  this  pertinacity  of  enthu- 
siasm and  fantastic  asceticism,  there  will  be  no 
need  that  we  should  continue  to  accompany 
Ifiigo  Loyola  at  every  step  of  his  life.  He  did 
actually  go  to  Jerusalem,  in  the  hope  of  con- 
tributing both  to  the  corroboration  of  the  faith- 
ful, and  to  the  conversion  of  the  unbelievers. 
But  how  was  he  to  accomplish  the  latter,  un- 
instructed  as  he  was,  without  associates,  and 
without  plenary  powers!  His  purpose  to  re- 
main in  the  Holy  Land  was  frustrated  by  the 
imperative  order  to  depart,  given  him  by  the 
authorities  of  Jerusalem,  who  had  the  express 
sanction  of  the  pope  for  so  doing.  On  his  re- 
turn too  to  Spain,  he  had  vexations  enough  to 
encounter.  He  fell  even  under  the  suspicion 
of  heresy,  on  his  beginning  to  teach,  and  to 
invite  others  to  participate  in  his  religious 
exercises.  It  would  have  been  a  most  singu- 
lar freak  of  chance,  if  Loyola,  whose  society 
ended  in  illuminati,  had  himself  been  asso- 
ciated with  a  sect  of  that  name.|  Nor  can  it 
be  denied  that  the  Alumbrados,  the  Spanish 
Illuminati  of  that  day,   entertained  opinions 

*  En  figura  de  tres  teclas.  [Under  the  figure  of  three 
keys  of  a  musical  instmment.] 

t  Acta  Antiquissima :  His  visishaud  mediocriter  confir- 
matus  est  (in  the  original  le  dieron  tanta  confirmacione 
siempre  de  la  fe)  ut  soepe  etiam  id  cogilarit,  quod  etsi  nulla 
Scripturamysteriailla  fidei  doceret,tamen  ipse  ob  ea  ipsa 
quae  videral,  statueret  sibi  pro  his  esse  moriendum. 

t  This  charge  was  liliewise  brought  against  Lainez  and 
Borgia.  Llorente,  Hist,  de  ITnquisition,  III.  p.  83.  Mel- 
chior  Cano  flatly  termed  them  illuminati,  the  gnostics  of 
the  age. 


A.  D,  1520-43.] 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA. 


69 


that  had  some  analogy  to  his  fantasies.  They, 
too,  revolting-  from  the  doctrine  of  salvation 
by  works  till  then  taught  in  Christendom,  gave 
themselves  up  to  ecstasy,  and  thought,  like 
him,  that  mysteries  were  revealed  to  them  by 
intuition,  particularly,  as  they  asserted,  that 
of  the  Trinity.  Like  Loyola,  and  his  followers 
after  him,  they  made  general  confession  a  con- 
dition to  absolution,  and  insisted  in  the  first 
place  on  inward  prayer.  I  should  hardly, 
indeed,  venture  to  maintain  that  Loyola  was 
wholly  untinctured  with  these  opinions ;  but 
neither  can  it  be  said  that  he  ever  belonged  to 
the  sect.  The  grand  difference  between  them 
was,  that  whereas  they  considered  themselves 
exalted  by  the  claims  of  the  spirit  above  all 
common  duties,  he,  on  the  other  hand,  with 
the  feelings  of  an  old  soldier,  declared  obedi- 
ence to  be  the  first  of  all  duties.  He  invari- 
ably submitted  all  his  enthusiastic  feelings  and 
all  his  inward  convictions  to  the  church  and 
its  powers. 

Meanwhile,  these  troubles  and  obstacles  had 
a  decisive  influence  upon  his  future  life.  In 
the  condition  in  which  he  then  was,  without 
learning  or  systematic  knowledge  of  theology, 
and  without  political  support,  his  existence 
must  have  passed  away  without  leaving  a 
trace  behind,  fortunate  enough  if  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  making  some  two  or  three  conver- 
sions within  the  limits  of  Spain.  But  the 
injunction  imposed  on  him  in  Alcala  and  Sala- 
manca to  study  theology  for  four  years,  before 
he  again  attempted  to  hold  forth  on  certain  of 
the  more  knotty  points  of  doctrine,  compelled 
him  to  enter  on  a  path  that  gradually  opened 
to  him  an  unexpected  field  in  which  to  indulge 
his  impulse  to  religious  activity. 

He  betook  himself  to  Paris,  then  the  most 
famous  university  in  the  world. 

Academical  studies  possessed  peculiar  diffi- 
culties for  him.  He  had  to  pass  through  the 
classes  of  grammar,  which  he  had  already 
begun  in  Spain,  and  of  those  of  philosophy, 
before  he  was  admitted  to  those  of  theology.* 
But  with  every  word  he  parsed,  with  every 
logical  conception  he  had  to  analyse,  he  was 
rapt  in  contemplation  of  the  deeper  religious 
sense  he  was  accustomed  to  connect  with 
them.  There  is  something  of  magnanimity 
in  the  fact,  that  he  pronounced  these  indul- 
gences to  be  suggestions  of  the  evil  spirit,  and 
that  he  forced  himself  most  vigorously  to  ab- 
stain from  them. 

Whilst  his  studies  were  thus  opening  to 
him  a  new  world,  the  world  of  realities,  he  did 
not  for  a  moment  intermit  the  prosecution  of 
his  religious  views,  or  fail  even  to  impart  them 
to  others.     It  was  in  this  very  place  he  made 


*  According  to  the  oldest  chronicle  of  the  Jesuits, 
Chronicon  Breve  AA.  SS.  I.  1.  525,  Ignatius  was  in  Paris 
from  1528  to  1535.  Ibi  vero  non  sine  magnis  tnolesliis  el 
persecutionibus  primo  gramniaticae  de  iniegro,  turn  philo- 
sophiae  ac  demum  Iheologico  studio  sedulam  operam 
navavit. 


his  first  lasting  conversions,  pregnant  with 
important  results  for  the  whole  world. 

Of  Loyola's  two  chamber  companions  in  the 
college  of  St.  Barbara,  the  one,  Peter  Faber 
of  Savoy,  proved  an  easy  conquest.  He  was 
a  man  who  had  grown  up  among  his  father's 
herds,  and  who  had  by  night  under  the  open 
heaven  dedicated  himself  to  God  and  to  study. 
He  repeated  the  course  of  philosophy  with 
Ignatius  (this  was  the  name  borne  by  Inigo 
among  foreigners,)  and  the  latter  communi- 
cated to  him  his  own  ascetic  principles.  Igna- 
tius taught  his  young  friend  to  combat  his 
faults  prudently,  not  all  at  once,  but  one  after 
the  other,  as  there  was  ever  some  virtue  he 
should  especially  aspire  afler.  He  kept  him 
strictly  to  confession  and  to  frequent  partici- 
pation in  the  Lord's  Supper.  They  united 
themselves  together  in  the  closest  bonds  of 
community  :  Ignatius  shared  with  Faber  the 
alms  that  were  furnished  him  somewhat  abun- 
dantly from  Spain  and  Flanders.  He  had  a 
harder  task  with  his  other  companion,  Francis 
Xavier  of  Navarre,  whose  only  longing  was  to 
add  the  name  of  a  learned  man  to  the  list  of 
renowned  warriors,  extending  through  the  five 
hundred  years  of  his  noble  pedigree  :  he  was 
handsome,  rich,  full  of  talent,  and  had  already 
obtained  a  footing  at  the  royal  court.  Ignatius 
delayed  not  to  manifest  towards  him  the  re- 
spect to  which  he  laid  claim,  and  to  see  that 
it  was  paid  him  by  others  likewise.  He  pro- 
cured him  a  considerable  attendance  at  his 
first  lectures.  Having  thus  begun  by  render- 
ing him  personal  services,  he  failed  not  in 
obtaining  for  his  own  example  and  personal 
austerity,  the  influence  they  were  adapted  to 
produce.  He  brought  Xavier,  as  he  had  the 
other,  to  practise  religious  exercises  under  his 
own  guidance.  He  did  not  spare  them.  Three 
days  and  three  nights  he  made  them  fast ;  nor 
did  he  allow  Faber  any  intermission  in  the 
hardest  winter,  when  carriages  passed  over 
the  frozen  Seine.  He  made  them  both  wholly 
his  own,  and  full  participators  in  his  own 
thoughts  and  feelings.* 

How  remarkable  was  that  cell  of  St.  Bar- 
bara, that  held  these  three  men,  where,  full  of 
visionary  notions  of  religion,  they  formed  plans 
and  devised  enterprises  that  were  to  lead,  they 
themselves  knew  not  whither  ! 

Let  us  notice  the  circumstances  that  prompt- 
ed the  farther  development  of  this  a.ssociation. 
Afler  a  few  more  Spaniards,  Salmeron,  Lain- 
ez,  and  Bobadilla,  to  all  of  whom  Ignatius  had 
rendered  himself  indispensable  by  his  coun- 
sels or  his  protection,  had  joined  their  num- 
ber, they  betook  themselves  one  day  to  the 
church  of  Montmartre.  Faber,  who  was  now 
a  priest,  read  mass.     They  took  the  vow  of 


*  Orlandinus,  who  likewise  wrote  a  life  of  Faberwhich 
I  have  not  seen,  is  in  his  great  work  too,  Hislorise  Socie- 
tatis  Jesu,  pars  I.  p.  17,  more  circumstantial  on  this  point, 
than  Ribadeneira. 


70         BEGINNING  OF  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLOCISM.     [a.  d.  1520-43. 


chastity,  and  swore,  after  completing  their 
studies,  to  dedicate  their  lives  in  strict  poverty 
to  the  care  of  Christian  souls  in  Jerusalem,  or 
to  the  conversion  of  the  Saracens :  or  should 
it  be  impossible  to  reach  that  place  or  to  re- 
main there,  they  pledged  themselves  in  that 
case  to  offer  their  services  to  the  pope,  to  go 
to  any  place  he  should  assign  them,  without 
reward  or  condition.  Having  thus  sworn, 
each  received  the  host,  and  lastly  Faber  did 
the  same.  After  this  they  had  a  repast  to- 
gether at  the  fountain  of  St.  Denys. 

A  league  this  between  young  men,  based 
on  enthusiasm,  and  directed  to  purposes  not 
even  attainable  ;  still  in  accordance  with  the 
ideas  originally  entertained  by  Ignatius,  or 
departing  from  them  only  in  so  far  as  on  an 
express  calculation  of  probabilities  they 
thought  it  unlikely  they  could  fully  carry 
them  out. 

In  the  beginning  of  1537  we  find  them  ac- 
tually assembled  in  Venice  with  three  other 
associates,  and  preparing  to  set  out  on  their 
pilgrimage.  We  have  already  noticed  many 
changes  in  Loyola :  we  have  seen  him  pass 
from  a  worldly  to  a  spiritual  chivalry,  fall 
into  the  most  intense  mental  conflicts,  and 
force  his  way  out  of  them  with  the  help  of  a 
visionary  asceticism.  Next  he  became  a  the- 
ologian, and  the  founder  of  an  enthusiastic 
society ;  and  now,  finally,  his  purposes  as- 
sumed their  permanent  bent.  The  war  which 
had  just  then  broken  out  between  Venice  and 
the  Turks  prevented  his  voyage,  and  deferred 
still  more  the  prospect  of  the  intended  pil- 
grimage: but  he  found  on  the  instant  in 
Venice  an  institution  that,  we  are  almost 
tempted  to  say,  first  opened  his  eyes  to  his 
true  vocation.  For  a  while  Loyola  attached 
himself  very  closely  to  Caraft'a,  taking  up  his 
residence  in  the  convent  of  the  Theatines, 
which  had  been  formed  in  Venice.  He  at- 
tended in  the  hospitals  which  Carafl!a  superin- 
tended, and  in  which  he  exercised  his  novices. 
Ignatius  was  not  indeed  perfectly  satisfied 
with  the  Theatine  institution :  he  proposed 
some  alterations  in  it  to  Carafia,  and  this  is 
said  to  have  led  to  a  rupture  between  them.* 
But  even  this  much  shows  what  deep  impres- 
sion the  institution  made  on  his  mind.  He 
saw  an  order  of  priests  devoting  themselves 
to  proper  clerical  duties  with  zeal  and  auster- 
ity. If,  as  seemed  every  day  more  probable, 
he  was  destined  to  remain  on  this  side  the 
Mediterranean,  and  to  exercise  his  powers 
within  the  limits  of  western  Christendom,  it 
was  manifest  to  him  that  here  was  the  only 
system  he  could  himself  adopt  with  advan- 
tage. 

Accordingly,  he  and  all  his  companions  re- 


*Sachinus,  in  his  treatise,  Cujus  sit  autoritatis  quod  in 
b.  Cajetani  Thiensi  vita  de  bealo  Isnatio  iradiiur'!  pre- 
viously to  Orlandinus,  discusses  all  the  particulars  of  the 
intercourse  between  these  two  men. 


ceived  priestly  consecration  in  Venice,  and 
afler  forty  days  of  prayer  he  began  to  preach 
with  three  of  them  in  Vicenza,  On  the  same 
day,  and  at  the  same  hour,  they  appeared  in 
different  streets,  mounted  up  on  stones,  waved 
their  hats,  and  began  with  loud  cries  to  ex- 
hort to  confession.  Strange  preachers  they 
were,  ragged  and  emaciated,  and  speaking  an 
unintelligible  medley  of  Spanish  and  Italian. 
They  remained  in  the  same  neighbourhood 
till  the  year  they  had  resolved  to  wait  was 
expired,  after  which  they  set  out  for  Rome. 

Upon  their  separation,  for  they  determined 
on  making  the  journey  by  different  routes, 
they  laid  down  their  first  rules,  to  enable 
them  to  observe  a  certain  uniformity  of  con- 
duct even  when  apart.  But  what  answer 
should  they  give,  should  they  be  asked  the 
nature  of  their  occupation]  They  pleased 
themselves  with  the  thought  of  making  war 
as  soldiers  against  Satan,  calling  themselves, 
in  accordance  with  Loyola's  old  military  pro- 
pensities, the  Company  of  Jesus,  just  like  a 
company  of  soldiers,  who  bear  the  name  of 
their  captain.* 

In  Rome  their  situation  was  at  first  by  no 
means  desirable :  Ignatius  thought  he  saw 
every  door  closed  against  them,  and  they  had 
to  clear  themselves  there  once  more  of  suspi- 
cion from  the  heresy.  Meanwhile,  however, 
their  manner  of  life,  their  zeal  in  preaching 
and  instructing,  and  their  care  of  the  sick,  had 
procured  them  numerous  adherents,  and  so 
many  showed  an  alacrity  to  join  them,  that 
they  were  in  a  condition  to  think  of  formally 
instituting  their  society. 

They  had  already  taken  two  vows ;  they 
now  added  a  third,  that  of  obedince.  Now 
as  Ignatius  had  always  pronounced  obedience 
to  be  one  of  the  foremost  virtues,  they  made 
it  their  aim  to  surpass  all  other  orders  in  this 
particular.  It  was  already  going  far  to  resolve, 
as  they  had  done,  that  the  election  of  the  ge- 
neral should  always  be  for  life  ;  but  even  this 
was  not  enough  for  them.  They  superadded 
the  special  obligation  "  to  do  all  that  was 
commanded  them  by  the  pope  for  the  time 
being,  to  go  forthwith  into  every  country, 
among  Turks,  pagans,  and  heretics,  wherever 
he  should  send  them,  without  objection,  and 
without  condition  or  reward." 

What  a  contrast  to  the  previous  tendencies 
of  those  times  !  Whilst  the  pope  was  expe- 
riencing opposition  and  defection  on  every 
side,  and  had  nothing  to  expect  but  continual 


*  Ribadeneira,  Vita  Brevior,  c.  12,  remarks  that  Isnatiug 
chose  this  title,  "  ne  de  sun  nomine  diceretur."  [That  the 
society  should  not  be  called  afler  his  own  name.]  Ni- 
groni  e.xpounds  the  word  societas,  "  quasi  dieas  cohortem 
aut  centuriam  quae  ad  pugnam  cum  hostibus  spirituali- 
bus  conserendam  conscripfa  est."  [A  cohort  or  century, 
as  it  were,  enrolled  to  do  battle  against  spiritual  ene- 
mies.] Postquam  nos  vitamque  nostram Chiisto  D'do  nos- 
tro  et  ejus  vero  ac  legitimo  vicario  internis  obtuleramus, 
— in  the  Deliberatio  Primorum  Patrum,  AA.  SS.  1.  1.  p. 
463. 


A.  D.  1520-43.] 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA. 


71 


defection,  here  was  a  zealous  enthusiastic  so- 
ciety, spontaneously  formed  for  the  purpose  of 
devoting'  itself  exclusively  to  his  service.  He 
could  not  hesitate  to  give  his  sanction  to  their 
institution,  at  first  (in  the  year  1540)  with 
some  restrictions,  and  soon  after  (1543)  un- 
conditionally. 

Meanwliile  the  society,  on  its  part,  took  the 
best  preliminary  step.  tSix  of  the  oldest  asso- 
ciates met  together  to  choose  their  president, 
who,  as  was  stated  in  the  first  draft  of  the 
constitution  they  presented  to  the  pope, 
"  should  dispense  grades  and  offices  as  to  him 
should  seem  fit,  project  the  plan  of  the  consti- 
tution for  the  order,  with  the  advice  and  as- 
sistance of  the  members,  and  in  all  other  mat- 
ters exercise  sole  and  undivided  command  ; 
in  him  should  Christ  be  honoured  as  present 
in  his  person."  Their  choice  fell  unanimous- 
ly on  Ignatius,  who,  as  Salmeron  said  in  his 
voting  paper,  "  had  begotten  them  all  in 
Christ,  and  fed  them  with  his  milk."* 

And  now  at  last  the  society  had  acquired  its 
form.  It,  too,  was  an  assembly  of  chierici 
regolari;  it  too,  was  characterized  by  an  union 
of  clerical  and  monastic  duties;  but  still  there 
were  many  distinctions  between  it  and  others 
of  the  sort. 

If  the  Theatines  had  set  the  example  of 
laying  aside  several  less  important  obligations, 
the  Jesuits  went  still  further.f  Not  only  did 
they  discard  all  semblance  of  the  monastic 
costume,  but  they  moreover  freed  themselves 
from  the  general  services  and  devotional  prac- 
tices that  consumed  so  much  time  at  the  con- 
vents, and  from  the  obligation  to  sing  m  a 
choir. 

Relieved  from  these  minor  occupations,  they 
devoted  their  whole  time  and  all  their  pow- 
ers to  the  discharge  of  essential  duties;  not 
to  one  especial  duty,  like  the  Barnabites, 
although  they  bound  themselves  to  the  care 
of  the  sick,  because  it  procured  them  a  good 
name  ;  nor  under  restrictive  conditions,  like 
the  Theatines,  but  with  their  very  utmost  ex- 
ertions. First,  to  preaching :  upon  their  first 
separation  at  Vicenza,  they  had  pledged  them- 
eelves  to  each  other  to  preach  chiefly  for  the 
common  people  :  to  think  more  of  making'  an 
impression  than  of  distinguishing  themselves 
by  nice  choice  of  language  ;  and  this  system 
they  now  continued   to  observe.     Secondly, 


*  Suffragium  Salmeronis. 

tin  ihis  they  place  the  difference  between  themselves 
and  the  Theatines.  Didacus  Payva  Andradius,  Orlhodoxa- 
rum  Explicate  lib.  i.  f.  14:  Illi(Theatini)sacraiiini  aeierna- 
ruraque  rerum  meditationi  psalmodiseque  potissiinum  va- 
cant: isli  vero  (JesuitEe)  cum  divinoi'uiu  mysteriorum  as- 
aidua  conteniplatione,  docendas  plebis,  evangelii  amplifi- 
candl,  sacramenta  administrandi  atque  reliqua  omnia 
apostolica  munera  conjungunt.  [The  Theatines  apply 
themselves  principally, to  meditation  on  sacred  and  eter 
nal  things,  and  to  psalmody  :  but  the  Jesuits  combine 
with  constant  contemplation  of  the  divine  mysteries,  the 
duties  of  instructing  the  people,  expounding  the  gospel, 
administering  the  sacraments,  and  all  other  apostolic 
funclions.J 


confession :  for  thereby  immediately  hung  the 
power  of  conducting  and  swaying  consciences, 
and  for  this  they  found  valuable  help  in  the  spi- 
ritual practises  to  which  they  had  themselves 
been  inured  by  Ignatius.  Lastly,  the  instruc- 
tion of  youth  :  to  this  they  had  thought  of 
binding  themselves  from  the  first,  by  a  spe- 
cial clause  in  their  vows,  and  although  that 
was  not  done,  they  made  the  practice  of  this 
duty  imperative  by  the  most  cogent  rules. 
Their  most  earnest  desire  was  to  gain  the 
rising  generation.  In  short,  they  laid  aside 
all  by-work,  and  wholly  devoted  themselves 
to  essential  practical  labours,  and  such  as 
promised  to  enlarge  their  influence. 

Thus  had  a  system  pre-eminently  practical 
unfolded  itself  out  of  the  visionary  aspirations 
of  Ignatius,  and  his  ascetic  conversions  re- 
sulted in  an  institution,  planned  with  all  the 
skilful  adaptation  of  means  that  worldly  pru- 
dence could  suggest. 

He  saw  all  his  expectations  far  surpassed. 
He  had  now  the  uncontrolled  conduct  of  a  so- 
ciety which  had  adopted  a  large  part  of  his 
instructions,  and  which  deliberately,  and  with 
study,  formed  their  religious  persuasions  in 
the  way  in  which  he  had  acquired  his  by 
chance,  and  by  the  force  of  genius  ;  a  society 
which  did  not  indeed  carry  out  his  plan  re- 
garding Jerusalem,  by  which  nothing  could 
have  been  obtained,  but  which  elsewhere  en- 
tered upon  missions  the  most  remote  and  the 
most  crowned  with  success,  and  which  espe- 
cially took  upon  it  that  care  of  souls  which  he 
had  always  enjoined,  to  an  extent  he  could 
never  have  anticipated  ;  one,  finally,  that  ren- 
dered him  at  once  military  and  spiritual  obe- 
dience. 

Before  we  more  nearly  contemplate  the 
practical  efficacy  to  which  the  society  very 
soon  attained,  we  must  investigate  one  of  the 
most  important  causes  that  led  thereto. 

First  Sittings  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 

We  have  seen  what  interests  were  engaged 
on  the  imperial  side  in  demanding  a  council, 
and  on  the  papal  side  in  refusing  it.  There 
was  but  one  point  of  view  in  which  a  general 
assembly  of  the  Church  could  offer  anything 
desirable  to  the  pope.  In  order  to  the  incul- 
cation and  dissemination  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  catholic  church  with  entire  unwavering 
zeal,  it  was  necessary  that  the  doubts  should 
be  removed  that  had  risen  in  the  bosom  of  the 
church  itself  touching  sundry  points  among 
its  dogmas.  A  council  alone  could  do  this 
with  plenary  authority.  The  great  matter  to 
be  effected  was,  that  it  should  be  called  at 
a  favourable  period,  and  be  held  under  the 
influence  of  the  pope. 

The  grand  crisis  in  which  the  two  church 
parties  had  approximated  more  nearly  than 
ever,  through  the  medium  of  a  moderate  sys- 


72 


BEGINNING  OF  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLOCISM.      [a.  d.  1545. 


tern  of  opinions,  was  also  decisive  of  this  long 
agitated  question.  The  pope,  as  already  said, 
thought  he  perceived  that  the  emperor  pre- 
tended to  the  right  of  summoning  the  council ; 
and  being  at  this  instant  assured  of  the  attach- 
ment of  the  catholic  princes  on  all  sides,  he 
lost  no  time  in  anticipating  the  imperial  in- 
tentions. The  movements  already  detailed 
were  yet  pending,  when  he  came  to  the  defi- 
nitive resolution  of  putting  an  end  to  all  fur- 
ther delay,  and  proceeding  to  an  ecumenic 
convocation  of  the  church.*  He  forthwith 
made  his  determination  known  to  Conta- 
rini,  and  through  him  to  the  emperor:  the 
negociations  were  conducted  with  spirit,  and 
at  last  the  pope's  citations  were  issued.  The 
following  year  we  find  his  legates  in  Trent,  f 

New  hindrances,  however,  presented  them- 
selves :  even  now  the  number  of  bishops  who 
appeared  to  the  summons  was  much  too  small, 
the  times  much  too  involved  in  war,  and  the 
general  state  of  things  not  perfectly  favoura- 
ble. It  was  not  till  December,  1545,  that 
the  opening  of  the  council  actually  took  place. 
At  last  the  dilatory  old  man  had  found  the 
wished  for  moment. 

For  what  moment  could  be  more  so  than 
that  in  which  the  emperor  had  wholly  broken 
with  the  two  heads  of  the  Protestant  party, 
and  was  preparing  for  war  against  them. 
Being  now  in  need  of  the  pope's  aid,  he  could 
not  assert  the  claims  he  had  once  thought  of 
setting  up  as  to  the  council.  The  war  would 
give  liim  full  occupation;  the  strength  of  the 
Protestants  made  it  impossible  to  foresee  the 
embarrassments  in  which  he  would  become 
involved :  so  much  the  less  therefore  would 
he  be  in  a  condition  to  insist  on  the  reforms 
with  which  he  had  hitherto  threatened  the 
papal  see.  Moreover,  the  pope  had  other 
means  of  baffling  him.  The  emperor  de- 
manded that  the  council  should  begin  with 
the  subject  of  reform  :  the  papal  legates  car- 
ried the  resolution  that  questions  of  reform 
and  of  dogma  should  be  treated  together  :J 
but  in  point  of  fact,  the  latter  were  first  con- 
sidered. 


♦  Ardinghello  al  C.  Contarini  15  Guigno  1541,  inQuiri- 
ni  iii.  ccxlvi. :  Considerato  che  n6  la  concoidia  a  Chris- 
liani  6  successa,  e  la  lolerantia  [which  was  proposed  in 
Ralisbon,  but  was  rejected  by  the  consistory  of  cardinals) 
6  illecitissima  e  damnosa,  e  la_guerra,difficile  e  pericolosa 
— pare  a  S.S.  che  si  ricorra  al  rimedio  del  concilio. — 
Adunque — S.  Beatitudine  ha  delerminato  di  levar  via  la 
prorogatione  della  suspensione  del  concilio  e  di  dischiarar- 
lo  econgregarlo  quanlo  piu  presto  st  potri.  [Considering 
that  no  concord  had  been  brought  about  among  Christians, 
and  that  toleration  is  most  illicit  and  pernicious,  and  war 
difficult  and  dangerous,  it  seems  good  to  his  holiness  to 
have  recourse  to  the  remedy  of  a  council.  Therefore,  his 
holiness  has  determined  to  put  an  end  to  the  suspension 
of  the  council,  and  to  proclaim  and  assemble  it  as  quickly 
as  possible.] 

t  They  arrived  on  the  22d  of  Nov.  1542. 

j  An  expedient  proposed  by  Thomas  Campeggi,  Palla- 
Ticini.  vi.   vii.  5.    A  bull  concerning  reform  had  been 

grepared  from  the  very  first,  but  it  was  not  published. 
uUa  reformationis  Pauli  papse  III.  concepta,  non  vulga- 
la,  primum  edidit  H.  N.  Clausen.  Havn.  1829. 


Whilst  the  pope  succeeded  in  putting  aside 
what  would  have  been  prejudicial  to  him,  he 
secured  that  on  which  he  himself  was  bent. 
The  establishment  of  the  disputed  doctrines 
was,  as  already  shown,  of  the  utmost  import- 
ance to  him.  It  was  now  to  be  decided  whe- 
tlier  or  not  any  of  those  views  that  inclined  to 
the  Protestant  system,  should  be  able  to  main- 
tain their  place  in  the  body  of  the  catholic 
faith. 

Contarini  indeed  was  now  dead,  but  Pole 
still  survived,  and  there  were  many  warm 
champions  of  their  principles  in  the  assem- 
bly. The  question  was,  would  they  be  able 
to  vindicate  the  superiority  of  their  own 
opinions] 

In  the  first  place  (for  everything  was  done 
very  systematically,)  the  discussion  turned 
on  revelation  itself,  and  the  sources  from 
which  the  knowledge  of  it  is  to  be  derived. 
Even  at  this  early  stage  of  the  proceedings, 
some  voices  were  raised  of  a  Protestant  cast. 
The  bishop  Nachianti  of  Chrozza,  would  hear 
of  nothing  but  scripture:  according  to  him, 
every  thing  was  written  in  the  Gospel  that 
was  necessary  to  salvation.  But  he  had  an 
enormous  majority  against  him.  The  i-esolu- 
tion  was  passed,  that  the  unwritten  traditions 
received  from  the  mouth  of  Christ  Himself, 
and  propagated  through  succeeding  times 
down  to  the  most  recent,  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Holy  Spirit,  were  to  be  received 
with  like  reverence  as  holy  writ.  With  re- 
spect to  the  latter,  men  were  not  even  refer- 
red back  to  the  original  text.  The  Vulgate 
was  recognized  as  the  authentic  translation 
of  the  latter,  with  the  mere  promise  subjoined, 
that  for  the  future  it  should  be  printed  with 
the  utmost  care.* 

After  the  foundation  had  been  thus  laid, 
(not  untruly  was  it  said  to  be  half  the  work,) 
they  passed  on  to  that  great  distinctive  doc- 
trine of  justification,  and  to  the  other  con- 
nected with  it.  The  highest  possible  interest 
was  attached  to  this  controversy. 

For  there  were  actually  no  few  members 
of  the  council,  whose  views  on  this  subject 
coincided  with  the  opinions  of  the  Protes- 
tants. The  archbishop  of  Siena,  the  bishop 
Della  Cava,  Giulio  Contarini,  bishop  of  Bellu- 
no,  and  with  them  five  theologians,  ascribed 
justification  wholly  and  solely  to  the  merits 
of  Christ  and  to  faith.  Charity  and  hope  they 
pronounced  to  be  the  companions,  and  works 
to  be  the  proofs  of  faith ;  they  were  nothing 
more,  but  the  basis  of  justification  was  faith 
alone. 

How  was  it  to  be  supposed  that,  at  a  mo- 

*  Cone.  Tridentini  Sessio  iv.  In  publicis  lectionibus, 
disputationibus,  praedioationibus,  et  expositionibus  pro 
authenlica  habeatur:  [be  it  held  authentic  in  public 
readings,  disputations,  preachings,  and  expositions.]  It 
was  to  be  printed  in  an  amended  form,  poslhac  [hereaf- 
ter,] not  exactly  as  Pallavicini  states,  "  quanto  si  poaesse 
piu  toslo,"  vi.  15. 2  [as  soon  as  possible.] 


X.  D.  1545.]  FIRST  SITTINGS  OF  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


73 


ment  when  the  pope  and  the  emperor  were 
attacking  the  Protestants  with  force  of  arms, 
the  main  principle  on  which  the  whole  exist- 
ence of  the  latter  as  a  party  was  founded, 
should  have  its  validity  acknowledged  in  a 
council  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  pope 
and  the  emperor  ]  In  vain  did  Pole  exhort 
the  members  not  to  reject  an  opinion  for  no 
other  reason  than  because  it  was  maintained 
by  Luther.  There  were  too  many  embitter- 
ing associations  connected  with  it.  The 
I  bishop  Delia  Cava,  and  a  Greek  monk,  pro- 
ceeded to  actual  violence  against  each  other. 
Upon  so  unquestionably  Protestant  a  topic, 
there  was  no  possibility  of  the  council's  arriv- 
ing at  even  valuable  discussions :  their  de- 
bates turned  (and  even  this  was  no  small 
thing)  only  on  the  intermediate  system  of 
opinion  as  propounded  by  Caspar  Contarini 
and  his  friends. 

Seripando,  the  general  of  the  Augustines, 
advanced  this  doctrine,  but  not  without  ex- 
pressly premising,  that  it  was  not  Luther's 
opinions  he  advocated,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
those  of  his  most  distinguished  opponents,  for 
instance,  Pflug  and  Cropper.  Justification, 
he  asserted,  was  two-fold  ;*  the  one  kind  in- 
dwelling and  inherent  in  us,  through  which, 
from  being  sinners,  we  become  children  of 
God,  and  this  too  of  grace  and  without  merit, 
a  principle  active  in  works,  visible  in  virtues, 
but  not  capable  by  itself  of  conducting  us  to 
God's  glory :  the  other,  the  righteousness 
and  the  merits  of  Christ  applied  and  imparted 
to  us,  repairing  all  deficiencies,  complete,  and 
saving.  Exactly  thus  had  Contarini  taught. 
"If  the  question  be,"  says  he,  "on  which  of 
these  two  kinds  of  righteousness  we  must 
build,  the  indwelling  or  that  in  Christ  imput- 
ed to  us,  the  answer  of  the  devout  must  be, 
that  we  can  confide  only  on  the  latter ;  that 
our  own  righteousness  is  but  inchoate,  imper- 
fect, full  of  deficiencies ;  that  Christ's  right- 
eousness on  the  contrary  is  true,  perfect,  and 
in  God's  sight  thoroughly  and  solely  well 
pleasing:  for  its  sake  alone  can  we  trust  to 
be  justified  before  God.f 

Yet  even  under  such  a  modification  (which 
as  we  have  seen  left  the  Protestant  doctrine 
unaffected,  and  which  might  even  have  been 
sanctioned  by  the  adherents  of  the  latter)  this 
opinion  encountered  warm  opposition. 

*  Parere  dato  a  13  di  Luglio  1544.  Cited  by  Pallavici- 
ni  viii.  xi.  4. 

t  Coiilareni  Tractatus  de  Juslificatione.  The  reader 
must  not,  as  happened  at  first  to  me,  refer  to  the  Vene- 
tian edition  of  158fl,  in  which  this  passage  will  be  sought 
for  in  vain.  In  1.571  the  Sarbonne  had  approved  of  the 
treatise  as  it  stood:  in  the  Parisian  edition  of  the  same 
year  it  is  given  without  mutilation.  In  1.389,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  Venetian  Inquisitor,  Fra  Marco  Medici,  put  his 
veto  upon  it ;  nor  was  he  content  with  striking  out  Oifen- 
ding  passages,  but  they  were  so  altered  as  to  accord  with 
received  dogmas.  We  are  struck  with  astonishment 
when  we  meet  with  the  collation  in  Quirini  Epp.  Poli, 
iii.  ccxiii.  These  unjustifiable  acts  of  violence  must  be 
borne  in  mind,  if  we  would  explain  so  bitter  a  hatred  as 
that  cherished  by  Paul  Sarpi. 

10 


Caraffa,  who  had  already  resisted  it  when 
it  was  discussed  in  Ratisbon,  was  now  among 
the  cardinals  to  whom  was  confided  the  con- 
trol of  the  council  of  Trent.  He  came  for- 
ward with  a  treatise  on  justification  of  his 
own  composition,  wherein  he  vehemently  op- 
posed all  opinions  of  the  kind.*  The  Jesuits 
were  now  in  the  field,  and  lent  them  their 
support.  Salmeron  and  Lainez,  had  secured 
themselves  the  advantageous  privilege  of 
exposing  their  opinions  in  succession.  They 
were  learned,  able,  in  the  prime  of  life,  and 
filled  with  zeal.  Enjoined  by  Ignatius  never 
to  pledge  themselves  to  an  opinion  tiiat  vero-ed 
in  the  least  upon  innovation.!  they  opposed 
Seripando's  doctrine  with  all  their  might. 
Lainez  appeared  in  the  list  with  a  substantive 
work  rather  than  with  a  reply.  He  had  the 
majority  of  the  theologians  on  his  side. 

These  disputants  left  altogether  unques- 
tioned the  distinction  drawn  between  the  two 
kinds  of  justifications.  But  they  maintained 
that  the  imputed  kind  passed  into  the  inher- 
ent, or  that  Christ's  merits  became  immedi- 
ately applied  and  imparted  to  man  through 
faith;  that  we  must  by  all  means  build  on 
the  righteousness  of  Christ,  not  because  it  fills 
up  our  own,  but  because  it  promotes  it.  This 
was  precisely  the  turning  point  of  the  whole 
controversy.  According  to  the  views  of  Con- 
tarini and  Seripando,  the  merit  of  works  could 
not  subsist,  but  this  system  saved  them.  It 
was  the  old  doctrine  of  the  schoolmen,  that 
the  soul  invested  with  grace,  merits  for  itself 
eternal  life.f  The  archbishop  of  Bitonto,  one 
of  the  most  learned  and  eloquent  of  those  fa- 
thers, distinguished  between  a  previous  justi- 
fication dependent  on  the  merits  of  Christ, 
through  which  the  sinner  is  re.scued  from  the 
state  of  condemnation,  and  a  consequent  jus- 
tification, the  achievement  of  a  righteousness 
proper  to  the  individual,  dependent  on  the 
grace  infused  into  us,  and  indwelling  in  us. 
In  this  sense,  said  the  bishop  of  Fano,  faith  is 
but  the  gate  to  justification  ;  but  we  must  not 
stop  there ;  we  must  complete  the  whole 
course. 

Closely  as  these  opinions  appear  to  approx- 
imate, they  are  yet  diametrically  opposed  to 
each  other.  The  Lutheran  doctrine  asserts 
the  necessity  of  inward  regeneration,  points 
out  the  way  to  salvation,  and  maintains  that 
good  works  must  follow  ;  but  it  deduces  the 
bestowal  of  divine  grace  solely  from  the  mer- 
its of  Christ.  The  council  of  Trent,  on  the 
contrary,  admits  indeed  the  merits  of  Christ, 
but  ascribes  justification  to  them  only  so  far 
as  they  promote  regeneration,  and  tliereby 
good  works,  on  which  all  depends  in  the  last 
result.     "  The  sinner,"  it  says,§  "  is  justified, 

*  Broniato,  Vita  de  Paolo,  iv.  Tom.  ii.  p.  131. 
t  Orlandinus,  vi.  p.  127. 

t  Chemnitius,  Examen  Concilii  Tridenlini,  i.355. 
§  Sessio,  vi.  c.  vii.  x. 


74 


BEGINNING  OF  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLICISM,    [a.  d.  1542. 


when  through  the  merit  of  the  most  holy  pas- 
sion, and  throuoh  the  operation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  love  of  God  is  implanted  in  his 
heart  and  abides  in  it ;  thus  become  a  friend 
of  God,  man  goes  forward  from  virtue  to  vir- 
tue, and  becomes  renewed  day  by  day. 
Whilst  he  observes  the  commandments  of 
God  and  of  the  Church,  he  grows,  with  the 
help  of  faith  through  good  works,  in  the  right- 
eousness attained  through  Christ's  grace,  and 
becomes  more  and  more  justified." 

And  thus  were  the  opinions  of  the  Protes- 
tants wholly  excluded  from  Catholicism;  all 
mediation  was  utterly  discarded.  This  hap- 
pened at  that  very  time,  when  the  emperor 
was  already  victorious  in  Germany,  when  the 
Lutherans  were  surrendering  on  all  sides, 
and  the  victor  was  proceeding  to  put  down 
those  who  still  held  out.  The  advocates  of 
the  intermediate  opinions,  cardinal  Pole  and 
the  archbishop  of  Siena,  had  already  quitted 
the  council,  of  course  under  different  pre- 
texts;* instead  of  prescribing  views  of  faith 
to  others,  they  had  reason  to  fear  lest  their 
own  should  be  assailed  and  condemned. 

The  greatest  difficulty  was  now  overcome. 
Since  justification  is  progressive  in  the  heart 
of  man,  and  undergoes  a  continual  develop- 
ment, it  cannot  dispense  with  the  sacraments 
through  which  it  either  begins,  or  is  contin- 
ued if  begun,  or  if  lost,  is  again  recovered.! 
There  was  no  difficulty  in  upholding  them  all 
seven,  as  they  had  hitherto  been  received, 
and  referring  back  their  origin  to  the  Author 
of  faith,  since  the  institutions  of  Christ's 
Church  were  communicated  not  by  scripture 
alone,  but  also  by  tradition. |  Now  these 
sacraments,  as  is  well  known,  embrace  the 
whole  life  of  man  and  every  portion  of  its  pro- 
gress :  they  are  the  foundation  of  the  power, 
whereby  the  hierarchy  rules  every  day  and 
hour  of  the  layman ;  since  they  not  only  ty- 
pify grace  but  impart  it,  they  complete  the 
mystic  relationship  in  which  man  is  thought 
to  stand  to  God. 

Tradition  was  upheld  for  this  special  reason, 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  perpetually  abides  in  the 
Church;  the  Vulgate,  because  the  Romish 
Church  had  by  special  divine  grace  been  kept 
free  from  all  error.  It  is  in  harmony  with  this 
indwelling  of  the  divine  nature  in  the  Church, 
that  the  justifying  principle  should  in  like 
manner  have  its  abode  in  the  individual,  that 
the  grace  bound  up  as  it  were  with  the  visible 

*  It  was  at  least  a  singular  coincidence  if  they  were 
both  detained,  as  was  alleged,  by  the  accident  of  extraor- 
dinary illness  from  going  to  Trent.  Polo  ai  C'i  Monte  e 
Cervini  15  Sen.  1546,  Epp.  t.  iv.  189.  These  opinions 
were  very  injurious  to  Pole.  Mendoza  al  Ernperador 
Carlos,  13  Jul.  1437,  "  Lo  Cardinal  de  Inelaterra  le  haze 
danno  lo  que  se  a  dicho  de  la  juslificacion."  [The  Eng- 
lish cardinal  has  done  himself  hurt  by  his  language  re- 
specting justification.] 

tSessiovii.  Proa'mium. 

j  Sarpi  gives  the  discussions  on  this  point :  Historia  del 
Concilio  Tridentino,  p.  241  ed.  1629.  Pailavicini's  ac- 
count is  very  insufficient. 


sacrament,  should  be  imparted  to  him  step  by 
step,  and  embrace  his  life  and  death.  The 
visible  Church  is  at  the  same  time  that  true 
Church  which  has  been  named  the  invisible. 
She  cannot  recognize  any  religious  existence 
beyond  her  own  pale. 

The  Inquisition. 

Meanwhile  measures  had  been  adopted  (or 
propagating  these  doctrines,  and  for  suppress- 
ing those  opposed  to  them. 

We  must  here  recur  once  more  to  the  times 
of  the  Ratisbon  conference.  When  it  was 
perceived  that  no  conclusion  was  come  to  with 
the  Protestants  of  Germany,  and  that  at  the 
same  time,  even  in  Italy,  controversies  respect- 
ing the  sacraments,  doubts  concerning  purga- 
tory, and  other  speculations  of  great  moment 
as  regarded  the  Romish  ritual,  were  gaining 
ground,  the  pope  one  day  asked  cardinal  Ca- 
raffa  "  what  means  he  could  devise  against 
these  evils?"  The  cardinal  declared  that  the 
only  one  was  "a  thorough  searching  inquisi- 
sition."  John  Alvarez  de  Toledo,  cardinal  of 
Burgos,  joined  with  him  in  this  opinion. 

The  old  Dominican  inquisition  had  long  ago 
fallen  into  decay.  The  choice  of  inquisitors 
was  committed  to  the  monastic  orders,  and  it 
frequently  happened  that  these  partook  of  the 
opinions  which  it  was  sought  to  put  down.  In 
Spain,  the  earlier  form  of  the  institution  had 
been  so  far  departed  from,  that  a  supreme  tri- 
bunal of  the  Inquisition  for  that  country  had 
been  erected  there.  Carafta  and  Burgos,  old 
Dominicans  both  of  them,  both  men  of  hnrsh 
and  gloomy  views  of  rectitude,  zealots  for  the 
purity  of  Catholicism,  austere  in  life,  and  in- 
tractable in  their  opinions,  counselled  the  pope 
to  found  in  Rome,  on  the  model  of  that  of 
Spain,  a  general  supreme  tribunal  of  the  in- 
quisition, on  which  all  others  should  be  de- 
pendent. "As  St.  Peter,"  said  Carafta,  "van- 
quished the  first  heresiarchs  on  no  other  spot 
than  Rome,  so  must  the  successor  of  St.  Peter 
overcome  all  the  heresies  of  the  world  in 
Rome."*  The  Jesuits  reckon  it  to  their  hon- 
our, that  their  founder  Loyola  supported  this 
proposal  by  a  special  memorial.  On  the  21st 
of  July  1542,  the  bull  was  issued. 

It  names  six  cardinals,  among  whom  Caraffa 
and  Toledo  stood  first,  to  be  commissioners  of 
the  apostolic  see,  general  and  universal  inqui- 
sitors on  this  side  the  Alps  and  beyond  them. 
It  bestows  on  them  the  right  to  delegate 
ecclesiastics  with  similar  power,  to  all  such 
places  as  it  shall  seem  good  to  them,  to  deter- 
mine absolutely  all  appeals  against  the  acts  of 
the  latter,  and  even  to  proceed  without  the 
participation  of  the  ordinary  spiritual  courts. 
Every  man,  without  a  single  exception,  with- 
out any  regard  whatever  to  station  or  dignity, 
shall  be  subject  to  their  jurisdiction ;  the  sus- 

*  Bromato,  Vila  di  Paolo  IV.  lib.  vii.  §  3. 


A.  D.  1542.] 


THE  INQUISITION. 


75 


pected  shall  be  thrown  into  prison,  the  g-uilty 
shall  be  punished  even  capitally,  and  their 
property  confiscated.  One  restriction  is  im- 
posed on  the  court.  To  punish  shall  be  its 
function :  the  pope  reserves  to  himself  the  right 
of  pardoning  the  guilty  wlio  become  converted. 
Thus  shall  every  thing  be  done,  ordered,  and 
accomplished,  to  suppress  and  uproot  the  errors 
that  have  broken  out  among  the  Christian 
community.* 

Caraffa  lost  not  a  moment  in  putting  this 
bull  into  execution.  He  was  not  over  rich, 
but  upon  this  occasion  he  would  have  regarded 
it  at  a  loss,  had  he  waited  for  a  payment  from 
the  apostolic  chamber:  he  immediately  hired 
a  house,  fitted  up  the  rooms  for  officers  and 
the  prisons  at  his  own  cost;  provided  them 
with  bars  and  strong  locks,  with  blocks,  chains, 
and  bonds,  and  all  the  horrible  utensils  of  his 
office.  He  then  named  commissioners  general 
for  the  several  countries.  The  first,  as  far  as 
I  can  discover,  for  Rome,  was  his  own  chaplain, 
Teofilo  di  Tropea,  of  whose  severity  cardinals, 
such  as  Pole,  had  soon  reason  to  complain. 

"The  following  rules,"  says  the  MS.  bio- 
graphy of  Caraflu,  "were  conceived  by  the 
cardinal  to  be  the  best  directed  to  the  end  in 
view.f 

"  Firstly,  In  matters  of  faith,  not  a  moment's 
delay  must  be  made,  but  upon  the  least  suspi- 
cion, measures  must  immediately  be  taken 
with  the  utmost  rigour. 

"  Secondly,  No  respect  must  be  shown  to 
any  prince  or  prelate,  however  high  his  station. 

"  Thirdly,  Extraordinary  and  extreme  seve- 
rity must  be  used,  against  such  as  shall  seek 
to  defend  themselves  through  the  protection 
of  any  potentate;  only  whoso  confesses,  shall 
be  treated  mildly  and  with  fatherly  com- 
passion. 

"  Fourthly,  We  must  not  debase  ourselves 
to  any  sort  of  toleration  towards  heretics,  and 
especially  towards  Calvinists." 

All,  we  see,  is  rigour,  unrelenting,  unscrupu- 
lous rigour,  till  the  confession  has  been  worked 
out.  Horrible,  especially  at  a  moment  when 
opinions  were  not  yet  fully  developed,  when 
many  were  seeking  to  conciliate  the  profound- 
er  doctrines  of  Christianity,  with  the  institu- 
tions of  the  existing  church.  The  weaker 
gave  way  and  submitted ;  those  of  stronger 
mould,  on  the  contrary,  now  first  decidedly 
embraced  the  tenets  of  opposition,  and  sought 
to  withdraw  themselves  from  violence. 

One  of  the  first  among  them  was  Bernardin 
Ochino.  For  some  time  he  had  been  observed 
to  be  less  sedulous  in  the  discharge  of  his  mon- 


*  Licet  ab  initio.  Depulatio  nonnuUoruin  S.  R.  E.  Car- 
rtinalium  generalium  inquisitorum  haereticae  pravitalis 
July  21, 1542.    Cocquelinps,  iv.  p.  211. 

t  Caracciolo,  Vita  di  Paolo  IV.  MS.  c.  8.  Haveva  egli 
quesli  infrascritte  regoli  lenule  da  lui  come  assiomi  veris- 
simi:  la  prima,  che  in  materia  di  fede  non  bisogna  aspet- 
tar  punlo,  ma  subito  che  vi  6  qualclie  sospetto  o  indicio  di 
peste  hereiica  farogni  sforza  e  violenza  per  esiiparla,"  etc . 


astic  duties:  in  1542  his  preaching  too  was 
held  to  be  objectionable.  He  maintained  most 
positively  the  doctrine  that  faith  alone  justi- 
fies; he  exclaimed,  citing  St.  Augustin,  "He 
that  created  thee  without  thy  aid,  will  he  not 
without  thy  aid  save  theel"  His  comments 
on  purgatory  did  not  appear  very  orthodox. 
Already  the  nuncio  at  Venice  forbade  him  the 
pulpit  for  two  days  ;  thereupon  lis  was  cited 
to  Rome ;  he  had  already  reached  Bologna  and 
Florence,  when,  apparently  alarmed  at  the 
newly  instituted  Inquisition,  he  determined 
on  flight. 

The  historian  of  his  order*  describes  him  as 
pausing  when  he  had  reached  St,  Bernard, 
and  recalling  to  memory  all  the  honours  that 
had  been  paid  him  in  his  beautiful  native 
land,  and  the  countless  multitudes  that  greeted 
his  appearance  in  the  pulpit  with  eagerness, 
listened  to  him  with  excited  attention,  and 
departed  with  admiring  satisfaction.  An  ora- 
tor certainly  loses  more  in  the  loss  of  his 
country  than  any  other  man.  That  loss  he 
now  sustained  in  his  old  age.  He  gave  the 
seal  of  his  order,  which  he  had  hitherto  carried 
with  him,  to  his  companion  on  the  road,  and 
proceeded  to  Geneva.  Even  yet,  however, 
his  convictions  were  not  firmly  established ; 
he  fell  into  very  extraordinary  errors. 

About  the  same  time  Peter  Martyr  Vermi- 
gli  left  Italy.  "  I  broke  away  from  the  midst 
of  so  many  false  pretensions,  and  saved  myself 
from  the  impending  danger."  Many  of  the 
pupils  he  had  till  then  brought  up  in  Lucca, 
subsequently  followed  him.f 

Ca3lio  Secundo  Curione  had  a  narrow  es- 
cape. He  waited  till  the  bargello  appeared 
to  arrest  him.  Curione  was  large  and  power- 
ful. With  the  knife  he  had  about  him  he  cut 
his  way  through  the  sbirri,  sprang  on  his  horse 
and  rode  away,  bending  his  route  to  Switzer- 
land. 

There  had  already  been  commotions  in 
Modena ;  they  were  now  revived.  People 
denounced  each  other.  Filippo  Valentino 
withdrew  to  Trent,  and  Castelvetri  found  it 
advisable  to  secure  himself  at  least  for  a  time 
in  Germany. 

Every  where  throughout  Italy,  persecution 
and  terrors  broke  out.  The  rancour  of  con- 
tending factions  seconded  the  designs  of  the 
inquisitors.  How  often,  after  long  waiting  in 
vain  other  opportunity  of  revenge,  was  a  man's 
enemy  known  to  have  recourse  to  the  charge 
of  heresy.  Of  two  parties  that  cherished  an 
equal  degree  of  rancorous  hate  against  each 
other,  the  monks  of  the  old  school,  and  all  that 
host  of  men  of  talent,  who  had  been  led  by 

*  Boverio,  Annali  i.  4.38. 

+  A  letter  of  Peter  Martyr's  to  the  community  he  had 
left,  in  which  he  expresses  his  repentance  for  having 
sometimes  veiled  the  truth,  in'  Schlosser,  Leben  Bezas 
und  Peter  Martyrs,  p.  400.  Gerdesius  and  M<^-  Cne  have 
collected  numerous  detached  notices  in  the  works  already 
mentioned. 


76 


BEGINNING  OF  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLICISM,    [a.  d.  1542. 


their  literary  labours  to  a  religious  tendency, 
the  former  had  now  got  weapons  in  their 
hands  and  condemned  their  antagonists  to  per- 
petual silence.  "It  is  hardly  possible,"  ex- 
claims Antonio  dei  Plagiarici,  "  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian and  die  in  one's  bed."*  The  academy  of 
Modena  was  not  the  only  one  broken  up. 
The  Neapolitan  too,  founded  by  the  Seggi, 
and  originally  intended  only  for  studies,  from 
which,  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the 
age,  they  proceeded  to  theological  disputations, 
was  closed  by  the  viceroy.f  Literature  in 
general  was  subjected  to  the  severest  scrutiny. 
In  the  year  1543,  Caraffa  gave  orders  that  for 
the  future  no  book,  whatever  were  its  contents, 
whether  it  were  old  or  new,  should  be  printed 
without  the  permission  of  the  inquisitors : 
booksellers  were  also  to  send  them  in  cata- 
logues of  their  stock,  and  were  not  to  sell  any 
more  books  without  their  permission :  the  cus- 
toms' officers  of  the  Dogana  received  orders 
not  to  deliver  to  iis  address  any  package  of 
MS.  or  printed  books  without  first  having  laid 
it  before  the  inquisition. J  By  degrees  the 
index  of  the  forbidden  books  came  to  be  pub- 
lished ;  the  first  example  had  been  set  in  Lou- 
vain  and  Paris. 

In  Italy  Giovanni  della  Casa,  who  was  on 
terms  of  the  closest  intimacy  with  the  house 
of  CarafFa,  printed  the  first  catalogue  of  about 
seventy  numbers  in  Venice.  JVJore  length- 
ened lists  appeared  in  1552  at  Florence,  in 
1554  at  Milan,  and  the  first  drawn  up  in  what 
was  afterwards  the  usual  form  at  Rome  in 
1559.  It  contains  works  of  the  Cardinals, 
and  the  poems  of  that  same  della  Casa  him- 
self. Not  only  were  these  laws  imposed  on 
printers  and  booksellers,  but  it  was  made  an 
obligation  of  conscience  upon  private  persons 
to  denounce  forbidden  books,  and  to  contribute 
to  their  destruction.  The  rule  was  applied 
with  incredible  strictness.  Many  as  were  the 
thousands  of  copies  circulated  of  the  books  on 
"  The  Benefits  bestowed  by  Christ,"  it  wholly 
vanished,  and  is  no  longer  to  be  found.  In  Rome, 
whole  piles  of  confiscated  copies  were  burnt. 

In  all  these  contrivances  and  undertakings 
the  clergy  employed  the  aid  of  the  secular 
arm.  5     It  was  of  advantage  to  the  popes  that 


*  Aonii  Palearii  Opera,  ed.  Wetslen.  1696,  p.  91.  II  Cl- 
di  Ravenna  al  Cl-  Conlarini  Epp.  Poll,  208,  already  men- 
lions  this:  "Sendo  qviella  cilti  (Ravenna)  partialissima, 
li6  vi  rimanendo  huomo  alcuno  non  conlaminalo  di  questa 
macchia  della  fattioni,  si  van  volontieri  dove  Toccasion 
s'offrrisce  carricando  I'un  I'altro  da  inimici.  [This  cily 
(Ravenna)  being  Cull  of  parly  spirit,  not  a  man  in  it  be- 
ing uncontaminated  with  the  stain  of  faction,  they  seize 
every  opportunity  of  denouncing  each  other.] 

t  Giannone,  Sioria  di  Napoli,  xxxii.  cv. 

t  Bromato,  vii.  9. 

§  Other  laymen  also  joined  in  their  efforts.  "Fu  rime- 
dialo,"  says  the  compendium  of  the  Inquisitors,  "oppor- 
tunamente  dal  S.  Officio  in  Roma  con  porre  in  oeni  citti 
valenti  e  zelanti  inquisitori,  servendosi  anche  talhora  de 
secolari  zelanti  e  dotti  per  ajuto  della  fede,  come  verbi 
gratia  del  Godescalco  in  Conio,  del  conte  Albano  in  Ber- 
gamo, del  Blutio  in  Milano.  Questa  risolutione  di  ser- 
virsi  de'  secolari  fu  presa  perche  non  soli  moltissimi 
vescovi,  vicarij,  frati  e  preti,  ma  anco  molli  dell'  istessa 


they  possessed  a  territory  of  their  own  of  such 
considerable  extent,  where  they  could  set  an 
example  and  establish  the  model  for  imitation. 
In  Milan  and  Naples  the  administration  could 
make  the  less  opposition  to  the  new  measures, 
inasmuch  as  it  had  itself  purposed  introducing 
the  Spanish  inquisition  there;  only  in  Naples 
the  confiscation  of  property  was  forbidden. 
In  Tuscany  the  inquisition  was  accessible  to 
worldly  influence,  through  the  agency  of  the 
legate,  whom  duke  Cosmo  contrived  to  procure 
for  his  court:  nevertheless,  the  brotherhoods 
formed  by  it  gave  great  ofience.  In  Sienna 
and  Pisa  it  preceded  to  inordinate  lengths 
against  the  universities.  In  the  Venetian  do- 
minions the  inquisitor  was  not  indeed  alto- 
gether free  from  secular  control ;  from  April 
1547,  three  Venetian  nobili  continued  to  sit 
in  his  tribunal :  in  the  provinces,  the  rettore 
of  every  town  had  part  in  the  investigations, 
calling  in  occasionally  the  advice  of  doctors, 
and  in  difficult  cases,  especially  when  charges 
were  brought  against  persons  of  importance, 
applying  for  his  guidance  to  the  council  often : 
nevertheless,  this  did  not  hinder  the  ordinan- 
ces of  Rome  being  carried  into  efl^ect  in  all 
essentials. 

Thus  was  the  agitation  of  dissentient  opin- 
ions in  religion  violently  stifled  and  destroyed 
in  Italy.  Almost  the  whole  order  of  Francis- 
cans was  forced  to  recant.  The  greater  part 
of  the  followers  of  Valdez  had  to  do  the  same. 

In  Venice  a  certain  freedom  was  allowed 
the  foreigners,  Germans  for  the  most  part,  who 
resided  there  for  trade  or  for  study ;  natives, 
on  the  other  hand,  were  forced  to  abjure  their 
opinions,  and  their  meetings  were  broken  up. 
Many  took  to  flight:  we  meet  these  fugitives 
in  every  town  of  Germany  and  Switzerland. 
Those  who  neither  would  give  way  nor  could 
escape,  endured  the  penalty.  In  Venice  they 
were  sent  with  two  vessels  beyond  the  la- 
goons out  to  sea.  A  plank  was  laid  between 
the  two  vessels,  and  the  condemned  placed 
upon  it ;  the  vessels  moved  asunder  both  at 
the  same  moment,  the  plank  fell;  the  suf- 
ferers called  once  more  on  the  name  of  Christ 
and  sank.  In  Rome,  auto-da-fes  were  held 
in  all  form  before  the  church  of  Santa  Maria 
alia  Minerva,  Many  were  they  that  fled  from 
place  to  place  with  wife  and  children  :  we 
trace  their  wanderings  awhile,  and  then  they 
vanish;  they  are  fallen  most  likely  into  the 
toils  of  their  merciless  hunters.  Others  kept 
quiet.  The  duchess  of  Ferrara,  who  but  for 
the  salique  law,  would  have  been  heiress  to 
the  crown  of  France,  was  not  protected  by  her 

inquisitions  erano  heretici,"  [This  was  opportunely 
remedied  by  the  Office  in  Rome,  by  placing  in  every  city 
able  and  zealous  inquisitors,  and  employing  also  zealous 
and  learned  laymen  in  aid  of  the  faith,  as,  for  instance, 
Godescalco  in  Como,  the  count  Albano  in  Bergamo,  and 
Mutio  in  Milan.  This  resolution  of  employing  secular 
persons  was  taken,  because  not  only  very  many  bishops, 
vicars,  monks  and  priests,  but  even  many  members  of 
the  inquisition  itself  were  heretics.] 


A.  D.  1543-56.] 


THE  INQUISITION. 


77 


birth  and  high  rank.  Her  husband  himself 
was  her  accuser.  "  She  sees  no  one,"  says 
Marot,  "to  whom  slie  can  complain:  the 
mountains  are  between  her  and  her  friends : 
she  mingles  her  wine  with  tears." 

Progress  of  the  Jesuit  institution. 

In  this  state  of  things,  when  opponents  had 
been  put  down  by  force,  and  the  dogmas  of  the 
Church  again  firmly  reinstated  in  the  mind  of 
the  age,  and  whilst  the  ecclesiastical  power  was 
guarding  their  observance  with  resistless  wea- 
pons, the  order  of  Jesuits  now  arose  in  the 
strictest  alliance  witJi  that  power. 

Not  only  in  Rome,  but  in  all  Italy,  the  order 
obtained  extraordinary  success.  It  had  origi- 
nally designed  itself  for  the  common  people; 
it  speedily  found  acceptance  among  the  higher 
classes. 

In  Parma  it  was  favoured  by  the  Farnese:* 
princesses  submitted  to  its  spiritual  e.xercises. 
In  Venice,  Lainez  expounded  the  Gospel  of 
St.  John  expressly  to  the  nobility,  and  with 
the  help  of  Lippomano  he  succeeded,  so  early 
as  1542,  in  laying  the  foundation  of  the  Jesuit 
college  in  that  city.  In  Montepuciano  Fran- 
cesco Strada  basso  much  command  over  some 
of  the  foremost  men  of  the  city,  that  they  ac- 
companied him  through  the  streets  begging ; 
Strada  knocked  at  the  doors,  and  they  received 
the  donations.  In  Faenza,  although  Ochino 
had  greatly  exerted  himself  there,  they  suc- 
ceeded in  acquiring  great  influence,  appeasing 
enmities  that  had  subsisted  for  centuries,  and 
founding  societies  for  the  support  of  the  poor. 
I  mention  but  a  few  examples  of  their  success. 
In  every  direction  they  made  their  appearance, 
procured  adherents,  formed  schools,  and  firmly 
established  themselves. 

But  as  Ignatius  was  wholly  a  Spaniard,  and 
had  set  out  on  his  career  from  peculiarly  na- 
tional ideas,  and  as  his  ablest  disciples  were 
naturally  furnished  by  Spain,  it  followed  that 
his  society,  thus  Spanish  in  spirit,  made  great- 
er progress  in  that  peninsula  than  in  Italy 
itself.  In  Barcelona  he  made  a  very  import- 
ant conquest  in  the  person  of  the  viceroy  Fran- 
cis Borgia,  duke  of  Gandia;  in  Valencia  a 
church  was  insufficient  to  contain  the  hearers 
of  Araoz,  and  a  pulpit  was  erected  for  him  in 
the  open  air ;  in  Valencia  adherents  in  con- 
siderable strength  very  speedily  mustered 
round  Francis  Villanova,  although  he  was 
sickly,  of  mean  descent,  and  wholly  destitute 
of  learning ;  it  was  principally  from  this  place 

*  Orlandinus  expresses  himself  in  singular  terms.  Et 
civilas,  he  says,  ii.  p.  78,  ei  privati  quibus  fuisse  dicitur 
aliqua  cum  Komano  poniifice  necessitudo,  supplices  ad 
eum  lileras  pro  Fabro  reiinendo  dederunt.  [Both  the 
etateand  private  individuals  who  were  said  to  be  in  some 
degree  related  to  the  Roman  pontift',  sent  letters  to  him  en- 
treating him  to  retain  Faber.]  Just  as  if  it  was  not  noto- 
rious that  Paul  III.  had  a  son.  The  Inquisition  was  sub- 
quently  introduced  into  Parma,  on  account  of  the  opposi- 
'    tion  manifested  to  the  priests  who  favoured  Jesuitism. 


and  from  Salamanca,  where  they  began  in 
1548,  with  a  very  small  and  sorry  house,  that 
the  Jesuists  spread  over  Spain.*  Nor  were 
they  meanwhile  less  warmly  received  in  Por- 
tugal. Of  the  first  two  sent  him  at  his  re- 
quest, the  king  sent  but  one  to  the  East  Indies, 
(that  Xavier  who  there  achieved  the  name  of 
an  apostle  and  a  saint,)  the  other  Simon  Rod- 
erigo,  he  kept  with  him.  The  Jesuits  acquired 
extraordinary  approbation  at  both  courts.  The 
Portuguese  they  thoroughly  reformed  ;  at  that 
of  Spain,  they  became  at  once  the  confessors 
of  the  leading  men  of  rank,  of  the  president 
of  the  council  of  Castile,  and  of  the  cardinal 
of  Toledo. 

Already  in  the  year  1540,  Ignatius  had  sent 
some  young  persons  to  Paris  to  study  there. 
From  thence  his  society  extended  over  the 
Netherlands.  In  Louvain,  Faber  met  with 
the  most  decisive  success:  eighteen  young 
men,  already  bachelors  or  masters,  presented 
themselves,  abandoning  home,  university,  and 
country,  to  accompany  him  to  Portugal.  Je- 
suits were  already  seen  in  Germany :  and 
among  the  first  was  Peter  Canisius,  who  did 
them  so  much  service,  and  who  entered  their 
order  on  his  three-and-twentieth  birth-day. 

This  rapid  success  of  the  order  must  na- 
turally have  exercised  tlie  most  cogent  influ- 
ence upon  the  development  of  his  constitution. 
It  moulded  itself  in  the  following  fashion. 

Into  the  class  of  his  first  associates,  the  pro- 
fessed members,  Ignatius  admitted  but  i'ew. 
He  found  that  men  at  once  fully  educated, 
good,  and  devout,  were  in  scanty  number. 
In  the  very  first  project  he  laid  before  the 
pope,  he  declares  his  intention  of  founding 
colleges  at  one  or  other  of  the  universities, 
to  train  up  young  men.  Of  these  an  unex- 
pected multitude  as  we  have  said,  attached 
themselves  to  his  society.  They  constituted 
the  class  of  scholars,  as  distinguished  from 
that  of  professed  members.f 

But  an  inconvenience  was  very  soon  felt. 
As  the  professed  members  had  bound  them- 
selves by  the  fourth  vow  to  continual  travel  on 
the  service  of  the  pope,  it  was  inconsistent  to 
assign  to  them  so  many  colleges  as  were  now 
required,  establishments  that  could  only 
flourish  through  their  constant  presence. 
Ignatius  soon  found  it  necessary  to  constitute 
a  third  class  between  these  two,  spiritual  co- 
adjutors, priests  like  the  others,  possessed  of 
requisite  learning,  and  who  expressly  enga- 

*  Ribadeneira,  Vita  Ignatii,  c.  x.  n.  244.  c.  xxxviii.  n. 
285. 

tPauli  III.  facultas  coadjutores  admittendi  d.  5  Junii, 
1546:  ita  ut  ad  vota  servanda  pro  eo  tempore  quo  lu,  fili 
prasposite,  et  qui  pro  tempore  fuerint  ejusdem  societatia 
praepositi,  eis  in  minisierio  spirituali  vel  lemporali  uten- 
dum  judicaveritis,  et  non  ultra  astringantur.  Corijus  In- 
stituto'rum,  i.  p.  15.  [Insuchwiselhatthey  shall  be  bound 
to  keep  their  vows  for  such  a  time  as  you,  my  son,  and 
those  who  shall  preside  for  the  time  being  over  the  society, 
shall  think  fit  to  employ  their  spiritual  or  temporal  ser- 
vices, and  no  longer.] 


78 


BEGINNING  OF  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLICISM,    [a.  d.  1543-56. 


ged  themselves  to  the  duty  of  instructing 
youth.  One  of  the  most  momentuous  institu- 
tions this,  and,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  peculiar 
to  the  Jesuits;  one  too  on  which  the  most 
brilliant  success  of  the  order  was  founded- 
These  coadjutors  were  allowed  to  settle  them- 
selves in  the  several  localities,  become  resi- 
dents, gain  influence,  and  control  education. 
Like  the  scholars,  they  took  but  three  vows, 
and  these,  be  it  remarked,  only  simply,  not 
solemnly.  That  is  to  say,  they  would  them- 
selves have  incurred  excommunication  had 
they  attempted  to  separate  from  the  society  ; 
but  the  latter  possessed  the  right,  though  only 
in  accurately  defined  cases,  of  discharging 
them  from  their  vows. 

And  now  but  one  thing  more  was  requisite. 
It  would  have  interrupted  the  studies  and  occu- 
pations to  which  these  classes  were  destined, 
had  they  been  obliged  at  the  same  time  to  take 
upon  them  the  care  of  their  own  subsistence. 
The  professed  members  lived  in  their  houses 
on  alms;  the  coadjutors  and  scholars  were 
spared  that  necessity,  the  colleges  being  al- 
lowed to  possess  corporate  revenues.  For  the 
administration  of  these,  so  far  as  that  did  not 
fall  to  the  share  of  the  professed,  who  could 
not  themselves  enjoy  them,  and  for  the  mana- 
gement of  all  other  external  matters,  Ignatius 
further  appointed  a  class  of  secular  coadjutors. 
These,  as  well  as  the  others,  took  three  sim- 
ple vows,  but  had  to  content  themselves  with 
the  persuasion  that  they  were  serving  God  by 
aiding  a  society  that  watched  over  the  salva- 
vation  of  souls,  and  were  not  permitted  to  aim 
at  anything  higher. 

These  arrangements,  individually  judicious, 
served  at  the  same  time  to  constitute  a  hiera- 
rchy, which  in  its  several  gradations  possessed 
a  still  further  special  control  over  the  minds 
of  its  members.* 

If  we  steadily  examine  the  laws  that  were 
from  time  to  time  promulgated  to  the  society, 
we  find  that  the  foremost  consideration  on 
which  they  reposed  was  the  utter  severing  of 
the  ordinary  relations  of  life.  Love  of  kindred 
is  denounced  by  them  as  a  carnal  inclination.! 
He  who  gives  up  his  wealth  to  enter  the  so- 
ciety, is  not  to  transfer  it  to  his  relations,  but 
to  divide  it  among  the  poor.|  He  who  has 
already  entered,  neither  receives  nor  dis- 
patches a  letter  till  it  has  been  first  read  by  a 
superior.  The  society  requires  the  whole 
man :  all  his  inclinations  must  wear  its  fetters. 

It  demands  even  to  participate  in  his  secrets. 
He  enters  the  order  with  a  general  confession ; 
he  is  required  to  set  forth  his  own  defects  and 

*  The  basis  of  the  society  consisted  of  novices,  guests, 
and  indifferenls ;  from  these  rose  the  several  classes. 

+  Summariiim  constitutionum,  §  8.  in  the  Corpus  Insti- 
tutonim  societatis  Jesu.  Aniverpiae  1709.  loin.  i.  Tn  Or- 
landinus  III.  66.  it  is  mentioiipd  in  Faber's  praise,  that 
once  on  reaching  his  native  town  after  an  absence  of  some 
years,  he  so  triumphed  over  his  feelings  as  to  pass  on  with- 
out stopping. 

$Exainen  generale,  civ.  §  2. 


even  his  virtues.  A  confessor  is  appointed  him 
by  the  superior ;  the  superior  retains  to  him- 
self the  right  of  absolving  in  those  cases  with 
which  it  is  expedient  he  should  be  acquainted.* 
He  insists  particularly  on  this,  in  order  that 
he  may  perfectly  know  the  characters  of  his 
subordinates,  and  use  them  as  he  pleases. 

For  obedience  in  this  society  took  the  place 
of  every  other  relation,  of  every  other  motive 
that  can  sway  the  actions  of  men ;  absolute 
obedience,  without  a  thought  of  its  objects  or 
consequences.!  No  one  shall  covet  any  other 
grade  than  that  he  occupies :  the  secular  co- 
adjutor, if  he  does  not  already  read  and  write, 
shall  not  learn  to  do  so  without  permission. 
Every  member  shall  submit  in  blind  subjection 
to  the  rule  of  his  superiors,  to  the  total  abju- 
ration of  his  own  judgment,  like  a  lifeless 
thing,  like  a  stafl^  that  is  wielded  at  will  by 
the  hand  that  holds  it.  Those  superiors  are 
in  his  eyes  invested  with  divine  providence.^ 

What  a  power  was  now  committed  to  the 
general,  in  whom  was  vested  for  life  the  right 
of  swaying  this  obedience,  unsubjected  to  any 
necessity  of  accounting  for  the  use  he  made 
of  it !  According  to  the  project  of  1543,  all 
the  members  of  the  order  who  should  chance 
to  be  in  one  and  the  same  place  with  the  gene- 
ral, were  to  be  consulted  even  in  slight  mat- 
ters. The  project  of  1550,  confirmed  by  Julius 
III.,  releases  the  general  from  this  restriction, 
except  in  so  far  as  he  may  himself  think  good 


*  Rules  separately  contained  in  the  Summarium  consti- 
tutionum, §  32.  §  41,  the  Examen  generale,  §  35.  §  36,  and 
the  Constitutionum  Pauli  III.  c.  i.  n.  11.  "lUi  casus  re- 
servabuntur,"  it  is  said  in  the  latter  place,  "  quos  ab  eo 
(superiore)  cognosci  necessarium  videbitur  aut  valde  con- 
veniens." [Those  cases  shall  be  reserved,  of  which  it 
shall  appear  necessary  or  very  expedient  that  they  should 
be  known  to  him  (the  superior.)] 

+  The  letter  of  Ignatius,  "  fratribus  societatis  Jesu  qui 
sunt  in  Lusitania,"  7  Kol.  Ap.  1553.  §  3. 

t  Constitutiones,  vi.  1.  Et  sibi  quisque  persuadeat,  quod 
qui  subobedientia  vivunt,  se  ferri  ac  regi  a  divina  provi- 
dentia  per  superiores  sues  sinere  debent,  perinde  ac  ca- 
daver essent.  [And  be  each  one  well  assured,  that  those 
who  are  bound  to  obedience  ought  to  surfer  themselves  to 
be  moved  and  governed  by  divine  providence  through 
their  superiors,  just  as  though  they  were  dead  bodies.] 
Here  is  also  the  other  constitution,  vi.  5.  according  to 
which,  it  seems  as  though  a  sin  could  be  enjoined.  Visum 
est  nobis  in  Domino— nuUas  constitutiones,  declarationes, 
vel  ordinem  ullum  vivendi  posse  obligalionem  ad  pecca- 
tutn  mortale  vel  venialeinducere,  nisi  superior  ea  in  nom- 
ine Domini  Jesu  Christi  vel  in  virtute  obedientiee  jubeat. 
[It  has  seemed  good  to  us  in  the  Lord— that  no  constitu- 
tions, declarations,  nor  any  order  of  living  can  induce  an 
obligation  to  mortal  or  venial  sin,  unless  the  superior 
command  them  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or 
in  virtue  of  obedience.]  We  can  hardly  trust  our  eyes 
as  we  read  this ;  and  indeed,  another  interpretation  of 
the  passage  is  possible,  besidesthat  which  obviously  occurs 
at  first  sight.  "Obligatio  ad  peccatum  mortale  vel  ven- 
iale,"  may  possibly  rather  mean,  the  binding  force  of  a 
constitution,  such,  that  he  who  breaks  the  latter  is  guilty 
of  one  or  the  other  kind  of  sin.  [The  passage  thus  inter- 
preted would  signify.  That  no  constitution,  &c.  can  im- 
pose an  obligation  amounting  in  its  force  to  the  contin- 
gency of  mortal  or  venial  sin,  unless  the  superior  com- 
mand those  constitutions,  &c.  Traiif.]  It  will  at  least  be 
confessed  that  the  constitution  ousht  to  be  more  perspic- 
uous ;  no  fault  can  be  alleged  against  one  who  shall  bona 
fide  refer  "  ea"  to  "  peccatum  mortals  vel  venale,"  and 
not  to  "  constitutiones." 


A.  D.  1543-56.]        PROGRESS  OF  THE  JESUIT  INSTITUTION. 


to  submit  to  it.*  It  is  only  in  cases  of  alter- 
ations in  the  constitution,  and  of  the  suppres- 
sion of  houses  and  colleges  already  established, 
that  a  consultation  continued  to  be  held  neces- 
sary. In  other  respects,  every  power  is  com- 
mitted to  him  that  might  be  useful  to  the 
governing  of  the  society.  He  has  assistants 
in  the  several  provinces,  but  these  discharge 
no  functions  but  those  specially  committed  to 
them  by  him.  He  names  at  his  pleasure  the 
presidents  of  provinces,  colleges,  and  houses, 
accepts  and  dismisses,  dispenses  and  punishes  : 
he  exercises  a  kind  of  papal  power  on  a 
smaller  scale.f 

There  was  only  this  danger  to  be  appre- 
hended, that  the  general  in  possession  of  such 
vast  power  might  himself  lapse  from  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  society.  As  far  as  regarded  this 
consideration,  he  was  subjected  to  a  certain 
limitation.  It  is  perhaps  no  such  great  matter 
as  it  may  have  appeared  to  Ignatius,  that  the 
society  or  its  deputies  were  entrusted  with 
the  faculty  of  arranging  certain  external 
things,  the  hours  of  meals,  and  of  sleep,  cos- 
tume, and  all  that  concerned  the  daily  habits 
of  life  ;t  but  it  was  assuredly  something  that 
the  possessor  of  supreme  authority  was  de- 
prived of  a  freedom  enjoyed  by  the  meanest 
individual.  The  assistants,  who  were  not 
named  by  him,  watched  him  continually  in 
this  respect.  There  was  an  appointed  admo- 
nisher,  and  on  the  occurrence  of  gross  faults, 
the  assistants  could  call  a  general  congrega- 
tion, which  in  that  case  had  the  prerogative 
of  even  pronouncing  the  deposition  of  the 
general. 

This  carries  us  a  step  farther. 

If  we  do  not  suffer  ourselves  to  be  dazzled 
by  the  hyperbolical  expressions,  in  which  the 
Jesuits  have  set  forth  this  power,  and  ratlier 
consider  what  may  have  been  practical  under 
the  great  extent  very  soon  acquired  by  the 
society,  we  shall  observe  the  following  state 
of  things.  The  general  exercised  the  supreme 
guidance  of  the  whole  order,  and  particularly 
the  control  of  the  superiors,  whose  consciences 
he  was  to  know,  and  whose  offices  were  in 
his  distribution.  These  again  had  a  similar 
power  in  their  own  sphere,  and  frequently 
exercised  it  with  more  severity  than  the  gene- 
ral. ^  The  superiors  and  the  general  in  some 
degree  counterpoised  each  other.  Further- 
more, the  general  was  required  to  be  informed 
as  to  the   personal  characteristics  of  every 

*  Adjutus,  quatenus  ipse  opportunus  judicabit,  fratrum 
suoriim  consilio,  per  se  ipsum  ordinandi  et  jubendi  quje 
ad  Dei  gloriain  perlinere  videbuntur,  jus  totum  habeut, 
says  Julius  III.  Confirmalio  Inslituti.  [He  siiall  have 
the  eniire  rislit,  of  ordaining  and  commanding  of  himself 
those  things,  which  to  him  shall  appear  conducive  to  the 
glory  of  God,  assisted  therein,  as  far  as  he  himself  shall 
judge  fit,  by  the  advice  of  his  brethren.] 

t  Consiilutiones,  ix.  3. 

t  Schedula  Ignatii  AA.  SS.  Commentatio  prsvia,  n. 
872. 

§  Mariana,  Discurso  de  laa  Enfermedadas  de  la  Com- 
pania  de  Jesus,  c.  xi. 


_  79 

subordinate,  of  every  member  of  the  society ; 
and  though  in  this  particular  it  is  manifest  he 
could  interpose  only  on  urgent  occasions,  he 
still  possessed  the  highest  supervision.  A 
committee  of  the  professed  members,  on  the 
other  hand,  exercised  supervision  over  him. 

There  have  been  other  institutions  that, 
forming  a  special  world  within  the  great 
world,  have  severed  their  members  from  all 
other  relations,  made  them  their  own  pro- 
perty, and  engendered  a  new  principle  of 
life  within  them.  This  was  precisely  the 
aim  of  the  Jesuit  institution.  But  it  is  pecu- 
liar to  it,  that  on  the  one  hand  it  not  only 
favoured,  but  demanded  a  development  of  in- 
dividual minds,  and  on  the  other  hand  it  took 
them  completely  captive,  and  made  them  its 
own  property.  Hence  all  personal  relations 
between  the  members,  merged  in  subordina- 
tion and  mutual  supervision.  Nevertheless 
they  formed  a  firmly  compacted,  perfect  unity ; 
they  had  nerve  and  active  vigour.  For  this 
reason  they  so  greatly  strengthened  the  mo- 
narchial  power:  they  submitted  themselves  to 
it  wholly,  even  though  its  possessors  fell  off 
from  first  principles. 

It  was  quite  in  keeping  with  the  character 
of  this  society,  that  none  of  its  members  were 
permitted  to  fill  any  ecclesiastical  dignity. 
They  would  have  had  duties  to  fulfil,  and 
have  been  placed  in  circumstances  that  would 
have  rendered  all  supervision  impossible.  At 
the  beginning  at  least  this  rule  was  most 
rigidly  observed.  Jay  neither  desired  nor 
was  allowed  to  accept  the  bishopric  of  Trent ; 
when  Ferdinand  I.  who  offered  it  him  desisted 
from  his  purpose  in  compliance  with  a  letter 
from  Ignatius,  the  latter  caused  solemn  masses 
to  be  celebrated  and  Te  Deum  to  be  sung.* 

Another  important  point  is,  that  the  whole 
society  raised  itself  above  the  observance  of 
the  more  irksome  devotional  practices.  Thus 
the  several  members  were  enjoined  not  to 
push  their  religious  exercises  to  excess :  they 
were  not  with  fastings,  vigils,  and  castigations, 
either  to  weaken  their  bodies,  or  to  withdraw 
too  much  time  from  the  service  of  their  neigh- 
bours. In  labour  too  they  were  commanded 
to  observe  moderation,  the  spirited  steed  was 
not  to  be  spurred  only,  but  curbed ;  they  were 
not  to  encumber  themselves  with  so  many 
weapons  that  they  could  not  wield  them  all : 
they  were  not  so  to  overload  themselves  with 
labour  that  the  elasticity  of  the  mind  should 
give  way  beneath  itf 

It  is  manifest  how  thoroughly  the  society 
regarded  all  its  members  as  its  own  property, 
but  left  them  at  the  same  time  to  the  most 


*  Extract  from  the  Liber  Memorabilia  of  Ludovicua 
Oonsalvus:  "quod  desistente  rege  S.  Ignatius  indixerit 
missas  et  Te  Deum  laudamus  in  gratiarum  actionem." 
tommentanus  prsevius  in  AA.  SS.    Julii  vii.  n.  41 

+  Conslitutionea,  v.  3.  1.  Epistola  Ignatii  ad  fratres  Qui 
sunt  la  Hispania.    Corpus  Instituiorum,  ii.  540. 


80 


BEGINNING  OF  A  REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLICISM,    [a.  d.  1543-56. 


vigorous  development  of  their  individual  en- 
ergies consistent  with  that  principle. 

In  fact,  this  was  indispensable  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  difficult  functions  undertaken 
by  the  order.     These,  as  we  have  seen,  were 
preaching,    instruction,  and  confession.     To 
the  two  latter,  above  all,  the  Jesuits  devoted 
themselves  in  a  manner  peculiarly  their  own. 
The  business  of  instruction  had  till  then 
been  in  the  hands  of  those  men  of  letters,  who, 
after  long  prosecuting  their  studies  in  a  man- 
ner merely  profane,  had  afterwards  taken  a 
spiritual  bent,   at  first   not   very  favourably 
regarded  by   the    Roman   court,   and  subse- 
quently wholly  reprobated  by  it.    The  Jesuits 
took  upon  them   to   drive   them  from   their 
posts,   and   to   occupy  the.se  in  their   stead. 
They  began  with  a  close  observance  of  sys- 
tem :  they  divided  their  schools  into  classes, 
and  their  course  of  instruction  was  pursued 
in  a  perfectly  uniform  spirit,  from  the  lowest 
to  the  highest  grade.     Furthermore,  they  paid 
attention  to  morals,  and  produced  well  bred 
men  ;  they  were  patronized  by  the  civil  pow- 
ers, and  lastly,  they  gave  their  instructions 
gratis.     Wherever  a  city  or   a  prince  had 
founded  a  college,  private  individuals  were 
not  called  on  for  any  further  payment.     It 
was  expressly  forbidden  the  members  of  the 
order  to  ask  or  accept  of  remuneration  or 
alms ;  their  instruction  was  gratuitous  as  well 
as  their  sermons  and  their  masses ;  there  was 
even  no  box  for  offerings  in  their  churches. 
Human  nature  being  what  it  is,  this  must 
have  tended  immeasurably  to  the  advance  of 
their  cause,  especially  as  they  actually  taught 
with  as  much  success  as   zeal.     "Not  only 
were  the  poor  thus  aided,"  says  Orlandini, 
"  but  the  rich  too  had  a  burthen  lightened  for 
them."*     He  remarks  what  immense  success 
the  educational  labours  of  the  society  enjoyed. 
"  We  see  many,"  he  says,  "  glittering  m  the 
cardinal's  purple,  whom  we  had  but  a  little 
before  on  our  scholars'  benches  :  others  have 
attained   to   the    government  of   cities  and 
states :  we  have  educated  bishops  and  their 
counsellors,  and  even  other  spiritual  commu- 
nities have  been  recruited  from  the  numbers 
of  our  scholars."     The  order,  as  will  readily 
be  supposed,  contrived  to  appropriate  to  itself 
all  the  pre-eminent  talents  among  its  pupils. 
Its  members  constituted  a  professional  body 
of  teachers,  that  achieved  for  itself  an  incal- 
culable amount  of  influence,  since  it  spread 
throughout  all  catholic  countries,  was  the  first 
to  give  to  education  that  religious  tone  it  has 
since  retained,  and  observed  a  strict  unity  in 
its  discipline,  its  methods,  and  its  lessons. 
But  how  greatly  was  this  influence  strength- 


ened by  the  fact,  that  the  order  succeeded 
likewise  in  appropriating  to  itself  the  duties 
of  the  confessional,  and  the  guidance  of  con- 
sciences !  No  age  was  ever  more  susceptible 
to  this  kind  of  influence,  more  thirsted  for  it, 
as  it  were.  Their  code  of  laws  enjoins  the 
Jesuits,  "  in  their  manner  and  way  of  impart- 
ing absolution,  to  pursue  one  uniform  method, 
to  exercise  themselves  in  cases  of  conscience, 
to  accustom  themselves  to  a  short  mode  of 
questioning,  and  to  have  the  examples  of  the 
saints,  their  words,  and  other  helps,  in  readi- 
ness against  every  kind  of  sin  :"*  rules,  as  it 
is  obvious,  most  accurately  calculated  to  meet 
the  wants  of  man.  The  extraordinary  suc- 
cess, however,  which  they  obtained  in  this 
branch  of  their  labours,  and  which  involved  a 
real  diffusion  of  their  peculiar  way  of  think- 
ing, depended  further  on  another  important 
point. 

That  little  book  of  spiritual  exercises  is 
very  remarkable,  which  Ignatius,  I  will  not 
say  was  the  first  to  plan,  but  which  he  worked 
out  in  the  most  singular  manner,!  with  which 
he  gathered  together  his  first,  and  afterwards 
his  latter  pupils,  and  his  followers  generally, 
and  made  them  wholly  his  own.  Its  efficacy 
was  progressive  and  continual ;  the  more  so 
perhaps,  as  it  was  recommended  only  for 
occasional  study,  in  moments  of  inward  unea- 
siness, and  spiritual  craving. 

It  is  not  a  book  of  doctrine ;  it  is  a  guide  to 
self-contemplation.  "  The  longings  of  the 
soul,"  says  Ignatius,  "are  not  to  be  satisfied 
by  a  host  of  knowledge,  but  only  by  inward 
intuition  and  feeling."| 

This  process  he  undertakes  to  direct.  The 
guide  of  souls  indicates  the  points  of>iew,  the 
exercitant  is  to  follow  these  out.  He  must 
on  retiring  to  rest,  and  immediately  on  his 


*  Orlandinus,  lib.  vi.  70.  A  comparison  might  be  made 
wilh  the  conventual  schools  of  the  Protestants,  in  which 
too  the  religious  tendency  fully  predominated.  See  Sturm 
in  Ruhkopf,  Geschichte  des  Schulwesens,  S.  378.  The 
points  of  clifference  would  be  the  most  interesting. 


first  awaking,  turn  his  thoughts  in  the  assign- 
ed direction,  sedulously  barring  every  other : 
doors  and  windows  are  shut  close,  and  then 
kneeling  or  prostrate  on  the  earth  he  com- 
pletes his  task  of  contemplation. 

He  begins  with  being  conscious  of  his  sins; 
he  considers  how  for  a  single  act  of  will  the 
angels  were  hurried  down  into  hell ;  but  for 
him,  although  he  has  committed  far  greater 
trespasses,  the  saints  have  offered  their  pray- 
ers, heaven  and  its  stars,  animals  and  plants 
of  the  earth  have  ministered  to  him  ;  that  he 
may  now  be  free  from  his  guilt,  and  not  cast 
into  everlasting  condemnation,  he  calls  on 
Christ  crucified :  he  feels  his  reply :  there 
ensues  between  them  a  discourse,  like  that 
between  friend  and  friend,  like  that  between 
a  servant  and  his  master. 


*  Regula  Sacerdotum,  §  8.  10.  11. 

t  For  after  all  that  has  been  written  pro  and  contra,  it 
is  manifest  that  Ignatius  had  in  view  a  similar  work  by 
Garcia  de  Cisneros.  But  all  that  is  most  peculiar  seems 
his  own.     Comm.  prsevius,  n.  64. 

t  Non  enim  abundantia  scientiae,  sed  sensus  et  gustus 
renira  interior  desiderium  animse  replere  solet. 


A.  D.  1543-56.]        PROGRESS  OF  THE  JESUIT  INSTITUTION. 


81 


He  then  seeks  chiefly  to  edify  himself  by 
the  contemplation  of  holy  Scripture.  "  I  .see," 
says  Ignatius,  "  how  the  three  persons  of  the 
Godhead  overlook  the  whole  earth,  filled  with 
men  doomed  to  hell :  they  resolve  that  the 
second  person  shall  for  their  redemption  take 
upon  him  human  nature :  I  cast  my  eyes  over 
the  whole  range  of  the  round  earth,  and  in  a 
corner  I  discern  the  hut  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
from  which  salvation  issues  forth."  He  pro- 
ceeds onward  from  point  to  point  through  the 
sacred  history;  pictures  to  hunself  the  several 
transactions  in  all  their  particulars,  according 
to  the  category  of  the  senses :  tlie  widest 
scope  is  allowed  to  the  religious  fancy  un- 
shackled by  the  bonds  of  the  letter ;  imagina- 
tion touches  and  kisses  the  garments,  the 
footsteps  of  the  sacred  personages.  In  this 
exalted  state  of  imagination,  possessed  with 
the  feeling,  how  great  is  the  blessedness  of  a 
soul  that  is  filled  with  divine  graces  and 
virtues,  the  exercitant  returns  to  the  contem- 
plation of  his  own  condition.  If  a  man  has 
yet  to  choose  his  calling,  he  chooses  it  now  in 
accordance  with  the  wants  and  wishes  of  his 
heart,  keeping  ever  one  sole  object  in  view, 
how  he  may  be  saved  to  God's  glory,  and 
believing  he  stands  in  the  presence  of  God 
and  all  the  saints.  If  the  choice  no  longer 
remains  to  be  made,  he  then  ponders  on  his 
way  of  life,  his  daily  walk  and  conversation, 
his  domestic  economy,  his  necessary  expendi- 
ture, what  he  has  to  gi\e  to  the  poor ;  all  this 
he  considers  in  that  tone  of  mind  in  whicli  in 
the  hour  of  death  he  will  wish  he  had  com- 
muned with  himself,  looking  exclusively  to 
what  tends  to  the  honour  of  God  and  to  his 
own  salvation. 

Thirty  days  are  devoted  to  these  exercises. 
Reflections  on  sacred  history,  on  the  indi- 
vidual's personal  circumstances,  prayers  and 
resolutions,  alternate  with  each  other.  The 
soul  is  continually  intent  and  spontaneously 
active.  Lastly,  when  the  individual  repre- 
sents to  himself  God's  provident  care,  "  who 
in  his  creation  labours  actively  as  if  it  were 
for  man,"  he  once  again  thinks  he  stands  in 
the  sight  of  the  Lord  and  his  saints :  he  be- 
seeches Him  to  vouchsafe  to  accept  his  love 
and  adoralion  ;  he  offers  up  to  Him  his  free- 
do.m,  dedicates  to  him  memory,  understanding, 
and  will,  and  thus  he  seals  with  liim  the 
league  of  love.  Love  consists  in  the  commu- 
nity of  all  capacities  and  possessions.  In  re- 
turn for  its  devotedness,  God  bestows  his  grace 
on  the  soul. 

It  is  enough  that  we  give  this  passing  view 
of  this  book.  In  its  general  tenour,  its  seve- 
ral propositions  and  their  mutual  coimection, 
there  is  a  certain  cogency  that  excites  the 
thoughts  indeed  to  inward  activity,  but  con- 
fines them  within  a  narrow  circle.  It  is  most 
happily  adjusted  to  the  author's  aim,  the  fos- 
tering of  a  spirit  of  meditation  under  the  go- 
11 


vernment  of  the  imagination;  the  more  so, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  based  upon  his  own  experi- 
ence. In  tiiiswork  Ignatius  successively  em- 
bodies every  striking  phenomenon  of  his  reli- 
gious awakening  and  his  progress,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  year  1548,  when  his  system 
received  the  pope's  sanction.  It  has  been  said 
that  Jesuitism  turned  the  experience  of  the 
Protestants  to  good  account,  and  this  may  be 
true  in  some  few  particulars :  but  on  the 
whole  the  two  principles  are  diametrically 
opposed.  Here  at  least  Ignatius  set  up  in  op- 
position to  the  discursive,  logical,  radical,  and, 
by  its  very  nature,  polemical  method  of  the 
Protestants,  another  wholly  different,  brief, 
intuitive,  and  leading  to  contemplation,  ad- 
justed to  the  imaginative  principle,  and 
prompting  to  instantaneous  resolves. 

Thus  atler  all  did  every  visionary  trait  that 
had  marked  liis  temperament  from  the  begin- 
ning, grow  at  last  to  extraordinary  practical 
significance.  Being  too  a  soldier,  he  gathered 
together  a  spiritual  standing  army,  recruited, 
likewise,  by  the  help  of  religious  fancy,  se- 
lected man  by  man,  individually  trained  to 
his  purpose,  and  commanded  by  himself  in  the 
service  of  the  pope.  He  beheld  it  overspread 
every  country  of  the  earth. 

When  Ignatius  died,  his  society  numbered 
thirteen  provinces,  exclusively  of  the  Roman.* 
Mere  inspection  of  the  list  shows  where  lay 
the  strength  of  the  order.  The  majority  of 
j  these  provinces,  seven,  belonged  to  Spain  and 
j  her  colonies.  There  were  ten  colleges  in 
Castile,  five  in  Arragon,  and  the  same  num- 
ber in  Andalusia,  The  greatest  progress  had 
been  made  in  Portugal,  where  there  were 
houses  both  for  professed  members  and  for  no- 
vices. In  Brazil  there  were  twenty-eight 
members  of  the  society  busily  engaged,  and 
about  one  hundred  in  the  East  Indies  from 
Goa  to  Japan.  From  this  quarter  an  experi- 
ment had  been  made  on  ^Ethiopia,  and  a  pro- 
vincial sent  thither:  the  prosperity  of  the  en- 
terprize  seemed  to  be  secure.  All  these  pro- 
vinces, of  Spanish  and  Portngues  language 
and  habits,  were  under  the  direction  of  a  com- 
missioner general,  Francesco  Borgia.  The 
nation  which  had  witnessed  the  birth  of  the 
society,  was  also  that  in  which  its  influence 
had  become  most  comprehensive.  Nor  indeed 
was  it  much  less  so  in  Italy.  There  were 
three  provinces  of  the  Italian  tongue;  there 
was  the  Roman,  which  was  under  the  imme- 
diate direction  of  the  general,  with  houses  for 
professed  members  and  novices,  the  Collegium 
Romanum,  and  the  Collegium  Germanicurn, 
which  latter  had  been  erected  by  the  advice 
of  cardinal  Morone  expressly  for  Germans, 
but  which  had  not  yet  made  any  decisive  pro- 
gress :  Naples  also  belonged  to  this  province. 


♦  In  the  year  155S.    Sicchinus,  Historia  Societatia  Jef u, 
p.  ii.  give  lUiniua  iiom  the  begiuuiug. 


82    THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,    [a.  d.  1534. 

The  second  province  was  the  Sicilian,  with  Conclusion. 

four  colleges  already  completed  and  two  be- 
gun :  the  viceroy  Delia  Vega  had  introduced 
the  first  Jesuits  there  ;*  Messina  and  Palermo 
had  vied  with  each  other  in  establishing  col- 
leges, from  which  the  others  subsequently 
took  their  rise.  The  third  was  the  province 
of  Italy  proper,  including  upper  Italy,  and  con- 
taining ten  colleges.  The  order  had  not  made 
such  good  speed  in  other  countries;  in  them 
it  was  everywhere  opposed  by  Protestantism, 
or  by  an  already  well  marked  and  matured 
inclination  thereto.  In  France  they  had  but 
a  single  college  actually  in  operation  :  they 
reckoned  two  German  provinces,  but  these 
were  yet  in  their  infancy.  The  first  em- 
braced Vienna,  Prague,  and  Ingolstadt,  but 
its  existence  was  in  every  way  very  precari- 
ous ;  the  other  comprised  the  Netherlands ; 
but  Philip  II.  had  not  yet  granted  the  Je- 
suits any  legal  existence  in  these  territo- 
ries. 

Nevertheless,  this  first  rapid  success  was 
in  itself  a  guarantee  to  the  order  of  the 
might  it  was  destined  to  attain.  That  it 
had  risen  to  such  power  and  influence  in 
those  purely  catholic  countries,  the  two  pe- 
ninsulas, was  a  circumstance  of  vast  signifi- 
cance. 


Thus  we  see,  in  opposition  to  those  Protest- 
ant movements  that  every  moment  spread  more 
widely,  a  new  tendency  had  arisen  in  the  midst 
of  Catholicism  in  Rome,  around  the  pope. 

This  too,  like  its  antagonist,  rose  out  of  the 
mundane  corruption  of  the  church,  or  rather 
out  of  the  wants  thereby  excited  in  the  minds 
of  men. 

At  first  those  two  tendencies  approximated 
to  each  other.  There  was  a  moment  in  which 
the  Germans  had  not  so  fully  determined  on 
casting  off  the  hierarchy — in  which  even  Italy 
would  have  been  disposed  to  see  the  power  of 
that  hierarchy  rationally  modified.  That  mo- 
ment passed  away. 

Whilst  the  Protestants,  relying  on  the 
Scriptures,  went  back  more  and  more  boldly 
to  the  primitive  forms  of  the  Christian  faith 
and  Christian  life  ;  the  opposite  party  resolved 
to  stand  fast  by  the  ecclesiastical  institutions 
that  had  been  consolidated  in  the  course  of 
the  century,  and  truly  to  renovate  them,  and 
imbue  them  with  fresh  spirit,  earnestness,  and 
strictness. 

So  rise  two  neighbouring  and  kindred 
springs  on  the  mountain  top  ;  and  then  gush- 
ing over  difl"erent  declivities,  roll  their  tbr- 
ever-parted  waters  in  opposite  directions. 


BOOK    THE   THIRD. 


THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 


Introduction. 

The  sixteenth  century  is  pre-eminently 
distinguished  by  its  spirit  of  religious  produc- 
tiveness. To  this  very  day  we  live  and 
breathe  amidst  the  conflicting  notions  which 
then  first  broke  upon  the  world. 

If  we  would  still  more  closely  mark  the 
momentous  crisis  in  which  the  severing  of  the 
two  religions  was  completed,  we  should  find 
it  did  not  coincide  with  the  first  appearance 
of  the  reformers;  for  their  opinions  did  not  in- 
stantly assume  a  fixed  character,  and  for  a 
long  time  there  was  reason  to  hope  for  an  ac- 
commodation between  the  conflicting  doc- 
trines: it  was  not  till  the  year  1552  that  all 
efforts  towards  this  end  were  finally  and  ut- 
terly wrecked,  and  the  three  great  forms  of 
western  Christianity  for  ever  parted  from  each 
other.  Lutheranism  became  more  strict,  aus- 
tere, and  exclusive.  Calvinism  diverged  from 
it  in  the  most  important  articles,  whereas  Cal- 
vin himself  had  formerly  passed  for  a  Luthe- 


*  Ribadeneira,  Vita  Ignatii,  n.  203. 


ran.  Opposed  to  them  both,  Catholicism  as- 
sumed its  modern  form.  The  three  conflicting 
theologies  sought  to  establish  themselves  firm- 
ly, each  on  the  ground  it  had  severally  as- 
sumed, and  from  thence  to  harass  and  subdue 
the  others,  and  bring  the  world  under  sub- 
jection. 

It  might  appear  that  the  catholic  tendency, 
which  sought  principally  only  the  renovation 
of  existing  institutions,  would  have  found  it 
an  easier  task  than  could  the  others  to  make 
good  its  progress.  But  the  advantage  on  its 
side  was  not  great.  It,  too,  was  encompassed, 
and  its  course  impeded,  by  many  other  im- 
pulses affecting  society,  such  as  secular  feel- 
mgs,  profane  learning,  and  dissentient  theo- 
logical opinions.  It  rather  resembled  a  fer- 
menting principle,  of  which  it  was  yet  ques- 
tionable whether  it  would  really  lay  hold  on 
and  assimilate  to  itself  the  elements  around  it, 
or  be  overwhelmed  by  them. 

It  encountered  its  first  obstacle  in  the  popes 
themselves,  their  personal  circumstances,  and 
their  policy. 

We  have  remarked  how  a  thoroughly  un- 


A.  D.  1534.] 


PAUL  III. 


spiritual  temper  having  taken  root  in  the 
heads  of  the  cliiirch,  elicited  that  opposition 
which  gave  such  an  immense  impetus  to  pro- 
testantism. 

The  question  was,  whether,  and  to  what 
extent,  the  strict  ecclesiastical  tendencies 
would  overcome  and  transform  tliat  temper. 

It  appears  to  me  that  the  conflict  between 
these  two  principles,  between  the  active  and 
passive  habits  of  policy  that  had  hitherto  pre- 
vailed, and  that  had  now  grown  inveterate, 
and  the  necessity  of  applying  to  these  a  tho- 
rough internal  reform,  constitutes  the  para- 
mount interest  in  the  history  of  tlie  nexl, 
popes. 

Paul  III. 

Excessive  stress  is  too  often  laid  in  the  pre- 
sent day  on  the  designs  and  influence  of  ex- 
alted personages,  prmces,  and  governments  : 
their  memory  is  often  compelled  to  atone  for 
faults  committed  by  the  multitude;  frequently, 
also,  they  are  allowed  credit  for  what  really 
proceeded  spontaneously  from  the  community. 

The  catholic  movement  which  formed  one 
of  the  subjects  of  our  consideration  in  the  pre- 
ceeding  book,  began  under  Paul  III.  but  it 
would  be  an  error  to  ascribe  its  origin  to  that 
pope.  He  saw  clearly  what  was  its  import- 
ance to  the  Roman  see ;  he  not  only  let  it 
take  its  course,  but  he  furthered  it  in  many  re- 
spects. We  may,  however,  unhesitatingly 
assert  that  his  own  personal  feelings  were 
never  once  enlisted  in  its  favour. 

Alexander  Farnese  (such  was  the  former 
name  of  Paul  III.)  was  a  worldling  as  ever 
was  any  pope  before  him.  His  education  was 
completed  m  the  15th  century,  for  he  was 
born  in  1468.  His  studies  were  pursued  un- 
der Pomponius  Lsetus  at  Rome,  and  in  the 
garden  of  Lorenzo  Medici  at  Florence.  He 
became  fully  imbued  with  the  elegant  erudi- 
tion and  the  feeling  for  art  characteristic  of 
that  epoch ;  nor  was  he  untinclured  with  its 
morals.  His  mother  once  found  it  necessary 
to  have  him  imprisoned  in  the  castle  of  St. 
Angelo:  he  availed  himself  of  an  unguarded 
moment  afforded  him  by  the  procession  of 
Corpus  Christi  day,  to  let  himself  down  from 
the  castle  by  a  rope,  and  escape.  He  acknow- 
ledged a  natural  son  and  daughter  ;  but  for 
all  that  he  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of  car- 
dinal in  rather  early  life,  for  in  those  days 
little  offence  was  taken  at  such  matters. 
While  still  cardinal  he  laid  the  foundation  of 
the  most  beautiful  of  all  palaces,  the  Farnese  ; 
and  at  Bolsena,  where  his  hereditary  estates 
were  situated,  he  built  himself  a  villa,  which 
pope  Leo  found  so  much  to  liis  taste,  as  now 
and  then  to  visit  him  there.  Amidst  these 
sumptuous  and  brilliant  habits  of  life,  he  che- 
rished desires  of  another  kind.  P^rom  the  very 
first  he  fixed  his  eye  on  the  highest  dignity. 


It  is  characteristic  of  him  that  he  sought  to 
attain  it  by  means  of  a  strict  neutrality.  The 
French  and  imperial  factions  divided  Italy, 
Rome,  and  the  college  of  cardinals:  he  con- 
ducted himself  with  such  consummate  caution, 
such  happy  prudence,  that  no  one  could  have 
said  to  which  of  the  two  he  was  more  inclined. 
Already  upon  the  death  of  Leo,  and  again  after 
that  of  Adrian,  he  had  gone  near  to  be  chosen. 
He  bore  a  grudge  against  the  memory  of  Cle- 
ment VII.,  who  had  wrested  from  him  twelve 
years  of  the  popedom  that  would  otherwise 
have  been  his.  At  last,  in  October  1534,  in 
the  fortieth  year  of  his  cardinalate  and  the 
sixty-seventh  of  his  age,  he  reached  the  object 
of  his  ambition,  and  was  chosen.* 

He  now  came  to  feel,  in  a  manner  wholly 
new  to  him,  the  great  conflict  that  agitated 
the  world — the  strife  between  those  two  par- 
ties between  whom  he  had  just  assumed  so 
important  a  station — the  necessity  of  combat- 
ing the  protestants,  anil  the  secret  connexion 
with  them  into  which  he  was  led  by  their  po- 
litical attitude — hisnatural  inclination,  arising 
out  of  the  posture  of  his  Italian  principality,  to 
weaken  the  ascendency  of  the  Spaniards,  and 
the  danger  involved  in  every  attempt  to  that 
end — the  urgent  necessity  of  a  reform,  and  the 
undesirable  circumscription  with  which  it 
threatened  the  papal  power. 

The  manner  in  which  his  nature  displayed 
itself  in  the  midst  of  so  many  contradictory 
demands  is  very  worthy  of  observation. 

Paul  III.  was  a  man  of  easy,  magnificent, 
liberal  habits.  Seldom  has  a  pope  been  so 
much  beloved  in  Rome  as  he  was.  There  was 
something  noble  in  his  naming  the  cardinals 
we  have  spoken  of  without  their  knowledge: 
how  advantageously  does  such  conduct  con- 
trast with  the  petty  personal  considerations  it 
had  almost  become  a  rule  to  observe.  But  he 
did  not  appoint  them  merely,  he  left  them 
also  unusual  liberty  :  he  bore  with  contradic- 


*  Onuphrius  PanviniusVita  Pauli  III.  In  the  yparlo38, 
Mure  Antonio  Contarini  mado  a  repoit  regard! ngihe papal 
court  to  the  Venetian  Senate.  This  I  was  unfortunately 
unable  to  find  in  the  Venetian  archives  or  elsewhere.  In 
a  MS.  relating  to  the  Turkish  war  of  that  time,  under  the 
title,  Tre  libri  delli  Commentari  della  Guerra,  lo37,  8,  9, 
in  my  possession,  I  find  a  short  extract  from  the  report 
from  which  I  have  derived  the  above  notices.  Disse  del 
stato  della  corte  che  niolti  anni  inanzi  li  prelati  non 
erano  stati  in  quella  riforma  di  vita  ch'eran  allora,  e  che 
li  cardinal!  havevano  liberty  maggiore  di  dire  I'opinion 
loro  in  consisloro  ch'avesser  avuto  gia  mai  da  gran  tempo  ; 
e  che  di  ciO  il  pontefice  non  solamente  non  si  doleva,  ma 
se  n'era  studiatissimo,  onde  per  questa  ragione  se  poleva 
sperare  di  giorno  in  giorno  magior  riforma.  Consideri> 
che  tra  cardlnali  vi  erano  tali  uomini  celeberrimi,  che  per 
opinione  commune  il  mondo  non  avria  altretanti.  [He 
said  of  the  state  of  the  court,  that  for  many  years  past  the 
prelates  had  not  led  such  reformed  lives  as  then,  and  that 
the  cardinals  had  more  liberty  in  speaking  their  minds 
than  ever  they  had  enjoyed  before,  whereat  the  ]jope  was 
not  only  not  displeased,  but  was  most  desirous  of  seeing 
it  so,  for  which  reason  a  greater  measure  of  reform  might 
be  looked  for  from  day  to  day.  He  considered  that  there 
were  among  the  cardinals  men  of  such  e.vceeding  cele- 
brity, that  in  the  common  opinion  the  world  had  not  their 
equals.] 


84    THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OP  THE  16TH  CENTURY,    [a.  d.  1538. 


tion  in  the  consistory,  and  encouraged  unre- 
stricted freedom  of  discussion.  i 

But  if  lie  letl  due  liberty  to  others,  if  lie] 
accorded  to  each  the  advantage  incident  to  his 
position,  he  was  equally  resolved  not  to  fore- 
go one  single  prerogative  of  his  own.  The 
emperor  once  addressed  remonstrances  tohim 
on  the  subject  of  his  having  advanced  two  of 
his  nephews  to  the  cardinalate  at  much  too 
early  an  age:  his  reply  was,  that  he  would 
do  as  his  predecessors  had  done ;  there  were 
instances  of  boys  having  been  made  cardinals 
in  their  cradles.  He  manifested  a  preference 
for  his  family  unusual  even  in  his  station.* 
He  was  fully  as  much  bent  as  any  other 
pope  on  advancing  them  to  princely  digni- 
ties. 

Not  that,  like  Alexander  the  VI.,  he  post- 
poned every  other  consideration  to  this  one  ; 
no  one  could  allege  that  against  him  ;  he  ap- 
plied himself  nio.-t  honestly  to  etiecting  a 
peace  between  France  and  Spain,  to  the  sup- 
pression of  the  protestants,  the  resisting  the 
Turks,  and  the  reform  of  the  church ;  but 
along  with  all  this  he  had  it  strongly  at  heart 
to  exalt  his  own  house. 

Combining  together,  as  he  did,  all  these 
discordant  purposes,  pursuing  at  one  and  the 
same  time  public  and  private  aims,  he  was 
constrained  to  a  policy  in  the  utmost  degree 
circumspect,  watchful,  lingering,  and  expect- 
ant: for  if  every  thing  depended  on  the  fa- 
vourable moment,  the  happy  combination  of 
circumstances,  these  were  to  be  slowly  and 
laboriously  brought  about,  and  then  grasped 
with  the  utmost  rapidity,  and  turned  to  ac- 
count. 

Ambassadors  found  it  difficult  to  treat  with 
him.  They  were  surprised  to  see  that  he  be- 
trayed no  deficiency  in  spirit,  and  yet  could 
seldom  be  brought  to  a  decisive  resolution. 
He  studied  to  fetter  other-s  watched  to  lay 
hold  of  a  binding  word,  to  obtain  an  irrevoca- 
ble assurance;  but  he  never  was  willing  to 
pledge  himself.  This  disposition  he  displayed 
even  in  minor  things;  he  was  not  inclined  to 
refuse  or  promise  anything  beforehand  ;  liking 
to  have  his  hands  free  to  the  last  moment. 
But  how  much  more  was  this  evinced  by  him 
in  difficult  circumstances!  Sometimes  it 
would  happen  that  he  himself  pointed  out  an 
escape  frum  a  difficulty,  or  a  means  of  accom- 
modation, and  when  others  were  disposed  to 
adopt  it,  he  would   nevertheless  draw  back. 


♦  Sonano  lo3o.  E  Romano  di  saneue  et  6  cranimo  mollo 
gagliaido:  .  .  .  slima  assai  I'ingiurif  chei;li  si  fanno,  ei  6 
ini.linalissimoa  fargrandi  i  suoi.  [He  isaKo.iian  in  blood, 
and  of  a  very  lively  lenippninipul :  ...  he  is  sensitive 
enough  to  injuries  done  hiin,  and  is  ir.ost  sUonsly  inclined 
to  aggrandize  those  belonging  to  him.']  Varchi  (Islorie 
Florentine,  p.  C3J,)  gives  aii  account  ol"  Paul's  first  secre- 
tary, JMesse  Ambrogio,  "who  coid  1  have  all  he  wished, 
and  wished  all  he  could  have."  An.oug  many  other  pre- 
sents he  o:ice  had  sixty  silver  wiish-hand  basins  and  ewers 
bestowed  on  him.  "  How  comes  il,"  ii  was  sai.l,  "that 
with  so  many  basins  he  yet  has  nol  clean  hands  ?J" 


He  wished  always  to  remain  master  of  his  own 
transactions.* 

He  too,  as  we  have  said,  belonged  to  the 
classical  school ;  he  aimed  at  speaking  both 
Latin  and  Italian  with  unvarying  choiceness 
and  elegance:  he  always  selected  and  weigh- 
ed liis  words  with  the  twofold  view  to  their 
import  and  form:  he  delivered  himself  in  a 
low  tone,  and  with  the  slowest  deliberation. 

People  were  often  at  a  loss  to  know  e.\actly 
how  they  stood  with  him.  Sometimes  they 
thought  they  should  rather  infer  the  vei-y  op- 
posite to  what  his  words  ostensibly  portended. 
But  this  would  not  have  been  correct  in  all 
cases.  Those  who  knew  him  more  intimately 
remarked,  that  he  entertained  the  strongest 
hopes  of  accomplishing  a  project  just  at  the 
very  time  when  he  abstained  from  all  men- 
tion of  it,  neither  alluding  to  the  thing  itself, 
nor  to  the  persons  whom  it  concerned. f  For 
thus  much  was  manifest,  that  he  never  let  go 
a  purpose  he  had  once  embraced.  He  trusted 
to  carry  out  every  project,  if  not  immediately, 
yet  some  other  time,  under  altered  circum- 
stances, by  another  course. 

It  was  not  inconsistent  with  the  habits  of  a 
mind  so  constituted,  of  such  far-searching  fore- 
thought, such  a  tendency  to  look  warily 
around  in  every  direction,  and  to  ponder  its 
purposes  in  secret,  that  it  should  have  taken 
into  the  scope  of  its  reflections  powers  above 
as  well  as  upon  the  earth.  The  influence  of 
the  constellations  over  the  results  of  human 
actions  was  little  questioned  in  those  days. 
Paul  III.  held  no  important  sitting  of  the  con- 
sistory, nor  made  any  journey,  without  having 
first  consulted  the  stars  on  the  choice  of  tlie 


♦  In  the  Lettres  el  Bl^moires  d'Estat,  par  Guill.  Ribier, 
Paris,  l!JG6,  we  find  numerous  specimens  of  his  negocia- 
lions  and  their  character,  from  lo37  to  1540,  and  from  1547 
to  154^\in  the  despatches  of  French  ambassiidora.  Matteo 
Dandolo  describes  thent  directly  in  a  MS.  in  my  posses- 
sion, Relatiime  di  Roma,  1551,  d.  2o.  Junii  in  Senatu.  11 
negoiiare  con  P.  Paolo  fu  giudicato  ad  ogn'un  difficile, 
perclie  era  tardissimonel  pailare,  perche  non  voleva  niai 
pioferire  paiola  che  non  fiisse  elegante  el  exquisila,  cosi 
nellii  volgare  come  nella  latina  e  greca,  che  di  tune  ire 
ne  faceva  profcssione  (I  should  nol  think  he  very  often 
used  Greek  in  his  negotiations),  e  mi  aveva  scopeno  di 
t;u-"l  i)ocoche  io  ne  inteudeva.  E  perche  era  vecchissimo, 
parlava  bassissimo  e  era  longhissimo,  ne  volea  negar  cosa 
clie  segli  addimandasse;  ma  n6  anche  (volea)  che  luomo 
clie  ne2o;iava  seco  potesse  esser  sicuro  di  haveie  havuto 
da  S.  Si.  il  si  piu  che  il  n^  perche  lei  voleva  starse  sem- 
pre  in  I'avanlaggio  di  poter  negare  e  concedere:  peril 
che  sempre  si  risolveva  tardissimamenle,  quamlo  volea  ne- 
gare. [To  negotiate  with  Pope  Paul  was  considered  a  dif- 
ficult thine  for  every  one,  because  he  was  very  slow  in 
speech,  nol  wishing  ever  to  utter  a  word  tliat  was  nol  ele- 
gant and  select,  as  well  in  the  vulsar  tongue  as  in  Latin 
and  Greek,  for  he  professed  them  all  three,  and  discovered 
in  me  what  little  I  knew  of  iheiu.  And  as  he  was  very 
old,  he  spoke  very  low,  and  was  extremely  dilatory,  nor 
woulil  he  refuse  anyThing  that  was  asked  of  him  ;  nor,  on 
the  other  hand,  was  he  willing  that  the  man  who  negoti- 
ated with  him  could  be  sure  of  having  had  "yes"  more 
than  "  no"  of  his  holiness,  lor  he  wished  always  to  stand 
on  the  vantage  ground  of  being  able  to  reluse  or  concede; 
wherefore  he  w-<is  always  most  slow  to  resolve  when  he 
wished  to  denv.] 

i  Observations  of  cardinal  Carpi  and  Margareta:  "  Ch»- 
son  Is,"  says  Mendoza,  "que  inas  platica  tienen  de  su 
condicion."  [Who  are  the  persons  possessing  aiosl  prac- 
tical knowledge  of  his  disposiiion.J 


1538.] 


PAUL  III. 


85 


fittinrf  days.*  An  alliance  with  France  was 
broken  otF  merely  because  there  was  no  con- 
formity between  the  nativities  of  the  kiMi>-an(l 
the  pope.  This  pope,  it  is  plain,  felt  himself 
in  tlic  midst  of  a  tliousand  conflicting  agen- 
cies, not  only  of  the  powers  of  tiie  earth  be- 
low, but  of  the  configuration  of  the  stars 
above:  his  plan  was,  to  give  due  attention 
alike  to  the  one  class  and  to  the  other,  to 
mitigate'  their  unpropitious  influences,  turn 
their  favours  to  account,  and  dexterously  to 
steer  home  his  bark  between  the  rocks  that 
threatened  him  on  every  side. 

Let  us  consider  how  he  attempted  this, 
whether  or  not  he  was  successful,  wlictiierhe 
actually  lifted  himself  above  the  warring 
forces  of  the  world's  great  movements,  or 
whether  he  too  was  involved  in  their  vortex. 

lie  succeeded  in  the  very  first  year  of  his 
pontificate  in  effecting  a  league  with  Charles 
V.  and  the  Venetians  against  the  Turks.  He 
urged  the  Venetians  with  great  earnestness 
to  the  task,  and  the  hope  once  more  prevailed 
of  seeing  the  boundaries  of  Christendom  ex- 
tended as  tiir  as  to  Constantinople. 

The  war,  however,  meanwhile  renewed  be- 
tween diaries  V.  and  Francis  I.  was  a  tbrmi- 
dable  obstacle  to  every  undertaking.  The 
pope  spared  no  pains  to  allay  the  hostility  of 
the  two  sovereigns.  The  congress  between 
them  at  Nice,  where  he  too  was  present,  was 
wholly  his  work.  The  Venetian  ambassador, 
who  was  present,  cannot  find  words  sufficient- 
ly to  extol  the  zeal  and  patience  exhibited  on 
that  occasion  by  the  pope.  It  was  only  by 
means  of  the  utmost  assiduity,  and  but  at  the 
last  moment,  when  he  was  already  threaten- 
ing to  depart,  that  he  at  last  succeeded  in 
bringing  about  a  truce.f  He  effected  a  good 
understanding  between  the  two  sovereigns, 
which  very  soon  afterwards  seemed  to  pass 
into  something  like  friendship. 

While  the  pope  thus  promoted  public  affairs, 
he  did  not  neglect  his  own.  It  was  noted 
that  he  always  interwove  the  two  together, 
and  made  them  advance  in  concert.  The 
Turkish  war  gave  him  an  opportunity  to 
seize  ('anierino.  It  was  on  the  point  of  be- 
ing incorporated  with  Urbino ;  the  last  Vara- 
na,  heiress  of  Camerino,  had  married  Guido- 
baldo  II.,  who  attained  to  the  government  of 
Urbino  in  the  year  15384  ^^^  ^^^'^  V^P^  ''^" 
clared  that  Camerino  could  not  be  iidiorited 
by  a  woman.    The  Venetians  ought  in  justice 

*  Mendoza.  Es  venitlo  la  cosa  4  que  ay  muy  pocos  car- 
denalps,  que  concierien  ne^ocios,  auiiquf  si'a  para  coiii- 

f)rar  unacari;;a  ile  lena,  siao  es  o  pornieilio  lioalgun  asuo- 
ogo  o  hechizero.  [Ii  is  cone  lo  such  a  pass,  tlial  there! 
are  vpiy  few  cardinals  wlio  will  traiisacl  any  business, ' 
though  il  be  only  to  buy  a  load  of  woxl,  exceiJt  through  : 
the  medium  of  so.ne  aslroloi^er  or  wizard.]  We  meet! 
with  the  most  un(iupstionable  particulars  respecting  the  | 
pope  hiiDSi  11'.  I 

•f  RtliiioiK;  del  Clma.  M.  Niccolo  Ticpoln  d(  1  Convenlo 
di  Nizz:i,  lafonnalt.  Politichs  VI.  (Berlin  Library .>  There 
^Iso  oxisis  an  old  iinpressiou.  | 

$,Adriaui,  Islorier  bs,  U. 


to  have  supported  the  duko,  whose  nncestora 
had  been  under  their  |)r()trction,  and  had  serv- 
ed in  their  armies;  and  they  did  appeal  urg- 
ently and  warmly  in  his  behalf,  but  were  de- 
terred from  doing  more  i<)r  tear  of  war.  Tiiey 
feared  that  the  pope  would  call  in  the  aid  of 
the  emperor  or  tlic  king  of  France  ;  they  pru- 
dently considered,  that  sliould  he  gain  the 
emperor  to  his  side,  the  latter  would  be  the 
less  capable  of  acting  against  the  Turks;  or 
should  he  obtain  tlie  assistance  of  France,  the 
peace  of  Italy  would  be  endangered,  and  their 
own  position  would  become  still  more  disad- 
vantageous and  isolated  :*  accordingly  they 
abandoned  the  duke  to  his  fate,  and  he  was 
compelled  to  cede  Camerino,  which  the  pope 
bestowed  on  his  Grandson  Ottavio ;  tor  his 
house  was  already  rising  to  splendour  and 
power.  How  profitable  to  him  was  the  con- 
gress of  iXice!  While  it  was  yet  pending, 
his  son,  Pier  Luigi,  obtained  Novara  and  the 
district  about  it  from  the  emperor,  who  also 
pledged  himself  irrevoca.bly  to  give  his  natu- 
ral daughter  Margaret,  after  the  death  of 
Alessandro  de  Medici,  in  marriage  to  Ottavio 
Farnese.  We  may  believe  the  pope  when  he 
affirms  that  he  did  not  i()r  this  go  over  uncon- 
ditionally to  the  imperial  party.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  wished  to  enter  into  a  no  less  strict 
connexion  with  Francis  I.  The  king  too,  on 
his  part  acquiesced  in  the  proposal,  and  pro- 
mised him  at  Nice  a  prince  of  the  blood,  the 
duke  of  Vendome,  t()r  his  granddaughter  Vit- 
toria.f  Great  was  the  happiness  of  Paul  III. 
in  being  thus  connected  with  the  two  greatest 
liouses  of  Europe  ;  he  was  very  sensible  of 
the  honour,  and  spoke  of  it  in  the  consistory. 
The  peace-making  mediatorial  position,  too, 
which  he  occupied  between  the  two  powers, 
flattered  his  ecclesiastical  ambition. 

But  the  further  course  of  these  matters 
proved  not  altogether  so  favourable.  The 
Ottomans  were  far  from  suffering  any  check  ; 
and  Venice  was  compelled  to  accept  an  unfa- 
vourable peace.  Francis  I.  afterwards  recall- 
ed the  personal  promise  he  had  given,  and 
though  the  pope  never  abandoned  the  hope  of 
actually  efiectmg  a  family  alliance  with  the 
house  of  Valois,   still  the   negociation  lan- 


*  The  deliberations  are  contained  in  the  before-men- 
tioned commentary  on  the  Turkish  war,  which  thus  ac- 
quires a  peculiar  interest. 

t  Grisrnan,  Ambassadrur  du  Roi  de  France  a  Borne,  au 
Connetable.  Kibier,  i.  p.  2ol.  Moascigneur,  sa  dite 
Saintet6  a  un  merveilleus  drsir  du  mariage  de  Vcndosme : 
car  il  s'en  est  enli6reinent  detlar6  a  n  oy,disanlque  |  our 
estre  sa  niece  unique  et  lanl  aim^e  de  luy,  il  ne  desiroit, 
apr6s  lo  bien  de  la  Chrestii  nl^,  autre  chose  i  his  que  voir 
sa  dite  niece  niarieo  en  France,  di>iil  le  dit  seiineur  (le 
roy)  luy  avoit  tenu  pro.xis  i\  Nice,  el  aprfis,  v  ous,  Mon- 
seigneur,  luy  en  aviez  parl6.  [Monseigncur,  his  said  ho- 
liness, marvellously  desires  the  Vendome  marriage:  for 
so  he  declared  lully  to  me,  saying  that  his  niece  being 
his  only  on",  and  to  nmeh  br loved  by  him,tliprp  was  no- 
tliing  he  n.o.e  d(  sired,  next  lo  the  wi  Ifare  of  Christendom, 
than  to  see  his  said  niece  married  in  France,  whereof  the 
king  had  made  him  pio,  osi.ls  al  Nice,  and  you,  Mousig- 
ueur,  spoke  to  him  aiterwards.j 


86    THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,    [a.  d.  1539-43. 


guished.  The  good  understanding  which  the 
pope  had  brought  about  between  the  king  and 
the  emperor  appeared  indeed  to  be  continually 
on  the  increase.  At  one  time  the  pope 
seemed  well  nigh  jealous  on  the  subject, 
complaining  that  it  was  he  who  had  founded 
it,  and  now  it  proved  the  cause  of  his  being 
neglected.*  Nevertheless,  it  but  too  soon 
came  to  an  end,  and  war  broke  out  afresh. 
Thereupon  the  pope  addressed  himself  to  new 
designs. 

Till  now  he  had  always  openly  declared 
among  his  friends,  and  had  even  given  the 
emperor  to  understand  as  much,  that  Milan 
belonged  to  the  French,  and  ought  of  right  to 
be  restored  to  them.f  By  degrees  he  gave 
up  that  opinion.  Presently,  we  meet  with  a 
proposal  to  Charles  from  cardinal  Carpi,  who 
of  all  the  cardinals  was  the  most  in  the  pope's 
confidence,  which  points  to  far  different  con- 
clusions.! 

"  The  emperor,"  he  says,  "  must  not  think 
of  being  count,  duke,  or  prince;  he  must  be 
emperor  and  nothing  else  :  he  must  possess 
not  many  provinces,  but  great  vassals.  His 
prosperity  has  ceased  since  he  became  pos- 
sessed of  Milan.  He  cannot  be  counselled  to 
return  it  to  Francis  I.  whose  thirst  for  terri- 
torial acquisition  it  would  but  irritate,  but 
neither  on  the  other  hand  ought  he  to  retain 
it.J  The  emperor  has  enemies  only  because 
it  is  feared  he  seeks  to  appropriate  to  himself 
foreign  dominions.  Let  him  annihilate  this 
suspicion,  let  him  give  Milan  to  a  distinct 
duke,  and  Francis  L  will  no  longer  find  an 
adherent :  he,  the  emperor,  on  the  contrary, 
will  have  Germany  and  Italy  for  him,  he  will 
carry  his  banners  into  the  remotest  nations, 
and  he  will  associate  his  name"  (such  is  the 
expression)  "  with  immortality." 

Now  if  the  emperor  was  neither  to  surren- 
der Milan  to  the  French,  nor  to  retain  it  him- 
self, to  whom  then  was  he  to  transfer  the 
duchy?  The  pope  thought  it  would  be  no 
unapt  solution  of  the  dilemma  if  it  were  given 
to  his  grandson,  the  emperor's  son-in-law. 
He  had  already  hinted  at  this  arrangement  in 
former  missions.     At  a  new  conoress  which 


*  Gri^nan,  7  Mars,  1539.  Ribier,  i.  40G.  Le  cardinal 
de  Boulogne  au  Roi,  20  Avril,  1539.  Ibid.  p.  445.  The 
pope  said  lo  him,  "qu'il  estoil  fori  eslonne,  veu  la  peine 
et  travail  ([u'il  avoit  pour  vous  appoinifr,  Vous  et  I'Em- 
pereur,  (pie  vous  le  laissiez  ainsi  arrifire."  [That  he 
was  much  astonished,  seeing  the  pains  and  labour  he  had 
taken  to  effect  an  accordance  between  you  and  the  em- 
peror, that  you  should  both  so  turn  your  backs  upon 
him.]  I 

+  M.  A.  Contarini  likewise  confirmed  this  in  his  report.  ' 

$  Discurso  del  Rmo-  c'e-  di  Carpi  del  1543  (perhaps 
however  a  year  earlier)  a  Carlo  V.  Cesare  del  modo  nel 
dominare.     Bibl.  Corsini  n.  443. 

§  Se  la  M.  V.  dellostato  di  Milano  le  usasse  cortesia, 
non  lanto  si  speffnerebbe  quantosi  ascenderebbe  la  sete 
sua;  si  che  6  meglio  di  armarsi  di  quel  dacato  contra  di 
lui.— V.  M.  ha  da  esse  certa,  che  non  peraftettione  che  al- 
tri  abbia  a  questo  re,  ma  per  interpsse  particolare,  e  la 
Germania  e  1'  Italia,  sinche  <la  tal  sospetlo  non  saranno 
liberate,  sono  per  sostentare  ad  ogni  lor  polere  la  poteniia 
di  Fraucia.  I 


he  held  with  the  emperor  at  Busseto  in  L543, 
he  brought  it  forward  in  form.  Negociationa 
proceeded  on  the  subject  with  great  earnest- 
ness, and  the  pope  entertained  the  liveliest 
hopes.  The  marquis  of  Vasto,  governor  of 
xMilan,  whom  he  gained  over,  being  somewhat 
credulous  and  fond  of  show,  appeared  one  day 
with  a  well  prepared  speech  to  escort  Marga- 
ret as  his  future  sovereign  to  Milan.  I  find 
that  the  negociation  was  broken  off  in  conse- 
quence of  some  exorbitant  demands  on  the 
emperor's  pari.*  Afier  all,  it  is  hard  to  be- 
lieve that  the  emperor  could  ever  have  been 
disposed,  for  any  consideration  whatever,  to 
surrender  to  foreign  influence  so  important 
and  well  situated  a  sovereignty. 

For  even  without  this  the  position  assumed 
by  the  Farnesi  was  one  full  of  danger  to  him. 
Of  the  Italian  provinces  over  which  Charles 
ruled  or  possessed  influence,  there  was  not 
one  in  which  the  existing  government  had 
not  necessarily  been  founded,  or  at  least  con- 
firmed by  force.  In  every  quarter,  in  Milan, 
Naples,  Florence,  Genoa,  Siena,  there  were 
malcontents  belonging  to  the  vanquished  par- 
ty :  Rome  and  Venice  were  full  of  emigrants, 
'i'he  Farnesi  were  not  prevented  by  their 
close  connection  with  the  emperor  from  link- 
ing themselves  with  these  men,  who,  worsted 
as  they  were,  were  yet  powerful  through  the 
importance  of  their  chiefs,  their  wealth,  and 
their  numbers.  At  the  head  of  the  victors 
stood  the  emperor ;  the  beaten  party  sought 
refuge  with  the  pope.  They  were  bound  by 
innumerable  secret  ties  together :  they  were 
in  constant  connexion,  open  or  concealed,  with 
France  ;  new  plans  and  enterprises  were  con- 
stantly in  hand,  now  relating  to  Siena,  now 
to  Genoa,  and  now  to  Lucca.  How  often  did 
the  pope  seek  to  gain  access  and  footing  in 
P^'lorence?  But  he  tbund  in  young  duke  Cos- 
mo the  very  man  who  was  fitted  to  withstand 
him.  Cosmo  expresses  himself  on  this  sub- 
ject with  straightforward  self-reliance.  "The 
pope,"  he  says,  "  who  has  been  successful  in 
so  many  undertakings,  has  no  warmer  wish 


*  Pallavicini  has  flatly  denied  these  negociations. 
From  what  Muratori  too  (Annali  d'  Italia  x.  ii.  51.)  addu- 
ces on  the  subject,  further  reasons  for  doubting  them  may 
perhaps  bederived.  He  relieson  the  authority  of  the  his- 
torians, who  however,  may,  after  all,  have  written  from 
hearsay.  But  a  letter  from  Girolaiiio  Guicciardini  to  Cos- 
mo Medici,  Cremona,  2G  Guigno  1543,  in  the  Archivio 
Mediceo  at  Florence,  is  decisive  on  the  subject.  Gran- 
vella  himself  had  spoken  of  it:  S.  Ma-  mostrava  non  esser 
aliena  quando  per  la  parte  del  papa  fussino  adempiute  le 
larghe  offerte  eran  state  proferte  dal  duca  di  Castio  sin  a 
Genova.  [The  king  showed  that  he  was  not  ill  disposed, 
if  on  the  pope's  part  had  been  fulfilled  the  ample  offers 
made  by  the  duke  di  Castro  at  Genoa.]  I  do  not  know 
what  may  have  been  these  offers  :  at  any  rate  they  were 
too  much  for  the  pope.  According  to  Gos.'iPlini,  Ferranle 
Gonzagas's  secretary,  the  emperor  feared  on  liis  depart- 
ure, "  che  in  vok'endo  ecli  le  sjialle  (i  Farnese)  non  pen- 
sassero  ad  occuparlo"  (Vitadi  Don  Ferrando,  p.  iv.)  [that 
as  soon  as  his  back  was  turned  the  Farnesi  would  at- 
tempt to  take  possession  of  it.]  A  Neapolitan  bioirraphy 
of  Vasto,  not  yet  printed,  in  the  Chigi  library  in  Rome, 
contains  very  detailed  and  amusing  particulars  on  this 
subject. 


A.  D.  1546.] 


PAUL  HI. 


87 


ungratified,  than  to  e^ain  some  ground  in  Flo- 
rence too,  and  to  alienate  this  city  from  the 
emperor ;  but  he  shall  carry  this  wish  with 
him  to  the  grave."* 

In  a  certain  respect  the  pope  and  the  em- 
peror confronted  each  other  as  heads  of  oppo- 
sing factions.  If  the  emperor  had  married 
his  daughter  into  the  pope's  family,  he  did  it 
only  to  keep  the  latter  in  check ;  "  to  main- 
tain," as  he  said,  "  the  existing  state  of  things 
in  Italy."  The  pope,  on  the  other  hand, 
wished  to  avail  himself  of  his  conne.xion  with 
tlie  emperor,  to  ab.^tract  something  from  the 
imperial  power.  Ho  would  gladly  at  one  and 
the  same  time  have  placed  his  house  under 
the  protection  of  the  emperor,  and  have  ex'alt- 
ed  it  with  the  help  of  the  emperor's  opponent. 
There  was  still  in  tact  a  Gliibelline  and 
Guelphic  party,  the  former  adhering  as  usual 
to  the  emperor,  the  latter  to  tlie  pope. 

In  the  year  1-545  we  find  the  two  heads  of 
the  factions,  notwithstanding  all  this,  again 
on  friendly  terms.  Margaret's  hopes  of  soon 
giving  to  her  family  a  descendant  of  the  em- 
peror, turned  tiie  feelings  of  the  Farnesi 
again  in  favour  of  Charles  V.  Cardinal  Ales- 
sand  ro  Farnese  repaired  to  Worms  to  meet 
him.  This  embassy  was  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant emanating  from  Paul  III.  The  car- 
dinal succeeded  m  once  more  allaying  the 
emperor's  displeasure.  He  endeavoured  to 
justify  his  brothers  on  the  score  of  some 
charges  alleged  against  them  ;  on  other  sub- 
jects he  begged  for  forgiveness,  and  promised 
they  would  all  in  future  be  his  majesty's  obe- 
dient servants  and  sons.  The  emperor  re- 
plied, tliat  in  that  case  he  would  treat  them 
as  his  own  children.  Upon  this  they  proceed- 
ed to  di.scuss  important  matters,  such  as  the 
war  against  the  Protestants,  and  the  council ; 
and  both  agreed  that  the  latter  should  take 
place  without  delay.  Should  the  emperor 
resolve  again  to  employ  his  arms  against  the 
Protestants,  the  pope  pledged  himself  to  aid 
him  therein  with  all  his  might,  with  all  his 
wealth,  "  ay,  though  it  were  necessary  to  sell 
his  crown.f" 

The  council  was  actually  opened  the  same 
year :  we  are  now  for  the  first  time  in  a  con- 
dition to  see  how  this  was  finally  brought 
about ;  the  war  too  was  begun  in  the  year 
1546.     The  pope  and  the  emperor  united  in 

*  A  letter  of  Cosmo  found  in  the  Medicean  archives; 
likewise  of  the  year  1537.  Al  napa  non  6  restate  altra 
voglia  in  quesio  mondo  se  non  disporre  di  questo  stato  e 
levarlo  dalladivoiione  dell'  imperatore,  etc. 

t  We  have  authentic  information  respecting  the  mis- 
sion from  Granvella  himself.  DIspaccio  di  Monsignor  di 
Corlonaal  Duca  di  Fiorenza.  Vormalia,  29  Magglo,  1545. 
(Granvella)  mi  concluse  in  somma  ch'el  cardinale  era  ven- 
lUo  per  giiistificarsi  d'alcune  calumnie,  e  supplica  S.  M. 
che  quando  non  polesse  interamente  discolpare  I'attioni 
passate  di  N^o-  Signore  sue  e  di  sua  casa,  ella  si  degnasse 
rimellerle  e  non  ne  tener  conto.  Expose  di  piu,  in  caso 
che  S.  M.  si  risolvess'?  sbatlere  per  via  d'arma,  perche 
per  giustiiia  non  si  vedeva  quasi  niodo  alcuno,  li  Lute- 
rani,  S.  Beatitudine  concorreici  con  ogni  somma  di  de- 
nari. 


annulling  the  Smalcaldic  league,  which  was 
not  much  less  hostile  to  the  temporal  power 
of  the  one,  than  to  the  spiritual  power  of  the 
other.  The  pope  contributed  money  and 
troops. 

The  emperor's  purpose  was  to  carry  on 
warlike  operations  simultaneously  with  peace- 
ful negociations.  Whilst  he  curbed  the  dis- 
obedience of  the  Protestants  by  war,  the  coun- 
cil was  to  settle  religious  controversies,  and 
above  all  to  proceed  to  measures  of  reform, 
which  would  in  some  degree  render  submis- 
sion possible  on  the  part  of  the  Protestants. 

The  success  of  the  war  surpassed  all  ex- 
pectation. At  first  the  fortunes  of  Charles 
seemed  utterly  desperate,  but  he  stood  firm  in 
the  most  perilous  circumstances.  In  the  fall 
of  the  year  1546,  he  saw  all  Upper  Germany 
in  his  hands ;  cities  and  princes  vied  in  sub- 
mitting to  hi(n  :  the  moment  seemed  come 
when  the  Protestant  party  might  be  wholly 
put  down  in  Germany,  and  the  whole  north 
again  made  catholic. 

What  did  the  pope  in  that  moment? 

He  recalled  his  troops  from  the  imperial 
army:  he  transferred  the  council,  that  was 
just  now  on  the  point  of  fulfilling  its  purpose, 
and  putting  its  pacificatory  powers  in  opera- 
tion, from  Trent,  where  it  had  been  assem- 
bled at  the  suggestion  of  the  Germans,  to  Bo- 
logna, his  second  capital,  on  the  pretext  that 
a  contagious  disease  had  broken  out  in  the 
former  place. 

His  motives  to  this  step  do  not  admit  of 
doubt.  The  political  tendencies  of  the  papa- 
cy and  the  ecclesiastical  were  once  more  in 
collision.  That  all  Germany  should  be  van- 
quished and  really  submissive  to  the  emperor, 
was  a  thing  the  pope  could  never  have  de- 
sired: his  expectations  had  pointed  to  a  far 
different  result.  He  might  have  thought  it 
probable  that  the  emperor  would  obtain  some 
success  which  would  redound  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  catholic  Church ;  at  the  same 
time  he  doubted  not,  as  he  himself  confesses,* 
that  he  should  see  him  involved  in  many  diffi- 
culties and  perplexities,  which  would  enable 
himself,  the  pope,  more  freely  to  pursue  his 
private  ends.  But  fortune  mocked  his  calcu- 
lations. He  had  now  to  fear,  and  France 
drew  his  attention  to  this,  that  this  paramount 
power  attained  by  the  emperor  would  re-act 
on  Italy,  and  be  felt  by  himself  but  too  soon 
in  spiritual  as  well  as  temporal  affairs.  In 
addition  to  all  this,  he  felt  a  growing  uneasi- 
ness with  regard  to  the  council.     It  had  long 


*  Charles  C.  de  Guise  au  Koy,  21  Oct.  1547.  (Ribier,  ii 
p.  To.)  written  after  an  audience  of  the  pope :  Paul  states 
the  reasons  that  induced  him  to  take  pan  in  the  German 
war.  Aussi  t  dire  franchement,  qu'il  estoit  bien  mieux 
de  I'empescher  (I'empereur)  en  un  lieu,  dont  il  pcnsoil 
qu'  aisement  il  ne  viendroit  i  bout.  [Also  to  speak 
frankly,  that  it  was  much  better  to  surround  the  emperor 
with  impediments  in  a  position  from  which  he  thought 
he  would  not  easily  come  off  with  success.] 


88 


THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  IGTH  CENTURY,    [a.  d.  1547. 


been  a  burthen  to  bim,*  and  he  had  already 
bethousfht  him  of  dissolving' it ;  but  now  the 
imperialists  among  the  bishops,  made  more 
and  more  presumptions  by  victory,  were  tak- 
ing some  singularly  bold  steps.  The  Spanish 
bishops  brought  forward  certain  proposals 
under  the  name  of  censurce,  that  tended  gen- 
erally to  a  circumscription  ofthe  papal  dignity. 
The  Reformation,  always  so  much  dreaded  by 
Rome,  seemed  no  longer  capable  of  being  post- 
poned. 

It  sounds  strangely,  but  nothing  is  truer, 
than  that  in  the  very  moment  when  all  North 
Germany  was  tremblin;^ly  apprehensive  of  the 
reinstatement  of  the  papal  authority,  the  pope 
felt  himself  an  ally  of  the  Protestants.  He 
manifested  his  joy  at  the  success  of  the  elec- 
tor John  Frederick  over  duke  Maurice,  and 
wished  for  nothing  more  ardently  than  that  he 
might  be  equally  prosperous  agamst  the  empe- 
ror. He  specially  admonished  Francis  I.  who 
was  novi?  endeavouring  to  form  an  universal 
league  against  the  emperor,  "  to  succour  those 
who  were  not  yetbeaten."f  It  again  seemed 
probable  to  him  that  the  emperor  encountering 
extreme  obstacles,  would  for  a  long  time  yet 
have  his  hands  occupied  :  "  he  believes  this," 
said  the  French  envoy,  "because  he  wishes 
it."  But  he  deceived  himself  as  he  had  done 
before.  The  emperor's  good  fortune  baffled 
all  his.calculations,  Charles  was  victorious  at 
Muhlberg,  and  carried  oil'  the  two  leaders  of 
the  Protestants  as  prisoners.  He  could  now 
direct  his  attention  more  closely  than  ever  to 
his  Italian  schemes. 

The  pope's  conduct,  as  may  be  supposed, 
had  most  deeply  irritated  him.  He  saw  very 
clearly  through  his  policy.  "  His  holiness's 
intention,"  he  writes  to  his  ambassadors,  "  has 
been  from  the  first  to  entangle  us  in  these 
undertakings,  and  then  to  leave  us  in  our  em- 
barrassment."!   The  withdrawal  ofthe  papal 

*  Du  Mortier  au  Roy,  26  Avril,  1547.  Je  vous  asseure, 
Sire,  que  pendant  il  esloit  i  Trente,  c'estoilune  charge 
qui  le  prpssoil  lort.  [I  assure  you,  Sire,  tliut  wlien  it  was 
at  Trent,  it  was  a  burtlien  that  lay  very  heavily  upon  him. ] 

t  Le  nieme  au  nieme.  Kibier,  i.  03/",  S.S.  ...  a  entendu 
que  le  due  de  Saxe  se  irouve  fort,  dont  elle  a  lei  coniente- 
ment,  cornme  celui  qui  eslime  le  coninuin  ennemy  esu-e 
par  ces  nioyens  retenu  d'executer  ses  enireprises,  et  con- 
noist-on  bien  qu'l  seioit  utile  sous-main  d'enlrelenir  ceux 
qui  luy  resistent,  disanlque  vous  nesoauriez  faired^pense 
plus  utile.  [His  holiness— has  heard  lliat  the  duke  of 
Saxony  is  in  strength,  whereat  he  rejoices,  as  thinking 
that  the  common  enemy  will  thereby  be  restricted  from 
accomplishing  his  designs,  and  is  decidedly  of  opinion 
that  il  would  be  useful  secretly  to  aid  those  who  re.sist 
him,  saying  that  you  could  not  incur  any  expense  that 
would  yield  more  advantage.] 

t  Copiade  la  carta  que  S.M.  scrivioaDon  Diego  de  Men- 
doca  a  XI  de  Hebrero,  1517  aos.  Quanto  mas  y  va  el  dicho 
(prospero  succeso)  adelante,  mas  nos  conhrmamos  en 
creher  que  fuesse  verdad  lo  que  antes  se  havia  savido  de 
la  intention  y  inclinacion  de  S.  S.,  y  lo  que  se  dezia  (es) 
que  su  fin  havia  sido  por  embarauar  nos  en  lo  que  eslava- 
mos,  y  dexarnos  en  tllo  con  sus  finos  drsinos  y  plalicas, 
pe ro  que,  aunque  pesasse  a  S.S.  y  a  oiros,  espeiavan  os 
con  la  ayuda  de  M.S.,  ai;n(|ue  sin  la  de  S.S.,  guiar  etla 
impresa  a  buen  camino.  ['Ihe  more  our  success  advanc- 
ed, the  more  confirmed  were  we  in  the  truth  of  our  former 
opinion  as  toihe  inteniionand  inclination  of  his  Holiness  : 
the  sum  of  the  matter  is,  that  his  aim  had  been  to  embar- 


troops  was  not  a  matter  of  much  moment. 
Badly  paid,  and  for  that  reason  disorderly  and 
undisciplined,  they  had  never  been  good  for 
much.  But  the  transference  of  the  council 
was  a  matter  ofthe  greatest  importance.  It  is 
wonderful  how  much  on  this  occasion  too  the 
dissensions  ofthe  pope  and  the  emperor,  pro- 
duced by  the  political  position  of  the  former, 
aided  the  cause  ofthe  Protestants.  The  means 
of  compelling  them  to  submit  to  the  voice  of 
the  council  now  obviously  presented  them- 
selves. But  as  the  council  itself  had  divided 
(for  the  imperial  bishops  remained  in  Trent,) 
since  there  was  no  longer  a  possibility  of  its 
arriving  at  any  valid  resolution,  neither  could 
any  one  be  forced  to  give  his  adhesion  to  the 
acts  of  that  body.  The  emperor  was  com- 
pelled to  .^ee  the  most  essential  part  of  his 
plans  frustrated  by  the  defection  of  his  ally. 
He  not  only  insisted  continually  on  the  re- 
transfer  of  the  council  to  Trent,  but  even  went 
so  far  as  to  say,  "  that  he  would  go  to  Rome, 
and  hold  the  council  there  himself" 

Paul  III.  bestirred  himself :  "  the  emperor," 
he  said,  "  is  mighty ;  but  we  too  can  show 
some  strength  and  possess  some  friends."  The 
long  promised  connexion  with  France  was  now 
effected  :  Oratio  Farnese,  and  the  natural 
daughter  of  Henry  II.  were  betrothed  :  no 
means  were  left  untried  to  engage  tiio  Vene- 
tians next  in  a  general  league.  All  the  emi- 
grants were  on  the  alert.  Disturbances  broke 
out  in  Naples  just  at  the  critical  moment:  a 
Neapolitan  delegate  presented  himself  to  im- 
plore the  pope's  aid  on  behalf  of  his  vassals  in 
that  quarter,  and  there  were  cardinals  who 
counselled  him  to  accede  to  the  request. 

The  Italian  factions  now  stood  once  more 
face  to  face,  and  with  the  more  decided  hosti- 
lity as  their  two  leaders  were  mutually  at 
variance.  On  the  one  side  were  the  governors 
of  Milan  and  Naples,  the  Medici  in  Florence, 
and  the  Dorias  in  Genoa;  Don  Diego  Men- 
doza,  imperial  ambassador  at  Rome,  may  be 
looked  on  as  the  centre  of  their  party :  they 
had  still  a  great  force  of  Ghibelline  adhe- 
rents in  every  direction.  On  the  other  side 
were  the  pope  and  the  Farnesi,  the  emigrants 
and  malcontents,  and  a  newly  formed  Orsini 
party,  adherents  of  the  French.  The  former 
party  were  favoured  by  the  portion  of  the 
council  that  had  remained  in  Trent,  the  latter 
by  the  portion  that  had  gone  to  Bologna. 

The  hatred  mutually  cherished  by  these 
parties  was  suddenly  exemplified  in  a  deed  of 
violence. 

The  pope  had  already  availed  himself  of  his 
former  close  intimacy  with  the  emperor,  to 
transfer  Parma  and  Piacenza  to  his  son  Pier 


rass  us  in  the  position  in  which  we  stood,  and  leave  us 
there  with  his  crafty  designs  and  practices,  but  that  how- 
ever unwelcome  it  might  be  to  his  Holiness  and  others,  we 
hoped  with  the  help  of  our  Lord,  even  though  without  that 
of  his  Holiness,  to  bring  this  enierprizeto  a  favourabla 
issue.] 


A.  D.  1547.] 


PAUL  m. 


Luigi,  as  a  fief  under  the  papal  see.  The 
times  were  not  such  as  to  allow  of  his  pro- 
ceeding to  such  a  step  with  the  recklessness 
of  an  Alexander  or  a  Leo.  By  way  of  com- 
pensation, he  re-attached  Camerino  and  Nepi 
to  the  church,  and  sought  to  prove  that  the 
Camera  would  suffer  no  loss  in  the  transac- 
tion, by  calculations  of  the  cost  attending  the 
maintenance  of  those  frontier  places  in  a  state 
of  defence,  the  tribute  that  his  son  would  have 
to  pay  on  account  of  them,  and  the  revenue  to 
be  derived  from  the  newly  annexed  localities. 
But  it  was  only  in  private  conference  with  the 
cardinals  he  could  succeed  in  bringing  them 
over  to  his  views,  and  this  not  even  with  all 
of  them.  Some  openly  resisted :  others  sedu- 
lously abstained  from  attending  the  consistory, 
in  which  the  matter  was  brought  forward ; 
and  CarafFa  was  seen  on  the  day  appointed  for 
that  business,  proceeding  on  a  solemn  visit  to 
the  seven  churches.*  The  emperor,  too,  was 
averse  to  the  affair ;  at  least,  he  would  have 
wished  the  dulcedom  given  to  his  son-in-law 
Ottavio,  to  whom,  however,  Camerino  also 
belonged.!  He  let  the  matter  pass,  because  he 
was  just  then  in  need  of  the  pope's  friendship, 
but  he  never  gave  it  liis  sanction  :  he  knew 
Pier  Luigi  too  well.  That  very  son  of  the 
pope  held  in  his  hand  all  the  cords  of  the  secret 
associations  among  the  Italian  opposition.  It 
was  not  doubted  tliathe  had  been  privy  to  the 
conspiracy  of  Fiesco,  in  Genoa,  that  he  had 
assisted  i'ietro  Strozzi,  the  powerful  head  of 
the  Florentine  emigrants,  in  a  moment  of  the 
utmost  difficulty,  after  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
on  Milan,  to  make  his  esc;ipe  over  the  Po,  and 
had  been  the  sole  instrument  of  securing  his 
safety.  It  was  suspected  that  he  himself 
entertained  fixed  designs  on  Milan. J 

One  day  the  pope,  who  thought  himself  still 
under  the  influence  of  favourable  stars,  and 
able  to  conjure  the  storms  that  threatened 
him,  was  particularly  cheerful  at  the  audience. 
He  enumerated  all  the  felicities  of  his  life, 
and  compared  himself  in  that  respect  with  the 
emperor  Tiberius.  On  that  very  day  his  son, 
the  possessor  of  all  his  acquisitions,  the  heir 
of  his  good  fortune,  was  assailed  and  murder- 
ed by  conspirators  in  Piacenza.^ 

The  Ghibellines  of  Piacenza,  aggrieved  and 
irritated  by  the  violent  acts  of  the  duke,  who 
belonged  to  the  despotic  rulers  of  those  times, 
and  sought  especially  to  keep  the  nobility  in 
subjection,  were  the  perpetrators  of  the  dead  : 


♦  Bromato,  Vita  di  Paolo  IV.  ii.  222. 

t  The  negocialions  on  this  subject  are  manifest  from 
Mendoza's  letter  of  the  29th  Nov.  1.517.  The  pope  says 
he  bestowed  the  fief  on  Pier  Luigi  because  the  cardinals 
preferred  this,  and  "  haviendo  de  vivir  tanipoco,  como 
moalrava  su  indisposicion,"  [having  so  short  a  time  to 
live,  as  appeared  from  his  ill  health.] 

t  Gossellini,  Vila  di  Ferr.  Gonzaga,  p.  20.  Segni,  Storie 
Fiorentin°,  p.  202. 

§  Mendooaal  Emperador,  18  Sept.  1517.  Gast">  la  mayor 
pane  del  tempo  (on  Uiat  day)  en  contar  bus  felicidades  y 
•ompararse  a  Tiberio  imperador. 

12 


but  we  cannot  entertain  a  doubt  of  what  every 
one  in  that  day  believed,  that  Ferrante  Gon- 
zaga, governor  of  Milan,  had  a  hand  in  the 
affair.*  Gonzaga's  biographer,  who  had  been 
in  the  times  we  arc  speaking  of  his  confiden- 
tial secretary,  and  who  seeks  to  exculpate 
him,  assures  us  that  his  intention  had  only  ex- 
tended to  the  imprisonment  and  not  to  the 
assassination  of  Farnese.f  I  find  in  some 
MSS.. still  clearer  hints  that  the  emperor  had 
received  previous  information  of  this  design; 
but  I  hesitate  to  credit  this  without  further 
substantiation.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  imperial 
troops  hastened  to  the  spot,  took  possession  of 
Piacenza,  and  asserted  the  claims  of  the  em- 
pire upon  tliat  city.  This  was  in  some  mea- 
sure a  retaliation  for  the  pope's  de.sertion  of 
the  emperor  in  the  war  of  Smalcald. 

The  state  of  ihings  that  now  arose  is  with- 
out a  parallel. 

Cardinal  Alessandro  Farnese,  some  pre- 
tended to  know,  had  said  he  could  only  help 
himself  out  of  his  difficulties  by  the  death  of 
some  imperial  ministers  :  he  could  not  take 
them  off  by  violence,  and  must,  therefore,  have 
recourse  to  art.  While,  therefore,  the  persons 
aimed  at  sought  to  secure  themselves  against 
poison,  two  or  three  Corsican  bravoes  were 
arrested  in  Milan,  and  brought  to  confess, 
whether  truly  or  falsely  I  will  not  pretend  to 
say,  they  had  been  hired  by  those  belonging 
to  the  pope  to  assa.ssinate  Ferrante  Gonzago, 
At  all  events,  Gonzago  was  exasperated 
afresh.  He  must,  he  said,  secure  his  life  as 
well  as  he  could :  nothing  remained  for  him 
but  to  put  out  of  the  way  two  or  three  of  these 
his  enemies,  either  by  his  own  hand  or  by  ano- 
ther's.! Mendoza  is  of  opinion  there  was  a 
design  to  kill  all  the  Spaniards  in  Rome;  the 
people  were  to  be  secretly  instigated  to  the  act, 
which  when  done  was  to  be  excused  on  the 
plea  of  their  ungovernable  fury. 

No  reconciliation  was  to  be  thought  ofl 
There  had  been  a  wish  to  employ  the  media- 
lion  of  the  emperor's  daughter  to  that  end. 
But  she  had  never  liked  the  Farnese  family, 
she  despised  her  husband,  who  was  much  her 
jimior,  and  exposed  his  bad  qualities  to  the 
ambas.sadors  without  reserve ;  she  said  she 
would  rather  cut  off  her  child's  head  than 


*  CompertumhabemusFerdinandum  esseautorem,[We 
have  ascertained  that  Ferrante  was  the  instigator  of  the 
deed]  said  the  pojje  in  tlie  coasislory.  Extrait  du  Consis- 
toire  tenu  par  N.  S.  P6re,  in  a  dispatch  from  Morvillier, 
Venise,  7  Sept.  1547.    Ribier,  ii.  61. 

t  Gossellini,  p.  45.  N6  I'imperatorp,  n6  D.  Fernando, 
come  di  natura  magnanimi,  consentirono  mai  alia  niorte 
del  duca  Pier  Luigi  Farnese;  anzi  fecero  o;ni  opera  di 
salvarlo,  cnmandando  in  specialiti  a  congiurati  che  vivo 
il  tenessero.  [Neither  the  emperor  nor  Don  Fernando, 
men  of  noble  natures,  ever  would  consent  to  the  death  of 
the  duke  Pier  Luigi  Farnese,  but  did  all  in  their  power  to 
save  him,  eiving  special  orders  to  the  conspirators,  thai 
they  should  keep  him  alive  as  a  prisoner.] 

t  Mendo'ja  al  Emp.  Don  Hernando  procurara  de  asfi- 
purar  su  vida  come  mejor  piidiere,  hechando  a  parte  dos  (t 
lies  di  estos,  o  por  su  mano  o  por  mano  du  oiros. 


90    THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,     [a.  d.  1548. 


make  any  request  lo  her  father  that  might  be 
displeasing  to  him. 

Mendoza's  correspondence  with  his  court 
lies  before  me.  It  would  not  be  easy  to  match 
these  letters,  for  the  tone  imparted  to  them  by 
that  deep  rooted  hate,  which  both  parties  strove 
to  conceal,  and  each  perceived  in  the  other. 
There  is  in  them  a  feeling  of  superiority  filled 
with  bitterness,  of  contempt  that  is  yet  on  its 
guard,  of  distrust,  such  as  men  entertain  to- 
wards an  inveterate  malefactor. 

In  this  posture  of  thmgs,  France  was  the 
only  country  to  which  the  pope  could  look  for 
support  or  help. 

Accordingly  we  find  him  sometimes  discus- 
sing for  hours  the  relation  of  the  Roman  see 
to  France,  in  the  presence  of  the  French  am- 
bassadors and  cardinals  Guise  and  Farnese. 
"  He  had  read  in  old  books,"  he  said,  "  and 
heard  it  from  others  during  his  cardinalate, 
and  personally  experienced  it  since  he  became 
pope,  that  the  holy  see  was  always  then  in 
power  and  prosperity  when  it  was  allied  with 
France,  while  on  the  contrary  it  sustained 
losses  so  soon  as  this  ceased  to  be  the  case. 
He  could  not  forgive  Leo  X.  and  his  prede- 
cessor Clement,  he  could  not  forgive  himself 
for  having  even  favoured  the  emperor  :  now, 
however,  he  was  determined  forever  to  unite 
himself  with  France.  He  hoped  to  live  yet 
long  enough  to  leave  the  papal  see  devotedly 
attached  to  the  French  king ;  he  would  endea- 
vour to  make  the  latter  the  greatest  sovereign 
in  the  world ;  his  own  house  should  be  con- 
nected with  him  by  the  most  indissoluble 
ties."* 

His  purpose  was  to  form  with  France,  Swit- 
zerland, and  Venice,  a  league  at  first  defen- 
sive, but  of  which  he  himself  says,  that  it  was 
"  the  door  to  an  offensive  league."!  The 
French  calculated  that  their  friends,  once 
united,  would  secure  to  them  as  large  a  terri- 
tory in  Italy  as  that  which  the  emperor  pos- 
sessed :  tlie  whole  Orsini  party  were  again 
ready  to  devote  themselves  to  the  king  with 
life  and  substance.  The  Farnesi  thought  that 
in  the  district  of  Milan  they  could  count  at 
least  on  Cremona  and  Pavia  :  the  Neapolitan 
emigrants  promised  to  bring  fifteen  thousand 
men  into  the  field,  and  forthwith  to  deliver  up 
Aversa  and  Naples.     The  pope  entered  with 


•  Guise  au  Roy,  31  Oct.  1547.    Ribier,  ii.  75. 

+  Guise  au  Roy,  11  Nov.  1-547.  Ribier,  ii.  81.  Sire,  il 
aemble  au  pape,  it.  ce  qu'il  m'a  dit,  qu'il  doil  comniencer 
a  vous  faire  declaration  de  son  ainili6  par  vous  presenter 
luy  el  toute  sa  maison  :  el  pour  ce  qu'ils  n'auroifnl  puis- 
sance de  vous  faire  service,  ny  vous  aider  4  oft'enser,  si 
vous  premierenienl  vous  ne  les  aidez  d.  defendre,  il  luy  a 
8embl6  devoir  commencer  par  la  lieue  defensive,  la  quelle 
il  dil  estre  la  vrayeportedel'offensive.  [Sire,  the  pope  is 
minded,  as  he  has  told  me,  that  he  ousilil  to  begin  his  dec- 
laration of  friendship  by  presenting  to  you  himself,  and  his 
whole  house:  and  for  thai  they  could  have  no  power  lo  do 
you  service,  or  to  aid  you  to  offend,  unless  you  in  the  first 
place  aid  them  to  defend,  il  seems  fit  to  him  lo  bpgin  with 
the  defensive  league,  which  he  says  is  the  real  door  to  the 
offensive.]  The  whole  correspondence  relates  to  this 
topic. 


great  eagerness  into  all  these  schemes.  He 
gave  the  French  ambassador  the  first  intelli- 
gence of  a  design  on  Genoa.  He  was  not  at 
all  averse  to  the  conclusion  of  a  league  with 
the  Sultan  or  with  Algiers,  for  the  sake  of 
getting  hold  of  Naples.  Edward  VI.  had  just 
ascended  the  throne  of  England,  and  a  decid- 
edly protestant  administration  had  assumed 
the  helm  of  state  :  the  pope  for  all  that  advised 
Henry  II.  to  make  peace  with  England,  "that 
he  might  be  free  to  accomplish  other  designs 
for  the  best  interests  of  Christendom."* 

Thus  vehement  was  the  pope's  hostility  to 
the  emperor,  thus  close  his  connexion  with 
the  French,  thus  vast  were  the  views  he  pro- 
posed to  himself:  and  yet  he  never  completed 
his  projected  league,  he  never  took  the  final 
step. 

The  Venetians  were  astounded.  "  The 
pope,"  they  said,  "has  been  assailed  in  his 
dignity,  injured  in  his  own  blood,  robbed  of 
the  best  possessions  of  his  house  :  he  should 
grasp  at  every  alliance,  on  any  terms;  yet 
after  so  many  injuries  and  insults  he  still 
hesitates  and  wavers." 

Most  commonly  personal  injuries  prompt  to 
extreme  resolves.  There  are  natures,  how- 
ever, in  which  that  is  not  the  case,  which 
even  then  deliberate  when  they  are  most 
deeply  wounded ;  not  that  the  sentiment  of 
revenge  is  less  strong  in  them,  but  because 
they  are  more  forcibly  possessed  with  the  con- 
sciousness of  their  adversary's  superiority. 

The  prudence  that  anticipates  the  aspect  of 
the  future  predominates  in  them :  great  mis- 
chances do  not  rouse  them,  but  make  them 
spiritless,  vacillating,  and  weak. 

The  emperor  was  too  powerful  to  enter- 
tain any  serious  fear  of  the  Farnesi.  He  kept 
on  his  way  without  bestowing  a  thought  upon 
them.  He  protested  solemnly  against  the 
sittings  of  the  council  in  Bologna,  and  declared 
beforehand  all  acts  that  should  issue  from  it 
to  be  null  and  void.  In  the  year  1548  he 
publislied  the  Interim  in  Germany.  However 
intolerable  the  pope  tliought  it  that  the  em- 
peror should  venture  to  prescribe  a  rule  of 
faith,  however  vehemently  he  complained  that 
the  property  of  the  church  should  be  left  in 
the  hands  of  its  present  possessors  (in  addition 
to  all  this,  cardinal  Farnese  said  he  could 
point  out  seven  or  eight  heresies  in  the  Inte- 
rim,!) the  emperor  did  not  suffer  himself  to 

*  Franoois  de  Rohan  au  Roy,  24  Febrier,  1548.  Ribier, 
ii.  117.  S.  S.  m'a  conniiand6  de  vous  faire  entendre  et 
conseiller  de  sa  part,  de  rcgarder  les  moyens  que  vous 
pouvez  tenir  pour  vous  mettre  en  paix  pour  quelqtie  temps 
avec  les  Anglais,  afin  que  n'estanl  en  lanl  d'  endroits  eni- 
ppsche  vous  pussiez  plus  facilemenl  executer  vos  desseins 
el  entreprises  pour  le  bien  public  de  la  Chrestient^. 

+  "  Hazer  intendcr  a  V.  M.  como  en  el  Interim  ay  7  o  8 
herecias."  Mondoca,  10  Juni,  1348.  In  the  "  Leltere  del 
Commendatore  Annibal  Caro,  serine  al  nome  del  VA-  Far- 
nesp,"  which  in  other  respects  are  composed  with  great 
reserve,  there  is  a  letter  (i.  65)  to  the  Cardinal  Sfondrato 
with  respect  to  the  Interim,  in  which  it  is  said,  "  the  em- 
peror has  caused  a  scandal  in  Christendom;  he  might 
have  taken  somelhing  better  in  hand." 


A.  D.  1548.] 


PAUL  III. 


91 


be  moved  from  his  purpose.  In  the  affair  of 
Piacenza  too,  he  did  not  yield  a  hair's  breadth. 
Tlie  pope  demanded  the  immediate  restitution 
of  that  city  ;  the  emperor  maintained  his  claim 
to  it  in  right  of  tlie  empire.  The  pope  ap- 
pealed to  the  treaty  of  1521,  in  which  Pia- 
cenza had  been  guaranteed  to  the  Roman 
see  ;  the  emperor  pointed  to  the  word  "  inves- 
titure," by  which  the  empire  had  asserted  its 
own  right  of  sovereignty.  The  pope  rejoined 
that  the  word  was  here  employed  otherwise 
than  in  the  feudal  sense  :  the  emperor  carried 
the  discussion  no  further,  but  declared  that 
his  conscience  forbade  him  to  give  back  Pia- 
cenza.* 

Gladly  would  the  pope  now  have  taken  up 
arms,  attached  himself  to  France,  and  set  his 
friends  and  partisans  in  motion  (his  adherents 
were  observed  to  be  busy  in  Naples,  Genoa, 
Siena,  Piacenza,  and  even  in  Orbitello),  gladly 
would  he  have  revenged  himself  by  some  un- 
expected blow ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  he  felt 
extreme  dreqjd  of  the  emperor's  superior  pow- 
er, above  all  of  his  influence  in  ecclesiastical 
matters ;  he  was  apprehensive  that  a  council 
would  be  called  that  would  declare  itself  de- 
cidedly against  him,  and  even  proceed  to  his 
deposition.  Mendoza  affirms,  that  the  attempt 
of  the  Corsicans  upon  the  life  of  Ferrante 
Gonzaga  had  especially  alarmed  him. 

However  this  may  be,  certain  it  is  he  kept 
still  and  smothered  his  rage.  The  Farnesi 
were  even  not  displeased  to  see  the  emperor 
take  Siena,  hoping  he  would  bestow  it  on  tliem 
in  compensation  tor  their  losses.  The  most 
singular  proposals  were  made  in  connection 
with  this  subject.  "  If  the  emperor  agrees  to 
this,"  it  was  said  to  iSlendoza,  "the  pope  on 
his  part  must  then  send  back  the  council  to 
Trent,  and  not  only  proceed  in  other  respects 
according  to  the  emperor's  wishes  (for  exam- 
ple, m  solemnly  recognizing  his  right  to  Bur- 
gundy), but  also  declare  Charles  his  successor 
in  the  papal  see.  For,  said  they,  the  climate 
of  Germany  is  cold,  that  of  Italy  warm  ;  warm 
countries  are  more  wholesome  for  the  gout, 
with  which  the  emperor  is  afflicted. "f  I  will 
not  maintain  that  they  were  serious  in  mak- 
ing these  proposals,  for  the  old  pope  lived  in 
the  belief  that  he  should  survive  the  emperor ; 
we  see,  however,  on  what  dubious  and 
strangely  unaccustomed  paths  tlieir  policy 
had  adventured.     I'heir  movements  and  their 


*  "  LettPre  del  Cardiniil  Fainese,  scritte  al  Vpscovo  di 
Fano,  nuntio  al  imperatore  Carlo,"  Inforiiiationi  PoliticliP, 
xix.  anil  some  instruction-!  of  the  pope's  and  Farnpse's, 
ib.  xii.  throw  light  on  ihpse  transactions,  of  which  I  can 
only  touch  on  the  main  points. 

t  Cardinal  Gambara  inadR  the  proposition  to  Blendoza 
in  a  private  meeting  in  a  church.  He  said  at  least,  "  que 
avia  scripto  al  papa  al20  desto,  y  no  lo  havia  toinado  mal." 
[That  he  had  written  somewhat  thereabout  to  the  pope, 
and  that  he  had  not  taken  it  aiuiss.]  Le  Conneslable  au 
Eoy,  1  Sept.  l.)19  (Ribier,  ii.  155,  p.  69).  Lp  papp  et  sos 
minislrps  vousontjusques-icy  us6  de  toutes  dissiimdalions, 
les-quellps  ils  ont  depuis  quilque  temps  voulu  couvrir  de 
pur  mensoiigp,  pour  en  former  une  vraye  meschancete, 
puis  qu'il  faut  que  je  I'appelle  ainsi. 


negotiations  with  the  emperor  did  not  escape 
the  observation  of  the  French.  We  have  a 
very  indignant  letter  from  the  constable  de 
Montmorency,  in  which  he  speaks  without 
qualificationof" dissimulations, lies,  and  down- 
right villainies,"  practised  in  Rome  against 
the  king  of  France.* 

At  last,  that  he  might  after  all  do  some- 
thing, and  gain  at  least  one  fixed  point  in 
these  contentions,  the  pope  resolved,  since  not 
only  his  house's  title  to  Piacenza  but  even 
that  of  the  church  was  disputed,  to  give  back 
that  dukedom  to  the  immediate  possession  of 
the  latter.  This  was  the  first  time  he  had 
ever  done  anything  contrary  to  the  interests 
of  his  grandchildren.  He  thought  he  pos- 
sessed unlimited  authority  over  them  ;  he  had 
always  lauded  them,  and  deemed  himself  for- 
tunate in  their  faultless  obedience.  But  the 
difference  was,  that  till  now  he  had  always 
striven  for  their  manifest  advantage;  now,  on 
the  contrary,  he  proposed  a  measure  at  vari- 
ance therewith.  They  attempted  at  first  to 
divert  him  from  his  purpose  by  indirect  means. 
They  had  it  represented  to  him  that  the  day 
proposed  for  the  consistory  was  inauspicious, 
being  St.  Roque's  day ;  that  the  exchange  he 
contemplated  in  giving  them  back  Camerino 
instead  of  Piacenza,  would  be  rather  prejudi- 
cial to  the  church  than  otherwise.  They 
turned  against  him  the  very  arguments  he 
had  himself  used  on  a  former  occasion.  But 
ail  their  efforts  could  but  delay,  not  prevent 
the  measure.  Paul  J II.  finally  gave  orders 
to  Camillo  Orsino,  governor  of  Parma,  to  keep 
pos.session  of  that  city  in  the  name  of  the 
church,  and  to  give  it  up  to  no  onfe  whatever. 
After  this  declaration,  which  left  not  a  doubt 
behind,  the  Farnese  no  longer  contained  them- 
selves. On  no  consideration  would  they  con- 
sent to  be  despoiled  of  a  dukedom,  that  put 
them  on  a  footing  with  the  independent 
princes  of  Italy.  Ottavio  made  an  attempt 
to  get  Parma  into  his  hands  in  defiance  of  the 
pope,  by  fiirce  or  stratagem ;  but  Camillo's 
prudence  and  determination  frustrated  his 
schemes.  What  must  have  been  Paul's  feel- 
ings when  he  learned  this!  It  was  reserved 
for  the  old  man  at  the  close  of  his  days  to  see 
his  grandsons,  to  whom  he  had  manifested  so 
much  affectionate  partiality,  for  whose  advan- 
tage he  had  heaped  on  himself  the  reproaches 
of  the  world,  now  rebelling  against  him! 
Even  the  failure  of  his  attempt  did  not  deter 
Ottavio  from  his  purpose.  He  wrote  to  the 
pope,  telling  him  flatly,  that  if  Parma  w^as  not 
restored  to  him  by  fair  means,  he  would  make 
peace  with  Ferrante  Gonzaga,  and  endeavour 
to  possess  himself  of  it  with  the  help  of  the 
imperial  arms.  And  in  fact  his  negociations 
with  that  mortal  enemy  of  his  house  were 


*  Dandolu  also  asserts  his  positive  determination:  S.  S. 
era  a  tutto  volla  a  restiluir  Parma  alia  chiesa.  [His  holi- 
ness waa  fully  minded  to  restore  Parma  lo  the  church.] 


92    THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,     [a.  d,  1552. 

highest  station.  But  how  insignificant  ap- 
pears even  a  miglity  mortal  in  comparison 
with  the  world's  history  !  In  all  his  thoughts 
and  efforts  he  is  circumscribed  and  commanded 
by  the  span  of  time  he  looks  upon,  by  momen- 
tary struggles  that  press  upon  him  as  though 
they  were  those  of  eternity :  he  is  fettered  too 
beyond  the  lot  of  other  jnen,  by  the  personal 
considerations  incident  to  his  station;  they 
tax  his  powers  to  the  utmost,  fill  up  his  days, 
sometimes  it  may  be  with  satisfaction,  but 
oftener  with  vexation  and  sorrow,  and  waste 
and  wear  him  away.  Even  while  he  per- 
ishes, the  eteniLil  destinies  of  the  world  roll 
on  to  their  accomplishment. 


already  far  advanced  :  a  courier  had  been  des- 
patched to  the  emperor  with  the  definitive 
proposal.*  The  pope  complained  loudly  that 
he  was  betrayed  by  his  own  kindred  ;  their 
conduct  was  such  as  must  bring  him  to  the 
grave.  What  wounded  him  mo^t  deeply  was, 
that  the  rumour  arose  he  had  himself  been 
privy  to  Otiavio's  proceedings,  and  had  taken 
a  part  in  them  belying  his  open  professions. 
He  told  cardinal  Este  that  never  in  his  life 
had  anything  caused  him  such  anguish,  not 
even  Fier  Luigi's  death,  nor  the  seizure  of 
Piacenza.  But  he  would  not  leave  the  world 
in  any  doubt  as  to  his  real  sentiments.f  His 
only  consolation  was,  that  at  least  Alessandro 
Farnese,  the  cardinal,  was  innocent,  and  de- 
voted to  him.  He  gradually  became  con- 
vinced that  the  latter  too,  in  whom  he  trusted 
wholly,  to  whose  hands  were  committed  the 
entire  management  of  public  affairs,  was  but 
too  well  aware  of  the  matter,  and  had  been  a 
consenting  party  to  it.  This  discovery  broke 
his  heart.  On  the  day  of  All  Souls  (Nov.  2, 
1549),  he  communicated  it  to  the  Venetian 
ambassador  in  bitter  anguish  of  heart.  The 
day  following  he  went,  to  seek  if  possible 
some  relief  of  mind,  to  his  vigna  on  iVIonte 
Cavallo.  But  he  found  no  repose.  He  sent 
for  Cardinal  Alessandro :  one  word  brought 
on  another ;  the  pope  burst  into  the  most  vio- 
lent paroxysm  of  anger,  snatched  his  nephew's 
cap  out  of  his  hand,  and  dashed  it  on  the 
ground.|  The  court  already  anticipated  a 
change ;  it  was  generally  supposed  the  pope 
would  remove  the  cardmal  fi-om  the  adminis- 
tration. But  it  did  not  come  to  that.  This 
violent  agitation  of  mind  at  the  advanced  age 
of  eighty-three,  was  fatal  to  the  old  man.  He 
was  immediately  taken  sick,  and  died  a  few 
days  afterwards,  on  the  lOth  Nov.  1549.  All 
ranks  flocked  to  kiss  his  foot.  He  was  as 
much  beloved  as  his  grandsons  were  hp.ted  : 
that  he  had  met  with  his  death  through  their 
means,  on  whom  he  had  bestowed  most  kind- 
ness, moved  every  one  to  pity. 

Paul  III.  was  a  man  fjll  of  talent  and  intel- 
lect, of  penetrating  sagacity,  exalted  to  the 


*  Gossplini,  Vita  di  Ferr.  Gonzasa,  p.  65. 

t  Hippolytp,  Cardinal  de  Ferrare,  an  Roy,  22  Oct.  1540. 
Kibier  ii.  2i8.  S.  8.  m'a  asseure  n'avoir  en  sa  vie  eu 
chose  dont  die  ait  tant  receu  d'ennuy,  pour  ropinjon 
qu'elle  craint  qu'on  veuille  prendre  que  cecy  ail  este  de 
son  conspntemi  nl. 

t  Dandolo.  II  Kev'"0'  Farnese  si  resolse  di  non  volpr 
che  casa  sua  restasse  priva  di  Roma,  e  se  ne  messe  alia 
forte.  .  .  S.  S.  accortasi  di  quesla  contrao|)eralione  del 
Revmo-  Farnese  me  la  comunico  il  di  de'  niorti,  in  cran 
piarte  con  grandissima  amaritudine,  et  il  di  dielro  la  mat- 
lina  per  tempo  se  ne  anda  alia  sun  viena  di  Monte  Ca- 
vallo per  cercar  transtuUo,  dove  si  ini;oler6  per  lal  causa 
con  esso  Revn.o-  Farnese.  .  .  .  Gli  fu  troviito  tulto  I'inte- 
riore  nellissimo,  d'  haver  a  viver  ancor  qualche  anno,  se 
no.i  che  n'  1  coie  Ire  goccie  di  sanL'ue  agghiaciato  (this  is 
well  known  to  be  an  erroneous  noiion),  suidicati  dal  molo 
della  colera.  [ — All  his  inside  was  lound  in  a  very  sound 
state,  so  that  he  mifrhl  have  lived  so:np  years  longer,  with 
the  exception  of  three  clols  of  coj,'.'ulated  blood  in  thp 
heart,  sud]  03,jd  to  have  betn  caused  by  the  vehemence  of 
his  choler.] 


Julius  III. 

During  the  conclave,  five  or  six  cardinals 
happened  to  be  standing  round  the  altar  of 
the  chapel,  talking  of  the  difficulty  there  was 
to  choose  a  pope.  *' Elect  me,"  said  cardinal 
Monte,  one  of  their  number,  "arid  the  day  fol- 
lowing 1  will  make  you  my  intimates  and  fa- 
vourites of  the  whole  college  of  cardinals." 
"Shall  we  indeed  elect  him  !"  said  Sfondrata, 
another  of  them,  when  they  had  separated. 
Da  Monte  had  the  character  of  being  impetu- 
ous and  irascible,  and  in  other  respects  too 
had  small  grounds  for  hope :  the  lowest  bets 
were  staked  upon  his  name.*  In  spite  of  all 
this,  so  it  was  that  he  was  elected  (Feb.  7, 
1550.)  In  memory  of  Julius  II.,  whose 
chamberlain  he  had  been,  he  styled  himself 
Julius  III. 

Every  face  in  the  imperial  court  was  lighted 
up  with  joy,  when  this  choice  became  known. 
Duke  Cosmo  had  chiefly  contributed  to  bring 
it  about.  It  was  part  and  parcel  of  the  pre- 
eminence of  fortune  and  power,  at  which  the 
emperor  then  found  himself  arrived,  that  at 
last  a  pope,  on  whose  devotedness  he  could 
reckon,  ascended  the  papal  chair.  Public  af- 
fairs seemed  destined  now  to  take  a  difierent 
course. 

The  emperor  still  regarded  it  as  of  extreme 
importance,  that  the  council  should  again  be 
established  in  Trent;  he  still  hoped  to  com- 
pel the  Protestants  to  attend  it,  and  to  submit 
to  its  authority.  The  new  pope  received  the 
proposition  with  cordiality.  If  he  did  set 
forth  the  difficulties  inherent  in  the  matter, 
his  only  anxiety  was,  lest  he  should  be  thought 
to  put  them  forward  as  excuses :  he  was  never 
tired  of  protesting  that  this  was  not  so:  he 
had  acted  all  his  days  without  subterfuge  or 
pretence,  and  would  ever  maintain  the  same 
conduct.  He  did  actually  appoint  the  re- 
newal of  the  council  for  the  spring  of  1551, 


*  Dandolo,  Rf  laUone,  1551 ;  Questo  revmo.  di  Monte  sa 
bm  subito  in  consideratioae  di  ogn'  uno,  ma  all'  imon- 
trooiin'  uno  parldva  tanto  d:  Ua  sua  tolera  e  subitezza, 
che  ne  posso  mai  che  di  pochissima  scommessa. 


A.  D.  1552.] 


JULIUS  III. 


03 


declaring  that  he  did  so  without  pact  or  con- 
dition.* 

But  all  was  far  from  being  achieved  when 
the  good  will  of  the  pope  was  secure, 

Ottavio  Farnese  had,  by  a  resolution  passed 
by  the  cardinals  in  conclave  at  the  instance 
of  Julius,  become  again  possessed  of  Parma. 
This  had  not  occurred  contrary  to  the  empe- 
ror's will ;  they  had  long  been  negotiating 
together,  and  some  hopes  were  entertained  of 
a  renewed  good  understanding  between  tliem. 
But  the  emperor's  mind  was  made  up  not  to 
give  Ottavio  back  Piacenza  too;  and  he  even 
retained  the  places  in  the  territory  of  Parma, 
which  Gonzaga  had  seized  :  Ottavio,  in  con- 
eequence,  continued  to  maintain  a  warlike 
attitude.f  There  was  no  possibility  of  any 
real  confidence  between  the  two,  after  so 
many  reciprocal  offences.  It  is  true,  the  death 
of  Paul  III.  had  deprived  his  grandsons  of  a 
great  support,  but  it  had  also  set  their  hands 
free.  'J' hey  had  now  no  need  to  give  any  fur- 
ther consideration  to  the  general  interests  or 
to  those  of  the  Church,  but  could  adopt  mea- 
sures with  an  exclusive  view  lo  their  own. 
"We  still  find  Ottavio  possessed  with  feelings 
of  bitter  hatred.  His  enemies,  he  said,  were 
endeavouring  to  wrest  Parma  from  him,  and 
even  to  put  himself  out  of  the  way ;  but  they 
should  succeed  in  neither  the  one  nor  the 
olher.f 

In  this  temper  he  turned  to  Henry  II.,  and 
that  king  joyfully  accepted  his  proposals. 

Italy  and  Germany  were  filled  with  mal- 
contents. What  the  emperor  had  already  ef- 
fected, and  that  which  was  yet  looked  for 
from  him,  his  religious  and  his  political  atti- 
tude, had  all  stirred  up  numberless  enemies 
again,-t  him.  Henry  II.  resolved  to  revive 
his  father's  anti-Austrian  plans.  He  aban- 
doned the  war  with  England,  concluded  an 
alliance  with  Ottavio,  and  took  the  garrison 
of  Parma  into  his  pay.  French  troops  too 
soon  appeared  in  Mirandola.  The  banners  of 
France  were  seen  waving  in  the  heart  of 
lUly. 

In  this  new  complication  of  things  Julius 
adhered  stedfastly  to  the  emperor.  He  thought 
it  intolerable  that  a  miserable  worm,  Ottavio 
Farnese,  should  rebel  at  once  against  an  em- 
peror and  a  pope.  "  It  is  our  will,"  he  de- 
clares to  his  nuncio,  "to  embark  in  the  same 
vessel  with  his  im.perial  majesty,  and  to  share 
the  same  fortune.  To  Him  who  has  the  wis- 
dom and  the  power  we  leave  the  determina- 
tion of  the  course.^"     The  emperor  declared 

*  Letlpre  del  Nunzio  Pighino,  12  e  15  Ag.  1550:  Inff. 
Polit.  xi.x. 

t  Gosstllini,  Vila  di  Ferr.  Conzagii,  and  the  justifica- 
tion of  Gonzaga,  in  the  third  boolc,  fio^n  the  accusation  of 
his  having  caused  the  war,  atibrd  an  authentic  explana- 
tion of  this  turn  of  things. 

t  Letters  delli  Signoii  Farnesiani  per  n'^poliodi  Parma, 
Infoimalt.  Pol.  xix.  The  above  is  fio  n  a  1'11't  of  Oltnvio 
lo  cardinal  AltssHndro  Farn?SP,Parina, 2Il1i  March,  loot. 

§  Juhus  Papa  III.    Manu  propria:  Instiutiione  per  voi 


himself  for  the  immediate  forcible  pjrction  of 
the  French  and  their  adherents.  'J'he  impe- 
rial and  papal  troops  were  very  soon  in  the 
field.  An  important  fortress  in  the  Parmcg- 
giana  fell  into  their  hand.«,  they  laid  waste 
the  whole  region,  and  completely  surrounded 
Mirandola. 

But  these  petty  hostilities  were  not  enough 
to  quell  the  movements  that  had  indeed  ori- 
ginated here,  but  had  since  laid  hold  on  all 
Europe.  War  broke  out  by  land  and  sea,  and 
on  every  frontier  where  met  the  territories  of 
the  emperor  and  of  the  king  of  France.  When 
the  Protestants  at  last  allied  themselves  to 
the  French,  they  cast  into  the  scale  a  weight 
very  different  from  that  of  the  Italians.  The 
most  determined  attack  Charles  had  ever  sus- 
tained ensued.  The  French  appeared  on  the 
Rhine,  the  elector  Maurice  in  the  Tyrol. 
The  veteran  conqueror,  after  taking  up  his 
position  on  the  mountain  land  between  Italy 
and  Germany,  to  keep  them  both  in  obedience, 
saw  himself  suddenly  perilled,  vanquished, 
and  almost  a  prisoner. 

This  produced  an  immediate  effect  on  the 
affairs  of  Italy.  "  Never  could  we  have  be- 
lieved," said  the  pope,  "that  God  would  so 
visit  us.*"  He  was  constrained,  in  April 
1552,  to  agree  to  a  truce  with  his  enemies. 

Some  mischances  there  are  that  come  not 
wholly  unwelcome.  They  put  an  end  to  a 
course  of  action  that  begins  to  be  irksome, 
they  give  a  legitimate  reason  or  a  manifest 
excuse  for  abandoning  it. 

The  ill  luck  that  befel  the  pope  seems  al- 
most to  have  been  of  this  kind.  It  was  with 
dissatisfaction  he  had  seen  his  capital  filled 
with  troops,  his  coffers  emptied,  and  he  thought 
he  sometimes  had  cause  to  complain  of  the 
imperial  ministers.!  The  council,  too,  had 
become  a  source  of  real  uneasiness  to  him. 
Since  the  appearance  of  the  German  delegates, 
to  whom  promises  of  reformation  had  been 
made,  the  proceedings  took  a  bolder  course. 
Already  in  1552,  the  pope  complained  that 
attempts  were  made  to  despoil  him  of  his  au- 
thority ;  that  the  intention  of  the  Spanish 
bishops,  was  on  the  one  hand  servilely  to  sub- 
mit to  the  chapters,  on  the  other  to  withdraw 
from  the  holy  see  the  patronage  of  all  bene- 
fices :  he  would  not  however  suffer  that,  under 
the  title  of  abuses,  he  should  be  robbed  of  that 
which  was  no  abuse,  but  an  essential  attribute 


Monsignor  d'Imola  con  I'imperatore.  L'  ultimo  di  Marzo 
Infoi-matt.  Pol.  xii.  Reassigns  the  rea!;oii  for  this  close 
union:  Non  per  atfelto  alcuno  humano,  ina  perche  ye- 
demo  la  causo  nostra  esse  con  S.  Ma.  Cesarea  in  tulli  li 
atTari  e  niassimamente  in  quello  della  rpligione.  [Not 
for  any  human  affection,  but  because  we  see  that  our 
cause  is  identified  with  the  emperor's  in  all  matters,  espe- 
ciullv  those  of  religion.] 
*  Al  C.  Crescentio,  13  April,  1552.  t  «•  w  i 

tLetteradel  papa  a  Meniloza,2G  Dec,  1351.  (Inflf.Pol. 
xix.)  "  Without  pride  be  it  said  :  Of  i.ounsol  we  have  no 
n-ed;  we  could  even  hflp  others  in  that  respect;  help 
indeed  we  might  require." 


94     THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,    [a.  d.  1555. 


of  his  power.*  It  cnuld  not,  therefore,  have 
been  wholly  displeasing  to  him,  that  the  at- 
tack of  the  Protestants  broke  up  the  council: 
he  hastened  to  decree  its  suspension.  He  was 
thereby  rid  of  innumerable  pretensions  and 
disputes. 

From  that  time  forth,  Julius  III.  never  again 
seriously  applied  his  energies  to  politics.  The 
inhabitants  of  Siena  indeed  complained,  that 
although  their  half  townsmen  by  the  mother's 
side,  he  had  seconded  duke  Cosmo's  project 
of  subduing  them;  but  a  subsequent  judicial 
investigation  proved  the  falsehood  of  the 
charge.  It  was  rather  Cosmo  who  had  rea- 
son to  complain.  The  pope  did  not  hinder 
the  Florentine  emigrants,  the  bitterest  foes  of 
his  ally,  from  assembling  and  arming  in  the 
states  of  the  church. 

The  villa  of  pope  Giulio,  at  the  entrance  of 
the  Porta  del  Popolo,  is  still  visited  by  the 
stranger.  Those  times  come  bodily  before 
him,  as  he  ascends  the  ample  steps  to  the  gal- 
lery, whence  he  overlooks  the  whole  extent 
of  Rome  from  Monte  Mario,  and  all  the  wind- 
ings of  the  Tiber.  The  buildmg  of  this  palace, 
the  laying  out  of  its  gardens,  were  the  daily 
and  hourly  occupation  of  Julius  III.  He  him- 
self designed  the  plan,  but  the  work  was  never 
ended;  every  day  new  suggestions  and  ca- 
prices presented  themselves,  which  were  forth- 
with to  be  put  in  execution  by  the  architects.f 
Here  the  pope  passed  his  days,  forgettinar  all 
the  world  beyond.  He  had  done  a'good  deal 
for  the  advancement  of  his  relations.  Duke 
Cosmo  gave  them  Sansovino,  their  ancestral 
place,  and  the  emperor  gave  them  Novara  ; 
Julius  himself  bestowed  on  them  the  dignities 
of  the  ecclesiastical  states,  and  Camerino.  He 
kept  his  word  with  his  favourite,  a  youth 
whom  he  had  taken  a  liking  to  in  Parma,  and 
made  him  a  cardinal.  He  had  happened  once 
to  see  him  seized  by  an  ape,  and  had  been 
pleased  by  his  spirit  and  courage :  from  that 
moment  he  brought  him  up,  and  bestowed  on 
him  a  regard  which  unhappily  constituted  his 
only  merit.  Julius  wished  to  see  him,  and 
the  rest  of  those  belonging  to  him,  well  pro- 
vided for,  but  he  had  no  inclination  to  involve 
himself  in  dangerous  perplexities  on  their  ac- 

*  Al  Crescenlio  16  Gena.,  1j52.  He  exclaims:  Non 
sari  veio,  non  coinportaremo  mai,  prima lassaremo  ruinare 
il  mondo.  [It  shall  nol  be,  we  will  never  endure  it,  we 
would  sooner  see  Uie  downfall  of  the  world.] 

t  Vasari.  Boissard  describes  their  extent  at  that  time; 
"Occupat  fere  omnes  colles  qui  ab  urbe  ad  pontem  Mil- 
vium  protenduntur;"  [ocrupyin?  almost  the  whole  range 
of  hills  from  the  city  to  the  Miivian  bridge,]  he  relates 
their  magnificence,  and  gives  some  of  the  inscriptions: 
e.  g.  Honeste  voluptarier^cunctis  fas  honestis  eslo.  [Be 
■virtuous  delights  allowed  the  virtuous,]  and  particularly: 
Dehinc  proximo  in  templo  Deo  ac  divo  Andreae  gratias 
agunto  (the  visiters  I  presume  are  understood,)  vitamque 
et  salutem  Julio  III.,  Poiiici  IVIaximo,  Baluino  ejus  fratri, 
et  eorum  familiae  universae,  plurimam  et  seternam  p  e- 
canlor.  [Let  them  give  thanks  to  God  and  St.  Andrew  in 
the  adjoining  temple,  and  implore  life  and  healih,  abund- 
ant and  eternal,  for  poae  Paul  [11.,  Baldwin  his  brother, 
and  their  whole  family.]  Julius  died  on  the  23rd  of, 
March,  1555.  I 


count.  The  easy  pleasant  life  of  his  villa,  as 
we  have  said,  suited  best  for  him.  He  gave  en- 
tertainments, which  he  seasoned  with  sprink- 
lings of  proverbial  wit,  that  at  times  indeed 
called  up  the  blushes  of  his  guests.  In  the 
important  business  of  Church  and  state,  he 
took  no  more  part  than  was  barely  unavoid- 
able. 

Marcellvs  II. 

It  was  impossible  that  Church  or  state  could 
thrive  much  under  such  treatment.  The  rup- 
ture between  the  two  great  catholic  powers 
was  constantly  becoming  wider  and  more  pe- 
rilous; the  German  Protestants  had  mightily 
recovered  from  their  defeat  of  1547,  and  stood 
firmer  than  ever.  No  thought  could  be  enter- 
tained  of  the  often  proposed  catholic  reform. 
The  fact  could  not  be  concealed,  that  the  pros- 
pects of  the  Romish  church  were  in  every 
direction  gloomy  and  ambiguous. 

Now  if,  as  we  have  seen,  there  had  risen 
in  the  bosom  of  that  church,  a  stricter  spirit, 
that  heartily  condemned  the  whole  life  and 
conduct  of  so  many  pontiffs,  must  not  that 
feeling  at  last  display  itself  in  the  election  of 
a  pope?  Much  indeed  depended  on  the  per- 
sonal qualities  of  the  pontiffs;  for  this  very 
reason  had  the  highest  dignity  been  made 
elective,  in  order  that  a  man  representing  the 
prevailing  spirit  of  the  Church  should  be  set 
at  the  head  of  affairs. 

The  first  time  the  more  austere  party  pos- 
sessed influence  in  the  choice  of  a  pope,  was 
after  the  death  of  Julius  Hi.  The  latter  had 
often  felt  himself  checked  in  his  undignified 
behaviour  by  the  presence  of  cardinal  Marcello 
Cervini.  This  determined  the  choice.  April 
II,  1555,  Marcellus  II.  was  elected. 

His  whole  life  had  been  earnest  and  irre- 
proachable :  that  reformation  of  the  ('hurch, 
of  which  others  but  talked,  he  exhibited  in  his 
own  person.  His  election  gave  rise  to  the 
greatest  hopes.  "  I  had  prayed,"  says  a  con- 
temporary, "  that  there  might  come  a  pope, 
who  should  know  how  to  redeem  the  fair 
words,  church,  council,  and  reform,  from  the 
contempt  into  which  they  had  fallen  ;  tli  rough 
this  election,  I  deemed  my  hope  fulfilled  ;  my 
wish  appeared  to  have  become  a  fact."*  "  The 
opinion,"  says  another,  "entertained  of  this 
pope's  worth  and  incomparable  wisdom,  filled 
the  world  with  hope  :  now,  if  ever,  it  was 
thought,  will  it  be  possible  for  the  Church  to 
exting-uish  heresy,  to  reform  abuses  and  cor- 
ruption of  manners,  to  become  whole  and 
sound  again,  and  once  more  united. "f  Mar- 
cellus began  entirely  in  this  spirit.  He  did 
not  suffer  his  relations  to  come  to  Rome :  he 

*  Seripando  al  vescovo  di  Fiesole.  Lettere  di  Principi, 
iii.  Iii2. 

t  Lettere  di  Principi,  iii.  141.  The  editor  speaks  here 
in  his  own  person. 


A.  D.  1555.] 


PAUL  IV. 


95 


made  a  multitude  of  retrenchments  in  the  ex- 
penditure of  tlie  court,  he  is  said  to  have 
drawn  up  a  catalogue  of  the  principal  reforms 
requisite  in  the  ecclesiastical  institutions;  he 
immediately  endeavoured  to  restore  its  gen- 
uine solemnity  to  divine  worship;  all  his 
thoughts  turned  on  a  council,  and  on  reform.* 
In  politics  he  assumed  a  neutral  position,  with 
wliich  tiie  emperor  was  contented.  "  The 
world  however,"  say  those  contemporaries  of 
his,  "  was  not  worthy  of  him  ;"  and  they  apply 
to  this  Marcellus,  Virgil's  words  respecting 
another : 

"  Oslendent  terris  hunc  tanlum  fata." 

He  died  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  his  pon- 
tificate. 

We  cannot  speak  of  effects  operated  during 
60  hrief  an  administration  ;  but  even  this  be- 
ginning, this  election,  are  in  themselves  indi- 
cations of  the  spirit  that  was  beginning  to 
prevail.  It  predominated  in  the  next  conclave 
likewise,  whence  the  most  austere  of  all  the 
cardinals,  Giovanni  Pietro  Caraffa,  issued  as 
pope,  May  23,  1555. 

Paul  IV. 

We  have  often  spoken  of  him  already:  he 
is  the  same  who  founded  the  Theatines,  re- 
established the  inquisition,  and  so  essentially 
contributed  to  the  confirmation  of  the  old 
doctrine  at  Trent.  If  there  was  a  party 
which  purposed  the  renovation  of  Catholicism 
in  all  its  strictness,  that  party  possessed  in 
him  who  now  ascended  the  papal  chair,  not  a 
member  merely,  but  a  founder  and  a  leader. 
Paul  IV.  already  numbered  nine-and-seventy 
years,  but  his  deep  sunk  eyes  retained  all  the 
fire  of  youth.  He  was  very  tall  and  thin,  his 
etep  was  rapid,  and  he  seemed  all  sinew.  In 
his  personal  habits,  he  bound  himself  by  no 
rule,  often  slept  by  day  and  studied  by  night, 
and  woe  to  the  servant  who  should  have  enter- 
ed his  room  before  he  had  rung  his  bell.  In 
like  manner  in  all  other  matters  he  followed 
the  impulse  of  the  moment,f  but  this  was 
always  governed  by  a  habit  of  mind  formed 
by  the  practice  of  a  long  life  into  a  second 
nature.  He  seemed  to  know  no  otiier  duty, 
no  other  occupation,  than  the  restoration  of 
the  old  faith  to  its  former  domination.  Such 
natures  arise  from  time  to  time,  and  we  occa- 
sionally meet  with  specimens  of  them  in  our 
own  day.     They  form  their  conceptions  of  the 

*  Petri  Polidori,  de  Vita  Marcelli  II.  Coniracntarius, 
1744,  p.  119. 

t  Kelazione  di  M.  Bernardo  Navagero  (clie  fu  poi  car- 
dinale)  alia  .Serma-  Repca-  di  Venetia,  lornando  di  Roma, 
Ambascialore  appresso  del  Pontefice  Paolo  IV.,  1558,  in 
many  Italian  libraries,  also  in  the  Informazioni  Politiche 
in  Berlin.  La  complessione  di  quesio  pontefice  6  cole- 
rica  adusto ;  ha  una  incredibil  gravitSi  e  grandezza  in  tutte 
le  sue  azioiii,  et  veramenie  pare  nato  al  signnresgiare. 
[The  complexion  of  this  pontiff  is  swarthy  choleric;  he 
displays  incredible  gravity  and  grandeur  in  all  his  ac- 
tions, aad  seems  truly  born  to  command,  j 


world  and  all  its  purposes  from  a  single  point 
of  sight;  their  individual  instincts  are  so  pow- 
erful as  to  tincture  all  their  views;  they  are 
indefatigable  speakers,  and  always  possess  a 
certain  freshness  of  manner,  pouring  forth  in 
inexhaustible  streams  the  system  of  thought 
that  has  grown  up  in  them  by  a  sort  of  fatality. 
How  vastly  important  do  they  become  at 
times,  when  all  their  actions  are  purely  and 
absolutely  dependent  on  their  opinions,  and 
their  will  becomes  united  with  power  !  What 
might  there  not  have  been  expected  of  Paul 
IV.,  who  had  never  known  what  it  was  to 
pause  from  any  motives  of  discretion,  who  had 
always  carried  out  his  opinions  with  the  ut- 
most impetuosity,  now  that  he  was  exalted 
to  the  topmost  station  !*  It  was  matter  of 
wonder  to  himself  how  he  had  arrived  there, 
since  he  had  never  bestowed  the  least  favour 
on  a  single  cardinal,  and  had  never  shown  a 
trace  in  his  conduct,  of  anything  but  the  utmost 
austerity.  He  believed  it  was  not  the  cardinals, 
but  God  himself  who  had  chosen  him  and  called 
him  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  purposes.! 

"  We  promise  and  vow,"  he  says,  in  the  bull 
published  on  the  commencement  of  his  ponti- 
ficate, "to  make  it  in  truth  our  care,  that  the 
reform  of  the  universal  church,  and  the  Roman 
court,  shall  be  set  on  foot."  He  marked  the 
day  of  his  coronation  by  the  issuing  of  com- 
mands respecting  convents  and  orders.  He 
sent  without  delay  two  monks  from  Monte 
Cassino  into  Spain,  to  restore  the  decayed 
discipline  of  the  convents  in  that  country. 
He  appointed  a  congregation  for  general  re- 
form, consisting  of  three  classes,  each  consti- 
tuted by  eight  cardinals,  fifteen  prelates,  and 
fifty  learned  divines.  The  articles  which 
were  to  be  discussed  by  them,  and  which  re- 
lated to  the  collation  to  benefices,  were  com- 
municated to  the  universities.  He  set  to 
work,  as  we  see,  with  great  earnestness.]:  It 
seemed  as  if  that  ecclesiastical  spirit,  which 

*  It  may  bo  guessed  that  his  character  did  not  meet 
with  unanimous  approbation.  Aretino's  Capitolo  al  R& 
di  Francia  thus  describes  him: 

Caraffa,  ipocrita  infingardo, 

Che  tien  per  concienza  spirituale 

Quando  si  mette  del  pepe  in  sul  cardo. 

[Caraffa,  loitering  hypocrite,  who  makes  matter  of  reli- 
gioug  conscience  of  peppering  a  thistle.] 

t  Relatione  del  Clmo-  M.  Aluise  Mocenigo  K.  ritornato 
dalla  corie  di  Roma,  1560,  (Arch.  Venez.)  Fu  eletto ponte- 
fice contra  il  parer  e  credere  di  ogn'  uno,  e  forse  anco  di 
se  stesso,  come  S.  S.  propria  mi  disse  poco  inanzi  morisse, 
die  non  avea  mai  comoiaciulo  ad  alcuno  e  che  se  un  car- 
dinale  eli  avea  domandatoqualche  gratia,  gli  aveasempre 
risposto  alia  ri versa,  ne  mai  compiaciutolo ;  onde  disse :  lo 
non  so  come  mi  habbiano  eletto  papa,  e  concludo  che 
Iddio  faccia  li  pontefici.  [He  was  elected  pope,  contrary 
to  probability  and  lo  the  belief  of  every  bidy,  himself 
perhaps  included,  as  his  holiness  himself  told  me  short- 
ly before  he  died,  that  he  had  never  been  complaisant  to 
any  one,  and  that  if  a  cardinal  asked  him  any  favour,  he 
had  always  given  a  contrary  answer,  and  never  had  com- 
plied with  the  request ;  for  which  reasons,  he  said,  I  know 
not  how  they  elected  me  i»pe,  and  conclude  that  God 
appoints  the  pontiffs.] 

t  Bromato,  Vila  di  Paolo  IV.  lib.  ix.  §  2.  §  17.  (ii.  2iH. 
289.) 


98        THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,  [a.  d.  1555- 


had  for  a  considerable  time  made  good  its  in- 
fluence ainon^  the  inferior  classes  of  the 
clergy,  had  now  taken  possession  of  the  papacy 
likewise,  and  would  forthwith  assume  the  sole 
direction  of  Paul  IV's  pontifical  career. 

The  only  remaining  question  was,  what 
position  he  would  assume  with  respect  to  the 
general  movements  of  the  political  world. 

It  is  no  easy  task  to  change  the  main  direc- 
tions a  power  has  once  taken,  and  which  have 
gradually  identified  themselves  with  its  very 
being. 

This  was  a  moment  in  which  it  seemed  for 
once  possible  to  indulge  the  wish  which  must 
have  ever  been  natural  to  the  popes,  to  deliver 
themselves  from  the  yoke  of  the  Spaniards. 
That  war  which  we  have  seen  arising  out  of 
the  concerns  of  the  Farnesi,  was  the  most 
unfortunate  in  which  Charles  V.  ever  embark- 
ed. He  was.pressed  hard  in  the  Netherlands ; 
Germany  revolted  from  him  ;  Italy  had  ceased 
to  be  faithful;  he  could  no  longer  rely  on  the 
Estes  and  the  Gonzagas;  he  himself  was  sick 
and  weary  of  life.  I  know  not  whether  any 
other  pope,  had  he  not  belonged  directly  to 
the  imperial  party,  could  have  resisted  the 
allurements  presented  by  these  circumstances. 

For  Paul  IV.  they  were  specially  attractive. 
He  had  beheld  Italy  still  in  the  freedom  of  the 
fifteenth  century  (he  was  born  in  1476),  and 
his  soul  clung  to  the  remembrance.  He 
compared  the  Italy  of  those  times  to  a  well- 
tuned  instrument  of  four  strings,  namely,  Na- 
ples, Milan,  the  Church,  and  Venice.  He 
execrated  the  memory  of  Alfonso  and  Louis 
the  Moor,  "unhallowed  and  lost  souls,"  as 
he  said,  "whose  discord  destroyed  that  har- 
mony."* The  mastery  since  acquired  by  the 
Spaniards  he  had  never  brought  himself  to 
endure.  The  house  of  Carafta  from  which  he 
sprang,  belonged  to  the  French  party:  it  had 
borne  arms  unnumbered  times  against  Castil- 
ians  and  Calalonians;  in  152S  it  had  again 
joined  the  French ;  during  the  troubles  of  1547 
it  was  Giovanni  Pietro  Carafta,  who  advised 
Paul  III.  to  sieze  Naples.  But  this  party- 
hatred  was  augmented  by  other  causes.  Ca- 
rafta had  always  maintained  that  Charles  V. 
favoured  the  Protestants  out  of  jealousy  to- 
wards the  pope,  and  he  ascribed  the  progress 
of  that  party  directly  to  the  emperor.f  Charles 
knew  him  well.  He  once  excluded  him  from 
the  council  appointed  for  the  administration 
of  Naples;  he  never  allowed  him  to  obtain 
quiet  possession  of  his  Neapolitan  ecclesiasti- 
cal offices:  furthermore,  he  had  occasionally 
remonstrated  severely  against  his  declama- 
tions in  the  consistory.  All  this,  as  may  be 
supposed,  added  to  the  virulence  of  CaratTa's 

♦  Infelici  quplle  anime  di  Alfonso  d'Aragona  el  Ludo- 
Tico  Ui  Milano,  che  furiio  li  primi  che  guaslaroDO  cosi 
nobil  inslruiiienlo  d'llalia.     In  Navagero. 

t  Meino.iale  dato  a  Annibale  Kucpllai,  Sell.  1555,  (In- 
formall.  Pol.  torn,  xxiv.)  Chiamava  Uberamanie  la  M^' 
6.  Cesarea  fautore  di  herelici  e  di  scianialici. 


dislike.  As  a  Neapolitan  and  Italian,  as  a 
Catholic  and  as  pope,  he  hated  the  emperor, 
and,  save  his  reforming  zeal,  he  cherished  no 
other  passion  than  that  hate. 

Hardly  had  he  taken  possession  of  the  pon- 
tificate— not  without  a  certain  self-compla- 
cence, when  he  remitted  taxes  to  the  Romans, 
imported  corn,  for  which  he  saw  a  statute 
erected  to  him,  and  received  amidst  the  pa- 
geantry of  a  sumptuous  court,  administered 
by  Neapolitan  nobles,  the  homage  of  embassies 
flocking  in  from  all  quarters — hardly  had  he 
been  installed,  when  he  v/as  already  involved 
in  a  thousand  disputes  with  the  emperor. 
Thereupon  the  latter  was  said  to  have  remon- 
strated with  the  cardinals  of  his  party ;  his 
adherents  held  suspicious  meetings,  and  some 
of  them  carried  ofTfrom  the  harbour  of  Ci  vita 
Vecchia  some  ships  that  had  previously  been 
taken  from  them  by  the  French.*'  The  pope's 
fury  instantly  blazed  up.  He  arrested  such 
of  his  vassals  and  cardinals  as  were  inclined 
to  the  emperor's  cause,  or  they  fled  and  ho 
confiscated  their  possessions.  Nor  was  that 
enough  for  him.  He  entered,  without  long 
deliberation,  on  the  alliance  with  the  French, 
which  Paul  III.  could  never  make  up  his  mind 
to  conclude.  "  The  emperor,"  he  said,  "only 
thought  to  put  an  end  to  him  by  a  kind  of 
mental  fever ;  but  he  would  come  to  open  con- 
flict; and  with  the  help  of  the  king  of  France, 
he  would  seek  to  free  poor  Italy  from  the 
tyranny  of  the  Spaniards :  he  hoped  yet  to  see 
two  French  sovereigns  in  Milan  and  Naples." 
He  would  sit  for  hours  at  table  over  the  black 
thick  volcanic  wine  of  Naples,  that  was  his 
favourite  beveragef  (it  was  of  the  kind  called 
Mangiaguerra),  and  pour  forth  torrents  of  in- 
vectives against  the  Spaniards,  those  schis- 
matic and  heretics,  accursed  of  God,  seed  of 
Jews  and  Moors,  dregs  of  the  world,  and  so 

*  Instrutlioni  e  LetlerediMonsignor  dellaCasaa  nomo 
del  C'-  Caratfa,  dove  si  contiene  il  principio  della  roitura 
della  guerra  fra  papa  Paolo  IV.,  e  I'imperalore  Carlo  V., 
1555.    Also  in  the  Inf.  Pol.  24. 

t  Navagero.  L'ordine  suo  6  sempre  di  mangiare  du9 
voile  il  giorno:  vuol  esserservito  niollo  delicalanienle,  e 
nel  principio  del  ponlificalo 25  pialli  non  basiavano:  beve 
molto  piu  di  quello  che  mangia ;  il  vino  6  polenie  e  gagli- 
ardo,  negro  e  lanlo  spesso  che  si  potria  quasi  lagliare,  di- 
mandasi  mangia-guerra,  che  si  conduce  del  regno  di  Na- 
poli :  dopopasto  sempre  beve  malvagia,  che  isuoichiamano 
lavarsi  i  demi.  Slava  a  mangiare  in  publico,  come  gli 
allri  ponleficijSino  al  ultima  indispositione  che  furiputala 
monale,  quando  pcrdelto  I'appetito:  consumava  qualcha 
voltalre  hore  di  tempo  dal  sedere  al  levarsi  da  mensa, 
enirando  in  varii  ragionoinenti  secondo  I'occasione  el 
usando  molle  voile  in  quel  impctoadir  molle  cose  secrets 
e  d'imporianza.  [His  custom  is,  always  to  eal  twice  a 
day  ;  he  insists  on  being  served  delicately,  and  in  the  be- 
ginning of  his  pontificate  iwenty-five  dishes  were  not 
enough  for  his  table.  He  drinks  much  more  Ihau  he  eala. 
His  wine  is  strong  and  brisk,  black,  and  so  thick  thai  it 
might  almost  be  cut.  It  is  called  mangiaguerra,  and 
comes  from  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  He  used  to  eal  in 
public  like  other  popes,  till  his  last  illness,  which  was 
reputed  mortal,  when  he  lost  his  appetite.  After  meals 
he  always  drinks  malmsey,  which  those  about  him  called 
rinsing  his  mouth.  He  would  sometimes  spend  three 
hours  from  the  lime  he  sal  down  till  he  rose  from  table, 
entering  into  numerous  discussions,  as  the  occasion  sug- 
gested, and  ofK  n  in  his  loquacity  giving  utterance  lo  man/ 
matlers  oiaecreaj  and  impoilance.] 


A.  D,  1556.] 


PAUL  IV. 


97 


forth.*  But  he  consoled  himself  with  the  text, 
"  Thou  siialt  walk  upon  serpents,  thou  shall 
tread  upon  lions  and  dragons,"  Now  was  the 
time  arrived  when  Charles  and  his  son  should 
suffer  chastisement  for  their  sins.  He,  the 
pope,  would  inflict  it;  he  would  free  Italy  from 
him.  If  men  would  not  hearken  to  him,  if 
they  would  not  stand  by  him,  then  must  it  be 
told  in  future  times  that  an  aged  Italian,  so 
near  his  death,  and  who  ought  rather  to  have 
sought  repose,  and  to  have  prepared  for  his 
last  hour,  had  yet  conceived  sucii  exalted 
plans.  It  is  not  necessary  to  go  into  the  de- 
tails of  the  negotiations  he  plied  in  the  earnest 
pursuit  of  this  idea.  When  the  French,  in 
spite  of  an  understanding  already  entered  into 
with  him,  yet  concluded  a  truce  with  Spain,! 
he  sent  his  nephew  Charles  Caraffa  to  France  ; 
where  the  latter  succeeded  in  engaging  in  his 
interests  the  several  parties  that  were  there 
contending  for  power,  the  Montmorencies  and 
the  Guises,  the  king's  wife  and  his  mistress, 
and  in  causing  a  new  outbreak  of  hosti]ities.| 
In  Italy,  he  procured  a  vigorous  ally  in  the 
duke  of  Ferrara.  They  contemplated  com- 
pletely revolutionizing  Italy.  Florentine  and 
Neapolitan  emigrants  filled  the  curia ;  the 
time  of  their  restoration  seemed  arrived.  The 
papal  fiscal  commenced  a  legal  process  against 
the  emperor  Charles  and  king  Philip,  in  which 
he  proposed  an  excommunication  against  those 
sovereigns,  and  a  release  of  their  subjects 
from  their  allegiance.  In  Florence,  evidence, 
it  was  constantly  asserted,  existed  to  show, 
that  the  house  of  Medici  was  also  doomed 
to  suffer  downfall.  5  Every  preparation  was 
made  for  war,  and  the  result  of  all  the  previous 
struggles  and  tendencies  of  the  century  was 
once  more  rendered  problematical. 

How   wholly  different  was   the  turn  now 
taken  by  the  papacy  from  that  anticipated ! 


*  Navagero.  Mai  parlava  di  S.  M^-  e  della  nalione  Spag- 
nola,  che  non  gli  chiamasse  eretici,  scisinalici,  e  iiiala- 
delti  da  Dio,  seme  di  Giiulei  e  di  Mori,  feccia  del  mondp, 
deplorando  la  miseria  d'It:ilia,  che  fosse  astrelta  a  servire 
gente  cosi  abjetta  e  cosi  vile.  The  dispatches  of  llie 
French  ambassadors  are  full  of  these  outbreaks.  See,  for 
instance,  those  of  Lansac  and  Avancon,  in  Ribier,  ii. 
610—618. 

t  The  account  of  CarafTa's  incredulity  in  the  first  in- 
stance, given  by  Navagero,  is  very  characteristic :  Doman- 
dando  io  al  ponlc-fice  el  al  C'  CaratTa  se  havevano  avviso 
alcuno  delle  tregue  (of  Vaucelles)  si  guardarono  I'un  I'al- 
tro  ridendo,  quasi  volessero  dire,  si  come  mi  disse  anche 
apertamente  il  pontefice,  che  questa  speranza  di  tregue 
era  assai  debole  in  lui;  e  non  di  meno  venne  I'avviso  il 
giorno  seguente,  il  quale  si  come  consolo  tutta  Roma,  cosi 
diede  tanto  travaglio  e  tanlo  molestia  al  papa  et  al  car- 
dinale,  che  non  lo  poterono  dissimulare.  Diceva  il  papa 
che  queste  tregue  sarebbero  la  ruina  del  mondo.  [When 
1  asked  the  pope  and  cardinal  Caratfa  if  they  had  any 
advices  of  the  truce,  they  loolted  at  each  other  with  a 
smile,  as  if  they  would  say,  as  the  pope  iudeed  even  told 
me  openly,  that  their  anticipations  of  such  a  truce  were 
faint  enough  :  nevertheless  the  news  arrived  the  next  day, 
and  proved  as  consolatory  to  all  Rome,  as  it  caused  trou- 
ble and  vexation  to  the  pope  and  the  cardinal,  which  they 
could  not  conceal.  The  pope  said  that  tViis  truce  would 
be  the  ruin  of  the  world.] 

t  Rabulin,  M^inoires,  Collect.  Univers.  torn.  38.  358. 
Particularly  ViUars,  Memoires.  lb.  torn.  35.  277. 

§  Gussoni,  Rel"«-  di  Toscana. 

13 


All  designs  of  reform  were  forced  to  give  way 
to  those  of  war,  which  brought  in  their  train 
results  of  a  totally  opposite  character. 

He  who  as  Cardinal  had  most  zealously,  and 
even  at  his  own  personal  risk,  condemned  the 
system  of  nepotism,  was  now  seen  to  abandon 
himself  to  that  very  abuse.  He  raised  to  the 
rank  ofcardinal  his  nephew.  Carlo  Caraffa,  who 
had  revelled  in  the  wild  excess  of  the  soldier's 
life,*  and  of  whom  Paul  IV.  said  himself,  that 
his  arm  was  dyed  in  gore  to  the  elbow.  Carlo 
had  found  means  to  propitiate  the  weak  old 
man,  causing  himself  to  be  discovered  occa- 
sionally praying  in  seeming  remorse  before 
the  crucifix.f  But  the  main  thing  was,  that 
they  both  agreed  in  hating  the  same  object. 
Carlo  Caraffa,  who  had  rendered  the  emperor 
military  service  in  Germany,  complained  that 
the  latter  had  made  him  nothing  but  the  most 
ungracious  return.  The  depriving  him  of  a 
prisoner,  from  whom  he  had  expected  a  large 
ransom,  and  the  refusal  to  ratify  his  nomina- 
tion, which  had  been  actually  made,  to  a  pri- 
ory of  the  order  of  Malta,  filled  up  the  mea- 
sure of  his  hatred  and  thirst  for  vengeance. 
These  passions  stood  in  the  pope's  eye  in  lieu 
of  every  virtue.  He  could  never  make  an  end 
of  praising  him,  affirming  that  the  Roman  see 
had  never  possessed  a  more  able  servant.  He 
committed  to  him  the  entire  weight  not  only 
of  secular  but  even  of  ecclesiastical  affairs, 
and  was  pleased  when  he  was  regarded  as 
the  author  of  whatever  favours  individuals  re- 
ceived at  the  hands  of  the  government. 

For  a  long  time  the  pope  did  not  deign  to 
cast  one  glance  of  favour  on  his  two  other 
nephews.  It  was  not  till  they  conformed  to 
to  tlieir  uncle's  anti-Spanish  sentiments  that 
he  bestowed  his  good-will  upon  them.  J  Never 
could  any  one  have  anticipated  what  he  then 
did.  He  declared  that  frequently  as  the  Co- 
lonnas,  those  inveterate  rebels  against  God 
and  man,  had  been  deprived  of  their  castles, 
they  had  never  been  permanently  detained ; 
but  now  he  would  commit  them  to  the  keep- 
ing of  vassals  who  should  know  how  to  defend 
them.  He  bestowed  them  on  his  nephews, 
naming  the  elder  duke  of  I'alliano,  and  the 
younger  marquis  of  Montebello.  The  cardi- 
nals, when  he  made  known  his  will  to  them, 
were  silent,  and  looked  down  to  the  ground. 
The  Caraffas  now  indulged  in  the  most  aspi- 
ring projects.  The  daughters  should  marry, 
if  not  into  the  family  of  the  king  of  France, 
at  least  into  that  of  the  duke  of  Ferrara  :  the 
sons  hoped  at  least  to  compass  the  possession 
of  Siena.     Some  one  spoke  jestingly  of  the 


»  Babon  in  Ribier,  ii.  745.    Villars,  p.  255. 

t  Bromato. 

i  Extractus  processus  Cardinalis  Caraffae.  Similiter 
dux  Palliani  deponit,  quod  donee  se  declaraverit  contra 
imperiales,  papa  eum  nuuquam  vidit  gralo  vullu  el  bono 
oculo.  [The  duke  of  Palliano  likewise  deposes,  that  un- 
til he  declared  against  the  imperialists,  the  pope  never 
looked  on  him  with  a  favourable  eye.J 


98     THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,  [a.  d.  1557. 


jewelled  cap  of  a  child  of  that  family ;  "  This 
is  no  time  to  talk  of  caps,  but  of  crowns,"  re- 
plied the  mother  of  the  nepotes* 

In  truth,  every  thing  depended  on  the  issue 
of  the  war  which  now  broke  out,  but  from  the 
very  first,  indeed,  with  no  promising  aspect. 

After  the  above-mentioned  act  of  the  fiscal, 
the  duke  of  Alva  had  advanced  from  the  Nea- 
politan into  the  Roman  territory.  The  papal 
vassals  accompanied  him,  and  all  their  con- 
federates were  on  the  alert.  Nettuno  drove 
out  the  papal  garrison,  and  recalled  the  Co- 
lonnas.  Alva  seized  Frosinone,  Anagni,  Ti- 
voli  in  the  mountains,  Ostia  on  the  sea,  and 
hemmed  in  Rome  on  both  sides. 

The  pope  relied  at  first  on  his  Romans  :  he 
had  reviewed  them  in  person.  They  marched 
from  Campofiore  past  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo, 
which  saluted  them  with  its  artillery,  to  the 
piazza  San  Pietro,  where  the  pope  stood  with 
his  nephew  at  a  window.  There  were  three 
hundred  and  forty  ranks  armed  with  harque- 
buses, and  two  hundred  and  fifty  armed  with 
pikes,  in  each  rank  nine  men,  presenting  an 
imposing  appearance,  and  led  by  officers  all  of 
noble  blood.  When  the  caporioni  and  the 
etandard-bearers  came  before  his  holiness,  he 
gave  them  his  blessmg.f  All  this  made  a  brave 
6how ;  but  these  were  not  the  fit  men  for  the 
defence  of  the  city.  After  the  Spaniards  had 
approached  somewhat  nearer,  a  false  rumour, 
a  small  body  of  horse,  was  enough  to  throw 
them  all  into  such  confusion,  that  not  a  man 
was  to  be  found  by  the  colours.  The  pope 
was  constrained  to  look  round  for  other  help. 
Pietro  Strozzi  at  last  brought  the  troops  to  his 
assistance  who  were  serving  before  Siena  :  he 
reconquered  'i'ivoli  and  Ostia,  and  removed 
the  most  pressing  danger. 

But  what  a  war  was  that!  There  are  times 
when  the  motives  that  prompt  men's  present 
actions,  and  the  secret  principles  of  their  lives, 
seem  as  though  they  stood  in  direct  and  visi- 
ble opposition  to  each  other. 

Alva  might,  at  the  beginning,  have  taken 
Rome  without  much  difficulty ;  but  his  uncle, 
cardinal  Giacomo,  reminded  him  of  the  unfor- 
tunate end  to  which  all  had  come  who  had 
taken  part  in  Bourbon's  conquest.  As  a  good 
catholic,  Alva  carried  on  the  war  with  ex- 
treme reserve :  he  combated  the  pope,  but 
without  ceasing  to  reverence  him  ;  he  sought 
only  to  wrest  the  sword  from  his  hand,  but  he 
had  no  desire  for  the  tame  of  being  numbered 
among  the  conquerors  of  Rome.  His  soldiers 
complained  it  was  a  mist,  a  cloud,  against 
which  he  led  them ;  it  annoyed  them,  and 
they  could  not  lay  hold  on  it,  nor  stifle  it  in 
its  source. 

And  who,  on  the  other  hand,  were  they  who 


*  Bromato  ix.  16;  ii.  28G.  Literally,  Non  esaer  quel 
tempo  da  pailar  di  bercue  ma  di  corone. 

t  Diario  di  Cola  Calleinn  Romano  del  rione  di  Traste- 
vei'e  dall'  anno  1521  siuo  all'  anno  1582,  MS. 


defended  the  pope  against  such  good  catholics? 
The  best  among  them  were  Germans,  all  pro- 
testants.  They  jeered  at  the  images  of  the 
saints  on  the  roads  and  in  the  churches,  laugh- 
ed at  the  mass,  broke  the  fasts,  and  did  a  mul- 
titude of  things  every  one  of  which  the  pope 
at  any  other  tmie  would  have  punished  with 
death.*  I  find  even  that  Carlo  Carafta  enter- 
ed into  an  intimate  understanding  with  the 
great  protestant  leader.  Margrave  Albert  of 
Brandenburgh. 

More  glaring  the  contradiction  on  both  sides 
could  not  be.  On  the  one  was  the  rigid  spirit 
of  Catholicism,  with  which  the  leader,  at  least, 
was  penetrated: — how  far  he  had  left  the  old 
Bourbon  times  behind  him  I  On  the  other 
was  the  secular  tendency  of  the  popedom, 
which  had  seized  hold  even  on  Paul  IV.,  how- 
ever disposed  he  was  to  condemn  it  in  the  ab- 
stract. Thus  it  was  that  the  followers  of  his 
faith  were  his  assailants,  the  seceders  from  it 
his  defenders;  but  the  former,  even  in  the  at- 
tack, retained  their  submissiveness ;  the  latter, 
while  they  protected  him,  treated  himself  and 
everything  belonging  to  him  with  hatred  and 
scorn. 

It  was  not  till  the  French  forces,  ten  thou- 
sand foot  and  a  less  numerous  but  very  bril- 
liant cavalry,  had  crossed  the  Alps,  that  the  war 
began  in  earnest.  The  French  would  rather 
have  turned  their  strength  at  once  against 
Milan,  which  they  thought  less  strongly  de- 
fended ;  but  they  were  obliged  to  follow  the 
impulse  the  Carafias  gave  them  towards  Na- 
ples. The  latter  had  no  doubt  of  finding  num- 
berless adherents  in  their  native  country. 
They  counted  on  the  power  of  the  emigrants, 
on  a  rising  of  their  party,  if  not  through  the 
whole  kingdom,  yet  by  all  means  in  the  Ab- 
ruzzi,  round  about  Aquila  and  Montorio,  where 
their  paternal  and  maternal  ancestors  had  al- 
ways possessed  great  influence. 

In  some  way  or  another  the  natural  forces 
of  things  would  find  vent;  for  the  papal  pow- 
er had  too  often  been  excited  to  opposition 
against  the  domination  of  Spain,  not  to  break 
out  at  last. 

The  pope  and  his  nephews  were  resolved  on 
the  most  extreme  measures.  Caraff'a  notonly 
sought  the  aid  of  the  Protestants,  but  even 
made  the  proposal  to  Solyman  I.  that  he  should 
desist  from  his  Hungarian  campaign,  to  throw 
himself  with  his  whole  force  upon  both  Sici- 
lies.* He  solicited  the  help  of  the  infidels 
against  the  catholic  king. 

*  Navagpro.  Fu  ripiitata  la  piu  esercitata  gente  la 
Tedesca  (35(X)  fanU)  [other  MSS.,  however,  give  (litferent 
numbers]  e  piu  alia  alia  guerra,  ma  era  in  tuito  Luterana. 
La  Guascona  .  .  .  era  lanlo  insolente,  taiilocontroronor 
delle  donne  et  in  torre  la  robba,  .  .  .  gli  oftesi  maledice- 
vano  publicanienle  chi  era  causa  di  questi  disoidini. 
[The  German  infantry,  3500  strong,  were  reckoned  Iha 
best  drilled  men,  and  the  most  serviceable  soldiers.  The 
Gascons  were  so  insolent,  such  violators  of  female  honour, 
and  such  plunderers ;— the  injured  publicly  cursed  him 
wlio  was  the  cause  of  these  disorders.] 

t  His  confessions  in  Bromato,  Vita  di  Paola  IV.  lom.  ii. 


A.  D.  1557.] 


PAUL  IV. 


99 


In  April,  1557,  the  papal  troops  crossed  the 
Neapolitan  frontiers.  They disting'uished  Holy 
Thursday  by  the  conquest  and  atrocious  pil- 
lage of  Conipli,  wl'.ich  was  full  of  treasure,  as 
well  belonginn;'  to  the  place  as  carried  thither 
for  safety.  Thereupon  Guise  too  crossed  the 
Tronto,  and  laid  sie<^'e  to  Civitella. 

But  he  found  the  king  in  a  good  state  of 
preparation.  Alva  well  knew  there  would  be 
no  insurrections  against  him,  so  long  as  he 
was  the  strongest  pnrty  in  the  country.  He 
had  obtained  an  important  grant  of  money  in 
the  parliament  of  the  barons.  Queen  Bona 
of  Poland,  of  the  old  Arragon  race,  who  had 
shortly  before  arrived  in  her  duchy  of  Bari, 
and  who  was  with  all  her  heart  an  enemy  to 
the  French,  furnished  him  with  a  subsidy  of 
half  a  million  of  scudi.  He  confiscated  the 
ecclesiastical  revenues  destined  for  Rome, 
and  even  laid  claim  to  the  gold  and  silver  in 
the  churches,  and  to  the  bells  of  Benevento.* 
He  had  contrived  to  fortify,  the  best  way  he 
could,  all  the  Neapolitan  frontier  places,  and 
as  many  of  the  Roman  as  were  still  in  his 
hands,  and  to  collect  a  formidable  army,  con- 
stituted in  the  old  way  of  Germans,  Spaniards, 
and  Italians,  and  had  also  formed  Neapolitan 
centuries  under  the  conduct  of  nobles.  Civi- 
tella was  stoutly  defended  by  count  Santafiore, 
who  had  animated  the  inhabitants  to  active 
co-operation:  they  even  repulsed  a  storm. 

VVhilst  the  kingdom  remained  thus  com- 
bined, and  displayed  nothing  but  devotedness 
to  Philip  n.  sharp  dissensions  on  the  other 
hand,  broke  out  between  the  assailants,  be- 
tween French  and  Italians,  Guise  and  Monte- 
bello.  Guise  complained  that  the  pope  did 
not  adhere  to  his  agreement  with  him,  and 
failed  to  supply  the  promised  aid.  When  the 
duke  of  Alva  appeared  with  his  army  in  the 
Abruzzi,  in  the  middle  of  May,  Guise  thought 
is  best  to  raise  the  siege,  and  retire  with  his 
army  over  the  Tronto.  The  war  was  again 
transferred  to  the  Roman  territory  ;  a  war  in 
which  the  belligerents  advanced  and  fell  back, 
besieged  towns  and  abandoned  them,  but  only 
once  came  to  a  serious  engagement. 

Marc  Antonio  Colonna  threatened  Palliano, 
which  the  pope  had  wrested  from  him :  Guilio 
Orsino  hastened  to  its  support  with  provisions 
and  troops.  Three  thousand  Swiss  had  just 
arrived  in  i?ome  under  a  colonel  from  Unter- 
walden.  The  pope  welcomed  them  with  de- 
light, decked  their  officers  with  gold  chains 
and  knightly  titles,  and  declared  tliem  the  le- 
gion of  angels  whom  God  had  sent  him.    Giu- 


p.  369.  Bromato  also  convpys good  information  rpspecting 
the  war.  He  frequ -nily  boinnvi-'J  it,  a  tkcl  ho  do'^s  not 
conceal,  from  a  voluminous  MS.  by  Nores,  which  treats 
of  this  war,  and  which  is  often  found  in  Italian  libraries.    I 

*  Gianuon ',  Islona  di  Nipoll,  lib.  xx.xiii.  c.  1.  Not 
only  Goss  dini,  but  M  imbrino  Ros'^o  likewise,  Delle  His- 
lorie  dA  Moudo,  lib.  vii.  givi  s  a  dPtaiU'd  account  of  this 
war  fro.n  auLh'nuc  sources;  others  also  ascribe  to  Fer- | 
rante  G  inza!;a  a  considerable  share  in  the  measures 
adopted  by  Alva.  I 


lio  Orsino  commanded  these  troops,  and  some 
Italian  companies  of  infantry  and  cavalry. 
Marc  Antonio  Colonna  opposed  his  course,  and 
once  more  a  battle  was  fought  in  the  style  of 
the  old  Italian  war  of  1491 — 15:31  ;  on  either 
side  papal  and  imperial  troops,  a  Colonna  and 
an  Orsino.  The  German  lansquenets  under 
their  last  distinguished  leaders,  Caspar  von 
Feltz  and  Hans  Walther,  were  opposed,  as 
they  had  so  often  been  before,  to  the  Swiss. 
Once  more  these  old  antagonists  fought  for  a 
cause  that  little  concerned  themselves ;  but 
their  bravery  was  not  the  less  extraordinary.* 
At  last  Hans  Walther,  huge  and  strong  as  a 
giant,  say  the  Spaniards,  flung  himself  into 
the  midst  of  a  Swiss  company,  and  vvilh  a  pis- 
tol in  one  hand,  and  his  naked  sword  in  the 
other,  forced  his  way  up  to  the  standard-bear- 
er, whom  he  brought  down,  dealing  him  a 
violent  cut  over  the  head,  and  shooting  him  at 
the  same  time  in  the  side.  The  whole  com- 
pany rushed  upon  hiin,  but  his  lansquenets 
had  already  pressed  up  to  his  support.  The 
Swiss  were  completely  broken  and  routed. 
Their  banners,  on  which  were  inscribed  in 
large  letters,  "  Defenders  of  the  faith,  and  of 
the  holy  see,"  sank  in  the  dust.  Of  his  eleven 
captains,  their  colonel  led  back  only  two  to 
Rome. 

Whilst  this  petty  war  was  in  progress  here, 
the  main  armies  confronted  each  other  on  the 
confines  of  the  Netherlands.  The  battle  of 
St.  Quintin  ensued,  in  which  the  Spaniards 
gained  the  most  complete  victory.  The  only 
wonder  felt  in  France  was,  that  they  did  not 
push  straight  on  to  Paris,  which  they  might 
have  taken. f 

"  I  hope,"  hereupon  wrote  Henry  11.  to 
Guise,  "  that  the  pope  will  do  as  mucli  for  me 
in  my  need  as  I  did  for  him  in  his."|  So  far  was 
Paul  IV.  now  from  being  justified  in  counting 
on  French  aid,  that  the  French  r  nther  expect- 
ed succour  from  him.  Guise  declared  "  that 
no  chains  could  hold  him  any  longer  in  Italy  ;"^ 
and  he  hastened  back  with  his  forces  to  his 
embarrassed  sovereign. 

Upon  this  the  Spaniards  and  the  Colonnas 
advanced  again  upon  Rome,  safe  from  all  pos- 
sibility of  hindrance.  The  Romans  saw 
themselves  once  more  threatened  with  con- 
quest and  plunder;  and  to  make  their  condi- 
tion the  more  desperate,  they  had  not  much  less 
reason  to  fear  their  defenders  than  their  foes. 
For  many  nights,  lights  were  burned  in  every 
window,  all  the  streets  were  illuminated, 
and  it  is  said  that  a  skirmishing  party  of 
Spaniards,  that  had  advanced  almost  up  to  the 
gates,  was  frightened  back  by  that  means. 
But  the  chief  purpose  of  this  precaution  was 

*  I  borrow  the  details  of  this  little  encounter  from  Ca- 
brera, Don  Fell  je  Segundo,  lib.  iii.  p.  IdJ. 

t  Monluc,  Meu.oirps,  p.  Uti. 

t  Le  Koy  li  Mons.  de  Guise,  in  Ribier,  ii.  p.  750. 

§  Leltera  del  ducd  di  Palliano  al  C.  Caralfa.  Informatt. 
Folii.  xxii. 


100  THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,     [a.  d.  1559. 


to  enable  the  citizens  to  be  on  their  watch 
against  the  violence  of  the  papal  troops. 
Every  one  murmured  :  they  wished  the  pope 
dead  a  thousand  times,  and  demanded  that  the 
Spanish  army  should  be  admitted  by  a  formal 
capitulation. 

To  such  a  pass  did  Paul  IV.  suffer  things 
to  arrive.  Not  till  his  undertakings  had  com- 
pletely broken  down,  his  allies  been  beaten, 
his  territory  for  the  most  part  occupied  by  the 
enemy,  and  his  capital  a  second  time  threat- 
ened, did  he  consent  to  peace. 

This  was  concluded  by  the  Spaniards  in  the 
same  spirit  as  they  had  carried  on  the  war. 
They  gave  him  back  all  the  castles  and  cities 
belonging  to  the  church  ;  and  they  even  pro- 
mised the  Caralfas  a  compensation  for  Pallia- 
no,  which  they  had  lost.*  Alva  went  to 
Rome  and  kissed  with  profound  reverence  the 
foot  of  him  he  had  vanquished,  of  the  sworn 
foe  to  his  nation  and  his  king.  He  has  been 
known  to  say,  that  he  never  feared  the  face  of 
man  as  he  did  the  pope's. 

Favourable,  however,  as  this  peace  seemed 
to  the  papal  power,  it  was  yet  decisive  against 
the  aims  it  had  hitherto  cherished.  'J'here 
was  an  end  to  all  attempts  at  throwing  off  the 
Spanish  yoke  :  they  were  never  again  renew- 
ed in  the  old  way.  The  dominion  of  the 
Spaniards  had  proved  unassailable  in  Milan 
and  Naples :  their  allies  were  stronger  than 
ever.  Duke  Cosmo,  whom  it  had  been  pro- 
posed to  expel  from  Florence,  had  won  Siena 
in  addition  thereto,  and  was  now  in  possession 
of  a  considerable  independent  power.  The 
Farnesi  were  secured  to  Philip  II.  by  the  re- 
storation of  Piacenza.  Marc  Antonio  Colon- 
na  had  made  himself  a  great  name,  and  re- 
gained the  position  held  of  old  by  his  family. 
Nothing  remained  for  the  pope  but  to  accom- 
modate himself  to  this  state  of  things.  Even 
Paul  IV.  was  constrained  to  this  ;  with  what 
mortification  may  easily  be  supposed.  Some 
one  once  called  Philip  II.  his  friend:  "Yes, 
my  friend,"  he  retorted,  "  who  kept  me  be- 
sieged, who  sought  my  very  soul."  In  public 
he  compared  him  to  the  prodigal  son  in  the 
gospel,  but  among  his  intimates  he  spoke  in 
praise  only  of  such  popes  as  had  designed  to 
raise  French  kings  to  the  imperial  dignity.f 
His  sentiments  remained  unchanged,  but  he 
was  controlled  by  circumstances.  He  could 
no  longer  hope,  much  less  undertake   any- 


*  A  secret  convention  touching  Palliano  was  made  be- 
tween Alva  and  Cardinal  Caraffa;  secret  not  only  as  re- 
garded the  public,  but  even  the  pope  himself.  Biomato, 
ii.  385. 

tL'evesque  d'Angouleme  au  Roy,  11  Juin,  15.58.  Ribier, 
ii.  745.  Ihe  pope  said,  "Que  vous,  sire,  n'esliez  pas 
pour  degenerer  de  vos  predecessruis,  ([ui  avoienl  toujours 
est6  conservaleurs  et  dclVnst  urs  de  ce  saint  siege, 
comme  au  tontraire  le  loy  Philippe  tenoit  de  race  de  le 
vouloir  ruiner  et  conlondre  enlierenient."  [That  you, 
Bire,  were  not  disposed  to  degenerate  fro  n  your  predeces- 
sors, who  hai.l  always  been  cousPrvalors  and  defenders  of 
the  holy  see,  while,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  hereditary 
with  king  Philip  to  wish  utterly  to  ruin  and  confound  ii.J 


thing ;  even  his  complaints  he  durst  only  vent 
in  secret. 

But  it  is  always  a  vain  attempt  to  resist  the 
consequences  of  an  event  accomplished.  Even 
Paul  IV.  experienced  after  some  time  the  in- 
fluence of  a  reaction,  of  the  utmost  moment 
as  regarded  both  his  administration,  and  the 
general  transformation  of  the  papal  system. 

His  nepotism  was  not  based  on  the  selfish- 
ness or  the  family  partialities  that  had  actu- 
ated other  popes;  he  favoured  his  nephews 
because  they  seconded  his  designs  against 
Spain  ;  he  legarded  them  as  his  natural  help- 
ers in  that  struggle.  The  contest  was  now 
over,  and  with  it  ceased  the  utility  of  the 
nephews.  Success  is  requisite  to  the  stability 
of  every  distinguished  station,  particularly  of 
such  as  are  not  altogether  legitimate.  Cardi- 
nal Carafl^a  now  undertook  an  embassy  to 
king  Philip,  especially  in  the  interest  of  his 
own  house,  in  order  to  secure  the  promised 
compensation  for  Palliano.  Since  his  return 
from  this,  without  accomplishing  much,  the 
pope  was  observed  to  treat  him  with  more  and 
more  coldness.  Ere  long  the  cardinal  found 
it  no  longer  possible  to  command  all  the  ap- 
proaches to  his  uncle,  and  to  exclude  all  but 
his  own  creatures  from  access  to  him.  At 
times,  too,  unfavourable  rumours  reached  the 
pope's  ears,  calculated  perhaps  to  revive  the 
repugnance  he  had  felt  in  former  years  for 
his  nephew.  The  latter  was  once  taken  ill, 
and  the  pope  visiting  him  unexpijctedly, 
found  him  with  two  persons  of  the  worst  re- 
putation. "  The  aged,"  he  said,  "  are  mis- 
trustful. I  saw  things  there  that  opened  my 
eyes  widely."  It  needed  but  a  provocation, 
we  see,  to  rouse  a  storm  witliin  him,  and  this 
was  afforded  by  an  otherwise  insignificant  oc- 
currence. On  new  year's  night,  1559,  there 
was  a  riot  in  the  streets,  in  which  a  young 
cardinal,  that  same  favourite  of  Julius  III., 
cardinal  Monte,  drew  his  sword.  The  pope 
heard  of  this  the  very  next  morning,  and  was 
deeply  ofi'ended  that  his  nephew  made  no 
mention  to  him  of  the  circumstance.  He 
waited  a  few  days,  and  at  last  gave  vent  to 
his  displeasure.  The  court,  in  its  natural  ap- 
petite tor  change,  caught  eagerly  at  that  token 
of  the  cardinal's  disgrace.  The  Florentine 
ambassador,  who  had  endured  a  thousand 
mortifications  at  the  hands  of  the  Caraffas, 
now  made  his  way  to  the  pope,  and  laid  the 
bitterest  complaints  betiire  hmi.  The  Mar- 
chesa  della  Valle,  a  relation  of  the  pontiff's, 
i  who  had  never  been  allowed  free  access  to 
jhim,  found  opportunity  to  slip  a  paper  into  the 
pope's  breviary,  on  which  were  noted  down 
some  of  his  nephew's  misdeeds.  "  If  your  holi- 
ness desire  further  inlbrmation,  you  need  but 
sign  your  name."  Paul  afhxed  his  signature, 
and  tiie  promised  information  tailed  not  to  be 
I  fonhcoming.  Thus  ready  charged  with  dis- 
'  content  and  acerbity,  the  pope  went  on  tlie 


A.  D.  1559.] 


PAUL  IV. 


101 


9th  of  Jan.  to  the  assembly  of  the  inquisition. 
He  proceeded  to  speak  of  the   night  riot,  ve- 
hemently upbraided   cardinal   Monte,  threat- 
ened to  punish  him,  and  thundered  out  inces- 
santly, reform,  reform.     The  cardinals,  usu- 
ally so  taciturn,  had  now  plucked  up  courage. 
"Holy  father,"  said  cardinal  Pacheco,  inter- 
rupting him,  "  we   must  begin    reform   with 
ourselves."     The   pope  was  silenced.     The 
phrase  struck  home  to  his  heart :   it  brought 
palpably  before  him  the  half-formed  convic- 
tions that  stirred   within  him.     He  said   no 
more  about  Monte's  business,  went  and  shut 
himself  up  in  his  chamber  in  a  burning  rage, 
and    thought  of   nothing   but  his   nephews. 
After  giving  immediate  orders  that  nothing 
for  the  future  should  be  done  in  obedience  to 
the  commands  of  cardinal  Caraffa,  he  sent  to 
demand   his  papers  of  the  latter.     Cardinal 
Vitellozzo  Vitelli,  who    was   reputed    to    be 
privy  to  the  secrets  of  the  Caraftas,  was  com- 
pelled to  swear  that  he  would  disclose  what- 
ever he  knew  of  them.     Camillo  Orsini  was 
summoned  to  the  same  end  from   his  country 
house.     The    rigorist   party,    that   had    long 
looked  on  with  displeasure  at  the  doings  of 
the  pope's  nephew,  now  raised  their  heads. 
The  old  Theatine,  don  Geromia,  who  was  re- 
garded as  a  saint,  was  closeted  for  hf)urs  with 
the  pope;  the  latter  learned  things  he  never 
could  have  guessed   at,  that  bewildered  him 
with  rage.     He  fell  into  the  most  violent  agi- 
tation ;  he  could  neither  eat  nor  sleep,  and 
for  ten  days  laboured  under  a  fever.     Memo- 
rable forever  is  that  pope,  who  with   self-in- 
flicted violence  rent  assunder  the  partial  ties 
that  bound  him  to  his  kindred.     At  length  he 
was  resolved.     On  the  27lh  Jan.  he  summon- 
ed a  consistory,  set  forth  with  passionate  emo- 
tion the  evil  lives  of  his  nephews,  and  called 
God  and  the  world  and  men  to  witness,  that 
he  had  never  known  of  this,  and  that  he  had 
been  betrayed.     He  divested    them  of  their 
offices,  and  banished  them  with  their  families 
to   various   remote    places.      His    nephews' 
mother,  seventy  years  of  age,  bent  with  sick- 
ness, and  personally  blamele.ss,  cast  herself 
at  his  feet  as  he  went  back  to  the  Palace :  he 
passed   her  with   harsh    words.     The  young 
Marchesa  Montebello  arrived  just  now  from 
Naples.     She  found   her  palace  fast  closed: 
no  one  would  receive  her  in  any  of  the  inns; 
she   drove  from  one  to  another  on  a  rainy 
night,  till  at  last  an  inn-keeper  in  a  remote 
corner,  who  had  not  received  any  orders  in 
the  matter,  afforded  her  a  shelter.     Cardinal 
Caraftk  in  vain  solicited  that  he  should  be  im- 
prisoned, and  his  conduct  invi^stigated.     The 
Swiss  guards  had  orders  to  repulse  not  only 
himself,   but  also  any  one  who  should  ever 
have  been  in  his  service.     The  pope  made 
but  a  single  exception.     He  kept  with  him 
the  son  of  Montorio,    whom  lie    loved,   and 
whom  he  had  made  cardinal  in  his  eighteenth 


year,  and  read  his  hours  with  him.  But  never 
dust  the  young  man  allude  to  the  discarded 
favourites,  much  less  venture  an  entreaty  for 
them  :  he  was  not  allowed  even  to  hold  any 
communion  with  his  father.  The  misfortune 
of  his  house  preyed  on  him  so  much  the  more 
deeply :  what  he  durst  not  utter  in  words 
was  legible  in  his  face,  and  in  his  whole  per- 
son.* 

Would  it  not  be  supposed  that  these  occur- 
rences had  their  effect  on  the  mind  of  the  pope 
likewise  1 

He  seemed  as  though  nothing  had  happen- 
ed. No  sooner  had  he  with  tempestuous  elo- 
quence pronounced  sentence  in  the  consistory, 
while  most  of  the  cardinals  sat  spell-bound 
with  amazement  and  terror,  than  lie  seemed 
on  his  part  wholly  impassive,  and  proceeded 
at  once  to  other  business.  The  foreign  am- 
bassadors were  astounded  when  they  observed 
his  demeanour.  "  In  the  midst  of  such  sud- 
den and  sweeping  changes,"  they  said  of  him, 
"  surrounded  by  entirely  new  ministers  and 
servants,  he  stands  up  resolute,  unbending, 
and  indifferent.  He  feels  no  pity,  and  seems 
to  have  retained  not  the  least  remembrance 
of  his  kindred."  Henceforth  he  surrendered 
himself  to  a  wholly  different  passion. 

Assuredly  this  was  an  ever  memorable  re- 
volution of  feeling.  Hatred  against  the  Spa- 
niards, the  idea  of  becoming  liberator  of 
Italy,  had  hurried  even  Paul  IV.  into  worldly 
designs  and  practices,  to  the  bestowal  of  eccle- 
siastical territories  on  his  nephews,  to  the  ele- 
vation of  a  soldier  to  the  ministry  even  of 
spiritual  aflairs,  to  deeds  of  hostility  and 
bloodshed.  Events  compelled  him  to  abandon 
that  idea  and  suppress  that  hatred,  and  then 
were  his  eyes  gradually  opened  to  the  cen- 
surable conduct  of  those  about  him.  After  a 
violent  struggle,  his  stern  justice  prevailed, 
and  he  shook  them  off,  and  from  that  hour  re- 
turned to  his  old  plans  of  reform.  He  began 
to  reign  as  had  been  e.xpected  of  him  at  first, 
and  now  urged  on  the  reform  of  the  state,  and 
above  all  the  church,  with  the  same  passion- 
ate energy  he  had  formerly  manifested  in  en- 
mity and  war. 

Secular  affairs  from  the  highest  to  the  low- 
est grade  were  transferred  to  other  hands. 
The  existing  podestis  and  governors  lost  their 
places,  and  the  manner  in  which  this  was  ef- 
fected was  sometimes  singular.  The  newly 
appointed  governor  of  Perugia  appeared  there 
by  night:  without  waiting  for  day,  he  had 
the  Anziani  summoned,  produced  his  creden- 
tials, and  commanded  them  forthwith  to  ar- 
rest the  late  governor,  who  was  present  in 

*  Satisfactory  information  on  this  head  is  furnished  by 
Pallavicini,  and  slill  mure  so  by  Bromato.  In  the  Berlin 
Infonnationi  is  also  to  be  found  a  Diario  d'akune  attioni 
piu  notabili  nfl  pontiticato  di  Paolo  IV.  I'anno  1.358,  sino 
alia  sua  niorte  (beginning  from  the  lOih  of  Sep.  1558,) 
that  was  not  known  to  either  of  them,  was  composed  from 
personal  observation,  and  has  afforded  me  quite  new  in- 
ibrmaiion. 


102       THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,     [a.  d.  1559. 


the  assembly.  Paul  IV.  was  now  the  first 
pope  since  time  immemorial,  who  governed 
without  ncpotes.  Their  place  was  supplied 
by  cardinal  Carpi  and  Camiilo  Orsini,  who 
had  already  been  so  influential  under  Paul 
III.  The  system  of  the  government  was  also 
changed  with  the  persons.  Sums  of  no  in- 
considerable amount  were  economised,  and  a 
proportional  diminution  made  in  taxation.  A 
box  was  put  up  into  which  every  one  could 
deposit  a  statement  of  his  grievances,  and  of 
which  the  pope  alone  retained  the  key.  The 
governor  made  his  report  daily.  Everything 
was  conducted  with  the  greatest  care  and 
circumspection,  without  any  remains  of  the 
old  abuses. 

If  the  pope,  amidst  all  the  commotions  that 
had  hitherto  prevailed,  had  never  lost  sight  of 
church  reform,  he  now  devoted  himself  to  it 
more  zealously  and  more  with  his  whole 
heart.  He  introduced  a  stricter  discipline 
into  the  churches  ;  he  forbade  all  begging, 
even  the  collections  of  the  clergy  for  masses. 
He  removed  all  offensive  pictures.  A  medal 
was  struck  representing  him  under  the  type 
of  Christ  clearing  the  temple.  He  banished 
from  his  city  and  territories  the  fugitive  monks. 
He  compelled  the  court  regularly  to  observe 
the  fasts,  and  to  solemnize  Easter  by  receiv- 
ing the  Lord's  Supper.  Nay,  the  cardinals 
were  obliged  to  preach  occasionally  !  The 
pope  himself  set  the  example.  He  endeavour- 
ed to  suppress  many  profitnble  abuses.  He 
would  hear  no  more  of  marriage  dispensations 
or  their  produce.  A  host  of  places  that  had 
hitherto  been  sold,  including  those  of  the 
chiericali  di  camera,*  he  determined  should 
be  disposed  of  according  to  merit.  Ho  insist- 
ed still  more  strongly  on  the  worth  and  cleri- 
cal habits  of  those  on  whom  ecclesiastical  offi- 
ces were  bestowed.  He  no  longer  tolerated 
the  compacts  so  long  and  so  generally  in 
vogue,  in  consequence  of  which  one  man  per- 
formed the  duties  of  an  office,  and  another 
enjoyed  tlie  best  part  of  its  reveimes.  He 
also  entertained  the  design  of  restoring  to  the 
bishops  many  of  the  rights  of  which  they  had 
been  supplanted,  and  highly  disapproved  of 
the  rapacity  with  which  everything  had  been 
absorbed  into  Rome.f 

His  reforms  were  not  merely  negative, 
they  were  not  confined  to  undoing.  He  sought 
too  to  surround  public  worship  with  a  greater 
pomp.  The  decoration  of  the  Sixtine  chapel, 
and  the  representation  of  the  holy  sepulchre, 

*  Caracciolo,  Vila  di  Paolo  IV.  MS.  particularly  mpn- 
tions  them.  The  pope  said,  "  Chesiinili  officii  d'ammin- 
istralioni  e  di  giustitia  conveniva  chesi  dasspro  a  persoiie 
che  li  lacesseio  p  non  vinderli  a  chi  avesse  occasioii  de 
volerne  cavare  il  sue  di^n  iro."  [That  it  was  expedient 
to  bestow  such  offices  of  administration  and  of  justice,  on 
persons  who  would  discharge  the  duties  beJoniiins;  to  ' 
them,  and  not  on  such  as  were  prompted  to  make  them  a  I 
source  of  cain.]  I 

t  BiO.nato,  ii.  483. 


are  to  be  ascribed  to  him.*  There  is  an  ideal 
of  the  modern  Catholic  worship,  full  of  digni- 
ty, devotion  and  splendour,  and  this  concep- 
tion it  was  that  floated  before  his  mind  too. 

It  was  his  boast  that  he  let  no  day  pass 
without  promulgating  some  order  towards  the 
restoration  of  the  church  to  its  original  purity. 
In  many  of  his  decrees  we  trace  the  outlines 
of  those  ordinances,  to  which  the  council  of 
Trent  shortly  afterwards  gave  its  sanction. -j- 

In  this  career,  too,  as  might  be  expected, 
he  evinced  all  the  inflexibility  peculiar  to  his 
nature. 

Above  all  other  institutions,  he  favoured 
the  inquisition  which  he  had  himselfre-estab- 
lished.  He  often  let  pass  the  days  appointed 
for  the  sittings  of  the  segnatvra  and  the  con- 
sistory, but  never  the  Thursday  on  which  the 
congregation  of  the  inquisition  assembled  in 
his  presence.  He  insisted  on  the  utmost  ri- 
gour in  the  proceedings  of  that  body.  He 
subjected  new  classes  of  offences  to  its  juris- 
diction, and  endowed  it  with  the  barbarous 
prerogative  of  employing  torture  for  the  de- 
tection of  accomplices.  No  respect  of  per- 
sons availed  with  him  ;  he  brought  the  high- 
est barons  before  that  tribunal,  and  he  now 
had  cardinals,  like  Morone  and  Foscherari, 
arrested  and  thrown  into  prison,  doubts  hav- 
ing occurred  to  him  of  their  orthodoxy,  though 
he  had  formerly  employed  those  very  men  in 
criticising  the  contents  of  important  books, 
such  for  instance  as  the  spiritual  exercises  of 
Ignatius.  He  instituted  the  festival  of  St. 
Dominic  in  honour  of  that  great  inquisitor. 

Thus  it  was  that  the  rigidly  spiritual,  re- 
storative tendency  of  the  papacy  became  pa- 
ramount. 

Paul  IV.  seemed  almost  to  have  forgotten 
that  he  had  ever  entertained  any  other  views; 
the  men)ory  of  past  times  was  extinguished 
within  him.  He  lived  and  moved  in  his  re- 
forms, and  his  inquisition  ;  passed  laws,  im- 
prisoned, excomynunicated,  and  held  autos-da- 
tes.  At  last,  when  laid  low  by  an  illness  suf- 
ficient to  cause  the  death  even  of  a  younger 
man,  he  called  the  cardinals  once  more  to- 
gether, commended  his  soul  to  their  prayers, 
and  the  holy  see  and  the  inquisition  to  their 


*  Mocenigo,  Relatione  di  15G0.  Nelli  officii  divini  poi 
e  nelle  ceremonie  procedeva  questa  pontofice  con  lanta 
graviti  edevotione  c.hs  veranmnte  pareva  degnissiino  vi- 
cario  di  Gesu  Christo.  Nelle  cose  poi  delta  reli^'ione  si 
prendeva  tanlo  pensiero  et  usava  tanta  diliirentia  che 
maggior  non  si  poteva  desiderare.  [In  the  divine  offices 
liliewise,  and  ceremonies,  this  ponlitf  proceeded  with 
such  gravity  and  devotion,  that  he  truly  appeared  a  most 
worthy  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ.  To  the  affairs  of  religion 
t03  he  applied  himself  with  such  deep  thought,  and  so 
mu.'li  diligence,  as  left  nothing  to  be  desired.] 

+  Mocenigo.  Papa  Paolo  IV.  andava  continuamente 
facendo  qualche  nova  deteriiiinatione  erifo.''ma,  e  sempre 
diceva  preparare  altre,  accij  che  restasse  nianco  occa- 
sione  e  meno  necessity  di  far  concilio.  [Pope  Paul  IV. 
was  continually  malting  some  new  resolution  in  the  way 
of  reform,  ami  was  always  saying  that  he  had  others  in 
preparation,  so  that  there  was  little  opportunity,  and  less 
necessity  for  assembling  a  council.] 


A.  D.  1555-9.] 


PAUL  IV. 


103 


care :  he  strove  to  collect  his  energies  once 
more,  and  to  raise  himself  up  ;  his  strength 
failed  him  ;  he  fell  back  and  died  (18  Aug. 
1559.) 

Herein,  at  least,  are  these  men  of  decided 
and  passionate  temperament,  happier  than 
weaker  natures:  their  prejudices  dnzzle 
them,  but  at  the  same  time  steel  them,  and 
make  them  intrinsically  invincible. 

But  the  people  forgot  not  so  quickly  as  the 
pope  himself,  what  they  had  suffered  under 
him.  'J'hey  could  not  forgive  him  the  war  he 
had  brought  on  Rome ;  his  alienation  of  his 
nephews,  hated  as  they  certainly  were,  was 
not  enough  for  the  masses.  Upon  his  death 
some  assembled  in  the  capitol,  and  resolved 
to  destroy  his  monuments,  since  he  had  been 
an  ill-doer  to  the  city  and  to  the  whole  earth. 
Others  pillaged  the  buildings  of  the  inquisi- 
tion, set  fire  to  them,  and  mal-treated  the 
servants  of  the  tribunal.  An  attempt  too  was 
made  to  burn  the  Dominican  convent  della 
Minerva.  The  Colonnas,  Orsini,  Cesarini, 
Massimi,  who  had  all  been  mortally  offended 
by  Paul  IV.,  took  part  in  these  tumultuous 
proceedings.  The  statue  that  had  been 
erected  to  the  pope  was  torn  down  from  its 
pedestal,  broken  in  pieces,  and  the  head  with 
the  triple  crown  dragged  through  the  streets.* 
But  how  fortunate  had  it  been  for  the  pope- 
dom, had  it  never  encountered  any  other 
reaction  against  the  projects  set  on  foot  by 
Paul  IV. 

Remarks  on  the  progress  of  Proteslanlism 
during  this  reign. 

We  saw  how  the  former  discord  between 
the  papacy  and  the  imperial,  or  Spanish 
power,  contributed  more  perhaps  than  any 
otlier  external  circumstance  to  the  establish- 
ment of  protestantism  in  Germany.  INever- 
theless,  a  second  breach  had  not  been  avoid- 
ed, and  this  led  to  still  greater,  and  more 
comprehensive  consequences. 

We  may  date  its  commencement  from  the 
recal  of  the  papal  troops  from  the  imperial 
army,  and  the  removal  of  the  council.  The 
importance  of  these  acts  was  manifested  at 
once.  Nothing  so  essentially  impeded  the 
subjection  of  the  protestants  as  the  policy  of 
Paul  III.  at  that  period. 

But  the  great  and  permanent  effects  of  that 
pope's  measures  were  not  felt  till  afler  his 


*  Mocenigo.  Viddi  il  popolo  correr  in  fun  a  verso  la 
casa  di  Ripetta,  deputata  per  le  cose  dell'  iiKjuisitione, 
melter  a  sacco  tuUa  la  robba  ch'era  denlro,  si  di  vitlualie 
come  d'allra  robba,  che  la  inaggior  parte  era  del  Kevmo- 
CI-  Alessandrino,sommo  inquisilorp,lraUar  male  con  bas- 
tonate  e  feriti  tuui  i  ministri  dell' inquisilione,  levar  le 
scitture,  geltandolea  refuso  per  la  slrada  e  finalmenle  po- 
ner  foco  quella  casa. .  I  frati  di  S.  Domenico  eruno  in 
tant'  odioa  quel  populo  che  in  ogni  uiodo  volevan  abbru- 
ciar  il  monastero  della  Minerva.  He  goes  on  to  stale  that 
the  blame  rested  most  on  the  nobles.  Similar  tumults 
took  place  in  Perugia. 


death.  The  connexion  with  France,  into 
which  he  introduced  his  nephews,  occasioned 
a  general  war;  a  war  in  which  not  only  did 
the  German  protestants  achieve  that  ever  me- 
morable victory,  that  secured  them  forever 
from  council,  emperor,  and  pope,  but  in  which 
too  the  new  opinions  made  vigorous  progress 
in  France  and  in  the  Netherlands,  being  in- 
troduced directly  by  the  German  soldiers,  who 
fought  on  both  sides,  and  being  favoured  by 
the  turmoil  of  war,  which  precluded  any  ri- 
gorous precautions. 

Paul  IV.  ascended  the  papal  chair.  He 
ought  steadily  to  have  fixed  his  eyes  on  the 
existing  state  of  things,  and  have  bent  all  his 
efforts  to  the  restoration  of  peace ;  but  with 
the  blind  impetuosity  of  passion  he  plunged 
into  the  strife.  The  result  was,  that  he,  the 
most  fiery  of  zealots,  was  destined,  more  per- 
haps than  any  of  his  predecessors,  to  promote 
the  dissemination  of  protestantism,  which  he 
hated,  loathed,  and  persecuted. 

Let  us  call  to  mind  his  influence  upon  Eng- 
land. 

The  first  victory  of  the  new  opinions  in 
that  country  was  for  a  long  time  incomplete ; 
it  needed  but  a  retrocession  of  the  govern- 
ment, nothing  more  than  the  accession  of  a 
catholic  queen  was  requisite,  to  determine 
the  parliament  to  a  new  subjection  of  the 
church  to  the  pope's  sway.  tStill  the  latter 
had  every  reason  to  proceed  with  moderation, 
nor  durst  he  wage  open  war  upon  the  cir- 
cumstances that  had  arisen  out  of  the  past  in- 
novations. Julius  III.  clearly  perceived  this. 
The  first  papal  legate  immediately  remarked,* 
how  potent  were  the  interests  connected  with 
the  confiscated  church  properties.  Julius 
adopted  the  magnanimous  resolution  not  to 
insist  on  their  restoration.  Indeed,  the  legate 
was  not  permitted  to  enter  England  till  he 
was  first  in  a  condition  to  give  satisfactory 
assurances  on  that  head  :  they  formed  the  ba- 
sis of  all  his  subsequent  influence,!  and  by 
their  means  he  obtained  the  most  signal  suc- 
cess. The  legate  was  Reginald  Pole,  with 
whom  we  are  already  acquainted  ;  amongst 
all  the  men  of  the  day  the  very  one  most  fit- 
ted to  labour  after  the  restoration  of  Catholi- 
cism in  England  ;  a  man  exalted  above  all 
suspicion  of  impure  motives,  intelligent,  mod- 
erate, and,  as  a  native  Englishman  of  high 
rank,  equally  acceptable  to  queen,  nobles, 
and  people.  The  undertaking  prospered  be- 
yond all  expectation.  The  accession  of  Paul 
IV.  to  the  throne  was  distinguished  by  the 
presence  of  English  ambassadors,  who  assured 
hirn  of  the  obedience  of  that  country. 

*  Leltere  di  Mr-  Henrico,  Nov.  15o3,  in  a  MS.  entitled 
Letlere  e  Negotiati  di  Polo,  which  contains  much  matter 
besides,  important  to  this  history.  Respecting  this  trans- 
action see  Pallavicini,  xiii.  9.  411. 

t  He  did  not  hesitate  to  acknowledge  the  rights  of  the 
actual  possessors.  Litters  Dispensatoriae  C"  Poll,  Con- 
cilia M.  Britanniae,  iv.  112. 


104       THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,    [a.  d.  1559. 


Paul  IV.  had  not  to  acquire  the  allegiance 
of  England,  but  merely  to  retain  it.  Let  us 
see  what  measures  he  adopted  towards  that 
end. 

He  declared  the  restitution  of  the  church 
property  to  be  an  indispensable  duty,  the  vio- 
lation of  which  entailed  everlasting  damna- 
tion. He  strove  also  to  re-establish  the  col- 
lection of  Peter's  pence.*  But  besides  all 
this,  what  worse  means  could  he  adopt  to 
complete  the  recovery  of  England  within  the 
pale  of  the  church,  than  pursuing  with  such 
rancorous  animosity  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  who 
was  also  king  of  England  ]  English  soldiers 
took  part  in  the  battle  of  St.  Quintin,  the  con- 
sequences of  which  were  so  serious  to  Italy. 
Lastly,  he  persecuted  cardinal  Pole,  whom  he 
never  could  endure,  despoiled  him  of  the 
rank  of  legate,  which  no  one  had  ever  exer- 
cised with  greater  advantage  to  the  holy  see, 
and  put  in  his  place  an  inefficient,  aged,  and 
infirm  monk,  but  one  of  more  violent  opin- 
ions.! Had  the  problem  proposed  to  Paul  IV. 
been,  how  he  might  prevent  the  work  of  re- 
storation, he  could  not  have  adopted  any  oth- 
er course. 

It  was  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  after  the 
early  and  unexpected  death  both  of  the  queen 
and  the  legate,  the  two  conflicting  tendencies 
broke  out  with  renewed  violence.  This  result 
was  greatly  accelerated  by  the  religious  per- 
secutions, which  Pole  had  condemned,  but 
which  were  approved  of  by  his  bigoted  oppo- 
nents. 

The  question  was  then  once  more  submit- 
ted to  the  pope  :  it  demanded  the  more  serious 
consideration,  inasmuch  as  its  import  no  doubt 
concerned  Scotland  likewise.  There  too  strife 
ran  high  between  the  two  religious  parties : 
the  final  determination  of  the  matter  in  Eng- 
land would  needs  decide  the  future  condition 
of  Scotland. 

What  an  important  fact  it  was,  that  Eliza- 
beth in  the  beginning  of  her  reign  appeared 
by  no  means  decidedly  Protestant,|  and  that 
she  caused  her  accession  to  be  notified  to  the 
pope.  A  marriage  between  her  and  Philip 
II.  was  at  least  made  matter  of  negociation, 
and  was  generally  regarded  in  that  day  as 
very  probable.  One  would  suppose  that  no 
event  could  have  been  more  desirable  for  the 
pope. 

But  Paul  IV.  knew  no  moderation.     He 
gave  a  repulsive   scornful  answer  to  Eliza- 
beth's ambassador.     "  She  must  first  of  all," 
he  said,  "  submit  her  claims  to  his  judgment." 
Let  it  not  be  supposed  he  was  moved  to  this 


*  He  was  then  wholly  engrossed  with  these  ideas.  He 
published  his  Bull  Rescissioalienalionuni,  (Bullariumiv. 
4.  319.)  in  which  he  annulled  all  alienations  whatever  of 
the  old  ecclesiastical  possessions. 

t  Godwin's  Annales  Angliae,  etc.  p.  45G. 

t  Nares  alto,  in  his  Memoirs  of  Buileigh,  ii.  p.  43, 
thinks  her  religious  opinions  "at  first  liable  to  some 
4oubtB." 


conduct  only  by  his  regard  to  the  dignity  of 
the  apostolic  see:  other  motives  co-operated. 
The  French  desired  from  political  jealousy  to 
prevent  the  proposed  marriage.  They  em- 
ployed the  pietists,  the  Theatines,  to  represent 
to  the  old  pope  that  Elizabeth  was  after  all  a 
Protestant  at  heart,  and  that  the  marriage 
would  never  lead  to  any  good.*  The  Guises 
had  the  strongest  interest  in  this  matter. 
Should  Elizabeth  be  repudiated  by  the  Roman 
see,  their  sister's  daughter,  Mary  Stuart,  dau- 
phine  of  France,  and  queen  of  Scotland,  would 
possess  the  next  title  to  the  crown  of  England. 
The  Guises  might  hope  to  rule  in  her  name 
over  all  the  three  kingdoms.  Mary  actually 
assumed  the  English  arms,  and  already  dated 
her  edicts  with  the  year  of  her  reign  over 
England  and  Ireland.  Preparations  for  war 
were  made  in  the  Scottish  ports. f 

Even  though  Elizabeth  had  not  been  so 
inclined,  she  would  yet  have  been  compelled 
by  circumstances  to  throw  herself  upon  Pro- 
testantism :  she  did  so  in  the  most  decided 
manner.  She  succeeded  in  procuring  a  par- 
liament with  a  protestant  majority,]:  by  which, 
in  a  few  months,  all  those  changes  were 
adopted  that  essentially  fixed  the  character 
of  the  English  Church. 

Scotland  too  was  necessarily  affected  by 
this  course  of  things :  there  a  national  Pro- 
testant party  resisted  the  progress  of  the 
French  catholic  interests.  Elizabeth  hesi- 
tated not  to  ally  herself  with  that  party,  and 
in  this  purpose  she  was  confirmed  even  by  the 
Spanish  ambassador.  J  The  treaty  of  Berwick, 
which  she  concluded  with  the  Scottish  oppo- 
sition, gave  the  latter  the  predominance.  Be- 
fore Mary  Stuart  could  set  foot  in  her  kingdom, 
she  was  forced  not  only  to  forego  the  title  of 
queen  of  England,  but  even  to  ratify  the  sta- 
tutes of  a  parliament  of  protestant  views; 
statutes,  one  of  which  prohibited  mass  under 
the  penalty  of  death. 

Thus  it  was  in  a  great  degree  a  re-action 
against  the  French  pretensions,  to  which  the 
pope  lent  his  sanction,  that  contributed  for- 
ever to  secure  the  victory  of  Protestantism  in 
Great  Britain. 

Not  that  the  inward  impulses  of  the  parties 
inclined  to  Protestantism  were  dependent  on 
those  political  movements;  their  origin  lay 
far  deeper;  but  it  commonly  happened  that 
the  data  from  which  followed  the  outbreak, 
progress,  and  decision  of  the  strife,  coincided 
closely  with  the  various  contingencies  of 
politics. 

In  Germany,  too,  a  measure  adopted  by 


*  Private  narrative  of  Thuanus. 

t  In  Forbes's  Transactions  there  is  a  Responsio  ad  peti- 
tiones  D.  Glasion.  et  Episc.  Aquilani,  by  Cecil,  which 
sets  forth  all  these  motives  in  the  most  striking  manner. 

$Neal,  History  of  the  Puritans,  i.  125.  "The  court 
took  such  measures  about  elections  as  seldom  fail  of  suc- 
cess." 

§  Camden,  Rerum  Anglicanim  Annales,  p.  37. 


A.  D.  1559.] 


PIUS  IV. 


105 


Paul  IV.  proved  in  one  respect  of  great  impor- 
tance.    His  opposition  to  the  transfer  of  the 
imperial  crown,  in  pursuance  of  his  old  aver- 
sion to  the  house  of  Austria,  obliged  Ferdinand 
I.  to  be  more  observant  than  before  of  the 
maintenance    of  friendly   relation    with    his 
Protestant  allies.     From  that  time   forth   it 
was  an  union  of  the  moderate  princes  of  both  i 
parties  that  guided  the  affairs  of  Germany;! 
and  under  their  influence  the  transference  of 
ecclesiastical  foundations  in  Lower  Germany 
to    Protestant   administrations   was   speedily-; 
accomplished. 

It  seemed  as  though  the  papacy  was  not  to 
suffer  any  detriment,  to  which  it  did  not  itself 
conduce  in  one  way  or  another  by  its  political 
eflbrts. 

Let  us  pause  at  this  moment  to  cast  a 
glance  over  the  world  from  the  summit  of 
Rome,  and  contemplate  the  enormous  losses 
the  catholic  creed  had  sustained.  We  see 
Scandinavia  and  Britain  revolted,  Germany 
almost  wholly  Protestant,  Poland  and  Hun- 
gary in  violent  fermentation,  Geneva  become 
a  central  point  for  the  Latin  nations  and  the 
West,  as  important  as  Wittenberg  for  the 
German  nations  and  the  East :  in  France  too, 
and  in  the  Netherlands,  we  see  a  party  already 
on  foot  beneath  the  banners  of  Protestantism. 

But  one  last  hope  remained  to  the  Catholic 
faith.  In  Spain  and  Italy  the  symptoms  of 
dissent  had  been  quelled,  and  a  strict  spirit  of 
ecclesiastical  restoration  had  arisen.  How- 
ever disadvantageous  was  the  secular  policy 
of  Paul  IV.  in  other  respects,  he  had  yet 
achieved  the  supremacy  of  that  spirit  in  the 
court  and  the  palace.  The  question  was, 
whether  it  would  continue  to  maintain  itself 
there,  or  whether  it  would  once  more  be  ena- 
bled to  pervade  and  unite  the  catholic  world  7 

Pius  IV. 

It  is  related  that  once  at  a  banquet  of  car- 
dinals, AlessandroFarnese  presented  a  garland 
to  a  lad  who  had  the  art  of  improvisatising  to 
the  lyre,  and  bade  him  offer  it  to  him  among 
them  who  was  one  day  to  be  pope.  The  lad, 
Silvio  Antoniano,  himself  afterwards  a  distin- 
guished man  and  cardinal,  went  up  instantly 
to  Giovanni  Angelo  Medici,  and  pronouncing 
an  eulogy  upon  him,  presented  him  with  the 
garland.  That  Medici  was  Paul's  successor 
by  the  title  of  PiuslV.* 

He  was  of  mean  extraction.  His  father 
Bernardino  had  originally  settled  in  Milan, 
where  he  had  accumulated  a  small  fortune  by 
government  contracts.f     His  sons,  however, 

♦  Nicius  Erylhrseus  relates  this  anecdote  in  the  article 
on  Anioniano,  Pinacolheca,  p.  37.  Mazzuclielli  also 
repeals  it.  The  election  took  place  on  the  26ih  of  Dec. 
15o9. 

t  Hieronymo  Soranzo,  Relatione  di  Roma.  Bernardino 
padre  della  B.S.  fu  stimalo  persona  di  soinma  bonli  e  di 
gran  industria,  ancora  che  fusse  nalo  in  povero  e  basso 
fltato  :  nondimeno  venuto  habitar  a  Milano  si  diedi  a  pig- 
liar  datii  in  affilto. 

14 


were  lefl  to  shift  for  themselves  with  but  very 
slender  means.  One  of  them,  Giangiacomo, 
who  adopted  the  military  profession,  took  ser- 
vice at  first  with  a  nobleman  ;  the  other  one, 
Giovanni  Angelo,  applied  himself  to  study, 
but  in  very  straitened  circumstances.  Their 
fortunes  originated  in  the  following  manner. 
Giangiacomo,  reckless  and  enterprising  by 
nature,  made  himself  serviceable  to  the  then 
rulers  of  Milan,  in  putting  out  of  the  way  one 
of  their  opponents,  a  Visconti  named  Monsig- 
norino.  No  sooner,  however,  was  the  murder 
done,  than  those  who  devised  it  sought  to  get 
rid  of  their  tool  likewise,  and  sent  the  young 
man  to  the  castle  of  Mus  on  the  lake  of  Como, 
with  a  letter  to  the  castellan,  directing  him 
to  put  the  bearer  to  death.  Giangiacomo  had 
his  suspicions,  opened  the  letter,  saw  what 
was  prepared  for  him,  and  forthwith  adopted 
his  resolution.  He  chose  a  few  trusty  com- 
rades, obtained  admission  into  the  castle  by 
means  of  the  letter,  and  then  succeeded  in 
seizing  possession  of  it.  From  that  time  forth 
he  conducted  himself  as  an  independent 
prince ;  secure  in  his  fastness,  he  kept  the 
Milanese,  Swiss,  and  Venetians  in  perpetual 
commotion ;  at  last  he  took  the  white  ctoss 
and  entered  the  imperial  service.  He  was 
created  Marquis  of  Marignano,  served  as  chief 
of  the  artillery  in  the  war  against  the  Luthe- 
rans, and  commanded  the  imperial  army 
encamped  before  Siena.*  He  was  equally 
shrewd  as  desperate,  fortunate  in  all  his  en- 
terprizes,  and  devoid  of  pity.  Many  a  peasant 
who  sought  to  convey  provisions  into  Siena 
did  he  slay  with  his  own  hand  with  his  iron 
staff.  There  was  not  a  tree  far  and  wide  on 
which  he  had  not  caused  some  one  to  be 
hanged :  the  victims  he  had  caused  to  be  put 
to  death  were  said  to  amount  to  5000.  He 
conquered  Siena,  and  founded  a  considerable 
house. 

The  advance  of  his  brother  Giovanni  An- 
gelo had  accompanied  his  own.  He  took  the 
degree  of  doctor,  and  acquired  reputation  aa 
a  jurist.  He  then  purchased  an  appointment 
in  Rome.  He  was  already  in  the  confidence 
of  Paul  III.,  when  his  brother  the  marquia 
married  an  Orsina,  sister  to  the  wife  of  Pier 
Luigi  Farnese.f     Upon  this  he  was  made  car- 


*  Ripamont,  Historise  Urbis  Mediolanis.  Natalis  Comes 
Hist. 

t  Soranzo.  Nato  1499,  si  dottor6  152.5,  vivendo  in  stu- 
dio cosi  strettamente  che  il  Pasrjua  suo  medico,  che  slava 
con  lui  a  dozena,  I'acconimodoun  gran  tempo  del  suo  ser- 
vilore  e  di  qualche  altra  cosa  necessaria.  Del  1527  com- 
pro  un  proionolariato.  Servendo  il  cardinal  Farnes9 
(Kipamonte  tells  of  his  good  understanding  with  Paul  III. 
himself)  coUa  piu  assidua  diligenza  s'andu  meltendo 
inanzi:  ebbe  drversi  impieghi,  dove  acquisto  nome  di 
persona  integra  e  giusta  e  di  natura  officiosa.  [Born  in 
1499,  he  took  his  degree  of  Doctor  in  1525,  pursuing  his 
studies  in  such  straitened  circuLiistances,  that  Pasqua  his 
physician  accommodated  him  with  the  service  ot  his  own 
domestic  and  with  other  necessaries.  He  purchased  a 
prothonotary's  place  in  1527.  Exercising  the  most  assidu- 
ous diligence  in  the  service  of  the  cardinal  Faruese,  his 
advance  was  constant.    He  held  dilierenl  employmeals, 


106    THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,    [a.  d.  1559. 


dinal.  After  that  we  find  him  entrusted  with 
the  administration  of  the  papal  cities,  the  con- 
duct of  political  negociations,  and  more  than 
once  with  the  commissariat  of  papa]  armies. 
He  showed  himself  dexterous,  prudent,  and 
good  humoured.  But  Paul  IV.  could  not  en- 
dure him,  and  once  broke  out  into  violent  in- 
vectives against  him  in  the  consistory.  Medici 
thought  it  best  to  withdraw  from  Rome.  He 
assuaged  the  pains  of  exile  by  literary  occu- 
pations, and  by  a  munificent  bounty  that  pro- 
cured him  the  title  of  father  of  the  poor, 
residing  sometimes  at  the  baths  of  Pisa, 
sometimes  in  the  Milan,  where  he  built  a 
great  deal.  Perhaps  the  diametrical  contrast 
he  exhibited  to  Paul  IV.  now  contributed 
chiefly  to  his  election. 

That  contrast  was  more  than  usually  strik- 
ing. 

Paul  IV.  was  a  Neapolitan  of  high  birth,  of 
the  anti-Austrian  faction,  a  zealot,  a  monk, 
and  an  inquisitor.  Pins  IV.  a  Milanese  par- 
venu, closely  connected  through  his  brother 
and  some  German  relations  with  the  house  of 
Austria,  a  jurist,  of  a  jovial  and  worldly  dis- 
position. Paul  IV.  had  stood  aloof  and  inac- 
cessible ;  in  his  least  actions  he  aimed  at 
displaying  dignity  and  majesty ;  Pius  was  all 
goodness  and  condescension.  He  was  daily 
seen  on  foot  or  on  horseback  in  the  streets, 
almost  without  attendants ;  he  talked  affably 
with  every  body.  The  Venetian  despatches 
make  us  "fully  acquainted  with  him.*  The 
ambassadors  come  upon  him  as  he  writes  or 
transacts  business  in  a  cool  hall :  he  rises  and 
walks  up  and  down  with  them,  or  they  meet 
him  as  he  is  proposing  to  visit  the  Belvedere  : 
he  seats  himself  without  laying  down  his  stick, 
hears  what  they  have  to  say  without  further 
ceremony,  and  then  sets  off  on  his  excursion 
in  their  company.  Whilst  he  treats  them  in 
this  familiar  way,  he  looks  too  for  courteous 
address  and  deference  on  their  parts.  The 
clever  sallies  with  which  the  Venetians  some- 
times accost  him,  delight  him,  and  elicit  his 
smile  and  plaudits.  Staunch  partisan  of  Aus- 
tria as  he  is,  he  is  disgusted  at  the  unbending 
and  imperious  manners  of  the  Spanish  ambas- 
sador Vargas.  He  dislikes  to  be  encumbered 
with  details,  which  soon  fatigue  him ;  but 
those  who  confine  themselves  with  him  to 
general  important  matters,  always  find  him 
good  humoured  and  easy  to  deal  with.  On 
such  occasions  he  pours  out  a  thousand  cor- 
dial protestations,  how  heartily  he  hates  the 
bad,  how  by  nature  he  lovesjustice,  and  desires 
to  molest  no  man's  freedom,  but  to  evince 
good  feeling  and  friendliness  to  every  one : 

in  which  he  acquired  the  reputation  of  an  upright  and 
just  man,  of  an  obliging  disposition.]  The  marriage  of 
the  marquis  followed,  "  con  promessa  di  far  lui  cardinale" 
[with  the  promise  that  he  should  be  made  cardinal]. 

*  Kagguagli  del  Ambasciutore  Veneto  da  Roma  15G1. 
By  Marc  Antonio  Amulio  (Mulla).  Informatt.  Politt. 
zxxvii. 


but  especially  his  thoughts  are  bent  on  labour- 
ing with  all  his  might  for  the  church,  and  he 
hopes  to  God  he  will  be  able  to  effect  some- 
thing for  its  good.  We  may  easily  picture 
him  to  ourselves;  a  hale  burly  old  man,  still 
active  enough  to  reach  his  country  house  be- 
fore sunrise,  with  a  cheerful  face  and  lively 
eye ;  fond  of  conversation,  good  cheer,  and 
merriment.  Recovered  from  an  illness  that 
had  been  deemed  alarming,  he  throws  himself 
on  his  horse,  rides  off  to  the  dwelling  he  had 
'occupied  when  a  cardinal,  runs  nimbly  up  and 
down  the  stairs,  and  cries,  "  No !  no !  we'  are 
not  going  to  die  yet." 

But  was  a  pope  of  this  joyous  and  mundane 
temperament  the  one  best  fitted  at  this  crisis 
to  pilot  the  church  through  her  difficulties'? 
Was  it  not  to  be  feared  that  he  would  lapse 
from  the  tenor  of  the  course  but  scarce  begun 
in  the  close  of  his  predecessor's  reign  1  His 
nature  I  will  not  deny  may  have  tended  that 
way  ;  but  the  event  was  otherwise. 

For  his  own  part  he  had  no  good  will  to  the 
Inquisition  ;  he  censured  the  monkish  harsh- 
ness of  its  proceedings,  and  seldom  or  never 
frequented  the  congregation  :  but  on  the  other 
hand  he  never  ventured  to  molest  it,  declaring 
that  he  knew  nothing  about  the  matter,  that 
he  was  no  theologian ;  and  he  left  it  all  the 
power  it  had  possessed  under  Paul  IV.* 

He  made  a  fearful  example  of  the  nephews 
of  the  pope.  The  excesses  committed  by  the 
duke  of  Palliano  even  after  his  fall  (he  put  his 
own  wife  to  death  out  of  jealou.sy)  made  it  an 
easy  matter  for  the  enemies  of  the  Caraffa  to 
gratify  their  thirst  for  vengeance.  A  penal 
process  was  instituted  against  them,  wherein 
they  were  accused  of  the  most  horrible  crimes, 
robberies,  murders,  forgeries,  and  besides  all 
this,  of  very  arbitrary  conduct  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  public  affairs,  and  of  continued 
system  of  deception  practised  on  poor  old  Paul 
IV.  Their  reply  is  extant,  and  is  not  indeed 
destitute  of  a  show  of  justification.!  But  their 
accusers  prevailed.  Tlie  pope,  after  sitting 
one  day  in  the  consistory  from  an  early  hour 
till  evening,  to  hear  the  several  documents 
read  to  him,  pronounced  sentence  of  death  on 


*  Sorano.  Se  bene  si  connobbe  non  esser  di  sua  satis- 
fatione  il  modo  che  tengono  gl' inquisiiori  di  procedere 
per  I'ordlnario  con  lanto  rigore  contra  gli  inquisiti,  e  che 
si  lascia  intendere  chepiuli  piaceriache  usassero  termini 
da  cortese  gentilhuomo  che  da  frate  severo,  non  di  meno 
non  ardisce,  o  non  vuole  mai  opponersi  ai  giudicii  loro. 
[Though  it  be  well  known  that  he  is  not  satisfied  with  the 
manner  in  which  the  inquisitors  commonly  proceed  with 
such  rigour  against  the  accused,  and  that  he  gives  it  to  be 
understood  he  would  be  better  pleased  were  they  to  use 
the  language  of  gentlemanly  courtesy,  than  of  monkish 
harshness,  nevertheless  he  does  not  venture  or  does  not. 
wish  ever  to  oppose  their  judgment.] 

t  Bromato  gives  chiefly  from  Nores  a  circumstantial 
account  of  these  proceedings.  In  the  Informatt.  we  also 
find  the  letters  of  Mula,  e.  g.  19  July,  1560;  the  Extractus 
Processus  cardinal  is  Caraffae,  and  El  sucesso  de  la  muerte 
de  los  Carafas,  con  ladeclaracion  y  el  modo  que  murieron. 
La  morte  de  C'  Caraffa  (Library  at  Venice,  vi.  no.  39.)  is 
the  MS.  Bromata  had  before  him  in  addition  lo  thai  of 
Nore«. 


A.  D.  1560.] 


PIUS  IV. 


107 


the  accused,  namely,  the  cardinal,  the  duke  of 
Palliano,  and  two  of  his  nearest  relations,  the 
counts  Aliffe,  and  Leonardo  di  Cardine.  Mon- 
tebello  and  some  others  had  fled.  The  car- 
dinal perhaps  had  expected  banishment,  but 
never  thought  of  being  condemned  to  death. 
When  the  sentence  was  announced  to  him  one 
morning  as  he  lay  in  bed,  and  when  every 
doubt  was  now  removed,  lie  covered  his  face 
for  a  moment  in  the  coverlet ;  then  rising  up 
he  smote  his  hands  together,  and  uttered  that 
painful  exclamation  common  in  Italy  in  des- 
perate contingencies,  "  Well,  well,  patience  !" 
He  was  not  allowed  his  usual  confessor:  he 
had  much  to  say,  as  may  be  imagined,  to  the 
confessor  sent  liim,  and  the  shrilt  was  some- 
what protracted.  "  Finish,  will  you,  mon- 
signore,"  cried  the  officer  of  police,  *' we  have 
other  business  in  hand." 

Thus  perished  these  nepotes.  They  are  the 
last  who  aspired  after  independent  sovereign- 
ties, and  who  excited  great  general  move- 
ments with  a  view  to  their  private  political 
ends.  We  meet  with  this  class  from  the  days 
of  Sextus  IV. ;  Hieronymo  Riario,  Caasar  Bor- 
gia, Lorenzo  Medici,  Pier  Luigi  Farnese  ;  the 
Caraftas  close  the  list.  Other  nepotist  fami- 
lies have  since  arisen,  but  under  wholly  dif- 
ferent circumstances.  Nepotism  has  never 
been  revived  in  its  old  shape. 

How,  for  instance,  should  Pius  IV.,  after  so 
violent  an  execution,  have  ventured  to  bestow 
on  his  nephews  a  power  of  the  same  nature  as 
that,  the  exercise  of  which  he  had  so  impla- 
cably visited  upon  the  CarafFas]  Besides,  as 
a  man  of  naturally  active  temperament,  he 
was  disposed  to  govern  for  himself;  he  deter- 
mined all  important  matters  only  upon  the 
strength  of  his  own  judgment,  and  if  he  was 
open  to  censure,  it  was  rather  for  relying  too 
little  on  the  support  of  others.  Add  to  this, 
that  the  nephew  he  might  have  been  tempted 
to  push  forward,  Federigo  Borromeo,  died 
young.  The  other  Carlo  Borromeo,  was  not 
the  man  for  worldly  elevation  ;  he  would  never 
have  accepted  it.  Carlo  Borromeo  regarded 
his  position  with  respect  to  the  pope,  and  tiie 
contact  into  which  it  brought  him  with  the 
weightiest  affairs  of  government,  not  as  con- 
veying to  him  a  right  to  any  selfish  indul- 
gence, but  as  imposing  duties  to  which  he  was 
to  devote  himself  with  all  assiduity.  He  did 
so  with  equal  modesty  and  perseverance,  gave 
audience  indefatigably,  and  sedulously  devoted 
himself  to  the  administration  of  the  state  ;  the 
latter  was  in  one  respect  importantly  affected 
by  his  tenure  of  authority,  inasmuch  as  he 
formed  around  him  a  college  of  eight  doctors, 
which  afterwards  grew  into  the  Consulla. 
After  dispatching  these  occupations,  he  gave 
his  assistance  to  tlie  pope.  lie  is  the  same 
who  was  afterwards  pronounced  a  saint,  and 
in  ihe  times  we  are  speaking  of  his  conduct 
was  noble  and  irreproachable.     "  !So  tar  as  is 


known,"  Hieronymo  Soranzo  says  of  him,  "  he 
is  pure  from  every  stain;  so  religious  is  his 
life,  and  so  excellent  his  example,  as  to  leave 
the  best  men  nothing  to  desire.  It  redounds 
very  greatly  to  his  praise,  that  in  the  prime 
of  his  years,  nephew  to  a  pope  whose  favour 
he  fully  enjoys,  and  residing  at  a  court  where 
he  might  procure  himself  every  kind  of  plea- 
sure, he  leads  so  exemplary  a  life."  His 
recreation  was  to  collect  some  learned  men 
about  him  in  the  evening.  The  conversation 
began  with  profane  literature,  but  from  Epic- 
tetus  and  the  stoics,  whom  Borromeo,  still  a 
young  man,  did  not  disdain,  it  soon  passed, 
even  in  those  hours  of  leisure,  to  ecclesiastical 
questions.*  If  any  thing  was  objected  against 
him,  it  was  not  as  regarded  his  good  will  or 
his  diligence,  but  only  in  some  degree  as  to 
his  talents  ;  or  his  servants  complained  that 
they  were  forced  to  forego  the  rich  marks  of 
favour  enjoyed  under  the  nepotism  of  former 
years. 

Thus  did  the  nephew's  qualities  make  up 
for  what  the  more  strictly  inclined  might  have 
blamed  as  wanting  in  the  uncle.  At  any  rate 
every  thing  proceeded  in  the  established 
course :  ecclesiastical  and  secular  business 
was  completed  zealously  and  with  due  atten- 
tion to  the  interests  of  the  church,  and  the  pro- 
gress of  reform  was  maintained.  The  pope 
publicly  admonished  the  bishops  to  reside  in 
their  dioceses,  and  some  were  seen  forthwith 
to  kiss  his  foot  and  take  their  leave.  There  is 
a  coercive  power  in  widely  prevalent  ideas 
that  have  once  gained  the  upper  hand.  A 
serious  spirit  in  religious  matters  had  attained 
supremacy  in  Rome,  and  not  even  the  pope 
could  any  longer  swerve  from  its  dictates. 

But  if  the  more  mundane  disposition  of  this 
pope  was  not  unpropitious  to  the  restoration  of 
strict  discipline  in  the  church,  we  may  add 
that,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  calculated  to 
contribute  immensely  towards  cementing  the 
breaches  that  had  occurred  in  the  catholic 
world. 

Paul  IV.  had  held  that  it  belonged  to  the 
pope  to  lord  it  over  emperors  and  kings :  for 
this  it  was  that  he  had  plunged  into  so  many 
enmities  and  wars.  Pius  was  the  more  clearly 
aware  of  this  fault,  forasmuch  as  it  was  com- 
mitted by  a  predecessor  with  whom  he  had 
other  reasons  besides  to  feel  himself  in  direct 
contrast.  "Thereby  we  lost  England,"  he 
exclaimed,  "  which  we  might  have  retained, 
had  cardinal  Pole  been  better  supported ; 
thereby  was  Scotland  also  lost :  during  the 
war  the  German  doctrines  penetrated  into 
France."  He  on  the  contrary  desired  peace 
above  all  things.  Even  a  war  with  the  pro- 
testants  was  not  to  his  mind.  He  frequently 
interrupted  the  ambassador  from  Savoy,  who 
solicited  his  aid  towards  an  attack  on  Geneva, 


*  ThPSR  are  thR  Nodes  Vaticanas  mentioned  by  Glus 
sianus,  Vila  Carol  i  Borromei,  i.  iv.  22. 


108    THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,   [a.  d.  1562. 


exclaiming',  "What  times  are  these  to  make 
me  such  proposals  1  There  is  nothing  they 
demand  so  imperatively  as  peace."*  He  would 
fain  have  been  on  good  terms  with  every  one. 
He  dispensed  his  ecclesiastical  favours  readily; 
and  if  he  had  to  refuse  any  thing,  he  did  so 
courteously  and  modestly.  It  was  his  convic- 
tion, and  he  declared  it  openly,  that  the  power 
of  the  pope  could  not  subsist  without  the  autho- 
rity of  sovereigns. 

The  last  part  of  the  pontificate  of  Paul  IV. 
was  marked  by  the  renewed  demand  of  the 
whole  catholic  world  for  a  council.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  Pius  IV.  could  not,  without  the 
greatest  difficulty,  have  resisted  the  call.  He 
could  no  longer  make  war  a  pretext  for  refusal, 
as  his  predecessors  had  done,  for  at  last  all 
Europe  was  at  peace.  The  measure  was  even 
of  urgent  necessity  on  his  own  account,  since 
the  French  were  threatening  to  assemble  a 
national  council,  which  might  very  possibly 
have  led  to  a  schism.  But  in  truth  I  find  that, 
apart  from  all  this,  he  was  very  well  inclined 
that  way.  Let  us  hear  himself:  "  We  desire 
the  council,"  he  says,  "  we  desire  it  assuredly, 
and  we  desire  it  general.  Were  it  not  so,  we 
might  throw  obstacles  in  the  way,  and  dally 
with  the  expectations  of  the  world  for  years : 
but  we  are,  on  the  contrary,  much  more  dis- 
posed to  remove  all  hindrances.  What  needs 
reform  shall  be  reformed,  even  in  our  own  per- 
son and  in  our  own  affairs.  If  we  have  any 
other  thought  than  to  do  God  service,  may 
God  chastise  us  accordingly."  It  often  ap- 
peared to  him  that  he  did  not  meet  with  suffi- 
cient assistance  from  the  several  sovereigns 
towards  so  great  a  design.  One  morning  the 
Venetian  ambassador  found  him  in  bed,  crip- 
pled with  the  gout,  and  immersed  in  thought. 
"Our  purpose  is  good,"  he  exclaimed,  "but 
we  are  alone."  "  I  was  seized  with  pity," 
says  the  ambassador,  "  to  see  him  as  he  lay  in 
bed,  and  to  hear  him  say,  '  We  are  alone  to 
bear  so  heavy  a  burden.'  "  Meanwhile,  how- 
ever, he  set  the  work  in  progress.  On  the 
18th  Jan.  1.562,  there  were  so  many  bishops 
and  delegates  assembled  in  Trent,  that  it  was 
possible  to  resume,  for  the  tliird  time,  the 
twice-interrupted  council.  The  pope  had 
mainly  contributed  to  this.  "  Assuredly,"  says 
Girolaino  iSoranzo,  who  does  not  take  his  part 
on  other  occasif)ns,  "his  holiness  has  shown  in 
this  matter  all  the  zeal  that  was  to  be  expect- 
ed of  so  great  a  chief  shepherd :  he  has 
neglected  nothing  that  could  conduce  towards 
so  holy  and  so  necessary  a  work." 

The  latter  sittings  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 

The  state  of  the  world  was  entirely  altered 
since  the  first  assembly  of  this  council.     The 

*  Mula,  14  Fpb.  15GI.  Pius  becged  him  lo  say  :  "Che 
havemo  aninjo  di  stare  in  pace,  e  che  non  sapenio  nipnte 
de  quesii  pensieri  del  duca  di  Savoia,  e  ci  meravigliamo 


pope  had  no  longer  reason  to  fear  that  a  power- 
ful emperor  would  avail  himself  of  it  to  become 
master  of  the  popedom.  Ferdinand  I.  had  no 
power  whatever  in  Italy  :  nor  was  any  serious 
diversity  of  opinion  on  essential  dogmas  now 
to  be  apprehended.*  These,  in  the  form  in 
which  they  had  been  confirmed,  though  not 
fully  developed,  had  already  become  predom- 
inant throughout  a  great  part  of  the  catholic 
world.  A  reunion  of  the  protestants  with  the 
church  was  no  longer  seriously  to  be  thought 
of  They  had  assumed  in  Germany  a  power- 
ful and  henceforth  unassailable  position  :  in 
the  north  their  ecclesiastical  notions  had  been 
incorporated  with  the  state  policy,  and  the 
same  thing  was  just  now  taking  place  in  Eng- 
land, when  the  pope  declared  that  the  new 
council  was  but  a  continuation  of  the  former, 
and  finally  silenced  the  voices  raised  against 
this  declaration,  he  virtually  abandoned  all 
hope  of  the  kind.  How  could  the  free  protes- 
tants acquiesce  in  a  council  by  whose  earlier 
resolutions  the  most  important  articles  of  their 
faith  had  been  already  condemned  !f  In  this 
way  the  influence  of  the  council  was  limited 
beforehand  to  the  exceedingly  contracted  cir- 
cle of  the  catholic  nations.  Its  purpose  could, 
on  the  whole,  extend  only  to  settlmg  the  dis- 
putes between  the  latter  and  the  supreme 
ecclesiastical  authority  ;  to  the  establishment 
of  dogmas  on  certain  as  yet  undetermined 
points ;  and,  above  all,  to  the  completion  of 
the  internal  reform  already  begun,  and  the 
issuing  of  rules  of  discipline  which  should  be 
of  universal  authority. 

But  even  this  limited  task  proved  exceed- 
ingly difficult.  The  most  vehement  contro- 
versies soon  broke  out  among  the  assembled 
fathers. 

The  Spaniards  mooted  the  question,  wheth- 
er the  residence  of  the  bishops  in  their  dio- 
ceses was  a  matter  prescribed  by  divine  law,  or 
by  human  authority.  This  might  seem  an 
idle  dispute,  since  all  parties  were  agreed  in 
holding  residence  to  be  necessary.  But  the 
Spaniards  maintained  the  general  principle 
that  episcopal  authority  was  not  an  emanation 
of  the  papal,  as  was  alleged  in  Rome,  but  that  its 


che  vada  cercando  qupsle  cose  :  non  6  tempo  di  fare  I'im- 
presa  di  Ginevra,  ne  di  fa  generali.  Scrivele  che  siamo 
constanli  in  qupsta  opinione  de  star  in  pace." 

*  This  was  the  view  taken  of  the  matter  by  Ferdinand  I. 
Lilterse  ad  Legates,  12  Aug,  loG2,  in  Le  Plat,  Monum.  ad 
Hist.  Cone.  Tridentini,  v.  p.  452.  Quid  enim  allinet  .  . . 
disquirere  de  his  dogmatibus,  de  quibus  apud  oiiines  non 
EOliim  principes,  verum  eliam  privates  homines  catholi- 
cos,  nulla  nunc  penitus  exislil  disceptalio  i  [For  what 
end  does  it  serve  ...  to  discuss  those  dogmas,  respecting 
which  among  all  catholics,  whether  princes  or  private 
individuals,  there  nnw  exists  no  manner  of  dissension  ?] 

+  The  main  argument  in  the  protest  of  the  Piotpsiants : 
"  Causae  cur  electores  principesaliique  Aueustanseconfes- 
sioni  adjunctae  status  recusent  adere  conciliuiu."  Le  Plat, 
iv.  p,  57.  The  remark  in  the  very  first  pioclamation,  the 
formidable  words,  "  omni  suspensione  sublata."  Ihey 
recal  to  mind  the  condemnation  lormerly  passed  on  their 
fundamental  principles,  and  copiously  set  forth  "quae 
mala  sub  eaconfirmatione  laleaal"  [what  evil  lurks  under 
that  confinnalion.] 


A.  D.  1562.]  PIUS  IV.  LATTER  SITTINGS  OF  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT.      109 


origin  rested  directly  on  divine  appointment. 
This  was  striking  at  the  very  heart  of  the 
whole  system  of  tlie  church.  The  indepen- 
dence of  the  subordinate  clerical  authorities, 
whom  the  pope  so  sedulously  kept  under, 
would  of  necessity  have  followed  in  the  train 
of  this  principle. 

The  debate  on  this  topic  was  already  very 
animated,  when  the  imperial  ambassadors  ar- 
rived. The  articles  they  proposed  are  highly 
remarkable:  "It  is  to  be  wished,"  say  some 
of  them,  "  that  the  pope,  following  the  exam- 
ple of  Christ,  will  humble  himself,  and  sub- 
mit to  reform  as  regards  his  own  person,  his 
dominions,  and  his  curia.  The  council  must 
reform  both  the  nomination  of  the  cardinals 
and  the  conclave."  Ferdinand  was  used  to 
say:  "  Since  the  cardinals  are  not  good,  how 
can  they  choose  a  good  pope  1"  He  wished 
the  reform  he  proposed  to  be  based  on  the  plan 
promulgated  by  the  council  of  Constance,  but 
which  had  not  been  carried  into  effect.  The 
resolutions  were  to  be  prepared  by  deputations 
from  the  several  nations.  But,  furthermore, 
he  demanded  the  cup  for  the  laity,  and  the 
marriage  of  priests ;  remission  of  fasts  for  some 
of  his  subjects  ;  the  establishment  of  schools 
for  the  poor  ;  the  purification  of  the  breviary, 
legends,  and  homilies;  more  intelligible  cate- 
chisms ;  the  use  of  German  in  church  sing- 
ing; a  reform  of  the  convents,  and  for  this 
special  reason  too,  "  that  their  great  wealth 
might  no  longer  be  expended  in  so  flagitious 
a  manner."*  These  were  indeed  proposals  of 
vast  moment,  the  upshot  of  which  would  have 
been  nothing  less  than  a  thorough  transmuta- 
tion of  the  whole  church  system.  The  em- 
peror urged  the  consideration  of  them  in  re- 
peated letrers. 

Last  of  all  appeared  the  cardinal  of  Lor- 
raine with  the  French  prelates,  and  cordially 
seconded  the  German  proposals.  He  demand- 
ed, especially,  the  grant  of  the  cup  to  the  lai- 
ty the  administration  of  the  sacraments  in  the 
vulgar  tongue,  the  accompaniment  of  the  mass 
with  instruction  and  preaching,  and  permis- 
sion to  sing  the  psalms  in  French  in  full  con- 
gregation— all  of  them  matters  from  which 
the  most  desirable  consequences  were  antici- 
pated. "  We  are  fully  assured,"  says  the  king, 
"  that  the  accordance  of  the  cup  to  the  laity 
would  quiet  many  uneasy  consciences,  re- 
unite to  the  catholic  church  whole  provinces 
that  have  severed  themselves  from  its  commu- 
nion, and  be  one  of  the  best  means  ofappeas- 

♦  Pallavicini  almost  wholly  passpsoverlhpse  postulates, 
xvii.  1,  6.  They  are  irksome  to  him.  Indeed  they  have 
never  been  made  linown  in  their  proper  form.  They  lie 
before  us  in  these  extracts.  The  first  Is  in  P.  Sarpi,  lib. 
vi.  p.  32.5,  and  precisely  alike,  but  in  Latin,  in  Rinaldi 
and  Goldast.  The  s°cond  is  in  Bartholoiiiaeus  de  Maity- 
ribus,  and  is  somewhat  ir.ore  copious.  The  third  was  ta- 
ken by  Shelhoin  from  the  papers  of  Slaphylus.  They 
do  not  agree  very  well  together.  I  am  inclined  to  thinlc 
the  orisrinal  of  them  is  to  be  found  in  Vienna:  it  must  be 
a  remarkable  do  ument.  I  have  adhered  lothe  e.xtract  in 
Shelhom.    Le  Plat  gives  them  all,  as  well  as  the  answer. 


ing  the  troubles  in  our  realm."*  But,  besides 
all  this,  the  French  bishops  sought  also  to 
bring  forward  the  resolutions  of  Basel,  and 
they  maintained  openly  that  a  council  is  above 
the  pope. 

The  Spaniards  did  not  concur  in  the  de- 
mands of  the  Germans  and  the  French.     They 
condemned  in  the  most  energetic  manner  the 
layman's  cup  and  the  marriage  of  priests,  and 
I  it  was  impossible  to  obtain,  from  the  council 
I  at  least,  any  concession  on  these  points:  all 
'  that  was  done  was  to  refer  the  expediency  of 
j  the  concessions  to  the  pope's  decision.     There 
!  were  points,  however,  on  which  three  nations 
agreed  in   resisting  the  pretensions  of  the  cu- 
ria.    They  thought  it  intolerable  that  the  le- 
gates alone  should  have  the  right  of  proposing 
resolutions;  but,  besides  this,  the  conduct  of 
the  legates  in  previously  consulting  the  pope's 
good  pleasure  with  regard  to  every  resolution, 
appeared    to  them  an  insult  to  the  dignity  of 
the  council.     According  to  that  way  of  pro- 
ceeding, as  the  emperor  said,  there  were  prop- 
'  erly  two  councils,  the  one  in  Trent,  the  other, 
and  more  real  one,  in  Rome. 
I      In  this  state  of  opinions,  had  the  votes  been 
taken  by  nations,  what  singular  results  would 
have  ensued ! 

As  this,  however,  was  not  the  case,  the  three 
nations,  even  taken  together,  were  in  a  mi- 
nority. The  Italian,  much  the  more  numer- 
ous party,  as  usual  supported,  without  much 
tenderness  of  conscience,  the  opinions  of  the 
curia,  on  which  they  were  for  the  most  part 
dependent.  Great  bitterness  of  feeling  arose 
on  both  sides.  The  French  jested  about  the 
'  Holy  Ghost  arriving  in  Trent  in  a  ma^bag. 
The  Italians  spoke  of  Spanish  leprosies  and 
French  diseases,  with  which  the  orthodox 
were  visited  in  turns.  When  the  bishop  of 
Cadiz  said,  there  had  been  famous  bishops, 
nay,  fathers  of  the  church,  whom  no  pope  had 
appointed,  the  Italians  were  loud  in  their  vo- 
ciferations: they  demanded  his  expulsion,  and 
talked  of  anathema  and'  heresy.  The  Span- 
iards retorted  upon  them  the  charge  of  here- 
sy.f  Sometimes  different  parties  assembled 
in  the  streets,  shouting  the  watchwords,  Spain! 
Italy :  and  blood  was  seen  to  flow  on  the  cho- 
sen ground  of  peace. 

Was  it  then  to  be  wondered  at,  if  for  ten 
months  it  was  never  found  possible  to  come 
to  a  session"?  if  the  pope's  first  legate  dis- 
suaded him  from  going  to  Bologna,  repre- 
sentmg  to  him  what  would  be  said  if  even 
then  the  council  could  not  reach  any  regular 
termination,  but  must  be  dissolved  7|     A  dis- 

♦  M^moire  baill6  i  Mr  le  C  de  Lorraine,  quand  il  est 
parti  pour  aller  au  concil.    Le  Plat,  iv.  5G2. 

t  Pallavicini  XV.  V.  5.  Paleotto,  Acta:  "Alii  praelali 
ingeuiinabant  clamanies.  Exeat,  exeat;  etalii,  Anathema 
sit ;  ad  quos  Gran  itensis  conversus  respondit :  Anatliema 
vos  estis."  Mendham,  Memoirs  of  the  Council  of  Trent, 
p.  251. 

t  Letteradel  C'e.  di  Blantua,  legato  al  concilio  di  Tren- 
to,  scritia  al  papa  Pio  IV.  li  15,  Gen.  1503.    Quando  si 


110    THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OP  THE  16TH  CENTURY,  [a.  d.  1563. 


solution  however,  a  suspension,  or  even  a  mere 
translation,  which  had  often  been  thought  of, 
would  have  been  exceedingly  hazardous. 
Nothing  was  expected  in  Rome  but  mischief: 
they  thought  there  that  a  council  was  much 
too  violent  a  remedy  for  the  debilitated  body 
of  the  church,  and  that  it  would  prove  fatal  to 
it  and  to  Italy.  "A  few  days  before  my  de- 
parture, in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1.563," 
Girolanio  Soranzo  tells  us,  "cardinal  Carpi, 
dean  of  the  college,  and  a  very  intelligent 
man,  said  to  me,  that  in  his  last  illness  he  had 
prayed  to  God  to  grant  him  death  in  His  mer- 
cy, that  he  might  not  live  to  see  the  downfall 
and  the  burial  of  Rome.  All  the  other  emi- 
nent cardinals,  too,  incessantly  deplore  their 
ill  fortune:  they  see  plainly  there  is  no  es- 
cape for  ihem,  unless  God's  holy  hand  be  es- 
pecially extended  to  them."*  Pius  IV.  dread- 
ed to  see  all  the  evils  with  which  other  popes 
had  ever  thought  themselves  threatened,  now 
burst  upon  himself. 

It  is  a  lofty  thought,  that  in  times  of  difficulty 
and  of  keen  discord  in  the  Church,  it  is  to  an 
assembly  of  its  chief  shepherds  it  must  look 
for  remedy.  "  Let  it  deliberate  without  pre- 
sumption or  envy  in  catholic  peace,"  says  Au- 
gustine; "after  fuller  experience,  let  it  open 
what  was  shut,  and  bring  to  light  what  was 
hidden."  But  even  in  the  earliest  times,  this 
ideal  was  far  from  being  attained :  it  would 
have  needed  a  purity  of  sentiment,  and  an  in- 
dependence of  extraneous  influence,  that 
seems  not  bestowed  on  man.  But  how  much 
more  unattainable  was  it,  now  that  the  Church 
was  intwined  with  the  state  by  such  innumer- 
able and  such  conflicting  relations.  If,  not- 
withstanding this,  councils  still  remained  ob- 
jects of  so  much  respect,  and  were  so  often, 
and  so  urgently  demanded,  that  was  to  be  at- 
tributed tor  the  most  part,  to  the  necessity  of 
curbing  the  power  of  the  popes.  But  now, 
what  the  latter  had  always  asserted,  seemed  to 
be  confirmed,  viz.,  that  in  times  of  great  con- 
fusion, councils  were  rather  fitted  to  augment 
than  to  allay  the  evil.  All  the  Italians  shared 
in  the  alarm  of  the  curia.  "  Either,"  said  they, 
"  the  council  will  go  on,  or  it  will  be  dissol- 
ved. In  the  former  case,  especially  if  the  pope 
should  die  in  the  interim,  the  ultramontanes 
will  fashion  the  conclave  after  their  own  views, 
and  to  the  detriment  of  Italy :  they  will  cir- 


havesse  di  disolvere  questo  concilio  .  .  .  per  causa  d' 
allri  e  non  nostra  .  .  .  mi  piaceria  piu  che  V".  Bealilu- 
dine  fusse  reslala  a  Roma. 

*  Li  Cardinali  di  maggior  auloritideploravano  con  tutli 
a  tuue  Tore  la  loromispria,  la  quale  stiniano  tanlo  mag- 
giore  che  vedonn  e  conoscono  assti  chiaro  non  esservi  rim- 
edio  alcuno,  se  non  quf  Uo  che  piacesse  dare  al  S^.  DIo 
con  lasua  sanlissiiiia  mano!— Ceno  nonsi  puj  se  non  le- 
mere,  adds  Sorano  on  his  own  pan,  Sermo.  Principe,  che 
la  povera  Italia  afflitla  per  altre causa habbi  ancora  a  sen- 
lire  afflillione  per  queslo  particolannente  :  lo  vedono  e  lo 
conoscono  tutti  i  savj.  [Certainly,  most  serene  prince,  it 
cannot  but  be  feared  that  poor  Italy  isdestined,  inaddilion 
to  all  her  other  afflictions,  to  sutler  particularly  from  this 
cause  too.    This  is  mauifesi  to  all  wise  men.] 


cumscribe  the  pope  to  that  degree,  that  he  will 
be  little  more  than  a  mere  bishop  of  Rome  : 
under  the  pretext  of  reform,  they  will  destroy 
all  offices,  and  ruin  the  whole  curia.  Should 
it,  on  the  other  hand,  bo  dissolved  without 
having  effected  anything  desirable,  even  the 
faithful  will  take  great  offence  thereat,  and 
the  waverers  will  run  extraordinary  risk  of 
being  lost  altogether." 

Looking  at  the  position  of  things,  it  seemed 
impossible  to  elicit  in  the  council  itself  any 
change  in  the  sentiments  prevailing  there. 
Confronted  with  the  legates,  who  were  gui- 
ded by  the  pope,  and  the  Italians,  who  were 
dependent  on  him,  stood  the  prelates  of  the 
other  nations,  who,  on  their  parts,  adhered  to 
the  ambassadors  of  their  respective  sovereigns. 
No  reconciliation,  no  accommodation  could  be 
devised.  Matters  seemed  still  desperate  in 
Feb.  1.563;  all  was  bickering;  each  party 
obstinately  stood  fast  to  its  own  notions. 

But,  on  more  closely  viewing  the  case  in 
its  naked  reality,  one  possibility  appeared  of 
an  escape  from  the  labyrinth. 

The  discordant  opinions  only  met  and  com- 
bated in  Trent;  they  had  I  their  sources  at 
Rome,  and  in  the  courts  of  the  several  sove- 
reigns. If  these  dissensions  were  to  be  anul- 
led,  they  must  be  dealt  with  at  the  fountain 
head.  Pius  IV.  had  said,  that  the  popedom 
could  no  longer  subsist  isolated  from  the  sove- 
reigns of  Europe ;  this  then  was  the  very 
moment  to  act  upon  that  maxim.  He  had 
once  thought  of  receiving  the  demands  of  the 
several  courts,  and  fulfilling  them  without  the 
interference  of  a  council ;  but  this  would  have 
been  but  a  half  measure.  The  grand  object 
was  to  bring  the  council  to  a  close  in  harmony 
with  the  greater  powers;  in  no  other  way 
could  it  be  done. 

Pius  IV.  resolved  to  attempt  this;  and  he 
was  seconded  by  his  ablest  and  most  states- 
manlike cardinal  Morone. 

The  most  important  personage  to  conciliate, 
was  the  emperor  Ferdinand,  in  whose  views 
the  French,  as  we  have  said,  concurred,  and 
for  whom,  as  his  uncle,  Philip  II.  entertained 
no  little  deference. 

Morone,  who  shortly  before  had  been  named 
president  of  the  council,  but  who  felt  assured 
that  nothing  could  be  effected  in  Trent,  betook 
himself,  in  April  1563,  unaccompanied  by  a 
single  prelate,  to  Inspruck  to  meet  the  empe- 
ror. He  found  him  soured,  discontented,  and 
offended,  convinced  that  no  serious  intentions 
of  reform  were  entertained  at  Rome,  and  de- 
termined, in  the  first  place,  to  secure  the  free- 
dom of  the  council.* 


*  To  this  place  belongs  also  the  Relatione  in  scr.  fatta 
dal  Co.iiendone  ai  S".  legati  del  concilio  supra  le  cose  ri- 
tratle  dal' iniperatore,  19  Febr.  15G3.  Para  che  pensino 
trovar  inodo  e  forma  di  haver  piu  parte  et  aulonl^  nel  pre- 
sente  concilio  per  slabilire  in  esse  tutte  le  loro  peiitioni 
giuiitaniente  con  li  Franresi.  [It  appears,  thpy  think  to 
find  ways  and  means  of  possessing  more  share  and  greater 


A.  D.  1563.]    PIUS  IV.  LATTER  SITTINGS  OF  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT.    Ill 


Extraordinary  address,  great  diplomatic 
skill,  as  we  should  say  in  these  days,  was  re- 
quisite on  the  legate's  part,  to  propitiate  the 
incensed  monarch.* 

Ferdinand  was  angry  that  his  propositions 
of  reform  had  been  put  aside,  and  never  made 
subjects  of  actual  disscussion.  The  legate 
had  the  art  to  persuade  him  that  it  had,  for 
reasons  not  altogether  to  be  despised,  been 
judged  hazardous  to  discuss  them  in  form,  but 
that  the  most  important  points  they  contained 
had,  nevertheless,  been  considered,  and  even 
already  adopted.  The  emperor  further  com- 
plained, that  the  council  wa.s  led  by  Rome, 
and  that  the  legates  were  governed  by  in- 
structions received  thence.  Morone  rejoined, 
and  the  fact  was  undeniable,  that  the  ambas- 
sadors of  the  sovereigns  were  also  guided  by 
instructions  from  home,  and  were  continually 
receiving  fresh  orders. 

In  fact  Morone,  who  had  already  long  pos- 
sessed the  confidence  of  the  house  "of  Austria, 
got  happily  over  this  most  delicate  matter. 
He  glossed  over  the  unfavourable  impressions 
the  emperor  had  taken  up,  and  then  applied 
himself  to  effect  a  mutual  agreement  on  those 
controverted  points  that  had  caused  the  great- 
est discord  in  Trent.  It  was  not  at  all  his  in- 
tention to  give  way  on  essential  matters,  or 
to  sutler  the  pope's  authority  to  be  in  any  wise 
weakened:  "the  great  object  was,"  he  him- 
self says,  "to  hit  upon  such  conclusions,  that 
the  emperor  might  deem  himself  satisfied, 
without  trenching  loo  closely  upon  the  au- 
thority of  the  pope  or  the  legates."! 

The  first  of  these  points  was  the  exclusive 
right  of  initiating  measures  vested  in  the  le- 
gates, a  right  which  it  was  constantly  asserted 
militated  against  the  freedom  of  the  council. 
Morone  remarked,  that  it  was  not  for  the  in- 
terest of  the  sovereigns  to  concede  the  initia- 
tive to  all  prelates;  a  fact  of  which  he  could 
have  had  no  difficulty  in  convincing  the  em- 
peror. It  was  easy  to  foresee  that  the  bishops, 
once  possessed  of  that  privilege,  would  not 
be  slow  to  propose  resolutions  running  directly 
counter  to  the  existing  pretensions  and  rights 
of  the  state.  It  was  manifest  what  confusion 
would  arise  out  of  such  a  concession.  Still 
there  was  a  desire,  in  some  degree,  to  meet 
the  wishes  of  the  sovereigns,  and  the  device 
adopted  to  that  end  is  worthy  of  notice.  Mo- 
rone promised  to  bring  forward  everything 
that  the  ambassadors  should  suggest  to  him 
with  that  intention,  or  on  his  failing  to  do  so, 

influence  in  the  present  council,  so  as  to  carry  their  mea- 
sures in  conjunction  with  the  French.] 

*  Tlie  most  iiiiponant  docuiiient  I  have  met  with  touch- 
ing the  transactions  at  Trent,  is  Morone's  Report  of  his 
Legation:  it  is  brief,  but  to  the  point.  Neither  Sarpi  nor 
even  Pallavicini  make  mention  of  it.  Kelatione  somma- 
r:a  del  Ci.  Morone  sopra  la  legatione sua.  Bibl.Allieri  in 
Koma,  vii.  F.  3. 

t  Fu  necessario  trovare  temperamento  tale  che  paresse 
all' imperatore  di  essere  in  alcuno  modo  satisfatlo,  et  in- 
gieme  non  si  pregiudicasse  all'  autoriicl  del  papa  n6  de' 
legati,  ma  restasse  ilcoauilio  ael  suo  possesso. 


to  admit  their  right  to  propose  the  measures 
in  person.  The  accommodation  was  signifi- 
cant of  the  spirit  that  gradually  began  to  pre- 
vail in  the  convocation.  The  legates  admitted 
an  occasion  on  which  they  would  forego  their 
exclusive  right  to  the  initiative  ;  but  this  not  so 
much  in  favour  of  the  fathers  assembled  in 
council,  as  of  the  ambassadors.*  It  followed 
thence,  that  the  sovereigns  alone  were  accord- 
ed a  .share  in  those  rights,  which  in  other 
respects  the  pope  reserved  to  himself. 

A  second  point  was  the  demand  that  the 
committees  which  prepared  the  resolutions, 
should  be  constituted  according  to  the  several 
nations.  Morone  remarked  that  this  had  al- 
ways been  the  practice,  but  that  for  the  future, 
since  the  emperor  desired  it,  it  should  be  more 
strictly  observed. 

The  third  point  was,  reform.  Ferdinand 
conceded  at  last,  that  the  expression,  reforma- 
tion of  the  head,  and  also  the  old  question  of 
the  Sorbonne,  whether  councils  were  superior 
to  the  pope  or  not,  should  be  avoided  ;  in  re- 
turn for  which,  Morone  promised  a  real  search- 
ing reform  in  all  other  particulars.  The  plan 
agreed  on  to  that  end  included  even  the 
conclave. 

These  main  points  being  set  at  rest,  all 
secondary  questions  were  easily  arranged. 
The  emperor  desisted  from  many  of  his  de- 
mands, and  enjoined  his  ambassadors,  above 
all  things,  to  maintain  a  good  understanding 
with  the  papal  legates.  Morone  returned 
back  over  the  Alps,  having  successfully 
accomplished  his  mission.  "As  soon  as 
the  emperor's  favourable  determination  was 
known  in  Trent,"  he  says  himself,  "and  the 
concord  between  his  ambassadors  and  the 
pope's  was  fully  ascertained,  the  council  be- 
gan to  assume  a  different  aspect,  and  to  become 
much  easier  to  manage." 

Other  circumstances  also  contributed  to  this 
result. 

The  Spaniards  and  the  French  had  quarrel- 
led about  the  precedence  due  to  the  represent- 
atives of  their  kings,  and  had  ever  since  liung 
much  less  together. 

Special  negotiations  had  also  been  entered 
on  with  each  of  them. 

Philip  II.  was  urgently  impelled  by  the 
force  of  circumstances  towards  a  good  under- 
standing with  the  pope.  His  power  in  Spain 
was,  in  a  great  measure,  founded  on  ecclesi- 
astical interests,  and  these  it  was  naturally 

*  Sumniariumeorumqusedicunturacta  inter  Caesaream 
Majestatem  et  illuslrissinmm  cardinalem  Moroniim,  in 
the  Acts  of  Torellus,  likewise  in  Salig,  Geschichte  dea 
Tridentinischen  Conciliuins  III.,  A.  2y2.,  wherein  this  is 
expressed  in  the  following  manner:  Maj.  S.  sibi  reserva- 
vit,  vel  per  medium  dictorum  legatorum,  vel  si  ipsi  in  hoc 
gravarentur,  perse  ipsum,  vel  per  ministros  sues  proponi 
curare:  [His  majesty  reserved  to  himself,  the  causing 
measures  to  be  proposed  through  the  medium  of  the  said 
legates,  or  if  they  objected  to  this,  by  himself  or  his  ser- 
vants.] I  confess  I  should  not  readily  have  inferred  from 
hence,  such  a  negotiation  as  Morone  reports,  though  in- 
deed it  is  implied  in  it. 


112      THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,  [a.  d.  1563. 


his  prime  care  to  hold  in  his  own  hand.  The 
Roman  court  was  well  aware  of  the  fact,  and 
the  nuncio  from  Madrid  often  said,  that  a  quiet 
termination  of  the  council  was  as  desirable 
for  the  king  as  for  the  pope.  The  Spanish 
prelates  at  Trent  had  already  raised  their 
voices  against  the  burdens  imposed  on  church 
property,  burdens  which  in  Spain  constituted 
an  important  part  of  the  public  revenues.  The 
fact  had  caused  the  king  much  uneasiness, 
and  he  entreated  the  pope  to  forbid  such  ob- 
jectionable language.*  Under  these  circum- 
stances, how  could  he  have  thought  of  securing 
his  prelates  a  right  to  initiate  any  measure? 
On  the  contrary,  he  rather  sought  to  impose 
restrictions  upon  them.  Pius  complained  of 
the  constant  opposition  offered  him  by  the 
Spanish  prelates:  the  king  promised  to  adopt 
means  for  checking  their  disobedience.  In 
short,  the  pope  and  the  king  were  clearly 
convinced  that  their  interests  were  identical. 
Other  negotiations  too  must  have  taken  place. 
The  pope  threw  himself  wholly  into  the  king's 
arms,  while  the  latter  solemnly  promised  to 
aid  the  pope  in  every  emergency  with  all  the 
strength  of  his  kingdom. 

Meanwhile,  the  French,  on  their  part,  were 
approximating  to  Rome.  The  Guises,  who 
exercised  so  great  an  influence  in  the  govern- 
ment at  home  and  in  the  council,  adopted  in 
both  places  a  policy  decidedly  and  increasingly 
catholic.  It  was  owing  only  to  the  compliances 
of  cardinal  Guise,  that  after  ten  months'  delay, 
and  an  eighth  postponement,  there  was  at  last 
a  possibility  of  again  holding  a  session.  But 
furthermore,  an  alliance  of  the  strictest  nature 
was  talked  of  Guise  proposed  a  congress  of 
the  leadmg  catholic  sovereigns,  the  pope,  the 
emperor,  and  the  kings  of  France  and  Spain.f 
He  went  in  person  to  Rome  to  discuss  the 
project  more  fully,  and  the  pope  was  at  a  loss 
for  words  to  laud  "  his  Christian  zeal  for  God's 
service  and  the  public  tranquillity,  not  only  in 
matters  touching  the  council,  but  also  in  others 
that  concerned  the  general  welfare."|  The 
proposed  congress  would  have  been  very  wel- 
come to  the  pope,  who.  sent  ambassadors  on 
the  subject  to  the  emperor  and  the  king. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  important  dissen- 
sions were  appeased,  and  the  obstacles  to  a 
happy  termination  of  the  council  were  remov- 
ed, not  at  Trent,  but  at  the  several  courts, 
and  by  means  of  political  negotiations.  Mo- 
rone,  who  had  most  largely  contributed  to 
this  result,  succeeded  also  in  the  mean  time, 
in  gaining  over  the  prelates  individually,  lav- 
ishing on  them  all  the  acknowledgments, 
praise,  and  favour  for  which  they  panted. ^ 

*  Paolo  Tiepolo,  Dispaccio  di  Spagna,  4  Dec.  1552. 

+  Instruuione  data  a  Mons.  Carlo  Visconti  mandato  da 
papa  Pio  IV.  al  re  call,  per  le  cose  del  concilio  di  Treiito 
(ultimo  Ouobre,  1563.)  Bibl.  Barb.  1007. 

t  "  il  beneficio  universale."  Leltera  di  papa  Pio  IV., 
20  Ouobre,  1503. 

§  I  have  not  yet  seen  the  Life  of  Ayala  by  Villanueva,  i 


He  furnished  a  striking  example  of  what  can 
be  eftected  in  the  most  trying  circumstances 
by  a  man  of  intellect  and  address,  who  com- 
prehends the  posture  of  affairs,  and  directs  his 
powers  to  an  aim  compatible  therewith.  To 
him,  above  every  other  individual,  the  catholic 
church  is  indebted  for  the  favourable  issue  of 
the  council  of  Trent. 

The  path  was  smoothed,  and,  as  he  says 
himself,  the  inherent  difficulties  of  the  subject 
might  now  be  accosted. 

'J'he  old  controversy  respecting  the  neces- 
sity of  residence,  and  the  divine  right  of  the 
bishops,  was  still  pending.  For  a  long  time  the 
Spaniards  held  out  immovably  in  defence  of 
their  doctrine  on  tliis  head,  declaring  it,  so 
late  as  in  July,  1563,  as  infallible  as  the  ten 
commandments;  the  archbishop  of  Grenada 
wished  that  all  books  should  be  burned  in 
which  the  contrary  opinion  was  asserted.* 
Nevertheless,  when  the  decree  came  to  be 
drawn  up,  they  submitted  to  the  omission  from 
it  of  their  favourite  opinion.  A  form,  however, 
was  adopted,  that  still  left  them  a  possibility 
of  arguing  in  favour  of  their  own  views. 
This  very  ambiguity  in  the  decree,  Lainez 
made  the  subject  of  his  special  praise.f 

The  same  course  was  pursued  with  respect 
to  the  other  disputed  point,  the  initiative,  the 
^^ proponenlibus  legatis."  The  pope  declared 
that  every  one  should  be  at  liberty  to  ask  and 
to  say  whatever  he  had  a  right,  in  accordance 
with  the  usages  of  ancient  councils,  to  ask  and 
to  say  ;  but  he  cautiously  abstained  from  em- 
ploying the  word  prnpose.l  An  expedient 
was  thus  hit  upon,  with  which  the  Spaniards 
were  satisfied,  although  it  did  not  involve  the 
slightest  concession  on  the  pope's  part. 

The  obstacles  arising  out  of  political  con- 
siderations being  removed,  the  questions  which 
had  given  occasion  to  bitterness  and  wrang- 
ling, were  dealt  with,  not  so  much  with  a 
view  to  decide  them,  as  to  get  rid  of  them  by 
some  dexterous  accommodation. 

In  this  disposition  of  the  council,  the  less 
serious  matters  were  got  through  with  so 
much  the  more  ease.  Never  did  the  council's 
proceedings  make  more  rapid  progress.  The 
important  dogmas  of  clerical  ordination,  the  sa- 
crament of  marriage,  indulgences,  purgatory, 
the  adoration  of  saints,  and  by  far  the  weighti- 
est measure  of  reform  it  ever  adopted,  belong 
to  the  last  three  sessions  in  the  second  half  of 
the  year  1563.  The  congregations  on  every 
one  of  these  topics  were  composed  of  different 
nations.     The  project  of  reform  was  concerted 

in  which,  as  I  find,  there  must  be  some  account  of  this. 
Meanwhile,  Morone's  assurance  is  quite  sufficient.  "I 
prclati,"  says  he,  "  accarezzati  e  stimiti  e  loJati  e  gra- 
tiati  si  fecero  piu  trattabili." 

*  Scrittura  nelle  lettere  e  momorie  del  nuncio  Visconti, 
ii.  174. 

+  "Ejus  verba  in  utramque  partem  pie  satis  posse  ex- 
poni."    Palpolto  in  iMendham,  Memoirs  of  the  Council  of  - 
Trent,  p.  252. 

t  Pallavicini,  xxiii.  6.  5. 


A.  D.  1583.]   PIUS  IV.    LATTER  SITTINGS  OF  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT.      113 


in  five  separate  assemblies,  one  of  them 
French,  presided  over  by  the  cardinal  de 
Guise,  one  Spanish,  at  the  head  of  which  was 
the  archbishop  of  Grenada,  and  three  Italian  * 

They  easily  atjreed  on  most  questions :  only 
two  real  difficulties  presented  themselves,  the 
questions  as  to  the  exemption  of  chapters,  and 
plurality  of  benefices,  in  which  private  inter- 
ests again  played  an  important  part. 

The  former  question  particularly  affected 
Spain,  where  the  chapters  had  already  lost 
something  of  the  extraordinary  freedom  they 
had  once  possessed.  Whilst  it  was  their  wish 
to  regain  this,  the  king  conceived  tlie  design 
of  still  further  curtailing  their  privileges;  for 
the  nomination  of  the  bishops  being  vested  in 
himself,  he  had  an  interest  in  extending  this 
authority.  The  pope,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
for  the  chapters,  the  absolute  subjection  of 
which  to  the  bishops,  would  have  not  a  little 
diminished  his  influence  over  the  Spanish 
church.  On  this  point,  therefore,  these  ^'o 
great  powers  were  again  in  collision,  and  it 
was  a  question,  which  of  them  would  com- 
mand a  majority.  The  king  too  was  exceed- 
ingly strong  in  the  council.  His  ambassador 
had  succeeded  in  excluding  from  it  a  delegate 
sent  by  the  chapters,  to  watch  over  their 
rights.  He  had  so  much  ecclesiastical  patron- 
age at  his  d  isposal,  that  every  one  was  rel  uctant 
to  break  with  him.  The  opinions  pronounced 
orally,  were  unfavourable  to  the  chapters,  but 
observe  the  device  adopted  by  the  papal  le- 
gates to  counteract  that  result.  They  decided 
that  the  votes  should,  on  this  occasion,  be 
taken  in  writing:  the  viva  voce  declarations 
alone,  made  in  the  presence  of  so  many  of  the 
king's  adherents,  were  shaped  in  compliance 
with  his  views,  not  the  written  ones,  which 
were  placed  in  the  legate's  hands.  By  this 
scheme  they  at  last  obtained  an  important 
majority  for  the  papal  views  and  for  the  chap- 
ters. Encouraged  by  this,  they  then  entered, 
through  Guise's  mediation,  into  negotiations 
with  the  Spanish  prelates,  who,  in  the  end, 
contented  themselves  with  a  much  more  mode- 
rate extension  of  their  immunities  than  they 
had  contemplated. f 

*  The  best  accounts  on  this  are  to  be  found  where  they 
would  be  least  expected,  in  Baini,  Vila  di  Palestrina,  i. 
199.  derived  from  authentic  letters.  The  diary  of  Servan- 
lio,  of  which  Mendham  has  made  use,  (p.  304.)  also  touch- 
es en  the  affair. 

t  Sarpi,  viii.  816,  does  not  give  a  very  clear  account  of 
this  matter.  Mordne's  authentic  explanation  is  very  ac- 
ceptable. L'articolo  delle  cause  e  dell"  essenzioni  di  can- 
onici  fu  vinto  secondo  la  domanda  degli  oltraniontani :  poi 
facendosi  contra  1' uso  che  li  padri  tutti  dessero  voti  in 
iscritio,  furono  mutate  niolte  sententie  e  lu  vinio  il  con- 
Irario.  Si  venne  al  fin  alia  concordia  che  si  vede  nei  de- 
creti,  e  fu  mezzano  Lorena,  che  gia  era  lornato  da  Roma, 
lutto  addittoal  servilio  di  S.  Beatitudine  el  alia  fine  del 
concilio.  [The  article  of  the  causes  and  essential  attri- 
butes of  the  clergy,  was  passed  in  accordance  with  the 
views  of  the  ultramontanes :  afterwards  the  usual  order 
being  broken  through,  according  to  which  the  assembled 
fathers  should  have  given  their  votes  in  writing,  many 
opinions  were  changed,  and  the  contrary  resolution  was 
adopted.    At  last  the    council  came  to  that  agreement 

15 


The  second  question,  that  respecting  plu- 
ralities, was  still  more  niomentou  fo  •  the 
curia.  A  reform  of  the  institution  of  cardi- 
nals had  been  long  talked  of,  and  there  were 
many  who  regarded  its  corruption  as  the  pri- 
mary source  of  all  mischief  Now  the  cardi- 
nals often  accumulated  a  multitude  of  bene- 
fices, and  it  was  proposed  to  restrict  them  in 
this  by  the  most  cogent  laws.  It  will  readily 
be  conceived  how  sensitive  the  curia  must 
have  been  with  regard  to  every  innovation  of 
this  kind  ;  they  shrank  in  alarm  from  the  very 
thought  of  a  serious  discussion  of  the  subject. 
In  this  case,  too,  the  evasion  contrived  by  Mo- 
rone  was  very  remarkable :  he  mixed  up  the 
reform  of  the  cardinals  with  the  articles  af- 
fecting the  bishops.  "  But  a  few,"  he  says, 
"  perceived  the  importance  of  the  circum- 
stance, and  in  this  way  all  rocks  and  shoals 
were  avoided." 

Whilst  the  pope  thus  successfully  main- 
tained the  subsistence  of  the  Roman  court  in 
the  form  it  had  hitherto  worn,  he  aLso  mani- 
fested his  readiness  to  drop  the  project  that 
had  been  entertained  of  a  reformation  of 
princes.  On  this  head  he  yielded  to  the  em- 
peror's representations.* 

The  whole  of  the  proceedings  were  actu- 
ally like  those  of  a  peaceful  congress.  While 
questions  of  subordinate  interest  were  dis- 
cussed to  general  conclusions  by  the  divines, 
those  of  more  importance  were  subjects  of 
negociation  between  the  courts.  Couriers 
were  incessantly  flying  to  and  fro,  and  one 
concession  was  requited  with  another. 

The  pope's  foremost  object  was  now  to 
bring  the  convocation  to  a  speedy  close.  For 
a  while  the  Spaniards  held  out  against  this  : 
they  were  not  satisfied  with  the  reforms  that 
had  been  effected  ;  and  the  king's  ambassador 
once  even  made  a  show  of  protesting :  but  as 
the  pope  declared  his  readiness  to  call  a  new 
synod  in  case  of  urgency,-}-  as  every  one  was 
alive  to  the  extreme  inconvenience  that  would 
ensue,  were  the  papal  see  to  become  vacant 
pending  a  council,  and  lastly,  as  every  one 
was  tired  and  longed  to  return  home,  even 
the  Spaniards  gave  way  in  the  end. 

The  spirit  of  opposition  was  virtually  over- 
come. To  the  very  last  the  council  mani- 
fested extreme  submissiveness.  It  conde- 
scended to  solicit  the  pope's  confirmation  of 
its  decrees,  and  declared  expressly  that  all 
reforming  decrees,  however  their  words  might 
run,  were  conceived  with  the  fixed  under- 
standing that  nothing  in  them  should  be  con- 

which  is  seen  in  its  decrees,  the  mediator  being  the  car- 
dinal of  Lorraine,  who  had  now  relumed  from  Kome, 
entirely  devoted  to  the  service  of  his  holiness,  and  to  the 
ends  of  the  council.] 

*  That  a  rigid  retorm  of  the  curia,  the  cardinals,  and 
conclave  did  not  lake  place,  was  in  close  keeping  with 
the  omission  of  a  reformation  of  ihe  princes.  Extract* 
from  the  correspondence  of  the  legatee  in  Pallavicini, 
23, 7,4.  ' 

t  Pallavicini,  24,  8,  6. 


114  THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,    [a.  d.  1563. 


strued  as  affecting  the  dignity  of  the  holy  see.* 
How  far  were  they  at  Trent  from  renewing 
the  pretensions  of  Constance  and  Basel  to 
superiority  over  the  papal  power !  In  the 
proclamations  with  which  the  sittings  were 
closed,  and  which  were  composed  by  cardinal 
Guise,  the  universal  bishopric  of  the  pope  was 
especially  recognized. 

Thus  prosperous  was  the  event.  The  coun- 
cil that  had  been  so  vehemently  demanded, 
and  so  long  evaded,  that  had  been  twice  dis- 
solved, had  been  shaken  by  so  many  political 
storms,  and  whose  third  convocation  even  had 
been  beset  with  danger,  closed  amidst  the 
general  harmony  of  the  catholic  world.  It 
may  readily  be  understood  how  the  prelates, 
as  they  met  together  for  the  last  time  on  the 
4th  Dec.  1.56:^,  were  all  emotion  and  joy. 
Even  those  who  had  hitherto  been  antago- 
nists congratulated  each  other,  and  tears  were 
seen  to  start  into  the  eyes  of  many  of  those 
aged  men. 

Now  seeing,  as  we  have  remarked,  that  the 
result  obtained  had  been  the  fruit  of  so  much 
suppleness  and  political  dexterity,  it  might  be 
asked  whether  the  efficacy  of  the  council  had 
not  been  impaired  thereby. 

The  council  of  Trent  must  ever  be  regard- 
ed as  the  most  important,  if  not  of  all  coun- 
cils, yet  assuredly  of  those  of  more  modern 
ages. 

Its  importance  is  compressed  into  two  great 
crises. 

In  the  first,  which  we  touched  on  in  a  for- 
mer place,  during  the  war  of  Smalcalde,  the 
doctrines  of  Rome  after  many  fluctuations 
broke  forever  with  the  protestant  opinions. 
Out  of  the  doctrine  of  justification  as  then 
set  forth,  arose  forthwith  the  whole  system 
of  dogmatic  theology,  such  as  it  is  professed 
to  the  present  day  by  the  catholic  church. 

In  the  second  of  these  crises,  and  the  last 
we  considered,  after  Morone's  conference 
with  the  emperor,  in  the  summer  and  autumn 
of  the  year  1563,  the  hierarchy  was  establish- 
ed anew,  theoretically  by  the  decrees  respect- 
ing clerical  ordination,  and  practically  by  the 
resolutions  touching  measures  of  reform. 

The.'ie  reforms  are,  to  the  present  day,  of 
the  greatest  moment. 

The  faithful  were  again  subjected  to  the 
uncompromising  disciphne  of  the  church,  and 
in  urgent  cases  to  the  sword  of  excommuni- 
cation. Seminaries  were  founded,  where 
young  ecclesiastics  were  carefully  brought 
up  under  strict  discipline  and  in  the  fear  of 
God.  The  parishes  were  regulated  anew, 
the  administration  of  the  sacraments  and 
preaching  subjected  to  fixed  ordinances,  and 
the  co-operation  of  the  regular  clergy  sub- 
jected to  determined  laws.  The  bishops  were 
held  rigidly  to  the  duties  of  their  office,  espe- 


♦Sessioxxv.  c.  21. 


cially  to  the  superintendence  of  the  clergy, 
according  to  their  various  grades  of  consecra- 
tion. It  was  a  regulation  attended  with 
weighty  results,  that  the  bishops  solemnly 
bound  themselves  by  a  special  confession  of 
faith,  signed  and  sworn  to  by  them,  to  observ- 
ance of  the  decrees  of  the  council  of  Trent, 
and  to  submissiveness  to  the  pope. 

But  the  purpose  undoubtedly  entertained  at 
first  in  this  convocation,  of  limiting  the  power 
of  the  pope,  was  not  fulfilled  :  on  the  contrary, 
that  power  is.^ued  from  the  struggle  even  aug- 
mented in  extent  and  cogency.  As  the  ex- 
clusive right  of  interpreting  the  decrees  of  the 
council  of  Trent  was  reserved  to  the  pope,  it 
was  always  in  his  power  to  prescribe  rules  for 
faith  and  conduct.  All  the  cords  of  the  re- 
stored discipline  centred  in  Rome. 

The  catholic  church  owned  the  circum- 
scription of  its  dominion  ;  it  gave  up  all  claims 
upon  the  Greeks  and  the  East,  and  protest- 
antism it  repudiated  with  countless  anathe- 
mas. In  the  earlier  Catholicism  there  was  in- 
volved an  element  of  protestantism  :  this  was 
now  forever  cast  out.  But  Catholicism,  in 
thus  limiting  the  field  of  its  operation,  con- 
centrated its  strength,  and  braced  up  all  its 
energies. 

It  was  only,  as  we  have  seen,  by  means  of 
a  good  understanding  and  agreement  with  the 
foremost  catholic  princes,  that  so  much  was 
achieved;  and  in  this  alliance  with  monarchy 
lies  one  of  the  main  conditions  of  all  catholo- 
cism's  subsequent  development.  This  is  in 
some  degree  analogous  to  the  tendency  of 
protestantism  to  combine  episcopal  with  sove- 
reign rights.  It  was  only  by  degrees  it  exhi- 
bited itself  among  the  catholics.  It  is  obvious 
that  it  involves  a  possibility  of  new  divisions, 
but  of  this  there  was,  in  the  times  we  are 
speaking  of,  no  immediate  danger.  The  de- 
crees of  the  council  were  promptly  received 
in  province  after  province.  The  claims  of 
Pious  IV.  to  importance  in  the  world's  history 
rest  on  his  having  effected  this  event:  he  was 
the  first  pope  who  deliberately  abandoned  the 
tendency  of  the  hierarchy  to  set  itself  in  op- 
position to  the  authority  of  sovereigns.. 

Having  now  attamed  this  grand  result, 
Pius  thought  full  surely  that  the  work  of  his 
life  was  completed.  It  is  remarkable,  that 
the  tension  of  his  mind  relaxed  from  the  mo- 
ment the  council  was  closed.  Men  thought 
they  noticed  in  him  a  neglect  for  divine  ser- 
vice, too  great  a  proneness  to  good  living,  and 
too  much  indulgence  in  courtly  splendour, 
sumptuous  festivities,  and  magnificent  build- 
ings. The  zealous  perceived  a  difl'erence  be- 
tween him  and  his  predecessor,  of  which  they 
complained  loudly.* 


*  Paolo  Tiepolo.  Dopo  che  questo  (il  concilio)  hebbe 
fine,  liberate  da  una  grande  sollecitudine,  fattosi  feniio  e 
gagliardo  nell'  autoriti  sua,  incomincio  piu  liberamente 
ad  operare  conforme  alia  sua  inclinatione  e  p^nsieri: 


1565.] 


PIUS  V. 


115 


Nevertheless,  there  was  no  reason  to  ap- 
prehend any  reaction  in  pnblic  feeling  from 
this  cause.  A  tendency  luid  unfolded  itself 
in  Catholicism  that  was  no  longer  to  be  sup- 
pressed or  restrained. 

When  once  a  spirit  is  roused,  there  is  no 
prescribing  to  it  ihe  path  it  shall  pursue. 
Every  departure,  however  trifluig,  from  its 
rules  on  the  part  of  those  who  should  repre- 
sent it,  will  be  productive  of  tiie  most  striking 
symptoms. 

Tlie  spirit  that  had  gone  forth  in  the  direc- 
tion of  rigid  Catholicism  became  forthwith 
dangerous  to  Pius  himself. 

There  lived  in  Rome  a  certain  Benedetto 
Acculti,  a  catholic  even  to  euthusiasm,  who 
talked  perpetually  of  a  mystery  that  had  been 
conliJed  to  him  by  God  :  tiiis  he  would  reveal, 
engaging,  in  proof  that  he  spoke  the  truth,  to 
pass  uninjured  through  a  burning  pile,  in  jire- 
sence  of  the  assembled  people  in  the  Piazza 
Navona. 

His  secret  was  the  foreknowledge  he  ima- 
gined he  possessed,  that  an  union  would 
shortly  take  place  between  the  Greek  and 
Romish  churches;  the  then  united  Catholic 
church  would  subdue  the  Turks  and  all  apos- 
tates ;  the  pope  would  be  a  holy  man,  attain 
to  universal  monarchy,  and  introduce  the  mil- 
leuium  on  earth.  He  was  tilled  to  fanaticism 
with  these  notions. 

He  now  found,  however,  that  Pius  IV., 
whose  habits  and  temper  were  infinitely  re- 
mote from  his  ideal,  was  not  the  man  tor  so 
great  an  enterprise.  Benedetto  Accolti  deem- 
ed hiiuself  destined  by  God  to  free  Christen- 
dom from  so  unfit  a  chief. 

He  conceived  the  design  of  putting  the  pope 
to  death,  and  found  an  accomplice,  whom  he 
assured  of  rewards  to  be  received  at  the  hands 
of  Gjd,  and  of  the  future  holy  monarch.  They 
set  out  one  day  on  their  purpose,  and  soon  saw 
the  pope  approaching  in  the  midst  of  a  pro- 
cession, easy  to  be  come  at,  tranquil,  without 
suspicion  and  without  defence. 

Aicotti.  instead  of  rushing  upon  him,  began 
to  tremble  and  to  change  colour.  There  is  in 
all  that  surrounds  the  person  of  a  pope  some- 
thing that  must  irresistibly  impress  minds  so 
fanatically  catholic  as  his.  The  pope  passed 
on  his  way. 

Others,  meanwhile,  had  observed  Accolti. 
His  accomplice,  Antonio  Canossa  by  name, 
was  a  man  of  no  stedfast  resolution;  some- 
times he  suffered  himself  to  be  prevailed  on 

onde  facilmenlR  si  conobbe  in  lui  aninio  piu  toslodaprin- 
cipe  die  allendesse  solcimenie  al  t'auo  suo,  chf?  di  ponie- 
fice  die  avesse  rispeuo  al  benpficio  e  s.ilu'.e  degli  altri. 
[AflPi-  ilie  council  had  coine  10  an  end,  being  freed  from 
so  great  an  anxiety,  and  being  secured  and  set  at  his  ease 
in  ihe  exercise  of  his  authority,  he  began  to  act  more  freely 
in  conformity  with  his  own  inclinations  and  views:  so 
that  li'  manifested  rather  the  disposition  of  a  sovereign 
who  l:iolcs  only  to  liis  personal  interest,  tluin  of  a  pope  re- 
gardUil  of  the  advantage  and  weal  of  others.]  Panvinius 
has  remarked  the  some  thing. 


to  attempt  the  deed  some  other  time,  some- 
times he  felt  tempted  to  divulge  the  design. 
Neither  of  them  observed  strict  silence,  and 
at  last  they  were  secured  and  condemned  to 
death.* 

We  see  what  manner  of  minds  were  astir 
in  those  agitated  times.  Much  as  Pius  IV, 
had  done  for  the  reconstruction  of  the  church, 
there  were  yet  many  for  whom  that  was  far 
from  being  enough,  and  who  cherished  far 
other  projects. 

Pius  V, 

But  the  partisans  of  the  more  austere  sys- 
tem had  presently  a  great  and  unexpected 
success.  Pius  IV.  dying  on  the  9th  Dec. 
1585,  a  pope  was  elected,  whom  they  might  by 
all  means  reckon  as  one  of  themselves.  This 
was  Pius  V. 

I  will  not  repeat  the  more  or  less  dubious 
secret  information  concerning  his  election, 
contained  in  the  book  on  the  conclaves,  and 
in  some  historians  of  that  time.  VVe  have  a 
letter  from  Carlo  Borromeo,  that  gives  us  a 
sufficient  explanation  of  the  result.  "  [  re- 
solved," he  says,  (and  it  is  certain  that  he  was 
very  influential  in  determining  the  choice,) 
"  to  look  to  nothing  so  much  as  to  religion 
and  faith.  'J'he  piety,  irreproachable  life,  and 
holy  disposition  of  the  cardinal  of  Alessandria, 
afterwards  Pius  V.,  being  known  to  me,  I 
thought  that  the  Christian  commonwealth 
could  be  best  administered  by  him,  and  I  ex- 
erted all  my  etlbrts  in  his  favour."f  In  a  man 
of  such  spiritual-mindedness  as  cardinal  Bor- 
romeo, no  other  motives  could  have  been  ex- 
pected. Philip  II.,  interested  by  his  ambas- 
sador in  fivour  of  the  same  cardinal,  expressly 
thanked  Borromeo  for  the  part  he  look  in  the 
election. I  Pius  V.  was  just  such  a  man  as 
was  thought  to  be  wanted.  The  adherents 
of  Paul  IV.,  who  had  hitherto  kept  still,  now 
deemed  themselves  hapjiy.  Letters  of  theirs 
are  extant,  "  'J'o  Rome,  to  Rome  !"  writes  one 


*  I  lake  these  notices,  which  I  have  met  witli  no  where 
else,  from  a  MS.  in  the  Corsini  library  in  Koine.  No.  674, 
under  the  title,  Antonio  Canossa.  Quesio  6  il  sommario 
della  mia  deposiiione  per  la  qual  causa  io  moro,  rjuale  si 
degnari  V.  S.  mandare  alii  miei  s".  padre  e  iiiadre. 

t  Ciis.  Borromeus  Henrico  CI'.  Infanti  PonugalliEB, 
Romae,  d.  26  Feb.  1566.  Clussiani,  VitaC.Borromei,  p.  62. 
Compare  Ripamonli  Historia  Urbis  Mediolani,  lib.  xii. 
p.  814. 

1 1  find  this  in  a  Dispacccio  di  Soranzo  ambre.  in  Spag- 
na.  Non  essendo  conosciute  le  quality  di  S.  Si.  da  ques- 
io Ser'ii".  R'^,  mentre  era  in  cardinalilo,  ii  delto  co.nmen- 
dalor  (Luigi  Requesens,  Comm.  maggior)  sempre  lo  laud6 
molto  predicando  questo  soggelto  esser  degno  del  pomifi- 
calo  ;  con  il  che  S.  M.  si  mosse  a  dargli  ordine  che  con 
ogni  suo  polere  li  desse  favore.  [His  holiness's  qu.ililies 
since  he  had  been  in  the  cardinalale,  not  being  known  to 
that  most  serene  kins,  the  said  commendaior  (Luiiri  Re- 
quesens, Comm.  maggior)  always  praised  him  liiglily,  af- 
firming that  he  was  a  person  worthy  of  the  pontificate; 
whereupon  his  nuijesty  was  pleased  lo  command  him 
that  he  should  favour  him  with  all  his  power.]  Thus  the 
story  related  by  OUrocchi  in  the  rejiiarks  on  Giussano, 
p.  219,  falls  to  the  ground.  The  election  look  place  Jan. 
8,  1566. 


116  THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  16TH  CENTURY.       [a.  d.  1565-72. 


of  them,  "come  confidently,  without  hesita- 
tion, but  with  all  modesty  :  God  has  raised  up 
Paul  IV.  to  us  again." 

Michele  Ghisliori  (now  Pius  V.)  of  mean 
extraction,  born   in  the  year  1504,  at  Bosco, 
not  far  from  Alessandria,  entered  a  Domini- 
can convent  when  but  in  his  fourteenth  year, 
and  there  gave  himself  up  body  and  soul  to 
the  monastic   poverty  and  devotion  required 
of  him  by  his  order.     Of  the  alms  he  received 
he  retained  for  himself  not  even  enough  to 
procure  him  a  cloak ;  he  found  the  best  pre- 
servative against  the  heat  of  summer  to  con- 
sist in  abstinence  ;  and  though  confessor  to  a 
governor  of  Milan,  he  always  travelled  on 
foot  with  his  wallet  on  his  back.     When  he 
taught,   he  did   so  with   precision  and  zeal ; 
had  he  to  administer  the  affairs  of  a  convent 
as  prior,  he  was  strict  and   frugal,  and  many 
were  those  he  cleared  from  debt.   The  growth 
and  fashioning  of  his  mind  occurred  in  those 
times  in  which  Italy   herself  witnessed  the 
strife  between  the  established  doctrines  and 
the  protestant  innovations.     He  adopted  the 
party  of  the  old  doctrine  in  all  its  strictness. 
Of  thirty  disputations  he  held   in  Parma  in 
1543,  the  greater  part  related  to  the  authori- 
ty of  the  pope,  and  were  opposed  to  the  new 
opinions.     He  was  ere  long  invested  with  the 
office  of  an   inquisitor,  which  he  had  to  dis- 
charge precisely  in  places  of  especial  danger, 
as  Como  and  Bergamo,*  where  intercourse 
with  the  Swiss  and  the  Germans  could  not  be 
avoided,  and  in  the  Valteline  that  was  under 
the  Grisons.     He  displayed  there   the  obsti- 
nacy and  the  courage  of  a  zealot.     He  was 
sometimes  pelted  with  stones  on  his  entry 
into  Como;  often  to  save  his  life  he  was  com- 
pelled to  hide   himself  by  night  in  peasants' 
huts,  and  steal  away  like  an  outlaw.     But  he 
suffered  no  danger  to   divert   him    from  his 
course.     The  count  Delia  Trinita  threatening 
to  have  him  thrown  into  a  well,  he  answered, 
"  God's  will  be  done."     Thus  he  too  was  im- 
plicated in  the  struggle  between  spiritual  and 
political  powers  then  agitating  Italy  ;    and  as 
the  side  he  adopted  was  victorious,   his  ad- 
vancement kept  pace  with  its  prosperity.    He 
was  named  commissioner  of  the  Inquisition  in 
Rome.      Paul  IV.    soon   declared    that   Fra 
Michele  was  a  great  servant  of  God,  and  wor- 
thy of  high  honour;  he  appointed  him  bishop 


*  Paolo  Tiepolo,  Relazione  di  Roma  in  tempo  di  Pio 
IV.  et  V.  In  Bergamo  li  lu  levalo  per  forza,  dalle  prigi- 
oni  del  monaslerodi  S.  Donienico,  dove  allora  sisolevano 
mettere  i  rei,  un  principale  hereiico,  noininato  Giorgio 
Mondaga  (another  name  to  add  to  the  list  ol  the  Italian 
Protestants,)  ton  gran  peritolo  suo  e  de'  frali.  Nella  me- 
desima  cilli  poi  travaglio  assai  per  forniare  il  piocesso 
contra  il  vescovo  uUora  di  Bergamo.  [At  Bergamo  there 
was  rescued  from  him  by  force,  from  the  prisons  of  the 
monastery  of  St.  Dominic,  where  accused  persons  used 
then  to  be  kept,  a  chief  heretic  named  Giorgio  Montallo, 
under  circumstances  of  great  peril  to  hiiiiself  and  the 
monks.     He  afterwards  exerted  himself  so  far  in  the  same 

ciiy,  as  to  institute  a  process  against  the  then  bishop  of  |  ras'sa  che  come  /rate  incomincio  di  portare.    Fa  le  orati 
iJergamo.J  |  oni  divoiissimaniente  et  alcune  volte  coUe  lacriiue. 


of  Neri,  wishing,  as  he  said,  to  put  a  chain  on 
his  legs,  so  that  he  might  never  hereafter  be 
tempted  to  withdraw  to  the  repose  of  a  mon- 
astery.* In  1557  he  made  him  cardinal.  In 
this  new  dignity  Giiislieri  continued  as  before, 
austere,  poor,  and  unpretending;  he  told  the 
members  of  his  household  they  must  imagine 
they  were  inmates  of  a  monastery.  For  him- 
self, he  lived  only  in  his  devotions  and  in  the 
Inquisition. 

In  a  man  of  this  character,  Borromeo,  Phi- 
lip II.  and  the  entirestrictparty,  thought  they 
beheld  the  saviour  of  the  Church.  The  Ro- 
man citizens  were  not  perhaps  so  well  satis- 
fied. Pius  V.  heard  of  it  and  said,  "  They 
shall  lament  me  so  much  the  more  when  I  am 
dead." 

He  retained  all  his  monastic  austerity  even 
when  pope,  rigidly  and  undeviatingly  observed 
all   the   fasts,   allowed  himself  no  garment  of 
fine  texture,!  read  frequently,  and  daily  heard 
mass,  but  still   took  care  that  his  devotional 
practices  should  not  offer  any   hindrance  to 
public  business.     He  never  indulged  in  the 
siesta,  and  was  a  very  early  riser.     Were 
there  any  doubt  as  to  the  depth  of  his  reli- 
gious earnestness,  we  might  find  a  warrant 
for  it  in  the  fact,  that  he  did  not  regard  the 
papacy  as  conducive  to   the  increase  of  his 
piety,  nor  as  tending  to  the  soul's  weal,  and 
to  the  attainment  of  the  glories  of  Paradise  ; 
were  it  not  for  prayer,  he  thought  the  burden 
would  be  intolerable  to  him.      To   his   last 
hour  he  enjoyed  the  bliss  of  a  fervent  devo- 
tion, the  only  bliss  of  which  he  was  capable, 
a  devotion  that  often  moved  him  even  to  tears, 
and   from  the  practice  of  which   he  rose  up 
with  the  conviction  that  he  had  been  heard. 
The  people  were  in  raptures  when  they  saw 
him  in  procession,  barefooted  and  bareheaded, 
with  his  long  snow-white  beard,  and  his  face 
that  beamed  with  unaffected  piety.     So  pious 
a  pope  they  were  sure  they  had  never  looked 
upon,  and  they  would  relate  how  his  very  as- 
pect had  converted  protestants.     Moreover, 
Pius  was  kindly  and  afi'able ;  he  treated  his 
old    servants    with    the     utmost    familiarity. 
How  noble  was  his  manner  of  accosting  that 
same  count  Delia  Trinita,   when  he  was  now 
sent  as  ambassador  to  him  !     "  Behold,"  he 
said,   when  he  recognized   him,   "  thus  does 
God  help  the  innocent:"  this  was  the  only 
way  in  which  he   ever  visited  the  past  upon 
the  count.     Benevolent  he  had  always  been  : 
he  had  a  list  of  the  needy  in  Rome,  whom  he 
regularly  assisted  in  proportion  to  their  sta- 
tion. 


*  Catena,  Vita  di  Pio  V.,  from  which  we  have  taken  the 
greater  part  of  our  inl'ormation,  gives  this  also.  Pius  V. 
related  it  himself  to  the  Venetian  ambassadors  as  they, 
namely,  Mich.  Suriano  and  Paul  Tiepolo,  (Oct.  2, 1508) 
acquiiint  us.] 

f  Catena.  Tiepolo:  N6  mai  ha  lasciato  la  camisia  di 


A.  D.  1565-72.] 


PIUS  V. 


117 


Natures  such  as  his  are  humble,  resigned, 
and  childlike;  but  when  they  are  irritated 
and  offended,  they  kindle  into  stormy  vehe- 
mence and  implacable  resentment.  Their 
own  turn  of  thought  they  regard  in  the  light 
of  a  duty,  a  paramount  duty,  the  neglect  of 
which  rouses  their  indignation.  Pius  V.  was 
conscious  that  he  always  pursued  the  straight- 
forward path.  That  this  had  conducted  him 
to  the  papacy,  was  a  fact  that  filled  him  with 
such  self-reliance  as  made  him  utterly  indif- 
ferent to  every  extraneous  consideration. 

His  obstinate  adhesion  to  his  own  opinion 
was  extreme  ;  the  soundest  arguments  were 
found  insufficient  to  wean  him  from  them. 
He  was  easily  irritated  by  contradiction  ;  his 
face  reddened,  and  he  broke  out  into  the  most 
violent  expressions.*  As  he  understood  but 
little  of  the  affairs  of  the  world  or  of  domestic 
politics,  and  rather  suffered  his  judgment  to 
be  warped  in  one  way  or  another  by  second- 
ary circumstances,  it  was  a  matter  of  the 
greatest  difficulty  to  deal  with  him  to  the  pur- 
pose. 

With  regard  to  individuals,  he  did  not  in- 
deed allow  his  opinions  to  be  determined  at 
once  by  the  first  impression  ;  but  having  once 
made  up  his  mind  to  consider  any  one  as  good 
or  bad,  there  was  no  moving  him  from  that 
conclusion.f  He  was  prone,  however,  to 
think  that  men  deteriorate  rather  than  im- 
prove in  character,  and  he  looked  on  most 
men  with  suspicion. 

It  was  remarked  that  he  never  mitigated  a 
penal  sentence ;  commonly  he  would  much 
rather  have  wished  they  had  been  more  se- 
vere. 

It  was  not  enough  for  him  that  the  Inquisi- 
tion punished  recent  offences;  he  caused  in- 
quiry to  be  made  into  old  ones  of  ten  or  twen- 
ty years'  standing. 

If  there  was  a  place  where  fewer  punish- 
ments were  inflicted,  that  was  enough  to  con- 
demn it  in  his  eyes  as  impure  :  he  ascribed 
the  circumstance  to  official  negligence. 

Observe  with  what  rigour  he  insists  on  the 
application  of  ecclesiastical  censure.  "  We 
forbid,"  he  says  in  one  of  his  bulls,  "  every 
physician,  who  shall  be  called  in  to  attend  a 


*  Informationedi  Pio  V.  (Bib.  Ambroaiana  in  Milan  F. 
D.  161.)  La  S.  S^-  naluralnienle  6  gioviale  e  piacevole,  se 
ben  paraccidenle  pare  di  allradispositione,  edi  qui  viene 
che  volonlieri  onesleniente  ragiona  con  M""  Cirillo,  suo 
niaeslro  di  casa,  il  quale  con  le  sue  piacevolezze  essendo 
huomo  desli'o  e  accorto,  diletta  S.  Beatiludinp,  e  sempre 
prolitta  a  se  slesso  et  altri.  [His  holiness  is  naturally  of  a 
cheerful  and  pleasant  temper,  though  he  may  by  accident 
appear  otherwise;  wherefore  he  readily  engages  in  hon- 
ourable discourse  with  monsignor  Cirillo,  his  maestro  di 
case,  who,  being  a  man  of  polished  address,  delights  his 
holini  ss  with  his  pleasant  sallies,  to  the  constant  profit  of 
himself  and  others.] 

flnforrnationi  di  Pio  V.  E  piu  difficultoso  di  lasciar  la 
cattiva  impressione  che  la  buona,  e  niassimamente  di 
quelle  persone  che  non  ha  in  pralica.  [He  foregoes  a  bad 
impression  with  more  dilficulty  than  a  good  one,  particu- 
larly with  regard  to  those  persons  of  whom  he  does  notsee 
much.] 


bedridden  patient,  to  visit  the  said  patient  for 
a  longer  space  than  three  days,  unless  he  re- 
ceive a  certificate  within  that  time,  that  the 
patient  has  confessed  his  sins  afresh."*  An- 
other bull  imposes  punishments  upon  the  vio- 
lation of  the  sabbath  and  on  blasphemy.  For 
the  rich  these  were  of  a  pecuniary  nature. 
"  But  a  common  man  who  cannot  pay,  shall 
for  the  first  offence  stand  a  whole  day  before 
the  church-doors  with  his  hands  bound  behind 
his  back  ;  for  the  second,  he  shall  be  whipped 
through  the  city;  for  the  third,  his  tongue 
shall  be  bored,  and  he  shall  be  sent  to  the 
galleys." 

Such  is  the  general  style  of  his  ordinances. 
How  often  was  it  necessary  to  remind  him 
that  he  had  to  do,  not  with  angels,  but  with 
men  If 

Deference  towards  the  secular  powers,  now 
become  so  urgently  necessary,  never  checked 
him  in  this  respect.  He  not  only  caused  the 
bull  In  Coena  Domini,  which  had  been  an  old 
subject  of  complaint  on  the  part  of  the  sove- 
reigns, to  be  proclaimed  anew,  but  even  ren- 
dered it  more  harsh  by  some  special  additions. 
In  that  bull  he  appeared,  on  the  whole,  to 
deny  the  right  of  government  to  impose  new 
taxes. 

Such  violent  proceedings  were  followed  of 
course  by  re-actions ;  not  merely  inasmuch 
as  the  demands  which  a  man  of  such  austerity 
thought  himself  justified  in  making  upon  the 
world,  could  never  be  satisfied,  but  further- 
more, a  deliberate  resistance  arose,  and  jar- 
rings  innumerable.  Philip  II.,  devotee  as  he 
was,  once  hinted  to  the  pope  that  he  should 
not  venture  to  try  of  what  a  sovereign,  irrita- 
ted to  the  utmost,  might  be  capable. 

The  pope,  on  his  part,  was  deeply  affected 
by  this  state  of  things.  He  often  felt  himself 
unhappy  in  his  rank.  He  said  he  was  weary 
of  life  ;  that  since  he  acted  without  respect  of 
persons  he  had  made  himself  enemies,  and 
that  ever  since  he  had  been  pope,  his  life  had 
been  one  series  of  vexations  and  persecutions. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  and  although  Pius  no 
more  succeeded  than  any  other  man  in  giving 
full  content  and  satisfaction,  certain  it  is  that 
his  demeanour  and  his  habits  of  mind  exer- 
cised an  incalculable  influence  over  his  con- 
temporaries, and  over  the  general  develop- 
ment of  his  church.  After  so  long  a  train  of 
circumstances,  all  conspiring  to  call  forth  and 
promote  a  more  spiritual  tendency,  after  so 
many  resolutions  adopted  to  make  this  gener- 
ally predominant,  there  needed  a  pope  of  his 

*  Supra  eregem  Dominicum,  Bull.  iv.  ii.  p.  281. 

•f  In  the  Informationi  Politiche,  xii.  is  to  be  found  for 
instance  an  Epistola  a  N.  S.  Pio  V.  nella  quale  si  esorta 
S.  S.  tulerare  gli  Ebrei  e  le  corteegiane,  [An  episile  loour 
lord  Pius  v.,  in  which  his  holine'ss  is  exhorted  to  tolerate 
the  Jews  and  the  courtesans]  by  a  certain  Bertano,  who 
expatiates  largely  on  his  subject.  The  Caporioni  begged 
the  pope  that  he  would  grant  at  least  the  barest  toleration. 
The  pope  answered,  he  would  rather  quit  Kome,  than 
wink  at  such  abominations. 


118         THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  16TH  CENTURY,     [a.  d.  1566-72. 

mould  to  provide  that  the  new  system  should 
not  only  be  every  where  proclaimed,  but  also 
practically  enforced.  To  this  end  his  zeal 
and  his  example  alike  were  of  immense  efH- 


cacy. 

'I'he  often  talked-of  reformations  of  the  court 
were  commenced  in  fact  at  least,  if  not  in  the 
forms  that  had  been  proposed.  The  expendi- 
ture of  the  papal  household  was  retrenched  to 
an  extraordmary  degree.  Pius  V.  required 
little  for  his  own  person,  and  used  often  to 
say,  "He  who  would  govern,  must  begin  with 
himself."  For  his  servants,  who  as  he  thought 
had  remained  true  to  him  all  his  life  through 
without  hope  of  reward,  and  purely  out  of 
afl'ection,  he  provided  not  indeed  without  lib- 
erality ;  but  still  he  kept  his  dependents  with- 
in more  straitened  limits  than  ever  had  any 
pope  before  him.  He  moderately  endowed 
his  nephew  Bonelli,  whom  he  had  made  car- 
dinal, only  because  he  was  told  that  such  a 
step  was  expedient  towards  maintaining  a 
more  confidential  intercourse  with  sovereigns. 
When  Bonelli  once  invited  his  father  to  Rome, 
Pius  obliged  him  to  quit  the  city  again  that 
night  and  that  very  hour.  The  rest  of  his 
relations  he  would  never  raise  above  the  mid- 
dle station,  and  woe  to  him  who  should  have 
been  induced  into  any  transgression,  even  into 
a  lie ;  he  never  forgave  him,  but  drove  him 
from  him  without  mercy.  How  far  was  he 
from  the  practice  of  that  nepotism,  that  for 
centuries  had  constituted  so  considerable  a 
part  of  papal  history.  In  one  of  his  most  en- 
ergetic bulls,  Pius  V.  forbade  for  the  future 
every  enfeoftinent  of  a  possession  of  the  Ro- 
man Church  under  any  title  and  pretext  what- 
ever :  he  declared  ipso  facto  excommunicated 
all  who  stiould  even  counsel  such  an  act,  and 
he  caused  these  declarations  of  his  to  be  sign- 
ed by  all  the  cardinals.*  He  proceeded  with 
zeal  in  the  repeal  of  abuses;  few  dispensa- 
tions, and  still  fewer  compositions,  were 
known  to  issue  from  him ;  and  frequently  did 
he  restrict  the  indulgences  that  had  been 
granted  by  his  predecessors.  He  enjoined  his 
auditor-general  to  proceed  without  ceremony 
agMiii.-i  all  archl)ishops  and  bishops  who  ne- 
glected to  reside  in  their  respective  dioceses, 
and  to  report  them  to  himself,  that  he  might 
depose  the  disobedient.!  He  commanded°all 
parish  priests,  under  heavy  penalties,  to  attend 
closely  to  the  discharge  of  public  worship  in 
their  several  churches,  and  he  cancelled  what- 
ever dispensations  from  that  duty  they  might 
have  received.J  He  was  not  less  zealous  in 
his  endeavours  to  restore  order  in  the  con- 
vents. On  the  one  hand,  he  confirmed  to 
them  their  exemption  from  imposts  and  other 
burthens,  as,  for  instance,  the  quartering  of 

*  Prohibitio  alipnandi  pt  infpudandi  civiiates  et  loca  S. 
K.  E.  adiijOiiPl  nos:  15G7,  2'.)  Man. 

t  Cum  alias  15G6, 10  Junii,  Bull.  iv.  ii.  303. 
J  (Jupiemes  1508,  8  Julii,  Bull.  iv.  iii.  24. 


troops ;  he  would  not  have  their  tranquillity 
molested  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  forbade 
the  monks  to  hear  confessions  without  exami- 
nation and  permission  of  the  bishops,  and 
every  new  bishop  was  to  be  at  liberty  to  re- 
peat the  examination.*  He  enjoined  the 
strictest  seclusion  both  of  monks  and  nuns. 
This  was  not  universally  approved  of  Com- 
plaints were  urged  that  he  enforced  rules 
more  strict  than  those  to  which  members  of 
orders  had  bound  themselves:  some  fell  into 
a  sort  of  desperation,  others  fled.f 

All  these  things  he  enforced  in  the  first 
instance  in  Rome,  and  in  the  states  of  the 
Church.  He  bound  the  secular  as  well  as 
the  ecclesiastical  authorities  to  the  adminis- 
tration of  his  spiritual  ordinances,!  while  he 
himself  provided  for  a  rigorous  and  impartial 
administration  of  justice.^  He  did  not  merely 
admonish  the  magistrates  earnestly  thereto, 
but  every  last  Wednesday  of  the  month  he 
held  a  public  sitting  with  the  cardinals,  at 
which  every  one  might  appeal  in  person 
against  the  ordinary  tribunals.  Independently 
of  this,  he  was  indefatigable  in  giving  audi- 
ence. He  remained  in  his  chair  from  early 
morning,  and  every  one  was  admitted.  His 
zeal  did  actually  produce  a  total  reform  in 
the  ways  of  Rome.  "  At  Rome,"  says  Paul 
Tiepolo,  "  things  go  on  very  differently  from 
the  old  flagitious  course.  The  inhabitants 
are  become  much  better,  or  at  least  they 
appear  so." 

Something  similar  took  place  more  or  less 
throughout  all  Italy.  Church-discipline  was 
every  where  rendered  more  strict  by  the 
publication  of  the  decrees  of  the  council.  An 
obedience  was  rendered  to  the  pope,  such  as 
none  of  his  predecessors  for  a  long  time  had 
enjoyed. 

Duke  Cosmo  of  Florence  did  not  hesitate  to 
give  up  to  him  those  who  were  denounced  by 
the  Inquisition.  Carnesecchi,  another  of  tliose 
men  of  letters  who  had  participated  in  the 


*  Romani  1571,  G  Ausr.  Bull.  iv.  iii.  177. 

t  Tiepolo,  Spesse  voile  nel  dar  rhnedio  a  qunlche  dis- 
ordiiie  incorre  in  uii  altro  niassiore,  procedendo  niassim- 
aniente  per  vie  degli  esiremi.  [Frequently  in  applying 
a  remedy  to  one  evil,  he  incurred  another  of  greater  mag- 
nitude, his  proceedings  being  for  the  most  part  in  ex- 
tremes,] 

t  Bull.  iv.  iii.  284. 

§  Informatione  della  quality  di  Pio  V.  e  delle  cose  the 
da  quelle  dependono  (Berlin  Library).  Nel  conferire  le 
gratie  non  si  cura  delle  circonstanze,  secondo  che  alle 
volte  sarebbe  necPssario  per  qualsivogliarispelto  conside- 
rabile,  n6  a  requisition  d'alcuno  la  giustitia  si  ha  punto 
alterala,  ancora  che  sia  senza  dar  scandalo  e  con  psempio 
d'altri  pontefice  polesse  fare.  [In  conferring  favours  he 
pays  no  heed  to  circumstances,  as  would  at  times  seem 
necessary  in  regard  to  some  considerable  claim  to  defer- 
ence, nor  does  justice  waver  a  jot  at  the  solicitation  of  any 
one,  even  though  it  might  be  done  without  giving  scandal, 
and  under  the  sanction  of  other  popes'  examplrs.]  Sori- 
ano observes,  that  he  never  conferred  a  favuur  without 
accompanying  it  with  an  admonition:  "  il  che  mi  parse 
proprio  il  stilo  de'  confessori,  che  fanno  una  gran  repren- 
sioneal  penitenie,  quaado  sono  per  assolverlo,"  [which 
seems  to  me  the  peculiar  style  of  confessors,  who  chide 
the  penitent  largely  when  they  are  about  to  aljsolve  him.] 


A.  D.  1566-72.] 


PIUS  V. 


119 


first  movements  towards  protestantism  in  dinals  who  had  chosen  his  uncle,  he  mio-ht 
Italy,  had  hitherto  always  come  off  safely :  have  occupied  a  brilliant  position  in  Rome  • 
but  now  neither  his  personal  credit,  nor  the  but  he  gave  up  everything,  and  refused  every- 
reputation  of  his  family,  nor  his  connexion  thing,  to  devote-  himself  to  the  ecclesiastical 
even  with  the  reigning  house  itself,  could  any  duties  of  his  bishopric  of  Milan.  These  he 
longer  protect  him.  _  He  was  delivered  bound  discharged  with  uncommon  energy,  nay  with 
to  the  Roman  Inquisition,  and  suffered  death  passion.  He  was  continually  journeying 
at  the  stake.*  Cosmo  was  entirely  devoted  through  his  diocese  in  every  direction ;  there 
to  the  pope ;  he  aided  him  in  all  his  under-  I  was  not  a  place  in  it  which  he  had  not  visit- 
takings,  and  admitted  his  spiritual  claims  ;  ed  two  or  three  times ;  the  loftiest  mountains 
without  hesitation.  In  return  for  this,  the  tbe  remotest  valleys,  were  not  neglected  by 
pope  felt  moved  to  crown  him  archduke  of  i  him.  He  was  usually  preceded  by  a  i;isj7«<or, 
Tuscany.  The  right  of  the  Roman  see  to  whose  report  he  carried  with  hun,  and  then 
take  such  a  step  was  exceedingly  dubious;  investigated  everything  with  his  own  eyes, 
the  prince's  morals  occasioned  well-grounded  imposing  punishments  and  confirming  im- 
offence,  but  the  devotion  he  manifested  to-  provements.*  He  led  his  clergy  to  adopt  a 
wards  the  holy  see,  the  strict  ecclesiastical   similar  course:  six  provincial  councils  were 


measures  he  adopted  in  his  dominions,  ap 
peared  in  the  pope's  eye  to  constitute  the  very 
merit  of  merits. 

The  old  antagonists  of  the  Medici,  the 
Farnesi,  vied  with  them  in  the  same  course : 
even  Ottavio  Farnese  plumed  himself  on 
executing  the  pope's  commands  upon  the  least 
hint. 

Pius  was  not  on  quite  such  good  terms  with 
the  Venetians.  They  were  neither  so  hostile 
to  the  Turks,  nor  so  indulgent  to  monastic 
institutions,  nor  so  cordial  towards  the  inqui- 
sition, as  he  could  have  wished.  Still  he  took 
good  care  not  to  break  with  them.  He  deem- 
ed "  that  the  republic  was  based  upon  the 
faith,  and  had  always  kept  herself  catholic : 
she  alone  had  remained  free  from  the  inunda- 
tion of  the  barbarians ;  the  honour  of  Italy 
rested  upon  her,"  and  he  declared  that  he 
loved  her.  The  Venetians  too  conceded  more 
to  him  than  to  any  other  pope.  They  deli- 
vered up  to  him  (an  act  unparalleled  in  their 
annals)  the  unfortunate  Guido  Zanetti  of  Fano, 
whose  religious  opinions  had  incurred  suspi- 
cion, and  who  had  fled  to  Parma.  They 
introduced  tolerably  good  order  among  the 
clergy  of  the  city,  who  for  a  long  time  had 
given  themselves  little  concern  about  the 
rules  of  the  Church.  But,  besides  this,  their 
churches  of  Verona  were  admirably  organized 
by  J.  Matteo  Giberti,  who  was  held  up  as  an 
example  of  what  a  bishop's  life  should  be.f 
His  plans  and  regulations  were  regarded  as 
morals  throughout  the  entire  catholic  world  ; 
the  council  of  Trent  adopted  several  of  them. 
Carlo  Borromeo  had  his  likeness  taken,  that 
ho  might  be  constantly  reminded  of  his  walk 
and  demeanour. 

But  Carlo  Borromeo  himself  exercised  a 
still  greater  influence.  From  his  numerous 
dignities  and  offices,  (among  them,  that  of 
grand-penitentiary,)  and  as  chief  of  the  car- 


held  under  his  auspices.  But  besides  all  this, 
he  was  indefatigable  in  the  discharge  of  ordi- 
nary clerical  functions.  He  preached,  and 
read  mass;  passed  whole  days  in  administering' 
the  sacrament,  ordaining  priests,  admitting 
nimg,  and  consecrating  altars.  The  latter 
ceremony  was  one  of  eight  hours'  duration : 
three  hundred  occasions  have  been  enume- 
rated, on  which  he  performed  it.  Many  of 
his  measures,  indeed,  chiefly  concerned  exter- 
nals, relating  more  particularly  to  the  reno- 
vation of  buildings,  tlie  harmonizing  of  rituals, 
and  the  elevation  and  adoration  of  the  host. 
What  was  most  essential,  was  the  riu-id  dis- 
cipline in  which  he  held  his  clergy,  and  in 
which  these  again  held  their  fl^ocks.  He 
knew  well  the  art  of  making  his  orders  effec- 
tive. In  Swiss  countries  he  visited  the  places 
of  most  ancient  sanctity,  divided  presents 
among  the  people,  and  invited  the  nobles  to 
his  table.  On  the  other  hand,  he  knew  how 
to  meet  the  refractory  with  efi^ect.  The  pea- 
santry of  Valcamonica  waited  for  him  once  to 
receive  his  blessing.  Now  as  they  had  not 
paid  their  tithes  for  some  time,  he  passed  on 
without  moving  his  hands  or  casting  a  glance 
on  one  of  them.  The  people  were  "distracted 
at  this,  and  made  up  their  minds  to  return  to 
their  old  dutiful  behaviour.f  Occasionally, 
however,  he  encountered  more  obstinate  and 
more  rancorous  opposition.  His  purpose  to 
reform  the  order  of  Umiliati,  whose  members 
liad  entered  it  only  to  enjoy  its  wealth  in 
licentiousness,!  exasperated  those  men  to  such 
a  degree,  that  they  made  an  attempt  on  the 
archbishop's  life.  A  shot  was  fired  at  him  as 
he  was  praying  in  his  chapel.     Nothing,  how- 


»  Cantini,  Vita  di  Cosimo,  p.  458. 

■t  Petri  Francisci  Zini,  boni  pastoris,  exemplum  ac  spe- 
cimen singulare  ex  Jo.  Matthaeo  Gibeito  episcope  expres- 
sum  atque  propositum.  Written  in  1536,  and  originally 
intended  for  England.    Opera  Giberti,  p.  252. 


TXT*  j^'"®^'^°"^'  ^^  ""'^^  ^'  '■^''"^  ^''^'■'s  S.  Caroli  Borromai, 
Mediol.  p.  112,  IS  very  explicit  respecting  the  "ritus 
visitationis,"  and  all  such  thinss. 

t  Kii)amonte,  Historia  urbis  "Mediolani,  in  Gravius,  ii 
I.  p.  864.  Ripamonle  dedicated  the  whole  second  part  of 
his  history,  lib.  xi.— xvii.  to  St.  Charles  Borroiiieiis. 

t  They  had,  in  all,  ninety-four  houses,  each  of  which 
might  have  maintained  a  hundred  individuals;  yet  so 
small  was  the  number  of  the  members,  that  they  were  on 
an  average  only  two  teahouse.  The  order  was  abolished 
and  Borromeo's  endowments,  as  well  as  the  Jesuits,  pro- 
fited by  its  wealth.  *^ 


120        THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  16TH  CENTURY,    [a.  d.  1566-72. 


ever,  was  ever  more  useful  to  him  than  this 
attack.  The  people  looked  on  his  escape  as 
a  miracle,  and  from  that  moment  began  to 
regard  him  with  absolute  veneration.  Since 
his  zeal  was  as  pure  and  as  unsullied  by 
worldly  motives  as  it  was  persistent,  since 
even  in  the  hour  of  peril,  when  the  plague 
was  raging,  he  was  unwearied  in  his  solici- 
tude for  the  bodily  and  spiritual  health  of 
those  committed  to  his  care,  since  every  act  of 
his  bespoke  nothing  but  disinterestedness  and 
piety,  his  influence  grew  day  by  day,  and 
Milan  assumed  a  totally  altered  aspect. 
"  How  shall  I  sufficiently  praise  thee,  fairest 
city !"  exclaims  Gabriel  Paleotto  towards  the 
close  of  Borromeo's  administration ;  "I  admire 
thy  sanctity  and  religion  ;  I  see  thee  a  second 
Jerusalem."  With  all  the  worldliness  of  the 
Milanese  nobility,  exclamations  so  enthusias- 
tic as  these  could  not  possibly  have  been 
altogether  ungrounded.  The  duke  of  Savoy 
solemnly  congratulated  Borromeo  on  the  suc- 
cess of  his  exertions.  The  latter  sought  now 
to  secute  the  future  stability  of  his  regulations. 
The  uniformity  of  the  ritual  was  to  be  main- 
tained by  a  congregation.  A  special  order  of 
regular  clergy,  named  obligati,  pledged  them- 
selves to  the  service  of  the  archbishop  and  his 
church.  The  Barnabites  received  new  rules, 
and  since  that  time  their  labours  were  appro- 
priated, first  in  that  diocese,  and  afterwards 
wherever  their  order  obtained  admission,  to 
the  task  of  aiding  the  bishops  in  their  care  of 
souls.*  These  arrangements  were  a  repeti- 
tion of  those  of  Rome  on  a  smaller  scale.  A 
Collegium  Helveticum  too  was  founded  in 
Milan  for  the  restoration  of  Catholicism  in 
Switzerland,  as  in  Rome  the  Collegium  Ger- 
manician  had  been  established  for  Germany. 
All  this  could  but  corroborate  the  importance 
and  consideration  of  the  pope.  Borromeo, 
who  never  received  a  papal  brief  but  with 
uncovered  head,  instilled  the  same  devoted- 
ness  into  his  church. 

Meanwhile,  Pius  V.  had  attained  an  un- 
wonted influence  in  Naples  too.  In  the  very 
commencement  of  his  papacy  he  had  sent  for 
Tommaso  Orsino  da  Foligno,  and  charged 
him  with  a  reforming  visitation  of  the  Roman 
churches.  On  the"  completion  of  this,  he 
named  him  bishop  of  Strongoli,  and  sent  him 
with  the  same  view  to  Naples.  Amid.st  a 
great  concourse  of  that  devout  people,  Orsino 
completed  his  visitation  of  the  capital  and  of 
a  considerable  part  of  the  kingdom.. 

True  it  is,  the  pope  had  in  Naples  as  well 
as  in  Milan  no  few  disputes  with  the  royal 
officers.  The  king  felt  himself  aggrieved  by 
the  bull  In  Ccena  Dojnini,  whilst  the  pope 
would  hear  nothing  of  the  royal  exequatur: 
for  the  former,  the  ecclesiastical  officers  did 


*  Ripamonte,  857.  He  calls  the  first  founders  Beccaria, 
Ferraria,  and  Morigia.  Giussano,  p.  442,  gives  the  usual 
namei. 


too  much ;  for  the  latter,  the  royal  officers  did 
too  little  :  there  were  incessant  bickerings 
between  the  viceroys  and  the  archbishops. 
Intense  dissatisfaction  often,  as  we  have  al- 
ready said,  prevailed  at  the  court  of  Madrid, 
and  the  king's  confessor  was  loud  in  his  com- 
plaints. No  open  rapture  however  ensued. 
Both  sovereigns  respectively  imputed  the  chief 
blame  to  the  other's  officers  and  advisers,  and 
they  remained  on  terms  of  personal  friendship 
with  each  other.  On  one  occasion,  when 
Philip  JI.  was  ill,  Pius  V.  lifted  up  his  hands 
and  prayed  to  God  for  his  recovery :  the  aged 
man  implored  God  to  take  some  years  from 
his  own  span,  and  add  them  to  the  king's, 
whose  life  was  of  more  moment  than  his  own. 

Moreover,  Spain  was,  on  the  whole,  govern- 
ed completely  in  the  spirit  of  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal renovation.  The  king  had,  for  a  moment, 
pondered  whether  or  not  he  should  uncondi- 
tionally admit  the  resolutions  of  the  council  of 
Trent,  and  he  would  at  least  have  been  glad 
to  curtail  the  papal  power,  as  far  as  regarded 
the  right  of  making  concessions  at  variance 
with  the  tenour  of  those  resolutions; — but  the 
religious  character  of  his  monarchy  was  oppos- 
ed to  all  attempts  of  the  kind  :  he  saw  that  he 
must  avoid  even  the  semblance  of  a  serious 
diflference,  if  he  would  remain  secure  of  the 
allegiance  paid  to  himself.  The  decrees  of 
the  council  were  every  where  proclaimed,  and 
the  regulations  enforced.  In  this  kingdom, 
too,  the  rigorous  dogmatic  spirit  acquired  the 
upper  hand.  Carranza,  archbishop  of  Toledo, 
the  first  clergyman  in  Spain,  formerly  a  mem- 
ber of  the  council  of  Trent,  and  who,  next  to 
Pole,  had  contributed  most  to  the  restoration 
of  Catholicism  in  England  under  the  reign  of 
Mary,  in  spite  of  all  these  claims,  could  not 
escape  the  inquisition.  "  I  have  never,"  he 
said,  "  had  any  other  purpose  in  view,  than  to 
put  down  heresy,  and  God  has  stood  by  me  in 
this  design.  I  myself  have  converted  many 
persons  of  heterodox  views ;  I  have  caused  the 
bodies  of  many  arch-heretics  to  be  disinterred 
and  burned ;  catholics  and  protestants  have 
named  me  the  foremost  defender  of  the  faith." 
But  all  this  unquestionably  catholic  conduct 
availed  him  nothing  against  the  Inquisition. 
Sixteen  articles  were  found  in  his  works,  in 
which  he  seemed  to  approximate  to  the  notions 
of  the  Protestants,  especially  with  regard  to 
justification.  After  suffering  a  long  imprison- 
ment in  Spain,  and  the  anxieties  of  a  pro- 
tracted prosecution,  he  was  sent  to  Rome.  It 
seemed  doing  him  a  great  favour  to  snatch 
him  from  the  hands  of  his  personal  enemies  ; 
but  even  in  Rome  he  could  not  in  the  end 
escape  sentence  of  condemnation.* 

If  such  was  the  fate  of  a  man  of  such  high 
station,  in  a  case  of  so  doubtful  a  nature,  it 


♦  Llorente  has  devoted  three  long  chapters,  in  his  His- 
tory of  the  Inquisition,  to  this  event.  Hist,  de  I'lnquisi- 
lion,  iii.  183—315. 


A.  D.  1566-72.] 


PIUS  V. 


121 


may  be  conceived  how  little  tolerance  the 
Inquisition  would  be  inclined  to  show  to  un- 
deniable lapses  from  the  faith,  in  persons  of 
lower  rank;  instances  of  which  did  certainly 
appear  here  and  there  in  Spain.  The  whole 
rigour  with  which  the  remains  of  Judaism  and 
Mohammedanism  had  hitherto  been  hunted 
down,  was  now  concentrated  upon  Protestant 
opinions.  Autos-da-fe  followed  thick  and  fnst 
upon  each  other,  till  at  last  every  germ  of  the 
obuo.xious  creed  was  extirpated.  Since  the 
year  1570,  we  hardly  meet  with  any  but 
foreigners  brought  beibre  the  Inquisition  for 
protestantism.* 

The  government  of  Spain  did  not  favour  the 
Jesuits.  They  were  considered  to  be,  for  the 
most  part,  Jewish  Christians,  not  of  pure 
Spanisli  blood  ;  and  were  shrewdly  suspected 
of  harbouring  the  thought  of  some  time  or 
other  revenging  themselves  for  all  the  mal- 
treatment they  had  endured.  In  Portugal,  on 
the  contrary,  the  members  of  the  order  attained 
but  too  rapidly  unlimited  power:  they  governed 
tlie  kingdom  in  the  name  of  king  Sebastian. 
As  they  enjoyed  the  highest  credit  in  Rome 
too,  and  under  Pius  V.,  they  made  their  power 
in  that  country  subservient  to  the  views  of  the 
curia. 

And  thus  Pius  V.  ruled  both  the  peninsulas 
more  completely  than  any  of  his  predecessors 
for  a  long  time.  The  regulations  of  the  coun- 
cil of  Trent  were  every  where  in  rigour.  All 
bishops  swore  to  the  Proftssio  Fidci,  which 
contained  a  summary  of  the  dogmatic  propo- 
sitions of  the  council.  Pope  Pius  V.  promul- 
gated the  Romish  catechism,  in  which  those 
propositions  appear  here  and  there  in  a  more 
expanded  form  ;  he  abolished  all  breviaries 
not  expressly  issued  by  the  papal  see,  or  which 
had  not  been  in  use  upwards  of  two  hundred 
years,  and  published  a  new  one,  modelled  on 
that  of  the  oldest  of  the  principal  churches  of 
Rome,  desirmg  that  it  might  be  universally 
adopted.!  He  failed  not  also  to  publish  a 
new  missal  for  general  use,  "after  the  rule 
and  ritual  of  the  holy  fathers.^  The  ecclesias- 
tical seminaries  were  filled ;  the  convents 
were  effectually  reformed ;  the  inquisition 
vv'atched  with  merciless  severity  over  the  unity 
and  inviolability  of  the  faith. 

Now  by  such  means  as  these,  a  strict  com- 
bination had  grown  up  between  all  these 
countries  and  states.  This  was  greatly  pro- 
moted by  the  fact,  that  France,  involved  as  it 
was  in  civil  war,  either  abandoned  its  old  hos- 
tility to  Spain,  or  was  unable  to  give  it  effect. 

*  M<^  Crie's  History  of  the  Progress  and  Suppression  of 
the  Inquisition  in  Spain,  p.  336. 

t  l{eniotis  iis  qute  aliena  et  incerta  essent.  [To  the 
withdrawal  of  all  those  of  adventitious  and  iincerlain 
ori^^in.]— Quoniam  nobis:  9  Julii,  15i>8. 

t  CoUatis  omnibus  cum  vetustissiiiius  nostriB  Vaticanae 
bibliolhecsB  aliisque  undique  conquisilis  eniendatis  atque 
incorruptis  codicibus.  [Collated  with  all  the  most  ancient 
MSS.  in  our  Vatican  library,  and  with  other  correct  and 
uncorrupted  MSS.  selected  from  all  quarters.] 

l(i 


The  troubles  of  France  were  productive  of 
another  result  also.  The  events  of  a  period 
always  evolve  some  general  political  notions, 
which  then  exercise  a  practical  dominion  over 
the  world.  The  catholic  princes  believed 
themselves  assured  that  the  admission  of 
changes  in  religion  was  fatal  to  a  state. 
Whereas  Pius  V,  had  said  that  the  church 
could  not  subsist  without  the  support  of  sove- 
reigns, the  latter  were  now  convinced  that 
for  them,  too,  an  union  with  the  church  was 
indispensably  necessary.  Pius  V.  never  ceas- 
ed to  preach  up  this  doctrine  to  them.  In 
fact,  he  lived  to  see  all  Southern  Christendom 
grouped  around  himself  in  one  common  enter- 
prise. 

The  Ottoman  power  was  still  making  vigor- 
ous progress:  it  ruled  the  Mediterranean; 
and  its  enterprises,  first  against  Malta,  and 
then  against  Cyprus,  showed  how  earnestly 
it  was  bent  on  tiie  conquest  of  the  yet  unsub- 
jugated  islands.  It  threatened  Italy  from 
Hungary  and  Greece.  Pius  V.  succeeded  in 
at  last  opening  the  eyes  of  the  catholic  mon- 
arclis  to  the  magnitude  of  this  danger.  The 
thought  of  a  league  between  those  sovereigns 
suggested  itself  to  him  upon  the  attack  on 
Cyprus,  and  he  proposed  it  to  Venice  on  the 
one  side,  and  to  Spain  on  the  other.  "  When 
I  received  permission  to  treat  with  him  on  the 
subject,"  says  the  Venetian  ambassador,  "  and 
communicated  my  instructions  to  him,  he  rais- 
ed his  hands  towards  heaven  and  thanked 
God  :  he  promised  that  his  whole  soul,  and 
every  thought  of  his  mind,  should  be  devoted 
to  that  busmess."*  It  cost  him  infinite  trouble 
to  remove  the  difficulties  that  impeded  an 
union  of  the  two  maritime  powers.  He  add- 
ed the  other  states  of  Italy  to  them  ;  and  he 
himself,  though  at  first  he  possessed  neither 
money  nor  ships  nor  arms,  yet  found  means 
to  reinforce  the  fleet  even  with  papal  galleys. 
He  had  a  share  in  the  choice  of  the  leader, 
Don  John  of  Austria,  whose  ambition  and  devo- 
tion he  contrived  equally  to  influence.  The 
result  at  last  was  the  most  successful  engage- 
ment, that  of  Lepanto,  in  which  Christendom 
had  ever  been  concerned.  So  intensely  was 
the  pope  interested  in  this  enterprise,  that  on 
the  day  of  battle  he  believed  he  beheld  the 
victory  in  a  sort  of  rapturous  trance.  Its 
achievement  filled  him  with  the  highest  self- 
confidence  and  the  most  daring  projects.     In 


*  Soriano.  Havuta  la  resolutione,  andai  subito  alia 
audienza,  benche  era  di  notte,  e  I'hora  incomnioda,  e  S. 
Sa.  travaglialo  per  li  accident!  sesuiti  quel  ciorno  per  la 
coronatione  del  duca  di  Fiorenza  ed  il  protesto  dell'  am- 
basciatore  Cesareo  (against  it):  e  co.uniunicata  la  com- 
missione  che  haveva,  S.  S^.  si  allegrO  tutto.  [Having 
received  the  resolution,  I  went  instantly  to  seek  an  audi- 
ence, though  il  was  night,  and  the  hour  inconvenient,  and 
his  holiness  had  been  much  faticued  that  day  by  the  inci- 
dents arising  out  of  the  coronation  of  the  duke  of  Florence, 
and  the  protest  of  the  imperial  ambassadors  asainst  it ; 
and  on  my  communicating  my  orders,  his  holiness  was 
entirely  delighled.J 


122    THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  16TH  CENTURY,  [a.  d.  1572. 


a  few  years  he  hoped  to  see  the  Ottomans 
wholly  prostrated. 

But  his  mediation  was  not  exclusively  de- 
voted to  the  bringing  about  of  such  unques- 
tionably glorious  enterprises.  His  religion 
was  of  so  exclusive  and  imperious  a  kind,  that 
he  cherished  the  bitterest  hatred  towards  all 
Christians  of  a  different  faith.  Strange  incon- 
sistency, that  religion  should  persecute  inno- 
cence and  humility  and  genuine  piety  !  It 
seemed  none  to  Pius  V.,  who  had  risen  through 
the  Inquisition,  and  grown  old  in  its  ways. 
If  he  sought  with  inexhaustible  zeal  to  extir- 
pate the  remains  of  dissent  that  yet  lurked  in 
catholic  lands,  he  persecuted  with  still  more 
savage  fury  tJie  avowed  Protestants  who  had 
already  shaken  off  his  yoke,  or  who  were  yet 
engaged  in  the  struggle.  He  not  only  aided 
the  French  catholics  with  a  small  body  of 
troops,  but  he  gave  the  leader  of  these,  the 
count  Santafiore,  the  monstrous  order,  to  take 
no  Huguenot  prisoner,  but  to  kill  forthwith 
every  Protestant  who  should  fall  into  his 
hands.*  When  the  disturbances  broke  out  in 
the  Netherlands,  Philip  II.  wavered  at  first 
as  to  what  course  he  should  pursue  with  these 
provinces ;  the  pope  advised  him  to  an  armed 
intervention.  His  argument  was,  "  He  that 
negociates  without  the  cogency  of  arms  must 
receive  laws ;  but  he  that  has  arms  in  his 
hands  can  prescribe  them."  He  approved  of 
Alva's  bloody  measures,  and  sent  him,  in  re- 
ward of  them,  the  consecrated  hat  and  sword. 
It  cannot  be  proved  that  he  was  privy  to  the 
preparations  for  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartho- 


lomew ;  but  he  did  things  that  make  it  evident 
he  would  have  approved  of  it  as  much  as  his 
successor. 

What  a  medley  of  singleness  of  purpose, 
loftiness  of  soul,  personal  austerity,  and  entire 
devotion  to  religion,  with  grim  bigotry,  ran- 
corous hatred,  and  sanguinary  zeal  for  perse- 
cution ! 

In  this  spirit  lived  and  died  Pius  V.*  When 
he  saw  his  end  approaching,  he  once  more 
visited  the  seven  churches,  "  in  order,"  as  he 
said,  "  to  take  leave  of  those  holy  places ;" 
and  he  thrice  kissed  the  last  steps  of  the  Scala 
Santa.  He  had  once  promised  not  only  to 
expend  on  an  expedition  against  England  the 
property  of  the  church,  chalices  and  crosses 
not  excepted,  but  even  to  head  it  in  person. 
Some  fugitive  catholics  from  England  pre- 
senting themselves  in  his  way,  he  said,  "  he 
wished  he  might  shed  his  blood  for  them."  He 
spoke  with  special  interest  of  the  Ligue,  for 
the  successful  prosecution  of  which  he  left 
every  thing  in  ready  train :  the  last  money 
he  dispensed  was  for  that  purpose.f  The 
phantoms  of  his  enterprises  hovered  round 
him  to  his  last  moment.  He  had  not  a  doubt 
of  their  prosperous  issue,  deeming  that  God 
would  needs  raise  up  from  the  very  stones  the 
man  his  work  demanded. 

If  his  loss  was  immediately  felt  more  acutely 
than  he  himself  had  anticipated,  an  unity  had 
yet  been  founded,  a  force  had  been  summoned 
forth,  whose  inherent  momentum  would  of 
necessity  maintain  the  course  begun. 


BOOK    THE    FOURTH. 


COURT  AND  STATE.    THE  TIMES  OF  GREGORY  XIII.  AND  SIXTUS  V. 


Introduction. 

Henceforth  Catholicism  confronted  the 
protestant  world  in  renovated  collected  vigour. 

Comparing  the  two  antagonists  together,  we 
see  an  extraordinary  advantage  on  the  side  of 
Catholicism,  inasmuch  as  it  had  a  centre,  a 
chief  who  guided  its  movements  in  every  di- 
rection. 

Nor  only  had  the  pope  the  means  of  uniting 
the  other  catholic  powers  in  a  community  of 
efforts,  but  he  possessed  besides  dominions 
of  his  own,  sufficiently  strong  to  contribute 
something  to  the  general  force. 

From  this  time  forth,  the  states  of  the 
Church  come  before  us  in  a  new  light. 

Their  foundation  resulted  from  the  efforts 


*  Catena,  Vila  di  Pio  V.,  p.  85.  Pio  si  ilolso  dpi  conte 
che  non  huvesse  il  comandamemo  di  lui  osservato  d'am- 
mazzar  subilo  qualunque  ^ereiico  gli  fosse  veuuto  alle 
mani. 


of  the  popes  to  elevate  their  families  to  princely 
station,  or  to  secure  for  themselves  a  para- 
mount importance  among  the  powers  of  the 
world,  and  especially  among  the  Italian  states. 
In  neither  object  did  they  succeed  to  the  full 
extent  of  their  desires ;  and  now  it  was  be- 
come forever  impossible  to  renew  those  ef- 
forts. A  law  of  their  own  making  forbade 
the  alienation  of  the  possessions  of  the  Church, 
while  the  Spaniards  were  far  too  powerful  in 
Italy  to  admit  of  any  contest  with  them.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  temporal  sovereignty  had 

♦  Hp  died  May  1,1572. 

t  Infonnaiione  dell'  infermitil  di  Pio  V.  Havendo  in 
sua  stanza  in  una  cassettina  13m.  sc.  per  donare  e  fare 
eleemosine  di  sua  niano,  dueglorni  avanti  sua  morte,  fece 
chiamare  il  deposilario  della  camera  e  levarli,  dicendo 
che  sarieno  boni  per  la  lega.  [Having  in  his  chamber  a 
casket  containing  tliirteen  thousand  scudi,  intended  for 
presents  and  alms  to  be  bestowed  with  his  own  hand,  two 
days  before  he  died  hesent  for  the  treasurer  to  the  camera 
to  take  them,  saying,  ihey  would  be  serviceable  to  tha 
L/igue.] 


i 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  STATES  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


123 


now  become  a  prop  for  the  spiritual  authority  : 

I  the  financial  means  it  aftbrded  were  import- 
ant to  the  g-eneral  development  of  the  papal 
power.  Belbre  we  proceed  further,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  take  a  closer  view  of  the  admi- 
nistration of  the  States  of  the  Church,  in  the 
form  it  gradually  assumed  during  the  course 
of  the  sixteenth  century. 

Administration  of  the  States  of  the  Church. 

A  well-situated,  rich,  and  noble  region  had 
fallen  to  the  lot  of  the  popes. 

The  writers  of  the  sixteenth  century  can- 
not find  words  sufficiently  to  extol  its  fertility. 
What  beautiful  plains  did  it  exhibit  round 
Bologna,  all  through  Romagna  !  what  loveli- 
ness combined  with  fertility,  down  tlie  slopes 
of  the  Apennines!  "  We  travelled,"  say  the 
Venetian  ambassadors  of  1522,  "from  Mace- 
rata  to  Tolentino  through  the  most  beautiful 
fields ;  through  hills  and  plains  covered  with 
corn  :  there  was  nothing  else  to  be  seen  grow- 
ing for  a  space  of  thirty  miles;  not  a  foot  of 
uncultivated  land  was  discoverable  ;  it  seemed 
impossible  to  gather  in,  not  to  speak  of  con- 
suming, such  an  abundance  of  corn."  Ro- 
magna yearly  yielded  forty  thousand  stara 
more  corn  than  was  sufficient  for  its  own  con- 
sumption ;  for  this  there  was  a  great  demand, 
and  after  supplying  the  mountain  districts  of 
Urbino,  Tuscany,  and  Bologna,  thirty-five 
thousand  stara  more  were  at  times  exported 
by  sea.  Whilst  Venice,*  on  the  one  sea,  was 
supplied  with  necessaries  from  Bologna  and 
the  iVlarch ;  on  the  other,  Genoa  commonly, 
and  occasionally  Naples  too,  were  supplied 
from  Viterbo  and  the  patrimony.  In  one  of 
his  bulls  of  the  year  1566,  Pius  V.  extols  the 
divine  grace,  that  had  permitted  that  Rome, 
which  formerly  had  not  been  able  to  subsist 
without  foreign  supplies  of  6orn,  should  now 
not  only  possess  it  in  superfluity,  but  often  be 
able  to  supply  it  of  its  own  growth  to  neigh- 
bouring and  distant  countries,  by  land  and  sea.f 
In  the  year  1589,  the  exports  of  corn  from  the 
States  of  the  Church  are  estimated  at  the  an- 
nual value   of  five  hundred  thousand  scudi.l 


*  Badoer,  Relatione,  1591 .  The  friendship  of  Romagna 
for  Venice  rested  on  the  consideration,  "quanto  impona 
la  vicinili  di  questacitli  per  ben  vendere  per  rordinario 
le  lore  biade,  vini,  frutti,  guadi  et  altre  cose,  ri(;oilandone 
aU'incomro  boni  danari."  [How  imporianl  the  vicinity 
of  the  latter  city  was  for  the  ready  sale  of  the  corn,  wine, 
fruits,  nets,  and  other  very  profitable  coiniuoililies.] 

t  Jurisdictio  consuluin  arlis  agriculiurae  urbis — 9  Sep. 
1566.     Bullar.  Cocquel.  iv.  ii.  314. 

JGiovanni  Griiti,  Relatione,  1589.  La  Romagna  e  la 
Marca  sola  si  mette  che  alcune  voile  abbia  mandato  fuori 
60n)-  rubbia  di  grano  e  piu  di  SOm-  di  menudi.  II  paese  di 
Roma  e  lo  staio  di  li  dell'  Alpi  quasi  oani  anno  s.immin- 
islra  il  viver  al  paese  di  Genova  et  altri  jiinshi  circonvi- 
cini :  onde  deU'uscita  di  grani  e  di  biade  dellostato  eccle- 
eiastico  si  tien  per  cosa  certa  che  ogn'anno  eniri  in  esso 
valsente  di  500m-  go.  almeno  :  n6  ail'incontro  ha  bisnjno 
di  fosi  di  fuori  se  non  di  poco  niomento  et  in  poca  stima, 
che  sono  specierie  e  cosi  da  vestirsi  di  nobili  e  ])ersone 
principali.  [Il  is  stated  thai  Romagna  and  the  March 
alone  have  occasionally  sixty  thousand  rubbia  of  wheal, 


Particular  districts  were  further  celebrated  for 
their  several  peculiar  productions;  Perugia 
for  hemp,  Faenza  for  flax,  Viterbo  for  both,* 
Cesena  for  a  wine  for  exportation,  Rimini  for 
oil,  Bologna  for  woad,  San  Lorenzo  for  its 
manna;  the  vintage  of  Montefiascone  was 
famous  all  over  the  world.  In  Campagna 
there  existed  in  those  times  a  breed  of  horses 
not  much  inferior  to  that  of  Naples;  about 
Nettuno  and  Terracina  there  was  excellent 
hunting,  especially  of  the  wild  boar.  There 
was  no  lack  of  lakes  abounding  in  fish  :  there 
were  salt  and  alum  works,  and  quaries  of  mar- 
ble :  the  country  seemed  to  possess  in  plenty 
every  thing  that  could  be  desired  for  the  com- 
forts of  life. 

Nor  was  this  territory  by  any  means  ex- 
cluded from  the  general  commerce  of  the 
world.  Ancona  had  a  very  flourishing  trade, 
"  It  is  a  handsome  place,"  say  the  ambassa- 
dors of  1522,  "full  of  merchants,  particularly 
Greeks  and  Turks :  we  were  assured  that  in 
preceeding  years  some  of  them  did  business 
to  the  amount  of  five  hundred  thousand  du- 
cats." In  the  year  1549,  we  find  two  hun- 
dred Greek  families  settled  there  as  traders, 
having  their  own  church.  The  harbour  was 
full  of  Levantine  caravels.  There  were  Ar- 
menians, Turks,  Florentines,  people  from 
Lucca,  Venetians,  and  Jews  from  the  East 
and  from  the  West.  The  goods  that  changed 
hands  here  consisted  of  silk,  wool,  leather, 
Flemish  lead  and  cloths.  Luxury  was  on 
the  increase;  house-rents  were  rising,  phy- 
sicians and  schoolmasters  were  more  nu- 
merous, and  their  fees  higher  than  ever  be- 
fore, f 

But  the  inhabitants  of  the  States  of  the 
Church  were  still  more  renowned  for  their 
valour  than  for  their  commercial  activity  and 
capacity.  They  are  sometimes  described  to 
us  according  to  the  several  shades  of  their 
military  character.  The  Perugians  are  steady 
soldiers,  the  inhabitants  of  Romagna  brave 
but  improvident,  those  of  Spolelo  abound  in 
stratageins  of  war ;  the  Bolognese  are  high- 
spirited,  but  hard  to  keep  in  discipline;  the 
inhabitants  of  the  March  addicted  to  plunder; 
the  Faentini  are  above  all  others  the  men  to 
resist  a  charge,  and  to  pursue  the  enemy  on 
his  retreat ;  the  men  of  Fori  i  are  distinguished 
for  skill  in  executing  difficult  mancEuvres; 
those  of  Fermo  for  dexterity  in  the  use  of  the 


and  more  than  thirty  thousand  rubbia  of  olher  grain  The 
country  round  Rome  and  the  Transalpine  Slate,  almost 
every  year  supply  the  necessaries  of  life  to  Geneva  and 
other  surrounding  neighbourhoods:  accordingly  il  is  ascer- 
tained, thai  in  return  for  the  corn  and  oats  of  the  Ecclesi- 
aslical  States,  there  yearly  flows  into  them  the  amount  of 
five  hundred  thousand  scudi  at  least.  On  the  other  hand, 
they  have  no  need  of  foreign  goods,  with  the  exception  of 
things  of  small  importance  and  value,  such  as  groceries, 
and  ^materials  of  apparel  for  the  nobility  and  persons  of 
distinction.] 

*  Voyage  de  Montaigne,  ii.  488. 

t  Saracini,  Noiizie  istoriche della citt4  d'Ancona.  Roma, 
1675,  p.  362. 


124     COURT  AND  STATE.     TIMES  OF  GREGORY  XIII.  AND  SIXTHS  V. 


lance.*  "The  whole  population,"  says  one 
of  our  Venetians,  "  is  martial  and  fierce  by 
nature.  So  soon  as  these  men  leave  their 
homes  they  are  fit  for  every  deed  of  war, 
whether  of  leaguer  or  of  open  fight :  they  bear 
with  ease  the  toils  of  a  campaign.!"  The 
Venetians  constantly  drew  their  best  troops 
from  the  March  and  from  Romagna  :  for  that 
reason  was  the  friendship  of  the  dukes  of  Ur- 
bino  of  such  moment  to  the  republic  we  always 
find  officers  from  those  districts  in  its  service. 
It  was  said,  however,  that  here  there  were  cap- 
tains enough  for  all  the  sovereigns  in  the 
world ;  from  hence  had  gone  forth  the  com- 
pany of  St.  George,  with  which  Albericii  of 
Barbiano  had  extirpated  the  foreign  mercena- 
ries, and  revived  the  fame  of  the  Italian  arms  ; 
here  was  still  the  race  and  slock  of  the  men 
who  had  contributed  so  much  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Roman  empire. |  Later  times 
have  not  justified  such  high  encomiums;  still 
the  last  leader  who  employed  these  men  on 
foreign  service  is  said  to  have  given  them  the 
decided  preference  over  the  rest  of  his  Italian, 
and  over  a  considerable  part  of  his  French 
troops. 

All  these  rich  districts  and  this  brave  popu- 
lation were  now  subject  to  the  peaceful,  spi- 
ritual power  of  the  pope.  Let  us  now  trace 
the  leading  features  of  the  government  that 
developed  itself  under  the  pontiifs. 

It  was  founded,  as  usual  in  the  Italian  states, 
on  a  more  or  less  stringent  limitation  of  the 
independence  to  which  the  municipalities  had 
almost  every  where  grown  in  the  course  of 
centuries. 

Down  even  to  the  fifteenth  century,  the 
priors  of  Viterbo,  sitting  on  their  stone  seats 
before  the  door  of  the  town-hall,  received  the 
oath  of  the  podestas,  sent  them  by  the  pope  or 
his  representative.^ 

When  the  city  of  Fano  became  immediately 
subject  to  the  Roman  see,  it  made  stipula- 
tions beforehand,  conditioning  not  only  that  it 
should  tor  the  future  be  under  the  immediate 
sovereignty  of  Rome,  but  also  that  it  should 
have  right  of  choosing  its  own  podesta,  with- 
out the  need  of  any  further  confirmation  of 
tlie  appointment,  withtwenty  years  immunity 


*Laudi,  QuEBSliones  Forcianae,  Neapoli,  1536:  a  book 
full  of  authentic  and  minute  observations  on  the  state  of 
Italy  in  those  days. 

t  Soriano,  157U;  Quanto  a  soldati,  6  commune  opinions 
clie  nello  statodellacliicsa  siano  i  mialiori  di  tutto  il  resto 
d'ltalia,  anzi  d'Europa.  [As  for  soldiers,  it  is  commonly 
thought  that  the  Ecclesiastical  States  possess  the  best  in 
Italy,  or  even  in  Europe.] 

t  Lorenzo  Priuli:  Relatione,  1.58G.  Lo  stato  pieno  di 
viveri  per  darne  anco  a  popoli  vicini,  pieno  di  huomini 
bellicosi — he  specifies  Genga,  Carpacna,  and  Malatesta. 
Pareno  tulti  questi  popoli  nati  et  allevali  nella  militia. 
E  molto  presto  si  metteria  insieme  molto  buona  gentetoc- 
cando  il  tamburo.  [The  State  abounds  with  the  necessa- 
ries of  life,  so  that  it  can  supjdy  its  neiulibours,  and  is  full 
of  warlike  men.  The  wliole  population  seems  born  and 
bred  to  war.  A  fine  body  of  men  would  speedily  assem- 
ble at  the  beat  of  the  drum.] 

§  Feliciano  Bassi:  Istoria  di  Vitorbo,  p.  59. 


from  all  new  burthens,  the  advantages  of  the 
sale  of  salt,  and  several  other  privileges.* 

Even  so  arbitrary  a  ruler  as  Cesar  Borgia 
could  not  avoid  granting  privileges  to  the 
towns  of  which  he  had  composed  his  princi- 
pality. He  even  surrendered  to  the  town  of 
Sinigaglia  revenues  that  had  till  then  belonged 
to  the  sovereign."!- 

How  much  more  incumbent  was  this  upon 
Julius  II.,  whose  ambition  it  was  to  figure  as 
an  emancipator  from  tyranny.  He  himself  re- 
minded the  Perugians  that  he  had  spent  the 
best  years  of  his  youth  within  their  walls. 
When  he  drove  Baglione  out  of  Perugia,  he 
contented  himself  with  recalling  the  emi- 
grants, restoring  their  power  to  the  peaceful 
magistrates,  the  priori,  and  bestowing  higher 
salaries  on  the  professors  of  the  universities  : 
he  made  no  encroachments  on  the  ancient 
immunities  of  the  city.  For  a  long  time  after- 
wards it  paid  no  more  than  a  few  thousand  du- 
cats, by  way  of  recognition  of  the  pope's  sove- 
reignty; even  under  Clement  VII.  I  find  a 
calculation  of  the  number  of  troops  it  could 
bring  into  the  field,  just  as  though  it  were  a 
perfectly  free  community.! 

Bologna's  yoke  was  equally  light.  With 
the  forms,  it  at  all  times  maintained  likewise 
many  of  the  essential  attributes  of  municipal 
independence.  It  freely  administered  its  own 
revenues,  maintained  its  own  troops,  and  the 
pope's  legate  received  a  salary  from  the  city. 

Julius  II.  conquered  the  towns  of  Romagna 
in  the  Venitian  war ;  but  he  did  not  possess 
himself  of  a  single  one  without  consenting  to 
restrictive  conditions  or  conferring  new  posi- 
tive rights.  In  later  times  they  always  re- 
curred to  the  stipulations  they  then  concluded 
with  him.  They  designated  the  political  con- 
dition on  which  they  entered  by  the  name  of 
"  Ecclesiasiical  Freedom. "J 

The  state,  tlfus  constituted,  had  on  the 
whole  a  certain  analogy  to  that  of  Venice.  In 
the  one,  as  in  the  other,  the  political  power 
liad  hitherto  been  in  the  hands  of  the  com- 
munes, which  had  for  the  most  part  subjected 
smaller  communities  to  their  sway.  In  the 
Venetian  territories  these  ruling  municipali- 
ties, without  in  all  respects  foregoing  their 
independence,  had  subjected  themselves  under 
accurately  defined  conditions  to  tlie  control  of 
the  nobilii  of  Venice:  in  the  Ecclesiastical 
States  they  fell  under  the  commonwealth  of 
the  curia ;  for  the  court  constituted  a  common- 
wealth in  tlie  latter,  as  the  nobility  did  in  the 
former.  The  dignity  of  prelate,  indeed,  was 
not  indispensable  towards  the  occupation  of 
the  highest  posts  in  the  municipalities  during 

*Amiani:  Memorie  istoriche  della  citti'di  Fano,  t.  ii. 
p.  4. 

t  Siena,  Storia  di  Senigaglia,  App.  n.  v. 

t  Surlano,  Relatione  di  Fiorenza,  1.533. 

§  Rainaldus  alludes  to  tliis  but  very  briefly.  Concern- 
ing Ravenna,  see  Hieronymi  Kubei  Historiarum  ilaven- 
nalum  lib.  viii.  p.  6G0. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  STATES  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


125 


the  first  half  of  this  century  :  temporal  vice- 
legates  present  themselves  to  us  in  Perug^ia  ; 
in  Romagna  it  seemed  almost  an  established 
rule  that  a  secular  president  should  be  at  tlie 
head  of  the  administration;  laymen  attained 
occasionally  to  the  greatest  power  and  conse- 
quence, as  for  instance,  Jacopo  Salviati,  under 
Clement  Vli.  ;  but  these  laymen  belonged 
after  all  to  the  curia  ;  they  were  servants  of 
the  pope,  and  thereby  members  of  that  corpo- 
ration. The  towns,  however,  did  not  like 
those  secular  governors  ;  they  demanded  pre- 
lates, tiiinking  it  more  Jionourable  to  obey  ec- 
clesiastics of  high  rank.  Compared  with  a 
German  principality,  with  all  its  organized 
system  of  estates,  an  Italian  at  first  sight  ap- 
pears almost  anarchical.  But  even  in  the 
case  of  the  latter,  there  existed  in  fact  a  nota- 
ble partition  of  privileges  between  the  various 
classes,  between  the  highest  authorities  of  a 
city  and  its  nobili,  between  these  latter  and 
the  cittadini,  between  the  aristocracy  and  the 
communes  subject  to  them,  between  the  city 
and  the  rural  population.  It  is  a  striking  fact, 
that  hardly  in  any  once  instance  was  a  sys- 
tem of  provincial  administration  adopted  in 
Italy.  Provincial  assemblies  were  held  in- 
deed in  the  Ecclesiastical  States,  and  these 
have  been  dignified  with  the  name  of  par- 
liaments; but  in  some  way  or  other  it  must 
have  been  inconsistent  with  the  manners  ol' 
the  country  and  with  the  Italian  character  to 
bring  such  institutions  to  perfection:  they 
never  attained  to  any  enduring  influence. 

Now  had  the  municipal  constitution  reached 
that  complete  development  of  which  it  was 
susceptible,  and  towards  which  it  seemed  in 
progress,  seeing  on  the  one  hand  the  limita- 
tion of  the  government  authority,  on  the  other 
the  positive  rights  and  the  great  power  of  the 
communes,  and  the  multitude  of  the  indivi- 
dual privileges,  it  would  have  e.xhibited  the 
principle  of  stability  in  the  most  striking  form 
— a  political  system  defined  by  special  prero- 
gatives and  reciprocal  limitations. 

Considerable  progress  was  made  in  this  di- 
rection in  the  Venetian  dominions,  not  nearly 
so  much  in  the  States  of  the  Church. 

This  difference  is  referable  to  the  original 
diversity  of  their  forms  of  government.  In 
Venice  there  was  a  hereditary  self-governing 
corporation,  that  regarded  the  supreme  power 
as  its  own  property.  The  Roman  curia  on 
the  other  hand  was  extremely  fluctuating ; 
new^  elements  flowed  in  upon  it  after  every 
new  conclave  ;  the  countrymen  of  the  several 
popes  always  acquired  a  large  share  in  the 
disposal  of  business.  In  the  tbrmer,  appoint- 
ments to  places  in  the  administration  proceed- 
ed from  the  corporation  itself;  in  the  latter, 
they  depended  on  the  favour  of  the  head  of  tlie 
state.  In  the  former,  the  rulers  were  kept  in 
check  by  rigorous  laws,  close  inspection,  and 
syndication;  in  the  latter,  individuals  were 


less  restricted  byfear  of  punishment  than  by 
hope  of  promotion,  which  moreover  depended, 
in  a  great  degree,  on  favour  and  afl'ection,  and 
they  enjoyed  a  wider  range  of  action. 

From  the  very  first,  too,  the  papal  govern- 
ment had  secured  to  itself  a  freer  position. 

In  this  point  of  view  we  arrive  at  a  remark- 
able result,  on  comparing  the  concessions  made 
respectively  by  Rome  and  Venice.  A  favour- 
able opportunity  for  this  is  aflbrded,  among 
others,  by  the  case  of  Faenza,  which  had  yield- 
ed itself  up  to  the  Venetians  a  few  years  before 
its  surrender  to  the  pope,  and  had  made  stipu- 
lations with  both.*  On  both  occasions  it  had 
demanded,  for  instance,  that  no  new  tax  should 
ever  be  imposed  without  the  approval  of  the 
majority  of  the  great  council  of  Faenza :  to 
this  the  Venetians  acceded  unconditionally, 
whereas  the  pope  added  the  clause,  "unless 
it  should  otherwise  seem  fit  to  him  upon  im- 
portant and  reasonable  grounds."  I  will  not 
enlarge  upon  this  subject ;  the  same  difl^erence 
is  every  where  observable  ;  it  is  sufficient  that 
I  mention  one  other  instance.  The  Venetians 
had  consented  without  hesitation  that  all  cri- 
minal judgments  should  be  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  podesta  and  his  curia  :  the  pope 
likewise  granted  this  in  general,  but  insisted 
on  one  exception.  "In  cases  of  high  treason, 
or  of  similar  crimes,  which  might  occasion 
public  irritation,  the  authority  of  the  governor 
sha,ll  step  in."  It  is  manifest  that  the  papal 
government  reserved  to  itself,  from  the  very 
outset,  a  much  more  vigorous  exercise  of  the 
sovereign  authority  than  did  the  Venetian.f 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  its  efforts  to  this 
end  were  greatly  facilitated  by  the  other  side. 

In  the  subject  towns  in  those  days  the  mid- 
dle classes,  the  burghers,  and  the  traders  and 
artisans,  when  their  incomes  sufficed  for  their 
maintenance,  remained  peaceable  and  obedi- 
ent ;  but  there  was  no  end  to  the  commotions 
among  the  patricians,  the  nobili,  who  held  the 
municipal  authority  in  their  hands.  They 
practised  no  arts,  cared  little  for  agriculture, 
set  no  great  store  by  intellectual  cultivation, 
or  skill  in  arms  ;  their  own  feuds  and  enmities 
were  all  that  engrossed  their  attention.  The 
old  factions  of  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines  still 
subsisted  ;  they  had  been  fostered  by  the  last 
wars,  in  which  victory  had  alternated  between 
them  ;  all  the  f  imilies  belonging  to  either 
party  were  well  known.  In  Faenza,  Ravenna, 
and  Forli,  the  Ghibellines  were  the  stronger; 
in  Rimini  the  Guelphs ;  but  in  all  these  towns 
the  weaker  party  still  maintained  itself.     In 


*  Historie  di  Faenze,  falica  di  GiulioCesare  Tonduzzi, 
Fapnza,  1U75,  contain  (p.  5li9)  ihe  capilulatious  concluded 
wilh  the  Venetians  in  1501,  and  (p.  08?)  those  assented  to 
by  Julius  II.  in  15111. 

t  What  were  the  means  it  used  is  shown  by  Paul  III. 
when  he  says  (1547) :  "  Ceux  qui  viennent  nouvellenient 
au  papat  viennent  pauvres,  obliges  de  promesses,  at  la  de- 
pense  qu'ils  font  pour  s'asseurerdans  les  lerresde  I'eglise 
nionte  plus  c^ue  le  profit  des  proniieresann^es."  Le  Card', 
de  Guise  au  Koy  de  France,  en  Kibier,  ii.  17. 


126       COURT  AND  STATE.    TIMES  OF  GREGORY  XIII.  AND  SIXTHS  V. 


Cesena  and  Imola  the  two*  were  on  a  par. 
Even  in  the  midst  of  outward  peace  a  secret 
war  was  carried  on  ;  every  one  made  it  his 
special  purpose  to  keep  down  his  adversary  of 
the  other  faction,  and  to  cast  him  into  the 
shade.*  The  chiefs  had  at  their  beck  depen- 
dents in  the  lowest  classes,  stout  determined 
fellows,  vagabond  bravi,  who  voluntarily  offer- 
ed their  services  to  those  who  they  knew  stood 
in  fear  of  enemies,  or  had  an  injury  to  avenge. 
They  were  always  ready  to  commit  murder 
for  hire. 

The  result  of  these  universal  feuds  was,  that 
while  neither  party  trusted  the  other,  or  allow- 
ed it  the  exerciseof  authority,  the  cities  were 
less  sedulous  to  maintain  their  privileges. 
When  the  president,  or  the  legate,  entered 
the  province,  the  question  was  not  asked  whe- 
ther he  was  disposed  to  respect  the  rights  of 
the  municipalities  ;  the  only  thing  attempted 
to  be  guessed  at  was,  to  which  party  he  ad- 
hered. It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  exul- 
tation of  the  favoured  party,  and  the  dismay  of 
their  rivals.  The  legate  had  need  be  very 
wary.  The  most  influential  men  sought  his 
intimacy,  courted  his  good-will,  affected  to 
display  great  zeal  for  the  interests  of  the  state, 
and  acquiesced  in  all  measures  proposed  for 
its  advantage ;  but  all  this  was  often  but  a 
pretence  to  secure  them  a  better  footing  with 
the  legate,  to  ingratiate  themselves  with  him, 
and  so  enable  them  the  more  keenly  to  wound 
and  persecute  the  party  they  hated.f 

The  barons  in  the  country  were  in  a  some- 
what diflerent  position.  They  were  for  the 
most  part  poor,  but  liberal  and  ambitiojis,  so 
that  they  even  kept  open  house,  and  without 
exception  expended  more  than  their  means 
could  affijrd.  They  always  had  dependents  in 
the  towns,  whose  aid  they  often  employed  for 
illegal  purposes.  But  they  made  it  their  chief 
care  to  maintain  a  good  understanding  with 
their  peasantry,  who  always  possessed  the 
largest  extent  of  ground,  though  no  wealth. 
In  southern  countries  regard  is  indeed  paid  to 
high  birth  and  to  the  prerogatives  of  gentle 
blood,  but  the  distinction  of  ranks  is  very  far 
from  being  so  strictly  marked  there  as  in  nor- 
thern lands,  nor  does  it  act  as  a  bar  to  the 
closest  personal  intimacy.    The  peasants  lived 

*  Relatione  dellaRomagna(Bibl.  All.).  Li  nobili  hanno 
seguilo  di  iiiolle  persone,  delle  quale  alcune  voile  si  vag- 
liono  no'  consegli  per  conseguire  qualche  carica,  o  per  se 
o  per  allrl,  per  poiere  vincere  o  per  impedire  all'  allri 
qualclip  richiesla:  ne'  giudicii  per  provare  el  alcune  volte 
per  testificare,  nelle  inimlcitie  per  fare  vendette,  ingiurie: 
alcuni  ancora  a  Ravenna,  Imola  e  Faenzausavano  di  con- 
trabandare  grano.  [The  nobles  have  a  numerous  train  of 
dependents,  of  whose  aid  they  avail  themselves  in  the 
council,  to  obtain  any  charge  either  for  themselves  or  for 
others,  to  further  any  request  of  their  own,  or  hinder  those 
of  others;  before  the  tribunals  to  carry  on  suits,  and  some- 
times to  bear  witness  and  in  their  quarrels  to  satisfy  their 
reven'/e.  Some  too  in  Ravenna,  Imola,  and  Faenza,  em- 
ployed these  persons  in  smugslina  corn. 

t  Relatione  di  Monsre-  Rev"'o-  Giov.  P.  Ghisilieri  al  P. 
Gregorio  XIII.  tornando  esli  dal  presidentatodi  Romagna. 
We  learn  from  Tonduzzi  (Hislorie  di  Faenza,  p.  673)  that 
Ghisilieri  came  inloihe  province  in  1573. 


with  their  barons  rather  on  the  footing  of  bro- 
therly subordination,  nor  could  it  well  be  said 
whether  the  peasants  showed  more  alacrity 
towards  obedience  and  service,  or  the  barons 
towards  acts  of  patronage  and  support :  there 
was  something  of  a  patriarchal  character  in 
the  connexion  between  them.*  This  arose 
chiefly  out  of  the  desire  of  the  barons  to  hinder 
their  vassals  from  having  recourse  to  the  state 
authorities.  They  paid  but  little  regard  to  the 
feudal  supremacy  of  the  papal  see.  They 
looked  on  the  pretensions  of  the  legate  to 
judge,  not  only  on  appeal,  but  sometimes  even 
in  the  first  instance,  not  as  claims  of  right, 
but  as  consequences  of  an  unfortunate  politi- 
cal conjuncture  that  would  soon  pass  away. 

There  existed  also  here  and  there,  particu- 
larly in  Romagna,  independent  communities 
of  peasants.f  They  were  large  clans  descend- 
ed from  a  common  stock  ;  lords  in  their  own 
villages;  all  armed,  and  especially  practised 
in  the  use  of  the  arquebus;  generally  half- 
savage.  They  may  be  compared  with  the 
free  Greek  or  Sclavonian  communities,  that 
maintained  their  independence  among  the 
Venetians,  or  with  those  of  Candia,  Morea, 
and  Dalmatia,  who  reconquered  their  lost 
independence  from  the  Turks.  In  the  States 
of  the  Church  these  peasants  likewise  adiiered 
to  the  different  factions.  The  Savina,  Scar- 
docci,  and  Solaroli,  were  Ghibellines;  the 
Manbelli,  Cerroni,  and  Serra,  were  Guelphs. 
The  Serra  had  in  their  district  an  eminence 
that  served  as  an  asylum  for  those  who  com- 
mitted any  offence.  The  strongest  of  all  were 
the  Cerroni,  whose  numbers  extended  also 
into  the  Florentine  territory.  They  had  di- 
vided themselves  into  two  branches,  Rinaldi 
and  Ravagli,  which  were  unceasingly  at  feud, 
notwithstanding  their  relationship.  They 
stood  in  a  sort  of  hereditary  connexion  not 
only  with  the  noble  families  of  the  towns,  but 
also  with  lawyers  who  supported  the  one  or 
the  other  faction  in  their  litigations.  There 
was  not  in  all  Romagna  a  single  family  so 
powerful  that  it  could  not  easily  have  been 
hurt  by  these  peasants.  The  Venetians  al  ways 
kept  some  one  of  their  military  commanders 
among  them,  in  order  to  be  assured  of  their 
aid  in  case  of  war. 

If,  as  we  have  already  said,  all  these  popu- 
lations had  been  united,  it  would  have  been 

*  Relatione  della  Romagna :  Essendosi  agginstate  gli 
uni  air  humore  degli  allri.  [Being  filled  to  each  other's 
humour.] 

t  The  peasants  likewise  often  threw  off  the  yoke  of  the 
towns.  Ghisilieri:  "  Scossi  da  quel  giogo  e  recali  ([uasi 
corpo  diyerso  da  quelle  cilfA"  (ex.  gr.  Forli,  Cesena),  "si 
governaho  con  eerie  loro  lesgi  separate,  solto  il  governo 
d'un  protettore  eletto  da  loro  medesimi,  li  quali  hanno 
aniplissima  aulorita  di  far  le  resolulioni  necessarie  per  li 
casi  occorrenli  alii  conladini."  [Having  shaken  oT  tha 
yoke,  and  seceded  as  a  separate  body  from  those  cities, 
they  are  under  the  governmeniof  th^irown  distinct  laws, 
administered  by  a  president  elected  by  ihems'lves,  who 
has  the  amplest  authority  to  adopl  all  resolutions  neces- 
sary under  the  various  circumsiances  occurring  lo  the 
peasants.] 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  STATES  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


127 


difficult  for  the  Roman  prelates  to  assert  the 
authority  of  the  state ;  but  their  dissensions 
strengthened  the  hands  of  the  government. 
In  the  report  of  a  president  of  Romagna  to 
pope  Gregory  XIII.  I  find  the  words  :  "  As  the 
people  is  easily  ruled  when  disunited,  so  is  it 
with  difficulty  governed  when  too  much  unit- 
ed."* But,  furthermore,  another  party  sprung 
up  in  these  centuries  in  favour  of  tlie  govern- 
ment. It  consisted  of  those  peaceful  indivi- 
duals who  wished  for  tranquillity,  men  of  the 
middle  station,  who  were  not  partisans  of 
either  faction.  In  Fano  tliis  party  formed  an 
association,  called  the  "  Holy  Union,"  com- 
pelled to  this  step,  as  stated  in  their  founda- 
tion-deed, "  because  the  whole  town  is  become 
full  of  robbery  and  murder,  and  not  only  are 
those  persons  insecure  who  are  involved  in  the 
several  feuds,  but  those,  too,  who  would  fain 
eat  their  bread  m  the  sweat  of  their  brow." 
They  bound  themselvestogether  in  the  church 
by  an  oath  of  brotherhood  for  life  or  death  to 
uphold  the  quiet  of  the  town,  and  to  exter- 
minate its  disturbers.f  The  government  fa- 
voured them,  and  allowed  them  the  right  of 
bearing  arms.  We  find  them  throughout  all 
Romagna  under  the  title  oi' pacijici,  gradually 
constituting  a  kind  of  plebian  magistracy. 
The  government  had  its  adherents  likewise 
among  the  peasants.  The  Manbelli  attached 
themselves  to  the  legate's  court.  They  arrest- 
ed banditti,  and  acted  as  warders  of  the  fron- 
tiers, whereby  they  acquired  no  slight  increase 
of  consequence  in  the  eyes  of  their  neigh- 
bours.|  The  government  was  further  assisted 
by  local  jealousies,  the  opposition  of  the  rural 
communities  to  the  towns,  and  many  other 
internal  evils. 

Thus,  instead  of  that  legal  order,  quiet,  and 
stability,  to  which,  judging  theoretically,  the 
constitution  miglithave  led,  we  find  turbulent 
strife  of  factions,  interference  of  government 
so  long  as  these  are  at  variance,  reaction  of  the 
municipalities  when  they  are  again  united  ; 
violence  on  the  side  of  the  law,  violence  against 
the  law,  every  man  trying  how  far  he  might 
riot  in  license. 

Under  Leo  X.  the  Florentines,  who  for  the 
most  part  held  the  reigns  of  administration, 
immediately  exercised  the  rights  of  the  curia 

♦  Siccome  il  popolo  disunilo  facilmente  si  doniina,  cosi 
difficilmenie  si  rpgge  quando  6  iroppo  unilo. 

t  They  were  like  the  Herniandad.  Aiiiiani,  Memorie 
di  Fano,  ii.  146,  gives  their  formula  grounded  on  the  text 
"  Beali  pacifici,  quia  filii  Dei  vocabunlur."  [Blessed  are 
Ihe  peace-makers,  for  they  shall  be  called  the  sons  of 
God.]  Hence  may  have  been  derived  their  name  in 
other  towns. 

t  According  to  the  Relatione  della  Romagna,  they  call- 
ed themselves  also,  from  their  place  of  abode,  "  Huomini 
da  Schieto:" — "  Uomini,"  it  says,  "che  si  fanno  mollo  ri- 
guardare  ;  sono  Guelphi :  la  corte  di  Romagna  si  6  valuta 
dell'  opero  loro  mollo  utilmente,  massime  in  havere  in 
niano  bandiii,  et  in  ovviare  alle  fraudi  the  si  fanno  in 
estrarre  bestiani  dalle  montagne."  [Men  who  are  much 
esteemed  :  they  are  Guelphs  :  the  court  of  Romagna  has 
profited  much  by  their  aid,  especially  in  curbing  the  ban- 
ditti, and  in  preventing  the  fraudulent  absuaclion  of  cattle 
from  the  mounlains.J 


in  a  very  oppressive  manner.  Embassies  from 
the  towns  arrived  one  after  the  other  in  Rome, 
entreating  relief  of  their  grievances.  Raven- 
na declared  it  would  rather  surrender  to  the 
Turks,  than  endure  the  continuance  of  such 
a  system  of  government.*  Often  during  the 
vacancies  of  the  papal  see  the  old  lords  re- 
turned, and  were  not  afterwards  expelled 
without  difficulty  by  the  new  pope.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  towns  dreaded  being  alien- 
ated from  the  papal  see.  Sometimes  a  cardi- 
nal, sometimes  one  of  the  pope's  adherents,  or 
a  neighbouring  prince,  would  endeavour  to 
obtain  the  right  of  government  in  one  or  other 
of  the  towns,  in  consideration  of  money  paid 
to  the  camera.  The  towns,  therefore,  kept 
agents  and  envoys  at  Rome,  to  discover  every 
scheme  of  this  kind  the  moment  it  was  sug- 
gested, and  to  frustrate  it  whenever  it  was 
sought  to  be  put  in  operation.  They  were 
generally  successful  in  this ;  but  sometimes 
it  happened  that  they  were  obliged  to  have 
recourse  to  force  against  the  pope's  authority, 
and  even  against  his  troops.  In  almost  all 
the  histories  of  the  towns  there  occur  one  or 
more  examples  of  rude  insubordination.  In 
Faenza  once,  in  the  summer  of  1.521,  the 
Swiss  of  Pope  Leo  and  the  citizens  came  to  a 
regular  battle  in  the  streets.  The  Swiss  con- 
trived to  concentrate  themselves  in  the  piazza, 
but  the  citizens  baricading  all  the  streets  that 
opened  upon  it,  they  were  glad  enough  when 
one  was  unbarred,  and  they  were  suffered  to 
march  out  unmolested.  That  day  was  for 
many  a  year  afterwards  celebrated  in  Faenza 
with  religious  solemnities.!  Jesi,  which 
could  hardly  be  called  an  important  town, 
had  yet  courage  enough  to  attack  the  vice- 
governor  in  his  palace,  on  the  25th  Novem- 
ber, 1528,  on  his  demanding  certain  marks  of 
honour  which  the  inhabitants  refused  to  pay 
him.  The  citizens  and  the  peasants  united, 
and  a  hundred  Albanians  who  were  in  the 
neighbourhood  were  taken  into  pay :  the  vice- 
governor  fled  with  all  his  officers.  "  My 
native  town,"  says  the  otherwise  very  devout 
catholic  chronicler,  "having  in  this  way  re- 
trieved its  original  freedom,  resolved  yearly 
to  solemnize  that  day  at  the  public  cost."| 

From  such  acts  nothing,  it  is  obvious,  could 
ensue  but  new  subjugations,  new  punish- 
ments, and  harder  restrictions.  The  govern- 
ment seized  on  the  pretext  afforded  them  by 
such   occurrences,  to  wrest  from  the  towns 


♦  Marino  Zorzi:  Relatione  di  1517.  La  terra  di  Ro- 
magna e  in  gran  combustione  e  desordine:  li  vien  fatta 
poco  juslitia:  e  lui  orator  ha  visto  tal  x  man  di  oratori  al 
cardinal  di  Medici,  che  ncgotia  le  facende,  lamentandosi 
di  mali  portainenti  fanno  quelli  reiiori  loio.  [Romagna 
is  in  the  utmost  turbulence  and  disorder;  justice  is  little 
regarded  there,  and  the  reporter  has  seen  as  many  as  ten 
deputations  to  cardinal  Medici,  respecting  the  state  of 
Ihinss  there,  all  loudly  complaining  of  the  misconduct  of 
their  rulers.] 

t  Tonduzzi,  Hislorie  di  Faenz,  p.  f>09. 

JBaldassini,  Memorie  istoriche  dell'  antichissimacitt& 
de  Jesi.    Jesi,  1744,  p.  256. 


123       COURT  AND  STATE.     TIMES  OF  GREGORY  XIII.  AND  SIXTUS  V. 


whatever  remnants  they  yet  retained  of  an- 
cient independence,  and  to  bring  thern  into 
total  subjection. 

Ancona  and  Perugia  afford  striking  and 
memorable  instances  of  this. 

Ancona  was  one  of  those  towns  that  paid 
the  pope  merely  a  small  annual  sum  by  way 
of  recognition  ;  the  inadequacy  of  which  ap- 
peared the  more  strongly  as  the  prosperity  of 
the  town  augmented.  The  court  reckoned 
th'3  revenue  of  Ancona  at  fifty  thousand  scudi, 
and  thought  it  intolerable  that  the  local  nobi- 
lity, should  divide  all  that  money  between 
themselves.  So  when  the  city  refused  to 
submit  to  new  taxes,  and  took  forcible  posses- 
sion of  a  castle  to  which  it  laid  claim,  an 
open  rupture  ensued.  The  manner  in  which 
governments  of  that  day  sometimes  asserted 
their  rights  is  worth  notice.  The  papal  func- 
tionaries swept  away  all  the  cattle  Irom  the 
March  of  Ancona  to  realize  the  amount  of 
their  dues :  this  they  called  exercising  re- 
prisals. 

Clement  VII.  however  was  not  satisfied 
with  this :  he  only  waited  a  favourable  oppor- 
tunity to  make  himself  temporal  master  of 
Ancona,  and,  to  bring  this  about,  he  had  re- 
course to  stratagem.  He  ordered  a  fort  to 
be  erected  in  the  city,  alleging  he  did  so  only 
because  the  Turkish  power,  after  its  recent 
successes  in  Egypt  and  Rhodes,  which  gave 
it  such  strength  in  the  Mediterranean,  would 
undoubtedly  make  a  speedy  descent  on  Italy. 
How  perilous  would  it  be  then  if  Ancona,  ni 
which  there  were  always  numerous  Turkish 
vessels  at  anchor,  should  be  left  without  any 
military  works!  He  sent  Antonio  Sangallo 
to  erect  the  fort.  The  works  were  carried  on 
with  the  utmost  rapidity,  and  a  small  garrison 
was  soon  installed  in  them.  This  was  the 
moment  the  pope  looked  for.  AVhen  things 
were  so  far  advanced,  one  day  in  September, 
1532,  the  governor  of  the  March,  Monsignor 
Bernardino  della  Barba,  a  priest,  but  a  man 
of  martial  character,  made  his  appearance  in 
the  territory  of  Ancona  with  an  imposing 
army  furnished  him  by  the  jealousy  of  tlie 
neighbouring  districts,  took  one  of  the  gates 
of  the  city,  and  marched  his  troops  up  to  the 
palace.  The  Anziani,  but  recently  chosen  by 
lot,  dwelt  there  free  from  apprehension,  and 
surrounded  with  the  badges  of  supreme  digni- 
ty. Monsignor  della  Barba  entered  with 
a  military  staff",  and  announced  to  them,  witii 
little  ceremony,  "  that  the  pope  was  resolved 
to  have  the  uncontrolled  government  of  An- 
cona in  his  own  hands."  In  fact,  there  was  no 
possibility  of  resisting  him.  The  younger 
nobili  brought  in  from  the  country  in  all  haste 
a  few  bands  of  retainers ;  but  what  could 
they  do,  now  that  the  papal  troops  were 
already  prepared  by  new  fortifications  for 
every  contingency  ]  The  elder  nobles  would 
not  risk  the  plundering  and  devastation  of  the 


city.     They  yielded,  therefore,  to  what  was 
inevitable. 

The  Anziani  left  the  palace,  and  presently 
appeared  the  new  legate,  Benedetto  della  Ac- 
colti,  who  had  stipulated  to  pay  the  camera 
twenty  thousand  scudi  yearly  for  the  govern- 
ment of  Ancona. 

The  whole  state  of  things  was  changed. 
All  arms  were  required  to  be  given  up,  and 
sixty-four  of  the  principal  nobles  were  exiled: 
new  lists  of  magistrates  were  made  out ;  some 
of  the  offices  of  state  were  conferred  on  the 
inhabitants  of  the  rural  district  and  persons  not 
noble.  Justice  was  no  longer  administered 
according  to  the  old  statutes. 

Woe  to  him  who  offered  to  oppose  these 
regulations !  Some  leading  men  incurred 
the  suspicion  of  conspiring  together:  they 
were  forthwith  arrested,  sentenced,  and  be- 
headed. The  next  day  a  carpet  was  spread 
in  the  market-place,  and  the  corpses  laid 
upon  it,  with  a  lighted  torch  by  each:  in  that 
manner  they  were  left  lying  the  whole  day. 

Paul  III.  indeed  subsequently  granted  the 
inhabitants  some  relaxation  from  the  severity 
shown  them ;  but  they  were  not  raised  Irom 
their  state  of  abject  subjection,  nor  had  he 
any  thought  of  restoring  their  ancient  inde- 
pendence. 

On  the  contrary,  he  employed  the  same 
Bernardino  della  Barba  to  suppress  the  liber- 
ties of  another  of  his  towns. 

The  pope  having  raised  the  price  of  salt 
one-halt;  the  city  of  Perugia  thought  itself 
justified  by  its  privileges  in  opposing  the  ex- 
action. The  pope  excommunicated  the  citi- 
zens who  assembled  in  the  churches,  elected 
a  magistracy  of  "  twenty-five  defenders,"  and 
laid  the  keys  of  their  gates  before  a  crucifix 
in  the  market-place.  Both  sides  prepared  for 
action. 

The  insurrection  of  so  important  a  city 
against  the  pope's  .sway  excited  general  com- 
motion, and  would  have  led  to  remarkable 
consequences,  had  there  been  war  at  the  time 
in  Italy  :  but  as  every  thing  was  quiet,  no 
state  could  afford  them  the  aid  on  which  they 
counted. 

Though  Perugia  was  not  without  strength, 
it  was  far  from  being  able  to  cope  with  the 
army  led  against  it  by  Pier  Luigi  Farnese, 
consisting  of  ten  thousand  Italians  and  three 
thousand  Spaniards.  The  government  of  the 
five-and-twent.y,  too,  was  marked  rather  by 
violence  and  impetuosity  than  by  discretion 
and  care  for  the  protection  of  the  city.  They 
did  not  even  provide  money  for  the  payment 
of  the  troops  brought  to  their  aid  by  one  of 
the  Baglioni.  Their  only  ally,  Ascanio  Co- 
loiina,  who  resisted  the  same  impost,  con- 
tented himself  with  driving  oft'  cattle  from 
the  ecclesiastical  territories,  but  could  not  be 
prevailed  on  to  render  them  any  more  serious 
assistance. 


FINANCES. 


129 


Accordingly,  after  a  brief  enjoyment  of 
freedom,  the  city  was  forced  to  surrender 
again  on  the  3rd  of  June,  1540.  Delegates 
from  it  were  obliged  to  attend  at  the  pope's 
feet  in  the  portico  of  St.  Peter,  in  long  mourn- 
ing-robes, with  ropes  round  their  necks,  to  beg 
for  mercy. 

This  was  granted,  but  their  liberties  were 
already  destroyed ;  all  their  privileges  were 
repealed. 

Bernardino  dejla  Barba  arrived  in  Perugia, 
to  deal  with  it  as  he  had  done  with  Ancona. 
The  inhabitants  were  disarmed  ;  the  chains 
with  wliich  the  streets  had  been  closed  till 
now  were  taken  away  ;  and  the  houses  of  the 
five-and-twenty,  who  had  early  taken  flight, 
were  levelled  with  the  ground.  A  fort  was 
erected  on  the  site  where  the  Baglioni  had 
resided.  The  citizens  were  forced  to  pay  the 
expenses.  A  chief  magistrate  was  appointed, 
whose  title,  "  conservator  of  ecclesiastical 
obedience,"  was  sufficiently  indicative  of  the 
purpose  for  which  he  was  intended.  A  sub- 
sequent pope  restored  the  title  of  prior,  but 
without  any  renewal  of  the  old  privileges.* 

Ascania  Colonna,  too,  was  meanwhile  over- 
come by  the  same  papal  army,  and  driven  out 
of  his  strongholds. 

The  papal  power  was  incalculably  aug- 
mented in  the  states  of  the  church  by  so  many 
successful  achievements;  neither  towns  nor 
barons  dared  any  longer  stand  out  against  it. 
The  free  communes  had  submitted  one  by  one, 
and  the  popes  could  now  bend  all  the  resources 
of  the  country  to  their  own  ends. 

Let  us  contemplate  the  manner  in  which 
they  did  this. 

Finances. 

It  is  necessary  that  we  should,  in  the  first 
instance,  make  ourselves  acquainted  with  the 
papal  system  of  finance  ;  a  system  important 
not  only  as  regarded  that  state,  but  also  from 
the  example  it  furnished  to  all  Europe. 

It  has  been  observed,  that  the  system  of 
exchanges  of  the  middle  ages  owed  its  origin 
chiefly  to  the  nature  of  the  papal  revenues, 
which,  falling  due  all  over  the  world,  were  to 
be  remitted  from  all  parts  to  the  'curia  :  nor 
is  it  less  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  system  of 
public  debt,  with  which  we  are  all  now  en- 
compassed, and  which  exercises  so  paramount 
an  influence  over  all  tlie  springs  of  couimerce, 
was  first  systematically  developed  in  the  states 
of  the  Church. 

However  just  may  have  been  the  com- 
plaints raised  against  the  exactions  of  Rome 
during  the  fifteenth  century,  it  is  yet  manifest 


*Marioui,  Memorie  isloriche  civili  ed  ecclPsiasticVie 
delta  ciltik  de  Perugia  e  su  conlado,  Perui^ia,  ISOG,  gives 
an  aulheniic  and  detailed  account  of  these  occurrences, 
I.  p.  113— IGO.  lie  recurs  to  them  again,  for  instance,  iii. 
p.  634. 

17 


that  but  a  small  part  of  the  proceeds  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  pope.  Pius  II.  enjoyed 
the  general  obedience  of  Europe ;  and  yet,  for 
want  of  money,  he  was  once  compelled  to 
limit  himself  and  his  household  to  a  single 
meal  a  day.  He  was  obliged  to  borrow  the 
two  hundred  thousand  ducats  requisite  lor  the 
Turkish  war  he  had  in  contemplation.  Even 
those  petty  expedients  which  many  a  pope 
adopted,  such  as  obtaining  from  a  prince,  a 
bishop,  or  a  grand-master,  who  had  an  afliiir 
pending  at  the  papal  court,  a  present,  it  might 
be  of  a  gold  cup,  with  a  sum  of  ducats  in  it, 
or  of  costly  fur,  only  show  the  really  misera- 
ble state  of  their  economy.* 

Money  certainly  arrived  at  the  court  in  very 
considerable  sums,  though  not  so  exorbitant  as 
has  been  supposed  ;  but  there  it  was  dissipated 
among  a  thousand  hands.  It  was  absorbed  by 
the  offices  which  it  had  been  the  practice  for 
a  great  length  of  time  to  put  up  to  sale.  The 
income  of  these  was  chiefly  founded  on  gratu- 
ities, and  free  scope  was  given  to  the  exac- 
tions of  the  holders.  The  pope  received  no- 
thing but  the  price  paid  for  the  offices  on  the 
filling  up  of  vacancies. 

If  the  pope  was  disposed  to  engage  in  any 
costly  undertaking,  he  was  obliged  to  have 
recourse  to  extraordinary  means.  Jubilees 
and  indulgences  were  most  welcome  helps  ; 
through  such  instrumentality  the  docility  of 
the  faithful  afforded  him  a  clear  revenue. 
There  was  another  ready  means  at  his  com- 
mand. To  procure  important  sums  he  had 
but  to  create  new  offices,  and  sell  them  ;  a 
singular  kind  of  loan,  for  which  the  church 
paid  heavy  interest,  liquidated  by  the  increase 
of  its  own  dues.  This  practice  had  long 
prevailed.  According  to  a  register  of  the 
house  of  Chigi,  which  is  deserving  of  credit, 
there  were  in  the  year  1471  about  six  himdred 
and  fifty  vendible  offices,  the  income  of  which 
was  calculated  at  about  one  hundred  thousand 
scudi.f  These  were  almost  all  places  of  proc- 
tors, registrars,  abbreviators,  correctors,  no- 
taries, secretaries,  and  even  messengers  and 
porters;  the  increasingnumber  of  which  con- 
tinually augmented  the  cost  of  a  bull  or  a 
brief.  This  was  the  very  object  of  their  crea- 
tion ;  the  duties  attached  to  them  amounted 
to  little  or  nothing. 

It  will  readily  be  supposed  that  the  suc- 
ceeding popes,  deeply  involved  as  they  were 

*  Voight,  "  Voices  from  Rome  respecting  the  papal 
court  in  the  fifteenth  century,"  in  Fr.  von  Raumer's  His- 
torischen  Taschenbuch  for  the  yearlS33,  contains  numer- 
ous notices  on  this  subject.  Those  v/ho  have  access  to 
the  work  entitled  "  Schlrsien  vor  und  seit  dem  Jahre 
1740,"  will  find  there,  ii.  483,  a  satire  of  thf>  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, not  badly  executed,  on  this  monstrous  system  of  pre- 
sent-giving: "Passio  domini  papse  secundum  marcam 
auri  et  arsenti." 

+  Gli  uificii  piu  antichi.  MS.  Bibliotheca  Chigi,  No.  ii. 
50.  There  are  (iSl  offices  and  98,.340scudi,  "  fin  al  crea- 
tioni  di  Sisto  IV."  (up  to  the  creation  by  Sixtus  IV.)  So 
littlelrulh  is  there  in  the  assertion  of  Onuphrius  Panvin- 
ius,  that  Sexlus  IV.  was  the  first  who  sold  them :  p.  348. 


130        COURT  AND  STATE.    TIMES  OF  GREGORY  XIII.  AND  SIXTUS  V. 


in  European  politics,  eagerly  laid  hold  on  so 
convenient  a  means  oi'  filling  their  coffers. 
Sixtiis  IV.  availed  himself  in  this  matter  of  the 
advice  of  his  prothonotary  Sinolfo.  He  es- 
tablished whole  colleges  at  once,  the  posts  in 
which  he  sold  for  a  few  hundred  ducats.  They 
were  singular  titles  under  which  these  new 
establishments  figured ;  as,  for  instance,  a 
college  of  a  hundred  janissaries,  who  were 
nominated  for  one  hundred  thousand  ducats, 
and  their  salaries  charged  upon  the  proceeds 
of  the  bulls  and  annates.*  Sixtus  IV.  sold 
notairates,  prothonotariates,  proctorships  of 
the  camera,  and  every  office  besides,  and  car- 
ried the  system  to  such  lengths  that  he  has 
been  held  to  be  its  founder.  At  any  rate,  it 
was  first  fully  adopted  in  his  time.  Innocent 
VIII.,  whose  embarrassments  were  such  as  to 
make  him  even  pledge  the  papal  tiara,  found- 
ed a  new  college  of  twenty-six  secretaries  for 
sixty  thousand  scudi,  and  a  full  complement 
of  other  offices.  Alexander  VI.  named  eighty 
writers  of  briefs,  each  of  whom  had  to  pay 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  scudi.  Julius  II.  ad- 
ded a  hundred  writers  of  archives  upon  the 
same  terms. 

The  sources,  however,  from  which  all  these 
hundreds  of  functionaries  derived  their  sala- 
ries, were  not  inexhaustible.  We  have  seen 
how  almost  all  Christian  states  made  simulta- 
neous and  successful  attempts  to  limit  the  in- 
terference of  the  papal  court.  These  took 
place  precisely  at  the  juncture  when  the  popes 
beheld  themselves  constrained  to  great  ex- 
penditure by  the  magnitude  of  their  under- 
takings. 

It  was  fortunate  for  them  that  they  obtain- 
ed possession  of  a  territory  from  which,  mild 
as  was  their  administration  in  the  beginning, 
they  yet  drew  considerable  new  revenues.  It 
will  not  excite  surprise  that  they  dealt  with 
these  just  in  the  same  way  as  with  the  eccle- 
siastical funds. 

Julius  II.,  besides  the  assignment  of  the  an- 
nates, gave  the  above-mentioned  writers  a  lien 
also  on  the  dogana  and  the  treasury.  He  in- 
stituted a  college  of  a  hundred  and  forty-one 
presidents  of  the  Annona,  who  were  all  paid 
out  of  the  coffers  of  the  state.  In  this  way  he 
made  the  surplus  revenue  of  the  country  serve 
as  a  basis  for  contracting  loans.  The  grand 
distinguishing  character  of  this  pope  in  the 
eyes  of  foreign  powers  was  that  he  could  raise 
as  much  money  as  he  chose.  This  was,  in  a 
great  degree,  the  foundation  of  his  policy. 

The  wants  of  Leo  X.,  however,  were  much 
greater  than  those  of  Julius,  since  he  was  no 
loss  involved  in  war,  was  much  more  prodigal, 
and  more  dependent  on  the  support  of  his  re- 


•  There  were  also  Stradiotesand  Mamelukos,  who  wi^re 
afterwards  however  suppressed.  "Adistipulalores  sine 
quibus  nullae  possent  confici  tabulae."  Onuphrius  Pan- 
viniua.  According  lo  the  register  (Ufficii  Antichi,)  this 
creation  would  seem  to  have  brought  iaonly  40,000  ducats. 


lations.  "That  the  pope  should  ever  keep  by 
him  a  thousand  ducats  together,"  says  Fran- 
cesco Vettori  of  him,  "is  just  as  impossible  as 
that  a  stone  should  fly  up  into  the  air  itself." 
The  charge  has  been  laid  at  his  door,  that  he 
ran  through  the  wealth  of  three  pontificates; 
that  of  his  predecessor,  from  whom  he  inheri- 
ted a  considerable  treasure,  his  own,  and  that 
of  his  successor,  to  whom  he  bequeathed  a 
mass  of  debt.  He  was  not  content  with  sell- 
ing existing  offices;  his  great  nomination  of 
cardinals  brought  him  in  important  sums,  and 
nothing  could  exceed  the  boldness  with  which 
he  employed  the  established  expedient  of  cre- 
ating new  offices  simply  for  the  purpose  of 
sale.  Above  twelve  hundred  such  were  cre- 
ated by  him  alone.*  The  characteristic  of 
all  these  portionarii,  scndieri,  cavalier i  di 
San  Pietro,  and  whatever  else  they  were  cal- 
led, is,  that  having  paid  down  a  sum  of  money, 
they  drew  interest  on  it  for  life  under  those 
titles:  their  office  had  no  other  signification 
than  the  addition  of  some  small  prerogatives 
to  the  enjoyment  of  that  interest.  This  was, 
in  point  of  fact,  nothing  else  than  a  system  of 
borrowing  on  annuities.  Leo  derived  about 
nine  hundred  thousand  scudi  from  the  sale  of 
offices.  The  interest,  which  was  indeed  very 
high,  as  it  yearly  amounted  to  an  eighth  of 
the  capital,!  was  to  a  certain  extent  provided 
for  by  a  slight  advance  in  the  amount  of  eccle- 
siastical dues;  but  it  was  principally  furnished 
by  the  treasuries  of  the  recently  conquered 
provinces,  that  is,  by  the  surplus  funds  of  the 
ujunicipal  administrations,  paid  into  the  state 
coffers,  by  the  proceeds  of  the  alum  works,  the 
salt  trade,  and  the  dogana  at  Rome.  Leo 
swelled  the  number  of  offices  to  2150,  the 
yearly  income  of  which  was  calculated  at 
320,000  scudi,  and  was  a  burden  to  both  church 
and  state. 

However  intrinsically  censurable  was  this 
prodigality,  Leo  may  have  been  confirmed  in 
it  by  observing  that  for  the  time  it  produced 
beneficial  rather  than  pernicious  effects.  The 
singular  elevation  of  Rome  at  that  period  was 
ascribable  in  part  to  this  system  of  finance. 
There  was  no  place  in  the  world  where  a  man 
could  lay  out  his  capital  to  as  much  advantage. 
The  multitude  of  new  offices,  vacancies,  and 
re-appoiutmencs,  created  an  incessant  move- 
ment in  the  curia,  that  offered  every  one  an 
easy  opportunity  of  advancement. 

*  Sommario  di  la  relation  di  M.  Minio,  1520:  Non  ha 
contanti,  perche  6  liberal,  non  se  lenir  danari :  poi  li  Fi- 
orenlini,  (che)  sifanno  esonosoi  parenli,  non  li  lassa  mai 
aver  un  soldo:  e  diii  Fioi-entini  6  in  gran  odio  in  cone, 
perche  in  ogni  cosa  6  Fiorenlini.  [He  has  no  ready 
n:0upy,  because  he  is  liberal  and  cannot  keep  it.  Then 
the  Florentines,  who  are,  or  pretend  to  be,  his  relations, 
never  leave  him  a  penny.  And  the  said  Florentines  are 
in  great  odium  at  court,  because  they  thrust  themselves 
into  every  thing.] 

t  The  til2  poitionarii  di  ripa— aggiunli  al  collegio  dei 
presidenli— paid  286,200  ducals,  and  received  yearly 
38,816:  the  400  cavalieri  di  S.  Pietro  paid  400,000,  and 
had  in  return  50,610  ducats  yearly. 


FINANCES. 


131 


Another  consequence  was,  that  the  burden 
of  new  imposts  was  avoided.  Undoubtedly, 
the  states  of  the  church,  of  all  countries  in 
those  days,  and  Rome  of  all  cities,  paid  the 
lowest  taxes.  It  had  long  before  been  repre- 
sented to  the  Romans  that  every  other  city 
furnished  to  its  sovereign  heavy  loans  and 
vexatious  imposts,  whilst  their  lord,  the  pope, 
rather  made  them  rich.  A  secretary  of  Cle- 
ment VII.,  who  shortly  after  wrote  an  account 
of  the  conclave  in  which  hisniaster  was  elec- 
ted, expresses  his  wonder  that  the  Romans 
were  not  more  devoted  to  the  holy  see,  since 
they  suffered  so  little  from  taxation.  "From 
Terracina  to  Piacenza,"  he  exclaims,  "  the 
church  possesses  a  large  and  fair  part  of  Italy  : 
its  dominion  spreads  far  and  wide;  yet  so  many 
flourishing  lands  and  wealthy  cities,  which, 
under  any  other  government,  would  be  taxed 
to  maintain  great  armies,  pay  the  Roman  popes 
hardly  so  nmch  as  may  suffice  to  cover  the 
cost  of  their  own  administration."* 

But,  of  necessity,  this  system  could  only 
last  so  long  as  there  was  a  surplus  in  the  state 
coffers.  Leo  himself  did  not  succeed  in  fund- 
ing all  his  loans.  AluiseGaddi  had  advanced 
him  thirty-two  thousand,  Bernardo  Bini  two 
hundred  thousand  ducats :  Salviati,  Ridolfi, 
all  his  servants  and  retainers,  had  done  their 
utmost  to  procure  him  money,  relying  on  his 
liberality  and  his  youth  for  repayment  and 
brilliant  reward.  They  w^ere  every  one  of 
them  ruined  by  his  sudden  death. 

He  left  his  dominions  in  a  state  of  exhaus- 
tion, which  was  sorely  felt  by  his  successor. 

The  universal  hatred  the  unfortunate  Adrian 
drew  down  on  his  head,  arose  partly  from  his 
having  recourse,  in  his  urgent  need  of  money, 
to  the  imposition  of  a  direct  tax  of  half-a-dticat 
on  each  hearth. f  This  was  the  more  unpopu- 
lar, because  the  Romans  were  little  accustom- 
ed to  such  demands. 

But  Clement  VII.,  too,  could  not  avoid  new 
taxes,  at  least  indirect  ones.  Murmurs  were 
raised  against  cardinal  Armellino,  who  was 
regarded  as  their  inventor:  the  augmentation 
of  the  duties  levied  at  the  city  gates  on  arti- 
cles of  provision  caused  particular  dissatisfac- 
tion, but  the  people  were  obliged  to  bear  with 
it.|:     Things  were  come  to  such  a  pass,  that 


*  Vianesius  Albergatus,  Commentarii  rerum  sui  tempo- 
ris  (nolhing  more  than  the  descriplion  of  the  conclave.) 
Opuleiitissinii  populi  et  ditissiiuae  urbes,  quse  si  allerius 
ditioiiis  essenl,  suis  vectigalibus  vei  magnos  exercitus  al- 
ere  possenl,  Ro.nano  pontifici  vix  tantuni  tribuiuni  pen- 
duiit  quaiiiuin  in  praeiorum  magislratuunKiue  expensam 
sufficere  qunal.  In  the  report  ol' Zorzi,  1517,  the  united 
revenues  of  Perugia,  Spolelo,  the  March  and  Romagna, 
are  set  down,  after  a  calculation  made  by  Francesco  Ar- 
mellino, at  1-20,00J  ducats.  Of  this  one  half  fell  to  the 
papal  treasury.  "  Di  quel  somma  la  mili  6  per  terra  per 
pagar  i  legati  el  aliri  oliicii  e  altra  mitA  ha  il  papa."  IJn- 
fortunately  thfre  are  no  few  mistakes  in  the  copy  of  the 
report  given  by  Sanuto. 

+  Hieronyino  .Nfegro  a  Marc  Antonio  Micheli,  7  April, 
1523.    Letters  di  Piincipi,  i.  p.  114. 

jFoscari:  Relatione,  loitj.  Ei|iialchemurmuration  in 
Roma  eiiam  per  causa  del  Cardinal  Armellin,  qual  iruova 


it  would  be  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  mea- 
sures of  a  far  more  efficient  character.  Hith- 
erto loans  had  been  raised  under  the  form  of 
saleable  offices  :  Clement  VJI.  was  the  first 
who  approximated  to  the  system  of  direct 
loans,  on  the  important  occasion  of  his  taking 
up  arms  against  Charles  V.  in  the  year  1.526. 

When  offices  were  purchased,  the  capital 
was  lost  in  case  of  death,  unless  the  family  re- 
covered it  from  the  papal  treasury.  Clement 
VII.  now  took  up  a  capital  of  two  hundred 
thousand  ducats,  which  did  not  yield  so  high 
an  interest  as  the  places,  yet  paid  a  consider- 
able one,  viz.  ten  per  cent.,  passing,  moreover, 
by  inheritance.  This  is  a  '  monte  non  vaca- 
bile,'  the  'monte  della  fede.'  The  interest 
was  charged  on  the  dogana.  The  security  of 
the  monte  was  furthermore  greatly  increased 
by  the  provision  that  the  creditors  became  im- 
mediately admitted  to  a  share  in  the  direction 
of  the  dogana.  Nor  even  in  this  matter  were 
the  old  forms  quite  forgotten,  for  the  montes 
were  incorporated  into  a  college.  A  few  con- 
tractors paid  the  sum  required  to  the  camera, 
and  then  shared  it  out  among  the  meml^rs. 

Can  it  be  said  that  the  creditors  of  the  state, 
in  so  far  as  they  have  a  lien  on  the  general  in- 
come, on  the  product  of  the  labours  of  the  com- 
munity, acquire  tiiereby  an  indirect  share  in 
the  government  ?  Such,  at  least,  appeared  to 
be  the  case  in  Rome  at  that  day,  nor  would 
capitalists  lend  their  money  without  the  form 
of  such  a  participation. 

Now  this  was,  as  we  shall  see,  an  introduc- 
tion to  the  most  extensive  operations  of 
finance. 

Paul  III.  proceeded  in  them  with  modera- 
tion. He  contented  himself  with  diminishing 
the  interest  of  the  monte  established  by  Cle- 
ment; and  as  he  succeeded  in  making  new 
assignments  of  it,  he  augmented  the  capital 
nearly  one  half.  But  he  did  not  found  a  new 
monte.  The  creation  of  six  hundred  new 
places  sufficiently  compensated  him  for  this 
moderation.  The  measures  by  which  he  made 
himself  memorable  in  the  history  of  finance 
are  of  a  different  character. 

We  have  seen  what  commotions  were  ex- 
cited by  his  enhancement  of  the  price  of  salt. 
He  abandoned  this,  but  he  instituted  in  its 
stead,  and  with  the  express  promise  of  fore- 
going it,  the  direct  tax  of  the  sussidio.  It  is 
the  same  impost  which  was  levied  in  many  of 
the  southern  countries  in  those  days :  in  Spain 
under  the  name  o'i  servicio,  in  Naples  by  that 
o\' donative,  as  mensuale  in  Milan,  and  else- 
where under  diff'erent  titles.     In  the  states  of 


nuove  invention  per  trovar  danari  in  Roma,  e  far  metier 
nove  angarie,  e  fino  chi  porta  tordi  a  Roma  et  altre  cose  di 
manzar,  pagatanlo:  la  qual  angaria  importa  da  due.  "2,500. 
[There  is  somemurnmring  in  Rome  on  account  of  cardinal 
Armellino,  who  has  devised  new  schemes  for  getting 
money,  and  imposes  new  duties,  so  that  every  one,  even 
down  to  those  who  bi'ing  thrushes  and  other  eatables  to 
Rome,  pays  something ;  which  duty  brings  in  250U  ducats.] 


132 


•COURT  AND  STATE. 


the  church  it  was  originally  introduced  for 
three  years,  and  fixed  at  three  hundred  thou- 
sand scudi.  The  contribution  of  each  pro- 
vince was  determined  in  Rome  ;  the  provincial 
parliaments  assembled  to  divide  it  between 
the  several  towns;  the  towns  again  allotted  it 
between  themselves  and  the  surrounding  dis- 
tricts. Every  one  was  called  on  to  bear  his 
share  of  the  burden.  The  bull  expressly  en- 
joins that  all  secular  subjects  of  the  Roman 
church,  whatever  were  their  exemptions  or 
privileges,  marquises,  barons,  vassals,  and  pub- 
lic officers  not  excepted,  should  be  rated  to 
this  contribution.* 

But  payment  was  not  made  without  the  most 
urgent  remonstrances,  especially  when  the 
sussidio  was  seen  to  be  renewed  for  successive 
periods  of  years :  it  had  never,  indeed,  been 
repealed  ;  but  it  had  always  been  imperfectly 
collected. f  Bologna,  that  had  been  assessed 
at  thirty  thousand  scudi,  was  prudent  enough 
to  compound  for  perpetual  freedom  from  the 
tax  on  paying  down  a  sum  of  ready  money. 
Parma  and  Piacenza  were  alienated,  and  paid 
the  subsidy  no  longer.  Fano  affords  us  an 
example  Jiow  the  other  towns  fared.  That 
town  long  witheld  payment,  on  the  pretext 
that  it  was  assessed  at  too  higli  a  rate.  There- 
upon Paul  III.  felt  himself  obliged,  for  once, 
to  remit  the  inhabitants  all  arrears,  but  on 
condition  that  they  should  expend  the  full 
amount  on  the  repair  of  their  walls.  Subse- 
quently, too,  a  third  of  their  contingent  was 
always  allowed  to  be  set  oft'  on  the  same  ac- 
count. Nevertheless,  the  descendants  of  these 
men  have  continually  complained  of  being  ex- 
orbitantly rated.  The  rural  districts,  too, 
were  incessant  in  their  outcries  against  the 
share  of  the  burden  imposed  on  them  by  the 
towns;  they  made  attempts  to  withdraw  from 
the  control  of  the  town  council  ;  and,  as  the 
latter  struggled  to  maintain  its  authority,  they 
would  gladly  have  placed  themselves  under 
the  command  of  the  duke  of  Urbino.  It  would 
carry  us  too  far,  were  we  to  continue  the  in- 
vestigation of  these  petty  interests.  It  is 
enough  if  we  arrive  at  an  explanation  of  the 
fact,  that  not  much  more  than  the  half  of  the 
subsidy  was  ever  realized.]:  In  the  year  1560, 
the  whole  proceeds  were  valued  at  165,000 
scudi. 


*  Bullar.  In  the  year  1537,  he  declares  to  the  French 
ambassador,"  ladebilili(5  du  revenu  de  Teglise  (and  there- 
by of  the  stale)  donl  elle  n'avoit  point  iiiaintenant  40m- 
escus  de  rente  par  an  de  quoi  elle  puisse  faire  estat."  In 
Ribier,  i.  69.  [The  scantiness  of  the  revenues  of  the 
church,  which  had  not  then  40,000  crowns  a  year  which  it 
could  dispose  of.] 

+  BuU:  Decens  esse  censemus:  5  Sept.  1543.  Bull. 
Cocqu.  iv.  i.  225. 

t  Bull  of  Paul  IV.  Cupientes  indemnitati :  15  April, 
1559.  Bullar.  Cocq.  iv.  i.  358.  Exactio,  causantibus  di- 
versis  exceptionibus,  libeitatibus,  el  iiiiniunitatibus  a  so- 
lulione  ipslus  subsidii  diversis  cominunitatibiis  el  univer- 
sitalibus  el  particularibus  personis,  necnon  civilatibus, 
lerris,  oppidis,  el  locis  nosiri  status  ecclesiastici  concessis, 
el  factisdiversarum  portionuni  ejusdem  subsidii  donalion- 
jbus,  vix  ad  dimidum  suminae  irecemorum  millium  scuio- 


Be  this  as  it  may,  this  pope  had  greatly 
augmented  the  revenues  of  the  ecclesiastical 
states.  Under  Julius  II.  they  were  estimated 
at  350,000  scudi;  under  Leo,  at  420,000;  un- 
der Clement  VII.,  in  the  year  1526,  at  500,- 
000.  According  to  an  authentic  table  procur- 
ed by  the  Venetian  ambassador,  Dandolo, 
from  the  Roman  treasury,  they  amounted  im- 
mediately after  the  death  of  Paul  III.  to  706,- 
473  scudi. 

His  successors,  for  all  that,  did  not  find 
themselves  in  much  the  better  plight.  Julius 
III.  complains  in  one  of  his  instructions,  that  his 
predecessor  had  alienated  the  whole  revenues 
of  the  see  (with  the  exception,  doubtless,  of 
the  sussidio,  which  could  not  be  so  dealt  with, 
since  it  was  always,  nominally  at  least,  im- 
posed but  for  three  years),  and  that  he  had 
moreover  left  behind  him  a  floating  debt  of 
500,000  scudi.* 

Julius  III.  by  embarking,  in  spite  of  this,  in 
his  war  against  the  French  and  the  Farnesi, 
necessarily  involved  himself  in  the  greatest 
embarrassments.  Although  the  imperialists 
furnished  him  with  subsidies  by  no  means 
inconsiderable  for  those  times,  his  briefs  are 
yet  filled  with  complaints:  "He  had  counted 
on  receiving  100,000  scudi  in  Ancona,  but 
had  not  taken  100,000  bajocchi :  instead  of 
120,000  scudi  from  Bologna,  he  had  gotten 
only  50,000.  The  promises  of  Genoese  and 
Lucchese  money-changers  were  recalled  im- 
mediately after  they  were  given ;  whoever 
possessed  a  carline,  kept  it  back,  and  would 
not  risk  it."t 

The  adoption  of  more  effectual  measures 
was  imperiously  demanded,  if  the  pope  would 
keep  his  army  together:  he  resolved,  there- 
fore, to  found  a  new  monte  ;  and  the  manner 
in  which  he  did  this  is  the  same  as  that  which 
has  almost  ever  since  been  pursued. 

He  appointed  a  new  tax.  He  laid  two  car- 
lines  on  the  rubbio  of  flour,  which  brought 
him  in,  clear  of  all  deductions,  30,0U0  scudi : 
this  sum  he  appropriated  to  the  payment  of 
interest  on  a  capital  he  forthwith  raised  :  thus 
originated  the  "  monte  della  farina."  We 
observe  the  close  analogy  between  this  and 
former  financial  operations.  On  previous  oc- 
casions ecclesiastical  offices,  payable  out  of 
the  augmenting  revenues  of  the  curia,  had 
been  created,  solely  that  they  might  be  sold 
to  furnish  the  sums  of  which  there  was  present 
need :  in  this  instance  the  revenues  of  the  state 
were  increased  by  a  new  tax,  which,  however, 


rum  hujusmodi  ascendil.  [In  consequence  of  various  ex- 
ceptions, liberties,  and  immunities  from  the  payment  of 
the  subsidy  granted  to  divers  communities,  universities, 
and  individuals,  moreover  to  cities,  lands,  towns,  and 
places  in  our  ecclesiastical  slate,  and  donations  or  remis- 
sions being  made  of  divers  portions  of  the  said  subsidy, 
the  net  proceeds  hardly  amount  to  half  the  gross  sum  of 
three  hundred  thousand  crowns.] 

*  Inslruttione  per  voi  Monsignore  d'Imola:  ultimo  di 
Marzo,  1.551.    Informationi  Poliliche,  torn.  xii. 
+  II  papa  a  Giovamb.  di  Monte,  3  April,  1552. 


FINANCES. 


133 


was  employed  merely  as  interest  upon  a  large 
capital  which  there  was  no  other  means  of 
raising.  All  subsequent  popes  continued  this 
practice.  Sometimes  these  "monti"  were 
like  Clement's,  "non  vacabili ;"  at  other  times 
they  were  "vacabili;"  i.  e.  the  payment  of 
the  interest  ceased  upon  the  death  of  the  cre- 
ditor. In  the  latter  case  the  per-centage  was 
higher,  and  the  collegiate  character  of  the 
montists  brought  the  system  still  nearer  to 
that  of  saleable  offices.  Paul  IV.  established 
the  "  monte  novennale  de'  frati,"  upon  a  tax 
he  imposed  on  the  regular  monastic  orders. 
Pius  IV.  laid  a  quatrino  on  every  pound  of 
meat,  and  immediately  applied  the  proceeds 
to  the  foundation  of  the  "  monte  pio,"  which 
brought  him  in  170,000  scudi.  Pius  V.  laid 
another  quatrino  on  the  pound  of  meat,  and 
based  upon  it  the  "monte  lega." 

If  we  keep  the  development  of  this  system 
in  view,  we  shall  be  very  strongly  possessed 
with  the  general  importance  of  the  territorial 
dominions  of  the  church.  What  were  the 
necessities  that  compelled  the  popes  to  have 
recourse  to  those  singular  kinds  of  loan,  which 
entailed  such  an  immediate  burden  on  the 
resources  of  their  country"?  They  were,  for 
the  most  part,  the  necessities  of  Catholicism. 
As  the  time  of  purely  political  tendencies  was 
gone  by,  there  were  none  other  which  the 
popes  could  aim  at  carrying  out  but  those  of 
an  ecclesiastical  nature.  The  support  of  the 
catholic  powers  in  their  struggle  against  the 
Protestants,  and  in  their  enterprizes  against 
the  Turks,  was  now  almost  always  the  imme- 
diate inducement  to  financial  operations.  The 
monte  founded  by  Pius  V.  was  called  "  monte 
lega,"  because  the  capital  derived  from  it  was 
applied  to  the  Turkish  war,  which  that  pope 
undertook  in  league  with  Spain  and  Venice. 
This  became  still  more  and  more  the  case. 
Every  European  commotion  affected  the  states 
of  the  church  in  this  manner.  On  almost 
every  occasion  they  were  constrained  to  con- 
tribute through  some  new  exaction  to  the  de- 
fence of  the  ecclesiastical  interests.  For  this 
reason  was  the  possession  of  these  temporal 
states  of  such  moment  as  regarded  the  eccle- 
siastical position  of  the  popes. 

For  they  were  not  content  with  the  monti 
alone,  but  kept  up  the  old  contrivances  also. 
Theycontinually  created  new  places,  or  caval- 
ierate  with  special  privileges ;  whether  it  was 
that  the  salaries  were  covered  as  before  by 
new  taxes,  or  that  the  fall  in  the  value  of  gold, 
which  then  began  to  be  very  obvious,  caused 
larger  amounts  to  flow  into  the  treasury.* 

Hence  it  happened,  that  the  revenues  of 
the  popes,  after  the  short  depression  under 
Paul  IV.,  occasioned  by  his  wars,  continued 

*  Thus,  about  I08O,  many  "luoghi  di  monte"  stood  at 
100  instead  of  130  :  the  interest  of  the  "  vacabili  "  was  de- 
pressed from  1-1  to  9,  whereby  a  great  saving  was  effected 
on  the  whole. 


constantly  to  rise.  Even  under  Paul  they 
increased  again  to  700,000  scudi ;  under  Pius 
they  were  reckoned  at  898,482  scudi.  Paul 
Tiepolo  expresses  his  astonishment  at  finding 
them,  after  an  absence  of  nine  years,  augment- 
ed in  the  year  1576  by  200,000  scudi,  and 
amounting  to  1,100,000.  It  was  a  curious 
fact,  however,  though  inevitable  under  the 
circumstances  of  the  case,  that  the  popes  did 
not  receive  more  money  in  consequence  of 
this  rise  in  their  revenues.  The  alienations 
kept  pace  with  the  taxes.  It  is  calculated 
that  Julius  III.  alienated  54,000  scudi  of  in- 
come, Paul  IV.  45,960,  and  Pius  IV.,  who 
made  the  most  of  everything,  as  much  as 
182,550.  Pius  IV.  also  increased  the  number 
of  saleable  offices  to  three  thousand  five  hun- 
dred, exclusively,  of  course,  of  the  Monti, 
which  were  not  counted  as  belonging  to  the 
offices.*  The  amount  of  alienated  revenue 
reached  450,000  scudi;  it  was  continually  on 
the  increase ;  in  the  year  1576  it  had  grown 
to  530,000  scudi.  Great  as  had  been  the  in- 
crease of  income,  this  swallowed  up  nearly 
the  halfofit.t 

The  tables  of  the  papal  revenues  about  this 
time  present  a  remarkable  aspect.  After 
naming  the  sum  which  the  farmers  of  the 
revenue  had  contracted  to  pay  (the  contracts 
were  generally  for  periods  of  nine  years),  they 
also  slate  what  portion  of  those  sums  was 
alienated.  The  dogana  of  Rome,  for  instance, 
yielded  in  1576  and  the  following  years  the 
considerable  sum  of  133,000  scudi ;  of  this, 
however,  111,170  scudi  were  assigned;  other 
deductions  occurred;  and,  finally,  the  camera 
received  only  13,000  scudi.  Some  taxes  upon 
corn,  meat,  and  wine,  were  wholly  swallowed 
up  by  the  monti.  From  several  provincial 
chests,  called  treasuries,  which  likewise  had 
to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  provinces,— for 
instance,  from  the  March  and  from  Camerino, 
— not  a  bajocco  reached  the  papal  camera; 
and  yet  the  sussidio  was  often  applied  to  the 
same  use.  Nay,  such  heavy  incumbrances 
were  laid  on  the  alum-works  of  Tolfa,  which 
had  formerly  been  reckoned  a  superior  source 
of  revenue,  that  there  was  actually  a  deficit 
of2000scudi.t 

The  pope's  personal  expenses  and  the  main- 
tenance of  his  court,  were  charged  principally 
upon  the  dataria,  which  had  two  several 
sources  of  income.  The  one  was  more  pecu- 
liarly ecclesiastical,  consisting  of  compositions 

*  Lista  degli  ufficii  della  corte  Romana,  1560;  Bibl. 
Chigi,  N.  ii.  50.  Many  other  separate  lists  of  different 
years.  ,       ,     . 

+  Tiepolo  reckons,  that  besides  100,000  scudi  for  salaries, 
270,000  were  spent  on  fortifications  and  nunciatures,  so 
that  the  pope  still  had  200,000  left.  He  calculates,  that 
under  the  pretext  of  the  necessities  of  the  Turliish  war 
the  popes  had  received  1,800,000  scudi,  and  had  only  ex- 
pended  340,000  in  that  way.  . 

t  E.  G.  Entrata  della  reverenda  camera  apostolica 
sotto  il  pontificato  di  N,  S.  Gregoria  XIII.  fala  ael  anuo 
1570.    MS.  Gothana,  No.  219. 


134 


COURT  AND  STATE. 


[a.  d.  1572-85, 


and  fixed  fines,  for  which  the  datario  permit- 
ted various  canonical  irregularities  on  the 
translation  from  one  benefice  to  another. 
These  profits  had  been  very  much  contracted 
by  the  rigorous  measures  of  Paul  IV.,  but  they 
gradually  increased  again.  The  other  was 
of  a  more  secular  character,  growing  out  of 
the  appointments  to  vacant  "  Cavalierate," 
saleable  offices  and  places  in  the  "monti  va- 
cabili,"  and  augmenting  in  proportion  as  the 
number  of  these  increased.*  About  the  year 
1570,  however,  both  these  sources  of  revenue 
together  were  no  more  than  sufficient  barely 
to  meet  the  daily  expenses  of  the  household. 
The  course  of  things  had  placed  the  states 
of  the  church  in  a  wholly  altered  position. 
Whereas  they  had  formerly  boasted  of  being 
the  least  burdened  of  all  those  of  Italy,  they 
were  now  as  badly  off  as  the  rest,  nay  worse;! 
and  the  inhabitants  were  loud  in  their  con)- 
plaints.  But  little  remained  of  the  ancient 
municipal  liberties;  the  administration  was 
become  moi-e  and  more  systematic  and  uniform. 
In  former  times  the  rights  of  government  had 
frequently  been  conceded  to  favoured  cardi- 
nals and  prelates,  who  made  no  inconsiderable 
profit  of  them.  The  pope's  countrymen,  the 
Florentines  under  the  Medici,  the  Neapolitans 
under  Paul  IV.,  the  Milanese  under  Pius  IV., 
had  then  monopolized  the  best  places.  Pius 
V.  put  an  end  to  this  system.  Those  favour- 
ites had  never  personally  conducted  the  gov- 
ernments committed  to  them,  but  had  always 
left  them  in  the  hands  of  a  doctor  of  laws";| 
Pius  V.  himself  appointed  this  doctor,  and 
appropriated  to  the  camera  the  advantages 
that  had  before  accrued  to  the  favourites. 
Every  tiling  proceeded  with  more  order  and 
quiet.  In  earlier  times  a  militia  had  been 
established  in  the  coimtry,  and  16,000  men 
enrolled:  Pius  IV.  had  maintained  a  corps  of 
light  cavalry  :  Pius  V.  abolislied  both  the  one 
and  the  otiier ;  he  disbanded  the  cavalry,  and 
suffered  the  militia  to  fall  into  disuse.     His 


♦  Accordin?  to  Moceniso,  15G0,  the  dataria  had  formprly 
yielded  between  10,000  and  14,0110  ducats  per  month.  Un- 
der Paul  IV.  the  proceeds  fell  to  3000  or  4000  ducats. 

f  Paulo  Tiepolo,  Rplation-^  di  Roiria  in  tempo  di  PioIV. 
e  Pio  v.,  says  at  that  lime  :~L'impositio.'ie  alio  stato  eccle- 
siasUco  e  gravezza  quasi  insopporlabile  per  essere  per 
diversi  altri  conli  molto  asgravato ;  .  .  .  .  d'alienare, 
piu  enlrale  della  chiese  noaVi  6  piuordine,  perche  quasi 
tutle  I'entrate  eerie  si  Irovanogia alienate esopra  I'incer- 
to  non  si  trovaria  chi  desse  danari."  [The  incumbrances 
on  the  ecclesiastical  states  are  a  burden  almost  insupport- 
able, being  asgravated  from  various  other  causes;  .  .  .  . 
there  is  no  possibility  of  making  any  further  alienation  of 
church  revenues  ;  for  almost  all  the  certain  revenues  are 
already  alienated,  and  no  one  would  advance  money  upon 
an  uncertainty.] 

t  Tiepolo.  Ibid.  Qualche  governn  o  legatione  rispon- 
devasino  a  Ire,  qualroo  forsesettemilie  piuscudi  I'anno. 
E  qu  isi  tulti  allegramenle  ricevendo  il  denaro  si  scarica- 
vanodel  peso  del  governo  col  mellere  un  doilore  in  luogo 
loro.  [Each  government,  or  lesation,  was  wortti  three, 
four,  or,  perhaps,  seven  thousand  scudi,  and  more,  annu- 
ally. In  almost  every  instance  the  persons  appointed 
eagerly  received  the  money,  relieved  themselves  uf  the 
burden  of  the  government,  deputing  a  doctor  in  their 
etead.] 


whole  armed  force  did  not  amount  to  500 
men  ;  350  of  whom,  chiefly  Swiss,  were  sta- 
tioned in  Rome.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  ne- 
cessity of  defending  the  coasts  against  the 
assaults  of  the  Turks,  the  people  would  have 
quite  forgotten  the  use  of  arms.  That  war- 
like population  seemed  disposed  to  become 
wholly  peaceful.  The  popes  wished  to  rule 
their  country  like  a  great  domain,  the  rents 
of  which  should  in  part  be  applied  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  their  own  households,  but  the 
main  portion  be  devoted  to  the  exigencies  of 
the  church. 

We  shall  see  that  in  this  design  they  again 
encountered  great  difficulties. 

The    Times   of  Gregory   XIII.   and    Six- 
tus  V. 

GREGORY  XIII. 

Gregory  XIII. — Hugo  Buoncompagno  of 
Bologna — who  had  risen  to  eminence  as  a 
jurist  and  in  the  civil  service,  was  of  a  cheer- 
ful and  jovial  nature.  He  had  a  son,  who 
was  born  to  him  before  indeed  he  had  as- 
sumed the  clerical  character,  but  not  in  wed- 
lock. Though  he  afterwards  led  a  regular 
life,  he  was  at  no  time  over-scrupulous,  and 
to  a  certain  kind  of  sanctimony  he  rather  ma- 
nifested his  dislike.  He  seemed  disposed  to 
follow  the  example  of  Pius  IV.,  whose  minis- 
ters he  forthwith  recalled,  rather  than  that  of 
his  immediate  predecessor.*  But  in  this  pope 
was  exemplified  the  constraining  influence  of 
public  opinion.  A  hundred  years  earlier  he 
would  have  reigned  at  most  like  an  Innocent 
VIII. ;  now,  on  the  contrary,  a  man,  even 
such  as  he,  could  no  longer  resist  the  severe 
ecclesiastical  spirit  of  the  times. 

There  was  a  party  at  court  that  had  made 
it  its  primary  business  to  maintain  and  defend 
that  spirit.  It  consisted  of  the  Jesuits,  the 
theatines,  and  their  friends.  We  meet  with 
tlie  names  of  Monsignori  Frumento  and  Cor- 
niglia,  the  fearless  preacher  Francis  Toledo, 
and  the  datary  Contarell.  They  obtained 
command  over  the  pope  the  more  readily,  as 
they  acted  in  combination.  They  represent- 
ed to  him,  that  the  consideration  Pius  V.  had 
enjoyed  was  owing  principally  to  his  personal 
conduct.  In  all  the  letters  they  read  to  him, 
nothing  was  talked  of  but  the  memory  of  the 
holy  life  of  the  departed,  anJ  the  fame  of  his 
reforms  and  his  virtues.  They  suppressed 
every  expression  of  an  opposite  character. 
They  gave  the  ambition  of  Gregory  XIII.  a 
thoroughly  ecclesiastical  colouring.f 


*  It  was  expected  his  reign  would  be  different  from 
that  of  his  predecessor:  "  mitioi'i  quadam  hominumque 
captui  accommodatiori  ratione"  [of  a  jiiilder  and  more 
conciliating  character.]  Coairaentarii  de  rebus  Gregorii 
Xni.     (MS.  Bibl.  Alb.) 

t  Relatione  della  corte  di  Roma  a  tempo  di  Gregorio 
XIII.  (Bibl.  Corsini,  7U.)20ih  F^br.  1574,  is  very  iusiruc- 


A.  D.  1572-59.] 


GREGORY  XIII. 


135 


He  had  it  much  at  heart  to  promote  his  son, 
and  to  elevate  him  to  princely  rank.  But 
upon  the  very  first  mark  of  favour  he  showed 
him  (he  named  him  castellan  of  St.  Angelo, 
and  gonfaloniere  of  the  church,)  the  rigorous 
friends  alarmed  his  conscience.  Durhig  the 
jubilee  of  1575  they  would  not  tolerate  Gia- 
como's  presence  in  Rome  :  it  was  not  till  it 
was  over,  they  consented  to  his  return,  and 
then  only  because  the  aspiring  young  man's 
health  suffered  from  his  vexation.  (Gregory 
then  caused  him  to  marry,  and  effected  his 
nomination  by  the  Venetians  as  one  of  their 
nobili,*  and  by  the  king- of  Spain  as  general 
of  his  hoinmcs  cfarmes.  But  he  continued  to 
keep  him  sedulously  under  restraint.  When 
the  young  man  once  went  so  far  as  to  liberate 
one  of  his  university  friends  from  arrest,  the 
pope  again  banished  liim,  and  threatened  to 
deprive  him  of  all  his  offices.  The  young 
wife's  prostrate  entreaties  hindered  this,  but 
all  loftier  hopes  were  gone  for  many  a  day.f 
It  was  not  till  the  pope's  last  years  that  Gia- 
como  recovered  his  influence  over  his  father, 
and  not  even  then  in  important  matters  of 
state,  or  unrestrictedly.|  When  his  interces- 
sion was  solicited  by  any  one,  he  shrugged 
his  shoulders. 

If  this  was  the  case  with  the  pope's  son, 
how  much  less  might  his  other  relations  ven- 
ture to  hope  for  irregular  favours  or  for  a 
share  of  authority!  Gregory  admitted  two  of 
his  nephews  to  the  cardinalate  ;  even  Pius  V. 
had  done  something  similar  ;  but  a  third,  who 
thought  to  assume  the  same  rank,  he  refused 
to  admit  to  an  audience,  and  compelled  him 
to  begone  within  two  days.  The  pope's  bro- 
ther had  set  out  to  enjoy  a  sight  of  the  good 


live  on  this  head.  Of  the  pope's  disposition,  the  author 
says: — "  Non  6  statoscnjpuloso  n6  dissolute  niai,  e  leson 
djspiaciule  la  cose  inal  f^tte."  [He  has  never  been 
eciupulous  or  dissolute,  and  he  looks  with  displeasure  on 
misconduct.] 

*  They  had  the  difficult  task  on  this  occasion  of  declar- 
ing his  biith.  It  has  been  praised  as  an  instance  of  Ve- 
netian address  that  they  called  him  Signor  Giacoiiio  Bon- 
compagno,  closely  connected  with  his  holiness.  This 
was  really  the  expedient  of  Cardinal  Conio.  When  the 
matter  was  under  discussion,  the  ambassador  aslied  the 
minister,  whether  Giacoirio  was  to  be  designated  as  the 
son  of  his  holiness.  "S.  Ssri-i'  lUi'i^-  proniamente  dopo 
averscusato  con  molte  parole  il  fatto  di  S.  Si.  che  prima 
che  avesse  alcuno  ordine  ecclesiastico,  generasse  questo 
figlivolo,  disse  :  che  si  poirebbe  nominarlo  peril  Sr'  Jaco- 
nio  Boacompagno  Bologncse,  streltamenle  congiunto  con 
Sua  Saniti."  Dispaccio  Paolo  Tiepolo,  3  Rlarzo,  1574. 
[His  excellency,  immediately  after  making  profuse  ex- 
cuses for  his  holiness,  who  had  begotten  that  son  before 
he  had  taken  any  ecclesiastical  orders,  said  that  he  might 
be  called  Sr.  Jacomo  Boncompagno  of  Bologna,  closely 
connected  with  his  holiness.] 

f  Antonio  Tiepolo  :  Dispacci  Agosto  Sett.  1576.  In  the 
year  1583  (29th  of  March)  il  is  said  in  one  of  these  dis- 
patches, "  II  Sr.  Gia<;omo  non  si  lascia  intromettere  in 
cosa  di  .slato.  '  [S^.  Giacomo  is  not  allowed  to  interfere 
in  matters  of  stale.] 

t  It  is  to  this  last  period  only  of  Gregory's  life  that  judg- 
ment is  applicable,  which  has  taken  such  firm  root,  and 
which  I  find,  for  instance,  in  the  Memoires  de  Richelieu  : 
"Prince  doux  elbenin  fut  nieilleur  homme  que  bon 
pope."  [A  mild  and  beneticent  prince,  he  was  better  as 
a  man  than  as  a  pope.]  Il  will  be  seen  in  how  limited  a 
degree  this  is  true. 


fortune  that  had  befallen  his  house :  he  had 
already  reached  Orvietto,  when  he  was  met 
by  a  messenger  from  the  court,  ordering  him 
to  turn  back.  Tears  started  into  the  old  man's 
eyes,  and  he  could  not  forego  advancing  a 
little  further  on  his  way  to  Rome  :  upon  a  se- 
cond order,  however,  he  retraced  his  steps  to 
Bologna.* 

In  short,  this  pope  cannot  be  charged  with 
nepotism,  or  undue  favouring  of  his  family. 
When  a  newly-appointed  cardinal  told  him 
that  he  would  be  grateful  to  the  house,  and 
the  nephews  of  his  holiness,  he  struck  the 
arms  of  his  chair  with  both  hands,  exclaiming, 
"  You  must  be  grateful  to  God,  and  to  the 
holy  see  !" 

So  deeply  was  he  already  penetrated  by 
the  religious  spirit  of  the  times.  He  sought 
not  only  to  equal,  but  even  to  surpass  Pius  V. 
in  evidences  of  piety.f  In  the  first  years  of 
his  pontificate,  he  himself  read  mass  thrice 
every  week,  and  never  omitted  to  do  so  on 
Sunday.  His  life  and  deportment  were  not 
only  blameless,  but  edifying. 

No  pope  ever  discharged  certain  duties  of 
his  office  more  faithfully  than  Gregory.  He 
kept  a  list  of  men  of  all  countries  who  were 
fit  for  the  episcopal  dignity  :  he  proved  him- 
self well  informed  respecting  every  one  pro- 
posed to  him,  and  sought  to  conduct  the  nomi- 
nations to  those  important  offices  with  the  ut- 
most care. 

Above  all,  he  devoted  his  earnest  endea- 
vours to  promote  a  strict  system  of  ecclesias- 
tical education.  He  aided  the  progress  of  the 
Jesuit  colleges  with  extraordinary  liberality. 
He  made  considerable  presents  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  professed  members  in  Rome  ;  and 
purchased  houses,  closed  up  streets,  and  al- 
lotted revenues  for  the  purpose  of  giving  the 
whole  college  the  form  it  wears  lo  this  day. 
It  was  calculated  to  contain  twenty  lecture 
rooms,  and  three  hundred  and  sixty  cells  for 
students;  it  was  called,  "  The  Seminary  of 
all  Nations."  Upon  its  first  foundation,  in 
order  to  signify  its  purpose  of  embracing  the 
whole  world  within  its  scope,  twenty-five 
speeches  were  delivered,  in  as  many  different 
languages,  each  immediately  accompanied  by 
a  Latin  translation.]:  The  Collegium  Ger- 
manicum,  which  was  founded  earlier,  had  fal- 
len into  a  critical  condition,  from  the  failure 
of  its  funds;  the  pope  granted  it  not  only  the 
San  Apollinare  palace,  and  the  revenues  of 

*  The  good  man  complained  that  his  brother's  ad- 
vancement to  the  papacy  was  more 'hurtful  than  advan- 
tageous lo  himself:  since  it  obliged  him  lo  greater  expen- 
ses than  were  covered  by  the  allowance  made  him  by 
Gregory. 

t  Seconda  relatione  dell  ambasciatore  di  Roma  Clmo- 
M.  Paolo  Tiepolo  Cavre-,  3Maggio,  1575.  Nella  religione 
ha  tolto  non  solo  d'imitar,  ma  ancora  d'avanzar  Piu  V.: 
dice  per  I'ordinario  almenotre  voile  messa  alia  seltimana. 
Ha  avuto  particolar  cura  delli  chiese,  faciendole  non  solo 
con  fabriche  et  altri  modi  ornar,  ma  ancora  colla  assislen- 
tia  e  frequentia  di  preti  accrescer  nel  culto  divino. 

t  Dispaccio,  Donate,  13  Genu.  1582. 


136 


COURT  AND  STATE. 


[a.  d.  1572-85. 


San  Stefano  on  Monte  Celio,  but  10,000  scu- 
di  besides,  from  the  apostolic  treasury.  Gre- 
gory may  be  regarded  as  the  proper  founder 
of  this  institution,  from  which,  since  that  day, 
a  vast  number  of  champions  of  Catholicism 
have  year  by  year  been  sent  into  Germany. 
He  also  founded  an  English  college  in  Rome, 
and  found  means  to  endow  it.  He  aided  the 
colleges  in  Vienna  and  Gratz  out  of  his  privy 
purse  ;  and  there  was  probably  not  a  Jesuit 
school  in  the  world  that  had  not  cause  in  some 
way  or  other  to  applaud  his  liberality.  By 
the  advice  of  the  bishop  of  Sitia  he  founded  a 
Greek  college  likewise,  in  which  young  peo- 
ple from  thirteen  to  sixteen  years  of  age  were 
received,  not  merely  from  lands  already  under 
Christian  rule,  such  as  Corfu  and  Candia,  but 
also  from  Constantinople,  the  Morea,  and  Sa- 
lon ichi.  They  had  Greek  teachers,  wore  the 
caftan  and  the  Venetian  baret ;  they  were  to 
be  kept  thoroughly  Greek,  and  the  thought 
was  always  to  be  impressed  upon  them  that 
they  were  to  return  to  their  native  land. 
Their  own  ritual  was  to  be  retained  as  well 
as  their  language ;  and  the  instruction  to  be 
given  them  was  modelled  on  the  principles 
laid  down  by  the  council,  in  which  the  Greek 
and  Latin  churches  had  been  united.* 

Gregory's  reform  of  the  calendar  was  an- 
other instance  of  his  comprehensive  care  for 
the  whole  catholic  world.  The  measure  had 
been  desired  by  the  council  of  Trent,  and  it 
was  rendered  unavoidable  by  the  removal  of 
the  high  festivals  of  the  church  from  the  con- 
nexion with  seasons  of  the  year  imposed  upon 
them  by  decrees  of  councils.  All  catholic  na- 
tions took  part  in  this  reform.  Luigi  Lilio,  a 
Calabrian,  in  other  respects  little  known, 
won  for  himself  immortal  memory  by  his  sug- 
gestion of  the  easiest  method  of  overcoming 
the  difficulty.  His  proposal  was  communicat- 
ed to  every  university,  among  others  to  those 
of  Salamanca  and  Alcala,  and  opinions  were 
collected  from  every  quarter.  A  commission 
in  Rome,  the  most  active  and  best-informed 
member  of  which  was  the  German  Clavius.f 
then  subjected  the  plan  to  a  fresh  investiga- 
tion, and  passed  the  final  decision.  The 
learned  cardinal  Sirleto  had  the  greatest  in- 
fluence over  the  whole  course  of  the  proceed- 
ings. A  certain  degree  of  mystery  was  ob- 
served ;  the  new  calendar  was  shown  to  no 
one,  not  even  to  the  ambassadors,  until  it  had 
been  approved  by  the  several  courts.^  There- 
upon it  was  solemnly  published  by  Gregory. 

*  Dispaccio  Antonio  Tiepolo,  IS  Marzo,  1577.  "Accio 
che  fauo  magsioii  possano  attelinnatamenie  e  con  la  veri- 
ty imparata  dar  a  vedere  suoi  Grpci  la  vera  via."  [So 
that  when  grown  up,  they  may  with  affectionate  zeal,  and 
with  the  aid  of  the  truth  they  shall  have  acquired,  demon- 
strate the  tnie  faith  to  their  Greek  countrymen.] 

t  Erythrseus,  "  In  (juibus  Christophorus  Clavius  princi- 
pem  locum  obtinebat." 

t  Dispaccio  Donato,  20  Dee.  1581.    2  Giugno,  1582.    He 

firaises  the  cerdinal  as  an  "  huomo  veraiiiente  di  grande 
iueratura."    [A  man  of  tiuly  great  learning.] 


He  extols  the  reform  as  a  proof  of  God's  infi- 
nite grace  to  his  church.* 

But  tliis  pope's  efforts  were  not  all  of  so 
peaceful  a  nature.  It  gave  him  deep  concern 
that  the  Venetians  in  the  first  place  conclud- 
ed a  peace,  and  subsequently,  even  king  Phi- 
lip II.  made  a  truce  with  the  Turks.  Had  it 
rested  with  him,  the  league  that  had  won  the 
victory  of  Lepanto  would  never  have  been 
dissolved.  The  disturbances  in  the  Nether- 
lands and  in  France,  and  the  collision  of  par- 
ties in  Germany,  opened  a  wide  field  for  his 
exertions.  He  was  indefatigable  in  efforts 
against  the  Protestants.  The  insurrections 
queen  Elizabeth  had  to  subdue  in  Ireland 
were  almost  all  instigated  by  Rome.  The 
pope  made  no  secret  of  his  wish  to  bring  about 
a  general  combination  against  England.  Year 
after  year  his  nuncios  negociated  on  this  sub- 
ject with  Philip  II.  and  the  Guises.  It  would 
not  be  uninteresting,  were  a  connected  his- 
tory composed  of  all  those  negociations  and 
endeavours,  which  were  often  unknown  to 
those  for  whose  ruin  they  were  intended,  and 
which  led  at  Inst  to  the  great  enterprise  of  the 
Armada.  Gregory  plied  them  with  the  most 
ardent  zeal.  The  French  league,  which  was 
so  dangerous  to  Henri  III.  and  Henri  IV., 
owed  its  origin  to  the  connexion  between  this 
pope  and  the  Guises. 

Little  as  Gregory  XIII.  burdened  the  state 
for  the  sake  of  his  relations,  it  yet  follows  of 
course,  from  the  comprehensiveness  and  the 
costly  nature  of  his  undertakings,  that  he  did 
not  spare  the  public  revenues.  Even  Stuke- 
ley's  expedition,  which  ended  so  disastrously, 
in  Africa,  trifling  as  it  was,  absorbed  a  consi- 
derable sum.  He  once  sent  Charles  IX.  four 
hundred  thousand  ducats,  the  proceeds  of  a 
direct  tax  on  the  towns  of  the  ecclesiastical 
states.  He  frequently  furnished  subsidies  to 
the  emperor,  and  to  the  grand-master  of  iVJal- 
ta.  But  even  his  pacific  enterprises  required 
considerable  sums.  It  was  calculated  that 
the  aid  afforded  to  young  men  pursuing  their 
studies  cost  him  two  millions. f  How  much 
then  must  he  have  expended  on  the  twenty- 
two  colleges  of  the  Jesuits  alone,  which  owed 
their  origin  to  him  ! 

Considering  the  financial  condition  of  his 
states,  which,  in  spite  of  an  increasing  reve- 
nue, never  exhibited  a  surplus,  he  must  have      M\ 
frequently  found  himself  involved  in  embai*-      Jl 
rassment. 

The  Venetians,  shortly  after  his  accession, 
made  an  attempt  to  induce  him  to  grant  them 
a  loan.     Gregory  listened  with  augmenting 


*  Bull  of  the  13th  Feb.  1582,  §  12.  BuUar.  Cocq.  iv.  4, 
10. 

+  Calculation  of  Baronius.  Posseviniis  in  Ciacconius, 
Vitje  Pontificum,  iv.  37.  Lorenzo  Priuli  reckons  that  he 
expended  yearly  200,000  scudi  on  opere  pie.  Tlie  extracts 
given  by  Cocquelines,  at  the  close  of  Mafl'ei's  Annals, 
from  the  reports  of  cardinals  Como  and  Musotti,  are  most 
copious  and  authentic  on  this  bead. 


A.  D.  1572-85.] 


GREGORY  XIII. 


137 


attention  to  the  detailed  proposals  of  the  am- 
bassador, and  when  at  last  he  saw  what  he 
was  aiming-  at,  he  cried  out,  "  What  do  you 
mean,  sir  ambassador'!  The  congregation 
sits  every  day  to  devise  means  of  raising 
money,  and  never  lights  upon  any  serviceable 
expedient."* 

The  secular  administration  of  Gregory 
XIII.  was  now  become  of  paramount  impor- 
tance. It  was  already  come  to  this,  that  both 
alienations  and  imposition  of  new  taxes  were 
regarded  as  impolitic  ;  the  dubious,  nay  perni- 
cious results  of  such  a  system  were  fully 
appreciated.  Gregory  imposed  on  the  con- 
gregation the  task  of  procuring  him  money, 
but  that  neither  through  ecclesiastical  conces- 
sions, nor  through  new  taxes,  nor  thi-ough  the 
sale  of  ecclesiastical  revenues. 

But  what  other  means  than  these  remained 
to  be  tried  ]  The  measures  devised,  and  the 
effects  subsequently  produced  by  them,  are 
very  deserving  of  attention. 

Gregory,  who  always  carried  out  to  the 
utmost  an  absolute  idea  of  right,  thought  lie 
discovered  that  the  popedom  was  endowed 
with  many  rights,  which  it  had  only  to  assert, 
to  become  possessed  of  new  sources  of  reve- 
nue.f  It  was  not  his  disposition  to  respect 
the  privileges  that  stood  in  his  way.  Amongst 
others,  he  unhesitatingly  abolished  that  which 
the  Venetians  possessed,  of  exporting  corn 
from  the  March  and  from  Ravenna  under 
certain  advantages,  saying  it  was  just  that 
foreigners  should  pay  the  same  amount  of 
dues  as  the  natives. |  Upon  the  Venetians 
failing  to  comply  at  once  with  his  measures, 
he  caused  their  warehouses  at  Vienna  to  be 
forcibly  broken  open,  their  contents  sold  by 
auction,  and  the  owners  imprisoned.  This, 
however,  was  but  a  small  matter  ;  it  is  merely 
an  indication  of  the  course  he  was  bent  on 
pursuing.  It  was  of  much  more  moment  that 
he  thought  he  discovered  a  crowd  of  abuses 
among  the  aristocracy  of  his  own  dominions, 
the  abolition  of  which  would  be  profitable  to 
the  papal  treasury.  Rudolfo  Bonfiliuolo,  the 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  proposed  a  sweeping 
extension  and  renewal  of  feudal  rights,  till 
then  hardly  thought  of.  He  asserted  that  a 
large  portion  of  the  castles  and  estates  of  the 
barons  had  lapsed  to  the  pope ;  some  from  the 
fliilure  of  the  direct  line  of  succession,  some 
from  the  neglect  to  pay  the  rent  due  upon 
them. 5     Nothing  could  be  more  acceptable  to 


*  Dispaccio,  14  Marzo,  1573.  It  is  a  Conjregatione 
deputHla  sopra  la  provisione  di  danari. 

t  Maffi-i,  Annali  di  Gregorio  XIII.  i.  p.  101.  He  calcu- 
lates tliat  the  states  of  the  church  yielded  a  net  income  of 
160,000  scud i  only. 

t  Dispaccio,  Antonio  Tiepolo,  12  April,  1577. 

§  Dispaccio,  A.  Tiepolo,  12  Gf>nn.  1579.  II  commissa- 
rio  della  camera  altende  con  molta  diligentia  a  ritrovare 
e  rivedere  scrillure  per  ricupprare  quanto  dalli  pontefici 
paasati  si  6  stato  oblie;ato,  o  data  in  petjno  ad  alcuno,  e  ve- 
aendo  che  S.  S^-  e;li  ass  mtisse  volenlieri,  non  la  sparagna 
o  porta  rispetto  ad  alcuno. 

18 


the  pope,  who  had  already  acquired  some 
such  estates  by  escheat  or  purchase.  He  put 
the  scheme  forthwith  into  operation.  He 
wrested,  in  the  highlands  of  Romagna,  Cas- 
telnovo  from  the  Isei  of  Cesena,  and  Corcana 
from  the  Jassatelli  of  Imola.  Lonzana,  on  its 
beautiful  hill,  and  Savignano  in  the  plain, 
were  taken  from  the  Rangoni  of  Modena. 
Alberto  Pio  voluntarily  surrendered  Bertinoro, 
to  avoid  the  suit  with  which  he  was  threat- 
ened by  the  treasury,  which,  however,  was 
not  content  with  that,  but  divested  him  like- 
wise of  Verucchio  and  other  places.  There- 
upon he  tendered  his  rent  every  Peter's-day, 
but  it  was  never  again  accepted.  All  this 
happened  in  Romagna  alone;  and  precisely  the 
same  course  was  pursued  in  the  other  pro- 
vinces. Claim  was  laid  not  only  to  estates 
on  which  the  feudal  dues  had  not  been  dis- 
charged; there  were  others  which  had  origi- 
nally been  only  mortgaged  to  the  barons, 
though  this  circumstance  had  long  been  for- 
gotten, and  they  had  passed  as  freehold  from 
hand  to  hand,  and  been  greatly  improved :  it 
was  now  the  pleasure  of  the  pope  and  his 
commissioners  of  the  treasury  to  redeem  them. 
In  this  way  they  got  possession  of  the  castle 
of  Sitiano,  by  payinnr  off  the  original  incum- 
brance of  14,000  scudi,  a  sum  far  inferior  to 
its  actual  value  at  that  time. 

The  pope  congratulated  himself  much  on 
these  proceedings.  He  thought  he  possessed 
a  claim  the  more  on  the  grace  of  heaven  so 
soon  as  he  had  succeeded  in  raising  the  reve- 
nues of  the  church  by  ten  scudi ;  provided  it 
were  without  imposition  of  new  taxes.  He 
reckoned  with  satisfaction  that  the  income  of 
the  ecclesiastical  dominions  had  by  legal 
means,  within  a  short  space  of  time,  received 
an  augmentation  of  a  hundred  thousand  scudi. 
How  greatly  would  this  increase  his  means  of 
proceedingagainst  heretics  and  infidels?  The 
court  for  the  most  part  approved  his  measures. 
"This  pop3  is  named  the  Watchful,"  (such  is 
the  etymological  signification  of  Gregorius,) 
says  cardinal  Como;  "he  is  resolved  to  watch 
and  retrieve  his  own."* 

Throughout  the  country,  and  among  the 
aristocracy,  these  measures  exited,  on  the 
contrary,  a  very  different  feeling. 

Many  great  families  found  themselves  sud- 
denly ejected  from  properties  they  had  consi- 
dered their  own  by  the  most  legitimate  titles; 
others  saw  themselves  threatened.  Daily 
search  into  old  papers  was  made  in  Rome, 
and  every  day  new  claims  were  extracted 
from  them.  Ere  long  no  man  thought  himself 
secure,  and  many  resolved  to  defend  their 
possessions  with  the  sword,  rather  than  sur- 

*  Dispaccio, 21  O^t.  15S1.  Soiio  molti  anni  che  lachiesa 
no  ha  havuLo  pontafice  di  queslo  no:ne  Grejorio,  che 
secundo  li  sua  elimologia  greca  vuol  dire  vigilante: 
qussto  che  6  Grego.'io  e  vigilante,  vuol  vigil  ire  e  ricupe- 
rare  il  suo,  e  li  par  di  far  un  graasarvilio  quando  ricupera 
alcuna  cosa,  benche  minima, 


1^ 


COURT  AND  STATE. 


[a.  d.  1572-85. 


render  them  to  the  commissioners  of  the  trea- 
sury. One  of  these  feudatories  once  said  to 
the  pope,  to  his  face,  "Wliat  is  lost,  is  lost; 
but  a  man  has  at  least  some  satisfaction  when 
he  has  stood  out  in  his  own  defence." 

In  consequence  of  the  influence  of  the  aris- 
tocracy over  their  peasants  and  over  the  nobili 
of  neighbouring  towns,  the  pope's  proceedings 
set  the  whole  country  in  a  ferment. 

Moreover,  the  pope  had  by  other  injudicious 
measures  inflicted  very  painful  losses  on  some 
towns.  He  had  raised  the  tolls  of  Ancona, 
for  instance,  on  the  principle  that  the  advance 
would  fall  upon  the  merchants,  and  not  upon 
the  country.  He  thus  inflicted  a  blow  upon 
that  town,  from  which  it  has  never  recovered. 
Its  commerce  suddenly  departed,  nor  was  it 
of  much  avail  that  the  impost  was  repealed, 
and  even  that  their  old  privileges  were 
restored  to  the  Ragusans. 

The  consequences  that  ensued  were  most 
miexpected  and  peculiar. 

Obedience  in  every  country,  but  especially 
in  one  so  pacific,  is  founded  on  a  voluntary 
subordination.  The  elements  of  discord  were 
here  not  removed  or  suppressed,  but  merely 
concealed  by  the  incumbent  power  of  the 
government.  As  soon  as  the  principle  of  sub- 
ordination gave  way  in  one  place,  all  those 
elements  burst  out  together,  and  appeared  in 
full  conflict.  The  country  seemed  suddenly 
to  remember  how  warlike,  how  skilful  in  arms, 
how  independent  in  its  parties,  it  had  been  for 
centuries;  it  began  to  despise  its  government 
of  priests  and  doctors,  and  relapsed  into  a  con- 
dition congenial  to  its  nature. 

Not  that  the  people  directly  opposed  the 
government,  or  rebelled  against  it,  but  the  old 
feuds  broke  out  again  on  all  sides. 

All  Roraagna  was  once  more  divided  by 
them.  In  Ravenna  tJie  Rasponi  and  the 
Leonardi  were  arrayed  against  each  other ; 
in  Rimini,  the  Ricciardelli  and  the  Tignoli ; 
in  Cesena,  the  Venturelli  and  the  Bottini;  in 
Forli,  the  Numai  and  the  Siragli ;  in  Irnola, 
the  Vicini  and  the  Sassatelli :  the  former 
of  all  these  were  Ghibellines;  the  others, 
Guelphs;  for  the  old  names  survived,  although 
the  interests  originally  connected  with  them 
had  been  so  wholly  changed.  The  two  par- 
ties had  often  distmct  quarters  and  churches; 
they  distinguished  themselves  by  slight  signs ; 
the  Guelphs  wore  the  feather  on  the  right 
side  of  the  hat,  the  Ghibellines  on  the  left.* 
The  division  extended  even  to  the  pettiest 
village :  no  one  would  have  spared  the  life  of 
his  own  brother,  had  he  belonged  to  the  oppo- 
site faction.  Some  there  were  who  put  their 
wives  out  of  the  way,  that  they  might  marry 


*  The  Relatione  di  Romagna  points  out  the  differences, 
"npl  lagliar  del  pane,  nel  cingersi,  in  ponare  il  pennac- 
chio,  fiocco  o  liore  al  capello  o  all'  orecchio"  [in  cutting 
bi'ead,  wearing  the  belt,  the  feather,  locks  or  flowers  in 
the  hair  or  in  the  ear]. 


into  a  family  belonging  to  their  own  party. 
The  pacijici  were  no  longer  serviceable,  since 
fovouritism  had  admitted  unfit  persons  into 
their  body.  The  factions  took  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice  into  their  own  hands,  and 
often  declared  those  persons  innocent  who 
had  been  condemned  by  the  papal  tribunals. 
They  broke  open  the  prisons,  to  liberate  their 
friends,  and  to  assail  their  enemies,  and  the 
heads  of  the  latter  were  sometimes  seen  the 
next  day  stuck  up  round  the  fountains.* 

Public  authority  being  now  so  weak,,  the 
March,  Campagna,  and  all  the  provinces  were 
infested  with  troops  of  outlawed  bandits,  that 
swelled  into  small  armies.  At  their  head 
were  Alfonso  Piccolomini,  Roberto  Malatesta, 
and  other  young  men  of  t!ie  first  families. 
Piccolomini  seized  the  town-house  of  Monte- 
abboddo,  had  all  his  enemies  hunted  out  and 
executed  before  the  eyes  of  their  mothers  and 
wives.  He  put  to  death  nine  of  the  single 
family  of  Gabuzio,  his  followers  in  the  mean 
while  dancing  in  the  market-place.  He 
marched  through  the  country  as  lord  of  the 
land,  nor  was  he  even  stopped  by  an  attack  of 
the  ague,  being  carried  on  his  bad  days  on  a 
litter  at  the  head  of  his  troops.  He  sent  a 
message  to  the  inhabitants  of  Corneto,  desir- 
ing them  to  hasten  their  harvest;  for  he  was 
coming  to  burn  up  the  crops  of  his  enemy 
Latino  Orsino.  Personally,  he  was  governed 
by  a  sort  of  principle  of  honour;  he  took  away 
a  courier's  letters,  but  did  not  touch  the  money 
the  man  carried  :  his  followers,  however,  were 
but  the  more  brutally  rapacious.  From  all 
sides  delegates  flucked  to  Rome,  imploring 
help  on  behalf  of  the  towns.f  The  pope  aug- 
mented his  forces,  and  gave  cardinal  Sforza 
more  ample  plenary  powers  than  ever  had  been 
possessed  by  any  one  since  cardinal  Albornoz  : 
he  was  to  proceed  not  only  without  regard  to 
any  privilege,  but  even  without  being  bound 
by  any  rule  of  law,  or  observing  any  form  of 
process,  manu  regid.\.  Giacomo  Boncom- 
pagno  took  the  field,  and  they  succeeded 
indeed  in  dispersing  the  bands  of  robbers,  and 
clearing  the  country  of  them  ;  but  as  soon  as 
their  backs  were  turned,  all  the  old  mischiefs 
broke  out  as  freshly  as  before. 

A  particular  circumstance  contributed  great- 
ly to  make  these  incurable. 

Gregory,  who  is  often  represented  as  good- 
natured  to  excess,  had  yet  asserted  his  eccle- 
t 

*  In  the  MS.  Sixtus  V.  Pontifex  M.  (Bibl.  Altieri  in 
Rome)  is  the  most  detailed  description  of  this  state  of 
things.    An  extract  is  given  in  the  Appendix,  No.  52. 

t  Dispacci  Donato,  del  15S2,  passim. 

t  Brief  for  Sforza,  given  in  the  Dispacci:  Omnimodam 
faculiatem,  potestatem,  auctoritatem,  et  arbitriuiri,  contra 
quoscunque  bannitos  facinorosos  receptalores  fautores 
complices  et  seguaces,  etc.  necnon  contra  communitates 
iiniversitates  et  civitates  terras  et  castra  et  alios  cujuscun- 
que  dignitatis  vel  praeeminenliae,  Baiones  Duces  et  quo- 
vis  aucloritatefungcntes,etexlrajudicialiteretiurisordine 
non  servato,  etiam  sine  processu  et  scripiuris  ct  manu 
rpgia,  illosque  omnes  et  singulos  puniendi  tam  in  rebus  in 
bonis  quam  in  personis. 


I 


A.  D.  1572-85.] 


SIXTUS  V. 


139 


siastical  as  well  as  his  secular  rights  with 
rigour.*  He  spared  neither  the  emperor  nor 
the  king  of  Spain,  and  paid  no  deference  to 
his  neighbours.  He  was  involved  in  a  thou- 
sand disputes  with  Venice  witli  respect  to  the 
affairs  of  Aquileia,  the  visitation  of  their 
churches,  and  other  points:  the  ambassadors 
cannot  describe  his  violence,  the  intense  bitter- 
ness he  manifested  whenever  these  subjects 
were  touched  upon.  The  same  was  tiie  case 
as  to  Tuscany  and  Naples;  Ferrara  found  no 
favour  ;  Parma  had  shortly  before  lost  consi- 
derable sums  in  litigation  with  him.  All  these 
neighbours  exulted  at  seeing  the  pope  invol- 
ved in  such  unpleasant  perplexities,  and  un- 
hesitatingly gave  shelter  to  the  bandits,  who 
then,  as  soon  as  opportunity  offered,  returned 
to  the  states  of  the  Church.  The  pope  entreat- 
ed them,  in  vain,  to  desist  from  this  conduct: 
they  thought  it  curious  that  Rome  should  treat 
all  others  with  indifference  and  contempt,  and 
then  lay  claim  to  service  and  respect  at  the 
hands  of  every  one.f 

Thus  Gregory  was  never  able  to  lay  hold  on 
the  outlaws  of  his  dominions.  The  taxes 
ceased  to  be  paid,  the  sussidio  was  not  col- 
lected. Universal  discontent  settled  upon  the 
country.  Even  cardinals  asked  themselves 
the  question,  whether  it  were  not  better  to 
attach  themselves  to  some  other  state. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  further  pro- 
secution of  the  treasury  secretary's  measures 
was  not  to  be  thought  of  In  December,  1581, 
the  Venetian  ambassador  distinctly  announced 
that  the  pope  had  put  a  stop  to  all  proceedings 
in  matters  of  confiscation. 

He  was  forced  to  allow  Piccolomini  to  come 
to  Rome  and  present  a  petition  to  him.|  A 
shudder  crept  over  him  as  he  read  the  long 
list  of  murders  he  was  called  on  to  forgive,  and 
he  laid  it  on  the  table  :  hut  he  was  told  that 
one  of  three  things  was  inevitable  ;  either  his 


*  Already  in  157G,  P.  Trepolo  takes  notice  of  this. 
Quanto  piu  cerca  d'  acquistarsi  nome  di  guisto,  tanlo  piu 
lo  perde  di  gratioso,  perclie  concede  niolto  meno  gralie 
exlraordinarie  di  quel  che  ha  failoaltro  poniefice  di  molti 
anni  in  qua : — la  qual  cosa  aggiunta  al  mancamenlo  ch'  6 
in  lui  di  certi  offici  grati  et  accetli  per  la  difficult^  raassi- 
mamente  naturale  che  ha  nel  parlar,  e  per  le  pochissiine 
parole  che  in  ciascuna  occasione  usa,  fa  ch'  egli  in  gran 
parte  manca  in  (luella  gratia  appresso  le  persone.  [The 
more  he  strives  lo  acquire  the  title  of  Just,  the  more  he 
loses  that  of  Gracious,  because  he  grants  much  fewer  ex- 
traordinary favours  than  any  pope  for  many  years  past ; — ■ 
which  circumstance,  joined  to  his  deficiency  in  certain 
winning  arts,  arising  from  the  dilliculty,  chiefly  natural, 
which  he  feels  in  expressing  himself,  and  from  the  very 
few  words  he  uses  on  every  occasion,  are  the  causes  in  a 
great  measure  that  he  is  thus  wanting  in  personal  favour.] 

+  Dispaccio,  Donito,  10  Set.  1D81.  E  una  cosa  grande 
che  con  non  dar  mai  satisfatione  nissuna  si  pretendre  d' 
avere  da  altro  in  quello  che  locca  alia  liberti  dello  stato 
8U0  correniemente  ogni  sorte  d'ossequio. 

t  Donato,  April  9,  1583.  II  sparagnar  la  spesa  e  I'assi 
curar  il  Signor  Giacoino,  che  lo  desiderava,  et  il  fuggir 
I'occasione  di  disgustarsi  ogni  di  piu  per  ([uesto  con  Fio- 
renza,  si  co.ne  ogni  di  avveniva,  ha  fatto  venir  S.  Si'  in 
quesla  risolulione.  [The  saving  of  expense,  and  the  secu- 
rity of  Signor  Giacomo,  who  desired  it,  and  the  wish  to 
avoid  further  cause  of  quarrel  with  Florence,  such  as  was 
every  day  arising,  induced  the  pope  lo  this  step.] 


son  Giacomo  mu.st  expect  death  at  the  hand  of 
Piccolomini,  or  he  must  put  Piccolomini  to 
death,  or  extend  forgiveness  to  him.  The 
father  confessors  of  St.  John  Lateran  declared 
that,  although  they  durst  not  violate  the  secrets 
of  the  confessional,  thus  much  they  were  at 
liberty  to  say,  if  something  was  not  done,  a 
great  calamity  was  at  hand.  Besides  this 
Piccolomini  was  openly  favoured  by  the  grand 
duke  of  Tuscany,  and  then  inhabited  the 
Medici  palace.  At  last  the  pope  consented, 
but  with  a  deeply  mortified  heart,  and  signed 
the  brief  of  absolution. 

But  the  act  did  not  restore  tranquillity.  His 
own  capital  was  full  of  bandits.  Things  arrived 
at  such  a  pass,  that  the  city  magistracy  of  the 
"  conservatori"  were  obliged  to  interpose,  to 
procure  obedience  to  the  pope's  police.  A 
certain  Marianazzo  rejected  the  protfered  par- 
don, saying  it  was  more  advantageous  for  him 
to  live  as  a  bandit,  and  safer  too.* 

The  aged  pope,  weak  and  weary  of  life, 
looked  up  to  heaven,  and  cried,  "  Thou  wilt 
arise,  O  Lord,  and  have  mercy  upon  Zion !" 

SiXTUS    V. 

It  would  seem  at  times  as  if  there  were  in 
turbulence  and  disorder  some  secret  virtue 
that  brings  forth  the  man  who  is  fitted  to  con- 
trol them. 

Whilst  throughout  the  world  hereditary 
sovereignties  or  aristocracies  transmitted 
their  power  from  generation  to  generation,  it 
was  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the 
ecclesiastical  sovereignty,  that  it  offered  the 
opportunity  of  rising  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest  grade  of  human  society.  From  the 
very  humblest  class  the  pope  now  arose,  who 
possessed  the  power  and  every  natural  quality 
requisite  for  putting  an  end  to  all  the  disor- 
ders that  prevailed. 

On  the  first  successful  incursions  of  the  Otto- 
mans into  the  Illyrian  and  Dalamatian  pro- 
vinces, many  of  their  inhabitants  fled  to  Italy. 
They  were  seen  arriving  in  groups,  and  sitting 
on  the  shore  with  their  hands  outstretched  to 
heaven.  It  is  probable  that  Zanelto  Peretli, 
the  ancestor  of  Sixtus  V.  and  a  Sclavonian, 
was  one  of  these  refugees.  As  commonly 
happens  with  exiles,  neither  he  nor  his  poste- 
rity, who  settled  in  Monlalto,  could  boast  of 
much  prosperity  in  the  country  of  their  adop- 
tion. Peretto  Peretti,  the  father  of  Sixtus, 
was  even  forced  by  debt  to  leave  that  town  ; 
nor  was  it  till  after  his  marriage  that  he  was 
in  a  condition  to  rent  a  garden  m  Grotto  a 
Mare,  near  Fermo.  This  was  a  remarkable 
locality.  Among  the  plants  of  the  garden 
were  discoverable  the  ruins  of  a  temple  of 
Cupra,  the  Etruscan  Juno  ;  there  was  no  lack 

*  "  Che  il  viver  fuor 
gior  sicurti."  Gregory  rei 
10, 1585. 


uscitolitorni  piuaconto  e  di  mag- 
reigned  frojn  May  13, 1572,  to  April 


140 


COURT  AND  STATE. 


[a.  d.  1585. 


of  the  finest  fruits  of  the  South ;  Fermo,  at 
that  time,  enjoying  a  milder  climate  than  the 
rest  of  the  March.  In  this  place  a  son  was 
born  to  Peretti,  on  the  ISth  of  Dec.  1521.  It 
had  shortly  before  appeared  to  him  in  a  dream, 
that  whilst  he  was  bewailing  his  many  vexa- 
tions, a  sacred  voice  had  comforted  hnn  with 
the  assurance  that  he  was  to  have  a  son  who 
should  make  the  fortune  of  his  house.  He 
caught  at  this  hope  with  all  the  alacrity  of  a 
visionary  temperament,  whose  natural  prone- 
ness  to  mysticism  had  been  exalted  by  want, 
and  he  named  the  boy  Felix.* 

What  were  the  circumstances  of  the  family, 
is  plain  enough,  when  we  learn,  for  instance, 
that  the  child  once  fell  into  a  pond,  and  was 
pulled  out  of  it  by  his  aunt  who  was  washing 
there  ;  that  he  was  obliged  to  watch  fruit,  and 
even  to  tend  swine.  He  learned  his  letters 
out  of  the  primers  which  the  other  boys  laid 
down  beside  him,  as  they  passed  through  the 
fields  on  their  way  to  and  from  school :  his 
father  could  not  muster  the  five  bajocchi,  de- 
manded monthly  by  the  nearest  schoolmaster. 
Fortunately  there  was  a  member  of  the  family 
in  orders,  Fra  Salvatore,  a  Franciscan,  who 
was  at  last  prevailed  on  to  pay  the  school- 
money.  Young  Felix  now  went  to  i-eceive 
instruction  with  the  rest,  carrying  with  him  a 
piece  of  bread,  which  he  used  to  eat  at  noon, 
sitting  by  the  fountain,  with  the  water  of  which 
he  washed  down  his  meal.  In  spite  of  such 
cheerless  circumstances,  the  father's  hopes 
were  soon  shared  by  the  son.  When  the 
latter  entered  the  Franciscan  order  at  the 
early  age  of  twelve, — for  as  yet  there  was  no 
decree  of  the  council  of  Trent  to  forbid  such 
premature  vows, — he  retained  his  name  of 
Felix.  Fra  Salvatore  treated  him  with  great 
strictness,  exercising  the  authority  both  of  an 
uncle  and  a  f ither ;  but  he  also  sent  him  to 
.school.  Felix  often  studied  supperless,  by  the 
light  of  a  lantern  in  the  cross-roads,  or,  when 
that  had  gone  out,  by  a  lamp  burning  before 
the  host  in  the  church.     We  do  not  find  that 


*  Tempesti,  Sloria  della  vita  e  geste  di  Sisto  V.,  1754, 
has  given  the  result  of  his  investigations  of  the  archives 
of  Montallo  respecting  the  descent  of  his  hero.  The  Vita 
Sixti  v.,  ipsius  nianu  emendala,  is  also  authentic.  MS. 
in  the  Bibl.  Altieri  in  Rome.  Sixtus  was  born,  "cum 
pater  Ludovici  Vecchii  Firmani  horlum  e.xcoleret,  mater 
Dianse  nurui  ejus  perhonestse  matronse  domeslicis  minis- 
teriis  operam  daret"  [whilst  his  father  cultivated  the  gar- 
den of  Ludovico  Vecchio  of  Fernio,  and  his  mother  aided 
his  housekeeper,  Diana,  a  very  virtuous  matron,  in  domes- 
tic duties.]  Thi.s  Diana  lived  to  witness  the  pontificate 
of  Sixtus,  at  a  very  advanced  age.  "Anus  senio  confecta 
Romam  deferri  vluit,  cupida  venerari  euin  in  suinmo 
rerum  humanarum  fastigio  positum, quem  oliioris  sui  filium 
paupers  victu  doini  suae  nalum  aUierat."  [The  decrepid 
old  woman  desired  to  be  carried  lo  Rome,  that  she  misht 
otfer  homage,  in  his  topmost  elevation,  to  him  whom  she 
had  known  as  the  son  of  her  gardener,  born,  and  humbly 
nurtured  in  her  house.]  Further,  "  Pavisse  puenim  pecus 
et  Picentes  memorant,  et  ipse  ad'o  non  diffitetur  ut  etiam 
prae  se  ferat."  [The  peoplp  of  Piceno  relate  that  the  boy 
tended  cattle,  and  he  himself  fir  from  denying  it,  boasts 
that  it  was  so.]  In  the  Ambmsiana  R.  there  is  F.  Radice 
deir  origine  di  Sisto  V.,  an  Information,  dated  Rome,  May 
4, 1585,  which,  however,  does  not  contain  much. 


he  gave  any  direct  indications  of  an  original 
tendency  to  devotional  feeling  or  to  profound 
science  :  we  only  learn  that  he  made  rapid 
progress  both  in  the  school  at  Fermo,  and  in 
the  schools  and  universities  of  Ferrara  and 
Bologna  :  he  took  his  degrees  with  very  great 
credit.  He  displayed  a  particular  talent  for 
dialectics,  and  he  made  himself  master  in  a 
high  degree  of  the  monkish  accomplishment 
of  treating  intricate  theological  questions.  In 
the  general  convention  of  the  Franciscans  in 
the  year  1.549,  in  which  literary  contests  were 
also  exhibited,  he  encounteretl  with  address 
and  presence  of  mind  a  Telesean,  Antonio 
Persico  of  Calabria,  who  was  then  in  high 
repute  in  Perugia.*  This  was  the  first  thing 
tliat  brought  him  somewhat  into  notice  ;  from 
that  time  cardinal  Pio  of  Carpi,  the  protector 
of  the  order,  took  a  lively  interest  in  him. 

But  his  high  fortune  is  ascribed  more  parti- 
cularly to  another  incident. 

In  the  year  1552,  he  preached  the  lent  ser- 
mons in  the  church  of  the  Santi  Apostoli  in 
Rome,  with  the  greatest  success.  His  style 
was  considered  animated,  copious,  and  fluent ; 
his  language  free  from  meretricious  ornament, 
his  matter  well  arranged,  and  his  utterance 
distinct  and  pleavsing.  Once  on  this  occasion, 
in  presence  of  the  whole  congregation,  as  he 
paused  in  the  midst  of  his  discourse,  according 
to  the  custom  in  Italy,  and  after  taking  breadth, 
read  the  memorials  presented,  which  usually 
contain  entreaties  and  intercessions,  he  light- 
ed on  one  which  was  found  lying  sealed  on 
the  pulpit,  and  the  contents  of  which  were  of 
a  widely  diflTarent  kind.  All  the  main  points 
of  the  sermons  already  preached  by  Peretti 
were  set  down  in  it,  particularly  those  relat- 
ing to  predestination,  and  beside  each  stood  in 
large  letters,  "  Thou  liest."  Peretti  could  not 
wholly  conceal  his  surprise  ;  he  hastened  to 
conclude  his  discourse,  and  immediately  on 
reaching  home  sent  the  paper  to  the  Inquisi- 
tion.f  He  very  speedily  saw  the  grand  inqui- 
sitor Michelc  Ghislieri  enter  his  room.  The 
most  searching  examination  began.  Peretti 
used  often  afterwards  to  tell  how  much  he  had 
been  frightened  by  the  aspect  of  that  man, 
with  his  stern  brows,  his  deep  set  eyes,  and 
his  strongly  marked  features.  He  collected 
himself,  however,  answered  satisfactoi'ily,  and 
without  committinor  himself     When  Ghislieri 


*  Sixtus  V.  Pontifex  Maximus :  MS.  Bibl.  Altieri.  Exi- 
mia  Persicus  apud  omnes  late  fama  Perusiae  philosophiam 
ex  Telesii  placitis  cum  publics  doceret,  novitale  doctrinae 
turn  primum  nascentis  nativuni  ingenii  lumen  niirifice 
illustrabat.  Montaltus  ex  universa  theologia  excerptas 
positiones  eardinali  Carpensi  inscrijjtas  tanta  cum  ingenii 
iaude  defendit,  ut  omnibus  admiralioni  fuerit. 

t  Narrative  in  the  same  MS.  Jam  priorem  orationis 
partem  exegerat,  cum oblatum  libellum  resignat,  et  tacitus, 
ut  populosummam  exponat,  legere  incipil.  Quotquot  ad 
eam  diem  catholiiae  fidei  dogmata  Montaltus  piocoiicione 
afiiniiarat,  ordine  coUecia  conlinebat,  singulisque  id  lan- 
tum  addebal,  Uteris  grandioribiis :  Mentiris.  Complica- 
tum  diligenter  libellum,  sed  ita  ut  consternationis  mani- 
festus  multis  esset,  ad  pectus  dimittit,  orationemciue  brevi 
praecisione  paucis  absolvit.  ^ 


A.  D.  1585.] 


SIXTUS  V. 


141 


saw  that  the  monk  was  not  only  guiltless,  but 
so  versed  and  so  firmly  rooted  in  catholic  doc- 
trine, he  was  like  another  man,  embraced 
Peretti  with  tears,  and  became  his  second 
patron. 

From  that  period  Fra  Felice  Peretti  adher- 
ed to  the  strict  party,  which  was  just  then 
arisen  in  the  church.  He  maintained  an  inti- 
mate intercourse  with  Ignatio,  'J'elino,  and 
Filippo  IVeri,  who  all  three  won  the  title  of 
saints.  The  opposition  he  encountered  in  his 
order,  which  he  sought  to  reform,  and  his  ex- 
pulsion once  from  Venice  by  the  brethren, 
only  increased  his  credit  with  the  representa- 
tives of  tiie  dominant  opinions.  He  was  pre- 
sented to  Paul  IV.,  and  was  often  consulted 
by  him  on  occasions  of  difficulty.  lie  labour- 
ed as  a  theologian  in  the  congregation  for  the 
council  of  Tent,  and  as  consultor  attached  to 
the  inquisition  ;  and  he  had  a  considerable 
share  in  the  condemnation  of  the  arciibishop 
Carranza,  patiently  undergoing  the  drudgery 
of  searcliing  out  those  passages  in  the  writings 
of  the  protestants,  which  ('arranza  had  adopt- 
ed into  his  own.  He  won  the  implicit  confi- 
dence of  Pius  V,  who  named  him  vicar-general 
of  the  Franciscans,  expressly  with  a  view  to 
his  reforming  the  order ;  and  this,  indeed, 
Peretti  effected  with  a  high  hand.  He  deposed 
the  commissioners-general,  who  had  hitherto 
exercised  the  highest  authority  in  the  order, 
restored  the  ancient  constitution,  according  to 
which  the  latter  was  vested  in  the  provincials, 
and  held  the  most  rigid  visitations.  Pius  saw 
his  expectations  not  only  fulfilled,  but  surpass- 
ed ;  he  regarded  the  liking  he  entertained  for 
Peretti,  as  a  kind  of  divine  inspiration;  with- 
out heeding  the  calumnies  with  which  he  was 
pursued,  he  named  him  bishop  of  St.  Agatha, 
and  cardinal  in  the  year  1570. 

He  was  also  invested  with  the  bishopric 
of  Fermo.  Felice  Peretti  returned  in  the 
church's  purple  to  his  native  place,  where  he 
had  once  watched  fruit  and  swine;  still  his 
father's  prophecies,  and  his  own  hopes,  were 
not  yet  fully  accomplished. 

It  has  been  repeated,  times  without  number, 
what  crafty  plans  cardinal  Montalto  (so  he 
was  now  called)  employed  to  reach  the  tiara, 
how  he  affected  humility,  and  tottered  along 
with  the  help  of  his  stick,  bent  and  coughing  : 
but  the  critic  will  see  the  a  priori  unproba- 
bility  of  all  this ;  it  is  not  by  such  means  that 
men  reach  the  highest  dignities. 

Montalto  led  a  quiet,  frugal,  and  diligent 
life  of  retirement.  His  pleasures  consisted  in 
planting  trees  and  vines  in  his  vineyard  at 
Santa  Maria  Maggiore,  whicli  is  still  visited  by 
strangers,  and  in  doing  some  service  to  his 
native  town.  His  more  serious  hours  were 
occupied  with  the  works  of  St.  Amhrnse,  which 
he  edited  in  1580.  With  all  the  diligence  he 
applied  to  that  task,  his  treatment  of  his  au- 
thor was  yet  somewhat  arbitrary.    For  the 


rest,  it  does  not  appear  that  his  character  v/as 
quite  so  inoflensivc  as  it  has  been  represented. 
A  report  of  1.574  already  designates  Montalto 
as  learned  and  prudent,  but  also  crafty  and 
malicious.*  But  he  displayed  extraordinary 
self-command.  When  his  nephew,  the  hus- 
band of  Vittoria  Accorombuona,  was  murdered, 
he  was  the  first  who  entreated  the  pope  to  let 
the  investigation  of  the  matter  drop.  It  was 
probably  this  quality,  which  every  one  ad- 
mired, that  contributed  most  to  his  actual 
election,  when  the  intrigues  of  the  conclave 
of  1585  led  to  his  nomination.  It  was  also 
taken  into  account,  as  is  stated  in  the  genuine 
narratives  of  those  proceedings,  that  all  things 
considered  he  was  still  of  hale  years,  his  age 
being  sixty-four;  and  that  he  was  of  a  strong 
and  healthy  constitution.  Every  one  confessed, 
that,  under  the  circumstances  of  the  times,  a 
man  of  vigour  was  above  all  things  necessary. 
Thus  Fra  Felice  saw  his  end  attained  ;  and 
it  must  have  been  with  an  honourable  pride 
that  he  beheld  the  gratification  of  so  exalted 
and  so  legitimate  an  ambition  as  that  which 
had  animated  him.  All  those  circumstances 
in  which  he  had  ever  thought  he  recognized 
the  indications  of  a  higher  destiny,  now  came 
before  his  mind.  He  chose  fur  his  motto: 
"  From  my  mother's  womb,  thou,  O  God,  hast 
been  my  defender." 


*  A  "  Discorso  sopra  i  soggetii  papabili"  under  Gregory 
XIII.,  says  of  Montalto :  "  La  naluia  sua,  lenuta  lerribile, 
hiiperiosa  el  anoganie,  non  li  put)  punto  conciliare  la 
gratia."  [His  disposition  reputed  feiocious,  imperious,  and 
arrogant,  is  by  no  means  fitted  to  gain  liim  regard.]  We  see 
see  that  in  his  cardinalale  he  was  the  same  man  as  he  was 
when  pope.  Gregory  XIII.  used  to  say  to  those  about  him, 
"caverent  magnum  ilium  cinerarium."  [They  should  be- 
ware of  that  great  grey  friar.]  The  author  of  SixtusV.  P.  M. 
malces  Farnese  say,  on  seeing  him  between  the  two  domi- 
nicans,  Trani  and  Justinian,  who  also  entertained  hopes 
of  the  papacy:  "Nae  Picenum  hoc  junientum  magnifice 
olim  exilietjSi  duos  illos,  quoshinc  atque  iUinc  male  fert, 
carbonis  saccos  excusseril."  [That  Picenian  packhorse 
will  assuredly  conie  out  grandly  some  time  or  other,  if 
ever  he  shakes  otf  those  two  sacks  of  coal,  with  which  he 
is  encumbered  on  either  side.]  He  adds,  that  it  was  this 
very  anticipation  that  induced  Accorombuona  to  marry 
the  nephew  of  Sixtus  V.  The  grand  duke  Francis  of  Tus- 
cany liad  a  great  part  in  the  election  of  Sixtus.  In  a  dis- 
patch of  Albeni,  the  Florentine  Ambassador,  of  the  11th 
May,  1585  (Roma  Filza,  n.  36,)  it  is  said,  "  ¥">•»•  AUezza 
sia  solaquella  che  come  conviene  goda  il  frutto  dell'opera 
che  ella  Itafatta  (he  means  this  election)  per  avere  questo 
Pontefice  e  non  altro,  se  ne  faccia  belle."  [Your  high- 
ness alone,  as  is  rieht,  enjoys  the  frail  of  your  own  work, 
inasmuch  as~you  alone  will  have  the  advantage  of  this 
pope's  friendship  in  case  of  war.]  Another  Florentine 
dispatch  says,  "II  papa  replica  che  il  gran  duca  aveva 
molle  ragioni  di  desiderargli  bene,  perche  egli  era  come 
quel  agricoltore  che  pianta  un  frutto  che  ha  poi  caro  in- 
sieme  di  vederlo  crescere  et  andare  avanti  lungo  tempo, 
asgiungendoli  che  egli  era  slalo  quello  che  dopo  il  Signer 
Iddio  aveva  condotta  quest 'opera,  che  a  lui  solo  ne  aveva 
ad  aver  oblige,  e  che  le  conosceva,  se  ben  di  queste  cose 
non  poteva  ijarlar  con  egn'uno."  [The  pope  replied,  that 
the  grand  duke  had  many  reasons  for  wishing  his  pros- 
perity, since  his  highness  was  like  the  liusbandman,  who 
plants  a  tree,  and  delights  in  seeing  il  long  grow  and 
thrive,  adding  that  it  was  his  hishness,  who  under  God 
hail  conducted  this  matter,  that  to  him  alone  he,  the  pope, 
was  bound  in  gratitude  for  the  same  ;  that  he  was  aware 
of  this,  though  he  could  not  speak  to  every  one  on  the 
subject.]  We  see  from  this  that  something  very  peculiar 
was  transacted  behind  the  scenps,  of  which  we  know 
Utile  or  nothing.  The  election  took  place  on  the  24th  of 
April,  1585. 


142 


SIXTUS  V.    EXTIRPATION  OF  THE  BANDITTI,    [a.  d.  1585-90. 


And  in  all  his  undertakings  he  believed  him- 
self to  be  under  the  continual  favour  and  pro- 
tection of  God.  Immediately  on  his  ascending 
the  throne,  he  declared  his  intention  of  exter- 
minating the  bandits  and  malefactors.  Should 
his  own  strength  be  insufficient  thereto,  he 
knew  that  God  would  send  legions  of  angels 
to  his  aid.* 

He  immediately  entered  on  that  difficult 
task  with  resolution  and  judgment. 

Extirpation  of  the  Banditti. 

Gregory's  memory  was  repugnant  to  him, 
he  had  no  inclination  to  follow  out  the  mea- 
sures of  that  pope.  He  dismissed  the  greater 
part  of  the  troops,  and  reduced  the  number  of 
the  sbirri  by  one-half  On  the  other  hand,  he 
resolved  on  an  unsparing  punishment  of  the 
guilty  who  should  fall  into  his  hands. 

The  carrying  short  weapons,  especially  a 
kind  of  gun,  had  long  been  prohibited.  Four 
young  men  of  Cora,  nearly  related  to  each 
other,  were  taken  with  such  weapons  upon 
them.  The  following  day  was  fixed  for  the 
coronation,  and  the  auspicious  opportunity  was 
taken  to  intercede  for  the  young  men's  par- 
don. Sixtus  replied,  "  While  I  live,  criminals 
must  die.f"  That  very  day  all  the  four  were 
seen  hanging  on  one  gallows,  by  the  bridge 
of  St.  Angelo. 

A  young  Transteverine  was  condemned  to 
death  for  having  resisted  the  sbirri  who  at- 
tempted to  take  away  his  ass.  Every  one  was 
filled  with  pity  for  the  poor  lad  as  he  was  led 
weeping  to  the  place  of  execution,  for  so  small 
an  offence  :  his  youth  was  represented  to  tlie 
pope,  who  is  said  to  have  answered,  "  I  will 
add  a  few  years  of  my  life  to  his,"  and  he 
caused  the  sentence  to  be  executed. 

These  first  acts  of  Sixtus  V.  struck  terror 
into  every  one,  and  gave  great  force  to  the 
orders  he  now  issued. 

Barons  and  communes  were  commanded  to 
clear  their  castles  and  towns  of  bandits  : — the 
losses  sustained  at  the  hands  of  the  bandits 
were  to  be  made  good  by  the  lord  or  the  com- 
mune in  whose  jurisdiction  they  occurred. | 

It  had  been  usual  to  set  a  price  on  the  head 

*  Dispaccio,  Priuli,  11  Maggio,  1585.  Speech  of  the 
pope  in  the  consistory.  Disse  di  due  cose  che  lo  trava- 
gliano  la  materia  della  giustilia  e  della  abondantia,  alle 
quale  voleva  attender  con  ogni  cura,  sperando  in  Dio  che 
quando  le  mancassero  li  ajuti  proprii  e  forastieri,  le  man- 
der4  tante  legioni  di  angeli  per  punir  11  malfattori  e 
ribaldi,  et  esorto  li  cardinalidi  non  usarle  loro  franchigie 
nel  dar  recapilo  a  trisli,  deteslando  il  poco  pensier  del 
suo  predecessor.  [He  spoke  of  two  things  that  engaged 
his  attention;  the  administration  of  justice,  and  t!ie  at- 
tainment of  plenty  ;  to  which  he  would  attend  with  all 
diligence,  trusting  in  God,  that  should  his  own  power  and 
other  help  fail  him,  He  would  send  him  legions  of  angels 
to  punish  malefactors  and  reprobates;  and  he  exhorted 
the  cardinals  not  to  employ  their  privileges  in  sheltering 
the  wicked,  expressing  his  detestation  of  his  predecessor's 
jnconsiderateness.] 

tSe  vivo  facinorosis  moriendum  esse. 

t  Bull,  t.  iv.  p.  iv.  p.  137.  Bando,  in  Tempesti  i.  ix. 
p.  14. 


of  a  bandit.  Sixtus  enacted  that  this  should 
no  longer  be  paid  by  the  treasury,  but  the 
bandit's  relations,  or,  if  they  were  insolvent, 
by  the  commune  in  which  he  was  born. 

Besides  thus  obviously  engaging  the  inte- 
rests of  the  lords  of  the  soil,  the  communes, 
and  the  kindred,  in  favour  of  his  purpose,  he 
likewise  sought  to  avail  himself  of  the  ban- 
ditti's own  interests.  He  promised  every  one 
who  should  deliver  up  a  comrade  alive  or  dead, 
pardon  not  only  for  himself,  but  also  for  some 
friends  whom  he  might  name,  and  a  gratuity 
besides  in  money. 

When  these  regulations  had  been  adopted, 
and  a  few  examples  exhibited  of  their  strict 
enforcement,  the  pursuit  of  the  banditti  pre- 
sently assumed  another  appearance. 

It  was  fortunate  that  at  the  very  first  he 
was  successful  with  respect  to  certain  captains 
of  bands. 

The  pope  could  not  rest  for  thinking  thut 
the  priest  Guercino,  who  called  himself  king 
of  Campagna,  and  who  had  once  forbidden  the 
subjects  of  the  bishop  of  Viterbo  to  obey  their 
lord,  was  still  carrying  on  his  practices,  and 
had  just  committed  new  acts  of  plunder. 
Sixtus  prayed,  says  Galesius,  that  God  would 
free  the  states  of  the  church  from  that  robber  : 
on  the  following  morning  news  arrived  that 
Guercino  was  captured.  His  head  was  stuck 
upon  the  bridge  of  St.  Angelo,  decked  witli  a 
gilded  crown ;  the  man  who  brought  it  re- 
ceived his  reward,  two  thousand  scudi ;  the 
people  applauded  his  holiness's  excellent  ad- 
ministration of  justice. 

Della  Fara,  for  all  that,  another  of  these 
banditti,  dared  one  night  to  call  up  the  watch- 
men at  the  Porta  Salara,  and  desired  them  to 
give  his  respects  to  the  pope  and  the  governor. 
Thereupon  Sixtus  commanded  his  kinsmen, 
on  pain  of  death,  to  deliver  him  up.  Before  a 
month  was  passed,  Della  Fara's  head  was 
brought  in. 

At  times  it  was  something  else  than  justice 
that  was  exercised  against  the  banditti. 

Thirty  of  them  had  ensconced  themselves 
on  a  hill  near  Urbino;  the  duke  had  mules 
laden  with  provisions  driven  by  the  place, 
which  the  robbers  failed  not  to  plunder.  But 
the  provisions  were  poisoned,  every  man  of 
the  thirty  died.  On  being  informed  of  this, 
says  a  historian  of  Sixtus  V.,  the  pope  was 
greatly  delighted.* 

A  father  and  son  were  led  to  death  in  Rome, 
although  they  persevered  in  asserting  their 
innocence.  The  mother  placed  herself  in  the 
way;  she  begged  only  for  a  short  respite, 
when  she  could  prove  that  her  husband  and  ■ 
her  son  were  guiltless.  The  senator  denied  I 
her  request.  "  Since  then  you  thirst  for 
blood,"  she  cried,  "  you  shall  have  your  fill  of 


*Memorie  del  Ponteficato  di  SistoV.;  "  Ragguagliato 
Sisto  ne  prese  gran  comento." 


D.  15S5-90.]  SIXTHS  V.  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  ADMINISTRATION.  143 


it,"  and  she  threw  herself  out  of  a  window 
of  the  capitol.  Meanwhile,  the  two  victims 
reached  the  place  of  execution  ;  each  wished 
to  be  the  first  to  die;  the  father  could  not 
bear  to  see  the  death  of  the  son,  the  son  that 
of  the  father :  the  people  shrieked  for  pity ; 
the  savage  executioner  stormed  at  the  useless 
delay. 

No  respect  of  persons  was  observed.  The 
count  Giovanni  Pepoli,  descended  from  one  of 
the  first  families  of  Bologna,  but  who  was 
deeply  implicated  in  the  deeds  of  the  banditti, 
was  stran(>led  in  prison:  all  his  money  and 
estates  were  confiscated  to  the  treasury.  Not 
a  day  passed  without  executions;  every  where 
in  the  woods  and  in  the  open  fields,  stakes 
were  to  be  seen  with  the  heads  of  banditti 
impaled  on  them.  Those  legates  and  gover- 
nors alone  received  the  pope's  encomiums, 
who  satisfied  him  in  this  respect,  and  sent  him 
plenty  of  heads.  There  was  something  of  ori- 
ental barbarism  in  this  kind  of  justice. 

If  there  were  robbers  unreached  by  it,  they 
fell  by  the  hands  of  their  own  comrades.  The 
pope's  promises  had  sowed  disunion  among 
their  bands;  no  one  trusted  a  comrade  ;  they 
murdered  each  other.* 

Thus,  before  a  year  had  passed,  the  troubles 
of  the  Ecclesiastical  States  were  suppressed 
in  their  open  manifestation,  if  not  stifled  at 
their  source.  In  1586  it  was  announced  that 
the  last  leaders,  Montebrandano  and  Arara, 
had  been  put  to  death. 

It  was  a  source  of  great  delight  to  the  pope 
when  ambassadors,  as  they  now  arrived  at  his 
court,  remarked  to  him,  that  in  every  part  of 
his  territory  they  had  passed  through,  they 
had  beheld  a  country  blessed  with  peace  and 
security.! 

Characteristics  of  the  Administration. 

Now  as  the  abuses  combated  by  the  pope 
owed  their  origin  to  other  causes  besides  the 
mere  want  of  vigilant  control,  the  success  too 
of  his  efforts  was  connected  with  other  steps 
that  he  adopted. 

Sixtus  is  sometimes  regarded  as  the  sole 
founder  of  the  internal  system  of  the  Ecclesi- 
astical States :  arrangements  are  attributed 
to  him  tliat  had  existed  long  before  his  day  : 

♦  Disp.  Priuli,  as  early  as  thp  29lh  of  June,  I5S5.  Li 
fuorusciti  s'ammazzano  I'un  I'allro  per  la  provision  del 
novo  breve. 

t  Vila  Sixti  V.  i.  m.  em.  Ea  fjuies  et  tranquillitas,  ut 
in  urbe  vasta,  in  hoc  convenlu  nalionuni,  in  tanta  pere- 
grinorum  adversarumque  colluvie,  iibi  lot  nobilium  su- 
perbae  eminent  opes,  nemo  tarn  tenuis,  lam  abjectae  for- 
tunae  sit  qui  se  nunc  sentiat  cujusquam  injuriae  obnox- 
iuni.  [Such  is  the  peace  and  tranquillity  prevailing,  that 
in  this  great  city,  in  this  assemblage  of  nations,  this  vast 
conflux  of  strangers  and  immigrants,  amidst  all  the  wealth 
and  splendour  of  so  many  nobles,  there  is  no  one,  how- 
ever feeble,  or  however  lowly  his  fortune,  who  need  fear 
vcrong  or  insult  at  the  hand  of  any  man.]  According  to 
Gualterius,  Vita  Sixti  V.,  the  latter  applied  the  text, 
Fugit  irapius  nemine  persequente.  [The  wicked  fleeth 
though  no  man  pursueth.] 


he  is  extolled  as  an  incomparable  master  of 
finance,  a  highly  unprejudiced  statesman,  a 
restorer  of  antiquity.  lie  possessed  a  charac- 
ter that  stamped  itself  upon  the  memories  of 
men,  and  gave  credibility  to  fabulous  and  ro- 
mantic stories. 

But  if  his  administration  was  not  all  it  has 
been  declared  to  have  been,  it  was  assuredly 
very  remarkable. 

In  one  particular  it  was  strongly  contrasted 
with  that  of  Gregory.  The  latter  pope  was 
severe,  decisive,  and  partial  in  his  general 
measures;  special  instances  of  disobedience 
he  overlooked.  The  provocation  he  gave  to 
individual  interests  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
unparalleled  impunity  he  permitted  on  the 
other,  were  the  very  causes  of  the  miserable 
perplexities  he  had  to  endure.  Sixtus,  on  the 
contrary,  was  inexorable  in  special  cases :  he 
insisted  upon  the  enforcement  of  his  laws  with 
a  rigour  that  bordered  upon  cruelty;  whereas 
in  general  measures  we  find  him  mild,  indul- 
gent, and  conciliatory.  Under  Gregory's  rule 
obedience  would  have  profitted  nothing,  nor 
resistance  been  attended  with  any  disadvan- 
tage. Under  Sixtus,  men  had  every  thing  to 
fear  the  moment  they  offered  to  withstand 
him  :  on  the  other  hand,  they  might  reckon  on 
proofs  of  his  favour  when  they  strove  to  please 
him.  Nothing  was  more  efficacious  than  this 
in  promoting  his  views. 

From  the  first  he  let  all  the  bickerings  drop 
in  which  his  predecessor  had  been  involved 
v/ith  his  neighbours  on  account  of  his  eccle- 
siastical pretensions,  declaring  that  it  was 
incumbent  on  the  pope  to  uphold  and  extend 
the  privileges  that  had  been  granted  to  sover- 
eigns. He  restored,  for  instance,  to  the  Mi- 
lanese the  place  in  the  rota  which  Gregory 
XIII.  had  attempted  to  take  from  them.  VVhen 
the  Venetians  at  last  brought  to  light  a  brief 
which  appeared  conclusive  in  favour  of  their 
rights  in  the  afi:air  of  Aquileia,  he  expressed 
his  satisfaction.  He  resolved  to  suppress  the 
offensive  clause  in  the  bull  In  Cosna  Domini, 
and  he  totally  abolished  the  congregation 
concerning  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  from 
which  the  greater  number  of  disputes  had 
originated.*  There  is  certainly  something 
magnanimous  in  voluntarily  foregoing  con- 
tested rights.  He  forthwith  reaped  the  most 
fortunate  fruits  of  this  conduct.  The  king  of 
Spain  announced  to  the  pope,  in  an  autograph 
letter,  that  he  had  enjoined  his  ministers  in 

*  Lorenzo  Priuli,  Relatione,  1586.  E  pontefice  che  non 
cosi  leggiermenteabbraccialequerellecon  principi,anzi 
perfuggirleha  levata  la  congregatione delta giu;isdiUione 
ecclesiastica :  (in  another  place  he  says,  chiefly  with  refer- 
ence to  Spain,)  Estima  di  potereperquesta  via  concluder 
con  maggior  facility  le  cose  e  di  sopportare  con  manco  in- 
dignity quelle  che  saranno  trattate  secrelamenle  da  lui 
solo.  [He  is  a  pope  who  does  not  readily  embark  in  quar- 
rels with  princes  ;  so  to  avoid  these  he  lias  suppressed  the 
congregation  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  whereby  he 
thinks  he  can  more  easily  conduct  his  negotiations,  and 
sustain  with  less  discredit  matters  secretly  managed  by 
himself  alone.] 


144 


COURT  AND  STATE. 


[a.  d.  1585-90. 


Naples  and  Milan  to  obey  the  commands  of 
the  pope  no  less  strictly  than  his  own.  Sixius 
was  moved  to  tears  that  the  greatest  monarcli 
in  the  world  should,  as  he  expressed  himself, 
so  honour  a  poor  monk  like  him.  Tuscany 
manifested  its  devotedness;  Venice  was  satis- 
fied. Those  states  now  adopted  a  new  line 
of  policy.  Banditti  who  had  fled  to  the  neigh- 
bouring frontiers  were  sent  from  all  quarters 
to  the  pope.  Venice  hindered  their  return 
mto  the  ecclesiastical  states,  and  forbade  her 
vessels  to  receive  them  wiien  they  touched  at 
the  Roman  coasts.  The  pope  was  in  raptures 
at  this.  He  said  he  would  remember  it  to  the 
republic ;  lie  would,  such  were  his  words,  suffer 
himself  to  be  flayed  alive  for  her,  he  would  give 
his  blood  for  her.  It  was  in  this  way  he  became 
complete  master  of  the  banditti,  because  tiiey 
no  longer  found  asylum  and  aid  in  any  quarter. 

In  his  own  dominions  likewise  he  kept  far 
aloof  from  the  severe  measures  adopted  by 
Gregory  in  favour  of  the  treasury.  After  he 
had  "banished  the  offending  feudatories,  he 
souo-ht  rather  to  conciliate  the  other  barons 
and'' attach  them  to  himself.  He  bound  the 
two  great  famalies  of  Colonna  and  Orsini  both 
to  his  own  house  and  to  each  other  by  mar- 
riage. Gregory  had  seized  the  castles  of  the 
Cofonnas;  Sixtus  himself  regulated  their 
household  expenditure,  and  made  them  advan- 
ces of  money.*  He  gave  one  of  his  grand-nieces 
to  the  contestabile  AI.  A.  Colonna ;  another  to 
the  duke  of  Virginio  Orsini.  He  bestowed 
the  like  dowry  on  both,  and  very  equal  marks 
of  favour;  and  he  adjusted  their  contending 
claims  for  precedence  by  always  according  it 
to  the  elder  of  either  house.  Donna  Camilla, 
the  pope's  sister,  now  enjoyed  a  position  of 
exalted  dignity,  surrounded  by  her  children, 
by  sons-in-law  of  such  high  birth,  and  by  her 
married  grandchildren. 

Sixtus  took  special  pleasure  in  imparting 
privileges.  The  people  of  the  March,  in  par- 
ticular^had  reason  to  regard  him  as  a  benevo- 
lent fellow-countryman.  He  restored  some 
of  their  ancient  immunities  to  the  inhabitants 
of  Ancona:  he  instituted  a  supreme  tribunal 
in  Macerata  for  the  whole  province,  and  dis- 
tinguished the  college  of  advocates  in  that 
province  by  the  grant  of  new  privileges.  He 
erected  Fermo  into  an  archbishopric,  Tolen- 
tino  into  a  bishopric:  the  little  village  of 
Montalto,  in  which  his  ancestors  had  first 
taken  up  their  abode,  he  raised  by  a  special 
bull  to  the  rank  of  an  episcopal  city ;  "  for," 
said  he,  "  it  gave  our  race  its  fortunate  origin." 
Already  as  cardinal  he  had  founded  a  learned 
school  there,  and  now  as  pope  he  establislied 
in  the  university  of  Bologna  the  college  of 
Montalto  for  fifty  students  from  the  March,^ 
of  whom  Montalto  alone  liad  the  nomination  of 
eight,  and  even  the  little  Grotto  a  Mare  of  two.f 

*  Dispaccio  degli  Ambasciatori  estraordinarii,  19  Ou., 

25  Nov.  1585.  .        .,,  .     r 

+  He  included  Ihe  neighbouring  villages  too,  as  pari  of 


He  resolved  also  to  erect  Loreto  into  a  city. 
Fontana  represented  to  hini  the  difficulties  of 
the  attempt.  "  Don't  give  yourself  any  unea- 
siness, Fontana,"  said  he,  "  I  found  it  harder 
to  make  up  my  mind  to  it  than  I  shall  to 
accomplish  it."  A  part  of  the  land  was  bought 
from  the  inhabitants  of  Recana;  valleys  were 
filled  up,  hills  levelled,  lines  of  streets  were 
marked  out;  the  communes  of  the  March  were 
encouraged  to  build  houses  on  the  spot;  car- 
dinal Gallo  placed  new  civil  authorities  in  the 
holy  chapel.  By  this  measure  the  pope  grati- 
fied at  once  his  patriotism  and  his  devotion  to 
the  blessed  Virgin. 

The  several  towns  of  all  the  other  provinces 
were  likewise  objects  of  his  care.  He  adopt- 
ed means  for  controlling  the  increase  of  their 
debts,  and  set  limits  to  their  alienations  and 
mortgages ;  he  caused  a  strict  inquiry  to  be 
made  into  their  finances,  and  to  his  regula- 
tions was  ascribable  the  gradual  revival  of 
prosperity  among  the  communes.* 

He  every  where  encouraged  agriculture. 
He  undertook  to  drain  the  Chiana  of  Orvieto 
and  the  Pontine  marshes.  The  latter  he  vis- 
ited in  person:  the  Fiume  Sisto,  the  most 
useful  contrivance  with  regard  to  them  until 
the  days  of  Pius  VI.,  owed  its  origin  to  him. 

The  promotion  of  manufactures  was  equally 
an  object  of  his  solicitude.  A  certain  Peter 
of  Valencia,  a  citizen  of  Rome,  had  proposed 
to  establish  the  silk  trade.  The  high  handed 
measure  by  which  the  pope  sought  to  aid  him 
was  highly  characteristic.  He  gave  orders 
that  throughout  his  whole  dominions,  in  every 
garden  and  vineyard,  meadow  and  grove,  hill 
and  valley  where  no  corn  grew,  mulberry-trees 
should  be  planted:  he  fixed  the  number  at  five 
for  every  rubbio  of  land,  threatening  each 
commune  with  a  heavy  fine  in  case  of  non- 
compliance.f     He  also  sought  to  promote  the 


Montalto.  Viti  Sixti  V.  ipsius  manu  emenilata.  Porcu- 
lam,  Patrignorum,  et  Minlenoruni,  quia  Montalto  haud 
ferine  longius  absunt  quam  ad  leli  jactura,  el  crebris  affin- 
itatibus  inter  se  et  cominerciis  reruni  omnium  et  agrorum 
quadam  communitate  conjunguntur,  haud  secus  quam  pa- 
triae partem  Sixtus  fovit  semper  alque  dilexit,  omniaque 
iis  in  commune  est  elargilus,  quo  paulatim  velul  in  unam 
coalescerent  civitalem.  [Porcula,  PatrignoiO,  and  Min- 
lenoro  being  generally  but  a  bow-shot  from  Montalto,  and 
being  all  connected  with  it  by  frequent  intermarriages, 
general  traffic,  and  some  community  of  lands,  were  always 
cherished  and  beloved  by  Sixtus  as  poitions  of  his  native 
place,  and  he  bestowed  all  favours  on  them  in  common, 
to  the  end  that  they  might  gradually  coalece  as  it  were 
into  one  city.] 

*  Gualterius:  Ad  ipsarum  (universitatem)  statum  cog- 
noscendum,  corrigendum,  constituendum,  quinque  cam- 
era aposlolicae  clericos  inisit.  [He  sent  five  members  of 
the  apostolic  chamber  to  inciuire  into  the  state  of  ihra  uni- 
versities, and  to  amend  and  orcanize  them.]  The  Memorie 
also  afford  evidence  of  the  utility  of  these  measures.  Con 
le  quali  provision!  si  diede  principio  a  rehaversi  le  com- 
munilci  dello  stalo  ecclesiastico:  le  quali  pol  de  tulto  ritor- 
norono  in  piedi:  con  quanto  I'istesso  provedimenlo  per- 
feziont)  Clemente  VIII.  [These  arrangements  were  the 
beginnina  of  a  better  condition  of  things  in  the  communi- 
ties of  the  Italian  states,  which  subspqu»nlly  recovered 
themselves  in  general ;  so  mucli  did  Clement  VIII.  com- 
plete the  same  judicious  measures.] 

t  Cum  sicut'accopimus,23  Maii,  1583.  Bull  Cocq.  iv. 
4, 218.  Gualterius  :  Bombicinam,  sericam,  lanificiam,  vi- 
Ireamque  artes  in  urbem  vel  induxitvel  amplificavil.    Ul 


A.  D.  1585-90.] 


SIXTUS  V.     ADMINISTRATION. 


145 


woollen  manufacture,  "  so  that  the  poor,"  as 
he  said,  "  mig-ht  have  the  means  of  earning 
something."  He  aided  the  first  person  wlio 
undertook  the  business  with  funds  from  the 
trea'-ury,  hi  return  for  which  he  was  to  deliver 
a  certam  number  of  pieces  of  cloth. 

It  would  be  unjust  to  the  predecessors  of 
Sixtus  V.  to  attribute  to  him  alone  projects  of 
this  kind.  Pius  V.  and  Gregory  XIII.  like- 
wise tavoured  agriculture  and  manufactures. 
Sixtus  distinguished  himself  not  so  mucli  by 
entering  on  a  new  course,  as  by  the  more 
rapid  and  successful  impetus  he  gave  to  one 
already  begun.  This  it  was  that  fixed  his 
name  in  the  memory  of  men. 

The  assertion  that  he  founded  the  congre- 
gations of  cardinals  must  not  be  taken  in  an 
unqualified  sense.  The  seven  most  important, 
those  regarding  the  inquisition,  the  index,  the 
affairs  of  councils,  the  bishops,  the  monks,  the 
segnatura,  and  the  consulta,  were  already 
establitihed.  Nor  was  the  state  wholly  ne- 
glected in  their  constitution;  the  last  two 
named  embraced  matters  of  justice  and  ad- 
ministration. Sixtus  now  resolved  to  add 
eight  new  congregations  to  those  already 
existing,  of  which,  however,  only  two  were  to 
occupy  themselves  with  ecclesiastical  matters ; 
the  one  with  the  establishment  of  new  bishop- 
rics, the  other  with  the  maintenance  and 
renovation  of  church  usages  :*  the  other  six 
were  intended  to  apply  to  special  branches  of 
administration, — corn  laws,  roads,  repeal  of 
oppressive  taxes,  building  of  ships-of-war,  the 
Vatican  press,  and  the  university  of  Rome.f 
It  is  obvious  with  how  little  regard  to  system 
the  pope  proceeded  in  this;  how  much  alike 
he  dealt  with  permanent  and  transient  inter- 
ests: nevertheless  his  arrangements  worked 
well,  and  have,  with  .slight  modifications  en- 
dured for  centuries. 

He  fixed  a  high  standard  for  the  personal 
character  of  the  cardinals.  They  were  all  to 
be  distinguished  men,  their  morals  exemplary, 
their  words  oracles,  their  judgments  rules  of 
life  and  opinion  for  other  men ;  they  were  to 

vero  serica  ars  frequentoir  esset,  mororum  arborum  SRitii- 
naria  et  pUntaria  per  universam  ecclesiaslicam  ililionem 
fieri  proecepiijob  eamque  rem  Maino,  cuidam  Hebraeo,  ex 
bombicibus  bis  in  anno  fructum  el  sericam  aniplilicalu- 
ruin  sedulo  pollicenii  ac  recipienli,  maxima  privilegia 
impenivil.  [He  introduced  inlo  Ihe  city,  or  extended, 
the  culture  of  silkworms,  and  the  silk,  woollen,  and  glass- 
making  arts.  But  the  silk  trade  being  the  most  in  vogue, 
he  caused  nurseries  and  plantations  of  mulberry- trees  to 
be  made  thioughout  all  the  ecclesiastical  states,  and  for 
the  saiiie  reason  bestowed  vast  privileges  on  a  certain  Jew, 
named  iMain,  who  i)roduced  two  sets  of  cocoons  anntuilly 
from  silk-worms,  and  promised  sedulously  to  enlarge  the 
manufacture  of  silk.] 

*  Congregation  de'  sacri  riti  e  ceremonie  ecclesiastiche, 
dclle  provisioni  consisioriali :  a  questa  voile  appartenesse 
la  CO  rniiione  delle  cause  dell'  ereltione  di  nove  cattedrali. 

f  "So;)ra  alia  grascia  el  annona — sopra  alia  fabrica, 
armamento, e  manienimento  delle  galere— sopra  gli  aggra- 
vi  del  popolo — sopra  le  strade,  acque,  ponti  e  confini — 
sopra  alia  stamperia  Vaticana"  (he  gave  the  first  mana- 
ger of  the  ecclesiastical  press  a  residence  in  Ihe  Vatican, 
and  20,000 scudi,  for  ten  years  |)  "  sopra  I'univwsUi  dello 
studio  Komano." 

19 


be  the  salt  of  the  earth,  the  lights  set  on  the 
candlestick.*  It  must  not  be  imagined,  for 
all  that,  that  on  every  occasion  he  exercised 
the  right  of  nomination  very  conscientiously. 
In  favour  of  Gallo,  whom  he  raised  to  that 
dignity,  he  had  nothing  to  allege  but  that  he 
was  his  servant,  for  whom  he  had  much  rea- 
son to  feel  regard,  and  who  had  once  enter- 
tained him  well  on  a  journey.f  But  even  in 
this  department  he  set  an  example,  which,  if 
subsequently  not  always  followed,  has  yet 
been  generally  kept  in  view.  He  limited  the 
number  of  cardinals  to  seventy,  "as  Moses," 
he  said,  "  chose  out  seventy  elders  from  the 
whole  people  to  take  counsel  with  them." 

The  abolition  of  nepotism  has  not  unfre- 
quently  been  ascribed  to  this  pope:  but  on 
more  close  examination  the  facts  of  the  case 
will  appear  otherwise.  Already,  as  we  have 
seen  under  Pius  IV.,  Pius  V.,  and  Gregory 
XIII.,  the  privileges  of  the  papal  families  had 
become  very  insignificant.  If  special  praise 
is  at  all  due  to  any  of  them  in  this  respect,  it 
is  to  Pius  v.,  who  expressly  forbade  the  alien- 
ation of  church  lands.  As  we  have  already 
said,  the  old  system  of  nepotism  had  ceased 
before  the  reign  of  Sixtus  V.,  but  another 
form  grew  up  under  the  popes  of  the  succeed- 
ing century.  There  were  always  two  favour- 
ed nephews  or  kinsmen,  of  whom  the  one, 
being  raised  to  the  cardinalate,  was  entrusted 
with  the  supreme  administration  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal and  political  affairs ;  the  other  a  layman,  con- 
tracting a  wealthy  marriage,  endowed  with 
lands  and  ''  luoghi  di  monte,"  established  a  ma- 
jorat, and  laid  the  foundation  of  a  princely 
house.  If  we  inquire  when  this  form  of  nepo- 
tism first  arose,  we  find  that  it  grew  up  gradual- 
ly, but  that  it  reached  its  maturity  under  Sixtus 
V.  Cardinal  Montalto,  whom  the  pope  tender- 
ly loved,  so  that  he  even  bridled  his  natural 
impetuosity  with  regard  to  him,  was  admitted 
into  the  consulta,  and  had  at  least  a  share  in 
foreign  affairs  :  his  brother  Miciiele  was  made 
a  marquis,  and  founded  a  wealthy  house. 

It  would,  however,  be  a  capital  mistake  to 
suppo.se  that  Sixtus  had  thus  introduced  a  sys- 
tem of  governing  by  nepotism.  The  marquis 
had  no  influence  whatever,  and  the  cardinal 
none  at  least  of  any  importance.];  It  would 
have  been  quite  at  variance  with  the  habits 
of  mind  of  Sixtus  to  have  allowed  them  any. 


*  Bulla:  Postquam  varus  ille,  3  Dec.  1586.    Bullar.  M. 

iv.  4.  279. 

t  Though  Sixtus  would  not  endure  any  other  form  of 
contradiction,  he  had  to  bear  with  that  of  the  pulpit.  The 
Jesuit  Francis  Toledo  said  in  a  sermon,  in  allusion  to  this 
subject  that  it  was  sinful  to  bestow  a  public  appointment 
in  requital  for  private  services.  "  Non  perche,"  he  went 
on  to  say,  "  una  sia  buon  coppiere  o  scalco,  gli  si  conimette 
sr^nza  nota  d'iniprudenza  o  un  vescovato  o  un  cardinal- 
alo."  [It  is  not  because  a  man  is  a  good  cupbearer  or 
carver,  that  he  may  be  safely  entrusted  with  a  bislw>pric 
ora  cardinilate.]  Gallo  had  been  head-cooli.  (Mtfmorie 
della  vita  di  Sisto  V.) 

t  Bcnti voglio,  Memorie,  p.  90.  Noa  aveva  qusai, alctuia 
parlecipatione  nel  governo. 


146 


COURT  AND  STATE. 


[a.  d.  1585-90. 


There  was  something'  cordial  and  unaffected 
in  his  marks  of  favour ;  they  laid  a  foundation 
of  good-will  for  him  in  the  minds  of  the  public 
and  of  individuals  :  but  he  never  surrendered 
the  helm  to  another  hand,  he  always  g-overn- 
ed  for  himself.  Much  as  he  seemed  to  favour 
the  congregations,  much  as  he  even  invited  to 
freedom  of  speech,  he  nevertheless  always 
betrayed  impatience  and  petulence  the  mo- 
ment any  one  availed  himself  of  the  permis- 
sion.* He  always  obstinately  carried  out  his 
own  will.  "  With  him,"  says  Giov.  Gritti, 
"hardly  any  one  has  a  counselling',  not  to 
say  a  deciding  voice."f  Even  in  all  those  acts 
of  favour  to  individuals  and  provinces  to  which 
we  have  alluded,  his  administration  maintained 
a  determined,  rigid,  and  arbitrary  character. . 
This  was  no  where  more  strongly  exhibited 
than  in  the  department  of  finance. 

Finances. 

The  Chigi  family  in  Rome  are  in  posses- 
sion of  a  small  autograph  memorandum-book 
of  Sixtus  V.  which  he  kept  when  a  monk. J 
This  document  possesses  great  interest.  The 
writer  has  carefully  noted  down  in  it  every 
thing  of  moment  that  occurred  to  him  during 
his  life,  the  places  he  preached  in  every  Lent, 
the  commissions  he  received  and  discharged, 
even  tiie  hooks  he  possessed,  which  of  them 
were  single,  which  bound  up  together,  and, 
finally,  all  the  petty  details  of  his  monkish 
economy.  We  read  in  it,  for  instance,  how 
his  brother-in-law,  Baptista,  bought  twelve 
sheep  for  him ;  how  he,  the  friar,  paid  for 
them,  first  twelve,  then  again  two  florins 
twenty  bolognins,  so  that  they  became  his 
own  property :  his  brother-in-law  kept  them 
by  him  upon  the  terms,  usual  in  Montalto,  of 
half  profits.  In  this  way  it  goes  on  through- 
out. We  see  how  he  nursed  his  little  savings, 
how  carefully  he  kept  account  of  them,  and 
how  they  gradually  grew  into  an  amount  of 
some  two  hundred  florins.  W-'e  trace  this 
little  history  with  pleasure  and  sympathy;  it 
exhibits  the  same  economical  temper  which 
this  Franciscan  shortly  afterwards  brought  to 
bear  on  the  administration  of  the  popedom. 
His  frugality  was  a  quality  of  which  he  boast- 
ed in  every  bull  that  allowed  him  any  oppor- 
tunity thereto,  and  in  many  inscriptions.     In 


*  Guallerius :  Tametsi  congregationibus  aliisque  negotia 
mandaret,  ilia  tamei)  ipsa  cognoscere  atque  conficere  con- 
suevil.  Diligenlja  incredibilis  sciendi  cognoscendique 
omnia  qua  a  recloribus  urbis,  provinciarum,  populorum 
omnium,  a  ceteris  niagislralibus  sedis  apostolicae  ageban- 
tur.  [Although  he  referred  matters  to  the  congregations 
and  to  others,  it  was  nevertheless  his  custom  to  take  cc- 
nizance  of  them,  aijd  to  e.xecute  them  himself.  It  is  in- 
credible with  what  zeal  he  investigated  all  the'procecdines 
of  the  administralorg  of  the  city,  the  provinces,  and  of  all 
the  nations,  as  well  as  that  of  ilie  other  magistrates  of  the 
apostolic  see.] 

t  Ghitti,  Relatione :  Non  ci  d  chi  abbi  con  lui  voto  deci- 
livo,  ma  quasi  ne  anche  consultivo. 

t  Memoire  auiografe  di  papa  Si»io  V. 


truth,  no  pope  before  or  since  his  times  ad- 
ministered the  revenues  of  his  states  with  so 
much  success. 

On  ascending  the  throne  he  found  the 
treasury  utterly  exhausted  :  he  complains  bit- 
terly of  pope  Gregory,  who  had  squandered  a 
considerable  part  of  the  revenues  both  of  his 
predecessor  and  his  successor.*  He  conceived 
so  bad  an  opinion  of  him,  that  he  once  ordered 
masses  to  be  said  for  his  soul,  having  dreamed 
that  he  beheld  his  punishment  in  the  other 
world.  The  revenues  were  pledged  in  ad- 
vance up  to  the  following  October. 

He  therefore  applied  himself  the  more  sed- 
ulously to  the  task  of  replenishing  the  public 
coffers,  and  in  this  he  succeeded  beyond  all 
expectation.  By  the  close  of  his  first  year  in 
the  papacy,  in  April,  1586,  he  had  already 
amassed  a  million  of  gold  scudi,  a  second  in 
November,  1587,  and  in  April,  1588  a  third ; 
an  amount  in  all  equivalent  to  upwards  of 
four  and  a  half  millions  of  silver  scudi. 
When  he  had  got  together  the  first  million, 
he  deposited  it  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo, 
dedicating  it,  as  he  expressed  himself,  to  the 
holy  virgin  Mary,  the  mother  of  God,  and  to 
the  holy  apostles  Peter  and  Paul.  "  He 
casts  his  eyes,"  he  says  in  one  of  his  bulls, 
"  not  alone  over  the  billows  on  which  Peter's 
little  bark  is  now  sometimes  tossed,  but  upon 
the  storms,  likewise,  that  threaten  from  afar. 
The  rancour  of  the  heretics  is  implacable;  the 
powerful  Turk,  Assur,  the  rod  of  God's  wrath, 
threatens  the  faithful.  By  that  God  on  whom 
he  relies  in  these  perils,  he  is  also  taught  that 
the  fiither  of  the  household  must  watch  by 
night.  He  follows  the  example  of  the  Old 
Testament  fathers,  by  whom  a  large  sum  of 
money  was  always  kept  in  the  temple  of  the 
Lord."  He  fixed,  as  is  well  known,  the  contin- 
gencies under  which  alone  it  should  be  allowa- 
ble to  have  recourse  to  that  fund.  They  are  as 
follows  :  the  undertaking  of  war  for  the  con- 
quest of  the  Holy  Land,  or  of  a  general  cam- 
paign against  the  Turks ;  the  occurrence  of 
famine  or  pestilence ;  manifest  danger  of 
losing  a  province  of  catholic  Christendom ; 
hostile  invasion  of  the  states  of  the  church ; 
the  possibility  of  reconquering  a  city  belonging 
to  the  Roman  see.  He  pledged  his  successors 
to  these  terms,  under  penalty  of  God's  wrath, 
and  that  of  the  holy  apostles  Peter  and  Paul.* 

*  Vita  e  success)  del  cardinal  di  Santaseverina.  MS. 
Bibl.  Alb.  Mentre  glj  parlavo  del  coUegio  de'  neofiti  e  di 
quel  degli  Arnieni,  che  avevano  bjsogno  di  soccorso,  mi 
rispose  con  qualche  alteratione,  che  in  castello  non  vi 
erano  danari  e  che  non  vi  erano  entrata ;  che  il  papa  pas- 
sato  havea  mangiato  il  pontificato  di  Pio  V.  e  sue,  dolen- 
dosi  acremente  dello  stato  nel  quale  haveva  trovato  la 
sede  apostolica.  [When  I  spoke  to  him  of  the  college  of 
the  neophytes,  and  of  that  of  the  Armenians,  which  wers 
in  want  of  assistance,  he  answered  with  some  irritation, 
that  there  was  no  money  in  the  castle,  and  that  there  was 
no  revenue  ;  for  the  last  pope  had  squandered  the  income 
of  Pius  V. 'a  pontificate  and  his  loo;  and  he  complained 
bitterly  of  the  condition  in  which  he  had  found  the  apos- 
tolic see.] 

*  Ad  clavum :  21  Apr.  1585.    Cocq.  ir.  ir.  206. 


A.  D.  1585-90.] 


SIXTUS  V.    FINANCES. 


147 


We  will  leave  the  utility  of  these  regula- 
tions for  the  present  untouched,  and  inquire 
into  the  means  Sixtus  employed  to  gather  to- 
gether wealth  so  prodigious  tor  those  days. 

It  was  not  tlie  product  of  the  direct  revenue 
of  the  papal  see.  Sixtus  liinisclf  often  said 
that  this  did  not  exceed  200,000  scudi.* 

Neither  is  it  to  be  considered  as  the  imme- 
diate fruit  of  his  savings.  He  did  practice 
retrenchment  indeed,  limited  the  expenses  of 
his  table  to  six  paoli  a  day,  abolished  many 
useless  places  at  court,  and  reduced  the  num- 
ber of  his  troops ;  but  we  have  the  testimony 
ofDelfinothe  Venetian,  that  all  this  did  not 
reduce  the  outgoings  of  the  treasury  by  more 
than  150,000  scudi.  JSixtus  himself  once  cal- 
culated the  retrenchments  for  which  the 
treasury  was  indebted  to  him  at  only  146,000 
scudi.f 

And  thus,  by  his  own  declaration,  with  all 
his  economy,  his  direct  income  amounted  only 
to  350,000  scudi.  This  was  hardly  enough 
for  the  buildings  he  erected,  much  less  tor 
amassing  so  enormous  a  treasure. 

We  have  already  considered  the  singular 
system  of  finance  established  in  this  state,  the 
continual  increase  of  taxes  and  burdens  with- 
out any  augmentation  in  the  net  revenue,  the 
multiplicity  of  loans  by  sale  of  offices  and  by 
monti,  the  growing  incumbrances  of  the  state 
for  sake  of  the  church.  The  many  evils  at- 
tending this  system  are  manifest  and  glaring; 
and  when  we  hear  of  the  praises  so  liberally 
bestowed  on  Sixtus  V.,  we  are  naturally  dis- 
posed to  conjecture  that  he  put  an  end  to 
these  mischiefs.  What  is  our  astonishment 
then,  to  find  that,  on  the  contrary,  he  actually 
pursued  the  self-same  course  in  the  most  reck- 
less manner,  and  established  this  system  on 
such  a  basis  as  put  it  forever  beyond  the  reach 
of  control ! 

One  of  his  most  considerable  sources  of 
profit  was  the  sale  of  places.  In  the  first 
place,  he  raised  the  price  of  many  that  were 
already  used  to  be  sold.  The  price,  for  in- 
stance, of  a  treasurership  of  the  camera  had 
been  fixed  at  15,000  scudi:  he  sold  tliis,  first, 
to  a  Giustiniani  for  50,000  scudi;  then  on  the 
latter  being  made  cardinal,  he  sold  it  to  a 
Pepoli  for  72,000  scudi;  and  on  the  advance 
of  Pepoli  to  the  purple,  he  lopped  oft'  a  full 
half,  5,000  scudi,  from  the  income  of  the  of- 
fice, which  he  applied  to  a  monti ;  the  office 
thus  shorn  he  still  disposed  of  for  50,000  gold 
scudi.     In  the   second   place  he   began   the 


practice  of  selling  offices  that  before  had 
always  been  conferred  gratuitously,  such  as 
notariates,  fiscalates,  the  places  of  conunie- 
sioner-general,  of  solicitor  to  the  camera,  and 
advocate  of  the  poor,  often  for  considerable 
sums;  the  post  of  commissioner-general  for 
20,000  scudi,  the  notariate  for  30,000  scudi. 
Lastly,  he  created  a  multitude  of  new  offices, 
some  of  them  very  considerable  ;  a  treasurer- 
ship  of  tiie  dataria,  a  prefecture  of  the  prisons, 
twenty-four  refendaryships,  two  hundred  ca- 
valierships,  and  notariates  in  the  chief  places 
of  the  states, — every  one  of  these  he  sold. 

Undoubtedly  he  amassed  large  sums  in  this 
way :  the  sale  of  offices  brought  him  in 
608,510  gold  scudi,  and  401,805  silver,  mak- 
ing together  near  a  million  and  a  half  silver 
scudi  :*  but  if  the  sale  of  places  had  been  al- 
ready a  fruitful  source  of  mischief  to  the  state, 
occasioning,  as  we  have  shown,  a  portioning 
out,  on  the  principle  of  a  loan,  of  the  rights  of 
government, — rights  which  were  for  that 
very  reason  enforced  with  the  utmost  rigour 
against  those  who  were  liable  to  pay,  while 
the  duties  of  the  several  offices  were  quite 
neglected, — how  vastly  was  the  evil  now  in- 
creased !  It  came,  as  we  have  said,  wholly 
to  this,  that  every  office  was  regarded  as  a 
property  which  conferred  rights,  not  as  an 
obligation  which  exacted  labour. 

But;  furthermore,  Sixtus  made  an  extraor- 
ditary  augmentation  of  the  number  of  monti, 
instituting  three  more  monti  non  vacabili,  and 
eight  more  monti  vacabili,  than  any  one  of  his 
predecessors. 

We  have  seen  that  the  monti  were  always 
founded  of  necessity  on  new  taxes.  Sixtus  V., 
too,  found  no  other  means  of  effecting  them, 
though  he  was  averse  to  it  at  first.  The  first 
time  he  spoke  in  the  consistory  of  an  investment, 
cardinal  Farnese  remarked,  in  objection  to  his 
proposal,  that  his  grandfather,  Paul  III.,  had  en- 
tertained the  same  intention,  but  had  seen  that 
it  could  not  be  effected  without  an  augmenta- 
tion of  imposts,  and  had  therefore  abandoned 
it.  Sixtus  turned  fiercely  upon  him  ;  the  hint 
that  a  former  pope  had  been  wiser  than  him- 
self set  him  in  a  rage.  "  That  was,"  he  re- 
torted, "  because  in  the  days  of  pope  Paul  III. 
there  were  certain  great  spendthrifts,  who, 
thank  God,  do  not  exist  in  ours."  Farnese 
coloured  up,  and  held  his  peace.f  Things 
turned  out,  however,  as  he  had  predicted.  In 
the  year  1587,  Sixtus  threw  aside  all  conside- 


♦  Dispaccio,  Gritti,  7  Giuino,  1586.  The  pope  finds 
fault  with  Henry  III.  because  with  fourteen  millions  of 
revenue  he  saved  nothing.  Con  addur  I'essempio  di  se 
medesiino  nel  governo  del  pontificalo,  chedice  non  haver 
di  netlo  piu  di  200,000  sc.  all' anno,  baltuti  li  interressi  de' 

Eonletici  passati  e  le  spese  che  convien  fare.     [Adducing 
is  own  e.vample  in  the  administration  of  the  popedom, 
the  nel  annual  income  of  which  was  no  more,  he  said, 
than  200,000  scudi,  deducting  the  interest  payable  on 
account  of  former  popes,  and  the  incidental  expenses.] 
■j-  Dispaccio,  Badoer,  2  Gius;io,  15S9. 


♦  Calculation  in  a  circumstantial  MS.  on  the  Roman 
finances  under  Clement  VIII.    (Bibl.  Barberina  in  Rome.) 

tMemorie  del  Pontificato  di  Sisto  V.  Mulatosi  per 
lanto  nel  volto  mentre  Farnese  parlava,  irato  piu  tosto 
che  grave  gli  risposse:  Non  6  maraviglio,  Monsignore, 
che  a  tempo  di  vostro  avo  non  si  poiesse  mettere  in  opera 
il  disegno  di  far  tesoro  per  lo  chiesa  con  Tenlraie  a  pro- 
venli  ordinarii,  perche  vi  erano  di  molli  e  grandi  sciala- 
(juatori  (a  word  he  was  very  fond  of),  i  quali  non  sono,  Dio 
gratia,  a  tempi  nostri ;  nolando  am.iramcnte  la  moltitu- 
dine  di  fisli  e  fis^lie  e  nepoli  d'ogni  sorle  di  queslo  ponte- 
fice.    Arrossi  alquanto  a  quel  dire  Farnese  e  lacque. 


148 


COURT  AND  STATE. 


[a.  d.  1585-90. 


rations  of  prudence.  He  imposed  new  taxes 
on  the  most  laborious  callings,  such,  for  in- 
stance, as  that  of  towing  vessels  up  the  Tiber 
with  oxen  and  horses,  and  on  the  most  indis- 
pensable necessaries  of  life,  as  firewood  and 
the  pint  of  wine  in  retail,  and  immediately 
founded  new  monti  with  the  proceeds.  He 
debased  the  coinage,  and  as  a  petty  money- 
changing  trade  started  up  in  consequence  at 
every  corner  of  the  streets,  he  turned  even 
that  to  account,  by  selling  licenses  to  carry  it 
on.*  Much  as  he  favoured  the  March,  he 
nevertheless  burdened  the  commerce  of  An- 
cona  with  an  additional  two  per  cent,  on  its 
imposts.  He  forced  the  infant  manufactures 
of  his  states  to  afford  him  at  least  an  indirect 
advantage.!  In  these  and  other  similar  ope- 
rations, his  constant  adviser  was  a  Portuguese 
Jew  named  Lopez,  who  had  fled  his  country 
to  escape  the  inquisition,  and  who  succeeded 
in  ingratiating  himself  with  the  datary,  with 
Signora  Camilla,  and  at  last  with  the  pope 
himself.  After  the  manner  in  which  Farnese 
had  been  so  summarily  put  down,  not  a  cardi- 
nal dared  to  offer  a  word  of  objection.  When 
the  tax  on  wine  was  talked  of,  Albano  of  Ber- 
gamo said,  "  I  approve  of  all  your  holiness 
proposes ;  but  my  approbation  would  be  still 
greater  if  your  holiness  disliked  this  tax." 

In  this  way  Sixlus  contrived  so  great  an 
addition  to  his  revenues,  that  he  was  able  to 
take  up  a  loan  on  monti  of  two  and  a  half 
millions  of  scudi  (accurately  2,424,725)  and 
to  pay  interest  thereon. 

It  must  be  owned,  however,  that  there  is 
something  incomprehensible  in  such  a  system 
cl political  economy. 

New  and  doubtless  very  oppressive  burdens 
were  imposed  on  the  country  by  the  new  tax- 
es and  by  the  multitude  of  places;  the  emol- 
uments of  the  latter  were  made  to  depend  on 
perquisites,  a  system  most  fitted  to  embarrass 
the  course  of  justice  and  of  the  administra- 
tion ;  the  taxes  were  imposed  on  trade,  whole- 
sale and  retail,  and  could  not  but  impair  its 
activity.  And  to  what  end,  after  all,  was  the 
money  thus  raised  applied  '! 

If  we  reckon  up  the  total  proceeds  of  monti 
and  offices,  we  shall  find  them  amount  to 
about  the  sum  that  was  locked  up  in  the  cas- 
tle of  St.   Angelo,   four  and  a   half  million 

*For  an  old  giulio,  besides  ten  bajocchi  of  the  coin  of 
Sixtus,  there  was  given  a  premium  of  from  four  to  six 
quatrini. 

t  A  good  example  of  his  administration.  Le  Stesse  Me- 
morie:  Ordini)  nun  si  vendessi^  seta  o  sciolta  o  lessiita  in 
drappi  n6  lana  o  panni,  se  non  approbati  da  officiali  cre- 
ali  a  tel  efFello,  n6  si  pstracssero  senza  licenza  decli  stes- 
si :  inventione  utile  contro  alle  fraudi,  ma  molio  piu  in 
pro  della  camero,  perche  pagandosi  i  srgni  e  le  licenze 
se  n'imborsava  gran  danaro  dal  pontificp.  [He  enacted 
that  no  silk,  raw  or  woven,  nor  wool  or  cloths,  should  be 
sold  without  the  approval  of  officers  aj)]  ointed  to  that 
end,  nor  be  admitted  to  market  without  license  from 
them;  an  expedient  serviceable  against  fraud,  but  still 
more  so  in  favour  of  the  treasury,  because  the  fees  on  stamps 
and  licens'  s  brought  the  pope  in  a  great  deal  of  money.] 
This  could  not  have  been  very  beneficial  to  trade. 


scudi,  not  much  more.  All  the  undertakings 
by  which  this  pope  acquired  renown,  he  might 
have  accomplished  out  of  the  amount  of  his 
savings. 

To  collect  and  hoard  up  superfluous  reve- 
nues is  an  intelligible  proceeding:  to  raise 
loans,  in  order  to  meet  present  necessities,  is 
in  the  common  course  of  things;  but  to  raise 
loans,  and  impose  burdens,  in  order  to  lock  up 
funds  for  future  necessities  in  a  fortified  cas- 
tle, is  in  the  highest  degree  extraordinary. 

Yet  this  is  the  very  thing  which  posterity 
have  always  most  admired  in  Sixtus  V. 

It  is  true  there  was  something  odious  and 
tyrannical  in  the  measures  of  Gregory  XIII., 
and  their  reaction  was  very  pernicious.  Nev- 
ertheless, I  am  inclined  to  think,  that  had  he 
succeeded  in  rendering  the  papal  treasury  in- 
dependent for  the  future  both  of  new  taxes 
and  of  loans,  the  result  would  have  been  high- 
ly beneficial,  and  the  condition  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical states  would  probably  have  become 
much  more  prosperous. 

But  Gregory  lacked,  especially  in  his  latter 
years,  the  strength  to  carry  out  his  projects. 

That  practical  and  effective  strength  was 
precisely  the  distinguishing  quality  of  Sixtus. 
His  accumulation  of  treasure,  by  Jo:ins,  sales 
of  offices,  and  new  taxes,  heaped  burden  upon 
burden :  we  shall  see  the  consequences  to 
which  this  led ;  but  its  success  dazzled  the 
world,  and  for  the  moment  did  really  give  the 
papacy  new  importance. 

Surrounded  by  states  that  for  the  most  part 
were  scant  of  money,  the  popes  enjoyed 
through  their  possession  of  treasure  a  great 
confidence  in  themselves,  and  a  higher  conse- 
quence in  the  eyes  of  others. 

In  fact,  this  scheme  of  administration  was 
essentially  part  of  the  catholic  system  of  those 
times. 

That  system,  by  committing  all  the  finan- 
cial power  of  the  state  to  the  head  of  the 
church,  first  made  it  completely  an  organ  of 
spiritual  power.  For  to  what  other  purpose 
could  this  money  be  applied,  than  to  the  de- 
fence and  dissemination  of  the  catholic  tJiith'? 

Sixtus  V.  passed  his  whole  life  in  projects 
to  that  end  ;  sometimes  directed  against  the 
East  and  the  Turks,  more  frequently  against 
the  West  and  the  Protestants.  A  war  broke 
out  between  the  two  systems,  the  catholic 
and  the  protestant,  in  which  the  popes  took 
the  most  earnest  part. 

We  shall  treat  of  this  in  the  following  book. 
For  the  present  we  shall  dwell  a  little  longer 
on  Rome,  which  once  more  made  her  milu- 
ence  felt  by  the  whole  world. 

Architectural  Enterprises  of  Sixtus  V. 

For  the  third  time,  Rome  now  assumed  in 
externa!  appearance,  as  well  as  intrinsically, 
the  aspect  of  a  capital  of  the  world. 


A.  D.  1585-90.]    ARCHITECTURAL  ENTERPRISES  OF  SIXTUS  V. 


149 


We  know  the  pomp  and  magnitude  of  an- 
cient Rome  :  its  ruins  and  its  lii.stury  have 
been  explored  in  every  direction,  to  bring  its 
image  before  our  imagination.  The  Rome  of 
the  middle  ages,  too,  might  well  be  the  ob- 
ject of  a  similar  diligence.  It,  too,  was  a  no- 
ble city,  with  its  majestic  basilicae  ;  its  grotto 
and  catacomb  worship  ;  its  patriarchal  tem- 
ples of  the  popes,  in  which  were  preserved 
the  monuments  of  the  earliest  Christianity  ; 
the  still  splendid  imperial  palace,  which  be- 
longed to  the  German  kings ;  and  the  fort- 
resses erected  by  independent  races  in  defi- 
ance of  the  numerous  powers  around  them. 

During  the  absence  of  the  popes  in  Avig- 
non, this  Rome  of  the  middle  ages  fell  equal- 
ly into  decay  with  the  long-ruined  Rome  of 
antiquity. 

When  Eugenius  IV.  returned  thither  in 
1443,  it  was  become  a  town  of  cowherds :  its 
inhabitants  differed  in  nothing  from  the  pea- 
sants and  herds  of  the  surrounding  country. 
The  hills  had  long  been  abandoned,  the  dwel- 
lings were  all  accumulated  in  the  plain  along 
the  windings  of  the  Tiber  ;  there  was  no  pave- 
ment in  the  narrow  streets,  which  were  fur- 
ther darkened  by  the  projecting  balconies  and 
bowed  windows,  that  almost  met  from  side  to 
side ;  cattle  were  seen  strolling  about  as  in  a 
village.  From  San  Silvestro  to  the  Porta 
del  Popolo  there  was  nothing  but  gardens  and 
morasses,  the  resort  of  wild  ducks.  The  very 
memory  of  antiquity  had  almost  vanished. 
The  capitol  was  become  the  Goat's  Mountain, 
the  Forum  Romanum  the  Cowfield ;  the 
strangest  legends  were  attached  to  some  mon- 
uments that  still  remained.  St.  Peter's 
church  was  in  danger  of  falling  down. 

When  at  last  Nicholas  once  more  comman- 
ded the  alleg-iance  of  all  Christendom,  and 
had  become  rich  through  the  contributions  of 
the  pilgrims  that  flocked  in  shoals  to  Rome 
on  the  occasion  of  the  jubilee,  he  conceived 
the  idea  of  so  adorning  Rome  with  buildings, 
that  every  one  who  beheld  it  should  be  im- 
pressed with  the  feeling  that  it  was  indeed 
tlie  capital  of  the  world. 

To  bring  this  about  was  not,  however,  a 
work  for  one  man.  The  succeedmg  popes 
laboured  at  it  for  centuries. 

I  will  not  recapitulate  all  their  exertions, 
accounts  of  which  may  be  found  in  their  seve- 
ral biographies.  The  most  remarkable,  both 
for  their  consequences  and  their  mutual  con- 
trasts, were  the  epochs  of  Julius  II.  and  Six- 
tus  V. 

Under  Julius  II.  the  lower  city  on  the  banks 
of  the  Tiber,  whither  it  had  withdrawn  itself, 
was  completely  renovated.  After  Sixtus  IV. 
had  made  a  better  connexion  between  the  two 
opposite  banks  of  the  river  by  that  simple  and 
substantial  bridge  of  travertine,  which  to  this 
day  bears  his  name,  building  v.'as  carried  on 
on  both  sides  with  great  spirit.  On  the  south- 


ern side  Julius  did  not  content  himself  with 
undertaking  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  which 
rose  majestically  under  his  direction,  but  also 
renewed  the  Vatican  palace.  In  the  depres- 
sion between  the  old  edifice  and  the  country- 
seat  of  Innocent  VIII.,  the  Belvedere,  he  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  Loggie,  one  of  the  best- 
designed  works  in  existence.  Not  far  from 
thence  his  kinsmen  the  Riari,  and  his  trea- 
surer Agostino  Chigi,  vied  for  the  fame  of 
erecting  the  more  beautiful  dwelling.  Chigi 
undoubtedly  deserves  the  palm  :  his  building 
was  the  Farnesina,  admirable  indeed  in  its 
construction,  but  incomparably  enhanced  by 
the  beauties  bestowed  on  it  by  Raphael's 
hand.  On  the  north  side  we  owe  to  Julius 
II.  the  completion  of  the  Cancellaria,  withit3 
cortile,  constructed  in  chaste  and  happily- 
conceived  proportions,  the  most  beautiful 
court  in  the  world.  His  cardinals  and  barons 
emulated  his  example  :  Farnese,  whose  palace 
has  been  regarded  for  its  magnificent  entrance 
as  the  most  perfect  in  Rome  ;  Francesco  di 
Rio,  who  boasted  of  his  own,  that  it  would 
stand  till  tortoises  crawled  over  the  face  of 
the  earth  ;  the  Medici,  whose  house  was  filled 
with  treasures  of  art  and  literature  of  all 
kinds;  and  the  Orsini,  adorned  their  palace 
on  Campofiore  with  statues  and  pictures  with- 
in and  without*  The  remains  of  that  inter- 
esting period,  when  men  so  boldly  rivalled 
antiquity,  all  round  Campofiore  and  the  Piaz- 
za Farnese,  do  not  always  meet  from  the 
stranger  the  attention  they  deserve.  Here 
all  was  emulation,  genius,  fertility  ;  a  period 
of  universal  prospenty.  As  the  population 
augmented,  buildings  were  erected  on  the 
Campo  Marzo,  round  the  mausoleum  of  Au- 
gustus. These  increased  still  more  under 
Leo,  but  even  Julius  found  occasion  to  lay 
out  the  Lungara  on  the  south  side,  and  oppo- 
site it,  on  the  north,  the  Strada  Julia.  The 
inscription  is  still  to  be  seen,  in  which  the 
Conservatori  publish  to  his  fame,  that  he  had 
laid  out  and  opened  new  streets  "  proportion- 
ed to  the  majesty  of  his  newly-acquired  sove- 
reignty." 

The  plague,  and  the  sack  of  the  city,  a^ain 
diminished  the  population ;  the  commotions 
under  Paul  IV.  also  did  great  damage  :  it  did 
not  recover  for  some  time  after,  when  the 
number  of  the  inhabitants  began  to  keep  pace 
with  the  augmenting  obedience  of  the  Catho- 
lic world. 

Already  Pius  IV.  contemplated  building 
again  on  the  abandoned  hills.  He  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  palace  of  the  Conservatori 
on  the  Capitoline  ;  on  the  Viminal,  Michael 
Angelo  erected  for  him  the  church  of  Santa 
Maria  degli  Angeli  out  of  the  ruins  of  the 


*  Opusculum  de  Minibilibus  novae  n  veteris  urbis  Ro- 
nise  piliium  a  Francisco  Albenino,  1015,  especially  in  the 
second  part,  De  nova  Urbe. 


150 


COURT  AND  STATE. 


[a.  d.  1585-90. 


baths  of  Dioclesian;  the  Porta  Pia  on  the 
Quirinal  bears  his  mark  to  this  day,*  Gre- 
gory XIII.  also  built  on  this  spot. 

But  these  were  all  vain  efforts  so  long  as 
the  hills  were  destitute  of  water. 

Here  it  was  that  Sixtus  V.  achieved  for 
himself  a  fame  surpassing  that  of  all  other 
popes,  rivalling  the  old  Caesars  in  supplying 
the  city's  want  of  water  by  means  of  colossal 
aqueducts.  He  did  so,  he  said,  "that  those 
hills,  adorned  in  early  Christian  times  with 
basilicas,  distinguished  for  the  salubrity  of 
their  air,  their  pleasing  situation  and  agree- 
able prospects,  might  again  become  inhabit- 
ed." "  Therefore,"  he  adds,  "  we  have  not 
suffered  ourselves  to  be  deterred  by  any  diffi- 
culty or  any  cost."  Indeed,  he  told  the  archi- 
tects from  the  first,  that  he  desired  to  have  a 
work  that  should  bear  comparison  with  the 
splendour  of  imperial  Rome.  He  brought  the 
Aqua  Martia  from  the  Agro  Colonna  to  Rome, 
a  distance  of  tvvo-and-twenty  miles,  in  defi- 
ance of  all  obstacles,  carrying  it  partly  under 
ground,  partly  on  lofty  arches.  With  great 
satisfaction  the  pope  at  last  saw  a  stream  of 
this  water  gush  into  his  own  vineyard  :  he 
carried  it  still  further  to  the  Quirinal;  he 
called  it  after  his  own  name  Aqua  Felice ; 
and  it  was  with  no  little  self-complacency  he 
had  a  statue  set  up  by  the  fountain  represent- 
ing Moses  in  the  act  of  striking  water  from 
the  rock  with  his  staff. f 

This  work  was  of  vast  advantage  to  the 
neighbourhood,  and  to  the  whole  city.  The 
Aqua  Fontana  furnishes  20,.537  cubic  metres 
of  water  every  twenty-four  hours,  and  feeds 
twenty-seven  fountains. 

Building  was  now  actively  resumed  on  the 
hills,  and  enterprise  was  encouraged  by  the 
grant  of  peculiar  privileges.  He  levelled  the 
ground  about  Trinita  de'  Monti,  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  steps  to  the  Piazza  di  Spag- 
na,  which  affords  the  nearest  communication 
between  the  lower  town  and  that  height.| 
Here  he  laid  out  the  Via  Felice  and  the  Bor- 
go  Felice,  and  opened  those  streets  that  to  the 
present  day  lead  from  all  sides  to  the  church 
of  Santa  Maria  Maggiore,  purposing  to  con- 
nect all  the  basilicas  with  that  churcli  by  spa- 
cious roads.  The  poets  boast  that  Rome  al- 
most doubled  herself,  and  sought  again  her 
old  abodes. 


*  Luigi  Contarini,  AntichilSl  di  Roma,  p.  7G,  bestows 
the  highest  praise  on  the  efforts  of  Pius  IV.  S'egli  viveva 
ancora  4  anni  Roma  sarebbe  d'editicii  un  altra  Roma. 
[Had  he  lived  four  years  longer,  Rome  would  have  been 
a  different  city  for  its  buildings.] 

t  Tasso  hasleftus  "Sianze  air  acquafelice  di  Roma" 
(Rime,  ii.  311.),  describing  how  the  water  at  first  rolls 
along  a  gloomy  path,  and  then  bursts  joyfully  into  the 
light  of  day,  to  look  on  Rome  as  Augustus  beheld  it. 

J  Gualterius.  Ut  viam  a  freciuentioribus  urbis  locis 
per  Pincium  coUem  ad  Esquilias  coiiimo.le  strueret,  Pin- 
cium  ipsum  coUem  ante  sanctissimae  Trinilatis  templu  n 
humiliorem  fecit,  et  carpentis  rhedisque  pervium  reddi- 
dit, scalasque  ad  templum  illud  ab  utroijue  ponas  latere 
commodas  perpulchrasque  ad  moJum  exlruxit,  e  quibus 
jucundissinius  in  loiam  urbem  prospectus  est. 


These  architectural  works  on  the  hills  were 
not,  however,  the  only  ones  by  which  Sixtus 
V.  distinguished  himself  from  former  popes. 
He  entertained  projects  directly  opposed  to 
those  of  his  more  remote  predecessors. 

The  ruins  of  ancient  Rome  were  regarded 
with  a  sort  of  religious  veneration  under  Leo 
X. ;  the  divine  sparks  of  ancient  genius  were 
discovered  in  them  with  feelings  of  rapture: 
that  pope  lent  a  ready  ear  to  the  reccommenda- 
dation  to  preserve  them,  "  the  all  that  yet  re- 
mains to  us  of  the  ancient  mother  of  Italy's 
greatness  and  renown."* 

Such  a  spirit  as  this  was  as  remote  from  the 
conception  of  Sixtus  V.  as  earth  from  heaven. 
The  Franciscan  was  utterly  insensible  to  the 
beauty  of  the  remains  of  antiquity.  The  Sep- 
tizonium  of  Severus,  a  most  remarkable  work, 
that  had  survived  the  storms  of  so  many  cen- 
turies, found  no  favour  in  his  eyes ;  he  de- 
molished it  to  the  very  foundation,  and  carried 
away  some  of  its  pillars  to  the  church  of  St. 
Peter's.f  His  rage  for  destroying  was  fully 
equal  to  his  zeal  in  building ;  every  one  feared 
that  he  would  carry  it  beyond  all  bounds  of 
moderation.  Let  us  hear  what  Cardinal 
Santa  Severina  relates:  it  would  appear  in- 
credible, had  he  not  spoken  of  his  own  per- 
sonal knowledge.  "It  being  perceived,"  he 
says,  "  that  the  pope  was  wholly  bent  on  the 
demolition  of  the  Roman  antiquities,  a  number 
of  Roman  nobles  came  to  me  one  day,  and 
begged  me  to  exert  my  eflbrts  to  dissuade  hia 
holiness  from  so  extravagant  a  design."  They 
applied  to  that  cardinal,  who  was  undoubtedly 
to  be  regarded  as  the  greatest  bigot  of  the  day. 
Cardinal  Collona  coincided  with  their  views. 
The  pope  replied  to  them  that  he  would  clear 
away  the  ugly  antiquities,  but  restore  such  of 
the  others  as  stood  in  need  of  it.  Imagine 
what  he  was  pleased  to  consider  ugly !  He 
thought  of  utterly  demolishing  the  tomb  of 
CsBcilia  Metella,  an  admirable  sublime  monu- 

*  Passages  from  Castiglione's  well-known  letter  to  Leo 
X.,  Lettere  di  Castiglione,  Padova,  1796,  p.  149.  I  can 
find  nothing,  however,  in  the  letter  hinting  at  a  plan  for 
aregular  excavation  of  the  ancient  city.  It  seems  obvious 
to  me,  that  it  is  a  preface  to  a  description  of  Rome,  with  a 

filan,  to  both  of  which  there  is  constant  reference  made, 
t  is  highly  probable  that  it  was  even  Raphael's  works  to 
which  this  preface  was  to  serve  as  an  introduction.  This 
appears  particularly  from  the  coincidences  of  expression 
between  the  well-known  epigram  on  Raphael's  death 
and  this  letter.  For  instance,  "  Vedendo  quasi  il  cadave- 
ro  di  quella  nobil  palria  cosi  miseramente  lacerato;" 
"  urbis  lacerum  ferro,  igni,  annisque  cadaver 
Ad  vitam  revocas." 
This,  indeed,  betokens  a  restoration,  but  only  in  idea 
and  description.  This  opinion  is  not  essentially  at  va- 
riance witli  the  views  heretofore  expressed,  but  only  con- 
firms them.  I  think  we  may  conclude  that  the  labour  on 
which  Raphael  employed  tlie  latter  years  of  his  life  was 
already  far  advanced,  since  a  dedication  of  it  was  already 
composed  in  his  name.  What  a  name  to  add  to  those  of 
the  astyojraphers  !  The  papers  and  the  plan  may  have 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  Fulvius,  who  probably  had  a  con- 
siderable share  in  the  researches. 

t  Gualterius.  Praecipue  Severi  Septizonii,  quod  incre- 
dibili  Romanorum  dolore  deiiiolienduiii  curavit,  columnis 
maniioribusque  usus  est,  passimque  per  urbem  caveae 
videbamur  undo  lapides  omnis  generis  effodiebantur. 


A.  D.  1585-90.]        ARCHITECTURAL  ENTERPRISES  OF  SIXTUS  V. 


151 


ment,  even  then  the  only  important  relic  of 
the  republican  times.  How  much  may  have 
perished  under  his  hand  ! 

It  went  hard  with  him  to  endure  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Lacoon  and  the  Belvedere  Apollo 
in  the  Vatican  ;  nor  would  he  suffer  the  ancient 
statues,  with  which  the  Roman  citizens  had 
adorned  the  capitol,  to  remain  even  there,  but 
declared  he  would  pull  down  the  capitol  itself 
if  they  were  not  removed.  They  were  a  Ju- 
piter Tonans,  and  on  either  side  a  JMinerva 
and  an  Apollo.  The  two  former  were  ac- 
tually removed,  but  the  Minerva  was  tolerated 
in  its  place.  As  Sixtus  would  have  it,  how- 
ever, the  statue  was  to  represent  Rome — 
Christian  Rome  ;  to  which  end  he  took  away 
the  spear  of  the  goddess,  and  put  a  huge  cross 
in  her  hand.* 

In  the  same  style  he  restored  the  colums  of 
Trajan  and  Antonius,  taking  from  the  former 
the  urn  which  was  said  to  contain  the  ashes 
of  the  emperor.  He  dedicated  it  to  St,  Peter, 
and  Antonine's  column  to  St.  Paul;  and  ever 
since  the  statues  of  the  two  apostles  have  stood 
perched  opposite  each  other  upon  those  airy 
sites  above  the  dwellings  of  men.  This  he 
considered  bestowing  a  triumph  upon  Chris- 
tianity over  paganism.f 

He  had  set  his  heart  on  erecting  the  obelisk 
before  St.  Peter's,  the  more  because  he  wished 
to  see  the  monuments  of  infidelity  subjected 
to  the  cross  on  the  very  spot  where  the  Chris- 
tians once  suffered  crucifixion. | 

A  magnificent  design,  indeed,  but  one  which 
he  carried  out  wholly  afler  his  own  fashion, 
with  a  singular  mixture  of  despotism,  great- 
ness, pomp,  and  bigotry. 

He  threatened  even  with  punishment  the 
architect,  DomenicoFontana,  who  had  worked 
his  way  up  under  his  own  eyes  from  the  con- 
dition of  a  mason's  boy,  if  he  failed  in  the  at- 
tempt, or  damaged  the  obelisk. 

It  was  a  task  of  extreme  difficulty  toupheave 
it  from  its  basis  by  the  sacristy  of  the  old 
church  of  St.  Peter,  to  let  it  down  again, 
transport  it  to  another  site,  and  there  finally 
set  it  up  again. 

It  was  entered  upon  with  the  feeling  that 
the  work  in  hand  was  one  that  would  claim 
renown  throughout  all  ages.  The  workmen, 
nine  hundred  in  number,  began  by  hearing 
mass,  confessing,  and  receiving  the  commu- 
nion. They  then  entered  the  space  that  was 
marked  off  for  their  operations  by  a  barrier, 
the  master  of  the  works  being  raised  on  an 
elevated  platform.     The  obelisk  was  sheathed 

*  A  passage  from  the  Vita  Sixti  V.  ipsiua  manu  emen- 
data,  extracted  in  Bunson's  Beschreibung  von  Rom,  I.  S. 
702. 

f  So  thinks,  among  others,  J.  P.  Maffei,  Hisloriarum  ab 
excessu  Gregorii  XIII.  lib.  i.  p.  5. 

t  Sixti  V.  i.  m.  e.:  Ui  ubi  grassatum  olim  suppliciis  in 
Christianos  et  passim  tixEe  cruces,  in  quas  innoxia  natio 
^ublata  leterrimis  crucialibus  necaretur,  ibisuppositacru- 
ci,  el  in  crucis  versa  honorem  cultumque,  ipsa  impietatie 
monumenta  ceruerentur. 


in  straw  mats  and  planks,  which  were  em- 
braced by  iron  rings.  Thirty-five  windlasses 
were  employed  to  put  the  enormous  machine 
in  motion  that  was  to  lit\  it  up  with  strong 
hempen  ropes;  each  windlass  was  worked  by 
two  horses  and  ten  men.  At  last  the  signal 
was  given  by  sound  of  trumpet.  The  very 
first  strain  succeeded  admirably  ;  the  obelisk 
rose  from  the  base  on  which  it  had  rested  one 
thousand  five  hundred  years ;  at  the  twelfth 
it  had  been  raised  two  and  three  quarter  palms, 
at  which  height  it  was  made  fast ;  the  archi- 
tect saw  the  huge  mass  with  its  coating, 
weighing  upwards  of  a  million  of  Roman 
pounds,  in  his  power.  This,  it  has  been  re- 
corded with  scrupulous  care,  took  place  on 
the  30th  of  April,  1586,  about  the  twentieth 
hour  (towards  three  in  the  afternoon.)  A  salvo 
was  fired  from  the  castle  of  St,  Angelo,  all 
the  bells  of  the  city  pealed,  and  the  workmen 
carried  their  architect  in  triumph  round  the 
barrier  with  never-ending  hurrahs. 

Seven  days  afterwards,  the  obelisk  was  let 
down  with  no  less  dexterity;  after  which  it 
was  conveyed  on  rollers  to  its  new  site.  It 
was  not  till  the  hot  months  were  passed  that 
its  re-erection  was  attempted. 

The  pope  chose  the  lO.th  of  September  for 
this  enterprise,  the  day  being  Wednesday, 
which  had  been  always  found  lucky,  and  the 
eve  of  the  Elevation  of  the  Cross,  to  which  the 
obelisk  was  to  be  dedicated.  On  this  occasion, 
too,  the  workmen  began  with  commending 
themselves  and  their  work  to  God,  falling  on 
their  knees  as  they  entered  the  enclosure. 
Fontana  had  made  his  arrangements,  not  with- 
out reference  to  the  last  elevation  of  an  obelisk 
described  by  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  but  he 
had  provided  himself  with  a  force  of  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  horses.  It  was  likewise  re- 
garded as  a  special  piece  of  good  fortune  that 
the  sky  was  overcast  on  that  day.  Every 
thing  proceeded  just  as  was  desired.  The 
obelisk  was  moved  in  three  great  efforts ;  an 
hour  before  sunset  it  sank  on  its  pedestal  on 
the  backs  of  the  four  bronze  lions  that  served 
to  support  it.  The  exultation  of  the  people 
was  indescribable;  the  pope's  satifaction  was 
complete :  many  a  predecessor  of  his  had 
longed  to  effect  this  task,  many  a  writer  had 
recommended  it ;  now  had  he  accomplished 
it.  He  set  it  down  in  his  diary,  that  he  had 
achieved  the  greatest  and  most  difficult  work 
it  was  possible  for  the  human  mind  to  con- 
ceive. He  caused  medals  commemorative  of 
it  to  be  struck,  received  congratulatory  poems 
in  every  language,  and  sent  official  announce- 
ments of  the  event  to  foreign  powers.* 

*The  despatches  of  Gritti,  May  3,  10,  July  12,  and  Oct. 
II,  treat  of  this  elevation  of  the  obelisk.  The  effect  is  not 
badly  described  in  the  Vita  Sixti  V.  ipsiusmanu  emenda- 
ta.  Tenuitque  universae  civitatis  oculos  novse  et  post  1500 
amplius  annog  relatx  rei  spectaculo,cum  aul  sedibussuis 
avulsam  toUeret  molem,  uno  tempore  eiduodenis  veclibua 
impulsam  et  quinis  tricenia  ergatis  quas  equi  bini,  homi- 


TIMES  OF  GREGORY  XIII.  AND  SIXTUS  V.        [a.  d.  1585-90. 

modern  Catholicism  permeates  every  vein  of 
society  in  its  most  diversified  directions. 

General  changes  in  the  intellectual  tendency 
of  the  age. 

It  vv'ould  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the 
pope  alone  was  under  the  dominion  of  this 
spirit :  towards  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury a  tendency  manifested  itself  in  every  de- 
partment of  mind,  opposed  to  that  which  had 
prevailed  at  its  commencement. 

A  leading  circumstance  of  the  times  was, 
that  the  study  of  the  ancients,  which  had  been 
the  mainspring  of  every  thing  in  the  first  part 
of  the  century,  had  now  vastly  declined:  Even 
now  an  Aldus  Manutius  appeared  in  Rome  as 
professor  of  eloquence;  but  he  found  no  ad- 
mirers of  his  Greek  nor  yet  of  his  Latin.  In 
the  hours  appointed  for  his  lectures  he  was 
seen  walking  up  and  down  before  the  portal 
of  the  university  with  one  or  two  hearers,  the 
only  persons  who  evinced  any  interest  in  his 
erudition.  How  incredible  was  the  progress 
of  Greek  learning  in  the  beginning  of  the 
century !  At  its  close  there  did  not  exist  a 
single  distinguished  Hellenist  in  Italy. 

Now  I  am  not  disposed  to  represent  this 
change  altogether  in  the  light  of  an  intellec- 
tual decline :  in  a  certain  respect  it  was  con- 
nected with  the  necessary  progress  of  litera- 
ture and  science. 

For  whereas  these  had  formerly  been  de- 
rived   immediately   from    the   ancients,   this 
was  now  no  longer  possible.     On   tlie   one 
hand,  materials  had  enormously  accumulated. 
For   instance,   how  vastly  did   the   mass  of 
knowledge  pertaining  to  natural  history  col- 
lected by  Ulysse  Aldrovandi,  by  the  ceaseless 
etForts  of  a  long  life  and  during  numerous 
journeys,  surpass  that  possessed  by  any  of  the 
ancients.     In  the  construction  of  his  museum 
he  had  aimed  at  a  real  completeness  of  the 
science ;  and  what  was  wanting   in   actual 
specimens,  he  supplied  by  means  of  drawings, 
and  each  specimen  was  described  in  detail. 
How   had    the    science   of  geography    been 
extended  beyond    every  conception  of  anti- 
quity ! — On  the  other  hand,  a  more  profound 
system  of  inquiry  had  arisen.     The  mathema- 
ticians sought  at   first  only  to   fill   up   the 
omissions  of  the  ancients.     Commandm,  for 
instance,   imagined    that    Archimedes  must 
have  either  read,  or  even  composed,  some- 
thing on  gravitation,  which  was  subsequently 
lost ;  and  this  notion  served  as  a  motive  to 
induce  him  personally  to  investigate  the  sub- 
ject.    But  this  very  process  led  to  \ery  en- 
larged results;  helped  forward  even  by  the 
ancients,  men  acquired  strength   to  emanci- 
pate themselves  from  their  tutelage.     Disco- 
veries  were  made   that  led   far  beyond   the 
circle  they  had  traced,  and  that  opened  new 
paths  for  further  exploration. 


152 


It  was  a  strange  inscription  which  he  set 
up,  boasting  that  he  had  wrested  this  monu- 
ment from  the  emperors  Augustus  and  Tibe- 
rius, and  dedicated  it  to  the  holy  cross.  He 
had  a  cross  erected  upon  it,  in  which  was  en- 
closed a  piece  of  the  supposed  true  cross. 
This  is  expressive  of  his  whole  tone  of  thought. 
Even  the  monuments  of  paganism  were  to 
minister  to  the  glorification  of  the  cross. 

He  devoted  himself  with  his  whole  soul  to 
these  his  architectural  pursuits.  The  herd- 
boy,  who  had  grown  up  among  gardens  and 
open  fields,  was  a  lover  of  the  town;  he  would 
never  hear  of  a  villegiatura,  saying,  "  his 
recreation  was  to  look  upon  many  roofs."  I 
can  well  imagine  that  his  buildmg-projects 
aftbrded  him  the  highest  gratification. 

Many  thousand  hands  were  constantly  em- 
ployed :  he  was  not  deterred  by  any  difticulty. 
The  cupola  of  St.  Peter's  was  still  wanting, 
and  the  architects  required  ten  years  for  its 
completion.  Sixtus  was  willing  to  expend 
his  money  on  the  work,  but  so  that  his  own 
eyes  might  be  gratified  with  beholding  it. 
He  set  six  hundred  men  to  work,  who  wrought 
day  and  night,  and  in  the  twenty-second 
month  the  cupola  was  completed.  He  did 
not  live,  however,  to  see  the  leaden  casing 
placed  on  the  roof. 

Even  in  such  works  as  these  he  set  no 
bounds  to  his  arbitrary  disposition.  He  pulled 
down  without  pity  the  remains  of  the  Patriar- 
chium  of  the  popes  near  the  Lateran,  which 
were  by  no  means  inconsiderable,  and  were 
of  singular  interest, — antiquities  belonging  to 
the  dignity  he  himself  filled;  and  in  their 
place  he  erected  his  Lateran  palace,  which 
was  not  at  all  wanted,  and  which  has  acquired 
a  very  ambiguous  reputation,  merely  as  one 
of  the  earliest  examples  of  the  monotonous 
regularity  of  modern  architecture. 

What  a  complete  revolution  had  taken  place 
in  the  relation  of  the  age  to  antiquity  !  Both 
in  former  times  and  now,  men  vied  with  the 
ancients ;  but  the  earlier  efibrts  were  directed 
towards  equalling  them  in  beauty  and  grace 
of  form,  now  men  strove  to  match,  or  even  sur- 
pass them  in  undertakings  of  vast  magnitude. 
Formerly,  the  most  trifiing  monument  was 
reverenced  as  a  relic  of  the  antique  spirit; 
now  there  was  much  greater  proneness  to  de- 
stroy those  relics.  Men  followed  a  single 
idea,  which  claimed  sole  predominance,  and 
would  tolerate  none  other  by  its  side, — that 
same,  namely,  which  had  acquu'ed  sovereignly 
in  the  church,  and  had  made  the  state  an  in- 
strument of  the  latter.     This  ruling  idea  of 

nes  deni,  agpbanl  in  sublime  elatam,  aul  cum  suspensam 
inde  sensiiu  de|joiierel  extenderelque  humi,  junctis  ira- 
bibus  alque  ex  his  ingenti  coinposila  Iraha  quae  jacenlem 
exciperel,  aul  cum  supposilis  cylindris  (sunt  hae  lignese 
coluiiinae  leretes  et  volubilcs)  (lualernis  ergatis  proliacia 
paulaliui  per  ediium  ei  ad  aluiuilinem  basis  cui  impouen 
da  eiat  excilalum  aggerem  aiquo  undicjue  egregie  iiiuni- 
tum  incederei,  denique  cum  iierum  erecia  libralaque  suis 
reposiu  sedibua  est. 


A.  D.  1572-90.]     THE  INTELLECTUAL  TENDENCY  OF  THE  AGE. 


153 


The  study  of  nature  was  especially  prose- 
cuted with  zeal  and  self-reliance.  For  a 
moment,  men  wavered  between  the  admis- 
sion of  mystic  virtues  in  natural  tilings,  and 
the  bold  deep-searching  investigation  of  phe- 
nomena. But  the  latter,  the  more  scientific 
course,  presently  prevailed.  Ere  long  an 
attempt  was  made  after  a  rational  classification 
of  the  vegetable  kingdom  :  in  Padua  there 
lived  a  professor  who  was  called  the  "Colum- 
bus of  the  human  body."  Inquiry  was  pushed 
forward  continually  in  every  direction ;  science 
was  no  longer  lodged  alone  within  the  works 
of  antiquity. 

It  followed  as  a  matter  of  course,  if  I  am 
not  mistaken,  that  the  study  of  antiquity, 
when  it  could  no  longer  claim  such  engross- 
ing attention  for  the  matter's  sake,  could 
neither  with  regard  to  the  form  produce  the 
effect  it  had  hitherto  done. 

Men  began,  in  the  composition  of  learned 
works,  to  aim  chiefly  at  the  accumulation  of 
matter.  In  the  beginning  of  the  century, 
Cortesius  had  conveyed  the  essence  of  the 
scholastic  philosophy,  untractable  as  it  might 
seem,  in  a  well-written  classical  work,  full  of 
talent  and  wit:  now,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
Natal  Conte  compiled  a  dry  uninteresting 
quarto  upon  an  antique  subject,  that  invited 
the  most  genial  and  exalted  treatment,  name- 
ly, mythology.  The  same  author  wrote  a 
history  too :  his  book  is  tricked  out  with  sen- 
tences, almost  all  of  which  he  took  immedi- 
ately from  the  ancients,  citing  the  passages 
from  which  they  are  borrowed  ;  but  he  does 
not  appear  to  have  possessed  the  least  notion 
of  genuine  description.  The  mere  crude 
compilation  of  facts  was  enough  for  his  con- 
temporaries. It  may  be  safely  asserted  that 
a  work  like  the  Annals  of  Baronius,  so  desti- 
tute of  form — written  in  Latin,  yet  without  a 
trace  of  elegance  even  in  detached  phrases — 
cpuld  not  once  have  been  thought  of  in  the 
beginning  of  the  century. 

Whilst  the  track  of  the  ancients  was  thus 
abandoned  not  only  in  scientific  pursuits,  but 
still  more  in  form  and  expression,  clianges 
took  place  in  the  social  habits  of  the  nation, 
that  exercised  an  incalculable  influence  on  all 
literary  and  artistical  ettbrts. 

Republican,  independent  Italy,  on  whose 
peculiar  circumstances  the  earlier  develop- 
ments, those  even  of  the  mind  included,  had 
depended,  now  fell  forever.  All  the  freedom, 
and  simplicity  of  intellectual  intercourse  dis- 
appeared. It  is  worthy  of  note,  that  the  use 
of  titles  began  to  prevail.  As  early  as  the 
year  1520,  some  persons  remarked  with  dis- 
gust that  every  one  claimed  to  be  called 
"sir:"  this  was  ascribed  to  the  influence  of 
tlie  Spaniards.  By  the  year  1.550,  cumbrous 
ceremonious  designations  had  supplanted  the 
simple  form  of  address,  both  in  discourse  and 
epistolary  correspondence.  Towards  the  end 
20 


of  the  century,  the  titles  of  "  marchese"  and 
"duca"  came  generally  into  vogue.  Every 
one  would  have  them ;  every  one  would  be 
"excellency."  It  is  idle  to  say  that  this  was 
of  small  moment ;  if  it  has  its  effect  even  now, 
when  the  system  is  become  a  mere  habit,  the 
meaning  of  which  has  grown  obsolete,  bow 
much  more  must  that  have  been  the  case 
when  it  was  first  introduced  !  But,  besides 
this,  in  every  other  respect  society  was  be- 
come more  rigid,  fixed,  and  exclusive ;  its 
former  cheerful,  easy  tone,  the  frank  and 
simple  intercourse  of  man  with  man  were 
by-gone  things. 

Be  the  cause  what  it  may, — be  it,  if  you 
will,  a  change  incident  to  the  constitution  of 
the  human  soul, — thus  much  is  manifest,  that 
already,  about  the  middle  of  the  century,  a 
different  spirit  pervaded  all  its  productions ; 
and  that  society,  both  in  its  essence  and  its 
outward  character,  became  conscious  of  new 
wants. 

Of  all  the  phenomena  that  betoken  this 
change,  the  most  striking,  perhaps,  is  the 
recast  of  Boiardo's  "Orlando  Innamorato,"  by 
Berni.  It  is  the  same  work,  yet  altogether 
different.  All  the  charm,  all  the  freshness  of 
the  original  poem  are  obliterated.  If  we  ex- 
amine somewhat  more  closely,  we  shall  find 
that  the  author  has  every  where  substituted 
general  for  individual  notions,  and  for  the 
unfettered  expression  of  a  lovely  and  loving 
nature,  a  sort  of  conventional  decorum  suited 
to  the  demands  of  Italian  manners  in  his  own 
and  in  later  times.*  His  success  was  com- 
plete. His  work  was  received  with  incredi- 
ble approbation ;  the  rifacciamento  entirely 
exploded  the  original  poem.  How  suddenly, 
too,  was  this  revolution  effected  !  Fifty  years 
had  not  elapsed  since  the  publication  of  Bo- 
iardo's work. 

We  may  trace  this  altered  key-note,  this 
infusion  of  another  spirit,  through  most  of  the 
productions  of  those  days. 

It  is  not  downright  want  of  talent  that 
makes  the  poems  of  Alamanni  and  Bernardo 
Tasso  so  tedious  and  uninteresting;  at  least, 
it  is  not  so  with  those  of  the  latter.  But  the 
very  conception  of  both  authors  is  cold.  In 
accordance  with  the  tastes  of  a  public  by  no 
means  remarkable  for  virtue,  but  one  that  had 
grown  serious  and  staid,  they  selected  imma- 
culate heroes.  Bernardo  chose  Amadis  de 
Gaule,  of  whom  the  younger  Tasso  says, 
"  Dante  would  have  recalled  the  condemna- 
tion he  pronounces  on  romances  of  chivalry, 
if  he  had  known  the  Amadis  de  Guale  or  de 
Grece ;  so  full  are  their  characters  of  noble- 
ness and  constancy."  Alamanni  took  for  his 
subject  Giron  le  Courtoys,  the  mirror  of  all 
knightly  virtues.     His  declared  object  was  to 


*  I  have  endeavoured  to  pursue  this  more  in  detail  in 
the  academical  essay  before  mentiuaed. 


154 


THE  TIMES  OF  GREGORY  XIII.  AND  SIXTUS  V.     [a.  d.  1572-90. 


hold  up  to  youth  an  example  how  to  endure 
hunger  and  vigils,  cold  and  sunshine, — how 
to  practice  arms,  to  display  justice  and  cour- 
tesy to  every  one,  and  to  forgive  enemies. 
As  both  authors  carried  out  their  moral  and 
didactic  designs  exactly  in  the  manner  of 
Berni,  and  deliberately  tore  away  the  poetic 
groundwork  from  their  fables,  their  works,  as 
might  naturally  have  been  expected,  turned 
out  intolerably  prolix  and  insipid. 

It  seemed,  if  wo  may  so  speak,  as  though 
the  nation  had  used  up  the  stock  of  poetic 
conceptions  that  had  descended  to  it  from  its 
past  history,  from  the  ideas  of  the  middle  ages, 
and  that  it  retained  not  even  the  capacity  to 
understand  them.  It  cast  about  for  something 
new :  but  neither  would  creative  genius  arise, 
nor  did  the  existing  state  of  society  ofter  any 
fresh  material.  Till  towards  the  middle  of 
the  century,  Italian  prose,  though  naturally 
didactic,  was  still  imaginative,  warm,  pliant, 
and  graceful.  Gradually  it,  too,  grew  stiff 
and  frigid. 

It  fared  with  art  as  with  poetry.  It  lost 
the  inspiration  that  had  formerly  given  it  its 
religious  subjects,  and,  soon  after,  that  which 
had  suggested  its  profane  works.  It  was 
only  in  the  Venetian  school  that  some  traces 
of  this  remained.  With  one  single  exception, 
how  completely  did  Raffaelle's  scholars  fall  off 
from  their  master's  example !  Aping  him, 
they  fell  into  artificial  beauty,  theatrical  pos- 
ture-making, and  affected  graces ;  and  their 
works  speak  plainly  of  the  coldness  and  insen- 
sibility to  beauty  in  which  they  were  con- 
ceived. The  followers  of  Michael  Angelo  did 
no  better.  Art  was  no  longer  conscious  of  its 
true  objects  ;  it  had  abandoned  the  ideas  it  had 
once  strained  all  its  powers  to  embody ;  nothing 
remained  to  it  but  the  externals  of  method. 
In  this  state  of  things,  when  men  had  al- 
ready deserted  antiquity,  no  longer  imitated 
its  forms,  and  had  outgrown  its  science, — 
when  tlie  old  national  poetry  and  all  religious 
colouring  were  scorned  both  by  literature  and 
art, — the  new  exaltation  of  the  church  occur- 
red; it  seized  voluntary  or  involuntary  hold  of 
every  mind,  and  produced  a  thorough  change 
in  the  whole  system  of  literature  and  art. 

The  church,  however,  if  I  am  not  mistaken, 
exercised  a  far  different  influence  over  science 
from  that  it  manifested  upon  art. 

Philosophy  and  science  in  general  now 
passed  through  a  very  important  epoch.  After 
the  genuine  Aristotle  had  been  restored,  men 
began  in  philosophy,  too,  (as  well  as  in  other 
departments  and  with  other  ancient  writers) 
to  cast  themselves  loose  from  his  authority, 
and  to  enter  upon  a  free  investigation  of  the 
highest  problems.  It  was  not  in  the  nature 
of  things  that  the  church  should  favour  this 
tendency.  She  herself  had  prescribed  the 
highest  principles  in  a  manner  that  forbade 
all  doubt.   Now,  whereas  Aristotle's  adherents 


had  frequently  owned  opinions  at  variance  with 
the  church  and  savouring  of  naturalism,  some- 
thing similar  might  be  apprehended  on  the  part 
of  his  opponents.  They  wished,  as  one  of  thera 
expressed  himself,  to  compare  the  dogmas  of 
the  existing  race  of  teachers  with  God's  ori- 
ginal handwriting,  the  world  and  nature ;  a 
project  the  issue  of  which  could  not  be  fore- 
seen, though  whether  it  led  to  discoveries  or 
to  errors,  it  could  not  fail  to  be  highly  peril- 
ous; the  church,  therefore,  set  its  veto  upon 
it.  Telesius,  though  he  never  ventured  be- 
yond the  strict  domain  of  science,  was  never- 
theless all  his  life  confined  to  his  little  native 
town ;  Campanella  was  forced  to  live  an  exile,  ^ 
and,  finally,  to  endure  the  torture;  the  pro- 
foundest  of  them  all,  Giordano  Bruno,  a  true 
philosopher,  after  many  persecutions  and  long 
wanderings,  fell  at  last  under  the  censure  of 
the  inquisition,  was  arrested,  carried  to  Rome, 
and  sentenced  to  be  burned,  "not  only,"  as 
the  original  document  states,  "as  a  heretic, 
but  as  a  heresiarch,  who  had  written  some 
things  that  affected  religion,  and  that  were 
not  seemly.*  After  such  examples  where 
was  the  man  would  venture  upon  the  free 
exercise  of  his  understanding.  Of  all  the 
innovators  of  the  century  only  one,  Francesco 

*  In  a  Venetian  MS.  in  the  Vienna  archives,  under  the 
rubric  Roma,  Exposition!,  1592,  28  Sett.,  is  contained  the 
original  of  a  protocol  respecting  the  surrender  of  Giordano 
Bruno.  The  patriarch's  vicar,  the  father  inquisitor,  and 
Toinmaso  Morosini,  the  assistant  of  the  inquisition,  ap- 
peared before  the  college.  The  vicar  stated,  "li  giorni 
passati  esser  stato  ritenuto,  e  tuttavia  ritrovarsi  nf  lie  pri- 
gioni  di  questa  citt^  deputate  al  servicio  del  sanlo  ufflcio, 
Giordano  Bruno  da  Nola,  imputato  non  solo  di  heretica, 
nia  anco  di  heresiarca,  havendo  composto  diversi  libri  nei 
quali  laudando  assai  la  regina  d'lnghilterra  et  allri  prin- 
cipi  heretic!,  scriveva  alcune  cose  concernenti  il  particu- 
lar della  religions  che  non  convenivano,  sebene  egli 
parlava  filosoticainente ;  e  che  cestui  era  apostata,  essendo 
stalo  prima  frate  Dominicano,  che  era  vissuto  molt'  anni 
in  Ginevra  et  Inghilterra,  e  che  in  Napoli  et  altri  luoghi 
era  slato  inquisito  della  medesima  imputatione  :  e  che  es- 
sendosi  saputa  a  Roma  la  prigionia  di  coslui,  lo  illm"' 
Santa  Severina  supremo  inquisitors  aveva  scritto  e  dato 
ordine  che  fusss  inviato  a  Koma  ....  con  prima  sicura 
occasions."  [That  within  the  last  few  days  iad  been 
arrested,  and  was  still  retained  in  the  prisons  of  this  city 
destined  to  the  service  of  the  holy  office,  Giordano  Bruno 
da  Nola,  charged  not  only  as  a  heretic,  but  as  a  heresi- 
arch ;  he  having  composed  divers  books  in  which,  besides 
praising  not  a  little  the  queen  of  England  and  other  he- 
retic sovereigns,  he  had  written  things  concerning  reli- 
gion which  were  not  becoming,  even  though  he  spoke 
philosophically :  moreover,  thaf  he  was  an  apostate,  hav- 
ing been  originally  a  Dominican  friar,  who  had  lived 
many  years  in  Geneva  and  in  England,  and  had  been  an 
object  of  inquisition  upon  the  same  charge  in  Naples  and 
other  places;  and  that  the  imprisonment"  of  the  said  Gior- 
dano  Bruno  having  been  made  known  at  Rome,  the  most 
illustrious  Santa  Severina,  supreme  inquisitor,  had  written 
to  give  orders  that  lie  should  be  sent  to  Rome  ....  by  the 
first  safe  opportunity.]  Such  an  opponunity,  the  vicar 
stated,  now  presented  itself.  The  answer  was  not  imme- 
diately given.  After  dinner,  the  father  inquisitor  ap- 
peared again,  and  was  very  urgent,  for  the  boat  was  about 
to  depart.  The  savi,  however,  answered,  "  Che  essendo 
la  cosa  di  momenlo  e  consideratione  e  le  occupationi  di 
questo  stato  molle  e  gravi  non  si  haveva  per  allhora  poluto 
faie  risolutione."  [That  the  matter  being  of  weight  and 
demanding  consideration,  and  the  concerns  of  tlie  state 
being  numerous  and  serious,  it  had  not  been  possible  to 
come  to  any  resolution  for  the  present.]  This  time,  there- 
fiu-e,  the  boat  departed  without  the  prisoner.  I  have  not 
been  able  to  ascertain  whether  his  subsequent  surrender 
was  occasuj^jed  or  not  by  new  negociations. 


A.  D.  1572-90.]        THE  INTELLECTUAL  TENDENCY  OF  THE  AGE. 


155 


Patrizi,  found  favour  in  Rome.  He,  too,  at- 1 
tacked  Aristotle,  but  only  on  the  ground  tliat 
his  principles  were  opposed  to  the  church  and 
to  Christianity.  In  opposition  to  the  Aristo- 
telic  notions,  he  sought  to  indicate  a  genuine 
philosophical  tradition,  handed  down  through 
successive  ages  from  the  supposed  Hermes 
Trismegistus,  and  in  which  he  aflected  to  find 
a  clearer  exposition  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  than  even  in  the  writings  of  Moses. 
This  tradition  he  strove  to  revive  and  restore, 
and  to  substitute  it  in  the  place  of  the  Aristo- 
telic  philosophy.  In  all  his  dedications  he  sets 
forth  this  purpose  of  his,  and  the  utility  and 
necessity  of  its  execution.  He  was  a  man  of 
singularly  constituted  mind,  not  without  criti- 
cal discernment,  but  that  only  as  regarded 
what  he  rejected,  not  what  he  adopted.  He 
was  called  to  Rome,  and  there  maintained  a 
high  credit  through  the  peculiar  spirit  of  sub- 
serviency to  the  church  displayed  in  his  works, 
but  not  by  reason  of  the  effects  they  produced, 
which  were  inconsiderable. 

The  investigations  of  physics  and  of  natural 
history  were  in  those  times  almost  inseparably 
connected  with  those  of  philosophy.  The 
whole  system  of  opinion  that  had  hitherto  pre- 
vailed was  called  in  question.  In  fact,  the 
Italians  of  that  epoch  manifested  a  grand  ten- 
dency to  searching  thought,  to  vigorous  prose- 
cution of  truth,  and  lofty  forecasting  specula- 
tion. Who  shall  say  at  w"hat  they  might  have 
arrived  ]  But  the  Church  marked  out  a  line 
for  them  they  were  not  to  overstep.  Woe  to 
him  who  ventured  beyond  it. 

If,  as  was  unquestionably  the  case,  the  reno- 
vation of  Catholicism  operated  thus   repres- 


al  spirit,  and  truth  of  character,  and  it  has 
upheld  Tasso's  name  high  in  the  favour  and 
admiration  of  his  countrymen  to  the  present 
day.  But  what  a  contrast  between  him  and 
Ariosto  !  The  poetic  art  had  fallen  off  from 
the  Church  ;  it  now  renewed  its  allegiance  to 
the  renovated  might  of  religion. 

In  Bologna,  not  far  from  Ferrara,  where 
Tasso  composed  his  poem,  the  school  of  the 
Caracci  arose  immediately  after,  and  its  rise 
marked  a  general  revolution  in  painting. 

If  we  ask  what  were  the  causes  of  this 
change,  we  are  told  of  the  anatomical  studies 
of  the  Bolognese  academy,  their  electic  imita- 
tion, and  the  erudition  of  their  manner  in  art; 
and  certainly  the  zeal  with  which  they  sought 
in  their  way  to  seize  upon  the  appearances  of 
nature,  was  highly  meritorious.  But  the  pro- 
blems they  proposed  to  themselves,  and  their 
manner  of  treating  them,  appear  to  me  no  less 
important  considerations. 

Ludovico  Caracci  employed  himself  much 
upon  the  ideal  of  Christ.  He  is  not  always, 
though  occasionally,  successful  (as  in  his  pic- 
ture of  the  calling  of  Matthew)  in  depicting 
the  mild  and  earnest  man,  full  of  truth  and 
fervour,  of  benignity,  and  majesty,  under  a 
form  that  has  so  often  been  the  model  for  suc- 
ceeding painters.  It  is  true  he  imitates  pre- 
ceding masters,  but  his  manner  of  doing  so  is 
characteristic.  He  evidently  had  Raphael's 
Transfiguration  before  his  eyes  ;  but  even  in 
appropriating  it,  he  makes  his  Christ  raise  his 
hand  towards  Moses  with  the  gesture  of  a 
teacher.  Agostino  Caracci's  masterpiece  is 
unquestionably  his  St.  Jerome,  an  old  man  at 
the  point  of  death,  no  longer  capable  of  motion, 


sively  on  science,  the  contrary  was  rather  the   hut  who  to  his  last  gasp  gazes  in  fervent  long- 


case  as  regarded  poetry  and  art.  These  lack 
ed  a  copious  material,  a  lining  object,  and  this 
the  Church  afforded  them. 

Torquato  Tasso  presents  an  example  of  the 
dominion  exercised  over  men's  minds  by  the 
renovation  of  religion.  His  father  had  sought 
him  out  a  morally  spotless  hero ;  the  son  went 
a  step  further.  As  another  poet  of  that  age 
chose  the  crusades  for  his  subject,  "  because 
it  was  better  to  treat  a  true  argument  in 
Christian  rtyle,  than  to  seek  a  little  Christian 
fame  m  a  fictitious  one,"  so  likewise  did  Tor- 
quato Tasso ;  he  adopted  a  hero  not  from  fable, 
but  from  history,  a  Christian  hero.  Godfrey 
is  more  than  yEneas;  he  is  like  a  saint  sated 
with  the  world  and  its  fleeting  fame.  The 
poet  would,  however,  have  produced  a  very 
insipid  work,  if  he  had  contented  himself  with 
portraying  such  an  individual :  but  Tasso 
seized  at  once  on  the  sentimental  and  enthu- 
siastic part  of  religion,  which  happily  har- 
monized with  that  fairy  imagery  whose 
rainbow  hues  he  wrought  into  the  web  of  his 
story.  The  poem  is  here  and  there  somewhat 
prolix  ;  the  style  is  not  always  finished  ;  still 
the  work  is  full  of  fancy  and  feeling,  of  nation- 


ing  upon  the  host  presented  to  him.  Annibal's 
Ecce  Homo,  in  the  Borghese  palace,  a  figure 
strongly  shaded,  with  delicate  transparent 
skin,  and  m  tears,  is  Ludovico's  ideal  exalted 
to  a  higher  pitch.  That  ideal  is  admirably 
embodied,  with  all  the  fulness  of  youth,  even 
in  the  rigidity  of  death,  in  the  Pieta,  a  work 
in  which  the  dismal  event  is  conceived  and 
expressed  with  original  feeling.  In  the  lunet- 
tis  in  the  Doria  palace,  the  landscape  is  strik- 
ingly enlivened  by  the  simple  expression  of 
human  events  in  the  sacred  histories. 

We  see,  that  although  these  masters  applied 
themselves  occasionally  to  profane  subjects, 
they  wrought  upon  sacred  ones  with  peculiar 
zeal.  It  is  not,  therefore,  wholly  to  their  ex- 
ternal technical  merits  they  owe  the  rank  they 
occupy ;  their  grand  distinction  is,  that  they 
once  more  caught  the  full  inspiration  of  their 
subjects  ;  that  the  religious  conceptions  they 
set  before  us,  had  for  themselves  once  more 
some  significancy. 

This  same  tendency  distinguishes  their  pu- 
pils. Domenichino  elaborated  the  idea  of  St. 
Jerome  conceived  by  Agostino,  with  suc^ 
happy  diligence,  that  in  variety  of  grouping, 


156 


TIMES  OF  GREGORY  XIII.  AND  SIXTUS  V.  [a,  d.  1572-90. 


and  fulness  of  expression,  he  perhaps  surpassed 
his  master.  His  head  of  St.  Nilus  appears  to 
me  a  noble  work,  from  its  mingled  expression 
of  anguish  and  reflection  :  his  prophetesses 
are  full  of  youth,  innocence,  and  deep  medi- 
tation. He  loved,  above  all,  to  contrast  the 
joys  of  heaven  with  the  woes  of  earth ;  in 
like  manner  has  he,  in  the  Madonna  del  Ro- 
sario,  most  strikingly  contrasted  the  divine 
Mother,  full  of  grace,  with  the  needy  and 
wretched  son  of  earth. 

Guido  Reni,  too,  may  be  said  sometimes  to 
adopt  this  system,  though  it  be  only  in  placing 
the  Virgin,  glowing  in  eternal  loveliness,  in 
juxtaposition  with  emaciated  monkish  saints. 
Guido  has  racy  vigour  and  original  conception. 
How  noble  is  his  Judith,  towering  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  deed  she  has  accomplished, 
and  of  the  gratitude  she  owes  for  Heaven's 
aid  !  Who  is  there  that  knows  not  his  enrap- 
tured Madonnas,  almost  dissolving  in  their 
raptures  1  Even  in  his  saints  he  embodies  an 
ideal  of  sentimental  reverie. 

We  have  not  yet,  however,  indicated  all  the 
peculiarities  of  this  epoch  of  art :  it  has  ano- 
ther less  attractive  side.  There  is  sometimes 
a  tone  of  quaint  incongruity  in  the  conceptions 
of  these  painters.  The  lovely  group  of  the 
holy  family,  for  instance,  is  figured  with  a  St. 
John  ceremoniously  kissing  the  foot  of  the 
infant  Jesus,  or  the  apostles  come  to  condole, 
as  the  phrase  is,  with  the  Virgin,  deliberately 
prepared  to  wipe  away  their  tears.  How  often 
too  is  the  horrible  represented  without  the 
least  mitigation  !  In  the  St.  Agnes  of  Domeni- 
chino,  we  see  the  blood  spouting  out  under 
the  sword.  Guido  portrays  the  murder  of  the 
infants  in  Bethlehem  in  all  its  horrors :  the 
women  are  all  screaming,  open-mouthed,  while 
the  blood-thirsty  soldiers  are  butchering  the 
children. 

Relic-ion  had  resumed  its  former  empire  over 
men's  minds,  but  its  influence  over  art  was 
very  different  from  that  it  exercised  in  former 
times.  Then  art  was  sensuous,  simple,  and 
true :  now  it  often  exhibited  something  fan- 
tastic and  constrained. 

No  one  will  withhold  his  admiration  from 
the  talent  of  Guercino:  but  what  a  John  is 
that  from  his  hand,  preserved  in  the  Sciarra 
gallery  !  With  brawny  arms,  huge  naked 
knees,  gloomy,  and  inspired  assuredly,  but 
who  can  say  whether  the  inspiration  be  of  a 
heavenly  or  an  earthly  nature.  His  St. 
Thomas  lays  his  hand  so  forcibly  on  the  wound 
in  the  Redeemer's  side,  that  his  rude  touch 
must  give  it  pain.  Guercino  depicts  Peter 
Martyr,  precisely  at  the  moment  the  sword 
cleaves  his  head.  By  the  side  of  that  duke  of 
Aquitaine,  whom  St.  Bernard  is  investing  with 
the  cowl,  he  introduces  a  monk  in  the  act  of 
converting  an  esquire,  and  the  spectator  sees 
himself  inexorably  condemned  to  witness  a 
scene  of  premeditated  devotion. 


We  will  not  here  inquire  how  far  the  bounds 
of  art  were  overpassed  by  this  mode  of  treat- 
ment, sometimes  unsubstantially  ideal,  some- 
times hard  and  unnatural ;  suffice  it  to  say, 
that  the  church  acquired  complete  dominion 
over  painting  in  its  renovated  slate.  It  animat- 
ed the  art  with  the  breath  of  poetry,  and  with 
the  principles  of  positive  religion,  but  it  gave 
it  at  the  same  time  an  ecclesiastical,  sacer- 
dotal, and  modern  dogmatic  character. 

Such  a  consummation  must  have  been  still 
easier  for  the  Church  with  regard  to  architec- 
ture, which  was  engaged  in  her  immediate 
service.  I  am  not  aware  that  any  one  has 
investigated  the  progression  in  modern  con- 
structions, from  the  imitation  of  the  ancients 
to  the  canon  for  the  building  of  the  churches 
devised  by  Barozzi,  and  since  his  day,  contin- 
ually observed  in  Rome  and  throughout  the 
catholic  world.  The  lightness  and  general 
freedom  that  characterized  the  beginning  of 
the  century,  here  too  became  transformed  into 
gravity,  and  pomp,  and  religious  magnificence. 

As  regarded  one  art  alone,  it  long  remained 
questionable,  whether  or  not  it  would  render 
itself  subservient  to  the  purposes  of  the  church. 

About  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
music  had  merged  into  the  most  intricate 
technicality.  Variations,  proportions,  imita- 
tions, riddles,  and  fugues,  constituted  the  glory 
of  the  composer.  The  meaning  of  the  words 
was  utterly  disregarded  :  we  meet  with  a 
whole  hostof  masses  of  that  period,  the  themes 
for  which  were  furnished  by  profane  melodies. 
The  human  voice  was  treated  as  a  mere  in- 
strument.* 

It  is  no  wonder  that  the  council  of  Trent 
took  ofl^ence  at  the  introduction  of  such  music 
into  the  churches.  In  the  course  of  the  proceed- 
ings, Pius  IV.  instituted  a  commission  for  the 
express  purpose  of  inquiring,  whether  music 
should  be  tolerated  in  the  churches  or  not. 
The  question  was  very  doubtful.  The  church 
required  that  the  words  sung  should  be  intel- 
ligible ;  and  that  there  should  be  an  accord- 
ance between  them  and  the  expression  of  the 
music  :  this  the  musicians  asserted  was  unat- 
tainable by  the  laws  of  their  art.  Cardinal 
Borromeo  was  one  of  the  commissioners,  and 
his  austerity  might  easily  have  led  to  the 
adoption  of  a  harsh  resolution. 

Happily,  the  right  man  once  more  present- 
ed himself  at  the  right  moment. 

Among  the  Roman  composers  of  that  day, 
was  Pier  Luigi  Palestrina. 

The  rigid  Paul  IV.  had  expelled  him  from 
the  papal  chapel,  because  he  was  married ; 
since  which  event  he  had  lived  retired  and 
forgotten,  in  a  sorry  cottage  among  the  vine- 
yards of  xMonte  Celio.  His  was  a  mind  inca- 
pable of  succumbing  to  adverse  fortune.  Even 


*  Giuseppe  Baini  :  Blemoriestoricho-criuchp  della  vita 
I  e  (JpHr  opere  di  Giovanni  Pier  Lui^i  ili  Par-strinn,  Koina, 
1 1828,  convey  the  information  of  which  I  have  made  use. 


I 


1572-90.] 


THE  CURIA. 


157 


in  his  solitude  he  devoted  himself  to  his  art 
with  an  ardour  that  rewarded  his  creative 
powers  with  freedom,  and  originality  of  pro- 
duction. Here  he  wrote  the  improperie,  that 
to  this  day  ennoble  the  solemnities  of  Good 
Friday  in  the  Sixtine  chapel.  Never,  per- 
haps, has  any  musician  seized  with  more  genius 
on  the  profound  meaning  of  a  scriptural  text, 
its  symbolical  significance,  and  its  bearing  on 
the  human  soul  and  on  religion. 

If  any  man  were  especially  qualified  to 
make  the  experiment,  whether  it  was  possible 
to  apply  that  method  to  the  whole  complicated 
work  of  a  mass,  that  man  was  Palestrina  ;  and 
to  him  the  commission  referred  the  subject. 

He  was  thoroughly  sensible  that  on  the  result 
of  his  experiment  rested,  so  to  speak,  the  life 
or  death  of  the  grand  music  of  the  mass,  and 
he  entered  on  it  with  the  deliberate  resolution 
to  strain  all  his  powers  for  its  success.  On 
his  manuscript  were  found  the  words,  "  Lord, 
enlighten  my  eyes !" 

He  did  not  immediately  succeed  ;  his  first 
two  works  were  failures  ;  but  at  last,  in  happy 
hour,  he  completed  the  mass  which  is  known 
by  the  name  of  "  The  mass  of  Pope  Marcel- 
lus,"  and  which  surpassed  all  expectation.  It 
is  full  of  simple  melody,  and  yet  will  bear 
comparison,  in  point  of  richness  and  variety, 
with  any  that  preceded  it ;  its  chorusses  sepa- 
rate and  meet  again;  the  meaning  of  the  text 
is  incomparably  expressed  ;  the  Kyrie  is  all 
prostration,  the  Agnus  is  very  lowliness,  the 
Credo  majesty.  Pope  Pius  IV.,  before  whom 
it  was  performed,  was  delighted,  and  com- 
pared it  with  the  heavenly  melodies,  such 
as  the  apostle  John  may  have  heard  in  his 
ecstasy. 

By  this  one  great  example  the  question  was 
set  at  rest  forever,  and  a  course  was  opened, 
in  which  have  been  produced  the  most  beauti- 
ful works,  and  the  most  touching  too,  even  to 
those  who  do  not  own  the  Romish  faith.  Who 
can  listen  to  them  and  not?  feel  his  spirit  stir 
within  him?  It  is  as  though  nature  became 
endowed  with  tone  and  voice,  as  though  the 
elements  spoke,  and  the  sounds  of  universal 
life  mingled  in  spontaneous  harmony  to  hallow 
and  adore,  now  undulating  like  the  sea,  now 
soaring  heavenward  in  exulting  bursts  of 
jubilee.  The  soul  is  borne  aloft  to  the  regions 
of  religious  ecstasy,  on  the  wings  of  universal 
sympathy. 

This  art,  which  had  perhaps  most  widely 
alienated  itself  from  the  church,  was  now, 
above  all  others,  that  which  became  most 
closely  attached  to  it.  Nothing  could  have 
been  of  more  moment  for  Catholicism.  Even 
in  its  dogmas,  if  we  mistake  not,  it  had  ad- 
mitted something  of  reverie  and  enthusiasm  ; 
and  in  its  most  impressive  penitential  and 
didactic  books,  these  constituted  a  leading 
characteristic.  Spiritual  sentimentality  and 
rapture  were  the  favourite  subjects  of  poetry 


and  painting,  whilst  music,  more  direct,  more 
penetrating  and  irresistible  in  its  appeals  than 
any  other  expositor  or  any  otlier  art,  embodied 
those  feelings  in  all  the  abundance  of  a  more 
kindred  and  more  purely  ideal  language,  and 
spell-bound  every  mind. 

The  Curia. 

Whilst  all  the  elements  of  society  and  men- 
tal activity  were  thus  seized  and  transformed 
by  the  ecclesiastical  spirit,  the  court  of  Rome, 
in  which  they  all  met  and  mingled,  was  like- 
wise greatly  changed. 

This  change  was  already  noticed  under 
Paul  IV. ;  the  example  of  Pius  V.  was  of  ex- 
traordinary influence  upon  it ;  under  Gregory 
XIII.,  it  became  palpable  to  every  one.  "  It 
has  contributed  immeasurably  to  the  welfare 
of  the  church,"  says  P.  Tiepolo,  in  1.576, 
"that  several  successive  popes  have  been  men 
of  irreproachable  lives.  This  has  induced 
other  men  too  to  become  better,  or  at  least  to 
put  on  that  appearance.  Cardinals  and  pre- 
lates are  diligent  in  their  attendance  on  mass ; 
in  their  households  every  thing  that  would 
give  scandal  is  sedulously  avoided  ;  the  whole 
city  has  laid  aside  its  old  disregard  to  morality, 
and  is  become  much  more  Christian  than  be- 
fore in  its  manners  and  habits.  We  may  ven- 
ture to  assert,  that  in  matters  of  religion  Rome 
is  not  far  from  such  a  degree  of  perfection  as 
it  is  given  to  man  to  attain." 

Not  that  the  papal  court  was  all  made  up 
of  puritans  and  canters  :  it  consisted  unques- 
tionably of  distinguished  men,  but  who  had 
committed  themselves  in  a  high  degree  to  a 
rigorous  tone  of  sentiment  in  ecclesiastical 
matters. 

If  we  picture  it  to  ourselves  as  it  existed 
under  Sixtus  V.,  we  shall  find  in  it  no  few 
cardinals  who  played  a  considerable  part  in 
the  politics  of  world: — Gallio  of  Como,  first 
minister  during  two  pontificates,  who  possessed 
the  art  of  ruling  by  compliancy ;  he  now  fur- 
ther distinguished  himself  by  the  application 
of  his  great  income  to  ecclesiastical  endow- 
ments ; — Rusticucci,  already  powerful  under 
Pius  v.,  and  not  without  great  influence  un- 
der Sixtus,  a  man  full  of  penetration  and  good- 
ness of  heart,  industrious,  and  the  more  cir- 
cumspect and  irreproachable,  inasmuch  as  he 
aimed  at  the  papacy  ; — Salviati,  who  had  ad- 
quired  reputation  by  his  well-ordered  govern- 
ment of  Bologna,  a  man  of  blameless  life  and 
simple  habits,  and  not  serious  merely,  but  even 
austere  ; — Santorio,  cardinal  of  San  Severina, 
the  man  of  the  inquisition,  long  in  the  com- 
mand of  paramount  influence  in  all  spirit- 
ual afl^airs ;  obstinate  in  his  opinions,  severe 
with  his  servants,  full  of  harshness  even  to- 
wards his  own  relations,  much  more  so  to- 
wards oihers,  inaccessible  to  every  one; — 
contrasted  with  him  Madruzzi,  who  always 


158 


TIMES  OF  GREGORY  XIII.  AND  SIXTUS  V.      [a.  d.  1572—90. 


possessed  the  secret  of  the  policy  of  the  house 
of  Austria,  both  of  the  Spanish  and  the  Ger- 
man line,  and  who  was  called  the  Cato  of  the 
college,  only  however  for  his  learning  and  his 
blameless  virtue,  not  his  censorious  preten- 
sions, for  he  was  modesty  itself.  Sirletto  was 
still  living,  of  all  the  cardinals  of  his  times, 
unquestionably  the  most  versed  in  science  and 
in  languages,  a  living  library,  as  Muret  said  ; 
yet  when  he  rose  up  from  his  books,  he  would 
call  the  boys  to  him  as  they  carried  their 
fagots  to  market  in  winter,  instruct  them  in 
the  mysteries  of  faith,  and  then  buy  their 
wood  of  them :  he  was,  in  truth,  a  cordially 
good  natured  and  compassionate  man.*  The 
example  of  Carlo  Borromeo,  whose  memory 
gradually  ripened  into  the  glory  of  sainthood, 
had  great  influence.  Federico  Borromeo  was 
by  nature  irritable  and  impetuous,  but,  follow- 
ing the  pattern  set  before  him  by  his  uncle,  he 
led  a  religious  life,  and  sutFered  not  the  mor- 
tifications he  not  unfrequently  endured  to  dis- 
turb his  composure.  But  the  truest  copy  of 
that  exemplary  man  was  Agostino  Valiere,  a 
man  of  a  nature  as  noble  and  pure  as  his  eru- 
dition was  rare,  who  followed  the  voice  of  his 
conscience  alone,  and  who  now,  at  an  ad- 
vanced age,  seemed  to  present  the  type  of  a 
bishop  of  the  primitive  times. 

The  rest  of  the  prelates  followed  the  exam- 
ple of  the  cardinals,  whose  associates  they 
were  in  the  congregation,  and  whose  places 
they  were  one  day  to  occupy. 

Among  the  members  of  tlie  highest  tribunal 
of  Rome,  the  Auditori  di  Rota,  two  in  particu- 
lar distinguished  themselves  at  this  period ; 
they  being  at  the  same  time  men  of  opposite 
characters.  The  one'was  Mantica,  who  lived 
only  among  books  and  legal  documents,  who 
served  the  forum  and  the  schools  by  his 
judicial  works,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  ex- 
pressing himself  briefly,  and  without  much 
ceremony.  The  other  was  Arigone,  who  gave 
himself  up  not  so  much  to  books  as  to  the 
world,  the  court,  and  politics,  and  who  was 
remarkable  for  judgment  and  for  suppleness 
of  character.  Both,  however,  strove  alike  to 
maintain  a  reputation  for  purity  of  conduct 
and  religious  fervour.  Of  the  bishops  about 
the  court,  those  were  particularly  noticed  who 
had  been  engaged  in  nunciatures:  Torres, 
who  had  had  a  great  part  in  the  conclusion  of 
I*ius  V.'s  league  against  the  Turks;  Malas 
pina,  who  had  watched  over  the  interests  of 
the  catholic  church  in  Germany  and  the 
North;  Bolognetti,  to  whom  had  been  com- 
mitted the  laborious  visitation  of  the  Venetian 
churches ;  all  of  them  men  who  had  risen  by 
their  talents  and  their  zeal  for  religion. 

*  Ciaconius,  Vitae  Paparum,  iii.  p.  978,  where  also  is 
given  the  epitaph  on  Sii'leto,  in  wliich  he  is  described 
as  "  eniditorum  pauperumque  patronus"  [pa.lron  of  the 
learned  anl  of  the  poor.]  Cardella's  Meruorie  Sioriche 
de'  Cardinali  contain  no  more  than  the  notices  of  Ciaco- 
nius put  into  Italian. 


The  learned  men  of  the  court  occupied  a 
distinguished  rank: — Bellarmine,  professor, 
grammarian,  the  greatest  controversialist  of 
the  catholic  church,  who  left  behind  him  the 
reputation  of  an  apostolic  life  ;  another  Jesuit, 
Matfei,  who  wrote  the  history  of  the  Portu- 
guese conquests  in  India,  particularly  as  they 
regarded  the  propagation  of  Christianity  in 
the  South  and  in  the  East,  and  who  also  com- 
posed the  life  of  Loyola,  a  work  in  which 
phrase  follows  phrase  with  deliberate  diffuse- 
ness  and  nicely  poised  elegance.*  Some- 
times there  were  strangers,  such  as  the  Ger- 
man Clavius,  who  combined  profound  science 
with  Jjlamelessness  of  life,  and  enjoyed  the 
esteem  of  every  one ;  or  Muret,  a  French- 
man, the  best  latinist  of  that  day,  who  after 
he  had  long  expounded  the  pandects  in  an 
original  and  classic  manner  (he  was  as  wittty 
as  he  was  eloquent,)  became  a  priest  in  his 
old  age,  applied  himself  to  theological  studies, 
and  read  mass  every  day;  or  the  Spanish 
canonist  Azpilcueta,  whose  responsa  were  re- 
garded as  oracles  by  the  court,  and  the  whole 
catholic  world  :  Pope  Gregory  XIII.  was  often 
seen  to  stop  tor  hours  before  his  house  to  con- 
verse with  him;  yet  he  humbled  himself  to 
the  lowest  offices  in  the  hospitals. 

Among  these  remarkable  personages,  Filip- 
po  Neri,  founder  of  the  congregation  of  the 
Oratory,  an  eminent  confessor  and  guide  of 
souls,  obtained  great  and  extensive  influence. 
He  was  good-natured,  playful,  strict  in  essen- 
tials, indulgent  in  trifles.  He  never  com- 
manded, but  only  gave  counsels:  he  even 
seemed  to  request :  he  did  not  dissertate,  but 
conversed :  he  possessed  the  requisite  pene- 
tration todistinguish  the  peculiar  bent  of  every 
mind.  The  Oratory  he  founded  grew  up  out 
of  the  visits  made  him,  and  the  attachment  of 
some  young  men,  who  looked  on  themselves 
as  his  disciples,  and  wished  to  live  with  him. 
The  most  famous  among  them  is  Cesar  Ba- 
ronius,  the  annalilt '  of  the  church.  Filippo 
Neri  recognized  his  talent,  and  persuaded  him 
to  set  forth  the  history  of  the  church  in  the 
meetings  of  the  Oratory,  though  at  first  he 
showed  no  inclination  to  the  task.f  Baronius 
applied  himself  for  thirty  years  continuously 
to  his  historical  labours,  and  even  when  he 
had  become  cardinal  he  used  to  rise  before 
day  to  pursue  them.  He  regularly  ate  at  the 
same  table  with  his  household  ;  nor  was  any- 
thing ever  observable  in  his  character  incon- 
sistent with  humility  and  godliness.  Both  in 
the  Oratory  and  as  cardinal,  he  maintained  a 
strict  intimacy  with  Tarugi,  who  was  in  high 
consideration  as  a  confessor  and  preacher,  and 
who  was  like  himself  remarkable  for  guileless 
piety.  Their  friendship  lasted  till  death,  and 
was" a  source  of  happiness  to  both  :  they  were 

t  Vita  J.  P.  Mallei  Serassio  auclore.    In  the  edition  of 
Maffi'i's  works,  Berg.  1747. 
t  Gallonius,  Vila  Phil.  Nerii.    Mog.  1602.  p.  163. 


1572—90.] 


THE  CURIA. 


159 


buried  side  by  side.  A  third  disciple  of  San 
Fillippo's  was  Silvio  Antoniano,  whose  incli- 
nations indeed  tended  rather  to  literature  and 
poetic  labours,  and  who  subsequently  dis- 
played extraordinary  literary  skill  in  the  corn- 
position  of  papal  briefs,  when  that  duty  was 
consigned  to  him.  lie  was  a  man  of  the  gen- 
tlest manners,  humble  and  affable,  all  good- 
ness and  piety. 

All  the  prominent  features  of  this  court, 
politics,  administration,  poetry,  art,  and  learn- 
ing, wore  the  same  complexion. 

What  a  change  from  the  curia  of  the  be- 
ginning of  the  century,  when  the  cardinals 
were  at  open  war  with  the  popes ;  when  the 
latter  buckled  on  the  sword,  and  in  court  and 
in  person  repudiated  every  thing  that  called 
to  mind  their  Christian  vocation.  Now,  on 
the  other  hand,  how  still  and  conventlike  were 
the  habits  of  the  cardinals.  The  failure  of 
Cardinal  Tosco,  who  once  had  the  nearest 
prospect  of  the  papacy,  was  chiefly  owing  to 
his  habitual  use  of  two  or  three  Lombard  pro- 
verbs that  W'Ore  considered  objectionable.  So 
punctilious  and  so  easily  ofl'ended  was  public 
opinion. 

But  we  must  not  conceal,  that  in  social 
habits  too,  as  well  as  in  literature  and  art, 
another,  and  to  our  feelings  less  agreeable, 
aspect  of  things,  unfolded  itself  Miracles, 
that  had  not  been  seen  for  a  long  time,  were 
renewed.  An  image  of  the  Virgin  at  San 
Silvestro  began  to  speak,  an  event  that  pro- 
duced such  an  impression  upon  the  people, 
that  the  waste  district  round  the  church  was 
very  soon  put  under  cultivation.  In  Rione  de' 
Monti  a  miraculous  image  of  the  Virgin  ap- 
peared in  a  hayrick,  and  the  inhabitants  of 
the  neighbourhood  looked  on  this  as  such  a 
special  token  of  Divine  favour,  that  they  rose 
in  arms  to  resist  its  removal.  We  hear  of 
similar  phenomena  in  Narni,  Lodi,  and  San 
Severino;  and  from  the  States  of  the  Church 
they  spread  over  the  whole  Catholic  world. 
The  popes,  too,  resumed  the  practice  of 
canonization,  which  had  been  disused  for  a 
considerable  time.  All  confessors  were  not 
so  judicious  as  Filippo  Neri :  a  barren  work- 
seeking  pietism  was  encouraged,  and  the  con- 
ception of  Divine  things  was  mingled  with 
fantastic  superstition. 

Would  we  could,  at  least,  cherish  the  be- 
lief, that  even  with  these  false  notions,  the 
multitude  had  imbibed  a  thorough  devotion 
to  the  precepts  of  religion  ! 

But  it  resulted  from  the  very  nature  of  the 
court,  that  along  with  its  religious  efforts 
those  of  the  most  vehemently  secular  ten- 
dency manifested  themselves  likewise. 

The  curia  was  not  exclusively  an  ecclesi- 
astical institution,  it  had  a  state,  and  indi- 
rectly a  great  portion  of  the  world  to  rule. 
In  proportion  as  any  individual  acquired  a 
eliare  in  that  power,  he  won  consequence,  the 


gifts  of  fortune,  influence,  and  every  thing 
that  man  is  prone  to  covet.  Human  nature 
could  not  have  so  changed,  that  men  should 
have  struggled  only  by  spiritual  means  for  the 
prizes  offered  by  society  and  politics.  The 
same  courses  were  here  adopted  as  at  other 
courts,  but  with  very  peculiar  modifications, 
consonant  with  the  nature  of  the  arena. 

Of  all  the  cities  in  the  world,  Rome  proba- 
bly possessed  in  those  days  the  most  fluctuat- 
ing population.  Under  Leo  X.  it  had  swelled 
to  more  than  eighty  thousand  souls,  and  it  had 
sunk  again  to  forty-five  thousand  under  Paul 
IV.,  from  whose  rigour  every  one  fled.  Im- 
mediately after  his  days  it  rose  again  in  a  few 
years  to  seventy  thousand,  and  to  upwards  of 
one  hundred  thousand  under  Sixtus  V.  The 
most  remarkable  circumstance  was,  that  the 
fixed  residents  bore  no  proportion  to  these 
numbers.  The  city  was  peopled  rather  by 
long  sojourners  than  by  natives  ;  it  might  be 
compared  to  a  fair  or  a  diet,  without  countinu- 
ance  or  stability,  without  the  cement  of  blood. 
Numbers  flocked  to  Rome,  because  they  could 
not  find  any  preferment  in  the  land  of  their 
birth.  Wounded  pride  drove  some  thither, 
wayward  ambition  others.  Many  thought 
there  was  more  liberty  there  than  elsewhere. 
Every  man  sought  to  rise  in  his  own  way. 

The  heterogenous  elements  were  still  far 
from  coalescing  into  one  compact  body;  the 
various  races  were  still  numerous,  and  so 
distinct,  that  the  diversities  of  national  and  pro- 
vincial character  were  easily  to  be  seen.  The 
courteous  docile  Lombard  was  distinguished 
from  the  Genoese,  who  thought  to  carry  all 
before  him  by  the  force  of  his  money,  and  the 
Venetian,  alert  to  discover  the  secrets  of 
others.  There  might  be  seen  the  frugal 
loquacious  Florentine,  the  Romagnese  with 
his  instinctive  staunchness  in  the  chase  of  his 
own  interest,  and  the  assuming  and  ceremo- 
nious Neapolitan.  The  men  from  the  north 
were  simple  in  their  habits,  and  fond  of  com- 
fort, even  Clavius  the  German  was  the  butt  of 
many  a  joke,  for  his  two  very  substantial 
breakfasts.  The  French  kept  apart,  and  had 
the  most  difficulty  in  relinquishing  their  na- 
tional habits.  The  Spaniard  stalked  about 
wrapped  in  his  sottana  and  his  cloak,  full  of 
pretension  and  ambitious  schemes,  and  de- 
spised all  the  rest. 

There  was  nothing  which  an  individual  in 
the  multitude  might  not  venture  to  set  his 
heart  on.  People  were  fond  of  the  recollec- 
tion, that  John  XXIII.,  when  he  was  asked 
why  he  was  going  to  Rome,  answered,  he 
wished  to  become  pope, — and  pope  he  was. 
In  like  manner  Pius  V.  and  Sixtus  V.  had 
risen  from  the  lowest  grade  to  supreme  digni- 
ty. Every  man  deemed  himself  capable  of 
every  thing,  and  hoped  for  every  thing. 

It  was  a  frequent  remark  in  those  days, 
and  a  perfectly  just  one,  that  there  was  some- 


160 


TIMES  OF  GREGORY  XIII.  AND  SIXTUS  V.         [a.  d.  1572-96. 


thinf  of  a  republican  character  in  the  prelacy 
and  the  curia ;  this  consisted  in  the  circum- 
stance that  all  might  pretend  to  all,  and  that 
individuals  continually  rose  from  humble  ori- 
gin to  the  highest  dignities.  Nevertheless, 
that  republic  was  one  of  the  most  singular 
constitution  :  on  the  one  hand  was  the  uni- 
versal qualification  of  individuals  for  public 
honours,  on  the  other  the  absolute  power  of  a 
single  man,  upon  whose  arbitrary  decision 
depended  every  endowment  and  every  pro- 
motion. And  who  was  that  man  1  He  on 
whom  an  utterly  incalculable  combination 
bestowed  the  victory  in  the  elective  contest. 
Previously  of  little  weight,  he  suddenly  be- 
came invested  with  the  fulness  of  authority. 
Beino-  under  the  conviction  that  he  had  been 
raised  by  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
the  highest  dignity,  he  had  so  much  the  less 
motive  to  forego  any  of  his  personal  inclina- 
tions. He  usually  began  forthwith,  with  a 
thorough  alteration  of  existing  arrangements. 
The  legates  and  governors  were  changed  in 
all  the  provinces :  in  the  capital  there  were 
places  that,  as  a  matter  of  course,  always  fell 
to  the  pope's  kinsmen  and  nephews.  Even 
when  nepotism  was  restricted,  as  it  was  in 
the  period  under  our  immediate  consideration, 
still  every  pope  favoured  his  old  confidants 
and  retainers.  It  was  quite  natural  that  he 
should  not  break  oft'  his  habitual  intercourse 
with  them.  Thus  the  secretary,  who  had 
long  served  the  Cardinal  Montalto,  was  also 
the  most  acceptable  to  Pope  Sixtus  V.  Each 
pope,  of  necessity,  brought  forward  with  him- 
self the  partisans  of  the  opinions  to  which  he 
himself  inclined.  Thus  did  every  new  acces- 
sion to  the  papal  chair  bring  about  a  kind  of 
revolution  in  all  prospects  and  expectations, 
in  the  approaches  to  power,  and  in  ecclesias- 
tical and  temporal  dignities.  "  It  is,"  says 
Commendone,  "as  though  the  site  of  the 
princely  castle  in  a  city  were  changed,  and 
all  the  streets  were  made  to  run  towards  the 
new  edifice  :  how  many  houses  must  be  pulled 
down,  how  often  must  the  road  be  carried 
through  a  palace,  while  new  lanes  and  passa- 
ges begin  to  be  thronged."  This  comparison 
does  not  unaptly  depict  the  violent  changes 
occurring  on  each  occasion,  and  the  degree  of 
stability  of  the  consequent  arrangements. 

A  circumstance  of  a  most  peculiar  kind  rose 
inevitably  out  of  this. 

From  the  frequent  recurrence  of  these  mu- 
tations, and  the  accession  of  the  popes  at  so 
much  a  more  advanced  age  than  usual  with 
other  sovereigns,  and  the  momentarily  im- 
pending possibility  of  a  transition  of  power  in- 
to other  hands,  every  man's  life  was,  as  it 
were,  a  continuous  game  of  chance ;  no  man 
could  calculate  the  upshot,  but  his  hopes  were 
kept  continually  alive  by  the  uncertainty. 

Each  individual's  hopes  of  fortune  and  pro- 
motion depended  especially  on  personal  fa- 


vour ;  and  where  all  personal  influence  was 
in  such  a  continual  state  of  fluctuation,  the 
calculations  of  ambition  must  necessarily  have 
assumed  a  corresponding  tone,  and  cast  them- 
selves upon  very  peculiar  devices. 

In  our  manuscript  collections  are  to  be 
found  a  multitude  of  directions  respecting  the 
behaviour  expedient  to  be  observed  at  the 
papal  court.*  The  manner  in  which  each 
man  plies  his  schemes,  and  seeks  to  make  his 
fortune,  appears  to  me  no  uninteresting  ob- 
ject of  notice.  Human  nature  is  inexhaust- 
ible in  its  plastic  capacity  for  adaptation  to 
circumstances ;  the  more  rigidly  defined  the 
data  imposed  on  it,  the  more  unexpected  are 
the  forms  into  which  it  throws  itself 

All  cannot  adopt  the  same  course :  he  who 
possesses  nothing  must  be  content  to  take 
service.  A  liberal  domestication  in  the  houses 
of  cardinals  and  princes  was  still  open  to  lite- 
rary men.  If  a  man  felt  compelled  to  place 
himself  in  such  a  position,  it  became  the  ob- 
ject of  his  chief  solicitude  to  ingratiate  him- 
self with  the  head  of  the  house,  to  acquire 
merit  in  his  eyes,  to  penetrate  his  secrets,  and 
to  become  indispensable  to  him.  Everything 
was  patiently  endured  at  his  hands,  even  in- 
justice was  borne  with  cheerfulness  ;  for  how 
soon,  on  a  change  in  the  papacy,  might  his 
star  too  rise  in  the  ascendant,  and  his  retain- 
ers partake  of  its  splendour.  Fortune  ebbs 
and  flows :  the  man  remains  the  same. 

Others,  perhaps,  directed  their  efibrts  to  the 
attainment  of  a  little  place,  that  with  zeal 
and  activity  might  open  a  certain  field  to 
their  ambition.  But  in  truth,  it  is  always  an 
irksome  thing — and  so  it  was  then  and  there 
as  much  as  in  any  other  city  and  other  times 
— to  be  obliged  to  look  to  necessary  wants  in 
the  first  place,  and  to  honour  afterwards. 

How  much  more  fortunate  was  the  condi- 
tion of  those  who  had  a  competency  !  The 
monti,  in  which  they  purchased  shares,  yielded 
thern  a  certain  income  every  month :  they 
they  bought  a  place,  in  right  of  whicii  they 
entered  directly  into  the  prelacy,  and  not 
only  attained  an  independence,  but  also  an 
opportunity  of  brilliantly  displaying  their 
talents.  Whoso  has  to  him  shall  be  given- 
At  this  court  it  was  doubly  advantageous  to 
possess  something,  because  the  possession  re- 
verted to  the  camera,  so  that  the  pope  himself 
had  an  interest  in  its  increase. 

In  such  a  situation  there  was  no  more  need 
of  so  slavishly  attaching  oneself  to  a  great 
man ;    so    strongly    renounced    partisanship 


*  For  instance:  Instrutlione  al  signor  cardinale  dl 
Medici  del  modo  como  si  deve  governare  nella  cone  di 
Roma.— Avverlimenli  air  illnio-  cardinal  Montallo  sopra 
il  modo  col  quale  si  possa  e  debba  ben  governare  com 
cardinale  e  nepote  del  papa.  Inform  xii.— Avvertimenli 
politici  et  utilissimi  per  la  cone  di  Koma:  seventy-eight 
very  questionable  maxims:  inform  xxv.— Tiie  most  im- 
ponant  of  all,  Discorso  over  ritratto  della  cone  di  Koma 
di  W.  Illmo.  Commendone.    Codd.  Rang,  al  Vienna. 


A.  D.  1572-90.] 


THE  CURIA. 


161 


would  rather,  indeed,  have  stood  in  the  wayi 
of  a  man's  promotion,  if  it  ran  counter  to  the 
caprices  of  fortune.  The  most  essential  pre- 
caution to  be  observed  was,  to  avoid  ^ivinsf 
oiFence  to  any  one  ;  a  precaution  most  sensi- 
tively and  watchfully  attended  to  in  the 
slightest  and  most  superficial  intercourses  of 
life.  Care  was  taken,  for  instance,  not  to 
treat  any  man  with  more  honour  than  he  was 
exactly  entitled  to;  equality  of  comportment 
towards  persons  of  different  degrees  would  be 
inequality,  and  might  produce  an  unfavoura- 
ble impression.  Even  of  the  absent  nothing 
but  good  was  to  be  spoken,  not  only  because 
words  once  uttered  are  no  longer  in  our 
power,  they  fly  one  knows  not  whither,  but 
also  because  very  few  love  a  keen  scrutinizer. 
It  behoved  a  man  to  make  a  moderate  use  of 
his  knowledge,  and  to  avoid  rendering  it  tedi- 
ous to  any  one.  It  was  not  advisable  to  be 
the  bearer  of  bad  news,  a  part  of  the  unfa- 
vourable impression  always  recoiling  upon 
the  bearer  of  the  tidings.  Tlie  only  difficulty 
on  the  other  hand  was  to  avoiiso  strict  a  si- 
lence as  would  render  one's  purpose  apparent. 

Elevation  to  higher  dignities,  even  to  that 
of  cardinal,  conferred  no  exemption  from  these 
duties ;  it  only  obliged  the  individual  to  be 
more  assiduous  of  observance  of  them  in  his 
own  sphere.  Who  should  venture  to  betray 
his  belief  that  any  member  of  the  college  of 
cardinals  was  unfit  for  the  papal  dignity  1 
There  was  not  one  of  them  so  insignificant  on 
whom  the  choice  might  not  possibly  fall. 

A  cardinal's  first  concern  was  to  cultivate 
the  favourable  opinion  of  the  reigning  pope  : 
on  it  depended  fortune  and  dignity,  universal 
deference  and  obsequiousness.  Great  discre- 
tion, however,  was  necessary  in  the  manner 
of  paying  his  court.  Profound  silence  was  to 
be  observed  as  to  all  the  personal  concerns  of 
the  pope,  whilst,  at  the  same  time,  no  pains 
were  to  be  spared  to  come  at  the  bottom  of 
theoi,  so  as  secretly  to  shape  one's  proceedings 
accordingly.  The  pope  might,  indeed,  now 
and  then  be  addressed  in  praise  of  his  nephews, 
their  fidelity  and  their  talents :  such  topics 
were  usually  welcome.  To  learn  the  secrets 
of  the  papal  house,  use  might  be  made  of  the 
monks,  who  under  pretence  of  religion  pene- 
trate further  than  any  one  imagines. 

The  importance  and  the  rapid  vicissitude 
of  personal  relations,  imposes  especially  on 
ambassadors  a  necessity  for  extraordinary  vi- 
gilance. Like  a  skilful  pilot,  the  envoy  ob- 
serves how  tlie  wind  blows :  he  spares  no 
money  to  get  hold  of  persons  who  may  give 
\^m  information;  all  his  outlay  is  well  repaid 
by  a  single  valuable  intelligence,  which  may 
indicate  to  him  the  seasonable  moment  for 
pushing  forward  his  negociations.  If  he  has 
a  request  to  make  of  the  pope,  he  makes  it 
his  business  insensibly  to  interweave  its  pur- 
port with  the  pope's  own  interests,  however 
21 


remote  from  each  other  the  two  may  really 
be.  Above  all,  he  strains  every  efibrt  to  win 
over  the  favourite  kinsman,  and  to  convince 
him  that  from  no  court,  so  much  as  his  own, 
has  the  latter  reason  to  expect  wealth  and 
permanent  greatness.  He  also  endeavours  to 
secure  the  good  will  of  the  cardinals.  To 
none  will  he  absolutely  promise  the  papacy, 
but  he  flatters  the  hopes  of  all.  He  will  not 
commit  himself  wholly  to  any  of  them,  but  he 
will  occasionally  bestow  marks  of  his  favour 
even  on  those  who  are  hostilely  disposed.  He 
does  like  the  falconer,  who  shows  the  piece  of 
meat  to  the  hawk,  but  only  gives  him  a  little 
of  it  from  time  to  time. 

So  lived  and  moved  among  each  other,  car- 
dinals, ambassadors,  princes,  public  and  pri- 
vate possessors  of  power;  full  of  ceremony, 
of  which  Rome  was  the  classic  ground,  of  ob- 
sequiousness and  submissiveness,  but  egotists 
all  to  the  very  core ;  ever  craving  only  to 
accomplish  some  private  end,  and  to  over- 
reach others. 

Curious  it  is  to  note  how  the  struggle  for 
what  all  covet,  power,  honour,  wealth,  and 
enjoyment,  elsewhere  the  fruitful  source  of 
rancour  and  feud,  here  took  the  shape  of  cour- 
tesy and  officiousness ;  how,  the  better  to 
gratify  his  own  passions,  each  flattered  in 
others  those  of  which  he  was  in  some  mea- 
sure conscious  in  himself  Here  self-denial 
was  full  of  greed,  and  passion  stole  onward 
with  v/ary  step. 

We  have  seen  the  dignity,  the  earnestness, 
the  religion,  that  prevailed  at  this  court;  we 
now  see  its  worldly  side  likewise,  ambition, 
covetousness,  dissimulation,  and  craft. 

Were  it  our  purpose  to  pronounce  an  eulo- 
gy on  the  Roman  court,  we  need  select  only 
the  former  of  these  its  constituent  elements : 
were  we  inclined  to  inveigh  against  it,  we 
might  look  exclusively  to  the  latter.  But 
when  we  rise  to  the  heights  of  clear  and  un- 
prejudiced observation,  we  take  both  into  our 
contemplation,  nay,  admit  the  necessary  deri- 
vation of  both  from  the  nature  of  man  and  the 
force  of  circumstances. 

That  phase  in  the  world's  history  which 
we  have  been  considering,"  gave  more  vivid 
coerciveness  than  ever  to  the  demand  for  de- 
corum, purity  of  life,  and  religion  ;  it  coin- 
cided with  the  principle  of  the  court,  whose 
position  with  regard  to  the  world  rested  on 
the  maintenance  of  those  qualities.  It  fol- 
lowed, of  necessity,  that  tliose  men  rose  to 
most  eminence  whose  characters  most  amply 
accorded  with  that  demand :  had  it  been 
otherwise,  public  opinion  would  not  only  have 
been  untrue  to  itself,  but  suicidal.  The  hap- 
pening however,  as  it  did,  that  the  goods  of 
fortune  were  so  immediately  connected  with 
spiritual  qualities,  was  an  enormous  provoca- 
tive of  the  spirit  of  this  world. 

We  cannot  doubt  the  genuine  nature  of  the 


162 


COUNTER  REFORMATIONS.    FIRST  PERIOD. 


[a.  d.  1563-89, 


temper  and  sentiments  not  unfrequently  de- 
picted to  us  by  our  observant  and  discreet 
authorities.  But  how  many  a  man  may  yet 
have  sought  to  secure  his  fortunes  by  mere 
outward  show  ]  Into  how  many  other  minds 
may  mere  worldly  tendencies  have  forced 
their  way  along  with  those  of  religion,  in  the 
misty  dimness  of  half-developed  motives. 

It  was  with  the  curia  as  with  literature  and 
art.  All  alike  had  fallen  off  from  the  church, 
and  rushed  upon  paths  verging  almost  upon 
paganism.  Yonder  march  of  events  awoke 
the  dormant  principle  of  the  cliurch,  moved  all 
the  energies  of  society  as  with  a  new  breath 
of  life,  and  gave  a  new  colouring  to  the  whole 
body  of  the  limes.  How  broadly  marked  the 
difference  between  Ariosto  and  Tasso,  be- 
tween Giulio  Romano  and  Guercino,  between 
Pomponazzo  and  Patrizi !  A  great  epoch  lies 
between  them.  Yet  is  there  something  com- 
mon to  the  former  and  the  latter,  and  they 
have  a  mutual  point  of  contact.  The  curia, 
too,  retained  its  old  form,  and  preserved  many 
other  particulars  of  its  old  nature.  Yet  this 
did  not  prevent  its  being  swayed  by  a  new 
spirit ;  what  the  latter  could  not  wholly  trans- 
form and  assimilate  to  itself,  it  animated,  at 
least,  with  its  own  impulse. 


As  I  contemplate  the  mingling  of  the  vari- 
ous elements,  I  call  to  mind  a  natural  specta- 
cle, that  may,  perhaps,  serve  as  a  sort  of  type 
and  similitude  to  aid  our  conception  of  this 
state  of  things. 

Near  Terni,  the  Nera  is  seen  approaching 
through  the  lengthened  valley,  between  woods 
and  meadows,  in  calm  unruffled  flow.  On  the 
other  side,  the  Velino,  pent  up  between  rocks, 
rushes  on  with  giant  speed,  till  at  last  it  dashes 
headlong  from  the  cliffs  in  splendid  cascades, 
that  f(xini  and  sparkle  with  a  thousand  hues. 
Meeting  immediately  with  the  Nera,  in  an 
instant  it  communicates  to  it  its  own  commotion. 
Roaring  and  surging,  the  mingled  waters 
sweep  torrent-like  along. 

Thus  did  the  newly-awakened  spirit  of  the 
catholic  church  give  a  new  impetus  to  all  the 
organs  of  literature  and  art,  to  the  whole  being 
of  society.  The  curia  was  at  once  devout  and 
restless,  spiritual  and  warlike ;  on  the  one 
hand  full  of  dignity,  pomp,  and  ceremony;  on 
the  other,  unparalleled  for  calculating  sub- 
tilty,  and  unwearied  lust  of  sway.  Its  piety 
and  its  ambitious  projects,  both  reposing  on 
the  idea  of  an  exclusive  orthodoxy,  coalesced 
into  one  system.  Thus  constituted,  it  once 
more  essayed  to  subdue  the  world. 


BOOK   THE    FIFTH. 


COUNTER  REFORMATIONS.    FIRST  PERIOD.    1563—1589. 


Introduction. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  problems  in 
the  history  of  a  nation  or  of  a  power,  to  appre- 
ciate the  connexion  of  its  special  relations 
with  those  of  the  world  at  large. 

It  is  true  the  individual  life  of  the  body 
politic  grows  in  obedience  to  inherent  laws 
assorted  to  its  peculiar  moral  constitution,  and 
displays  a  characteristic  consistency  through- 
out the  progress  of  ages.  Still  it  is  incessant- 
ly under  the  operation  of  general  influences, 
that  powerfully  affect  the  course  of  its  devel- 
opment. 

We  may  lay  it  down  as  a  maxim,  that  the 
character  of  modern  Europe  is  founded  on  this 
contrast  of  forces.  It  states  that  races  are 
for  ever  parted  from  each  other,  but  at  the 
same  time  they  are  knit  together  in  an  insep- 
arable system  of  community.  There  are  no 
national  annals  in  which  universal  history 
does  not  play  an  important  part.  So  bound 
by  the  laws  of  necessity,  so  all-embracing  is 
the  consecutive  series  of  ages,  that  even  the 
mightiest  state  often  appears  but  as  a  member 
of  the  great  commonwealth,  involved  in,  and 


ruled  by  its  destinies.  Whoever  has  once 
attempted  to  consider  the  history  of  a  people 
in  the  whole,  and  to  survey  its  course,  without 
arbitrarily  straining  truth,  and  without  illu- 
sion, will  have  experienced  the  difficulty 
arising  from  this  source.  In  the  several  phases 
of  a  nation's  progressive  existence,  we  discern 
the  various  currents  of  the  world's  general 
destiny. 

But  this  difficulty  becomes  double  when, 
as  sometimes  occurs,  a  power  sets  on  foot  a 
movement  that  involves  the  whole  world,  and 
of  the  principle  of  which  it  is  itself  the  pecu- 
liar representative.  Such  a  power  then  takes 
so  potent  a  share  in  the  collective  operations 
of  the  age,  it  enters  into  such  vivid  relations 
with  all  the  active  forces  of  the  world,  that 
its  history  expands  in  a  certain  sense  into 
universal  history. 

On  such  a  phase  as  this,  the  papacy  entered 
after  the  council  of  Trent. 

Shaken  to  its  very  centre,  perilled  in  the 
very  ground-work  of  its  being,  it  had  yet  been 
able  to  bide  the  brunt,  and  to  arm  itself  with 
renovated  vigour.  In  both  peninsulas  it  had 
promptly  swept  aside  all  the  hostile  efforts  by 


A.  D.  1563-1589.]    SITUATION  OF  PROTESTANTISM  ABOUT  1563. 


163 


whicli  it  had  been  assailed,  and  had  once  more 
gathered  to  itself  and  pervaded  all  the  ele- 
ments of  life.  It  now  conceived  the  project 
of  re-subduing  the  revolted  in  all  other  parts 
of  the  world.  Rome  became  once  more  a 
conquering  power,  it  formed  projects,  and  en- 
gaged ill  enterprises,  such  as  in  ancient  times 
and  in  the  middle  ages  had  issued  from  the 
seven-hilled  city. 

We  should  make  but  little  progress  in  the 
history  of  tiie  renovated  papacy,  vyere  we  to 
limit  our  observation  to  its  centre  only.  Its 
actual  significance  is  perfectly  to  be  seen  but 
in  its  operation  upon  the  world  in  general. 

Let  us  begin  with  contemplating  the  strength 
and  position  of  its  rival. 

Situation  of  Protestantism  about  the  year 
1563. 

North  of  the  Alps  and  the  Pyrenees,  the 
Protestant  opinions  had  been  in  vigorous  and 
incessant  progress  till  the  period  of  the  council 
of  Trent:  their  dominion  extended  far  and 
wide  over  German,  Sclavonian,  and  Latin 
nations. 

In  the  Scandinavian  realms  they  had  estab- 
lished themselves  the  more  impregnably,  be- 
cause there  their  introduction  was  coincident 
with  the  establishment  of  new  dynasties,  and 
the  re-modelling  of  all  political  institutions. 
From  the  very  first  they  were  hailed  with  joy, 
as  though  there  was  in  their  nature  a  primi- 
tive affinity  to  the  national  feelings.  Bugen- 
hagen,  the  founder  of  Lutheranism  in  Den- 
mark, cannot  find  words  enough  to  describe 
the  zeal  with  which  his  preaching  was  listened 
to  in  that  country,  "  even  on  work-days,"  as 
he  expresses  himself,  "  even  before  day,  on 
holidays  and  all  day  long."*  The  Protestant 
doctrines  had  now  spread  to  the  very  remotest 
boundaries  of  Scandinavia.  How  the  Faro 
Isles  became  Protestant  is  unknown,  so  easy 
and  spontaneous  was  the  change.f  In  the 
year  1552,  the  last  representatives  of  Catholi- 
cism in  Iceland  succumbed :  a  Lutheran  bi- 
shopric was  founded  in  VViborg  in  1554 : 
evangelic  preachers  travelled  to  far  Lapland 
in  company  with  the  Swedish  governors.  In 
1560,  Gustavus  Vasa  earnestly  enjoined  his 
heir  in  his  will,  that  he  and  all  his  poster- 
ity should  hold  fast  by  the  evangelical  doc- 
trine, and  tolerate  no  false  teachers.  He 
made  this  almost  a  condition  to  the  inheritance 
of  the  throne.]: 

On  the  Southern  shores  too  of  the  Baltic, 
Lutheranism  had  achieved  complete  predomi- 
nance, at  least  among  the  population  of  Ger- 
man tongue.  Prussia  had  set  the  first  exam- 
ple of  secularization  on  a  grand  scale :  this 

*  Narrative  of  D.  Pomerani,  1539.  Sabb.  p.  visit,  in 
Miillers  Entdecktem  Slaatsc.abinet  4te  ErotTn.  p.  365. 

f  Miinter:  Kircliengeschichte  vun  Diinemark,  iii.  429. 

i  Testamentuin  religiosum  Gustavi  I.  in  Baaz:  Inven- 
tarium  Ecclesise  Sueogolh.  p.  282. 


having  been  followed  by  Livonia  in  1.561,  the 
first  condition  stipulated  for  by  that  province 
on  its  submission  to  Poland,  was,  that  it  should 
be  at  liberty  to  abide  by  the  Augsburg  con- 
fession. Their  connexion  with  those  coun- 
tries, whose  subjection  was  based  on  the  Pro- 
testant principle,  operated  as  a  check  upon 
the  Jagellon  kings,  to  prevent  their  opposing 
the  progress  of  tiie  new  faith.  The  great 
cities  of  Polish  Prussia  were,  in  the  years 
1557,  15.58,  confirmed  in  the  exercise  of  their 
religion  according  to  the  Lutheran  ritual  by 
express  charters  ;  and  the  privileges  soon  after 
acquired  by  the  smaller  towns,  which  had 
previously  been  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  pow- 
erful bishops,*  were  still  more  explicit.  In 
fact,  even  in  Poland  Proper  a  considerable 
part  of  the  nobility  had  been  gained  over  to 
the  Protestant  opinions,  grateful  as  these  were 
to  the  feelings  of  independence  nurtured  by 
the  constitution  of  the  state.  It  was  a  com- 
mon saying,  "  A  Polish  nobleman  is  not  sub- 
ject to  the  king ;  is  he  to  be  so  to  the  pope  !" 
So  far  were  matters  carried,  that  Protestants 
made  their  way  even  into  the  episcopal  sees, 
and  even  constituted  the  majority  of  the 
senate  under  Sigismund  Augustus.  That 
sovereign  was  unquestionably  catholic ;  he 
heard  mass  daily,  and  catholic  preaching  eve- 
ry Sunday  ;  he  joined  the  singers  of  his  choir 
in  the  Benedictus;  observed  the  seasons  of 
confession  and  communion,  which  latter  he 
received  in  one  kind  :  still  he  seemed  to  give 
himself  little  concern  about  the  creed  of  his 
court  or  his  subjects,  and  was  not  disposed  to 
embitter  the  last  years  of  his  lite,  by  a  contest 
against  so  vigorously  progressive  a  system  of 
belieff 

Such  an  attempt  at  resistance  had,  to  say 
the  least  of  it,  not  been  beneficial  to  the  gov- 
ernment in  the  neighbouring  dominions  of 
Hungary.  Ferdinand  I.  could  never  force 
the  diet  to  any  resolutions  unfavourable  to  Pro- 
testantism. In  the  year  1554,  a  Lutheran 
was  elected  palatine  of  the  empire,  and  soon 
after  concessions  were  extorted  in  favour  of 
the  Helvetic  confession  in  the  vale  of  Erlan. 
Transylvania  separated  itself  altogether ;  the 
ecclesiastical  possessions  in  that  country  were 
confiscated  by  a  formal  decree  of  the  diet,  in 
the  year  1556,  the  princess  even  appropriating 
to  herself  the  greater  part  of  the  tithes. 

We  come  now  to  Germany,  where  the  new 


*  Lengnich:  Nachricht  von  der  Religionsanderung  in 
Preussen  vor  dein  4ten  Theil  derGeschichte  der  Preussi- 
schen  Lande,  §  W. 

t  Kelalione  di  Polonia  del  vescovo  di  Camerino,  about 
1555.  MS.  in  tlie  Chigi  library.  A  molti  di  questi  (wlio 
reside  at  court)  compona  che  vivano  come  li  piace,  perche 
si  vede  che  S.  Maesti  6  tanto  benigna  clie  non  von  ia  mai 
far  cosa  che  dispiacesse  ad  alciino,  ed  iovorreiche  nelle 
cose  della  religione  fosse  un  poco  piu  severa.  [Many  of 
those  who  reside  at  court,  are  at  liberty  to  live  as  they 
please,  because  it  is  evident  his  majesty  is  so  benignant, 
he  could  never  consent  to  molest  any  one.  For  my  part 
I  could  wish  that  in  matters  of  religion  he  waa  a  little 
more  severe.] 


164 


COUNTER  REFORMATIONS.    FIRST  PERIOD,    [a.  d.  1563-89. 


form  ofthe  church  had  first  unfolded  itself  spon 
taneously  out  ofthe  national  mind,  upheld  itself 
throughout  a  long  and  formidable  war,  achiev- 
ed a  legalized  existence,  and  was  now  in  the 
act  of  taking  full  possession  of  the  several 
states.  In  this  it  had  already  made  extensive 
progress.  Protestantism  not  only  reigned 
paramount  in  Northern  Germany,  where  it 
had  originated,  and  in  those  districts  of  Upper 
Germany  where  it  had  always  maintained 
itself;  its  grasp  had  been  extended  much  more 
widely  in  every  direction. 

In  Franconia,  the  bishoprics  vainly  opposed 
it.  In  Wurzburg,  and  Bamberg,  by  far  the 
greater  part  of  the  nobility  and  of  the  episco- 
pal functionaries,  the  magistrates,  and  the 
burghers  of  the  towns,  at  least  the  majority  of 
them,  and  the  bulk  of  the  rural  population, 
had  passed  over  to  the  reforming  party.  In 
the  territories  of  Bamberg,  we  trace  the  name 
of  a  Lutheran  pastor  attached  to  almost  every 
single  parish.*  Such  was  the  tone  prevailing 
in  the  administration,  which  moreover  was 
principally  in  the  hands  of  the  estates,  regu- 
larly constituted  bodies  corporate,  invested 
even  with  the  right  of  imposing  taxes  and 
duties :  such  too  was  the  tone  prevailing  in 
the  tribunals,  and  the  observation  was  com- 
monly made,  that  the  greater  number  of  de- 
cisions were  hostile  to  the  catholic  interests.! 
The  bishops  had  little  weight;  those  even 
who,  "  with  Teutonic  and  Frankish  fidelity," 
reverenced  them  as  princes,  could  not  yet  en- 
dure to  see  them  parade,  mitred  and  decked 
in  their  clerical  trappings. 

The  movement  had  not  been  much  less  en- 
ergetic in  Bavaria.  The  great  majority  of 
the  nobility  had  adopted  the  protestant  doc- 
trine, and  a  considerable  portion  ofthe  towns 
was  decidedly  inclined  to  it :  the  duke  was 
compelled  in  his  diets,  for  instance,  in  the  year 
1556,  to  grant  concessions,  such  as  elsewhere 
led  to  the  complete  introduction  of  the  Augs- 
burg confession,  and  which  here  seemed  to 
promise  the  same  result.  The  duke  himself 
was  not  so  inveterately  opposed  to  that  con- 
fession as  not  occasionally  to  listen  to  a  pro- 
testant sermon.]; 

Far  more  than  this,  however,  had  been  done 
in  Austria.  The  nobility  of  that  country 
studied  in  Wittemberg:  all  the  colleges  ofthe 
land  were  filled  with  Protestants;  it  was  said 
to  be  ascertained,  that  not  more  perhaps  than 
the  thirtieth  part  of  the  population  had  re- 
mained catholic  :  step  by  step,  a  national  con- 
stitution unfolded  itself,  formed  upon  the  prin- 
ciple of  Protestantism. 

The  archbishop  of  Salzberg  too,  encompass- 
ed by  Bavaria  and  Austria,  had  been  unable 

*  Jack  has  specially  occJipied  himself  with  this  matter, 
in  the  second  and  third  parts  of  his  Geschichte  von  Bam- 
berg. 

I  Gropp,  Dissertatio  do  Statu  Rfligionis  in  Franconia 
Lulheranismo  infecta.     Sc.riptores  Wirceb.  i.  p.  42. 

t  Siizinger  in  Strobel :  Beitrage  zur  Literatur,  i.  313. 


to  keep  their  dominions  stedfast  to  the  ancient 
faith.  True,  they  admitted  no  protestant 
preacher,  but  the  disposition  ofthe  population 
was  not  the  less  decidedly  pronounced.  The 
mass  was  no  longer  frequented  in  the  capital ; 
nor  fasts  nor  holidays  observed.  Those  who 
were  too  remote  to  attend  the  preachers  in 
Austrian  localities,  edified  themselves  at  home 
with  Spangenberg's  postiles.  The  people  of 
the  mountains  were  not  content  with  this.  In 
the  Rauris  and  the  Gastein,  in  St.  Veit,  Tam- 
sweg,  and  Radstadt,  the  inhabitants  loudly 
demanded  the  sacramental  cup,  and  this  being 
refused  them,  they  ceased  altogether  to  attend 
the  sacrament:  they  withheld  their  children 
too  from  the  schools ;  and  it  actually  occurred 
in  the  church,  that  a  peasant  rose  and  cried 
out  to  the  preacher,  "Thou  liest."  The  pea- 
sants preached  to  each  other.*  We  need  not 
be  surprised,  if  under  the  suppression  of  all 
worship  accordant  with  their  newly  adopted 
convictions,  notions  of  a  visionary  and  roman- 
tic character  grew  up  among  those  inhabi- 
tants of  the  lonely  Alps. 

How  advantageously  contrasted  with  this 
picture,  is  that  which  presents  itself  to  us  in 
the  dominions  of  the  spiritual  electors  on  the 
Rhine,  where  the  nobihty  had  independence 
enough  to  procure  for  their  vassals  a  freedom, 
which  could  hardly  be  granted  by  the  spiritual 
lord.  The  Rhenish  nobility  had  early  embra- 
ced protestantism ;  they  allowed  no  encroach- 
ments of  the  sovereigns  upon  their  domains, 
not  even  of  a  religious  kind.  In  all  the  towns 
there  existed  already  a  protestant  party.  It 
showed  its  activity  by  reiterated  petitions  in 
Cologne;  in  Trier  it  was  already  so  strong  as 
to  invite  a  preacher  from  Geneva,  and  to  main- 
tain him  in  defiance  ofthe  elector:  in  Aix  la 
Chapelle  it  strove  for  absolute  supremacy; 
the  inhabitants  of  Mainz  too  did  not  hesitate 
to  send  their  children  to  protestant  schools, 
for  instance  to  Niirnberg.  Commendone,  who 
was  in  Germany  in  the  year  1561,  cannot  ex- 
press the  dependence  ofthe  prelates  upon  the 
Lutheran  princes,  and  their  complaisance 
towards  protestantism. f  He  declares  he  has 
known  protestants  of  the  most  violent  opinions 
in  their  very  privy  councils.|  He  is  amazed 
that  time  had  so  utterly  failed  to  bring  relief  to 
Catholicism. 

It  was  the  same  in  Westphalia  as  else- 
where. The  whole  rural  population  was  busy 
with  the  harvest  on  St.  Peter's  day :  the  ap. 
pointed  festivals  were  generally  no  longer  ob- 
served. The  town-council  of  Paderborn  watch- 
ed with  a  kind  of  jealousy  over  its  protestant 

*  Extract  from  a  report  by  the  canon  Wilh.  v.  Traut- 
mannsdorfof  the  ye^ir  1555,  in  Zauneis,  Chronik  von 
Salzburg,  vi.  327. 

I  Gratiani,  Vie  de  Commendon,  p.  116. 

t  De'  piu  arrabbiati  heretici.  Mi  e  parso  che  il  tempo 
non  habbia  apportalo  aU'un  giovaraento.  Commendone, 
Relatione  della  state  della  religions  in  Gerniania.  MS. 
Vallicell. 


^ 


A.  D.  1563-98.]      SITUATION  OF  PROTESTANTISM  ABOUT  1563. 


165 


confepsion.     In  Miinster  more  than  one  bishop  I  were  wrested  from  it:  these  were  followed  in 


had  the  reputation  of  Lutheran  sentiments, 
and  most  of  the  priests  were  formally  married : 
duke  Wilhelm  of  Cleves  adhered  indeed  on 
the  whole  to  Catholicism  ;  in  his  private  chap- 
el, nevertheless,  he  received  the  sacrament  in 
both  kinds;  the  greater  part  of  his  council 
were  avowed  protestants ;  no  essential  obsta- 
cle was  offered  to  the  evangelical  ritual  in  his 
dominions.* 

In  short,  from  west  to  east,  and  from  north 
to  south,  throughout  all  Germany,  protestant- 
ism had  unquestionably  the  preponderance. 
The  nobility  were  attached  to  it  from  the  very 
first:  the  body  of  public  functionaries,  already 
in  those  days  numerous  and  important,  was 
trained  up  in  the  new  doctrine:  the  common 
people  would  hear  no  more  of  certain  articles, 
such  for  instance  as  purgatory,  or  of  certain 
ceremonies,  such  as  the  pilgrimages:  not  a 
man  durst  come  forward  w^ith  holy  relics.  A 
Venetian  ambassador  calculates,  in  the  year 
1558,  that  but  a  tenth  part  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Germany  still  clung  to  the  ancient  faith. 

It  is  not  surprising  if  the  losses  sustained  by 
Catholicism  in  power  and  property,  kept  pace 
with  the  continual  decay  of  its  spiritual  influ- 
ence. The  canons  in  most  of  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal foundations  were  either  devoted  to  the 
reformed  doctrine,  or  were  lukewarm  and  in- 
different. What  was  to  hin/ler  them  then 
from  proposing  protestant  bishops  when  op- 
portunity occurred,  should  that  seem  to  them 
advantageous  in  other  respects'?  True,  it 
was  ordained  by  the  treaty  of  Augsburg,  that 
a  spiritual  prince  should  lose  both  his  rank 
and  his  revenues  if  he  abandoned  the  old  faith ; 
this  it  was  thought,  however,  by  no  means 
aimed  at  preventing  a  chapter  already  pro- 
testant, from  choosing  an  evangelical  bishop  ; 
all  that  could  be  insisted  on  was,  that  the  en- 
dowments should  not  be  made  hereditary. 
Thus  it  occurred,  that  a  Brandenburg  prince 
received  the  archbishopric  of  Magdeburg,  a 
Lauenburg  prince  that  of  Bremen,  and  a  prince 
of  Brunswick  thatof  Halberstadt.  The  bishop- 
rics too  of  Liibek,  Verden,  and  Munden,  and 
the  abbey  of  Quedlingburg,  fell  into  protestant 
hands.f 

Nor  was  the  confiscation  of  church  property 
less  energetically  carried  on.  How  great 
were  the  losses  sustained,  for  instance,  within 
a  few  years  by  the  bishopric  of  Augsburg.  In 
the  year  1537  all  the  convents  in  VVirtemberg 


♦  Tempesti,  Vita  di  Sisto  V.  from  the  Anonymo  di  Cam- 
pidoglio,  I.  xxiii.  Da  moll'  anni  si  commiinicava  con  ambe 
le  specie,  quantunqueil  suocapellano  clien'  havesse  par- 
lalo,  inducendolo  a  comnuinicarsi  cosi'nrlla  sua  capella 
segreta,  per  non  dar  mal  essempio  a'  sudditi.  In  a  letter 
given  in  Niesen's  Miinstersche  Urkundensaiiiniluns,  I. 
xxi.  it  is  said  with  similar  significance  of  the  bisliop  of 
Miinster  and  the  court  of  Cleves:  Wilhelnius  episco- 
pus  (W.  V.  Rettler)  religionem  semilutheranam  hausit  in 
in  aula  Juliacensi.  [Bishop  Wilhelm  imbibed  a  senii- 
lutheran  religion  at  the  coun  of  Cleves.] 

t  See  also  my  Hist.  Pol.  Zeitschrifl,  I.  ii,  269  elseq. 


1553  by  the  convents  and  pari.shesof  the  county 
of  Oettingen.  It  was  not  till  ajler  the  peace 
of  Augsburg,  that  the  protestants  rose  to  an 
equality  with  their  rivals  in  Diinkelsbiihl  and 
Donauwerth,  and  to  supremacy  in  Nordingen 
and  Memmingen.  Thereupon  tlie  convents 
in  those  towns,  among  them  the  rich  precept- 
oryofSt.  Anthony  in  Memmingen,  and  the 
parochial  livings,  were  irretrievably  lost.* 

In  addition  to  all  this,  there  was  but  little 
of  a  cheering  nature  in  the  future  prospect  of 
Catholicism. 

Protestant  opinions  had  triumphed  in  the 
universities  and  educational  establishments. 
Those  old  champions  of  Catholicism  who  had 
withstood  Luther  were  dead,  or  in  advanced 
years:  young  men  capable  of  supplying  their 
places  had  not  yet  arisen.     Twenty  years  had 
elapsed  in  Vienna  since  a  single  student  of 
the  university  had  taken  priest's  orders.    Even 
in   Ingoldstadt,  pre-eminently  catholic  as  it 
was,  no  competent  candidates  of  the  faculty  of 
theology  presented  themselves  to  fill  the  places 
that  had  hitherto  been  always  occupied  by  ec- 
clesiastics.!    The  city  of  Cologne  founded  an 
endowed  school ;  but  when  all  the  arrange- 
ments for  it  had  been  made,  it  was  found  that 
the  regent  was  a  protestant.|;     Cardinal  Otto 
Truchess  established  a  new  university  in  his 
city  of  Dillingen,  with  the  express  design  of 
resisting  the  progress  of  protestantism.     The 
credit  of  this  institution  was  maintained  for 
some  years   by  a  few  distinguished  Spanish 
theologians,  but  as  soon  as  tliese  left  it,  not  a 
single  scholar  could  be  found  in  all  Germany 
to  succeed  to  their  places;  and  even  the.se 
were  likewise  filled  with  protestants.     About 
this  period  the  teachers  in  Germany  were  all, 
almost   without   exception,    protestants;    the 
whole  body  of  the  rising  generation  sat  at 
their  feet,  and  imbibed  a  hatred  of  the  pope 
with  the  first  rudiments  of  learning. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  the  north 
and  east  of  Europe  :  in  many  places  catholic- 
ism  was  entirely  exploded,  in  all  it  was  sub- 
dued and  despoiled.  While  it  was  struggling 
to  defend  itself,  enemies  still  more  formidable 
rose  against  it  in  the  west  and  south. 

For  assuredly  the  Calvinistic  system  was 
still  more  pointedly  opposed  to  the  Romish 
doctrines  than  was  Lutheranism  :  just  at  the 
epoch  before  us.  Galvanism  took  possession  of 
men's  minds  with  resistless  force. 

It  had  arisen  on  the  frontiers  of  Italy,  Ger- 
many, and  France,  and  had  spread  thence  in 
all  directions.     Eastward,  in  Germany,  Hun- 

*  Placidus  Braun  :  Geschichte  der  Bischiife  von  Augs- 
burg, Band  iii.  533,  535  et  seq.,  on  this  head  from  authea- 
tic  sources. 

t  Agricolo,  Hisioria  provincia»  socieiatis  Jesu  Germanise 
superioris,  i.  p.  29. 

t  Orlandinus,  Historia  Societatis  Jesu,  torn.  i.  lib.  xvi. 
n.  25.  Hujus  novae  bursae  regens,  quem  prinium  prafeca- 
rant,  Jacobus  Lichius,  Lutheranus  laudem  apparuit. 


166 


COUNTER  REFORMATIONS.    FIRST  PERIOD.        [a.  d.  1563-89. 


gary,  and  Poland,  it  constituted  a  subordinate 
but  still  very  important  element  of  the  pro- 
testant  movement ;  in  western  Europe  it  had 
already  risen  to  independent  power. 

Whereas  the  Scandinavian  kingdoms  had 
become  Lutherean,  the  British  had  adopted 
the  Calvinistic  faith  :  in  the  latter,  the  new 
church  had  assumed  two  opposite  aspects. 
In  Scotland,  where  its  power  had  been  won 
during  its  struggles  with  the  government, 
it  was  poor,  popular,  and  democratic  :  so  much 
the  more  resistless  was  the  fervour  with  which 
it  animated  its  votaries.  In  England,  where 
it  had  risen  to  eminence  in  league  with  the 
government  of  the  day,  it  was  rich,  monarchi- 
cal, and  magnificent ;  and  it  declared  itself 
content  with  mere  forbearance  from  opposition 
to  its  ritual.  The  church  of  Scotland  naturally 
approximated  infinitely  more  to  the  model  of 
Geneva,  and  was  infinitely  more  in  accord 
ance  with  the  spirit  of  Calvin. 

The  French  had  embraced  the  doctrines  of 
their  countryman  Calvin,  with  all  theircharac- 
teristic  vivacity.  In  defiance  of  every  perse- 
cution, the  French  churches  modelled  them- 
on  the  type  of  that  of  Geneva :  they  held  a 
synod  as  early  as  the  year  1559.  In  the  year 
1561,  the  Venetian  ambassador  Micheli  finds 
not  one  province  free  from  protestantism,  and 
three-fourths  of  the  realm  filled  with  it, — Bre- 
tagne  and  Normandy,  Gascony  and  Langue- 
doc,  Poictou,  Touraine,  Provence,  and  Dau- 
phine.  "  In  many  places  in  these  provinces," 
he  says,  "  meetings  and  preachings  are  held, 
and  rules  of  life  laid  down,  exactly  after  the 
pattern  set  by  Geneva,  without  the  least  re- 
gard to  the  royal  prohibitions.  Every  one  has 
adopted  these  opinions,  even,  what  is  most 
remarkable,  the  clergy;  not  only  priests, 
monks,  and  nuns — there  may  possibly  be  a 
few  convents  uninfected  by  them — but  the 
very  bishops,  and  many  of  the  more  eminent 
prelates."  "  Your  highness:"  he  says  to  the 
doge, — "  with  the  exception  of  the  common 
people,  that  is  still  zealous  in  frequenting  the 
churches,  all  the  rest  of  the  nation  are  fallen 
away,  especially  the  nobles,  and  the  younger 
men  under  forty  years  of  age,  almost  without 
exception.  For  although  many  of  them  still 
go  to  mass,  they  do  so  only  for  appearance 
sake,  and  out  of  fear:  when  they  think  them- 
selves unobserved,  they  turn  their  backs  on 
mass  and  church."  When  Micheli  arrived 
in  Geneva,  he  learned  that  immediately  after 
the  death  of  Francis  11.  fifty  preachers  had  set 
out  from  that  city  to  different  towns  in  France. 
He  was  amazed  to  see  the  consideration  in 
which  Calvin  was  held,  and  the  quantity  of 
money  that  poured  in  upon  him  in  aid  of  the 
multitudes  that  had  fled  ibr  refuge  to  Geneva.* 


He  finds  it  unavoidable  that  religious  freedom 
should  be  accorded  to  the  French  protestants, 
at  least  for  an  interim,  as  he  expressed  him- 
self, if  a  deluge  of  blood  was  to  be  avoided. 
In  fact,  this  report  was  soon  followed  by  the 
edict  of  Jan.  1562,  which  granted  a  recognized 
and  legal  existence  to  protestantism  in  France, 
and  is  the  basis  of  the  privileges  it  has  since 
enjoyed  there. 

All  these  changes  on  every  side,  in  Ger- 
many, France,  and  England,  could  not  fail  of 
affecting  the  Netherlands.  The  German  in- 
fluence had  first  prevailed  there.  One  of  the 
most  cogent  motives  that  impelled  Charles  V. 
to  the  war  of  Schmalcalde  was,  that  the  sym-  1 
patliy  the  German  protestants  excited  in  the  | 
Netherlands,  daily  increased  the  difliiculty  of 
governing  those  provinces,  which  constituted 
so  important  a  part  of  his  dominions.  By  put- 
ting down  the  German  princes,  he  guarded 
himself  at  the  same  time  from  insun-ection  on 
the  part  of  his  Flemish  subjects.*  All  his 
laws,  however,  ihough  he  enforced  them  with 
extraordinary  rigour,  all  the  executions  in- 
flicted in  almost  incredible  number,  particular- 
ly in  the  early  part  of  his  successor's  reign 
(it  was  calculated  at  the  time,  that  up  to  1562 
thirty  thousands  protestants,  men  and  women, 
had  been  put  to  death,!)  were  unable  to  stop 
the  progress  of  the  new  opinions.  The  only 
result  was,  that  in  the  Netherlands  these  as- 
sumed rather  the  French  Calvinistic  tone  than 
the  German  Lutheran.  In  this  country,  too, 
in  defiance  of  all  persecution,  a  formal  con- 
fession was  put  forward  so  early  as  in  the  year 
1.561 :  churches  were  established  on  the  Gen- 
evese  model ;  and  the  protestants,  connecting 
themselves  with  local  rights  and  their  defend- 
ers, acquired  a  political  basis,  from  which  they 
might  expect  not  only  safety  and  support,  but 
even  political  importance  for  the  time  to  come. 


*  Micheli,  Relatione  delle  cose  di  Francia,  I'anno  I5G1. 
Da  poi  che  fu  conosciuto  che  col  mettere  in  prigioni  e  con 
casligare  e  con  I'abbrucidre  uon  solo  non  si  emendavano, 
ma  si  dieordinavano  piu,  fu  deliberalo  che  non  si  proce- 


desse  piu  contra  alcuno,  eccetto  che  contra  quelli  che 
andavano  predicando,  seducendo  e  facendo  publicamenle 
le  congregalioni  e  le  asseniblce,  e  gli  altri  si  lassassero 
vivere:  ondi  ne  fuiono  liberati  ecavati  di  prigioni  di  Par- 
igi  e  di  lulli  le  altre  lerre  del  regno  un  grandisssimo  nu- 
mero,  che  rimasero  poi  nel  regno  pralicando  liberamente 
e  parlando  con  ogn'uuo  e  gloriandosi  che  aveano  guadag- 
nato  la  lite  contra  i  Papisti ;  cosi  chiamavano  e  chiamano 
li  loro  adversarii.  [After  it  was  ascertained  that  im- 
prisonment, chastisement,  and  burning  did  not  mend 
them,  but  made  them  more  disorderly,  it  was  determined 
to  proceed  no  more  against  any  one,  except  those  who  per- 
sisted in  preaching,  misleading,  and  publicly  holding 
meetings,  and  that  all  others  should  be  left  unharmed. 
Accordfngly,  a  great  number  of  them  were  let  loose  from 
the  prisons  of  Paris,  and  a  vast  multitude  from  all  the 
other  parts  of  the  kingdom,  who  continued  in  it  freely 
exercising  their  religion,  talking  to  every  one,  and  boast- 
ing that  they  had  been  victorious  over  the  Papists.  So 
they  called,  and  still  call  their  adversaries.] 

*  A  view  taken  by  the  then  Florentine  resident  at  the 
imperial  court,  on  very  good  grounds  as  I  think. 

t  In  a  report  concerntng  Spain  in  1562,  apparently  by 
Paolo  Tiepolo,  to  be  found  in  the  Venetian  archives,  it  is 
said:  Unagradissima  parte  di  quei  paesi  bassi  e  guasta  e 
corrotta  da  queste  nuove  opinioni  e  per  tutte  le  pro- 
vision! che  si  abbiano  fatte  e  per  la  morte  data  a  molte 
migliara  de  homeni  (che  da  setle  anni  o  poco  piu  in  qua 
per  quel  che  mi  e  stalo  affermalo  da  persone  principal! 
di  que'  paesi,  sono  stall  morti  di  giustitia  pi  3Gni.  ffa  hom- 
ine  e  donne)  no  solamenle  (non)  si  6  rimediato,  ma,  etc. 


A.D.  1563-89.]      SITUATION  OF  PROTESTANTISM  ABOUT  1563. 


167 


Under  these  circumstances  new  energies 
were  also  infused  into  the  older  oppositions 
to  Rome.  The  Moravian  brethren  had  been 
formally  recognized  in  the  year  1562,  by 
Maximilian  II.,  and  they  availed  themselves 
of  that  fortunate  event  to  elect  that  very  same 
year  in  their  synod  a  great  number  of  new 
clergy,  as  many  it  is  said,  as  one  hundred  and 
eighty-eight.*  In  the  year  1561,  the  duke 
of  Savoy,  too,  saw  himself  compelled  to  ac- 
cord new  privileges  to  the  poor  congregations 
of  Waldenses  in  the  mountains.!  The  pro- 
testant  notions  extended  their  vivifying  ener- 
gies to  the  most  remote  and  most  forgotten 
corners  of  Europe.  What  an  immense  domain 
had  they  conquered  within  the  space  of  forty 
years  1  From  Iceland  to  the  Pyrenees,  from 
Finland  to  the  heights  of  the  Italian  Alps. 
Even  beyond  the  latter  mountains  opinions 
analogous  had  once,  as  we  are  aware,  pre- 
vailed. Protestantism  embraced  the  whole 
range  of  the  Latin  church  :  it  had  laid  hold  on 
a  vast  majority  of  the  higher  classes,  and  of 
the  minds  that  took  part  in  public  life :  wliole 
nations  clung  to  it  with  enthusiasm,  and 
states  had  been  remodelled  by  it.J  This  is 
the  more  deserving  of  our  wonder,  inasmuch 
as  protestantism  was  by  no  means  a  mere 
antithesis,  a  negation  of  the  papacy,  or  an 
emancipation  from  its  rule :  it  was  in  tlie 
highest  degree  positive;  a  renovation  of  Chris- 
tian notions  and  principles,  that  sway  human 
life  even  to  the  profoundest  mysteries  of  the 
soul. 

Capacities  of  the  Papacy  for  Contest. 

The  papacy  and  Catholicism  had  for  a  long 
time  maintained  a  defensive  attitude  against 
the  progress  of  their  foe,  but  passively  only, 

*  Regenvolscii  Ecclesias  Slavonicae,  i.  p.  63. 

t  Leger:  Histoire  des  Eglises  Vaudoises,  ii.  p.  38,  gives 
the  trpaty. 

t  In  this  light  the  loss  was  regarded  in  Rome  itself. 
Tiepolo,  Relatione  di  Pio  IV.  e  V.  Parlando  solamente 
di  quelli  (popoli)  d'Europa  che  nonsoleobedivano  lui  (al 
papa)  ma  ancora  seguivano  in  tutlo  i  riti  e  le  consuetudini 
della  chiesa  romana,  celebrando  ancora  li  officii  nella 
lingua  Lalina,  si  sa  che  I'lnghillerra,  la  Scotia,  la  Dania, 
la  Norvegia,  la  Suetia,  e  tinalmente  tutti  i  paesi  selten- 
Irionali,  si  sono  alienati  da  lei :  la  Gennania  e  quasi  lutta 
norduta,  la  Bohemia  e  la  Polonia  si  trovano  in  gran  parte 
mfette,  li  paesi  bassi  della  Fiandra  sono  cosi  corotti  che 
per  rimedio  che  vi  si  sforzi  dar  loro  il  diica  d'Alva  dilBcil- 
mente  rilorneranno  alia  prima  sanita,  e  finalmente  la 
Francia  per  rispetto  di  questi  mal  humori  e  lutta  ripiena 
di  confusioni,  in  modo  che  non  pare  che  sia  restato  aliro 
di  sano  e  di  sicuro  al  pontefice  che  la  .Spagna  e  I'ltalia, 
con  alcune  poche  isole  e  con  quel  paeso  che  e  dalla  Serti. 
V"'  in  Dalmatia  et  in  Grecia  posseduto.  [Speaking  only 
of  those  nations  of  Europe,  which  not  only  used  to  obey 
the  pope,  but  also  followed  in  every  particular  the  rites 
and  usages  of  the  Roman  church,  celebrating  public  wor- 
ship too  in  the  Latin  language,  it  is  notorious  that  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden,  and  in  a 
word  all  the  countries  of  the  North,  are  alienated  from  il. 
Germany  is  almost  wholly  lost,  Bohemia  and  Poland  are 
In  a  great  degree  infected,  the  Low  Countries  of  Flanders 
are  so  corrupted,  that  notwithstanding  all  the  efforts  of 
the  duke  of  Alva  to  remedy  the  evil,  they  will  hardly 
ever  return  to  their  original  liealthy  condition  ;  and  lastly 
France,  by  means  of  these  morbid  humours,  is  all  replete 
with  confusion,  so  that  it  appears  nothing  remains  to  the 


and  without  power  to  offer  it  any  effectual 
resistance. 

Now,  however,  matters  assumed  a  different 
aspect. 

We  have  seen  the  inward  evolutions  through 
which  Catholicism  began  the  work  of  self-re- 
generation. On  the  whole  we  may  say,  that 
it  again  manifested  a  living  power,  regene- 
rated its  creed  in  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and 
created  reforms  in  general  accordance  with 
the  demands  of  tlie  times.  It  did  not  suffer 
the  religious  tendencies  existing  in  southern 
Europe  to  grow  up  there  also  into  hostile  de- 
monstrations, but  adopted  and  governed  them, 
and  so  infused  new  vigour  into  its  own  sys- 
tem. Hitherto  the  spirit  of  protestantism 
alone  had  successfully  filled  the  theatre  of  the 
world,  and  captivated  the  minds  of  men ; 
another  spirit,  equally,  perhaps,  deserving  of 
esteem,  when  regarded  from  a  loftier  point  of 
contemplation,  though  of  the  most  decidedly 
opposite  character,  now  entered  the  lists 
against  the  former,  skilled  likev^^ise  to  win 
and  sway  the  minds  of  men,  and  to  kindle 
them  to  activity. 

The  restored  catholic  system  first  obtained 
mastery  over  the  two  southern  peninsulas. 
This  it  did  not  accomplish  without  extraor- 
dinary rigour:  the  Spanish  inquisition  was 
seconded  by  that  which  had  been  revived  in 
Rome,  and  all  demonstrations  of  protestantism 
were  violently  suppressed.  But  at  the  same 
time  those  inward  sentiments  and  promptings 
which  renovated  Catholicism  especially  ad- 
dressed and  claimed  as  her  own,  were  pecu- 
liarly powerful  in  those  countries.  The 
sovereigns,  too,  attached  themselves  to  the 
interests  of  the  church. 

It  was  a  circumstance  of  singular  moment, 
that  Philip  II.,  the  mightiest  of  them  all,  so 
decidedly  adhered  to  the  papacy.  He  repu- 
diated all  opinions  opposed  to  Catholicism 
with  the  pride  of  a  Spaniard,  by  whom  imma- 
culate Catholicism  was  regarded  as  the  token 
of  purity  of  blood  and  noble  descent.  Nor 
was  it,  after  all,  his  personal  inclinations  only 
that  stamped  the  character  of  his  policy.  From 
remote  times,  and  especially  since  the  mea- 
sures instituted  by  Isabella,  the  kingly  dignity 
had  worn  an  ecclesiastical  complexion  in 
Spain  :  in  every  province  the  royal  authority 
was  strengthened  by  a  supplement  of  spiritual 
power ;  its  rule  would  have  been  at  an  end 
had  it  been  deprived  of  the  inquisition :  even 
in  his  American  possessions,  the  king  ap- 
peared above  all  in  the  light  of  a  disseminator 
of  the  Christian  and  catholic  faith :  this  was 
the  thought  that  combined  all  his  territories 
in  allegiance  to  him,  nor  could  he  have  aban- 
doned it  without  real  danger.  The  spread  of 
the  Huguenots  in  the  south  of  France  excited 


pope  intact  and  secure  but  Spain  and  Italy,  with  some 
few  islands,  and  with  those  countries  possessed  by  your 
Serenity  in  Dalmatia  and  in  Greece, 


166 


COUNTER  REFORMATIONS.    FIRST  PERIOD.        [a.  d.  1563-89. 


gary,  and  Poland,  it  constituted  a  subordinate 
but  still  very  important  element  of  the  pro- 
testant  movement ;  in  western  Europe  it  had 
already  risen  to  independent  power. 

Whereas  the  Scandinavian  kina^doms  had 
become  Lutherean,  tlie  British  had  adopted 
the  Calvinistic  faith  :  in  the  latter,  the  new 
church  had  assumed  two  opposite  aspects. 
In  Scotland,  where  its  power  had  been  won 
during  its  struggles  with  the  government, 
it  was  poor,  popular,  and  democratic :  so  much 
the  more  resistless  was  the  fervour  with  which 
it  animated  its  votaries.  In  England,  where 
it  had  risen  to  eminence  in  league  with  the 
government  of  the  day,  it  was  rich,  monarchi- 
cal, and  magnificent ;  and  it  declared  itself 
content  with  mere  forbearance  from  opposition 
to  its  ritual.  The  church  of  Scotland  naturally 
approximated  infinitely  more  to  the  model  of 
Geneva,  and  was  infinitely  more  in  accord- 
ance with  the  spirit  of  Calvin. 

The  French  had  embraced  the  doctrines  of 
their  countryman  Calvin,  with  all  theircharac- 
teristic  vivacity.  In  defiance  of  every  perse- 
cution, the  French  churches  modelled  them- 
on  the  type  of  that  of  Geneva :  they  held  a 
synod  as  early  as  the  year  1559.  In  the  year 
1561,  the  Venetian  ambassador  Micheli  finds 
not  one  province  free  from  protestantism,  and 
three-fourths  of  the  realm  filled  with  it, — Bre- 
tagne  and  Normandy,  Gascony  and  Langue- 
doc,  Poictou,  Touraine,  Provence,  and  Dau- 
phine.  "  In  many  places  in  these  provinces," 
he  says,  "  meetings  and  preachings  are  held, 
and  rules  of  life  laid  down,  exactly  after  the 
pattern  set  by  Geneva,  without  the  least  re- 
gard to  the  royal  prohibitions.  Every  one  has 
adopted  these  opinions,  even,  what  is  most 
remarkable,  the  clergy;  not  only  priests, 
monks,  and  nuns — there  may  possibly  be  a 
few  convents  uninfected  by  them — but  the 
very  bishops,  and  many  of  the  more  eminent 
prelates."  "  Your  highness:"  he  says  to  the 
doge, — "  with  the  exception  of  the  common 
people,  that  is  still  zealous  in  frequenting  the 
churches,  all  the  rest  of  the  nation  are  fallen 
away,  especially  the  nobles,  and  the  younger 
men  under  forty  years  of  age,  almost  without 
exception.  For  although  many  of  them  still 
go  to  mass,  they  do  so  only  for  appearance 
sake,  and  out  of  fear:  when  they  think  them- 
selves unobserved,  they  turn  their  backs  on 
mass  and  church."  When  Micheli  arrived 
in  Geneva,  he  learned  that  immediately  after 
the  death  of  Francis  II.  fifty  preachers  had  set 
out  from  that  city  to  different  towns  in  France. 
He  was  amazed  to  see  the  consideration  in 
which  Calvin  was  held,  and  the  quantity  of 
money  that  poured  in  upon  him  in  aid  of  the 
multitudes  that  had  fled  lor  refuge  to  Geneva.* 


He  finds  it  unavoidable  that  religious  freedom 
should  be  accorded  to  the  French  protestants, 
at  least  for  an  interim,  as  he  expressed  him- 
self, if  a  deluge  of  blood  was  to  be  avoided. 
In  fact,  this  report  was  soon  followed  by  the 
edict  of  Jan.  1562,  which  granted  a  recognized 
and  legal  existence  to  protestantism  in  France, 
and  is  the  basis  of  the  privileges  it  has  since 
enjoyed  there. 

All  these  changes  on  every  side,  in  Ger- 
many, France,  and  England,  could  not  fail  of 
affecting  the  Netherlands.  The  German  in- 
fluence had  first  prevailed  there.  One  of  the 
most  cogent  motives  that  impelled  Charles  V. 
to  the  war  of  Schmalcalde  was,  that  the  sym- 
pathy the  German  protestants  excited  in  the 
Netherlands,  daily  increased  the  difficulty  of 
governing  those  provinces,  which  constituted 
so  important  a  part  of  his  dominions.  By  put- 
ting down  the  German  princes,  he  guarded 
himself  at  the  same  time  from  insurrection  on 
the  part  of  his  Flemish  subjects.*  All  his 
laws,  however,  though  he  enforced  them  with 
extraordinary  rigour,  all  the  executions  in- 
flicted in  almost  incredible  number,  particular- 
ly in  the  early  part  of  his  successor's  reign 
(it  was  calculated  at  the  time,  that  up  to  1562 
thirty  thousands  protestants,  men  and  women, 
had  been  put  to  death,f)  were  unable  to  stop 
the  progress  of  the  new  opinions.  The  only 
result  was,  that  in  the  Netherlands  these  as- 
sumed rather  the  French  Calvinistic  tone  than 
the  German  Lutheran.  In  this  country,  too, 
in  defiance  of  all  persecution,  a  formal  con- 
fession was  put  forward  so  early  as  in  the  year 
1561 :  churches  were  established  on  the  Gen- 
evese  model ;  and  the  protestants,  connecting 
themselves  with  local  rights  and  their  defend- 
ers, acquired  a  political  basis,  from  which  they 
might  expect  not  only  safety  and  support,  but 
even  political  importance  for  the  time  to  come. 


*  Micheli,  Relatione  delle  cose  di  Francia,  Tanno  15C1. 
Da  poi  che  fu  conosciuto  che  col  mettere  in  prigioni  e  con 
casligare  e  con  I'abbruciare  non  solo  non  si  emendavano, 
ma  si  disordiuavauo  piu,  I'u  deliberate  che  uun  si  proce- 


desse  piu  contra  alcuno,  eccetto  che  contra  quelli  che 
andavano  predicando,  seducendo  e  facendo  publicamente 
le  congregationi  6  le  assemblce,  e  gli  altri  si  lassassero 
vivere:  ondi  ne  furono  liberati  ecavati  di  prigioni  di  Par- 
igi  e  di  tutti  le  altre  lerre  del  regno  tin  grandisssimo  nu- 
mero,  che  rimasero  poi  nel  regno  praticando  liberamente 
e  parlando  con  ogn'uno  e  gloriandosi  che  aveano  giiadag- 
nato  la  lite  contra  i  Papisti :  cosi  chiamavano  e  chiamano 
li  loro  adversarii.  [After  it  was  ascertained  that  im- 
prisonment, chastisement,  and  burning  did  not  mend 
them,  but  made  them  more  disorderly,  it  was  determined 
to  proceed  no  more  against  any  one,  except  those  who  per- 
sisted  in  preaching,  misleading,  and  publicly  holding 
meetings,  and  that  all  others  sliould  be  left  unharmed. 
Accordmgly,  a  great  number  of  them  were  let  loose  from 
the  prisons  of  Paris,  and  a  vast  multitude  from  all  the 
other  parts  of  the  kingdom,  who  continued  in  it  freely 
exercising  their  religion,  talking  to  every  one,  and  boast- 
ing that  they  had  been  victorious  over  the  Papists.  So 
they  called,  and  still  call  their  adversaries.] 

*  A  view  taken  by  the  then  Florentine  resident  at  the 
imperial  court,  on  very  good  grounds  as  I  think. 

f  In  a  report  concerning  Spain  in  1562,  apparently  by 
Paolo  Tiepolo,  to  be  found  in  the  Venetian  archives,  it  is 
said  :  Unagradissima  parte  di  quei  paesi  bassi  e  guasta  e 

corrotta  da  queste  nuove  opinioni  e  per  tutte  le  pro- 

visioni  che  si  abbiano  fatte  e  per  la  morte  data  a  molte 
migliara  de  hoaieni  (che  da  sette  anni  o  poco  piu  in  qua 
pel- quel  che  mi  e  stalo  atfermato  da  persone  principal! 
di  que'  paesi,  sono  stati  morti  di  giustitia  pi  SGni.  fra  hom- 
ine  e  donae)  no  solameute  (non)  si  6  rimediato,  ma,  etc. 


,D.  1563-89.]      SITUATION  OF  PROTESTANTISM  ABOUT  1563. 


167 


Under  these  circumstances  new  energies 
were  also  infused  into  thie  older  oppositions 
to  Rome.  The  Moravian  brethren  had  been 
formally  recognized  in  the  year  1562,  by 
Maximilian  II.,  and  they  availed  themselves 
of  that  fortunate  event  to  elect  that  very  same 
year  in  their  synod  a  great  number  of  new 
clergy,  as  many  it  is  said,  as  one  hundred  and 
eighty-eight.*  In  the  year  1561,  the  duke 
of  Savoy,  too,  saw  himself  compelled  to  ac- 
cord new  privileges  to  the  poor  congregations 
of  Waldenses  in  the  mountains.!  The  pro- 
testant  notions  extended  their  vivifying  ener- 
gies to  the  most  remote  and  most  forgotten 
corners  of  Europe.  What  an  immense  domain 
had  they  conquered  within  the  space  of  forty 
years  ]  From  Iceland  to  the  Pyrenees,  from 
Finland  to  the  heights  of  the  Italian  Alps. 
Even  beyond  the  latter  mountains  opinions 
analogous  had  once,  as  we  are  aware,  pre- 
vailed. Protestantism  embraced  the  whole 
range  of  the  Latin  church  :  it  had  laid  hold  on 
a  vast  majority  of  the  higher  classes,  and  of 
the  minds  that  took  part  in  public  life :  whole 
nations  clung  to  it  with  enthusiasm,  and 
states  had  been  remodelled  by  it.|  This  is 
the  more  deserving  of  our  wonder,  inasmuch 
as  protestantism  was  by  no  means  a  mere 
antithesis,  a  negation  of  the  papacy,  or  an 
emancipation  from  its  rule :  it  was  in  the 
highest  degree  positive ;  a  renovation  of  Chris- 
tian notions  and  principles,  that  sway  human 
life  even  to  the  profoundest  mysteries  of  the 
Boul. 

Capacities  of  the  Papacy  for  Contest. 

The  papacy  and  Catholicism  had  for  a  long 
time  maintained  a  defensive  attitude  against 
the  progress  of  their  foe,  but  passively  only. 


*  Regenvolscii  Ecclesise  Slavonics,  i.  p.  63. 

t  Leger:  Hisloire  des  Eglises  Vaudoises,  ii.  p.  38,  gives 
the  trpaly. 

t  In  ihis  light  the  loss  was  regardpcl  in  Rome  itself. 
Tiepolo,  Relatione  di  Pio  IV.  e  V.  Parlando  solamente 
di  quelli  (popoli)  d'Europa  die  nonsoleobedivano  lui  (al 
papa)  ma  ancora  seguivano  in  tulto  i  riii  e  le  consuetudini 
flplla  chiesa  romana,  celebrando  ancora  li  officii  nella 
lingua  Lalina,  si  sa  che  I'lnghilterra,  la  Scotia,  la  Dania, 
la  Norvegia,  la  Suetia,  e  finalmente  tutti  i  paesi  setten- 
Irionali,  si  sono  alienati  da  lei :  la  Gennania  e  quasi  lutta 
perduta,  la  Bohemia  e  la  Polonia  si  trovano  in  gran  parte 
iufette,  li  paesi  bassi  della  Fiandra  sono  cosi  corotti  che 
per  rimedio  che  vi  si  sforzi  dar  loro  il  duca  d'Alva  difficil- 
mente  rilorneranno  alia  prima  saniti,  e  finalmente  la 
Francia  per  rispetto  di  questi  mal  humori  e  tutta  ripiena 
di  confusioni,  in  modo  che  non  pare  che  sia  reslato  allro 
di  sano  e  di  sicuro  al  pontefice  che  la  Spagna  e  I'ltalia, 
con  alcune  poche  isole  e  con  quel  paeso  che  e  dalla  Serti. 
Yn-  in  Dalinatia  et  in  Grecia  possedulo.  [Speaking  only 
of  those  nations  of  Europe,  which  not  only  used  to  obey 
the  pope,  but  also  followed  in  every  particular  the  ritea 
and  usages  of  the  Roman  clturch,  celebrating  public  wor- 
ship too  in  the  Latin  language,  it  is  notorious  that  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden,  and  in  a 
word  all  the  countries  of  the  North,  are  alienated  from  it. 
Germany  is  almost  wholly  lost,  Bohemia  and  Poland  are 
In  a  great  degree  infected,  the  Low  Countries  of  Flanders 
are  so  corrupted,  that  notwithstanding  all  the  etforts  of 
the  duke  of  Alva  to  remedy  the  evil,  they  will  hardly 
ever  return  to  their  original  Iriealthy  condition ;  and  lastly 
France,  by  means  of  these  morbid  humours,  is  all  replete 
Willi  confusion,  so  that  it  appears  nothing  remains  lo  the 


and  without  power  to  offer  it  any  effectual 
resistance. 

Now,  however,  matters  assumed  a  different 
aspect. 

We  have  seen  the  inward  evolutions  through 
which  Catholicism  began  the  work  of  self-re- 
generation. On  the  whole  we  may  say,  that 
it  again  manifested  a  living  power,  regene- 
rated its  creed  in  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and 
created  reforms  in  general  accordance  with 
the  demands  of  the  times.  It  did  not  suffer 
the  religious  tendencies  existing  in  soutliern 
Europe  to  grow  up  there  also  into  hostile  de- 
monstrations, but  adopted  and  governed  them, 
and  so  infused  new  vigour  into  its  own  sys- 
tem. Hitherto  the  spirit  of  protestantism 
alone  had  successfully  filled  the  theatre  of  the 
world,  and  captivated  the  minds  of  men ; 
another  spirit,  equally,  perhaps,  deserving  of 
esteem,  when  regarded  from  a  loftier  point  of 
contemplation,  though  of  the  most  decidedly 
opposite  character,  now  entered  the  lists 
against  the  former,  skilled  likevv'ise  to  win 
and  sway  the  minds  of  men,  and  to  kindle 
them  to  activity. 

The  restored  catholic  system  first  obtained 
mastery  over  the  two  southern  peninsulas. 
This  it  did  not  accomplish  without  extraor- 
dinary rigour:  the  Spanish  inquisition  was 
seconded  by  that  which  had  been  revived  in 
Rome,  and  all  demonstrations  of  protestantism 
were  violently  suppressed.  But  at  the  same 
time  those  inward  sentiments  and  promptings 
which  renovated  Catholicism  especially  ad- 
dressed and  claimed  as  her  own,  were  pecu- 
liarly powerful  in  those  countries.  The 
sovereigns,  too,  attached  themselves  to  the 
interests  of  the  church. 

It  was  a  circumstance  of  singular  moment, 
that  Philip  II.,  the  mightiest  of  them  all,  so 
decidedly  adhered  to  the  papacy.  He  repu- 
diated all  opinions  opposed  to  Catholicism 
with  the  pride  of  a  Spaniard,  by  whom  imma- 
culate Catholicism  was  regarded  as  the  token 
of  purity  of  blood  and  noble  descent.  Nor 
was  it,  after  all,  his  personal  inclinations  only 
that  stamped  the  character  of  his  policy.  From 
remote  times,  and  especially  since  the  mea- 
sures instituted  by  Isabella,  the  kingly  dignity 
had  worn  an  ecclesiastical  complexion  in 
Spain  :  in  every  province  the  royal  authority 
was  strengthened  by  a  supplement  of  spiritual 
power ;  its  rule  would  have  been  at  an  end 
had  it  been  deprived  of  the  inquisition :  even 
in  his  American  possessions,  the  king  ap- 
peared above  all  in  the  light  of  a  disseminator 
of  the  Christian  and  catholic  faith :  this  was 
the  thought  that  combined  all  his  territories 
in  allegiance  to  him,  nor  could  he  have  aban- 
doned it  without  real  danger.  The  spread  of 
the  Huffuenots  in  the  south  of  France  excited 


pope  intact  and  secure  but  Spain  and  Italy,  with  some 
few  islands,  and  with  those  countries  possessed  by  your 
Serenity  in  Dalmatia  and  in  Greece. 


16S 


COUNTER  REFORMATIOxNS.    FIRST  PERIOD,      [a.  d.  1563-89. 


the  greatest  anxiety  in  Spain ;  the  inquisition 
deemed  itself  bound  to  double  vigilance.  "  I 
assure  your  highness,"  the  Venetian  ambassa- 
dor says  in  a  letter  to  his  sovereign,  Aug.  25, 
1562,  "  no  great  religious  excitement  is  to  be 
wished  for,  for  this  country :  there  are  many 
in  it  who  long  for  a  change  of  religion."*  The 
papal  nuncio  was  of  opinion,  that  the  progress 
of  the  council  then  sitting  was  a  matter  that 
no  less  concerned  the  royal  than  the  papal 
authority.  "  For,"  said  he,  "  the  obedience 
paid  to  tlie  king  and  his  whole  government 
depend  upon  the  inquisition.  Should  this  lose 
its  consideration,  insurrections  would  be  the 
immediate  consequence." 

The  southern  system  would  have  acquired 
immediate  influence  upon  the  affairs  of  Europe 
collectively,  from  the  mere  circumstance  that 
Philip  was  master  of  the  Netherlands ;  but 
besides  this,  all  was  far  from  having  been  lost 
in  the  other  kingdoms.  The  emperor,  the 
kings  of  France  and  of  Poland,  and  the  dukes 
of  Bavaria,  still  adhered  to  the  catholic  church. 
There  were  on  all  sides  spiritual  princes, 
whose  extinguished  zeal  might  yet  be  rekin- 
dled ;  and  in  many  places  protestantism  had 
not  yet  seized  upon  the  mass  of  the  popula- 
tion. The  majority  of  the  rural  inhabitants 
of  France,  and  likewise  of  Hungaryf  and  Po- 
land, were  still  catholic ;  Paris,  which  already 
in  those  days  exercised  a  great  influence  over 
the  other  French  cities,  had  not  been  tainted 
with  innovation.  In  England  a  great  part  of 
the  nobles  and  commons,  and  in  Ireland  the 
whole  of  the  primitive  stock,  had  remained 
catholic.  Protestantism  had  gained  no  admis- 
sion into  the  Tyrolese  or  the  Swiss  Alps. 
Among  the  rural  population  of  Bavaria,  too, 
it  had  made  no  great  progress.  At  all  events, 
Canisius  compared  the  Tyrolese  and  the  Ba- 
varians wnth  the  two  tribes  of  Israel,  "  who 
alone  remained  faithful  to  the  Lord."  It 
would  be  well  worth  while  to  inquire  more 
closely  what  were  the  internal  causes  of  this 
pertinacity,  this  imperturbable  attachment  to 
tradition  evidenced  by  so  many  various  and 
dissimilar  races.  The  same  phenomenon  was 
likewise  presented  in  the  Walloon  provinces 
of  the  Netherlands. 

And  now  the  papacy  resumed  a  position  in 
which  it  could  once  more  command  all  these 


*  Diapaccio,  Soranzo :  Perpignan,  28  Maggio.  Essendo 
in  quesla  provincia  (Spagna)  molti  Ugonoui  quasi  non 
osano  moslrarsi  per  la  severissima  dimostratione  che  qui 
fanno  contra.  Dubilano  che  non  si  mettano  insieme  es- 
sendone  molti  per  lutta  la  Spagna.  [Whereas  there  are 
many  HuL'uenots  in  Spain,  they  scarcely  dare  to  show 
themselves,  on  account  of  the  very  severe  demonstrations 
egainst  them.  They  waver  about  combining,  there  being 
many  of  them  throughout  all  Spain.] 

+  If  it  were  not  ignorance  in  this  case,  as,  at  least,  is 
asserted  by  Lazarus  Schwendi:  "En  Ungarie  tout  est 
confusion  el  misfire:  ils  sont  de  la  plus  part  Huguenots, 
mais  avec  une  extreme  ignorance  du  people."    [In  Hun- 

fary  all  is  confusion  and  wretchedness:  the  majority  are 
luguenols,  but  the  common  people  are  extremely  igno- 
rant.] Schwendi  an  prince  d'Orange.  Archives  de  la 
Maison  d'Orange-Nassau,  i.  p.  288. 


inclinations,  and  knit  them  indissolubly  to 
itself.  Though  it  too  had  to  undergo  muta- 
tions, it  still  enjoyed  the  inestimable  advan- 
tage of  having  on  its  side  the  externals  of  the 
past,  and  the  habit  of  obedience.  In  the 
council  they  had  brought  to  a  happy  termina- 
tion, the  popes  had  even  succeeded  in  enlarg- 
ing their  own  authority,  which  there  had  been 
an  intention  of  curtailing,  and  in  acquiring  aug- 
mented influence  over  the  national  churches. 
Furthermore,  they  abandoned  that  temporal 
policy  by  which  they  had  previously  involved 
Italy  and  Europe  in  confusion ;  they  attached 
themselves  confidentially  and  without  reserve 
to  Spain,  and  reciprocated  her  devotion  to  the 
church  of  Rome.  The  Italian  sovereignty, 
the  extended  dominions  of  the  pope,  were 
pre-eminently  subservient  to  the  promotion  of 
ecclesiastical  enterprises :  for  awhile  the  whole 
.surplus  revenue  was  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  the  entire  body  of  the  catholic  church. 

Thus  intrinsically  strong,  and  backed  by  ' 

powerful  adherents,  and  by  the  might  of  an 
idea  associated  with  their  names,  the  popes 
passed  from  the  defensive  system,  to  which 
they  had  hitherto  been  forced  to  confine  them-  ' 
selves,  and  became  assailants.  The  attack 
they  made,  its  course  and  consequences,  it  is 
the  principal  object  of  this  work  to  consider, 

A  boundless  theatre  opens  before  us.  The 
action  began  simultaneously  in  several  places ; 
we  are  called  on  to  direct  our  attention  to  the 
most  remote  and  distinct  parts  of  the  world. 

The  religious  action  is  most  intimately  con- 
nected with  political  impulses;  combinations 
arise  embracing  the  whole  world,  under  the 
influence  of  which  tlie  scheme  of  conquest 
succeeds  or  fails  ;  we  shall  keep  in  view  the 
great  changes  manifested  in  the  events  of 
general  politics  the  more  steadily,  because 
they  often  immediately  coincided  with  the 
results  of  the  religious  contest. 

We  must  not,  however,  confine  ourselves 
to  generalities.  Religious  conquests  can  still 
less  than  temporal  be  accomplished  without 
some  native  sympathies  of  the  conquered  with 
the  conquerors.  We  must  fathom  the  inte- 
rests of  the  several  countries,  in  order  to  com- 
prehend the  inward  movements  by  which  the 
designs  of  Rome  were  favoured. 

Such  is  the  abundance  and  diversity  of 
occurrences  and  of  aspects  of  life  here  pre- 
sented to  us,  that  we  have  almost  reason  to 
fear  they  can  hardly  be  comprehended  in  one 
view.  A  great  plastic  movement  is  before  us, 
actuated  throughout  by  kindred  principles, 
and  sometimes  combining  grand  universal 
crises,  but  which  offers  an  infinite  diversity  of 
phenomena. 

Let  us  begin  with  Germany,  where  the  pa- 
pacy first  sustained  its  great  losses,  and  where 
now,  too,  the  strife  between  the  two  princi- 
ples was  chiefly  fought  out. 

Here  pre-eminently  good  service  was  ren- 


A.  D.  1563-89  ]       THE  FIRST  JESUIT  SCHOOLS  IN  GERMANY. 


169 


dered  the  church  of  Rome  by  the  society  of 
the  Jesuits,  which  combined  worklly  prudence 
with  religious  zeal,  and  was  penetrated  by 
the  spirit  of  modern  Catholicism.  Let  us 
first  bestow  our  attention  on  the  eftective 
power  of  this  body. 

The  first  Jesuit  Schools  in  Germany, 

Ferdinand  I.  had  with  him  his  confessor 
Bishop  Urban  of  Laibach  at  tlie  diet  of  Augs- 
burg-, in  the  year  1550.  The  latter  was  one 
of  those  few  prelates  who  had  not  suffered 
themselves  to  be  shaken  in  their  faith.  At 
home  he  often  mounted  the  pulpit  to  exhort 
the  people  in  the  local  dialect  to  stand  fast  by 
the  faith  of  their  fathers,  preaching  to  them 
of  the  one  fold,  and  the  one  Shepherd.*  The 
Jesuit  Le  Jay  was  also  present  in  Augsburg 
on  that  occasion,  and  gained  consideration  by 
some  conversions.  Bishop  Urban  became  ac- 
quainted with  him,  and  heard  from  him,  for  the 
first  time,  of  the  colleges  the  Jesuits  had  found- 
ed in  several  universities.  Upon  this  the 
bishop  advised  his  imperial  master  to  found  a 
•  similar  college  in  Vienna,  seeing  how  great 
was  the  decay  of  catholic  theology  in  Germany. 
Ferdinand  warmly  embraced  the  suggestion  ; 
in  a  letter  he  wrote  to  Loyola  on  the  subject, 
he  declares  his  conviction,  that  the  only  means 
to  uphold  the  declining  cause  of  Catholicism  in 
Germany,  was  to  give  the  rising  generation 
learned  and  pious  catholics  for  teachers.f  The 
preliminaries  were  easily  arranged.  In  the 
year  1551  thirteen  Jesuits,  among  them  Le 
Jay  himself,  arrived  in  Vienna,  and  were,  in 
the  first  instance,  granted  a  dwelling,  chapel, 
and  pension,  by  Ferdinand,  until  shortly  after 
he  incorporated  them  with  the  university,  and 
even  assigned  to  them  the  visitation  of  it. 

Soon  after  this  they  rose  to  consideration  in 
Cologne,  where  they  had  already  resided  for 
two  years,  but  had  met  with  so  little  success, 
that  they  had  even  been  compelled  to  live 
separate.  It  was  not  till  the  year  1556  that 
the  endowed  school  we  have  spoken  of,  gov- 
erned by  a  protestant  regent,  gave  them  an 
opportunity  of  gaining  a  firmer  footing.  For 
since  there  was  a  party  in  the  city  bent  above 
all  things  on  maintaining  the  catholic  cha- 
racter of  the  university,  the  advice  given  by 
the  patrons  of  the  Jesuits,  to  hand  over  the 
establishment  to  that  order,!  "'^t  with  atten- 
tion. Their  chief  supporters  were  the  prior 
of  the  Carthusians,  the  provincial  of  the  Car- 
melites, and  especially  Doctor  John  Groppor, 
who  now  and  then  gave  an  entertainment,  to 
which  he  invited  the  most  influential  citizens, 
that  he  might  have  an  opportunity  of  helping 
forward  the  cause  he  had   most  at  heart  in 


*  Valvassor:  Ehre  dea  Herzogthums  Krain,  Theil  ii 
Buch  vii.  p.  433. 

t  Printed  in  Soctier'sHistoriaProTinciae  AusUiiB  Socie- 
latis  Jesu,  i.  21. 

22 


good  old  German  fashion,  over  a  glass  of  wine. 
Fortunately  for  the  Jesuits,  there  was  amongf 
the  members  of  the  order  a  native  of  Cologne, 
John  Rhetius,  a  man  of  patrician  family,  to 
whom  the  endowed  school  could  be  more  par- 
ticularly entrusted.  But  this  was  not  done 
without  strict  limitations.  The  Jesuits  were 
rigorously  forbidden  to  introduce  into  the 
school  the  monastic  rules  of  life  usual  in  their 
colleges.* 

At  this  same  period  they  also  gained  a  firm 
footing  in  Ingoldstadt.  Their  previous  at- 
tempts had  been  frustrated  by  the  resistance 
of  the  younger  members  of  the  university,  who 
were  unwilling  that  any  privileged  school 
should  interfere  with  the  private  instruction 
they  were  in  the  habit  of  giving.  In  the  year 
1556,  however,  when,  as  we  have  said,  the 
duke  had  been  forced  to  large  concessions  in 
favour  of  the  prolestants,  his  catholic  counsel- 
lors deemed  it  imperatively  necessary  to  adopt 
some  substantial  measures  for  upholding  the 
ancient  faith.  The  foremost  among  these  men 
were  the  chancellor  Wiguleus  Hund,  equally 
remarkable  for  his  zeal  in  supporting  the 
church,  as  in  investigating  all  the  particulars 
of  its  ancient  history,  and  Heinrich  Schwigger, 
the  duke's  private  secretary.  ThrougJi  their 
instrumentality  the  Jesuits  were  all  recalled. 
Eighteen  of  them  entered  Ingoldstadt  on  St. 
Wilibald's  day,  1.556,  having  selected  that  day 
because  St.  Wilibald  was  regarded  as  the  first 
bishop  of  that  diocese.  They  had  still  many 
difficulties  to  encounter  in  the  city  and  the 
university,  but  they  were  gradually  enabled 
to  overcome  them  by  the  aid  of  the  same 
patronage  to  which  they  owed  their  establish- 
ment. 

From  these  three  metropolitan  centres,  the 
Jesuits  now  spread  out  in  every  direction. 

From  Vienna  they  extended  immediately 
over  the  Austrian  territories.  Ferdinand  L 
introduced  them  in  1556  into  Prague,  where 
he  founded  for  them  a  school,  destined  chiefly 
for  the  education  of  sons  of  the  nobility.  He 
himself  sent  his  pages  thither,  and  the  order 
met  with  countenance  and  support,  at  least,  at 
the  hands  of  the  catholic  part  of  the  Bohemian 
nobility,  particularly  the  Rosenbergs  and  Lob- 
kowitz.  One  of  the  most  eminent  men  in 
Hungary  at  that  time  was  Nicolaus  Olahus, 
archbishop  of  Gran,  a  Wallachian  by  descent, 
as  his  name  testifies.  His  father,  in  his  horror 
at  the  murder  of  a  waiwode  of  his  house,  had 
dedicated  him  to  the  church,  and  in  that  career 
the  son  had  made  the  most  auspicious  pro- 
gress. He  had  already  filled  the  important 
post  of  private  secretary  under  the  last  native 
kings ;  and,  subsequently,  he  had  risen  still 
higher  in  the  service  of  the  Austrian  party. 
Contemplating  the  general  decay  of  Catholi- 
cism in  Hungary,  he  saw  that  the  last  hope 

♦  Sacchinus,  Hist.  Socieialis  Jesu,  pars  ii.  lib.  i.  n.  103. 


170 


COUNTER  REFORMATIONS.    FIRST  PERIOD. 


left  for  it,  was  that  of  maintaining  its  hold  on 
the  common  people,  who  had  not  yet  wholly 
lapsed  from  its  rule.  To  this  end,  however, 
there  lacked  teachers  of  catholic  principles,  to 
form  whom,  he  founded  a  college  of  Jesuits  at 
Tyrnau  in  the  year  1561,  bestowing  on  them 
a  pension  out  of  his  own  revenues,  to  which 
the  emperor  Ferdinand  added  the  gift  of  an 
abbey.  Jifst  at  the  period  the  Jesuits  arrived, 
there  was  an  assembly  of  the  diocesan  clergy 
convened  :  the  first  efforts  of  the  Jesuits  were 
directed  towards  recalling  those  Hungarian 
priests  and  pastors  from  the  heterodox  doctrine 
to  which  they  inclined.  By  this  time,  too, 
there  was  a  call  for  the  Jesuits  in  Moravia. 
Wilhelin  Prussinowski,  bishop  of  Olmutz,  who 
had  become  acquainted  with  the  order  whilst 
pursuing  his  studies  in  Italy,  invited  them 
thither.  Hurtado  Perez,  a  Spaniard,  was  the 
first  rector  in  Olmutz.  Soon  after,  we  meet 
wiih  members  of  the  society  in  Brvmn  like- 
wise. 

From  Cologne  the  society  spread  over  the 
whole  territory  of  the  Rhine.  Protestantism 
had  found  adherents,  as  already  noticed,  in 
Trier  too,  and  occasioned  fernaents  there. 
John  von  Stein,  the  archbishop,  resolved  to 
inflict  only  slight  punishment  on  the  refrac- 
tory, and  to  rely  chiefly  on  doctrinal  means  for 
counteractmg  the  movements  of  their  party. 
He  invited  to  Coblentz  the  two  heads  of  the 
Jesuit  school  of  Cologne,  and  stated  to  them 
that  he  wished  for  some  members  of  their 
order,  "  to  the  end,"  as  he  expressed  himself, 
"  that  he  might  maintain  the  discipline  of  the 
flock  entrusted  to  him  rather  by  admonition 
and  friendly  instruction,  than  by  weapons  and 
threats."  He  also  turned  to  Rome,  and  an 
agreement  was  speedily  concluded.  Six  Je- 
suits were  sent  from  Rome  ;  Cologne  furnish- 
ed the  rest.  They  opened  their  college  on 
the  3rd  of  February,  1561,  and  undertook  to 
preach  during  the  ensuing  Lent.* 

Two  privy  councillors  of  the  elector  Daniel 
of  Mainz,  namely,  Peter  Echter  and  Simon 
Bagen,  conceived  likewise  that  the  admission 
of  the  Jesuits  was  the  only  means  that  pro- 
mised the  recovery  of  the  decayed  university 
of  Mainz.  In  despite  of  the  opposition  made  by 
the  canons  and  feudal  proprietors,  they  found- 
ed a  college  of  the  order  in  Mainz,  and  a  pre- 
paratory school  in  Aschaffenburg. 

The  society  continued  to  advance  continu- 
ally up  the  Rhine.  They  particularly  coveted 
a  settlement  at  Spires,  both  because  amongst 
the  assessors  of  the  Kammergericht  assembled 
there,  there  were  so  many  distinguished  men, 
over  whom  it  would  be  of  extraordinary  mo- 
ment to  possess  influence  ;  and  also  in  order 
to  be  placed  near  the  Heidelberg  university, 
which  at  that  day  enjoyed  the  highest  repute 


[a.  d.  1563-89. 
They  gradually 


*  Browerus:  Annales   Trevirenses,  torn.   ii.  lib.  xxi. 
106—125. 


for  its  protestant  professors.* 
carried  their  point. 

They  tried  their  fortune  also  along  the 
Maine,  and  that  without  delay.  Though 
Frankfurt  was  wholly  protestant,  they  had 
hopes  of  accomplishing  something  there  too 
during  the  fair.  This,  however,  was  a  peril- 
ous experiment ;  and,  to  avoid  discovery,  they 
were  obliged  to  change  their  lodgings  every 
night.f  But  equal  to  the  difficulties  they 
encountered  here,  were  the  security  and  the 
welcome  they  experienced  at  Wiirzburg.  It 
would  seem  as  though  the  admonition  addres- 
sed to  the  bishops  by  the  emperor  Ferdinand, 
in  the  diet  of  1559,  that  they  too  should,  at 
length,  put  out  their  strength  for  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  catholic  church,  had  greatly  con- 
tributed to  the  brilliant  success  of  the  order  in 
the  ecclesiastical  principalities.  From  Wiirz- 
burg they  spread  through  Franconia. 

Meanwhile  the  Tyrol  had  been  opened  to 
them  from  another  quarter.  At  the  desire  of 
the  emperor's  daughter  they  seated  them- 
selves in  Inspruck,  and,  afterwards,  in  Halle 
in  its  vicinity.  In  Bavaria  their  progress  was 
continual.  At  Munich,  where  they  had 
arrived  in  1559,  they  were  even  better  satis- 
fied than  at  Ingoldstadt ;  they  declared  it  the 
Rome  of  Germany.  And  already  a  new  great 
colony  had  been  planted  not  far  from  Ingold- 
stadt. In  order  to  bring  back  his  university 
of  Dillingen  to  its  original  purpose,  cardinal 
Truchsess  resolved  to  dismiss  all  the  profes- 
sors who  still  taught  there,  and  to  commit  the 
establishment  entirely  to  the  Jesuits.  A  for- 
mal convention  on  this  subject  was  agreed  to 
at  Botzen  between  German  and  Italian  com- 
missioners, on  the  part  of  the  cardinal  and  of 
the  order.  The  Jesuits  arrived  in  Dillingen 
in  1563,  and  took  possession  of  their  profes- 
sorships. They  relate  with  much  complacency 
how  the  cardinal,  who  shortly  after,  on  his 
return  from  a  journey,  entered  Dillingen  in 
state,  turned  with  marked  preference  to  the 
Jesuits  amongst  all  those  who  had  gone  out  to 
receive  him,  offered  them  his  hand  to  kiss, 
greeted  them  as  his  brethren,  visited  their 
cells  in  person,  and  dined  with  them.  He 
promoted  their  interests  to  the  utmost  of  his 
power,  and  soon  established  a  mission  for  them 
in  Augsburg. 

This  was  an  extraordinary  progress  made 
by  the  society  in  so  brief  a  space  of  time.  In 
the  year  1551  they  had  not  yet  any  fixed  posi- 
tion in  Germany ;  in  1556  they  had  extended 
over  Bavaria  and  the  Tyrol,  Franconia,  and 
Swabia,  a  great  part  of  Rhineland,  and  Aus- 
tria, and  they  had  penetrated  into  Hungary, 
Bohemia,  and  Moravia.     The  effects  of  their 

*  E.  g.  Neuser  says  in  his  famous  letter  to  the  sultan, 
that  he  was  a  teacher  and  a  preacher  at  Heidelberg,  "to 
which  place  the  most  learned  of  the  whole  German  peopla 
now-a-days  resort."    Arnold,  Ketzerhist,  ii.  1133. 

t  Gropp,  Wirzburgische  Chronik  der  letztereu  Zeiten, 
Th.  i.  p.  237. 


A.  D.  1563-89.]      THE  FIRST  JESUIT  SCHOOLS  IN  GERMANY. 


171 


proceedinsfs  had  already  become  manifest.  In 
the  year  1561  the  papal  nuncio  asserts,  that 
*'  they  are  winning  many  souls,  and  doing 
great  service  to  the  holy  see."  This  was  the 
first  enduring  anti-protestant  impression  made 
on  Germany. 

Their  labours  were  above  all  devoted  to  the 
universities.  They  were  ambitious  of  rival- 
ling the  fame  of  tiiose  of  the  protestants.  The 
whole  learned  education  of  those  times  was 
based  on  the  study  of  the  ancient  languages. 
This  they  prosecuted  with  lively  zeal,  and  ere 
long  it  was  thought,  here  and  there  at  least, 
that  tlie  Jesuit  teachers  deserved  a  place 
beside  the  restorers  of  classical  learning.  They 
likewise  cultivated  the  sciences  :  Franz  Ros- 
ier expounded  astronomy  at  Cologne,  in  a 
manner  as  attractive  as  it  was  instructive. 
But  their  main  concern  was,  of  course,  theolo- 
gical discipline.  The  Jesuits  lectured  with 
the  greatest  industry  even  during  the  holi- 
days ;  they  revived  the  practice  of  disputa- 
tion, without  which,  as  they  said,  all  instruc- 
tion was  a  dead  letter.  Their  disputations, 
which  were  held  in  public,  were  conducted 
with  dignity  and  decorum,  were  full  of  matter, 
and  the  most  brilliant  that  had  ever  been  wit- 
nessed. In  Ingoldstadt  they  soon  persuaded 
themselves  that  they  had  made  such  good 
speed,  that  the  university  could  compete  with 
any  other  in  Germany,  at  least,  in  the  faculty 
of  theology.  Ingoldstadt  acquired,  though  in 
an  opposite  direction,  an  influence  parallel  to 
that  possessed  by  Wittenberg  and  Geneva. 

I^he  Jesuits  displayed  no  less  assiduity  in 
the  conduct  of  their  Latin  schools.  It  was 
one  of  the  leading  maxims  of  Lainez,  that  the 
lower  grammatical  classes  should  be  supplied 
with  good  teachers,  since  lirst  impressions 
exercise  the  greatest  influence  over  the  whole 
future  life  of  the  individual.  He  sought  with 
just  discernment  for  men,  who  having  once 
adopted  that  more  limited  department  of  edu- 
cation, were  content  to  devote  themselves  to 
it  for  their  whole  lives ;  for  time  alone  could 
enable  the  teacher  to  learn  so  difficult  a  busi- 
ness, or  to  acquire  the  becoming  authority. 
In  this  the  Jesuits  succeeded  to  admiration. 
It  was  found  that  young  persons  learned  more 
under  them  in  half  a  year  than  with  others  in 
two  years  :  even  protestants  called  back  their 
children  from  distant  schools,  and  put  them 
under  the  care  of  the  Jesuits. 

Schools  for  the  poor,  modes  of  instruction 
adapted  for  children,  and  catechizing  followed. 
Canisius  composed  a  catecliism,  that  satisfied 
the  wants  of  the  learner  by  its  well-connected 
questions  and  its  apposite  answers. 

The  instruction  of  the  Jesuits  was  conveyed 
wholly  in  the  spirit  of  that  enthusiastic  devo- 
tion, which  had  from  the  first  so  peculiarly 
characterized  their  order.  The  first  rector  in 
Vienna  was  a  Spaniard  named  John  Vittoria, 
a  man  who  had  once,  in  Rome,  marked  his 


admission  into  the  order,  by  going  about  the 
Corso  during  the  festivities  of  the  carnival 
clad  in  sackclotii,  scourging  himself  all  the 
while  till  the  blood  ran  down  in  streams.  Ere 
long  the  children,  who  frequented  the  schools 
of  the  Jesuits  in  Vienna,  were  distinguished 
for  their  resolute  refusal  to  partake  on  fast 
days  of  forbidden  meats,  which  their  parents 
ate  without  scruple.  In  Cologne  it  was  once 
more  regarded  as  an  honour  to  wear  tlie  ro- 
sary. Relics  began  to  be  honoured  in  Trier, 
where  for  many  years  no  one  had  ventured 
to  exhibit  them.  Already,  in  the  year  1.560, 
the  youth  of  Ingoldstadt  went  in  procession 
two  and  two  from  the  Jesuit  school  to  Eich- 
stiidt,  in  order  to  be  strengthened  at  their 
confirmation  "  with  the  dew  that  distilled 
from  the  tomb  of  St.  Walpurgi."  The  feel- 
ings thus  engendered  in  the  schools  were  pro- 
pagated throughout  the  mass  of  the  popula- 
tion by  preaching  and  confession. 

This  is  a  case  for  which,  perhaps,  the  world 
has  never  exiiibited  an  exact  parallel. 

Whenever  a  new  intellectual  movement 
has  seized  mankind,  it  has  always  been  eftect- 
ed  by  grand  personal  qualities,  or  by  the  cap- 
tivatmg  force  of  new  ideas.  The  efiects  pro- 
duced in  this  case  were  accomplished  inde- 
pendently of  any  remarkable  original  concep- 
tions. The  Jesuits  may  have  been  learned 
and  pious  in  their  way ;  but  no  one  will  pre- 
tend that  their  science  was  the  fruit  of  spon- 
taneous genius,  or  that  their  piety  aroSe  out 
of  the  depth  and  the  ingenuousness  of  a  single 
heart.  They  were  learned  enough  to  acquire 
reputation,  to  excite  confidence,  to  form  and 
attach  scholars :  more  than  this  they  did  not 
aspire  to.  Their  piety  not  merely  shunned 
all  moral  taint,  but  was  positively  conspicuous, 
and  so  much  tlie  less  questionable :  this  was 
enough  for  them.  Neither  their  piety  nor 
their  learning  ventured  upon  undefined  or 
untrodden  paths :  but  they  had  one  quality 
that  particularly  distinguished  them — strict 
method.  With  them  every  thing  was  subject 
of  calculation,  for  every  thing  had  its  special 
end.  Such  a  combination  of  competent  know- 
ledge and  indefatigable  zeal,  of  study  and 
persuasiveness,  of  pomp  and  asceticism,  of 
world-wide  influence  and  of  unity  in  the  go- 
verning principle,  was  never  beheld  before  or 
since.  They  were  assiduous  and  visionary, 
worldly-wise  and  filled  with  enthusiasm ; 
well-comported  men,  whose  society  was  glad- 
ly courted;  devoid  of  personal  interests,  each 
labouring  for  the  advancement  of  the  rest. 
No  wonder  that  they  were  successful. 

Another  consideration  connected  with  this 
subject  forces  itself  upon  a  German  writer. 
Papal  theology  had,  as  we  have  said,  all  but 
perished  in  Germany :  the  Jesuits  arose  to 
revive  it.  Who  were  those  Jesuits  who  first 
arrived  in  that  country  1  they  were  Spaniards, 
Italians,  and   Flemings ;    the  name  of  their 


172 


COUNTER  REFORMATIONS.    FIRST  PERIOD.        [a.  d.  1563-89. 


order  was  long  unknown:  they  were  called 
Spanish  priests.  They  occupied  the  profes- 
sors' chairs,  and  found  pupils  who  attached 
themselves  to  their  doctrines.  They  received 
nothing  from  the  Germans ;  their  doctrines 
and  their  constitution  were  complete  before 
they  appeared  among  them.  The  general 
progress  of  their  institution  in  Germany  may 
be  regarded  as  a  new  instance  of  the  influence 
of  the  Latin  portion  of  Europe  on  the  Ger- 
manic. They  conquered  the  Germans  on 
their  own  soil,  in  their  very  home,  and  wrest- 
ed from  them  a  part  of  their  native  land. 
Undoubtedly  the  cause  of  this  was,  that  the 
German  theologians  were  neither  agreed 
among  themselves,  nor  were  magnanimous 
enough  to  mutually  tolerate  minor  discrepan- 
cies. Extreme  points  of  opinion  were  seized 
upon  ;  opponents  attacked  eacli  other  with 
reckless  fierceness,  so  that  those  who  were 
not  yet  fully  convinced  were  perplexed,  and 
a  path  was  opened  to  those  foreigners  who 
now  seized  on  men's  minds  with  a  shrewdly 
constructed  doctrine,  finished  to  its  meanest 
details,  and  leaving  not  a  shadow  of  cause  for 
doubt. 

Beginning  of  the  Counter-Reformation  in 
Germany. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  it  is  manifest  that 
the  Jesuits  could  not  have  succeeded  so  easi- 
ly, h&d  it  not  been  for  the  aid  of  the  secular 
arm,  and  the  favour  of  the  princes  of  the  em- 
pire. 

For  it  had  fared  with  theological  as  with 
political  questions :  no  measure  had  been 
brought  about  by  which  the  intrinsically  hie- 
rarchical constitution  of  the  empire  might 
have  been  made  to  harmonize  with  the  new 
circumstances  of  religion.  The  sum  and  sub- 
stance of  the  peace  of  Augsburg,  as  it  was 
understood  from  the  first,  and  was  subsequent- 
ly interpreted,  was  a  new  extension  of  the 
civil  sovereignty.  The  several  principalities, 
too,  acquired  a  degree  of  independence  in 
respect  of  religion.  Thenceforth  it  depended 
solely  on  the  creed  of  the  prince,  and  on  the 
understanding  between  him  and  his  estates, 
what  ecclesiastical  position  any  territory 
should  assume. 

This  was  a  consummation  that  seemed  to 
have  been  devised  in  favour  of  protestantism, 
but  which  has  actually  served  only  to  promote 
Catholicism.  The  former  was  already  estab- 
lished when  the  principle  was  laid  down ;  the 
latter  re-established  itself  only  by  resting 
upon  it. 

This  occurred  first  in  Bavaria ;  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  took  place  there  is  worth 
notice,  from  the  immense  influence  it  exer- 
cised. 

The  Bavarian  diet  presents  us,  during  a 
considerable  period,  with  a  series  of  struggles 


between  the  sovereign  and  the  estates.  We 
see  the  duke  continually  in  want  of  money, 
loaded  with  debt,  forced  to  the  imposition  of 
new  taxes,  and  incessantly  constrained  to  so- 
licit the  aid  of  his  estates.  In  return  for  this 
the  latter  demanded  concessions,  chiefly  of  a 
religious  kind.  A  similar  state  of  things  to 
that  which  had  long  prevailed  in  Austria 
seemed  inevitable  in  Bavaria ;  a  legitimate 
opposition  of  the  estates  against  the  sovereign, 
grounded  at  once  on  religion  and  on  privi- 
leges, unless  the  prince  himself  should  become 
a  convert  to  protestantism. 

Undoubtedly,  it  was  this  state  of  things 
through  which  the  introduction  of  the  Jesuits, 
as  we  have  mentioned,  was  mainly  prompted. 
It  may  possibly  be  true,  that  their  preaching 
made  a  personal  impression  on  duke  Albert 
V. ;  he  subsequently  declared,  that  whatever 
he  knew  of  God's  law  he  had  learned  from 
Hoflaus  and  Canisius,  both  of  them  Jesuits. 
But  another  agency  co-operated.  Pius  IV. 
not  only  set  before  the  duke  that  every  reli- 
gious concession  would  diminish  the  obedi- 
ence of  his  subjects,*  (which  in  the  actual 
condition  of  German  sovereignties  was  hardly 
to  be  denied,)  but  he  gave  force  to  his  admo- 
nitions by  marks  of  favour ;  he  abandoned  to 
him  a  tenth  of  the  property  of  his  clergy. 
Thus  rendering  him  independent  of  the  plea- 
sure of  his  estates,  he  showed  him  at  the  same 
time  what  advantages  he  had  to  expect  from 
a  connexion  with  the  Roman  church. 

The  main  question  now  was,  whether  the 
duke  would  be  able  to  put  down  the  religious 
opposition  actually  constituted  among  his 
estates. 

He  entered  on  the  task  in  a  diet  at  Ingold- 
stadt,  in  the  year  1563.  The  prelates  were 
already  well-inclined  to  him :  he  next 
wrought  upon  the  cities.  Whether  it  were 
that  the  doctrines  of  reviving  Catholicism,  and 
the  activity  of  the  Jesuits,  who  insinuated 
themselves  every  where,  had  gained  ground 
with  the  cities,  and  especially  with  the  lead- 
ing members  of  their  assemblies,  or  that  other 
considerations  swayed  them,  it  is  enough  to 
say,  that  the  cities  desisted  from  the  demands 
of  new  religious  concessions  they  had  always 
hitherto  urged  with  earnestness,  and  proceed- 
ed to  grant  supplies  without  stipulating  for 
new  privileges.  Now  then  the  nobles  alone 
remained  to  be  dealt  with.  They  left  the 
diet  in  discontent,  nay  bitterness ;  threaten- 
ing expressions  that  had  dropped  from  various 
members  of  the  body  were  reported  to  the 
duke  ;f  at  last,  the  foremost  of  them  all,  the 


*  Legationes  paparuni  ad  puces  Bavarias.  MS.  in  the 
library  of  Municli.  "  Quod  si  Sua  Celsiludo  Ill'»a  absque 
sedis  apostolicae  autorilale  usum  calicis  concedat,  ipsi 
priiicipi  eliani  plurimuni  decederel  de  ejus  apud  subdiios 
autorilale."  Tliey  complained  in  Ihe  Bavarian  diel  ihal 
ihe  prince  had  lei  himself  be  dazzled  by  the  decimation 
grant. 

t  Private  inciuiry  and  report  respecting  the  unbecoming 


A.  D.  1563-89.]    BEGINNING  OF  COUNTER  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY.      173 


count  of  Ortenburg,  who  claimed  for  his  coun- 
ty an  unmediatized  position  disputed  by  the 
duke,  resolved  forthwith  to  introduce  the  evan- 
gelical confession  into  that  territory.  But  by 
that  very  means  the  duke  found  the  best  wea- 
pons placed  in  his  hands.  Above  all,  when 
he  discovered  in  one  of  the  castles  he  seized, 
a  correspondence  between  the  Bavarian  lords, 
containnig  violently  acrimonious  language, 
in  which  he  was  designated  as  a  hardened 
Pharaoh,  and  his  council  as  thirsting  for  the 
blood  of  poor  Christians,  besides  other  expres- 
sions which  seemed  to  indicate  the  existence 
of  a  conspiracy,  he  had  now  a  fair  pretext  for 
calling  to  account  all  the  members  of  the 
nobility  that  were  opposed  to  him.*  The 
punishments  he  inflicted  upon  them  cannot  be 
called  rigorous,  but  they  effected  his  purpose. 
He  excluded  all  the  individuals  compromised 
from  the  Bavarian  diet,  and  as  they  constitut- 
ed the  only  remaining  opposition  in  that  body, 
he  thus  became  complete  master  of  his  es- 
tates, which  from  that  time  forth  never  stirred 
any  question  of  religion. 

The  great  importance  of  this  result  was 
forthwith  made  apparent.  For  a  long  time 
duke  Albert  had  been  urgent  in  his  demands 
to  the  pope  and  the  council  for  permission  to 
the  laity  to  partake  of  the  cup;  he  seemed  to 
set  the  whole  fortune  of  his  dominions  on  that 
point :  at  last  his  suit  was  granted,  in  April, 
1564.  Could  it  be  believed  !  he  did  not  even 
make  the  fact  known.  Circumstances  were 
altered  :  a  privilege  departing  from  the  strict 
tenour  of  Catholicism,  now  seemed  to  him  ra- 
ther hurtful  than  advantageous;  he  put  down 
by  force  some  communities  in  Lower  Bava- 
ria that  boisterously  renewed  their  former 
demands.! 

In  a  short  time  there  was  not  in  Germany 
a  more  decided  catholic  prince  than  duke  Al- 
bert. He  set  himself  with  the  utmost  earnest- 
ness to  the  task  of  making  his  country  once 
more  wholly  catholic. 

The  professors  in  Ingoldstadt  were  compel- 
led to  subscribe  the  confession  of  faith  tliat 
had  been  published  in  pursuance  of  the  de- 
crees of  the  council  of  Trent.  All  the  officers 
in  the  duke's  employ  were  obliged  to  pledge 
themselves  by  oath  to  an  unambiguous  catho- 
lic confession  :  if  any  refused  to  do  so,  they 
were  dismissed.  Even  among  the  common 
people,  duke  Albert  gave  no  toleration  to  pro- 
testantism. In  Lower  Bavaria,  in  the  first 
instance,  whither  he  had  sent  some  Jesuits 
for  the  conversion  of  the  inhabitants,  not  only 
were  the  protestant  preachers,  but  every  in- 
dividual who  adhered  to  their  doctrine,  corn- 
seditious  speeches,  in  Freiberg:  Geschichte  der  baieris- 
chen  Lanilsiilnde,  ii.  352. 

*  Huschberg:  Geschichte  des  Hauses  Ortenberg,  S. 
390. 

+  Adlzreitter,  Annalea  Bnicae  gentis,  ii.  xi.  n.  22.  Al- 
bertus  earn  indulgeuliam  juris  publici  in  Boica  esse 
Qoluit. 


pelled  to  sell  their  property  and  quit  the  coun- 
try.* The  same  course  was  afterwards  pur- 
sued in  all  other  parts  of  the  duke's  domin- 
ions. It  would  not  have  been  advisable  for 
any  magistrate  to  tolerate  protestants :  he 
would  thereby  have  drawn  down  the  severest 
punishment  on  himself. 

Now  with  this  renovation  of  Catholicism,  ' 
all  its  modern  forms  passed  over  from  Italy 
into  Germany.  An  index  of  prohibited  books 
was  drawn  up :  they  were  picked  out  from 
the  libraries,  and  burned  in  heaps:  on  the 
other  hand,  books  of  rigidly  catholic  principles 
were  treated  with  marked  favour  ;  the  duke 
failed  not  to  encourage  their  authors.  He 
caused  the  Sacred  History  of  Surius  to  be 
translated  into  German,  and  printed  at  his 
own  cost.  The  utmost  veneration  was  paid 
to  relics;  St.  Benno,  of  whom  in  another  part 
of  Germany  (Meissen)  they  would  no  longer 
hear,  was  solemnly  declared  the  patron  saint 
of  Bavaria.  Architecture  and  music,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  taste  of  the  revived  church, 
were  first  introduced  in  Munich  :  above  all, 
the  Jesuit  institutions  were  encouraged,  by 
means  of  which  the  rising  generation  was 
thoroughly  educated  in'the  orthodox  spirit. 

The  Jesuits  on  their  part  could  never  suffi- 
ciently extol  the  duke,  that  second  Josias,  as 
they  said,  another  Theodosius. 

Only  one  question  remains  for  considera- 
tion. 

The  more  considerable  the  augmentation  of 
sovereign  authority,  which  accrued  to  the 
Protestant  princes  from  their  agency  in  the 
affairs  of  religion,  the  more  glaring  would  it 
have  been,  had  the  catholic  sovereigns  found 
their  own  power  shackled  by  the  restoration 
of  the  ecclesiastical  authority. 

This,  however,  was  provided  against.  The 
popes  saw  plainly  that  they  could  not  succeed 
in  upholding  their  declining  power,  or  in  re- 
newing that  they  had  lost,  but  through  the  aid 
of  the  sovereigns  ;  they  practised  no  illusion  on 
themselves  on  this  score;  accordingly  they 
made  it  the  essence  of  their  policy  to  knit 
themselves  to  the  reigning  princes. 

In  the  instruction  addressed  by  Gregory  to 
the  very  first  nuncio  he  sent  to  Bavaria,  this 
purpose  is  declared  without  any  circumlocu- 
tion. He  says,  "  the  most  ardent  wish  of  his 
holiness,  is  to  restore  the  fallen  discipline  of 
the  Church ;  at  the  same  time  he  sees  that  to 
attain  so  important  an  end,  he  must  enter  into 
combination  with  the  sovereigns ;  by  their 
piety  has  religion  been  upheld ;  with  their 
laelp  alone  can  Church  discipline  and  morals 
be  restored."!     Accordingly,  the  pope  endows 

*  Agricola:  Ps.  i.  Dec.  iii.  115—120. 

t  Legatio  Gregorii  XIH.  1573.  "  S.  S.  in  earn  curam 
incumbit  qua  ecclesiastica  disciplina  jam  ferine  in  Ger- 
niania  collapsa  aliquo  modo  inslauretur,  quod  cum  ante- 
cessores  sui  aul  neglexerint  aut  leviter  atligerint  non  tarn 
bene  quam  par  erat  de  republica  Christiana  meritos  esse 
aniinadvertit:  adjungendos  sibi  ad  tale  lanlumque  opu3 


174 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD.        [a.  d.  1563-89. 


the  duke  with  authority  to  stimulate  the  ne- 
gligent bishops :  to  carry  into  effect  the  reso- 
lutions of  a  synod  that  had  been  held  in  Salz- 
berg ;  to  constrain  the  bishop  of  Ratisbon  and 
his  chapter  to  erect  a  seminary ;  in  short,  lie 
confers  on  him  a  sort  of  ecclesiastical  super- 
vision, and  he  takes  council  with  him  as  to 
whether  it  were  not  advisable  to  institute 
seminaries  for  monastic  clergy,  in  addition  to 
those  already  existing-  for  the  secular  clergy. 
To  this  the  duke  very  cheerfully  assents;  he 
only  demands  that  the  bishops  should  not  be 
allowed  to  trespass  too  far  on  the  rights  of  the 
sovereign,  whether  traditional  or  newly  be- 
stowed, and  that  the  clergy  should  be  kept  in 
discipline  and  subordination  by  their  superiors. 
There  exist  edicts,  in  which  the  prince  treats 
convents  as  state  property,  and  subjects  them 
to  secular  administration. 

If  protestant  princes  in  the  course  of  the 
reformation  appropriated  clerical  attributes, 
the  same  thing  was  now  accomplished  by  the 
catholic  princes  likewise.  What  in  the  one 
case  was  done  in  opposition  to  the  papacy,  in 
the  other  took  place  in  union  with  it.  If  the 
protestant  princes  placed  their  younger  sons 
as  administrators  of  the  neighbouring  evan- 
gelical foundations,  in  the  countries  that  had 
remained  catholic  the  sons  of  catholic  princes 
were  directly  advanced  to  episcopal  dignities. 
Gregory  had  promised  duke  Albert  from  the 
very  first,  "  to  neglect  nothing  that  might  be 
for  the  advantage  of  himself  or  his  sons."  We 
soon  find  two  of  the  latter  in  possession  of  the 
most  sumptuous  preferments;  one  of  them 
gradually  rose  to  the  highest  dignities  of  the 
empire.* 

But  besides  all  this,  Bavaria  acquired  a  high 
degree  of  instrinsic  importance  from  the  posi- 
tion it  took  up.  It  championed  a  great  prin- 
ciple, which  was  in  the  act  of  rising  to  new 
power.  The  inferior  German  princes  of  the 
same  persuasion  for  some  time  regarded  Ba- 
varia as  their  chief. 

For  as  far  as  ever  the  duke  could  stretch 

catholicos  principes  sapientissime  statuil."  [His  Holi- 
ness is  intent  upon  the  consideration  how  ecclesiastical 
discipline,  now  generally  decayed  in  Germany,  may  be 
restored,  and  he  remarks  that  his  predecessors  in  neglect- 
ing this,  or  treating  it  with  but  slight  attention,  have  not 
done  lh"ir  duty  by  the  Christian  commonwealth :— he  has 
most  wisely  determined  on  conjoining  the  catholicprinces 
with  him  in  so  excellent,  and  so  great  a  work.]  The  am- 
bassador Bartolomeo,  count  of  Porzia,  expressly  promises, 
"Suam  Sanctilatem  nihil  unquam  praetermissurum  esse 
quod  est  e  re  sua  (duels  Bavariae)  aut  filiorum." 

*  Even  Pius  V.  moderated  the  rigour  of  his  principles 
in  favour  of  the  duke  of  Bavaria.  Tiepolo :  Relatione  di 
Pio  IV.  e  V.  "  D'altri  principi  secolari  di  Germania,  non 
ei  sa  che  allro  veramente  sia  cattolico  che  il  duca  di  Ba- 
Tiera:  pert)  in  gralificatione  sua  il  pontefice  ha  concesso 
che  il.figliuclo,  che  di  gran  lunga  non  ha  ancora  1 '  et a  deter- 
minato  dal  (;oncilio,habbiail  vescovaloFrisingense;  cosa 
che  non  6diluislataconcessaadaUri."  [Of the'oiher secu- 
lar princes  of  Germany,  hardly  one  seems  really  catholic, 
witfi  the  exception  of  the  duke  of  Bavaria:  accordingly 
for  his  sake  the  pope  has  allowed  that  his  son,  who  is  very 
far  from  havineattainedtheage  fixed  by  the  council,  shall 
have  the  bishopric  of  Friesingen:  such  a  concession  he 
lias  never  made  to  any  one  else.] 


his  power,  he  exercised  it  zealously  for  the 
restoration  of  the  catholic  doctrine.  No  soon- 
er had  the  county  of  Haag  passed  into  his 
hands,  than  he  expelled  the  Protestants,  who 
had  been  tolerated  by  the  last  count,  and 
caused  the  catholic  faith  and  ritual  to  be  rein- 
stated. Margrave  Philip  of  Baden-Baden, 
having  fallen  in  the  battle  of  Moncontour,  his 
son  Philip,  a  boy  ten  years  of  age,  was  placed 
under  the  guardianship  of  Albert,  and  brought 
up  in  Munich,  of  course  in  the  catholic  creed. 
But  the  duke  did  not  wait  to  see  what  the 
young  Margrave  would  do,  when  he  took  the 
reins  of  government  into  his  hands,  but  in- 
stantly sent  his  grand  steward,  count  Schwarz- 
enberg,  and  the  Jesuit,  George  Schorich,  who 
had  already  wrought  together  in  the  conver- 
sion of  Lower  Bavaria,  into  the  Baden  terri- 
tory, to  convert  it  to  Catholicism  by  the  same 
means.  True,  the  Protestant  inhabitants  ad- 
duced imperial  edicts  in  opposition  to  those 
practices,  but  no  heed  was  paid  to  them :  "  the 
plenipotentiaries  proceeded,"  as  the  historian 
of  the  Jesuits  complacently  says,  "  to  clear 
the  ears  and  the  minds  of  the  simple  multi- 
tude for  the  reception  of  heavenly  doctrine." 
That  is  to  say,  they  removed  the  protestant 
preachers,  compelled  the  monks  who  had  not 
continued  quite  orthodox  to  abjure  all  dissent- 
ing doctrines,  filled  the  schools  and  colleges 
with  catholic  teachers,  and  banished  such  of 
the  laity  as  would  not  conform  to  the  ordinan- 
ces of  the  Church.  Within  two  years,  1570, 
1571,  the  whole  country  had  once  more  be- 
come catholic* 

While  these  transactions  were  taking  place 
in  the  secular  principalities,  a  similar  move- 
ment arose  by  a  still  more  inevitable  necessity 
in  the  ecclesiastical. 

The  German  spiritual  princes  were  above 
all  things  bishops,  and  the  popes  lost  not  a 
moment  in  exerting  in  Germany  too,  the  aug- 
mented power  over  the  episcopal  office,  ac- 
corded to  them  by  the  decisions  come  to  in 
Trent. 

Canisius  was  sent  in  the  first  place  to  the 
several  spiritual  courts,  with  copies  of  the 
resolutions  of  the  council.  He  conveyed  them 
to  Mainz,  Trier,  Cologne,  Osnabruck,  and 
Wiirzburg.f  He  gave  force  and  meaning  to 
the  official  courtesies  with  which  he  was 
received,  by  his  activity  and  address.     The 

*  Sacchinus,  pars  iii.  lib.  vi.  n.  88.  lib.  vii.  n.  67.  Agri- 
cola,  i.  iv.  17,  18.  The  pope  duly  valued  the  duke  for  this. 
"  Mira  perfunditur  laetitia,"  it  is  said  in  the  account  of 
that  embaasy,  "  cum  audit  ill.  Sis  Yne  opera  et  industria 
marchionem  Badensemin  religione  catholica  educari,  ad 
quod  accedit  cur  i  ingens  quam  adhibuit  in  comitatu  de 
Hag  ut  catholica  fides,  a  qua  turpiter  defecerant,  restitua- 
tur."  [He  is  filled  with  exceeding  joy  at  hearing,  that  by 
the  care  and  application  of  your  serene  highness,  the 
Margravate  of  Baden  is  trained  in  the  catholic  faith,  be- 
sides the  great  care  your  serene  highness  has  taken  in  the 
county  of  Haag,  that  the  catholic  faith,  from  which  it  had 
shamefully  lapsed,  should  be  restored.] 

t  Maderus  de  vita  P.  Ganisii,  lib.  ii.  c.  ii.  Sacchinus, 
iii.  ii.22. 


A.  D.  1563-89.]  BEGINNING  OF  COUNTER  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY.        175 


matter  then  came  under  discussion  in  the  diet 
of  Augsburg  of  1566. 

Pope  Pius  V.  had  feared  that  protestantism 
would  make  new  demands,  and  obtain  new 
concessions  in  that  assembly.  He  had  alrea- 
dy instructed  his  nuncio,  in  case  of  urgency, 
to  come  forward  with  a  protest,  threatening 
the  emperor  and  the  princes  with  privation  of 
all  their  rights,  nay,  he  even  thought  the 
moment  for  this  was  now  come.*  The  nuncio, 
who  saw  more  closely  into  the  state  of  things, 
did  not  hold  this  expedient.  He  perceived 
there  was  nothing  more  to  be  feared.  The 
protestants  were  divided,  the  catholics  held 
together.  They  often  assembled  at  the  house 
of  the  nuncio,  to  concert  measures  in  common  ; 
Canisius,  by  his  irreproachable  life,  his  perfect 
orthodoxy,  and  his  prudence,  possessed  great 
personal  influence  among  them  :  no  concession 
was  to  be  thought  of;  on  the  contrary,  this 
diet  was  the  first  in  which  the  catholic  princes 
set  up  a  successful  resistance.  The  pope's 
admonitions  received  attention ;  the  resolu- 
tions of  the  council  of  Trent  were  prelimina- 
rily adopted  in  a  special  assembly  of  spiritual 
princes.  From  this  moment  begins  a  new 
life  in  the  catholic  church  in  Germany.  The 
decrees  in  question  were  successively  publish- 
ed in  the  several  provincial  synods:  semina- 
ries were  erected  in  the  episcopal  sees,  the 
first  who  complied  with  this  order  being,  as  well 
as  I  can  ascertain,  the  bishop  of  Eichstadt,  who 
founded  the  collegium  Wilibaldinum  :f  the 
professio  Jidei  was  subscribed  by  all  classes, 
high  and  low.  It  is  a  very  important  fact, 
that  subscription  to  this  document  was  also 
imposed  on  the  universities.  This  was  a 
regulation  proposed  by  Lainez,  approved  of 
by  the  pope,  and  now  generally  carried  into 
etfect  throughout  Germany,  through  the  zeal 
of  Canisius.  Not  only  were  no  appointments, 
but  not  even  were  degrees,  though  it  were 
but  in  the  faculty  of  medicine,  to  be  granted 
witJiout  a  subscription  of  the  professio  Jidei. 
The  first  university  where  the  regulation  was 
enforced,  was  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge 
that  of  Dillingen  :  the  others  followed  in  their 
turn.  The  most  rigid  visitation  of  the  church- 
es was  began.  The  bishops,  who  hitherto 
had  been  very  remiss,  now  displayed  zeal  and 
devotion. 

One  of  the  most  zealous  among  them  was 
doubtless  Jacob  von  Eltz,  from  the  year  1567 
to  1581  elector  of  Trier.  He  had  been  edu- 
cated in  the  old  Louvain  discipline,  and  had 
long  devoted  his  literary  powers  to  the  cause 
of  Catholicism :  he  had  himself  compiled  a 
martyrology,  and  composed  prayers  tor  the 
hours :  he  had  already,  under  the  reign  of  his 
predecessor,  taken  very  great  part  in  the  in- 
troduction of  the  Jesuits,  and  he  now,  on  his 

*  Catena,  Vita  di  Pio  V.  49,  gives  an  extract  from  this 
instruction.    Gratiani,  Vita  Commeadoni,  lib.  iii.  c.  ii. 
t  Falkenstejn,  Nordgauische  Altenhiiuier,  i.  222. 


own  accession,  committed  to  them  the  visita- 
tion of  his  diocese.  Even  schoolmasters  were 
obliged  to  subscribe  the  professio  fidei.  Rigid 
discipline  and  subordination  after  the  methodic 
spirit  of  the  Jesuits  was  introduced  among  the 
clergy :  the  parish  priests  were  required  to 
report  monthly  to  the  dean,  the  dean  quarterly 
to  the  bishops  :  all  who  refused  obedience  were 
dismissed  without  delay.  A  part  of  the  Trent 
decrees  were  printed  for  the  dioceses,  and 
published  for  every  body's  behoof,  and  a  new 
edition  of  the  missal  was  published,  in  order 
to  put  an  end  to  all  discrepancies  in  the  ritual. 
The  spiritual  tribunals  received  a  new  rigor- 
ous organization,  to  which  Bartholomew  Bo- 
deghem  of  Delft,  principally  contributed.  No- 
thing seemed  to  afford  the  archbishop  such 
high  delight,  as  the  discovery  of  any  one  who 
was  ready  to  cast  off"  protestantism :  on  such 
returning  penitents  he  never  failed  personally 
to  bestow  the  benediction,* 

But  other  motives,  besides  those  of  connec- 
tion with  Rome,  now  further  prompted  to  these 
duties  of  the  spiritual  electorate.  The  spi- 
ritual princes  were  urged  by  the  same  mo- 
tives as  the  secular,  to  bring  back  their  domin- 
ions to  their  own  faith,  nay,  periiaps  it  was 
more  imperative  upon  them,  since  a  popula- 
tion inclined  to  protestantism  would  necessa- 
rily evince  a  more  decided  opposition  to  them, 
on  account  of  their  priestly  character. 

This  important  aspect  of  the  German  history 
first  presents  itself  to  us  at  Trier.  The  arch- 
bishops, like  the  rest  of  the  spiritual  princes, 
had  long  been  at  strife  with  their  capital.  In 
the  sixteenth  century,  protestantism  added 
another  source  of  discord ;  the  ecclesiastical 
tribunal  in  particular  met  with  obstinate  re- 
sistance. Jacob  von  Eltz  found  himself  com- 
pelled at  last  formally  to  besiege  the  city.  He 
subdued  it,  and  then  produced  a  decree  of  the 
emperor  favourable  to  his  own  claims.  Thus 
he  reduced  the  citizens  to  temporal  and  spi- 
ritual obedience. 

One  other  step  he  took,  the  effects  of  which 
were  generally  felt.  In  the  year  1.572,  he 
irrevocably  excluded  the  protestants  from  his 
court.  This  was  a  most  serious  matter,  par- 
ticularly for  the  nobility  of  the  countr}',  who 
looked  to  the  court  for  advancement.  All 
their  future  prospects  were  cut  off,  and  it  is 
likely  that  many  an  one  of  them  may  have 
been  moved  by  that  consideration  to  return  to 
the  old  religion. 

A  neighbouring  prince  too,  Daniel  Brendel, 
elector  of  Mainz,  was  a  staunch  catholic. 
Contrary  to  the  advice  of  all  about  him,  he 
revived  the  procession  of  Corpus  Christi  day, 
and  figured  in  it  himself:  he  would  on  no  ac- 
count have  omitted  vespers ;  always  bestowed 
his  attention  on  spiritual  in  preference  to  all 


*  Browerus,  Annales  Trevirenses,  ii.  xiii.  25.  in  geno- 
'  ral  our  best  authority  on  these  topics. 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD. 


[a.  d.  1563-89. 


Orange  suspected,  have  availed  themselves 
of  the  first  flush  of  victory,  to  induce  the 
king  to  some  violent  resolution.*  In  fact, 
towards  the  end  of  the  year  1565,  an  edict  fol- 
lowed, that  surpassed  in  harshness  all  that  had 
preceded  it. 

The  penal  edicts,  the  resolutions  of  the 
council,  and  of  the  provincial  synods  that  had 
been  subsequently  held,  were  to  be  enforced 
undeviatingly,  and  the  inquisitors  alone  were 
to  take  cognizance  of  spiritual  transgressions. 
All  functionaries  were  commanded  to  aid  in 
carrying  out  these  provisions :  a  commis- 
sioner was  also  specially  charged  with  this 
duty  in  every  province,  and  was  to  report  pro- 
gress quarterly.! 

It  is  manifest  that  these  measures  tended 
to  the  certain  introduction  of  a  spiritual  domi- 
nation, if  not  exactly  like  that  of  Spain,  at 
least  similar  to  that  established  in  Italy. 

The  first  result  was,  that  the  people  took 
up  arms,  the  demolition  of  images  began,  and 
the  whole  country  became  a  scene  of  the 
fiercest  turbulence.  There  was  a  moment 
when  the  authorities  seemed  disposed  to  give 
way  ;  but,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  the  violence 
of  the  insurgents  was  fatal  to  their  own  cause : 
the  moderate  and  peaceable  inhabitants  were 
alarmed  and  incited  to  aid  the  government. 
The  governess  was  victorious.  As  soon  as 
she  had  seized  possession  of  the  rebellious 
places,  she  felt  herself  at  once  in  a  condition 
to  impose  an  oath  on  the  government  func- 
tionaries, nay,  on  the  king's  vassals  in  gene- 
ral, by  whicli  they  formally  pledged  them- 
selves to  the  maintenance  of  the  catholic 
faith,  and  to  the  prosecution  of  war  against 
the  heretics.]: 

But  even  this  was  not  enough  for  the  king. 
The  moment  was  that  unhappy  one  which 
was  marked  by  the  dismal  end  of  his  son  Don 
Carlos :  never  was  he  more  stern  and  unbend- 
ing. The  pope  exhorted  him  once  more  to 
grant  no  concessions  prejudicial  to  Catholi- 
cism, and  tlie  king  assured  his  holiness  "  that 
he  would  not  sutler  the  root  of  a  noxious 
plant  to  remain  in  the  soil  of  the  Nether- 
lands ;  he  would  either  lose  the  provinces,  or 
maintain  the  catholic  religion  there  in  its  in- 
tegrity."^ For  the  fulfilment  of  his  purpose 
he  sent,  even  after  the  troubles  had  been 
allayed,  his  best  general,  the  duke  of  Alva, 
and  an  imposing  army,  into  the  Netherlands. 


*  The  prince  held  Granvella  in  suspicion.  See  his 
letters  in  the  Archives  de  la  Maison  d 'Orange-Nassau,  i. 
2d9. 

fSlrada,  after  a  formula  of  the  18th  Dec.  1565,  lib.  iv. 
p.  94. 

t  Brandt,  Hisloire  de  la  reformation  des  pays  bas,  i, 
156. 

§  Cavalli,  Dispaccio  di  Spagna,  7  Aug.  1567.  Riapose  il 
re  che  quanto  alle  cose  della  religione  S.  Sta-  stasse  di 
buon  animo,  che  ovvero  si  han  da  perder  lulti  quei  stati, 
0  che  si  conserveri  in  essi  la  vera  cattolica  religione;  n6 
comporteri  che  vi  rimanghi,  per  quanto  potrcl  far  lui,  al- 
cuna  radice  di  mala  pianta. 


Let  ns  investigate  at  least  the  fundamental 
principles  that  dictated  Alva's  proceedings. 

Alva  was  convinced  that  in  a  country  dis- 
tracted with  the  violence  of  revolution,  every 
thing  requisite  to  the  re-establishment  of  order 
was  effected,  when  the  heads  of  the  move- 
ment were  disposed  of.  That  Charles  V., 
after  so  many. and  such  great  victories,  had 
yet  been  in  a  manner  thrust  out  of  the  Ger- 
man empire,  he  attributed  to  the  indulgent 
spirit  of  that  monarch,  who  spared  the  ene- 
mies who  fell  into  his  hands.  Frequent  men- 
tion has  been  made  of  the  alliance  between 
the  French  and  the  Spaniards,  concluded  at 
the  congress  of  Bayonne  in  1565,  and  of  the 
measures  concerted  there :  of  all  that  has 
been  said  on  the  subject,  thus  much  only  is 
certain,  that  the  duke  of  Alva  urged  the  queen 
of  France  to  get  rid  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Hu- 
guenots, no  matter  how.  What  he  then 
advised,  he  now  scrupled  not  to  practice. 
Philip  II.  had  furnished  him  with  some  blank 
warrants  bearing  the  royal  signature.  The 
first  use  he  made  of  them  was  for  the  arrest 
of  Egmont  and  Horn,  whom  he  assumed  to 
have  been  implicated  in  the  recent  distur- 
bances. "  May  it  please  your  sacred  catholic 
majesty,"  begins  the  letter  which  he  .wrote 
thereupon  to  the  king,  and  which  seems  to 
warrant  the  inference  that  he  had  no  special 
commands  from  the  king  for  what  he  had 
done,  "after  my  arrival  in  Brussels,  I  pro- 
cured the  necessary  information  from  proper 
quarters,  and  thereupon  secured  the  person  of 
the  count  von  Egmont,  and  also  caused  the 
count  von  Horn  and  others  to  be  imprisoned."* 
The  reader  perhaps  will  ask,  why  he  sen- 
tenced the  prisoners  to  be  executed  a  year 
afterwards.  It  was  not  for  any  demonstration 
of  their  guilt  produced  on  their  trial ;  it  lay 
heavier  at  their  door  that  they  had  not  hin- 
dered the  disturbancps  than  that  they  had 
occasioned  them ;  nor  was  it  in  consequence 
of  any  command  of  the  king's,  who  rather  left 
it  to  the  duke's  discretion  to  execute  the  pri- 
soners or  not,  as  he  thought  expedient. — The 
reason  was  as  follows :  A  small  body  of  pro- 
testants  had  invaded  tlie  country :  they  had 
not  indeed  eftected  any  thing  of  moment,  but 
they  had  engaged  the  king's  troops  with  ad- 
vantage at  Heiligerlee,  and  a  royal  general 
of  high  reputation,  tlie  duke  of  Arenberg,  had 
fallen  on  the  occasion.  In  his  consequent 
despatch  to  the  king,  Alva  says  he  had  no- 


*  Dispaccio  di  Cavalli,  16  Sett.  The  governess  ad- 
dressed complaints  to  the  king  concerning  the  arrest,  to 
which  he  replied  that  he  had  not  given  orders  for  it.  In 
proof  of  this,  he  showed  Alva's  letter,  from  which  the  pas- 
sage adduced  in  proof  is  here  given.  It  runs  thus:  "Sacra 
caTtolica  Maesttl,  dapoi  ch'iogionsi  in  Brusselles,  pigliai 
le  information  da  chi  dovea  Helle  cose  di  qua,  onde  poi 
mi  son  assicuralo  del  conte  di  Agmon  e  fatlo  ritener  il 
conte  d'Orno  con  alquanti  altri.  Sari  ben  che  V.  M. 
per  bon  rispetto  ordini  ancor  lei  che  sia  fatto  istesso  di 
Montigni  (who  was  in  Spain)  e  suo  ajutante  di  camera." 
Hereupon  followed  the  arrest  of  Montigny. 


A.  D.  1563-89.]    TROUBLES  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS  AND  IN  FRANCE.         179 


ticed  that  this  untoward  event  had  set  the 
people  in  a  ferment,  and  rendered  them  auda- 
cious ;  he  held  it  expedient  to  let  the  folks 
see  he  did  not  fear  them  in  any  wise ;  also  he 
proposed  to  prevent  any  desire,  on  their  part, 
to  excite  new  commotions  with  a  view  to  the 
rescue  of  the  prisoners:  he  had  therefore 
come  to  the  resolution  of  causing  their  imme- 
diate execution.  Thus  were  these  noble  men 
doomed  to  die,  to  whom  no  guilt  worthy  of 
death  could  be  brought  Jjome,  whose  sole 
crime  was  that  they  had  defended  the  ancient 
liberties  of  their  native  land :  they  fell  a  sai^- 
rifice,  not  so  much  to  right  and  law,  as  to  the 
momentary  considerations  of  a  ferocious  po- 
licy. Even  then  Alva  bethought  him  of 
Charles  V.,  whose  errors  he  was  resolved  not 
to  imitate.* 

Alva  was  cruel,  we  see,  on  principle.  Who 
could  have  looked  for  mercy  to  the  dreadful 
tribunal  which  he  founded  by  the  title  of  the 
Council  of  Disturbances'!  Arrests  and  exe- 
cutions were  the  means  by  which  he  ruled 
the  provinces ;  he  pulled  down  the  houses  of 
the  condemned,  and  confiscated  their  proper- 
ty. With  his  ecclesiastical  he  simultaneously 
prosecuted  his  political  views :  the  old  power 
of  the  estates  was  set  at  nought;  Spanish 
troops  filled  the  whole  country,  and  a  citadel 
was  erected  -for  them  in  the  most  important 
commercial  city  :  Alva  insisted  with  despotic 
obstinacy  on  the  payment  of  the  most  odious 
taxes;  and  the  only  wonder  expressed  in 
Spain — for  he  drew  considerable  sums  from 
that  quarter  too — was  what  he  could  do  with 
all  that  money.  It  is,  however,  perfectly  true, 
that  the  land  was  obedient;  no  mal-content 
raised  his  head ;  every  trace  of  protestantism 
disappeared ;  and  the  exiles  in  the  neighbour- 
ing countries  remained  still. 

"  Monsignor,"  said  a  privy  councillor  of 
Philip  II.  to  the  papal  nuncio  while  these 
events  were  in  progress,  "are  you  now  con- 
tent with  the  king's  proceedings  ]"  "  Per- 
fectly content,"  replied  the  nuncio  with  a 
smile. 

Alva  himself  believed  he  had  accomplished 
a  master-stroke  of  policy,  and  looked  with 
scorn  on  the  French  government,  that  could 
never  make  their  authority  respected  in  their 
own  country. 


In  Francfe,  after  the  vast  strides  made  by 
protestantism  in  the  year  1562,  a  great  re- 
action had  set  in,  especially  in  the  capital. 

The  most  injurious  circumstance  to  protes- 
tantism in  France,  was  unquestionably  its 
close  connexion  with  the  court  factions.  For 
a  while  there  seemed  to  be  a  general  leaning 
towards  the  protestant  confession:  but  when 
its  adherents,  hurried  on  by  their  association 
with  some  leading  men,  took  up  arms  and 
committed  acts  of  violence  such  as  are  always 
inseparable  from  war,  they  lost  ground  in 
public  opinion.  "  What  sort  of  a  religion  is 
this?"  men  asked:  "where  has  Christ  com- 
manded to  plunder  one's  neighbour,  and  to 
shed  his  blood !"  When  at  last  the  Parisians 
found  it  necessary  to  put  themselves  in  a  pos- 
ture of  defence  against  the  aggressions  of 
Conde,  who  was  regarded  as  the  head  of  the 
Huguenots,  all  public  bodies  assumed  an  anti- 
protestant  complexion.  All  the  male  inhabi- 
tants of  the  city  capable  of  bearing  arms  were 
put  into  military  training,  and  the  captains 
appointed  to  command  them  were  required, 
above  all  things,  to  be  catholic.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  university  and  of  the  parliament, 
including  the  very  numerous  class  of  advo- 
vates,  were  called  on  to  subscribe  purely 
catholic  articles  of  faith. 

Backed  by  this  state  of  piJblic  feeling,  the 
Jesuits  established  themselves  in  France. 
They  began  there  on  a  somewhat  small  scale, 
being  constrained  to  content  themselves  with 
colleges  thrown  open  to  them  by  a  few  eccle- 
siastics, ardent  partisans  of  theirs  in  Billon 
and  Tournon,  places  remote  from  the  grand 
central  point,  and  where  nothing  of  conse- 
quence was  at  all  likely  to  be  accomplished. 
They  encountered,  at  first,  the  most  obsti- 
nate resistance  in  the  great  cities,  especially 
in  Paris,  on  the  part  of  the  Sarbonne,  the 
parliament,  and  the  archbishop,  who  were  all 
apprehensive  lest  their  own  interests  should 
be  prejudiced  by  the  privileges  and  the  spirit 
of  the  order.  But  as  the  latter  won  favour 
with  the  zealous  catholics,  and  particularly 
with  the  court,  which  was  never  tired  of 
recommending  them  "for  their  exemplary 
lives,  and  the  purity  of  their  doctrine,  such 
that  many  apostates  had  been  brought  back 
by  them  to  the  faith,  and  East  and  West 
through  their  exertions  acknowledged  the 
presence  of  the  Lord  ;"*  and  as  that  change 
in  public  opinion  just  mentioned  happened 
opportunely  for  them,  they  at  last  forced  their 
way  through  all  impediments,  and  were  ad- 
mitted in  the  year  1564  to  the  privilege  of 

*  In  a  manuscript  in  the  Berlin  library,  MSS.  Gall.  n. 
75,  the  following  document  is  given  among  others :  Deli- 


*  Cavalli,  July  3, 1568,  also  gives  this  dispatch  in  the 
extract.  It  is,  if  possible,  still  more  remarkable  than  the 
former.  Capilt)  qui  I'avviso  della  giuslitia  falla  in  Fian- 
dra  contra  di  quelli  poveri  signori  prigioni,  inlorno  alia 
quale  scrive  il  D.  d'Alvar  che  havendo  facolti  di  S.  M. 
di  far  tal  esecutione  o  sopraslare,  secondo  che  avesse  ripu- 
tato  piu  espediente  del  suo  servitio,  che  perO  vedendo  li 

Eopoli  un  poco  alterati  et  insuperbili  per  la  morte  d'Aren- 
erg  e  rotta  di  quelli  Spagnoli,  havea  giudicato  tempo 

opportuno  e  necessario  pertal  effetlo  per  dimostrar  di  non  ,  .„,  v..„ ^ —  ^  j  "o  v.  nt 

lemer  di  loro  in  conto  alcuno,  e  poner  cnn  nues'to  terrors    beralions  et  Consultations  au  parlement  de  fans  loucnani 


a  molti,  levandoli  la  speranza  di  tumultuar  per  la  loro 
liberatione,  e  fuggir  di  cascar  nel  errore  nel  quale  incorse 
I'imperaiore  C^rlo,  il  qual  per  tener  vivo  Sa.xonia  e  Lan- 
gravio  diede  occasione  di  nova  congiura,  per  la  quale  S. 
M.  fu  cacciata  con  poca  digniia  della  Germania  e  quasi 
dell'  impero. 


I'establissement  des  Jesuites  en  France,  in  which  are  con- 
tained in  particular,  the  messages  of  the  court  to  the  par- 
liament in  favour  of  the  Jesuits:  "  infracta  et  ferocia 
pectora,"  it  is  said  therein,  "gladio  fidei  acuto  penetra- 
runt."  [They  have  pierced  rude  and  unyielding  bosoms 
with  the  sharp  sword  of  the  faith.] 


180 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD. 


[a.  d.  1563-89. 


teaching.  Lyons  had  already  received  them. 
Whether  it  was  the  result  of  good  fortune  or 
of  merit,  they  were  enabled  at  once  to  pro- 
duce some  men  of  brilliant  talents  from 
amongst  them.  In  opposition  to  the  Hugue- 
not preachers,  they  put  forward  Edmund  Au- 
gier,  who  was  born  in  France,  but  educated 
at  Rome  under  Ignatius,  and  of  whom  protes- 
tants  themselves  have  said,  that  had  he  not 
worn  the  catholic  vestments,  there  would 
never  have  been  a  greater  orator.  He  pro- 
duced an  extraordinary  impression  both  by 
his  preaching  and  his  writings.  In  Lyons, 
especially,  the  Huguenots  were  completely 
routed,  their  preachers  exiled,  their  churches 
demolished,  and  their  books  burned ;  whilst, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  splendid  college  was 
erected  for  the  Jesuits  in  1567.  They  had 
also  a  distinguished  professor,  Maldonat,  whose 
exposition  of  the  bible  attracted  crowds  of 
charmed  and  attentive  youth.  From  these 
chief  towns  they  now  spread  over  the  king- 
dom in  every  direction ;  they  formed  settle- 
ments in  Toulouse  and  Bourdeaux ;  wherever 
they  appeared,  the  number  of  catholic  com- 
municants increased.  Augier's  Catechism  had 
prodigious  success ;  within  the  space  of  eight 
years  thirty- eight  thousand  copies  of  it  were 
sold  in  Paris  alone.* 

It  is  very  possible  that  this  revived  popu- 
larity of  catholic*  ideas,  particularly  as  it  was 
most  remarkable  in  the  capital,  may  have  had 
its  action  on  the  court.  At  any  rate  it  afford- 
ed the  latter  one  prop  the  more,  when  after 
protracted  fluctuations  it  once  again,  in  the 
year  1568,  declared  itself  decidedly  catholic. 

This  arose  more  particularly  from  the  fact 
that  Catherine  of  Medici  felt  her  power  much 
more  secure  since  the  majority  of  her  son, 
and  had  no  longer  need  to  conciliate  the  Hu- 
guenots as  she  had  done  before.  Alva's  ex- 
ample showed  how  much  could  be  accomplish- 
ed by  a  resolute  will.  The  pope,  who  never 
ceased  exhorting  the  court  not  to  suffer  the 
further  growth  of  the  rebels'  insolence,  nor  to 
tolerate  them  a  moment  longer,  at  last  backed 
her  admonitions  with  the  permission  to  alien- 
ate church  property,  from  which  a  million 
and  a  half  of  French  livres  accrued  to  the 
royal  treasury. f  Accordingly,  Catherine  of 
Medici,  following  the  precedent  set  the  year 
before  by  the  government  of  the  Netherlands, 
imposed  an  oath  on  the  French  nobility,  by 
virtue  of  which  they  were  to  forego  every 
engagement  contracted  without  the  previous 
knowledge  of  the  king.]:  She  demanded  the 
dismissal  of  all  magistrates  of  cities,  who  had 
incurred  suspicion  of  a  leaning  to  the  new 


*  These  details  are  given  by  Orlandinus  and  by  the 
author  of  the  conlinuation  of  his  work,  pars  i.  lib.  vi.  n. 
30,  ii.  iv.  84.  iii.  iii.  169  el  seq.  Juvencius,  v.  24,  769, 
gives  a  biography  of  Augier. 

t  Catena,  Vila  di  Pio  V.  p.  79. 

t  The  oath  is  given  by  Sorranus,  Commeniarii  de  Statu 
Religionis  in  regno  GalliiE,  iii.  103. 


opinions ;  and  she  declared  to  Philip  II.,  in 
1563,  that  she  would  tolerate  no  other  reli- 
gion than  the  catholic. 

Such  a  resolution  was  not  to  be  carried  into 
effect  in  France  without  recourse  to  arms. 
War  instantly  broke  out. 

It  was  entered  on  with  extraordinary  spirit 
on  the  catholic  side.  At  the  pope's  request 
the  king  of  Spain  sent  practised  troops  under 
skilful  leaders  to  the  aid  of  the  orthodox. 
Pius  V.  caused  collections  to  be  made  in  the 
states  of  the  church,  gathered  contributions 
from  the  Italian  princes ;  nay,  himself,  the 
holy  father,  sent  a  little  army  of  his  own 
across  the  Alps,  that  same  to  which  he  gave 
the  ferocious  order  to  kill  every  Huguenot 
that  fell  into  their  hands,  to  grant  quarter  to 
none. 

The  Huguenots  also  bestirred  themselves ; 
they,  too,  were  full  of  religious  zeal ;  they 
looked  on  the  catholic  soldiers  as  the  army  of 
antichrist  arrayed  against  them ;  they,  too, 
gave  no  quarter;  they  were  equally  well 
provided  with  foreign  aid  ;  and  yet  they  were 
completely  beaten  at  Moncontour. 

With  what  exaltation  did  Pius  V.  hang  up 
the  Huguenot  standards  sent  him  by  the  vic- 
tors in  the  churches  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  John 
Lateran !  He  conceived  the  boldest  hopes. 
This  was  the  very  moment  when  he  pro- 
nounced sentence  of  excommunication  against 
Queen  Elizabeth.  He  sometimes  flattered 
himself  with  the  thought  of  leading  an  expe- 
dition against  England  in  person. 

But  fortune  did  not  favour  his  schemes  so 
far. 

As  had  so  often  before  occurred,  a  revolu- 
tion in  opinion  took  place  at  this  crisis  in  the 
French  court,  which,  though  founded  on  tri- 
vial circumstances  of  a  personal  nature, 
brought  about  a  grand  alteration  in  matters 
of  the  highest  moment. 

The  king  grudged  his  brother,  who  had 
commanded  at  Moncontour,  the  honour  of 
vanquishing  the  Huguenots,  and  giving  peace 
to  the  kingdom.  In  this  he  was  confirmed  by 
those  around  him,  who  were  also  jealous  of 
Anjou's  suite,  fearing  that  power  would  go 
hand  in  hand  with  glory.  Now,  therefore, 
not  only  were  the  advantages  already  gained 
very  languidly  followed  up,  but  ere  long,  in 
opposition  to  the  strict  catholic  party  that 
rallied  round  Anjou,  another  moderate  one 
sprang  up  at  court,  which  adopted  a  directly 
contrary  system  of  policy,  made  peace  with 
the  Huguenots,  and  invited  its  leaders  to 
court.  The  French,  in  alliance  with  Spain 
and  the  pope,  had  attempted  to  overthrow  the 
queen  of  England  in  the  year  1.569 :  in  the 
summer  of  l')72  we  see  them  leagued  with 
that  same  queen  to  wrest  the  Netherlands 
from  Spain. 

The  change,  however,  had  been  too  sud- 
den, too  imperfectly  matured  to  endure.    The 


A.  D. 


1563—89.]       RESISTANCE  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS,  &c. 


181 


most  violent  explosion  ensued,  and  all  things 
recoiled  into  their  former  course. 

It  can  hardly  be  doubted,  but  that  while 
queen  Catherine  engaged  with  alacrity  and 
zeal  in  the  policy  and  plans  of  the  dominant 
party,  which  favoured  her  interests,  at  least 
in  so  far  as  they  seemed  to  tend  towards  plac- 
ing her  youngest  son  Alengon  on  the  throne 
of  England,  she  was  still  concerting  all  requi- 
site measures  to  carry  an  opposite  stroke  of 
policy  into  execution.  She  contributed  every 
thing  in  her  power  towards  bringing  the 
Huguenots  to  Paris,  where  numerous  as  they 
were,  they  were  surrounded  and  held  in 
check  by  a  far  larger  population,  possessed  of 
military  organization,  and  prone  to  fanatical 
excitement.  She  gave  the  pope  beforehand 
pretty  clearly  to  understand  what  it  was  she 
contemplated:  but  even  had  she  wavered,  the 
circumstances  that  arose  just  at  this  moment 
must  have  determined  her.  The  Huguenots 
won  over  the  king  himself;  they  seemed  to 
cast  the  consequence  of  the  queen-mother 
into  the  shade.  Thus  personally  endangered, 
she  hesitated  no  longer.  With  the  irresisti- 
ble magic  power  she  possessed  over  her  chil- 
dren, she  roused  in  the  king's  mind  all  his 
slumbering  fanaticism  :  it  cost  her  but  a  word 
to  make  the  people-  fly  to  arms ;  she  spoke  it ; 
each  of  the  most  eminent  Huguenots  was  con- 
signed to  the  special  vengeance  of  his  per- 
sonal foes.  Catherine  has  said  she  had  only 
designed  the  death  of  six  men ;  these  were 
all  she  would  take  upon  her  conscience  :  the 
numbers  that  fell  amounted  to  50,000.* 

Thus  the  French  surpassed  the  doings  of 
the  Spaniards  in  the  Netherlands.  What  the 
latter  did  with  calculating  policy,  with  the 
observance  of  legal  forms,  and  by  degrees,  the 
latter  accomplished  in  the  heat  of  passion, 
without  regard  to  forms,  with  the  help  of  a 
fanatical  multitude.  The  result  appeared  the 
same.  Not  a  leader  was  left  whose  name 
could  furnish  a  rallying-point  for  the  scattered 
Huguenots:  many  fled;  vast  numbers  sur- 
rendered ;  place  after  place  resumed  the  prac- 
tice of  the  mass;  the  protestant  preachers 
were  silenced.  With  pleasure  Philip  II.  saw 
himself  imitated  and  surpassed  ;  and  he  offer- 
ed Charles  IX.,  who  had  now  for  the  first  time 
earned  a  right  to  the  title  of  "  Most  Christian 
King,"  the  aid  of  his  arms  to  complete  the 
good  work  he  had  begun.  Pope  Gregory  XIII. 
celebrated  this  great  event  by  a  solemn  pro- 
cession to  the  church  of  San  Luigi.  The  Ve- 
netians, who  seemed  to  have  no  special  inte- 
rest in  the  matter,  expressed  in  their  official 
despatches  to  their  ambassador  their  satisfac- 
tion at  "this  grace  of  God." 

But  can  it  be  that  such  bloody  atrocities 
should  ever  be  permanently  successful]    Are 

*  For  the  sake  of  brevity  I  refer  the  reader  on  this  sub- 
ject to  my  Essay  on  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  in 
the  Histor.  Polil.  Zeitschrift,  ii.  iii. 


they  not  repugnant  to  the  profounder  myste- 
ries of  human  life  and  action,  to  the  unde- 
fined, inviolable  principles  that  inwardly  actu- 
ate the  unchanging  order  of  nature '!  The 
minds  of  men  may  be  dazzled  ;  but  the  moral 
laws  of  their  nature  they  cannot  shake ; 
they  are  swayed  by  them  with  a  necessity 
as  cogent  as  that  which  rules  the  stars  of 
heaven. 

Resistance  made  by  the  Protestants  in  the 
Netherlands,  France,  and  Germany. 

Machiavel  advises  his  prince  to  dispatch  in 
rapid  succession  the  cruelties  he  deems  neces- 
sary, and  then  gradually  to  adopt  more  merci- 
ful proceedings. 

It  seemed  as  though  the  Spaniards  desired 
to  act  to  the  letter  upon  this  maxim  in  the 
Netherlands. 

It  seemed  as  though  they  were  even  them- 
selves at  last  of  opinion,  that  property  enough 
had  been  confiscated,  that  heads  enough  had 
fallen,  and  that  the  time  for  mercy  had  ar- 
rived. In  the  year  1572  the  Venetian  am- 
bassador at  Madrid  expresses  his  confident 
belief  that  the  prince  of  Orange  would  receive 
his  pardon,  were  he  to  entreat  for  it.  The 
king  very  graciously  received  the  deputies 
from  the  Netherlands,  who  waited  on  him  to 
sound  him  with  regard  to  the  repeal  of  the 
tax  of  the  tenth  penny,  and  even  thanked 
them  for  their  pains  :  he  had  resolved  to  recal 
Alva,  and  to  send  a  milder  viceroy  in  his 
stead. 

But  it  was  now  too  late :  the  insurrection 
broke  out  in  the  sequel  of  that  Anglo-French 
alliance  which  preceded  the  bloody  day  of 
St.  Bartholomew.  Alva  had  imagined  his 
work  was  ended  ;  but  it  was  now  the  struggle 
properly  began.  Alva  beat  the  enemy  as 
often  as  he  showed  himself  in  the  open  field ; 
on  the  other  hand,  in  the  towns  of  Holland 
and  Zealand,  where  the  religious  movement 
had  deepest  stirred  men's  minds,  and  where 
protestantism  had  instantly  acquired  an  organ- 
ized vitality,  he  encountered  an  opposition  he 
was  unable  to  overcome. 

In  Haarlem,  when  all  the  provisions  were 
consumed  to  the  very  grass  that  grew  between 
the  stones  in  the  streets,  the  inhabitants  re- 
solved to  cut  their  way  through  the  besiegers, 
with  their  wives  and  children.  The  dissen- 
sions of  the  garrison,  indeed,  compelled  them 
at  last  to  surrender,  but  still  they  had  shown 
that  the  Spaniards  were  not  irresistible.  The 
people  of  Alkmar  declared  in  favour  of  the 
prince  of  Orange  at  the  very  moment  the 
enemy  was  at  their  gates.  Their  defence 
was  as  heroical  as  their  resolution ;  not  a 
man  would  quit  his  place,  however  severely 
wounded :  the  pride  of  the  Spanish  arms  was 
first  humbled  before  the  walls  of  Alkmar. 
The  country  breathed  again ;  fresh  courage 


182 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD.        [a.  d.  1563-89. 


filled  the  hearts  of  the  people.  The  men  of 
Leyden  declared  that,  rather  than  surrender, 
they  would  eat  their  left  arms,  so  they  might 
still  defend  themselves  with  their  right.  They 
conceived  the  bold  project  of  breaking  down 
their  dams,  and  calling  to  their  aid  the  waves 
of  the  Northern  Ocean.  Their  distress  had 
reached  its  utmost  limit,  when  a  wind  from 
the  north-west,  setting  in  at  the  critical  mo- 
ment, flooded  the  land  to  the  depth  of  some 
feet,  and  put  the  foe  to  flight. 

By  this  time  the  French  protestants  had 
likewise  resumed  courage.  As  soon  as  they 
perceived  that  their  government,  notwith- 
standing its  recent  act  of  ferocity,  pursued  a 
wavering,  dilatory,  and  contradictory  policy, 
they  stood  to  their  arms,  and  war  broke  out 
afresh.  Sancerreand  Rochelle,  defended  them- 
selves with  the  courage  of  Leyden  and  Alka- 
mar.  The  preacher  of  peace  was  heard  call- 
ing to  arms.  The  women  vied  with  the  men. 
It  was  the  heroic  age  of  prote.stantisra  in  west- 
ern Europe. 

Tlie  cruel  deeds  committed  or  applauded  by 
the  most  powerful  sovereigns  encountered  in 
isolated  nameless  points  a  resistance  that  no 
force  could  overcome,  for  its  secret  spring  was 
deep  religious  conviction. 

It  is  not  at  all  our  purpose  in  this  place  to 
detail  the  course  and  vicissitudes  of  the  war 
in  France  and  the  Netherlands;  it  would 
lead  us  too  far  from  the  main  body  of  our  sub- 
ject ;  besides,  it  has  been  done  in  many  other 
works :  suffice  it  to  say,  the  protestants  held 
their  ground. 

In  France,  the  government  was  forced,  even 
in  1573,  and  frequently  afterwards  in  the  en- 
suing years,  to  consent  to  terms,  by  which  the 
old  concessions  to  the  Huguenots  were  re- 
newed. 

In  the  Netherlands,  the  power  of  the  go- 
vernment had  utterly  fallen  to  ruin  in  the  year 
1576.  The  Spanish  troops  having  broken  out 
into  open  mutiny,  in  consequence  of  the  pay 
being  withheld,  all  the  provinces  had  again 
combined  together;  those  that  had  hitherto 
maintained  their  allegiance,  with  the  revolted, 
— those  that  were  still  chiefly  catholic,  with 
the  wholly  protestant.  The  states-general 
took  the  government  into  their  own  hands, 
appointed  captains-general,  deputies,  and  ma- 
gistrates, and  garrisoned  the  fortresses  with 
their  own,  not  with  the  king's  troops.*  The 
league  of  Ghent  was  concluded,  by  which  the 
provinces  mutually  pledged  themselves  to 
drive  out  the  Spaniards,  and  keep  them  out 
of  the  country.  The  king  sent  his  brother, 
who  might  be  considered  as  a  native  of  the 
Netherlands,  to  govern  them  as  they  had 
been  governed  by  Charles  V.  But  don  John 
was  not  even  recognized,  till  he  had  promised 
to  fulfil  the  principal  conditions  demanded  of 

♦  This  turn  of  aifairs  ia  made  particularly  clear  in  Tas- 
Bis,  iii.  15—19. 


him :  he  was  compelled  to  accept  the  treaty 
of  Ghent,  and  to  dismiss  the  Spanish  troops  ; 
and  no  sooner  did  he  make  a  movement  of  re- 
sistance to  the  restraints  that  encumbered  him, 
than  all  parties  rose  up  against  him.  He  was 
declared  an  enemy  to  the  country,  and  the 
heads  of  the  provinces  called  for  another  prince 
of  the  family  in  his  stead. 

The  principle  of  local  authority  overcame 
the  monarchical ;  the  native  power  was  victo- 
rious over  the  Spanish. 

Other  consequences  were  necessarily  asso- 
ciated with  this  consummation.  The  north- 
ern provinces,  which  had  carried  on  the  war, 
and  thereby  conduced  to  the  existing  posture 
of  affairs,  at  once  acquired  a  natural  prepon- 
derance in  all  that  related  to  the  war  and  the 
governn)ent ;  and  this  led  again  to  the  propa- 
gation of  the  protestant  religion  over  the  whole 
range  of  the  Netherlands.  It  found  its  way  into 
iVIechlin,  JJruges,  and  Ypres;  the  churches 
were  divided  in  Antwerp  between  the  two  ' 
confessions,  and  the  catholics  were  in  some 
cases  obliged  to  content  themselves  with  the 
choirs  of  those  churches,  of  which  they  had  so 
lately  been  sole  possessors  ;  in  Ghent  the  pro- 
testant tendency  was  mixed  up  with  a  civil 
movement,  and  acquired  complete  ascendancy. 
The  treaty  of  Ghent  had  fiilly  ratified  the  old 
supremacy  of  the  catholic  religion  :  but  now 
the  states-general  issued  an  edict  confirming 
an  equal  degree  of  freedom  to  both  confessions. 
Thenceforth  protestant  demonstrations  arose 
in  every  direction,  and  even  in  those  provinces 
where  Catholicism  predominated :  there  seem-  % 
ed  reason  to  anticipate  that  protestantism 
would  prove  universally  victorious. 

What  a  position  was  that  now  occupied  by 
the  prince  of  Orange !  But  recently  an  exile 
and  solicitous  for  pardon,  now  the  possessor 
of  a  firmly  established  power  in  the  northern 
provinces,  Ruwart  in  Brabant,  and  all-potent 
in  the  assembly  of  the  estates ;  recognized  as 
their  chief  and  leader  by  a  great  and  rapidly 
advancing  politico-religious  party  ;  united  by 
close  ties  with  all  the  protestants  of  Eu- 
rope,— above  all,  with  his  neighbours,  the 
Germans. 

In  Germany,  too,  the  aggressive  measures 
of  the  catholics  were  met  by  a  resistance  on 
the  part  of  the  protestants,  that  promised  great 
results. 

We  remark  this  resistance  in  the  general 
transactions  of  the  empire,  in  the  assemblies 
of  the  electors,  and  in  the  diets ;  although  here 
the  German  system  of  public  proceedings  for- 
bade its  being  matured  to  any  direct  result. 
In  general,  it  was  most  active,  as  was  also  the 
aggression,  in  the  several  territories  and  dis- 
tricts. 

The  spiritual  principalities  were  now  for 
the  most  part,  as  we  have  seen,  the  scenes 
where  this  strife  was  carried  on.     There  was 


A.  D.  1563-89.]  RESISTANCE  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS,  &c. 


183 


hardly  one  in  which  the  prince  had  not  made 
an  attempt  to  restore  the  supremacy  of  Catholi- 
cism. Protestantism,  which  also  felt  its  own 
strength,  retaliated  with  no  less  far-reaching 
endeavours  to  bring  over  the  spiritual  princi- 
palities themselves  to  its  own  side. 

In  the  year  1577,  Gebbard  Truchsess  be- 
came archbishop  of  Cologne,  chiefly  through 
the  personal  influence  of  count  Nuenar  with 
the  chapter,  and  very  well  did  that  great 
protestant  know  who  it  was  he  recommended. 
In  truth,  his  acquaintance  with  Agnes  von 
Mansfield  was  not  needed,  as  has  been  said, 
to  give  him  his  first  anti-catholic  bent.  Upon 
his  very  first  entrance  in  state  into  Cologne, 
when  the  clergy  met  him  in  procession,  he 
did  not,  according  to  established  usuage,  alight 
from  his  horse  to  kiss  the  cross ;  he  made  his 
appearance  in  the  church  in  military  dress, 
nor  did  he  choose  to  perform  high  mass.  He 
attached  himself  from  the  outset  to  the  prince 
of  Orange,  and  his  chief  counsellors  were 
Calvinists.*  As  he  did  not  hesitate  to  grant 
mortgages  in  order  to  raise  troops,  as  he  sought 
to  secure  the  nobility  to  his  side,  and  favoured 
a  party  among  the  guilds  of  Cologne  that  was 
beginning  to  oppose  the  catholic  usages,  all 
his  acts  tended  to  that  purpose  which  he  af- 
terwards openly  manifested, — the  conversion 
of  the  spiritual  into  a  secular  electorate. 

Gebhard  Truchsess  was  still,  occasionally 
at  least,  outwardly  a  catholic  :  the  neighbour- 
ing sees  of  Westphalia  and  Lower  Saxony 
fell  on  the  other  hand,  as  we  have  seen,  im- 
mediately into  protestant  hands.  The  eleva- 
tion of  duke  Henry  of  Saxe  Lauenburg  was 
of  peculiar  importance.  While  still  very 
young,  he  was  elected,  though  a  staunch  Lu- 
theran, to  the  archbishopric  of  Bremen,  then 
to  the  bishopric  of  Osnabriick,  and  in  1577,  to 
the  bishopric  of  Paderborn.f  He  had  even  in 
Miinster  a  great  party,  consisting  of  all  the 
younger  members  of  the  chapter,  in  his  fa- 
vour ;  and  it  was  only  by  the  direct  interven- 
tion of  Gregory  XHI.,  who  declared  a  resig- 
nation actually  made  of  no  effect,  and  by  the 
strenuous  opposition  of  the  rigid  catholic  party, 
that  his  elevation  to  that  see  was  prevented. 
But  the  adverse  party  were  not  able  to  carry 
the  election  of  another  bishop. 

It  is  obvious  what  an  impulse  this  disposi- 
tion, on  the  part  of  the  ecclesiastical  chiefs, 
must  have  given  to  protestantism  in  Rhenish 
Westphalia,  where,  independently  of  this,  it 
had  already  spread  widely.  There  needed 
but  a  happy  combination  of  circumstances,  a 
stroke  that  told  home,  to  give  it  a  decided 
preponderance  in  those  regions. 

Nay,  all  Germany  must  have  sensibly  felt 
the  influence  of  such  an  event.  The  bishoprics 
of  Upper  Germany  were  open  to  the  same  con- 
tingencies as  those  in  the  lower  division  of  the 

♦  Maffei,  Annali  di  Gregorio  X[I.  torn.  i.  p.  331. 
t  Hamelmann,  Oldenburgishea  Chronikon,  s.  43S. 


empire ;  even  within  the  territories  where  the 
restoration  had  begun,  the  opposition  was  not 
long  suppressed. 

Sorely  did  abbot  Balthazar  of  Fulda  expe- 
rience this.  When  it  was  found  that  the 
solicitations  of  neighbouring  princes,  and  the 
complaints  laid  before  the  diet,  were  of  no 
avail,  and  that  the  abbot  recklessly  persisted 
in  his  restoration  of  the  ancient  faith,  going 
from  place  to  place  to  enforce  it  in  every  quar- 
ter, it  came  to  pass  one  day,  in  the  summer  of 
1576,  as  he  happened  to  be  in  Hamelberg  upon 
that  very  business,  that  he  was  set  upon  by 
his  nobles  with  arms  in  their  hands,  and  be- 
sieged in  his  own  house :  public  resentment 
running  high  against  him,  his  neighbours  look- 
ed on  his  distress  with  satisfaction,  the  bishop 
of  Wiirzburg  even  lent  a  hand  to  his  assail- 
ants, and  he  was  forced  to  abdicate  the  govern- 
ment of  his  dominions.* 

Even  in  Bavaria,  duke  Albert  did  not  carry 
all  before  him.  He  complained  to  the  pope 
that  his  nobility  chose  rather  to  forego  the 
sacrament  altogether,  than  receive  it  only  in 
one  kind. 

But  what  was  of  still  more  moment,  protes- 
tantism was  continually  advancing  in  the 
Austrian  territories  to  a  more  legitimate 
power  and  recognized  existence.  Under  the 
prudent  conduct  of  Maximilian  II.  it  not  only 
obtained  firm  footing,  as  we  have  mentioned, 
in  Austria  Proper,  above  and  below  the  Ens, 
but  had  also  spread  through  all  the  other  dis- 
tricts. Hardly,  for  instance,  had  that  empe- 
ror redeemed  the  county  of  Glatz  from  the 
dukes  of  Bavaria  who  held  it  in  pledge,  (in 
the  year  1567,)  when  here  too,  nobles,  public 
functionaries,  cities,  and  finally  the  majority 
of  the  people,  went  over  to  the  evangelical 
confession:  the  governor-general  Hans  von 
Pubschiitz,  of  his  own  authority,  founded  a 
protestant  consistory,  with  which  he  often 
went  further  than  the  emperor  could  have 
wished.  Here,  too,  the  estates  gradually  ac- 
quired a  high  degree  of  independence  and 
inherent  authority :  altogether  it  was  the  most 
prosperous  period  in  the  annals  of  the  county : 
agriculture  was  on  the  rise  :  the  towns  were 
wealthy  and  flourishing :  the  nobility  educat- 
ed and  polished ;  waste  lands  were  every 
where  reclaimed,  and  covered  with  villages.! 
The  church  of  Albendorf,  where  at  this  day 
crowds  of  pilgrims  assemble  to  kiss  an  old 


*  Schannat,  Historia  Fuldensis,parsiii.  p.  268.  A  letter 
from  the  abbot  lo  pope  Gregory,  dated  August  1,1576,  given 
in  that  place,  is  exceedingly  remarkable.  "  Clamantes," 
he  says  of  the  threats  of  his  enemies,  "  nisi  consentiam  ut 
administratio  ditionis  mese  episcopo  iradalur  non  aliter  se 
me  ac  caaem  rabidum  interlecturos,  turn  Saxoniae  et  Has- 
siae  principes  in  meum  gregem  immissuros."  [Vociferat- 
ing that,  if  I  do  not  consent  to  the  transference  of  my 
authority  to  the  bisliop,  they  will  kill  me  as  they  would  a 
mad  dog,  and  then  let  in  the  princes  of  Saxony  and  Hesse 
upon  my  flock.]  tt  /■  «      ««> 

t  Joseph  KiiglersChronik  von  Glatz.  Bd.  i.  Heft  2  p.TZ. 
The  author  was  a  catholic ;  his  work  is  very  substantial 
and  useful. 


184 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD.       [a.  d.  1563-89- 


image  of  the  Virgin,  was  then  for  sixty  years 
under  the  ministry  of  Protestant  pastors;*  in 
the  capital  there  were  reckoned  some  few 
half-score  years  later  only  nine  catholic  burg- 
hers, while  the  numbers  of  the  evangelical 
burghers  amounted  to  three  hundred.  It  is 
no  wonder,  therefore,  that  pope  Pius  V. 
cherished  an  inexpressible  animosity  against 
the  emperor.  The  subject  of  Maximilian's 
war  with  the  Turks,  being  once  discussed  in 
his  presence,  he  said  outright,  he  knew  not 
which  side  he  less  wished  to  see  victorious.f 
Protestantism,  however,  made  increasing  way 
under  these  circumstances,  even  in  the  dis- 
tricts of  inner  Austria,  over  which  the  empe- 
ror did  not  exercise  immediate  control.  In 
the  year  1568,  there  were  as  many  as  twenty- 
four  evangelical  preachers  in  Krain ;  in  the 
capital  of  Styria  there  was  in  the  year  1571 
but  one  catholic  member  in  the  council.  Not 
that  protestantism  enjoyed  the  support  of  the 
ruler,  the  archduke  Charles,  who,  on  the  con- 
trary, introduced  the  Jesuits  into  the  country, 
and  favoured  them  with  all  his  might;  but 
the  estates  were  evangelical.|  They  had  the 
upper  hand  in  the  diets,  where  the  business  of 
the  administration  and  of  the  defence  of  the 
country  was  mixed  up  with  the  affairs  of  reli- 
gion ;  they  exacted  religious  concessions  in 
return  for  every  consenting  vote  they  gave. 
In  the  year  1578,  the  archduke  was  compel- 
led in  the  diet  at  Bruck  on  the  Muhr  to  accord 
the  free  exercise  of  the  Augsburg  confession, 
not  only  in  the  domains  of  the  nobles  and 
landed  proprietors,  where  he  could  under  no 
circumstances  have  prevented  it,  but  also  in 
the  four  leading  towns,  Gratz,  Judenburg, 
Klagenfurt,  and  Laibach.^  ,  Hereupon  protes- 
tantism became  organized  in  these  provinces 
equally  as  in  the  imperial.  A  protestant 
ministry  for  church  affairs  was  established, 
and  rules  laid  down  for  the  management  of 
churches  and  schools,  modelled  on  those  of 
Wiirtemberg  :  in  some  places,  for  instance,  in 
St.  Veit,  catholics  were  excluded  from  vot- 
ing in  the  election  of  councillors,!!  and 
they  were  no  longer  admitted  to  provincial 
offices;  circumstances  under  favour  of  which, 
protestantism   first    obtained    decidedly   the 


*  From  1563  to  1623.  Documentirte  Beschreibung  von 
Albendorf,  (an  earlier  printed  fragment  of  the  same  chro- 
nicle,) p.  36. 

t  Tiepolo,  Relatione  di  Pio  IV.  e  V.  He  adds :  In  pro- 
posito  della  morte  del  principe  di  Spagna  apertamente 
aisse  il  papa  haverla  sentita  con  grandissimo  dispiacere, 
perche  non  vorria  che  le  stati  del  re  cattolico  capitassero 
in  mano  de'  Tedeschi.  [Talking of  ihedeath of  theprince 
of  Spain,  the  pope  said  he  had  heard  of  it  with  great  grief, 
because  he  would  not  have  the  dominions  of  the  catholic 
king  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Germans.] 

t  Socher,  Historia  Societatis  Jesu  provinciae  Austriae,  i. 
iv.  166.  184.  V.  33. 

§  Supplication  to  his  Imp.  Rom.  Maj.  and  intercession 
of  the  three  principalities  in  the  country,  in  Lehmann, 
DePace  Ileligionis,  p.  461 ;  a  document  which  serves  to 
correct  the  account  of  Khevenhiller,  Ann.  Ferdinandei, 

i.e. 

II  Hermann  in  the  Kartnerische  Zeitschrift,  v.  p,  189. 


upper  hand  in  those  regions  that  so  nearly 
bordered  on  Italy.  The  impulse  given  by  the 
Jesuits  was  here  steadfastly  counteracted. 

In  all  the  provinces  of  Austria, — German, 
Sclavonic,  and  Hungarian, — with  the  single 
exception  of  the  Tyrol,  protestantism  might  be 
regarded  as  ruling  paramount  in  the  year 
1578. 

Thus  we  see  that  throughout  all  Germany 
it  successfully  withstood  the  advance  of  Catho- 
licism, and  met  every  step  it  made  by  an 
onward  movement  of  its  own. 

Contrasts  exhibited  throughout   the  rest  of 
Europe. 

It  was  a  memorable  epoch,  in  which  the  two 
great  religious  tendencies  were  once  more  in 
active  strife,  with  equal  anticipation  of  victory 
and  dominion. 

The  posture  of  things  had  now  undergone 
an  essential  change.  Formerly  the  two 
parties  had  been  willing  to  treat  with  each 
other :  a  reconciliation  had  been  attempted  in 
Germany ;  in  France  it  had  been  entered  on, 
in  the  Netherlands  demanded  ;  for  a  while  it 
appeared  feasible,  and  in  some  places  tolera- 
tion was  actually  practised.  But  now  the 
contrasts  between  the  two  seemed  to  stand  out 
more  prominently,  and  with  greater  show  of 
hostility.  They  challenged  each  other,  so  to 
speak,  throughout  all  Europe.  It  is  well  worth 
the  pains  to  cast  a  glance  over  the  state  of 
things  as  they  appeared  in  the  years  1578, 
1579. 

Let  us  begin  eastwards  with  Poland. 

The  Jesuits  had  made  their  way  into  this 
country  likewise,  countenanced  by  the  bishops, 
who  looked  to  them  for  the  strengthening  of 
their  own  power.  Cardinal  Hosius,  bishop  of 
Ermeland,  founded  a  college  for  them  in 
Braunsberg,  in  1569 :  they  tixed  themselves 
in  Pultusk  and  Posen,  with  the  help  of  the 
bishops  of  those  places.  Bishop  Valerian,  of 
VVilna,  deemed  it  a  matter  of  paramount  mo- 
ment to  counteract  the  Lithuanian  Lutherans, 
who  proposed  erecting  an  university  on  their 
own  principles,  by  founding  a  Jesuit  institu- 
tion in  his  episcopal  see :  he  was  grown  old 
and  feeble,  and  wished  to  mark  his  last  days 
by  this  meritorious  act.  The  iirst  member  of 
the  society  arrived  in  his  see  in  the  year 
1570.* 

Now  here,  too,  the  immediate  consequence 
of  these  eflx)rts  was  but  that  the  protestants 
took  measures  to  maintain  their  power.  They 
carried  a  resolution  in  the  convocation  diet  of 
1573,  by  virtue  of  which,  no  one  was  to  be 
injured  or  prejudiced  on  account  of  his  reli- 
gion.f  The  bishops  were  forced  to  comply  ; 
the  example  of  the  troubles  in  the  Netherlands 

*  Sacchinus,  Historia  Societatis  Jesu,  pars  ii.  lib.  viii. 
114.    Pars  iii.  lib.  i.  112;  lib.  vi.  103—108. 
t  Fredro,  Henricus  I.  rex  Polonorum,  p.  114. 


A.  D.  1563-89.]      CONTRASTS  EXHIBITED  IN  THE  REST  OF  EUROPE. 


185 


was  held  out  to  them,  to  show  the  danger  of 
refusal ;  and  the  succeeding  kings  were  oblig- 
ed to  swear  to  maintain  the  resolution.  In  the 
year  1579,  the  payment  of  tithes  to  the  clergy 
was  absolutely  suspended  ;  in  consequence  of 
which,  the  nuncio  asserted  it  for  fact,  that 
twelve  hundred  parish  priests  had  been  ruined. 
In  the  same  year,  a  supreme  tribunal  was  con- 
stituted of  laymen  and  clergy,  which  decided 
all  disputes,  even  touching  ecclesiastical  mat- 
ters. It  was  a  matter  of  amazement  at  Rome, 
that  the  Polish  clergy  had  suflered  this  mea- 
sure to  be  carried.  , 

The  contest  was  no  less  sharp  in  Sweden 
than  in  Poland,  and  there  its  course,  indeed, 
was  most  singular  :  it  had  immediate  refer- 
ence to  the  sovereign,  and  was  waged  around 
his  person. 

In  all  the  sons  of  Gustavus  Vasa — "  the 
brood  of  king  Gustavus,"  as  the  Swedes  call 
them — there  is  noticeable  a  most  unusual  mix- 
ture of  reflection  and  wilfulness,  of  religion 
and  violence. 

The  most  learned  of  them  was  the  second 
John.  Being  married  to  a  catholic  princess, 
Catherine  of  Poland,  who  had  shared  with 
him  the  prison,  in  the  narrow  solitude  of  which 
he  had  often  received  the  consolations  of  a 
catholic  priest,  his  feelings  were  especially 
interested  by  the  current  controversies.  He 
studied  the  fathers,  to  arrive  at  a  clearer  con- 
ception of  the  primitive  condition  of  the  church ; 
he  was  fond  of  those  books  that  treated  of  the 
possibility  of  religious  union,  and  earnestly 
pondered  the  questions  that  bore  upon  the 
subject.  When  he  became  king,  he  accord- 
ingly approached  some  steps  nearer  to  the 
catholic  church.  He  published  a  liturgy  imi- 
tated from  that  of  Trent,  in  which  the  Swedish  • 
divines  discovered  with  amazement  not  only 
usages  of  the  Roman  church,  but  even  certain 
of  its  distinguishing  doctrines.*  As  the  pope's 
intercession  as  well  with  the  catholic  princes 
in  general  with  regard  to  the  Russian  war,  as 
with  Spain  in  particular  respecting  his  wife's 
maternal  inheritance,  might  be  of  much  service 
to  him,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  send  a  nobleman 
of  his  kingdom  as  ambassador  to  Rome.  He 
even  gave  private  permission  to  a  couple  of 
Jesuits  from  the  Netherlands  to  come  to  Stock- 
holm, where  he  committed  an  important  edu- 
cational institution  to  their  charge. 

Such  conduct  naturally  excited  high  hopes 
in  Rome;  and  Antonio  Possevin,  one  of  the 
most  adroit  members  of  the  society  of  Jesus, 
was  selected  to  make  an  earnest  attempt  for 
the  conversion  of  kmg  John. 

Possevin  made  his  appearance  in  Sweden  in 
the  year  1578.  The  king  was  not  disposed  to 
give  way  on  all  points.  He  demanded  per- 
mission for  priests  to  marry,  the  accordance  of 


♦  They  are  all  sel  forth  in  the  Indicium  prsdicatomm 
Kolmenss.  de  publicala  liturgia  in  Baaz :  Invenurium 
ecclesiarum  Sueogoih.  p.  393. 

24 


tlie  sacramental  cup  to  the  laity,  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  mass  in  the  vernacular  tongue,  an 
abandonment  of  the  ciiurch's  claims  to  confis- 
cated property,  and  so  forth.  Possevin  had  no 
authority  to  go  into  these  questions  ;  and  pro- 
mising merely  that  he  would  communicate  the 
king's  demands  to  the  apostolic  see,  ho  hasten- 
ed to  plunge  with  him  into  dogmatical  contro- 
versy. In  this  he  was  much  more  happy. 
After  two  or  three  conversations,  and  a  short 
time  for  reflection,  the  king  declared  himself 
resolved  to  make  the  professio  Jidtd,  according 
to  the  formula  of  the  council  of  Trent.  He 
actually  did  so,  and  he  confessed  ;  whereupon 
Possevin  asked  him  once  more,  whether  he 
submitted  himself  to  the  judgment  of  the  pope 
as  regarded  the  communion  in  one  kind.  John 
declaring  he  did,  Possevin  solemnly  granted 
him  absolution.  It  would  almost  seem  that 
this  absolution  had  been  the  grand  object  of 
the  king's  longing  desires.  He  had  caused 
his  brother  to  be  put  to  death,  with  the  previ- 
ous approbation,  indeed,  of  his  estates;  but 
put  him  to  death  he  had,  and  that  in  the  most 
violent  manner  !  The  absolution  granted  him 
seemed  to  tranquillize  his  soul.  Possevin 
besought  God  that  he  might  now  be  able 
completely  to  convert  the  heart  of  the  king : 
the  latter  rose,  cast  himself  into  his  confes- 
sor's arms,  and  cried,  "  Even  as  I  thus  embrace 
thee,  do  I  embrace  the  Roman  catholic  faith 
forever."  He  then  received  the  Lord's  supper 
after  the  catholic  ritual. 

Having  thus  satisfactorily  accomplished  his 
task,  Possevin  hastened  back  to  Rome.  He 
communicated  the  intelligence  to  the  pope, 
and,  under  the  seal  of  secresy,  to  the  most 
powerful  catholic  princes.  It  now  only  re- 
mained to  take  into  consideration  those  de- 
mands of  the  king  on  which  he  made  the 
general  restoration  of  Catholicism  in  his  king- 
dom dependent.  Possevin  was  a  man  of  great 
address,  eloquent,  and  of  much  talent  for  ne- 
gociation ;  but  he  persuaded  himself  too  readily 
that  he  had  attained  his  end.  According  to 
the  account  he  gave,  it  appeared  unnecessary 
to  pope  Gregory  to  make  any  concession  ;  on 
the  contrary,  he  called  on  the  king  to  come 
over  freely  and  unconditionally  to  the  catholic 
church.  He  furnished  the  Jesuit  with  des- 
patches to  this  effect  on  his  second  departure, 
and  with  indulgences  for  all  who  would  re- 
cant. 

Meanwhile,  however,  the  opposite  party 
had  not  been  idle  ;  protestant  princes  had  sent 
warning  letters  to  the  king — for  the  news  had 
instantly  spread  all  over  Europe; — Cin-ytraug 
had  dedicated  to  the  king  his  work  on  the 
Augsburg  confession,  which  had  had  made  a 
certain  impression  on  the  learned  monarch. 
The  protestants  no  longer  lost  sight  of  him 
for  a  moment. 

Possevin  now  arrived,  not,  as  before,  in  the 
garb  of  a  civilian,  but  the  usual  costume  of 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD.         [a.  d.  1563-89. 


bis  order,  and  brought  witb  him  a  heap  of 
qatholic  books.  Even  his  mere  appearance 
produced  any  thing  but  a  favourable  impres- 
sion. For  a  moment  he  hesitated  to  produce 
the  pope's  reply ;  but  at  last  he  could  pro- 
crastinate no  longer,  and  he  laid  it  before  the 
Ijing  in  an  audience  of  two  hours'  duration. 
yVho  shall  explore  the  secrets  of  a  wavering 
and  unstable  soul?  It  may  be,  the  monarch's 
sjelf-esieem  was  wounded  by  so  peremptory  a 
refusal  of  his  demands;  besides,  he  was  con- 
vinced that  without  the  concessions  he  had 
Stipulated  for,  nothing  waste  be  accomplished 
ifl  Sweden,  and  he  had  no  inclination  to  lay 
(lowa  his  crown  for  religion's  sake.  In  short, 
the  audience  was  a  decisive  one.  From  that 
hour  the  king  manifested  coldness  and  aver- 
sion-to  the  pope's  ambassador.  He  required 
his  Jesuit  schoolmen  to  receive  the  sacrament 
in  both  kinds,  and  to  read  mass  in  the  Swedish 
tpngue:  as  they  did  not  obey,  which,  indeed, 
they  could  not,  he  refused  them  the  provision  he 
had  hitherto  allowed  them.  Their  departure 
fronvStockholm,  which  took  place  shortly  after, 
\^as  doubtless  not  caused  alone,  as  they  wish- 
ed it,to  be  supposed,  by  the  presence  of  the 
plague  in  that  city.  The  protestant  nobles, 
Charles  of  Sudermania,  the  king's  younger 
brother,  who  was  disposed  to  Calvinism,  and 
the  ambassadors  of  Liibeck,  omitted  nothing  to 
augment  the  king's  growing  aversion.  The 
catholic^'  sole  stay  and  hope  were  in  the 
queen,  and,  after  her  death,  in  the  heir  to  the 
dirone.  For  the  present,  the  sovereign  power 
iO:  Sweden  remained  essentially  protestant.* 
This  was  daily  more  and  more  the  case  in 
l^ipglaqd  under  queen  Elizabeth.  But  in  that 
kingdom  there;  were  assailable  points  of  a 
different  kind;  it  was  full  of  catholics.  Not 
qnJy  did.  th^  Irish  population  stedfastly  ad- 
here to  the  old  iaith  and  ritual ;  in  England, 
probably  one  half  the  nation,  if  not  a  still 
larger  portion,  as  has  been  asserted,  were 
likewise  devoted  to  Catholicism.  It  is  singular, 
ijfldeed,  how  the  English  catholics  submitted, 
at. leEist  during  the  first  fifteen  years  of  her 
reign,  to  that  queen's  protestant  laws.  They 
t»ok  the. oath  required  of  them,  though  it  dia- 
metrically opposed  the  papal  authority ;  they 
frequented  tbO;  protestant  churches,  and 
thought  they  did  all  that  was  necessary,  if,  in 
going  and  returning,  they  kept  together  and 
avoided  the  society  of  the  protestants.f 


*  Iti  this  whole  account  I  adhere  to  the  reports  of  the 
.Jesuits,  (never  so  far  as  1  know,  hitherto  used,)  which  are 
lo.be  found  in  detail  in  Sacchinus,  Hist.  Socielalis  Jesu, 
pars  iv.  lib,,  vi.  ri.  64— 7G,  and  lib.  vii.  n.  83—111.  I  am 
curious  to  Jjhow  whether  the  continuation  of  Theiner's 
.Schweden  und  seine  Slellung  zum  heiligen  Siuhl  will 
really  coniniunirate  any  thing  new  that  may  be  worth 
nftiice.  'Hitherto  this  work,  with  all  its  scurrility,  excites 
pity  rather  than  altenjlion.  It  is  to  be  hoped  "  they  know 
not  what  they  do." 

I;  Relatione  del  presente  state  d'lnghilterra  cavata  da 
analellera  Bcritta;di  Xondrei,  etc.  Roma,  1590,  (printed 
p^ro|^kl£tj^),ciose2y,^j:ee3  ou  this  subject  with  a  passage 


Rome,  however,  felt  secure  of  their  secret 
attachment,  and  was  persuaded  that  nothing 
was  wanting  but  an  opportunity,  a  slight  ad- 
vantage, to  rouse  all  the  catholics  in  the 
country  to  resistance.  Pius  V.  had  longed  to 
shed  his  blood  in  an  expedition  against  Eng- 
land ;  and  Gregory  XIII.,  who  never  abandon- 
ed the  idea  of  such  an  enterprise,  thought  of 
availing  himself  to  that  end  of  the  martial 
spirit  and  exalted  station  of  don  John  of  Aus- 
tria. He  sent  his  nuncio  Sega,  who  had  been 
with  don  John  in  the  Netherlands,  to  Spain  for 
that  exMjress  purpose,  that  he  might  gain  the 
consent  of  king  Phillip. 

Partly,  however,  m  consequence  of  the 
king's  dislike  to  his  brother's  ambitious  views, 
and  to  any  new  political  entanglements, 
partly  by  reason  of  other  obstacles,  these  vast 
schemes  broke  down,  and  their  projectors 
were  forced  to  content  themselves  with  less 
brilliant  attempts. 

Pope  Gregory  next  fixed  his  eyes  on  Ireland. 
It  was  represented  to  him  that  there  was  no 
nation  more  strictly  and  immovably  catholic 
than  the  Irish ;  but  that  it  was  most  tyran- 
nously  ill-used  and  plundered  by  the  English 
government,  kept  diligently  in  discord  and 
barbarism,  and  coerced  in  its  religious  con- 
victions :  it  was,  therefore,  ready  for  war  at 
a  moment's  notice ;  there  needed  but  to  second 
it  with  a  small  force ;  five  thousand  men  would 
suffice  for  the  conquest  of  Ireland,  where  there 
was  not  a  fortress  that  could  hold  out  beyond 
four  days.f  Pope  Gregory  was  persuaded 
without  difficulty.  There  was  then  at  Rome 
an  English  refugee,  one  Thomas  Stukeley,  an 
adventurer  by  nature,  but  one  who  possessed 
in  a  high  degree  the  art  of  gaining  access  to 
the  great,  and  winning  their  confidence. 
The  pope  made  him  his  chamberlain,  created 
him  marquis  of  Leinster,  and  went  to  the  ex- 
pense of  forty  thousand  scudi  to  furnish  him 
with  vessels  and  men.     He   was  to  take   in 


from  Ribadeneira  de  Schismata,  quoted  by  Hallam  (Con- 
stitutional History  of  England,  i.p.  162,)  and  is,  doubu 
less, the  original  of  the  latter:  "Si  peruiettevano  giura- 
menti  impii  contra  I'auio.itidella  sedeapostolica  ecjues- 
to  con  poco  o  nissun  scrupulo  di  coscienza.  Allora  lutti 
andavano  connnunemente  alle  sinagoghe  degli  eretici 
et  alle  prediche  loro  menandovi  li  figli  e  famiglie:  .  .  . 
si  teneva  allora  per  segno  distintive  sufficienie  venire 
alle  chiese  prima  degli  eretici  e  non  panirsi  in  com- 
pagnia  loro." 

+  Discorso  sopra  il  regno  d'Irlanda  e  della  genie  che 
bisogneria  per  conquistarlo,  fattoaGregorioXllI.  Vienna 
Library,  Fugger  MSS.     The  government  of  the  queen  is 

fironounced  a  tyranny  :  "  lasciando  il  governo  a  niinistri 
nglesi  i  quali  per  arrichire  se  stessi  usavano  tutta  I'arte 
deTla  lirannide  in  quel  regno,  come  transportando  le 
commodity,  del  paese  in  Inghilterra,  tassando  il  popolo 
contra  le  leggi  e  privilegi  antichi,  e  manienendo  guerra  e 
fatlioni  tra  i  paesani,  .  .  .  non  volendo  gli  Inglesi 
che  gli  habitanli  imparassero  la  difterenza  fra  il 
viver  libero  e  la  servitu."  [Leaving  the  govern- 
ment to  English  ministers,  who,  to  enrich  themselves, 
employed  the  whole  art  of  tyranny  in  that  kingdoiu,  such 
as  transporting  the  commodities  of  the  country  to  Eng- 
land, taxing  the  people  contrary  to  the  laws  and  to  an- 
cient privileges,  and  keeping  up  war  and  factions  among 
the  peasants,  .  .  .  the  English  not  wishing  that  the  in- 
habitants should  learn  the  difference  between  servitude 
and  living  free.] 


A.  D.  1563-89.]    CONTRASTS  EXHIBITED  IN  THE  REST  OF  EUROPE. 


18^ 


a  small  body  of  men  upon  the  French  coast, 
collected  there  by  Geraldine,  an  Irish  refuijee, 
likewise  with  the  aid  of  papal  funds.  King 
Philip,  who,  though  he  had  no  inclination  to 
involve  himself  in  a  war,  was  glad  enough  to 
see  Elizabeth  provided  with  occupation  at 
home,  also  contributed  some  money  towards 
the  enterprise,*  Stukeley,  however,  unex- 
pectedly suffered  himself  to  be  persuaded  to 
take  part  in  king  Sebastian's  African  expe- 
dition, with  the  forces  intended  for  Ireland, 
and  perished  in  it.  Geraldine  was  left  to 
pursue  his  fortunes  alone:  he  landed  in  June, 
1579,  and  actually  made  some  progress.  He 
made  himself  master  of  the  fort  commanding 
the  harbour  of  Smerwick :  the  earl  of  Desmond 
was  now  in  arms  against  the  queen ;  the  whole 
island  was  in  commotion.  But  presently  re- 
verse after  reverse  befel  the  insurgents,  the 
most  serious  of  them  being  the  fall  of  Geral- 
dine himself  in  a  skirmish.  Upon  this  the 
earl  of  Desmond  could  make  head  no  longer. 
The  aid  supplied  by  the  pope  was  not  sufficient; 
the  money  counted  on  did  not  arrive  :  the 
English,  therefore  were  victorious.  They 
punished  the  insurgents  with  horrible  cruelty  ; 
men  and  women  were  driven  into  barns,  and 
there  burned  to  death  ;  children  were  stran- 
gled ;  all  Munster  was  laid  waste  :  English 
colonists  overran  the  desolated  region. 

If  ever  again  Catholicism  was  to  achieve 
any  thing  in  that  kingdom,  it  could  only  be 
by  direct  experiments  on  England  itself:  and 
this  could  manifestly  take  place  only  under  an 
altered  aspect  of  European  affairs.  But  that 
the  catholic  population  might  not,  when  the 
moment  arrived,  be  found  wholly  changed, 
that  they  might  still  be  catholic,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  stand  by  them  with  spiritual  aid. 

William  Allen  first  conceived  the  idea  of 
uniting  the  young  English  catholics  who  re- 
sided on  the  continent  for  the  prosecution  of 
their  studies,  and,  chiefly  through  the  support 
of  Pope  Gregory,  he  established  a  college  for 
them  at  Douay.  This,  however,  did  not  seem 
to  the  pope  to  be  adequate  to  the  purpose  in 
view.  He  wished  to  provide  for  those  fugi- 
tives, under  his  own  eyes,  a  more  tranquil  and 
less  dangerous  retreat  than  could  be  tbund  in 
the  disturbed  Netherlands:  accordingly  he 
founded  an  English  college  in  Rome,  endowed 
it  with  a  rich  abbey,  and  consigned  it,  in  1579, 
to  the  care  of  the  Jesuits.f 


*  Twenty  thousand  scudi,  according  to  the  nuncio  Sega, 
in  his  Relatione  compendiosa,  (MS.  in  the  Berlin  library,) 
"  altre  mercedi  fece  fare  al  barone  d'Acres,  al  Signer 
Carlo  Buono  et  altri  nobili  Inglesi  che  si  trovavano  in 
Madrid,  ch'  egli  spinse  andare  a  quesia  impresa  insieme 
col  vescovo  Lionese  d'Irlanda."  [He  caused  other  grants 
to  be  made  to  the  baron  D'Acres,  to  signor  Carlo  Buono, 
and  other  English  noblemen  who  were  in  Madrid,  and 
whom  he  urged  to  go  upon  this  expedition  along  with 
bishop  Lionese  of  Ireland.] 

+  We  may  here  compare  the  report  of  the  Jesuits,  in 
Sacchinus,  pars  iv.  lib.  vi.  6,  lib.  vii.  10 — 30,  with  Cam- 
den's narratives  Berura  Britanuiee,  torn.  i.  p.  315. 


No  one  was  admitted  into  the  college  who 
did  not  pledge  himself,  on  the  completion  off 
his  studies,  to  return  to  England,  and  to  preach 
there  the  faith  of  the  Roman  church.  This 
was  the  exclusive  end  to  which  the  students 
were  trained.  Kindled  as  they  were  into  re*- 
ligious  enthusiasm  by  the  spiritual  exercises 
of  Ignatius,  their  teachers  set  before  them  as 
models  for  their  imitation  those  who  had  con- 
verted souls  to  the  faith,  such  as  the  men 
whom  Gregory  the  Great  had  once  sent  amon* 
the  Anglo-Saxons. 

Ere  long,  some  of  the  elder  students  lied  the 
way.  Two  English  Jesuits,  Parsons  and 
Campian,  went  back  to  their  native  country. 
Constantly  pursued,  constantly  under  feigned 
names,  and  various  disguises,  they  reached 
the  capital,  whence  they  travelled,  the  former 
through  the  northern,  the  latter  through  the 
southern  counties.  They  took  up  their  abode 
principally  in  the  mansions  of  catholic  noble- 
men :  their  coming  was  announced  before- 
hand, but  the  precaution  was  adopted  of  ac- 
costing them  as  strangers  on  their  arrival. 
Meanwhile  a  chapel  had  been  got  in  readiness 
in  the  innermost  chamber  of  the  house,  int-o 
which  they  were  conducted,  and  there  they 
bestowed  their  benediction  on  the  members  of 
the  family  assembled  there  to  receive  them. 
The  missionary  usually  remained  but  one 
night.  The  evening  was  employed  in  re- 
ligious preparation  and  confession  :  the  next 
morning  mass  was  read,  and  the  Lord's  supper 
administered,  after  which  there  was  a  sermon. 
All  the  neighbouring  adherents  of  the  catholic 
faith  attended,  sometimes  in  great  numbers. 
The  religion  that  for  nine  hundred  years  had 
ruled  supreme  in  the  island,  was  again  promul- 
gated with  all  the  charms  of  mystery  and  nov- 
elty. Synods  were  secretly  held  ;  a  printing 
press  was  set  up,  first  in  a  village  near  Londoii, 
then  in  a  lonely  house  in  a  neighbouring  wood-: 
suddenly,  once  more  catholic  works  made  their 
appearance,  written  with  all  the  ability  de- 
rived from  constant  practice  in  controversy, 
and  often  not  void  of  elegance  :  the  sensation 
they  produced  was  the  greater,  the  more  im- 
penetrable was  the  secret  of  their  origin. 
The  immediate  consequences  of  these  pro- 
ceedings were,  that  the  catholics  ceased  to 
attend  protectant  worship,  and  to  observe  the 
queen's  ecclesiastical  laws,  and  that  the  op- 
posite party  became  more  polemical  in  doc- 
trine, and  more  severe  and  crushing  in  their 
persecutions.* 

Wherever  the  principle  of  catholic  restora- 
tion was  not  strong  enough  to  become  para- 
mount, it  served,  at  least,  to  exasperate  the 
opposite  party,  and  to  render  it  more  implaca- 
ble. 

Switzerland,  too,  afforded  examples  of  this,  al- 


*  Besides  Sacchinus,  see  also  Campiani  Vita  et  Mar- 
tyrium,  Ingolstadii,  1584. 


188 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD.         [  v.  d.  1563-89. 


though  each  canton  had  long  possessed  the  right 
of  self-government  in  matters  of  religion,  and 
the  disputes  that  had  from  time  to  time  arisen* 
respecting  the  condition  of  the  confederacy, 
and  the  interpretation  of  the  religious  provi- 
sions in  the  covenant  of  public  peace  (des 
Landfriedens,)  had  been  to  a  considerable  de- 
gree set  at  rest. 

But  now  the  Jesuits  made  their  way  into 
this  country  too.  Upon  the  solicitation  of  a 
colonel  in  the  Swiss  guard  in  Rome,  they  ar- 
rived in  Lucern  in  1574,  where  they  met  with 
a  cordial  reception  and  support,  especially 
from  the  family  of  Pfyffer.i  Ludwig  Pfyffer 
alone  spent  probably  thirty  thousand  guilders 
upon  the  erection  of  the  Jesuit  college;  Phi- 
lip II.  and  the  Guises  contributed  something, 
nor  did  Gregory  XJII,  fail  of  his  wonted  libe- 
rality in  such  cases,  but  gave  the  funds  for 
the  establishment  of  a  library.  The  people 
of  Lucern  were  delighted.  They  addressed 
an  express  memorial  to  the  general  of  the 
order,  entreating  him  not  to  deprive  them  of 
the  fathers  of  the  society  who  had  already 
arrived  among  them  :  "  they  had  it  at  heart, 
above  all  things,  to  see  their  young  people 
brought  up  in  sound  learning,  and  especially 
in  piety  and  Christian  life :"  they  promised 
him  in  return  that  they  would  spare  no  toil 
or  trouble,  neither  their  means  nor  their 
blood,  to  serve  the  society  in  every  thing  they 
could  desire. I 

An  opportunity  soon  presented  itself  to 
them  of  proving  their  renewed  zeal  for  Catho- 
licism in  no  unimportant  matter. 

The  city  of  Geneva  had  placed  itself  under 
the  special  protection  of  Bern,  and  now  sought 
to  draw  into  the  same  connexion  both  Solo- 
thurn  and  Freiburg,  which  were  wont  to  ad- 
here, politically  at  least,  though  not  ecclesi- 
astically, to  Bern.  They  succeeded  in  this 
as  regarded  Solothurn.  A  catholic  city  took 
the  focus  of  western  protestantism  under  its 
protection.  Gregory  XIII.  was  horrified,  and 
strove  with  all  his  might  to  keep  back  Frei- 
burg at  least  from  the  union,  and  in  this  the 
Lucerners  now  lent  him  their  aid.  An  em- 
bassy from  that  canton  co-operated  with  the 
papal  nuncio,  and  Freiburg  not  only  rejected 
the  proposed  alliance,  but  even  invited  the 
Jesuits,  who  founded  a  college  in  the  canton, 
with  the  assistance  of  the  pope. 

Meanwhile  Carlo  Borromeo's  exertions  be- 
gan to  produce  their  effect.     He  had  connex- 


♦  The  most  important  undoubtedly  related  to  the  fate  of 
the  evangelical  party  thai  had  grown  up  in  Locaino,  re- 
specting which  F.  Meyer  produced,  In  1836,  an  account 
derivedfrom  original  documents.  Tlie  proteslant  can- 
tons assented,  in  155.5,  to  that  interprelation  of  the  dispu- 
ted article  which  favoured  the  catholics,  and  allowed  that 
the  evangelical  inhabitants  should  be  forced  lo  quit  their 
native  land.  They  had  wholly  disappeared  from  it  about 
the  year  1580. 

f  Agricola,  177. 

j  Literae  Lucernensium  ad  Everardum  Mercurianum, 
'«jt  Sacchinus,  Hisiona  Socieiatis  Jesu,  iv.  v.  143. 


[ions,  particularly  in  the  Wald  cantons  ;  Mel- 
chior  Lussi,  landammann  of  Unterwalden, 
was  regarded  as  his  intimate  friend.  Borro- 
meo  sent  thither  Capuchins  first  of  all,  who 
produced  a  considerable  impression  by  the 
rigour  and  simplicity  of  their  lives  :  after 
them  followed  pupils  of  the  Helvetian  col- 
lege, which  he  had  founded  solely  for  this 
purpose. 

Their  influence  was  soon  to  be  traced  in 
all  public  concerns.  In  the  autumn  of  1579, 
the  catholic  cantons  concluded  a  treaty  with 
the  bishop  of  Basel,  in  which  they  not  only 
promised  to  protect  him  in  religious  matters, 
but  also,  as  occasion  served,  to  bring  back 
"  to  the  true  catholic  faith,"  such  of  his  sub- 
jects as  had  become  proteslant :  engagements 
which  naturally  caused  much  excitement 
among  the  evangelical  cantons.  The  breach 
became  more  decided  than  it  had  been  for  a 
long  time.  A  papal  nuncio  arrived :  he  was 
received  with  the  highest  possible  marks  of 
reverence  in  the  catholic  cantons ;  in  the 
proteslant  he  was  scorned  and  insulted. 

Crisis  in  the  Netherlands. 

The  following  was  the  general  state  of 
things  in  that  day.  Renovated  Catholicism, 
in  the  form  it  had  assumed  in  Spain  and  Italy, 
had  made  a  vigorous  inroad  upon  the  rest  of 
Europe.  It  had  made  important  conquests  in 
Germany,  and  had  pushed  forward  into  many 
other  countries;  nevertheless,  it  had  every- 
where encountered  powerful  resistance.  In 
France  the  protestants  were  secured  by  com- 
prehensive concessions,  and  by  their  strong 
politico-military  attitude  ;  in  the  Netherlands 
they  had  the  preponderence ;  they  were  tri- 
umphant in  England,  Scotland,  and  the  North. 
In  Poland  they  had  exacted  peremptory  laws 
in  their  favour,  and  had  gained  a  large  share 
of  influence  on  the  general  concerns  of  the 
kingdom.  Throughout  the  territories  of  Aus- 
tria they  confronted  the  government,  armed 
with  old  provincial  immunities.  In  Lower 
Germany  a  decisive  change  in  the  ecclesias- 
tical institutions  seemed  to  be  begun. 

In  this  state  of  things  an  immensity  was  at 
stake  on  the  issue  of  the  contest  in  the  Neth- 
erlands, where  arms  were  continually  resort- 
ed to  afresh. 

Now  it  was  impossible  khig  Philip  II. 
should  have  thought  of  repealing  the  mea- 
sures that  had  already  so  signally  failed  ;  nor 
could  he  have  done  so  even  if  he  would.  For- 
tunately for  him,  friends  offered  thomselves 
to  him  spontaneously,  and  protestantism  in  its 
new  and  thriving  career,  found  yet  in  its  way 
an  unexpected  and  insuperable  resistance.  It 
is  well  worth  while  to  dwell  a  moment  upon 
this  momentous  contingency. 

In  the  first  place,  to  see  the  prince  of 
Orange  attaining  to  such  great  power  in  the 


A.  D.  1563-89.] 


CRISIS  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


189 


provinces  was  far  from  affording'  satisfaction 
to  all  partie.-,  and  least  of  all  to  the  Walloon 
nobility. 

Under  the  king's  government  that  nobility 
had  always  been  the  first  to  take  horse,  espe- 
cially in  the  French  wars;  whence  the  lead- 
ers of  note,  whom  the  people  were  used  to 
follow,  had  acquired  a  certain  independence 
and  authority.  The  nobles  now  saw  them- 
selves thrust  into  the  back  ground  under  the 
rule  of  the  estates;  pay  was  not  regularly 
forthcoming  ;  the  army  of  the  estates  consist- 
ed principally  of  Dutch,  English,  and  Ger- 
mans, who  were  treated  with  most  confidence 
as  unquestionably  protestant. 

When  the  Walloons  acceded  to  the  pacifi- 
cation of  Ghent,  they  flattered  themselves 
with  the  hope  of  obtaining  a  leading  influ- 
ence over  the  general  concerns  of  the  coun- 
try. But  the  reverse  was  much  rather  the 
case.  Power  fell  almost  exclusively  into  the 
hands  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  and  his  friends 
from  Holland  and  Zealand. 

With  the  disgusts  thus  excited,  were  com- 
bined likewise  special  religious  considera- 
tions. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  cause,  cer- 
tain it  is,  that  the  protestant  movement  ex- 
cited but  little  sympathy  in  the  Walloon  pro- 
vinces. 

Their  new  bishops,  almost  all  of  them  men 
of  great  practical  ability,  had  been  quietly 
installed.  The  bishop  of  Arras  was  FranQois 
de  Richardot,  who  had  fully  imbibed  the  prin- 
ciple of  catholic  restoration  in  the  council  of 
Trent,  and  who  was  the  subject  of  unceasing 
panegyric,  for  the  striking  combination  of  so- 
lidity and  force  in  his  preaching,  with  exqui- 
site refinement  and  polish,  and  for  the  zeal 
tempered  with  knowledge  of  the  world  dis- 
played in  his  life.*  In  Namur  we  meet  with 
Antoine  Havet,  a  Dominican,  a  man,  perhaps, 
of  less  worldly  prudence,  but  who  had  also 
been  a  member  of  the  council  of  Trent,  and 
displayed  no  less  earnestness  in  giving  effect 
to  its  maxims.f  The  see  of  St.  Omer  was 
filled  by  Gerard  de  Hamericourt,  one  of  the 
richest  prelates  in  all  the  provinces,  abbot 
likewise  of  St.  Bertin,  who  now  made  it  the 
grand  object  of  his  ambition  to  promote  the 
education  of  youth,  and  to  found  schools,  and 
who  was  the  first  to  establish  in  the  Nether- 
lands a  college  for  the  Jesuits,  supported  by 
fixed  revenues.  Under  these  and  other  eccle- 
siastical heads,  Artois,  Hennegau,  and  Na- 
mur, kept  themselves  free  from  the  contagion 
of  the  iconoclastic  mania,   that  filled  all  the 


*GazPt:  Histoire  Eccl^siastique  Aea  Pays-Bas,  p.  143, 
describes  him  as  "  subtile  el  solide  en  doctrine,  nerveux 
en  raisons,  riche  en  sentences,  copieux  en  discours,  poly- 
en  son  lan^age  et  grave  en  actions  ;  niais  suitout  I'excel- 
lenta  pieie  et  virtu,  qui  reluisoit  en  sa  vie,  rendoit  son 
oraison  persuasive." 

+  Hivensius,  De  Erectione  novoi'um  Episcopatuum  in 
Belgio,  p.  50. 


other  provinces  with  turbulence  and  fury  ;* 
accordingly,  these  localities  had  not  suffered 
so  violently  from  the  reaction  under  Alva.f 
The  resolutions  of  the  council  of  Trent  were 
without  long  delay  discussed  in  the  provincial 
and  diocesan  synods,  and  put  in  force.  The 
influence  of  the  Jesuits  spread  vigorously 
from  St.  Omer,  and  still  more  from  Douay, 
where  Philip  II.  had  founded  an  university, 
to  afford  his  subjects  who  spoke  the  French 
language  an  opportunity  of  prosecuting  their 
studies  in  their  own  country.  This  was  in 
keeping  with  the  close  ecclesiastical  consti- 
tution which  it  was  his  purpose  to  introduce 
generally  in  his  dominions.  Not  far  from 
Douay  is  the  Benedictine  abbey  of  Anchin. 
At  the  period  when  the  greater  part  of  the 
rest  of  the  Netherlands  endured  the  havoc  of 
the  iconoclastic  storm,  John  Lentailleur,  ab- 
bot of  Anchin,  continued  with  his  monks  to 
practice  all  the  spiritual  exercises  of  Ignatius 
Loyola.  Filled  with  their  spirit,  he  resolved 
out  of  the  revenues  of  the  abbey  to  found  in 
the  new  university  a  Jesuit  college,  which 
was  opened  in  the  year  1563,  was  immediate- 
ly granted  a  certain  independence  of  the  uni- 
versity functionaries,  and  became  rapidly  and 
unusually  prosperous.  Eight  years  afterwards 
the  flourishing  condition  of  the  university, 
and  that,  too,  with  regard  to  literature,  was 
ascribed  to  the  Jesuits.  Not  only  was  their 
college  filled  with  pious  and  diligent  youth, 
but  the  other  colleges,  too,  profited  by  their 
emulation  of  its  example;  it  ah'eady  furnished 
the  university  itself  with  excellent  theolo- 
gians, and  all  Artois  and  Hennegau  with  pas- 
tors.]: Gradually  this  college  became  a  centre 
of  modern  Catholicism  for  all  the  surrounding 
districts.  In  the  year  1578  the  Walloon  pro- 
vinces had  the  reputation  among  contempora- 
ries, as  one  of  them  expresses  himself,  of  be- 
ing in  the  highest  degree  catholic. ^ 

But  this  state  of  things  in  religion,  no  less 
than  the  political  pretensionsof  the  provinces, 
was  threatened  by  the  ascendency  of  protes- 
tantism. 

Protestantism  had  assumed  in  Ghent  an 
aspect  such  as  in  the  present  day  we  should 
designate  as  revolutionary.  There  the  old 
liberties    were    not     yet    forgotten,    which 

*  Hopper:  Recueil  et  Memorial  des  Troubles  des Pays- 
Bas,  93.  98. 

f  According  to  Viglii  Commentarius  rerum  acturum  su- 
per impositione  decimi  denarii,  in  Papendrecht,  Analec- 
ta,  I.  i.  292 ;  the  tenth  penny  was  imposed  on  them,  with 
the  assurance  that  it  should  not  be  rigorously  exacted. 

t  Testimonium  ThoniEe  Slapletoni  (rector  of  the  univer- 
sity) of  the  year  1576,  in  Sacchinus  iv.  iv.  124.  "  Pluri- 
mos  ex  hoc  patrum  collegio  (the  collegium  Acquicintin- 
ense)  Artpsia  et  Hannonia  paslores,  multos  schola  nostra 
Iheologos  opii  ne  institutos  et  comparatosaccepit."  Other, 
and  siill  stronger,  encomiums  follow,  which  we  may  the 
more  readily  pass  by  as  Slapleton  himself  was  a  Jesuit. 

§  Michiel:  Relatione  di  Francia.  "II  conte  (ihe  gov- 
ernor of  Hennegau)  6  cattolichisimo,  come  6  tulto  quel 
contado  insieme  con  quel  d'Artoes,  che  li  6  propinquo." 
[The  count  is  in  the  highest  degree  catholic,  as  is  the 
whole  of  that  province,  together  with  the  adjoining  one  of 
Artois.] 


190 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD. 


[a.  d.  1563-89. 


Charles  V.  had  broken  down  in  1539  :  Alva's 
atrocities  had  here  especially  engendered  ill 
blood  ;  the  populace  were  fierce  and  impetu- 
ous, given  to  image  breaking,  and  outrage- 
ously exasperated  against  the  priests.  Two 
daring  declaimers,  Imbize  and  Ryhove,  took 
advantage  of  these  passions.  Imbize  con- 
ceived the  project  of  establishing  a  republic, 
and  dreamed  that  Ghent  would  become  a  se- 
cond Rome.  They  began  their  proceedings 
at  the  moment  Arschot,  the  governor,  was 
holding  a  meeting  with  some  bishops  and 
catholic  leaders  of  the  neighbouring  towns, 
by  taking  them  all  prisoners.  Thereupon 
they  restored  the  old  constitution,  of  course 
with  some  modifications  which  secured  them- 
selves in  the  possession  of  power  ;  they  then 
laid  hands  on  the  property  of  the  church, 
abolished  the  bishopric,  and  confiscated  the 
abbeys ;  they  converted  the  hospitals  and 
monasteries  into  barracks ;  and,  lastly,  they 
endeavoured  by  force  of  arms  to  propagate 
their  system  among  their  neighbours.* 

Now  some  of  the  imprisoned  leaders  be- 
longed to  the  Walloon  provinces  :  the  troops 
of  Ghent  were  already  making  incursions 
into  those  lands  ;  all  that  part  of  their  popu- 
lation who  were  disposed  to  protestantism 
were  beginning  to  bestir  themselves,  and  to 
follow  the  example  of  Ghent  in  mingling  the 
passions  of  democracy  with  those  excited  by 
religious  matters.  In  Arras  an  insurrection 
broke  out  against  the  council.  From  Douay 
itself  the  Jesuits  were  expelled  by  a  popular 
commotion  in  despite  of  the  council ;  their 
exile  lasted  indeed  but  fourteen  days,  but 
even  this  is  an  important  occurrence.  In  St. 
Omer  they  held  their  ground  only  through 
the  special  protection  of  the  council. 

The  city  magistracy,  the  provincial  nobili- 
ty, and  the  clergy,  were  all  alike  beset  with 
dangers  and  difficulty  ;  they  felt  themselves 
threatened  with  the  same  destructive  pro- 
ceedings that  had  taken  place  in  Ghent.  No 
wonder,  therefore,  if  in  their  peril  they  strove 
after  every  possible  means  of  protection,  first 
sending  out  their  troops,  which  cruelly  rav- 
aged the  territory  of  Ghent,  and  then  casting 
about  to  devise  another  confederation,  which 
should  afford  them  more  security  than  that 
they  had  derived  from  their  connexion  with 
the  general  union  of  the  Netherlands. 

Don  John  of  Austria  failed  not  to  turn  this 
disposition  of  theirs  to  account. 

When  we  take  a  general  survey  of  all 
Don  John's  proceedings  in  the  Netherlands, 
it  almost  strikes  us  that  he  effected  nothing, 
that  his  whole  career  passed  away,  leaving 
no  more  trace  of  its  existence  than  to  himself 
it  had  been  productive  of  satisfaction.  But 
when  we  more  narrowly  consider  what  was 

*  Van  der  Vynkts  Geschichle  der  Niederlande,  Bd.  II., 
Buch  v.,  Abschn.  2.  This  section  is  probably  the  most 
important  in  the  whole  work. 


his  position,  what  were  his  acts,  and  what  the 
consequences  of  his  measures,  we  are  forced 
to  attribute  to  him  above  all  other  individuals, 
the  settlement  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands. 
For  a  while  he  sought  to  abide  by  the  treaty 
of  Ghent;  but  the  independent  position  as- 
sumed by  the  estates,  the  circumstances  of 
the  prince  of  Orange,  who  was  far  more  potent 
than  himself,  the  viceroy,  and  the  mutual  sus- 
picions of  the  two  parties,  rendered  a  breach 
inevitable.  Don  John  resolved  to  begin  the 
war.  Undoubtedly  this  was  contrary  to  the 
king's  wishes,  but  it  was  unavoidable.  It  was 
the  only  means  that  promised  to  enable  him, 
as  enable  him  it  did,  to  become  master  of  a 
tract  of  country  that  recognized  the  Spanish 
sovereignty.  He  kept  possession  of  Luxem- 
burg ;  he  invested  Namur ;  the  battle  of 
Gemblours  threw  Louvain  and  Limburg  into 
his  hands.  If  the  king  desired  to  become  once 
more  sovereign  of  the  Netherlands,  the  end 
was  not  to  be  obtained  by  treaty  with  the 
states  general,  the  impossibility  of  which  was 
apparent,  but  by  a  gradual  subjection  of  the 
several  districts,  either  in  the  way  of  negoti- 
ation or  by  force  of  arms.  The  latter  was  the 
course  adopted  by  Don  John,  and  already 
opened  out  the  most  extensive  prospects.  He 
awoke  again  the  old  feelings  of  attachment 
of  the  Walloon  provinces  to  the  Burgundian 
race  :  and  in  particular  he  gained  over  to  his 
side  two  powerful  individuals,  Pardieu  de  la 
Motte,  governor  of  Gravelines,  and  Matthieu 
JMoulart,  bishop  of  Arras.* 

These  were  the  men,  who  after  the  early 
death  of  John,  conducted  the  negotiations  on 
which  every  thing  depended  with  gi-eat  zeal 
and  fortunate  address. 

De  la  Motte  availed  himself  of  the  growing 
hatred  against  the  protestants.  He  effected 
the  removal  from  many  fortresses  of  the  gar- 
risons placed  in  them  by  the  estates,  on  the 
express  grounds  that  they  might  become  pro- 
testant,  and  prevailed  on  the  nobility  of  Ar- 
tois  to  determine  as  early  as  November  on  the 
expulsion  of  all  protestants  from  that  pro- 
vince, and  to  carry  the  resolution  into  opera- 
ration.  Hereupon  Matthieu  Molart  sought  to 
bring  about  a  complete  reconciliation  with  the 
king,  beginning  his  proceedings  with  a  formal 
procession  through  the  city  to  invoke  God's 
aid.  In  truth,  he  had  a  difficult  task  to  per- 
form, having  sometimes  to  effect  a  coalition 
between  men  whose  claims  were  directly  op- 


I 


*  That  they  were  won  over  in  Don  John's  time  appears 
from  the  two  following  passages.  1.  Strada  ii.  1,  p.  19. 
Pardiaeus  Mottae  dominus  non  redilurum  modo  se  ad  regis 
obedienliam,  sed  eliam  quampluressecumlracturum,  jam 
pridemsignificaratJoanni  Austriaco,  [Pardieu  de  laMolte 
had  already  signified  to  Don  John  of  Austria,  not  only  that 
he  would  himself  return  to  his  allegiance  to  the  king,  but 
that  he  would  bring  over  as  many  as  he  could  with  him.] 
2.  Tassis:  Episcopum  Alrebalensem  qui  vivenie  adhuc 
Austriaco  se  regi  conciliarat.  [The  bishop  of  Arras,  who 
had  become  reconciled  to  the  king  during  the  life  of  Don 
John.] 


A.  D.  1563-89.] 


CRISIS  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


191 


posed  to  each  other.  He  proved  himself  inde- 
fatigable, shrewd,  and  supple,  and  his  efforts 
were  crowned  with  success. 

Alexander  Farnese,  Don  John's  successor, 
possessed  the  valuable  gift  of  persuading,  con- 
ciliating, and  inspiring  lasting  confidence. 
He  was  supported  by  Francjois  Richardot, 
nephew  of  the  bishop,  '*  a  man,"  says  Cabrera, 
"of  sound  penetration  in  many  things,  and 
practised  in  all ;  one  who  knew  how  to  con- 
duct every  business,  be  it  of  what  kind  it 
might ;  and  Sarrazin,  abbot  of  Vaast,  accord- 
ing to  the  portraiture  of  the  same  Cabrera, 
"  a  great  statesman  under  the  show  of  still- 
ness, very  ambitious  under  the  show  of  humil- 
ity, and  one  who  knew  how  to  maintain  his 
consequence  in  every  one's  eyes."* 

We  cannot  follow  the  whole  course  of  the 
negociations  till  they  gradually  reached  their 
object. 

It  is  enough  to  observe,  that  on  the  side  of 
the  protestants  the  interests  of  self-preserva- 
tion and  of  religion  pointed  directly  to  the 
king,  while  on  the  part  of  the  latter  nothing 
was  omitted  that  priestly  influence  and  dex- 
terous negociation,  combined  with  the  return- 
ing favour  of  the  sovereign,  could  effect.  In 
1579  Emanuel  de  Montigny,  whom  the  Wal- 
loon arn)y  owned  for  their  leader,  accepted 
the  king's  pay.  His  example  was  followed 
by  the  count  de  Lalaing,  but  for  whom  Hen- 
negau  could  never  have  been  taken.  At  last, 
on  the  17th  of  May,  1579,  the  treaty  was  con- 
cluded in  the  camp  at  Maestricht.  But  to 
what  conditions  was  the  king  constrained  to 
yield  !  it  was  a  restoration  of  his  authority, 
but  under  the  strictest  limitations.  He  not 
only  promised  to  dismiss  all  foreigners  from 
his  army,  and  to  employ  no  troops  but  those 
raised  m  the  Netherlands ;  but  he  even  con- 
firmed all  existing  functionaries  in  the  ap- 
pointments they  had  received  during  the  trou- 
bles. The  inhabitants  even  pledged  them- 
selves to  receive  no  garrison,  of  which  infor- 
mation had  not  previously  been  given  to  the 
estates  of  the  country.  Two-thirds  of  the 
council  of  state  were  to  consist  of  men  who 
had  been  implicated  in  the  troubles.  All  the 
other  articles  are  in  the  same  spirit.f  The 
provinces  acquired  an  independence  such  as 
they  had  never  before  possessed. 

This  event  involved  a  turn  of  affairs  of  uni- 
versal importance.  Hitherto,  throughout  all 
the  west  of  Europe,  the  maintenance  and  re- 
introduction  of  Catholicism  had  only  been  at- 
tempted through  the  agency  of  public  author- 
ity ;  the  sovereign  power  had  endeavoured 
under  this  pretext  completely  to  crush  all 
provmcial  rights.  But  now  it  felt  itself  com- 
pelled to  adopt  another  course.  If  it  would 
restore  Catholicism  and  uphold  its  own  author- 


♦  Cabrera:  Felipe  segundo,  p.  1021. 
t  TasBis  gives  this  treaty  in  all  its  details,  book  t.  394— 
405. 


ity,  it  could  only  efiect  that  in  unison  with  con- 
stitutional assemblies  and  public  privileges. 

Yet  with  all  the  restrictions  imposed  on  it, 
the  royal  power  had  gained  immensely  :  it 
once  more  commanded  the  allegiance  of  those 
regions  on  which  the  greatness  of  the  house 
of  Burgundy  had  been  founded.  Alexander 
Farnese  carried  on  the  war  with  the  Walloon 
troops,  and  though  its  course  was  slow,  he 
continued  to  make  advances.  In  1.580  he 
look  Courtray,  Tournay  in  1581,  and  Oude- 
narde  in  1582. 

But  matters  were  not  decided  at  once  by 
these  events.  Probably  the  union  of  the  catho- 
lic provinces  with  the  king  was  the  very 
cause  that  induced  the  northern,  and  wholly 
protestant  provinces,  not  only  forthwith  to 
form  a  more  intimate  confederacy  among 
themselves,  but  finally  to  shake  off  the  king's 
yoke  altogether. 

Let  us  here  cast  a  glance  over  the  general 
field  of  the  history  of  the  Netherlands.  In  all 
the  provinces  there  was  a  strife  of  long  stand- 
ing, between  the  provincial  rights  and  the 
sovereign  authority.  In  Alva's  time  the  lat- 
ter acquired  an  ampler  ascendancy  than  it 
had  ever  before  possessed,  but  it  was  not  long 
able  to  retain  it.  The  treaty  of  Ghent  aft'ords 
proof  of  the  complete  superiority  the  estates 
had  won  over  the  government.  The  northern 
provinces  had  no  advantage  in  this  respect 
over  the  southern  :  had  they  both  been  united 
in  religion  they  would  have  founded  a  general 
republic  of  the  Netherlands:  but  their  sepa- 
ration was  caused,  as  we  have  seen,  by  their 
difference  in  faith.  The  first  consequence 
was,  that  the  catholics  returned  beneath  the 
king's  protection,  and  bound  themselves  with 
him  above  all  things  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  catholic  religion:  the  next  was,  that  the 
protestants,  after  so  long  maintaining  their 
ground  in  war,  at  last  repudiated  even  the 
name  of  subjection,  and  wholly  renounced 
their  allegiance  to  the  king.  Though  we 
give  the  name  of  the  subject  provinces  to  the 
one  set,  and  distinguish  the  others  by  the  title 
of  republic,  we  must  not  yet  suppose  that  the 
intrinsic  difference  between  them  was  at  first 
very  great.  Even  the  subject  provinces  main- 
tained all  constitutional  rights  with  the  great- 
est zeal ;  whilst  the  republican  could  not  dis- 
pense with  an  institution,  that  of  the  stadt- 
holdership,  which  was  analagous  to  the  royal 
authority.  The  grand  distinction  consisted  in 
religion. 

It  was  this  alone  that  brought  out  the  true 
principles  of  the  contest,  and  matured  the 
consummation. 

Philip  II.  had  just  conquered  Portugal :  at 
the  moment  when  he  was  stimulated  by  the 
happy  achievement  of  so  great  a  conquest 
to  embark  in  new  enterprizes,  the  Walloon 
estates  consented  at  last  to  the  return  of  the 
Spanish  troops. 


192 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD.       [a.  d.  1563-89. 


Lalaing  was  won  over,  and  with  him  his 
wife,  who  had  always  been  a  strenuous  oppo- 
nent of  the  Spaniards,  and  to  whom  their  ex- 
clusion was  principally  ascribed  :  the  whole 
Walloon  nobility  followed  their  example. 
Every  one  felt  assured  there  was  no  reason 
to  apprehend  a  return  of  Alva's  despotism 
and  its  horrors.  The  Spanish  army  already 
sent  away,  brought  back,  and  again  dismissed, 
arrived  once  more  in  the  country.  With  the 
troops  of  the  Netherlands  alone  the  war 
must  have  been  endlessly  protracted:  but 
the  superior  force  and  discipline  of  the 
Spanish  veterans  brought  the  conflict  to  a 
crisis. 

As  in  Germany  it  was  colonies  of  Jesuits, 
consisting  of  Spaniards,  Italians,  and  some 
Netherlander?,  that  restored  the  reign  of 
Catholicism  by  the  force  of  education  and  the 
inculcation  of  dogmas;  so  in  the  Nether- 
lands, an  Italico-Spanish  army  presented 
itself,  to  unite  with  the  Walloon  element  in 
bringing  about  the  ascendancy  of  the  catholic 
faith. 

At  this  point  of  history  it  is  impossible  to 
avoid  speaking  of  the  war :  its  course  was 
likewise  that  of  the  destinies  of  religion. 

In  July,  1583,  the  port  and  town  of  Dun- 
kirk were  taken  in  six  days ;  and  after  that 
Nieuport  and  the  whole  coast  as  far  as  Ostend, 
Dixnuiyden,  and  Fumes. 

Here  at  once  the  character  of  the  war  de- 
veloped itself.  In  every  thing  relating  to 
politics  the  Spaniards  evinced  moderation, 
but  they  were  inexorable  in  every  thing  per- 
taining to  the  church.  It  was  not  to  be 
thought  of  that  a  church,  or  even  the  right  of 
private  worship  should  be  accorded  to  the 
protestants ;  all  the  preachers  of  that  per- 
suasion who  were  caught  were  hanged.  The 
war  was  deliberately  carried  on  as  a  war  of 
religion.  This  was,  indeed,  in  a  certain 
sense,  the  most  prudent  system  under  the  ex- 
isting state  of  things  :  no  complete  subjection 
of  the  protestants  could  ever  have  been  eflfect- 
ed  ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  so  decided  a 
line  of  conduct  allied  to  the  Spanish  side 
every  jot  of  Catholicism  the  provinces  con- 
tained, and  bespoke  their  spontaneous  co-ope- 
ration. The  baillui  Servaes  of  Zealand  gave 
up  the  whole  country  of  Waes  to  the  royal- 
ists; Hulst  and  Axel  voluntarily  surrendered. 
Alexander  Farnese  was  soon  strong  enough 
to  contemplate  an  attack  on  the  great  cities ; 
he  was  already  master  of  the  inland  country 
and  the  coasts.  One  after  the  other,  Ypres 
in  the  month  of  April,  then  Bruges,  and  finally 
Ghent,  where  Imbize  himself  had  become  a 
partisan  of  the  reconciliation  with  Spain, 
were  forced  to  surrender.  Very  tolerable 
terms  were  granted  to  the  communes  in  their 
corporate  capacity  ;  they  were  left  for  the 
most  part  in  possession  of  their  privileges : 
only  the  protestants  were  proscribed  without 


mercy.  The  chief  conditions  were  in  every 
case  that  the  catholic  clergy  should  return, 
and  that  the  churches  should  be  appropriated 
to  the  exercise  of  the  catholic  ritual. 

But  notwithstanding  all  this,  nothing  per- 
manent seemed  effected,  no  security  seemed 
gained,  so  long  as  the  prince  of  Orange  lived 
to  give  stability  and  force  to  the  opposition, 
and  to  keep  alive  a  spark  of  hope  even  in  the 
vanquished. 

The  Spaniards  had  set  a  price  of  twenty- 
five  thousand  crowns  on  his  head,  and  amidst 
all  the  fierce  excitement  of  the  times,  there 
could  be  no  lack  of  men  who  would  seek  to 
earn  it,  prompted  at  once  by  avarice  and 
fanaticism.  I  know  not  if  there  exist  a  more 
shocking  example  of  blasphemy  than  that  ex- 
hibited in  the  papers  of  the  Biscayan  Jaure- 
guy,  which  were  found  upon  him  on  the  occa- 
sion of  his  attempting  the  life  of  the  prince. 
He  carried  about  him,  in  the  fashion  of  an  amu- 
let, prayers,  in  which  he  invoked  the  merciful 
Deity,  who  appeared  to  men  in  the  person  of 
Christ,  to  aid  the  murder  with  his  favour,  pro- 
mising that  Being  a  part  of  the  booty,  as  it 
were,  should  the  deed  be  successful,  viz.  for 
the  mother  of  God  of  Bayonne  a  garment,  a 
lamp,  and  a  crown ;  for  the  mother  of  God  of 
Aranzosu  a  crown,  and  for  the  Lord  Christ 
himself  a  very  rich  curtain"!*  Fortunately 
this  fanatic  was  seized,  but  another  was  alrea- 
dy meditating  the  same  crime.  The  thought 
of  perpetrating  it  had  possessed  the  mind  of  a 
Burgundian,  Balthazar  Gerard,  who  resided 
in  Maestricht,  at  the  moment  the  act  of  out- 
lawry was  proclaimed  in  that  city.f  The 
hopes  he  cherished  of  earthly  fortune  and 
glory  should  he  succeed,  of  the  fame  of  a  mar- 
tyr should  he  perish  in  the  attempt,  hopes  in 


*  Contemporary  copy  of  a  vow,  and  of  certain  prayers 
found  in  ihe  form  of  an  amulet  upon  Jameguy  ;  in  Lord 
F.  Egerton's  collection.  "A  vos,  Senor  Jesus  Chrislo, 
redemplor  y  Salvador  del  mundo,  criador  del  cielo  y  de  la 
tierra,  os  oft'rezco,  siendo  os  seivido  librarme  con  vida 
despues  de  haver  etfeciuado  mi  desi  o,  un  belo  muy  rico." 
[To  you  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Redeemer  and  Saviour  of  the 
world,  creator  of  heaven  and  earth,  I  offer,  on  your  bring- 
ing me  otf  with  life,  after  having  etfected  my  purpose,  a 
very  rich  curtain.]    And  so  it  goes  on. 

t  Relatione  del  successo  della  morte  di  Guilielmodi 
Nassau  principe  di  Orange,  e  delli  tormenti  patiti  del 
generosissimo  giovane  Baldassarre  Gerardi  Boriiognone : 
Inf  Polilt.  xii.  [An  account  of  the  d  ath  of  William  of 
Nassau,  Prince  of  Orange,  and  of  the  tortures  endured  by 
that  most  gallant  youth  Balthazar  Gerard,]  contains  some 
particulars  at  variance  with  the  ordinary  statements. 
"  Gerard  i,  la  cui  mad  re,  6  di  Bisansone,  d'anni-i8  incirca, 
giovane  non  nieno  dolto  che  eloquente."  [Gerard,  whose 
mother  is  from  Besangon,  aged  about  twenty  eight,  a 
young  man  no  less  learned  than  eloquent.]  He  had  en- 
tertained this  project  six  years  and  a  half  "  Otferendosi 
dunque  ropportunili  di  portar  le  letteredel  duca  d'Alan- 
sone  al  Nassau,  essendogiiXluigenlilhuomodi  casa,  alii  7 
Luglio  un  hora  e  mezzo  dopo  pranso,  uscendo  il  principe 
della  tavola,  scargandoli  un  archibugelto,  con  tre  pallo  gli 
colse  solto  la  zinna  manca  e  gli  fece  una  ferita  di  due  diti, 
coUa  quale  I'ammazzo."  [The  opportunity,  therefore, 
presenting  itself  of  carrying  tlie  duke  d'Alenron's  letters, 
he  being  a  gentleman  of  his  household,  on  the  7lh  uf  July, 
an  hour  and  a  half  after  dinner,  as  the  prince  came  from 
table,  he  discharged  an  arquebuss  at  him,  and  struck  un- 
der the  left  breast  with  three  balls,  inflicting  a  wound  two 
fingers'  breadth,  of  which  he  died.] 


A.  D.  1563-89.] 


CRISIS  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


193 


which  he  had  been  confirmed  by  a  Jesuit  of 
Trier,  had  ever  since  given  him  no  rest  till 
he  set  out  to  accomplish  the  deed.  He  repre- 
sented himself  to  the  prince  as  a  fugitive,  and 
so  having-  gained  admission  to  him  and  a  fa- 
vourable moment,  he  shot  him  dead  in  the 
month  of  July,  1584.  He  was  seized  :  but  not 
all  the  tortures  inflicted  on  him  could  force 
from  him  one  groan  :  he  persisted  in  saying, 
were  the  deed  yet  to  be  done,  he  would  do  it. 
Whilst  he  was  expiring  in  Delft  amidst  the 
the  execrations  of  the  people,  the  canons  in 
Herzogenbusch  performed  a  solemn  Te  Deum 
for  his  achievement. 

The  passions  of  both  parties  were  in  fierce 
commotion;  but  the  impulse  they  gave  the 
catholics  was  the  stronger  :  it  accomplished 
its  purpose,  and  bore  away  the  victory. 

Had  the  prince  lived  he  would,  it  is  thought, 
have  found  means  to  relieve  Antwerp,  which 
was  besieged,  according  to  his  promise.  As 
it  was,  there  was  no  one  capable  of  taking 
his  place. 

Now  the  enterprize  against  Antwerp  was 
so  comprehensive  in  its  scope,  that  the  other 
important  towns  of  Brabant  were  directly  as- 
sailed by  it.  The  prince  of  Parma  cut  them 
all  off  from  supplies  of  provisions.  Brussels 
was  the  first  to  surrender,  being  forced  thereto 
by  the  factions  that  broke  out  as  soon  as  that 
city,  habituated  to  the  enjoyment  of  lavish 
abundance,  saw  itself  threatened  with  want. 
Mechlin  fell  next,  and  finally  Antwerp  was 
obliged  to  yield,  on  the  failure  of  its  last  at- 
tempt to  break  its  dams,  and  efl^ect  a  means  of 
transit  for  provisions  from  the  country. 

The  mildest  conditions  were  imposed  on 
these  Brabantish  cities  too,  as  well  as  on  those 
of  Flanders.  Brussels  was  exempted  from 
the  payment  of  contributions;  Antwerp  receiv- 
ed the  assurance  that  no  Spanish  garrison 
should  be  quartered  in  the  city,  and  that  the 
citadel  was  not  to  be  repaired.  One  sole 
obligation  was  imposed  on  them  all,  that 
the  churches  and  chapels  should  be  restored, 
and  the  exiled  priests  and  regular  clergy  re- 
called. The  king  insisted  on  this  with  im- 
movable firmness  :  he  said  it  must  be  the  first 
and  the  last  stipulation  in  every  agreement. 
The  only  grace  to  which  he  would  consent 
was,  that  two  years  should  be  allowed  the 
residents  in  each  place  either  to  change  their 
religion,  or  to  sell  their  property  and  quit  the 
Spanish  territories. 

How  completely  changed  were  the  times. 
The  day  had  been  when  iMiilip  II.  himself  had 
scrupled  to  permit  the  establishment  of  the 
Jesuits  in  the  Netherlands,  and  subsequently 
they  had  frequently  been  menaced,  assailed, 
and  banished.  They  now  returned  in  the 
sequel  of  the  events  of  the  war,  and  that  under 
the  decided  protection  of  the  government. 
The  Farnesi  were  moreover  special  patrons 
of  the  society  :  Alexander  had  a  Jesuit  for  his 
25 


confessor,  and  he  looked  on  the  order  as  the 
most  efficient  instrument  for  entirely  recover- 
ing to  Catholicism  tiie  half  protestant  country 
he  had  conquered,  and  so  completing  the  main 
design  of  the  war.*  The  first  place  to  which 
they  returned  was  the  same  that  liad  been 
first  conquered,  Courtray.  The  parish  priest 
of  the  town,  Jean  David,  had  become  ac<iuaint- 
ed  with  the  Jesuits  during  his  exile  at  Douay : 
on  his  return  now,  his  first  step  was  to  enter 
the  order,  admonishing  the  inhabitants  in  his 
farewell  discourse,  no  longer  to  suffer  them- 
selves to  be  deprived  of  the  spiritual  aid  of 
the  society,  nor  were  they  slow  to  follow  his 
advice.  Next  the  aged  John  Montagna,  who 
had  been  the  first  to  introduce  the  society  into 
Tournay,  whence  he  had  more  than  once  been 
forced  to  fly,  returned  to  establish  it  tliere  for- 
ever. The  Jesuits  entered  Ypres  and  Bruges 
instantly  on  their  surrender  ;  the  king  cheer- 
fully granted  them  certain  convents  that  had 
been  deserted  during  the  troubles.  In  Ghent 
the  house  of  the  great  demagogue  Imbize, 
who  had  originated  all  mischief  to  Catholicism, 
was  fitted  up  for  their  reception.  The  people 
of  Antwerp  endeavoured  to  stipulate,  on  their 
surrender,  that  no  other  orders  should  be  forced 
upon  them  than  those  which  had  existed 
among  them  in  the  days  of  Charles  V. ;  but 
this  was  not  conceded  ;  they  were  compelled 
to  receive  back  the  Jesuits,  and  to  restore  the 
buildings  to  them  they  had  formerly  possessed. 
The  historian  of  the  order  complacently  re- 
lates this  circumstance,  and  remarks  it  as  a 
special  instance  of  divine  favour,  that  the 
society  received  back  free  from  debt  what 
they  had  left  encumbered :  the  property  had 
passed  in  the  interim  through  more  than  two 
or  three  diflferent  hands,  but  it  was  now  re- 
stored to  them  without  further  inquiry.  Brus- 
sels could  not  escape  the  common  lot:  the 
town  council  declared  its  assent :  the  prince 
of  Parma  granted  a  subsidy  from  the  royal 
cofters,  and  very  soon  the  Jesuits  were  estab- 
lished in  that  city  likewise.  The  prince  had 
already  solemnly  granted  them  the  right  to 
hold  real  estates  under  ecclesiastical  jurisdic- 
tion, and  freely  to  enjoy  in  these  provinces 
the  privileges  conferred  on  them  by  the  apos- 
tolic see. 

*  Sacchinus  :  Alexandre  el  privati  ejus  consilii  viris  ea 
stabat  sententia,  utquaeqiiereci|)iebaturex  haereliciscivi- 
tas, continue  fere  iueam  inmiui  socittatemdebc  re:  valere 
id  turn  ad  pielatein  privaiam  civium  lum  ad  pacem  Iran- 
ciuillitatemque  intelligebant.  (Pars  v.  lib.  iv.  n.  58.)  [It 
was  the  decided  opinion  of  Alexander  and  his  inlimate 
advisers,  tliat  the  society  sliould  be  immediately  in- 
troduced into  every  city  recovered  from  the  heretics, 
believing  this  to  be  equally  conducive  to  the  piety 
of  the  citizens  as  individuals,  and  to  the  public  peace 
and  tranquillity.]  According  to  the  Imago  primi  seculi, 
this  was  also  llie  will  of  the  king,  "qui  recens  datis  da 
hoc  argumento  Uteris  ducem  cum  cura  monuerat  ut  socie_- 
tatis  praesidio  munire  satageret  praecipuas  quasipie  Belgii 
civitaies''  [who  had  recently  given  his  sedulous  injunc- 
tions to  the  general,  in  dispatches  on  this  subject,  to  fill 
all  the  chief  cilies  of  Belgium  with  members  of  the  soci- 
ety] ;  statements  which  are  sufficiently  borne  out  by  the 
facts. 


194 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD.         [a.  d.  1563-89. 


The  order  of  Jesuits  was  not  the  only  one 
that  was  favoured  with  his  protection.  In  the 
year  1585,  he  was  joined  by  some  Capucliins, 
for  whose  permanent  residence  in  the  Nether- 
lands he  obtained  permission  by  a  special  let- 
ter to  the  pope:  he  then  purchased  a  house 
for  them  in  Antwerp.  They  produced  a  great 
effect  even  upon  the  members  of  the  other 
branch  of  their  own  order.  The  pope  found 
it  necessary  to  forbid  the  other  Franciscans, 
by  express  command,  from  adopting  the  re- 
forms instituted  by  the  Capuchins. 

All  these  arrangements  gradually  brought 
forth  immense  results.  They  converted  Bel- 
gium, already  half  protestant,  into  one  of  the 
most  catholic  countries  in  the  world.  It  is 
also  undeniable  that  they  contributed,  at  least 
in  the  beginning,  to  the  re-establishment  of 
the  kingly  authority. 

Owing  to  these  results,  the  opinion  grew 
to  be  more  and  more  firmly  entertained,  that 
only  one  religion  ought  to  be  tolerated  in  a 
Btate.  This  is  one  of  the  main  principles  of 
policy  as  expounded  by  Justus  Lipsius.  "  In 
matters  of  religion,"  he  says,  "  no  favour  or 
indulgence  is  admissible  :  the  true  mercy  is  to 
be  merciless ;  to  save  many  we  must  not  shrink 
from  getting  rid  of  a  few  :" — a  maxim  that  no 
where  found  greater  currency  than  in  Ger- 
many. 

Progress  of  the  Counter-Reformation  in 
Germany. 

Now  the  Netherlands  were,  after  all,  a  cir- 
cle of  the  Germanic  empire  :  naturally,  there- 
fore, the  events  that  occurred  in  them  must 
have  exercised  a  great  influence  over  the 
concerns  of  Germany.  The  decision  of  the 
affairs  of  Cologne  was  amongst  their  imme- 
diate results. 

The  Spanish  troops  had  not  yet  returned, 
much  less  had  the  great  triumphs  of  Catholi- 
cism been  achieved,  when  the  elector  Truch- 
sess  of  Cologne  resolved,  in  November  1.562, 
to  confess  the  reformed  doctrine  and  take  a 
wife,  without  designing  the  more  to  surrender 
his  archbishopric.  He  had  on  his  side  the 
greater  part  of  the  nobility,  the  counts  of  Nue- 
nar,  Sohns,  Wittgenstein,  Wied,  Nassau,  the 
whole  duchy  of  VVestphalia,  and  all  those  who 
professed  tlie  evangelical  creed.  The  elector 
marched  into  Bonn  with  ihe  Bible  in  one 
hand,  and  the  sword  in  the  other ;  whilst  Casi- 
mir  of  the  Palatinate  took  the  field  with  no 
inconsiderable  force  to  reduce  the  city  of  Co- 
logne, the  chapter,  and  the  archiepiscopal 
functionaries  who  opposed  Truchsess. 

We  meet  with  this  Casimir  of  the  Palatinate 
in  all  the  transactions  of  those  times  :  we  find 
him  always  ready  to  mount  his  horse,  and  to 
draw  his  sword,  always  havingathisback  war- 
like troops  of  protestant  sentiments:  but  rarely 
do  we  see  him  obtain  any  important  success. 


He  waged  war  neither  with  the  entire  ear- 
nestness of  purpose  demanded  by  a  religious 
cause  (having,  in  every  instance,  his  own 
private  interest  in  view,)  nor  with  the  energy 
and  science  that  were  brought  against  him. 
\n  the  present  case  he  laid  waste  the  flat 
country  of  his  antagonists,  but  for  the  main 
object  of  the  war  he  accomplished  a  mere 
nothing.*  He  made  no  conquests,  and  was 
unable  to  procure  himself  further  aid  among 
the  protestants  of  Germany. 

The  catholic  powers,  on  the  contrary,  gath- 
ered together  all  their  strength.  Pope  Gre- 
gory did  not  abandon  the  matter  to  the  delays 
of  a  curial  process,  deeming  that  a  simple  con- 
sistory of  cardinals  was  competent,  in  the  ex- 
isting emergency,  to  decide  so  weighty  a  case, 
and  to  despoil  a  German  elector  of  his  archi- 
episcopal dignily.f  His  nuncio,  Malaspina, 
had  hastened  at  once  to  Cologne,  where,  with 
the  special  co-operation  of  the  learned  mem- 
bers of  the  chapter,  he  succeeded  not  only  in 
unseating  all  those  who  were  less  decided  par- 
tisans of  Rome,  but  also  in  advancing  to  the 
archiepiscopal  throne,  a  prince  of  the  only  still 
thoroughly  catholic  house,  duke  Earnest  of 
Bavaria,  bishop  of  Freisingen.  Hereupon  a 
German  catholic  army  appeared  in  the  field, 
furnished  by  the  duke  of  Bavaria,  not  without 
subsidies  from  the  pope.  The  emperor  lost 
no  time  in  threatening  the  count  palatine  Casi- 
mir with  ban  and  double  ban,  and  in  sending 
warning  letters  to  his  troops,  which  eventual- 
ly caused  the  breaking  up  of  the  army  of  the 
Palatinate.  When  matters  had  come  to  thia 
pass,  the  Spaniards  likevv^ise  made  their  ap- 
pearance. They  had  taken  Ziitphen  in  the 
summer  of  15S3:  they  now  threw  3500  Belgian 
veterans  into  the  archbishopric.  Gebhard 
Truchsess  was  forced  to  succumb  to  the  num- 
bers of  his  enemies :  his  troops  would  not  serve 
in  defiance  of  an  imperial  mandate;  his  prin- 
cipal fortress  surrendered  to  the  Bavaro-Span- 
ish  army  ;  he  himself  was  compelled  to  fly  and 
seek  refuge  and  asylum  with  the  prince  of 
Orange,  by  whose  side  he  had  hoped  to  stand 
as  a  defender  of  protestantism. 

These  events  were,  as  may  be  supposed, 
most  influential  towards  the  complete  estab- 
lishment of  Catholicism  in  the  electorate. 
From  the  first  outbreak  of  the  troubles  the 
clergy  of  the  archbishopric  had  suspended  all 
their  internal  dissensions  ;  the  nuncio  removed 
all  suspected  members;  amidst  all  the  din  of 
arms  a  Jesuit  church  was  founded  ;  when  the 
victory  was  won,  no  more  was  needed  than  to 
continue  the  course  already  pursued.  Truch- 
sess had  driven  out  the  catliolic  clergy  from 
Westphalia ;  they  now  returned  along  with 

*  Isselt,  Historia  belli  Coloniensis,  p.  1092:  Toto  hac 
Eeslate  nihil  hoc  e.xercitu  (lignum  egit. 

f  Maffei,  Annali  di  Gregorio  XIII.  ii.  12.  8.  Letter  from 
Malaspina  to  duke  Wm-  of  Bavaria  in  Adlzreilter,  ii.  12. 
295.  "Quod  cupicbamur,"  it  is  said  ia  it,  "  impetra- 
vimus." 


1563-89.]  PROGRESS  OF  COUNTER  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY.  195 


all  other  fiig-itives,  and  were  held  in  high  hon- 
our.* The  evangelical  canons  remained  ex- 
cluded from  their  benefices,  and,  what  was 
unprecedented,  they  did  not  even  receive  their 
incomes  any  lon^-er.  The  papal  nuncios  were, 
it  is  true,  obliged  to  deal  tenderly  with  tiie 
catholics;  pope  Sixtus  was  well  aware  of  this, 
and  commanded  his  nuncio  by  no  means  to 
begin  the  reforms  he  deemed  necessary,  so 
long  as  he  was  not  aware  that  all  were  inclin- 
ed to  adopt  them.  But  even  in  this  cautious 
way  the  desired  object  was  imperceptibly  ob- 
tained; the  canons,  however  illustrious  might 
be  their  descent,  at  last  began  again  to  fulfil 
their  clerical  duties  in  the  cathedral.  The 
Cologne  council,  which  was  opposed  by  a  pro- 
testant  party  in  the  city,  afforded  a  vigorous 
support  to  catholic  opinion. 

The  effects  of  this  great  revolution  could 
not  but  be  felt  in  all  the  other  spiritual  terri- 
tories, and  they  were  further  corroborated  in 
the  neighbouriiood  of  Cologne  by  a  particular 
incident.  Henry  Saxe  Lauenburg  (the  same 
whom  we  have  seen  disposed  to  imitate  Geb- 
hard's  example,  had  he  been  successful), 
bishop  of  Paderborn  and  Osnabriick,  and  arch- 
bishop of  Bremen,  rode  on  Sunday  in  April 
1585  from  the  house  of  Vohrde  to  church  ;  on 
his  way  back  his  horse  fell,  and  though  he 
was  young  and  vigorous,  and  had  not  received 
any  serious  wound,  he  died,  nevertheless,  of 
the  consequences  of  the  fall  in  the  same  month. 
The  elections  that  ensued  turned  out  greatly 
to  the  advantage  of  Catholicism.  The  new 
bishop  of  Osnabriick,  at  least,  signed  the  pro- 
fessio  Jidei;\  but  a  more  decided  zealot  for 
Catholicism  was  the  new  bishop  of  Paderborn, 
Theodor  von  Fiirstenberg.  As  canon  he  had 
formerly  opposed  his  predecessor,  and  had,  in 
the  year  1580,  etFected  the  passing  of  a  sta- 
tute to  the  effect  that,  for  the  future,  only 
catholics  should  be  admitted  into  the  chapter.]: 
He  had  already,  too,  admitted  a  few  Jesuits, 
and  allowed  them  to  preach  in  the  cathedral, 
and  to  take  charge  of  the  upper  classes  in  the 
gymnasium  ;  the  latter  upon  the  condition  that 
they  should  not  wear  the  dress  of  their  order. 
But  now  that  he  was  himself  become  the 
bishop,  it  was  vastly  more  easy  for  him  to 
carry  out  the  views  of  his  party.     There  was 


*  "The  elector  Ernest,"  says  Khevenhiller,  "has  es- 
tablished anew,  in  accordance  with  ancient  usage,  both 
the  catholic  religion  and  the  temporal  government." 

t  According  to  Strunck,  Anuales  Paderbornenses,  p. 
514,  Bernard  Von  Waldeck  had,  at  an  earlier  period,  in- 
clined to  protestantism;  during  the  troubles  in  Cobigne 
he  had  remained  neuter,  and  now  he  professed  the  catho- 
lic creed.  Chrytraeus  (Saxonia,  812)  does  not  contradict 
him, 

t  Bessen,  Geschichte  von  Paderborn,  il.  123.  In  Reif- 
fenberg,  Historia  provinciae  ad  Rhenum  inferiorem,  lib. 
viil.  c.  1,  p.  185,  there  is  a  letter  from  pope  Gregory  XIII., 
"dilectis  filiis  canonicis  et  capitulo  ecclesiae  Paderbor- 
nensis,"  6ih  Febr.  1.581,  in  which  he  praises  this  refrac- 
tory disposition :  "  It  is  right  it  should  be  thus :  the  more 
you  are  attacked  the  more  vigorous  must  be  your  resist- 
ance ;  he,  the  pope,  bears  iu  hia  heart  the  fathers  of  the 
society  of  Jesus." 


no  longer  any  occasion  for  the  Jesuits  to  con- 
ceal their  presence ;  the  gymnasium  was 
openly  transferred  to  them ;  and  they  were 
permitted  not  only  to  preach  but  to  cate- 
chize. They  had  abundant  occupation.  The 
town  council  was  thoroughly  protestant,  and 
there  were  hardly  any  catholics  amongst  the 
burghers.  The  Jesuits  compared  Paderborn 
to  a  sterile  field  that  gave  the  husbandman 
extraordinary  toil,  and  yet  would  yield  him  no 
return.  At  last,  however,  as  we  shall  see  by 
and  by,  by  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century  their  obstinate  industry  had  prevailed. 

The  death  of  Henry  of  ISaxe  Lauenburg 
was  an  event  of  moment  for  Miinster  like- 
wise, where  no  election  had  hitherto  been 
made,  since  the  younger  canons  were  for 
Henry,  and  the  elder  against  him.  Now  was 
duke  Ernest  of  Bavaria,  elector  of  Cologne, 
and  bishop  of  Liege,  chosen  bishop  also  of 
JNliinster.  This  was  effected  chiefly  by  dean 
Raesfeld,  the  most  decided  catholic  in  the 
diocese,  who  dying  bequeathed  twelve  thou- 
sand rix  dollars  to  found  a  Jesuit  college. 
The  first  Jesuits  arrived  in  the  year  1587. 
They  met  with  resistance  on  the  part  of  the 
canons,  the  preachers,  and  the  burghers,  but 
they  were  supported  by  the  council  and  by  the 
prince.  Their  schools  gradually  displayed 
their  extraordinary  merits  :  in  the  third  year 
they  are  said  to  have  counted  a  thousand  pu- 
pils. At  the  same  period,  1.590,  they  were 
put  on  a  thoroughly  independent  footing,  by  a 
voluntary  grant  of  church  property  conferred 
on  them  by  the  prince.* 

Elector  Ernest  possessed  also  the  bishopric 
of  Hildesheim.  Although  his  power  was 
much  more  circumscribed  in  that  diocese, 
still  he  contributed  even  there  to  the  intro- 
duction of  the  Jesuits.  The  first  Jesuit  who 
entered  Hildesheim  was  a  native  of  that  place, 
John  Hammer,  who  had  been  educated  in  the 
Lutheran  faith,  (his  father  was  still  living,) 
but  who  was  filled  with  all  the  zeal  of  a  pro- 
selyte. He  preached  with  exceeding  clear- 
ness, and  succeeded  in  making  some  brilliant 
conversions.  He  gradually  made  good  his 
tooting,  and  in  1590  the  Jesuits  had  a  resi- 
dence and  a  pension  in  Hildesheim. 

We  perceive  how  important  the  Catholicism 
of  the  house  of  Bavaria  now  became  for  Lower 
as  well  as  Upper  Germany.  We  see  a  Ba- 
varian prince  appearing  at  once  in  so  many 
dioceses  as  the  great  supporter  of  the  catholic 
faith. 

But  it  must  not  be  imagined  that  this  prince 
was  personally  very  zealous  and  devout.  He 
had  natural  children  ;  and  the  opinion  was  at 
one  time  entertained,  that  he  would  end  by 
adopting  the  same  course  as  Gebhard  Truch- 
sess.  It  is  very  remarkable  how  cautiously 
pope    Sixtus  dealt   with  him.     He  careful!' 

*  Sacchinus,  pars  v.,  lib.  8,  n.  83—91.  Reiffenberg,  His- 
toria provinciae  ad  Khenum  inferiorera,  i.  ix.  vi. 


196 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.     FIRST  PERIOD.  [a.  d.  1563-89. 


avoided  letting  Ernest  know  that  he  was 
aware  of  his  irregularities,  well  as  he  was 
acquainted  with  them  ;  for  otherwise  there 
would  have  been  need  of  admonitions  and  de- 
monstrations, that  mig-ht  easily  have  driven 
the  self-willed  prince  to  resolutions  to  be 
deprecated.* 

In  fact,  for  a  long  time  yet,  the  affairs  of 
Germany  would  not  bear  to  be  treated  in  the 
same  style  as  that  pursued  in  the  Netherlands. 
They  demanded  the  most  delicate  attention 
to  personal  considerations. 

Though  duke  William  of  Cleves  adhered 
outwardly  to  the  catholic  confession,  his  po- 
licy was  nevertheless  wholly  protestant;  he 
cheerfully  afforded  shelter  and  protection  to 
protestant  fugitives ;  excluded  his  son,  John 
William,  who  was  a  zealous  catholic,  from 
all  share  in  public  affairs.  Rome  might  easily 
have  been  tempted  to  evince  displeasure  and 
resentment  at  such  conduct,  and  to  favour  the 
opposition  to  that  prince's  government.  But 
Sixtus  V.  was  tar  too  prudent  to  do  any  such 
thing.  It  was  not  till  the  prince  pressed  for 
it  so  earnestly  that  it  could  no  longer  be 
avoided  without  offence,  that  the  nuncio  ven- 
tured to  hold  a  meeting  with  him  in  Diissel- 
V  dorf,  and  then  he  exhorted  him  above  all 
things  to  patience.  The  pope  would  not  have 
him  receive  the  order  of  the  golden  fleece,  for 
that  might  have  excited  suspicion.  Again, 
he  did  not  intercede  directly  with  the  father 
in  favour  of  the  son;  any  connexion  of  the 
latter  with  Rome  would  have  given  umbrage; 
it  was  only  through  the  emperor's  mediation, 
prompted  by  himself,  that  Sixtus  endeavoured 
to  obtain  for  the  prince  a  position  more  suit- 
able to  iiis  birth.  He  instructed  his  nuncio 
to  let  certain  things  pass  as  though  he  noticed 
them  not.  This  considerate  forbearance  on 
the  part  of  a  fully  recognized  authority,  failed 
not  of  Its  natural  effect.  The  nuncio,  after 
all,  gradually  acquired  influence,  so  that 
when  the  protestants  applied  to  the  diet  for 
some  concessions,  it  was  chiefly  owing  to  his 
representations  that  they  Vt^ere  refused.f 

Thus,  throughout  a  great  part  of  Lower 
Germany,  Catholicism,  if  not  instantaneously 
restored,  was  yet  upheld  in  its  hour  of  peril, 
fixed  and  corroborated  :  it  acquired  a  superi- 
ority that  in  course  of  time  might  grow  into 
complete  ascendency. 

A  similar  course  of  events  took  place  im- 
mediately in  Upper  Germany. 

We  have  mentioned  the  condition  of  the 
bishoprics  in  Franconia.  A  resolute  bishop  *  l^^^,.  ^f  Hermann  von  derDecken,  (for  Becken  must 
might  readily  have  conceived  the  project  of  i  be  a  false  reading,)  ti  Dec.  1582,  in  Schmidt.  Pliiseldeck, 
employing  them  towards  the  attainment  of  Hisioi-ischen  Miscrllaneen,  i.  25  "Upon  the  suuemema 
,  y.  ^  and  Eoljcitalion  of  the  legate,  the  bishop  ol  Wurzburg 
neredltary  power.  |  begged  a  little  time  lor  reflection,  instantly  ordered  his 
1 1  was  probably  such  a  thought  as  this  that  i  horses  and  his  retinue  to  be  in  readiness,  and  determined 
i„  T,,i;  _  w„i  i „*•  i\i„„ iV, ,  u  .11  '  to  mount  and  ride  over  to  the  elector  of  Saiony,  and  corn- 
made  Julius  Echter,  of  Mespelbronn,  who  still    pi^^^  ^f  ^^^^  unheard  of  impoaunity  on  the  pope's  part, 

very  young  and  enterprising  by  nature,  was  "  '  '  '   '         '  '  "~ 


appointed  bishop  of  Wiirzburg  in  the  year 
1573,  hesitate  a  moment  as  to  what  line  of 
politics  he  should  adopt. 

He  took  an  active  part  in  the  expulsion  of 
the  abbot  of  Fulda,  and  it  cannot  certainly 
have  been  any  strongly  pronounced  catholic 
sentiments,  that  brought  the  chapter  and  the 
states  of  Fulda  in  contact  with  him.  The 
restoration  of  Catholicism  was  precisely  the 
main  charge  they  brought  against  their  abbot. 
This  affair  also  caused  the  bishop  to  fall  into 
a  misunderstanding  with  Rome :  Gregory 
XIII.  commanded  him  to  restore  Fulda ;  and 
he  did  this  at  the  very  moment  when  Truch- 
sess  declared  his  revolt.  Hereupon  bishop 
Julius  prepared  to  return  to  Saxony,  and 
invoke  the  aid  of  the  head  of  the  Lutherans 
against  the  pope.  He  was  in  close  connec- 
tion with  Truchsess,  and  the  latter  conceived 
the  hope  that  the  bishop  of  Wurzburg  would 
follow  his  example.  The  envoy  of  Henry  of 
Saxe  Lauenburg,  archbishop  of  Bremen,  an- 
nounces this  with  great  satisfaction  to  his 
master.* 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  hard  to  say 
vvliat  bishop  Julius  would  have  done,  had 
Truchsess  kept  his  ground  in  Cologne:  but 
after  the  latter's  complete  failure,  not  only 
could  he  not  think  of  imitating  him,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  he  adopted  a  totally  opposite 
course. 

May  it  be,  that  the  sum  and  substance  of 
his  wishes  had  only  been  to  acquire  absolute 
power  in  his  own  dominions?  Or  was  he 
really,  and  at  heart,  possessed  by  strictly 
catholic  convictions?  He  was,  after  all,  a 
pupil  of  the  Jesuits,  brought  up  in  the  Colle- 
gium Romanum.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  he 
undertook,  in  the  year  1584,  a  visitation  of 
the  churches  in  a  catholic  spirit,  such  as  had 
never  before  been  paralleled  in  Germany,  and 
he  carried  it  through  in  person  with  all  the 
vigour  of  a  determined  will. 

He  travelled  through  his  dominions  accom- 
panied by  some  Jesuits.  He  first  went  to 
Gmiinden ;  from  thence  to  Arnstein,  Werneck, 
and  Ilassfurt;  and  so  on  from  circle  to  circle. 
In  every  town  he  summoned  the  burgomaster 
and  the  council  before  him,  and  announced  to 
them  his  resolution  of  extirpating  the  errors 
of  protestantism.  The  preachers  were  re- 
moved, and  their  places  filled  by  pupils  of  the 
Jesuits.  If  any  functionary  refused  to  attend 
catholic  worship,  he  was  dismissed  without 


*  Tempesti,  Vita  di  Sislo  V.,  torn.  1,  p.  354. 
t  Tempesti :  Vila  di  Sisio  V.  I.  i.  p.  359. 


and  to  press  for  counsel,  help,  and  consolation. 
The  lord  elector  (of  Cologne)  had  great  hopes  of  the  most 
reverend  bishops,  that  their  princely  graces  would  revolt 
from  the  pope." 


D.  1563-89.]     PROGRESS  OF  COUNTER  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY.        197 


mercy,  and  there  were  always  orthodox  can- 
didates ready  to  till  the  vacant  place.  But 
even  all  private  individuals  were  compelled 
to  attend  catholic  worship;  they  were  left  to 
choose  only  between  the  mass  and  exile : 
whoever  regarded  the  religion  of  his  prince  as 
an  abomination,  was  not  to  have  lot  or  part  in 
his  territory.*  It  was  in  vain  the  neighbour- 
ing- princes  remonstrated  against  these  pro- 
ceedings. Bishop  Julius  used  to  say,  it  was 
not  what  he  did  that  gave  him  any  qualms  of 
conscience,  but  that  he  was  so  lute  in  doing 
it.  The  Jesuits  seconded  him  most  zealously. 
Among  them  was  particularly  noticed  father 
Gerhard  Weller,  who  went  about  preaching 
from  place  to  place,  alone,  on  foot,  and  with- 
out even  a  change  of  raiment.  In  the  single 
year,  1586,  fourteen  cities  and  market-towns, 
upwards  of  two  hundred  villages,  and  as  many 
as  sixty-two  thousand  souls,  were  brought 
back  to  Catholicism.  The  capital  of  the  dio- 
cese alone  remained  to  be  converted,  and  this 
was  done  by  the  archbishop,  in  March,  1587. 
He  called  the  city  council  before  him,  and 
appointed  commissioners  for  each  quarter  and 
each  parish,  to  interrogate  every  citizen  sepa- 
rately. The  result  of  the  investigation  was, 
that  half  of  them  were  protestant  in  their 
opinions.  Many  were  but  weak  and  unset- 
tled in  their  faith  ;  they  soon  gave  way,  and 
the  solemn  communion  appointed  by  the  bish- 
op to  be  held  at  Easter  in  the  cathedral,  and 
at  which  he  himself  officiated,  was  numerously 
attended.  Others  held  out  longer,  and  some 
chose  rather  to  sell  all  they  had,  and  depart 
from  the  country :  among  these  were  tour 
members  of  the  council. 

The  example  here  set  excited  the  strenuous 
emulation  of  the  bishop  of  Bamberg,  the  near- 
est neighbour  of  Wiirzbtirg.  Gosweinstein, 
above  the  Muggendorf  valley,  is  a  well-known 
hill,  whither,  to  this  day,  pilgrims  re.-ort, 
flocking  thither  by  steep  and  lonely  paths, 
through  majestic  woods  and  ravines,  from  all 
the  sun-ounding  valleys.  Tliere  is  an  old 
sanctuary  of  the  Trinity  there,  which  in  tho.se 
days  was  unvisited  and  deserted.  The  bishop 
of  Bamberg,  Ernest  von  Mengersdorf,  visiting 
the  spot,  in  the  year  1587,  took  this  sorely  to 
heart.  Fired  by  his  neighbour's  example,  he 
too  declared  he  would  again  "direct  his  sub- 
jects to  the  true  faith  ;  and  no  dangers  should 
hold  him  back  from  so  saoced  a  duty."  We 
shall  see  with  what  earnestness  his  successor 
applied  himself  to  the  task. 

While  measures  were  but  in  a  preliminary 
stage  in  the  Bamberg  territory,  bishop  Julius 
was  carrying  out  a  total  transformation  in 

*  Biography  of  bishop  Julius,  in  Gropp's  Chronik  von 
Wiirzburs,  p.  33'}.  "They  were  ordered  lo  give  up  their 
places  anil  eniploymenls,  and  to  seelc  their  livins  out  of 
the  diocese."  I  li'ave  already  made  use  of  this  biography, 
and  with  it  specially  Christophori  Muriani  Augustani  En- 
caenia et  Tricennalia  Juliana,  in  Gropp's  Scripit.  VVirceb. 
torn.  i. 


that  of  Wurzbnrg.  All  the  old  ordinances 
were  renewed;  the  prayers  to  the  mother  of 
God,  the  pilgrimages,  the  brotherhoods  of  the 
assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  of  her  birth, 
and  so  forth,  were  revived,  and  other  devo- 
tional practices  of  the  kind  were  invented. 
The  streets  were  filled  with  procession?;,  and 
the  bells  admonished  the  whole  land  at  the 
stated  hour  of  the  Ave  Maria.*  Relics  were 
again  collected  and  deposited  with  great 
pomp  in  their  shrines.  The  convents  were 
occupied  once  more  ;  churches  were  built  in 
every  locality ;  it  is  reckoned  that  bishop  Ju- 
lius laid  the  foundations  of  three  hundred, 
which  the  traveller  may  recognize  by  their 
tall  tapering  spires.  In  a  few  years  men 
looked  with  amazement  on  the  revolution 
that  had  been  wrought.  "  What  recently," 
exclaims  a  panegyrist  of  the  bishop,  "  had 
passed  for  superstitious,  nay,  for  disgraceful, 
is  now  regarded  as  holy ;  that  which  was  ad- 
mitted as  gospel,  is  now  seen  to  be  a  deceit." 

Such  grand  results  had  not  been  looked  for 
even  in  Rome.  Bishop  Julius  had  been  for 
some  time  engaged  in  the  progress  of  his  en- 
terprize  before  pope  Sixtus  had  any  knowledge 
of  it.  After  the  autumn  holidays  of  1586, 
Aquaviva,  the  general  of  the  Jesuits,  appeared 
before  him  to  communicate  the  intelligence  of 
the  new  conquests  achieved  by  his  order. 
Sixtus  was  in  raptures,  and  hastened  to  ex- 
press his  acknowledgments  to  the  bishop,  be- 
stowing on  him  the  right  of  disposing  of  all 
benefices  that  had  fallen  vacant,  even  in  the 
month  reserved  to  the  holy  see,  stating  that 
the  bishop  was  the  best  judge  of  those  whom 
he  ought  to  reward. 

But  the  pope's  gratification  was  the  greater, 
inasmuch  as  Aqua  viva's  news  coincided  with 
similar  intelligence  from  the  Austrian  pro- 
vinces, especially  from  Styria. 

The  change  began  in  Styria  even  in  the 
very  year  when  the  estates  of  that  province 
acquired,  through  the  resolutions  of  the  diet 
of  Brucker,  so  great  a  degree  of  independence, 
that  they  might  even  compare  with  those  of 
Austria,  which  had  their  council  lor  religious 
matters,  their  superintendents  and  synods,  and 
an  almost  republican  constitution. 

Immediately  upon  Rudolf  II.  receiving  the 
homage  of  his  subjects,  it  was  remarked,  how 
thoroughly  he  differed  from  his  father.  He 
practised  all  acts  of  devotion  in  their  utmost 
strictness,  and  it  was  with  astonishment  he 
was  beheld  taking  part  in  processions,  even  in 
the  severest  winter,  bareheaded,  with  his 
torch  in  his  hand. 

This  disposition  of  the  sovereign,  and  the 


*  Julii  Episcopi  Statula  Ruralia.  Gropp:  Scriptt.  torn, 
i.  His  meaning  is,  that  the  religious  movement,  which 
emanates  from  the  supreme  head  of  the  church  ol  Christ, 
coniuiunicates  itself  downwards  through  every  member  of 
the  body.    See  p.  444,  de  capitulis  ruralibus. 


193 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD.       [a.  d.  1563-S9. 


favour  he  extended  to  the  Jesuits,  instantly 
excited  alarm  and  anxiety,  and  called  forth, 
in  accordance  with  the  character  of  the  times, 
vehement  counter-movements.  Joshua  Opitz, 
a  follower  of  Flaccius,  preached  in  the  Land- 
haus,  in  Vienna,  no  reg-uiar  church  heing-  al- 
lowed the  protestants,  with  all  the  vehe- 
mence peculiar  to  his  sect.  Whilst  he  sys- 
tematically poured  forth  invectives  against 
the  Jesuits  and  the  priests,  and  "  thundered 
against  all  the  abominations  of  popery,"  he 
excited  not  so  much  conviction  as  rao-e  in  the 
minds  of  liis  hearers,  so  that,  as  a  contempo- 
rary says,*  when  they  came  out  from  his 
church,  "  they  were  ready  to  tear  the  papists 
to  pieces  with  their  own  hands.  The  conse- 
quence was,  that  the  emperor  entertained  the 
design  of  suppressing  the  meetings  in  the 
Landhaus.  This  having  been  remarket].  Cor- 
pus Christi  day,  1.578,  arrived,  whilst  the  mat- 
ter was  still  passionately  discussed  pro  and 
con,  and  threats  were  uttered  by  the  body  of 
knights  to  whom  the  Landhaus  belonged. 
The  emperor  was  resolved  to  celebrate  that 
feast  in  the  most  solemn  manner.  After  he 
had  heard  a  mass  in  St.  Stephen's,  the  pro- 
cession began,  the  first  that  had  been  seen  for 
a  long  time,  with  priests,  monks,  and  guilds, 
and  in  the  midst  of  them  the  emperor  and  the 
princess:  in  this  way  the  host  was  accompa- 
nied through  the  streets.  But  suddenly  proof 
appeared  of  the  extraordinary  excitement  that 
prevailed  in  the  city.  When  the  procession 
reached  the  peasants'  market,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  remove  some  stalls  to  make  way  for  it. 
This  was  sufficient  to  create  a  general  tumult. 
The  cry  was  heard.  We  are  betrayed :  to 
arms !  The  choir-boys  and  priests  abandoned 
the  host,  the  halberdiers  and  horse-guards  dis- 
persed in  all  directions,  the  emperor  found 
himself  in  the  midst  of  the  furious  multitude; 
he  apprehended  an  attack  on  his  person,  and 
laid  his  hand  on  his  sword;  the  princes  drew 
theirs,  and  rallied  round  him.f  It  may  well 
be  conceived  that  this  incident  must  have 
made  the  worst  impression  on  the  grave  prince, 
attached  as  he  was  to  Spanish  dignity  and 
stateliness.  The  papal  nuncio  took  the  oppor- 
tunity to  represent  to  him  the  danger  that 
hung  over  him  in  this  state  of  things;  assert- 
ing that  God  himself  had  thus  given  him  evi- 
dent token  how  necessary  it  was  that  he 
should  fulfil  the  promises  he  had  made  the 
pope.  The  Spanish  ambassador  joined  in  the 
same  strain.  Magius,  the  Jesuit  provincial, 
had  often  urged  the  emperor  to  adopt  some 
decisive  measures :  he  now  obtained  a  hear- 
ing. On  the  21st  of  June  1.'j78,  the  emperor 
issued  an  injunction  to  Opitz  and  all  his  as- 


sistants in  church  and  school,  to  leave  the  city 
that  very  day,  "  while  the  sun  shone,"  and 
within  fourteen  days,  all  the  hereditary  do- 
minions of  the  emperor.  The  emperor  appre- 
hending a  riot,  kept  a  number  of  trusty  per- 
sons under  arms,  to  be  provided  against  any 
emergency.  But  how  should  any  one  have 
ventured  to  rise  up  against  the  sovereign,  who 
had  the  letter  of  the  law  on  his  side  ]  The 
people  contented  themselves  with  escorting 
the  exiles  with  marks  of  poignant  compas- 
sion .* 

From  that  day  forth  there  began  a  catholic 
reaction  in  Austria,  which  every  year  ac- 
quired more  force  and  efficacy. 

The  design  was  conceived  of  first  expelling 
protestantism  from  the  imperial  towns.  The  • 
towns  east  of  the  Ens,  which  twenty  years 
before  had  separated  from  the  baronial  and 
knightly  orders,  could  in  reality  make  no 
resistance.  The  evangelical  clergy  were  ban- 
ished from  many  localities,  and  their  places 
filled  by  catholics,  whilst  private  individuals 
were  subjected  to  a  strict  scrutiny.  A  for- 
mula employed  on  the  occasion  has  come  down 
to  us.  "  Dost  thou  believe,"  says  one  article, 
"  that  every  thing  is  true  which  the  Church 
of  Rome  has  laid  down,  touching  life  and  doc- 
trine]" "Dost  thou  believe,"  adds  another, 
"  that  the  pope  is  the  head  of  the  sole  apos- 
tolic Church!"  Not  a  doubt  was  to  be  left 
uncleared. t  The  protestants  were  removed 
from  offices  of  state,  no  burgher  was  any 
longer  admitted  who  was  not  found  to  be 
catholic.  Every  candidate  in  the  university 
of  Vienna  for  the  degree  of  doctor  was 
forced  to  subscribe  the  professio  fidei.  A 
new  regulation  for  schools  enjoined  catholic 
formularies,  fasts,  and  public  worship,  and  the 
exclusive  use  of  the  catechism  of  Canisius. 
In  Vienna  protestant  books  were  carried  off 
from  the  booksellers'  shops,  and  carried  in 
heaps  to  the  episcopal  court.  All  packages 
arriving  at  the  custom  houses  on  the  river 
were  searched,  and  such  books  and  pictures 
as  were  not  soundly  catholic,  were  confis- 
cated.! 

But  notwithstanding  all  these  measures,  suc- 
cess was  not  yet  complete.  It  is  true  thirteen 
cities  and  market  towns  were  reformed  in  a 
short  space  of  time  in  Lower  Austria ;  the 
crown  lands  too,  and  the  mortgaged  property, 
were  under  the  disposal  of  the  catholic  party : 
but  still  the  nobility  constituted  a  formidable 


*  Dr.  George  Eber,  who  indeed  was  an  adversary:  ex- 
tract from  his  Warnungssiihrifl,  in  Raupuch:  Evang. 
Oestreich.  ii.  286. 

-t-MilTKi:  Annali  di  Gregorio  XIII.  torn.  i.  p.  281.  335, 
no  doubi  from  the  nuncio's  repons. 


*  Sacchinus,  pars  iv.  lib.  vi.  n.  78.  "Pudel  referre 
quam  exeunies  sacrileges  omnique  execralione  dignissi- 
mos  prosecuta  sit  numerosa  imillitudo,  quoique  benevo- 
lenliae  documenlis,  ut  vel  inde  mali  gravilas  aestiinari 
possit."  [I  blush  to  relate  what  a  multitude  escorted  the 
departing  exiles,  sacrilegious  as  they  were,  and  worthy  of 
all  execration,  and  what  marks  of  good  will  they  bestowed 
on  them,  by  that  very  fact  affording  evidence  of  the  mag- 
nitude of  tlie  evil.] 

t  Papal,  Austrian,  and  Bavarian  articles  of  confession 
in  Riupach:  Bvang.  Oestreich.  ii.  307. 

t  Khevenhiller,  Ferd.  Jahrb.  i.  90.  Hansitz,  Germania 
Sacra,  1.  632. 


A  D.  1563-89.]  PROGRESS  OF  COUNTER  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY.       199 


opposition,  and  the  towns  west  of  the  Ens 
were  closely  leagued  with  them,  and  were 
too  strong  to  be  assailed.* 

Nevertheless,  many  ot'the  government  mea- 


his  resolutions.  He  adhered  firmly  to  his 
purpose  of  exterminating  protestantism  from 
his  towns;  the  treaty  of  Augsburg,  he  said, 
gave  him  still  ampler  rights,  extend inar  even 


sures  had,  as  may  be  supposed,  a  general  co-   over  the  nobility,  and   any  further  opposition 


gency,  from  which  no  man  could  escape  :  in 
Styria  they  produced  an  immediate  reaction. 
In  thnt  province,  the  archduke  Charles  had 
been  forced  to  grant  concessions  at  the  very 
moment  when  the  catholic  reaction  was  tak- 
ing its  course  in  so  many  other  places.  His 
kindred  could  not  forgive  him  for  this.  His 
brother-in  -law,  duke  Albert  of  Bavaria,  repre- 
sented to  him,  that  the  treaty  of  Augsburg 
justified  him  in  compelling  his  subjects  to 
adopt  the  religion  he  himself  professed.  He 
counselled  the  archduke  to  three  things;  first, 
to  fill  all  his  offices,  and  especially  his  court 
and  privy  council,  only  with  catholics;  se- 
condly, to  part  the  several  estates  in  the  diet, 
so  as  to  manage  them  more  easily  one  by  one: 
and  lastly,  to  enter  into  a  good  understanding 
with  the  pope,  and  solicit  a  nuncio  from  him. 
Gregory  XIII.  of  his  own  accord  made  ad- 
vances to  the  archduke.  Knowing  that  it  was 
chiefly  want  of  money  that  had  forced  the  lat- 
ter to  the  concessions  he  had  made,  the  pope 
took  the  best  means  of  making  him  independ- 
ent of  his  vassals,  by  sending  him  funds  in  the 
year  1.586,  to  the  amount,  very  considerable 
for  those  times,  of  40,000  scudi.  The  pope 
also  deposited  another  and  larger  sum  in  Ve- 
nice, to  be  used  by  the  archduke  in  case  dis- 
orders should  break  out  in  his  dominions  in 
consequence  of  his  catholic  efforts. 

Thus  encouraged  by  example,  admonition, 
and  substantial  aid,  the  archduke  Charles  as- 
sumed from  the  year  1580  a  very  different 
attitude. 

In  that  year  he  put  an  interpretation  upon 
his  former  concessions,  tantamount  to  their 
revocation.  The  estates  prostrated  themselves 
before  him,  and  their  pathetic  entreaties  may 
for  a  moment  have  touched  him  ;f  but  the 
measures  already  proclaimed,  were  on  the 
whole  persisted  in,  and  the  expulsion  of  the 
evangelical  pastors  began  here  as  elsewhere. 
The  year  1.584  was  a  decisive  one.  In  that 
year,  the  papal  nuncio  Malaspina  appeared  in 
the  diet.  He  had  succeeded  in  separating  the 
prelates  from  the  secular  estates,  to  which 
they  had  always  before  adhered,  and  in  form- 
ing between  them,  the  archducal  functiona- 
ries, and  all  the  catholics  in  the  country,  a 
close  league,  of  which  he  was  himself  the 
centre.  Hitherto  it  had  seemed  as  though  the 
whole  country  was  protestant,  but  the  nuncio 
succeeded  in  forming  a  strong  party  round  the 
prince,  which  made  the  latter  immovable  in 


would  provoke  him  to  put  those  rights  in 
force  :  he  would  then  like  to  see  the  man  who 
would  venture  to  prove  himself  a  rebel.  De- 
cidedly anti-protestant  as  these  declarations 
sounded,  circumstances  enabled  him  to  fulfil 
them  to  as  great  an  extent  as  ever  before  he 
had  carried  his  concessions.  The  estates  were 
unable  to  refuse  the  supplies  urgently  called 
for  by  other  considerations.* 

Thenceforth  the  counter  reformation  began 
as  elsewhere  in  the  whole  archducal  territory. 
The  parishes  and  the  town  councils  were 
filled  with  catholics  :  no  citizen  durst  attend 
any  other  than  the  catholic  church,  or  send  his 
children  to  any  besides  the  catholic  schools. 

The  change  was  not  in  every  instance 
peaceably  effected.  The  catholic  pastors,  and 
the  archducal  commissioners,  were  sometimes 
rudely  treated  and  driven  away.  The  arch- 
duke himself  once  incurred  peril  when  en- 
gaged in  the  chase.  The  rumour  had  spread 
that  a  neighbouring  preacher  had  been  taken 
prisoner:  the  people  rushed  together  in  arms, 
and  the  poor  persecuted  preacher  had  to 
go  among  them  in  person,  and  protect  his 
ungracious  sovereign  from  the  peasants.f  In 
spite  of  this  the  matter  took  its  course.  The 
harshest  measures  were  employed  ;  the  papal 
historian  sums  them  up  in  a  few  words,  viz.  : 
confiscation,  exile,  and  severe  chastisement 
of  all  the  refractory.  The  spiritual  princes 
who  had  any  possessions  in  those  districts, 
lent  their  aid  to  the  secular  officers.  The 
archbishop  of  Cologne,  bishop  of  Freisingen, 
changed  the  council  of  his  town  of  Lack,  and 
visited  the  Protestant  burghers  with  imprison- 
ment or  fines:  the  bishop  of  Brixen  was  even 
inclined  to  go  the  length  of  a  new  agrarian 
distribution  in  his  lordship  of  Veldes.  This 
spirit  was  manifested  over  the  whole  range  of 
the  .Austrian  possessions.  Though  the  Tyrol 
had  remained  catholic,  the  archduke  Ferdi- 
nand did  not  fail  to  insist  on  the  strict  subor- 
dination of  his  Clergy  of  Inspruck,  and  to  see 
to  it  that  every  one  received  the  sacrament. 
Sunday  schools  were  established  for  the  com- 
mon people.  Cardinal  Andrew,  Ferdinand's 
son,  had  catechisms  printed,  which  he  distri- 
buted to  the  youths  in  the  schools,  and  to  the 
unlearned. I  But  in  those  districts  where  pro- 
testantism had  in  some  degree  gained  admis- 
sion, Ferdinand  did  not  content  himself  with 
such  mild  measures.     In  the  mare-ravate  of 


*  RaupachjKIeine  Nachlese,  Evang.  Oestreich,  i v.  p.  17. 

f'Seinem  anseborenen  inildreichen  landsfiirstlichen 
deutschen  Gemiith  nach,"  [afler  the  promptings  of  his 
natural,  benignant,  princely,  and  German  disposition,] 
Bays  the  supplication  of  the  three  states. 


*  Valvassor,  Ehre  des  Herzogthums  Krain,  contains  au- 
thentic and  circumstantial  information  on  all  these  mat- 
ters. Bui  MallVi's  account  is  particularly  important,  in 
the  Annali  di  Gregorio  XIII.  lib.  ix.  c.  xx.  lib.  xiii.  c.  i. 
No  doubt  hp  had  the  nuncio's  report  before  him. 

tKhevenhiller,  Annales  Ferdinandei,  ii.  p.  523. 

t  Puteo  in  Tempesii:  Vila  di  Sislo  V.  torn.  i.  375. 


200 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD.      [a.  d.  1563-89. 


Burgan,  though  but  a  recent  acquisition,  and 
in  the  bailiwick  of  Svvabia,  although  his  juris- 
diction there  was  disputed,  he  adopted  pre- 
cisely the  same  course  as  that  pursued  by  the 
archduke  Charles  in  Styria. 

Pope  Sixtus  V.  set  no  bounds  to  his  ap- 
plause of  all  these  things.  He  extolled  the 
Austrian  princes  as  the  firmest  pillars  of 
Christianity  ;  and  to  the  archduke  Charles  in 
particular,  he  addressed  the  most  flattering 
briefs.*  The  acquisition  of  a  county  which 
reverted  to  the  latter  at  that  time,  was  regard- 
ed at  the  court  of  Griitz  as  a  remuneration  of 
heaven  for  such  valuable  services  rendered  to 
Christianity. 

Whereas  the  catholic  spirit  owed  its 
triumph  in  the  Netherlands,  chiefly  to  its 
accommodating  itself  to  existing  privileges, 
that  was  not  the  case  in  Germany.  Here,  on 
the  contrary,  the  several  sovereigns  had  so 
greatly  enlarged  their  prerogatives  and  their 
power,  that  they  were  m  a  condition  to  pro- 
mote the  restoration  of  the  church.  The 
strictness  of  this  union  between  ecclesiastical 
and  political  power,  and  the  length  to  which 
it  was  carried,  are  most  strikingly  exemplified 
in  the  case  of  Wolf  Dietrich  of  Raittenau, 
archbishop  of  Salzburg. 

The  archbishops  of  former  days,  who  had 
lived  amidst  the  agitations  of  the  reformation, 
contented  themselves  with  now  and  then  issu- 
ing an  edict  against  innovations,  with  decree- 
ing a  punishment,  or  making  an  attempt  at 
conversion,  but  only,  as  archbishop  Jacob  says, 
"by  gentle,  fatherly,  and  upright  means."! 

Far  different  was  the  temper  of  the  young 
archbishop  Wolf  Dietrich  of  Raittenau,  who 
mounted  the  throne  of  Salzburg  in  1587.  He 
had  been  educated  in  the  Collegium  Germani- 
cum  in  Rome,  and  was  possessed  with  the 
ideas  of  the  ecclesiastical  restoration  in  all 
their  force.  He  had  been  an  eye-witness  to 
the  brilliant  commencement  of  the  pontificate 
of  Sixtus  v.,  and  been  filled  with  admiration 
for  him.  Furthermore,  it  operated  on  him  as 
a  special  incitement,  that  his  uncle  Altemps, 
in  whose  house  he  had  been  brought  up  at 
Rome,  was  a  cardinal.  In  the  year  1588,  on 
his  return  from  a  journey  in  which  he  had  once 
more  visited  Rome,  he  proceeded  to  put  in 
execution  the  projects  he  had  conceived  under 
the  influence  of  these  impressions.  He  called 
on  all  the  burghers  of  his  capital  to  make 
public  profession  of  tiie  catholic  faith.  Many 
of  them  hanging  back,  he  gave  them  a  few 
weeks  for  reflection  ;  after  these  were  expired, 
on  the  3rd  of  September,  1588,  he  commanded 
them  to  quit  the  city  and  the  diocese  within  a 
month.     Only  that  month,  and  another  afler- 

*  Extract  from  the  briefs :  in  Tempesti,  i.  203. 

t  A  more  severe  edict,  it  is  true,  was  published  in 
Jacob's  name,  but  not  till  he  had  been  obliged  to  commit 
the  administration  to  a  coadjutor. 


wards  added  to  it,  at  their  urgent  petition,  was 
allowed  them  to  sell  off"  their  property,  of 
which  they  were  required  to  give  a  computa- 
tion to  the  archbishop,  nor  were  they  permit- 
ted to  dispose  of  it  to  any  persons  but  those 
approved  of  by  him.*  But  few  reconciled 
themselves  to  a  recantation  of  their  faith,  these 
were  then  constrained  to  do  penance  in  the 
church  with  burning  tapers  in  their  hands: 
but  by  far  the  greater  number,  including  the 
wealthiest  burghers,  became  exiles.  This  loss 
gave  the  prince  no  concern.  He  thought  he 
had  discovered  other  means  of  maintaining 
the  splendour  of  the  archbishopric.  He  had 
already  considerably  augmented  the  taxes, 
customs,  and  tolls,  laid  new  charges  on  the 
salt  of  Hallein  and  Schellenberg,  converted 
the  contributions  in  aid  of  the  Turki.sh  war 
into  a  regular  land-tax,  and  introduced  duties 
on  wine,  and  income  and  inheritance-tax.  He 
paid  no  regard  to  any  prescriptive  immunity. 
The  dean  committed  suicide,  in  a  fit  of  melan- 
choly, occasioned,  as  it  was  thought,  by  the 
loss  of  the  chapter's  rights.  The  bishop's 
enactments  respecting  the  salt  works  and  the 
whole  business  of  mining,  aimed  at  destroying 
the  independence  of  those  trades,  and  incor- 
porating them  all  with  his  treasury.  Germany 
presents  no  similar  instance  in  this  century  of 
a  regular  fiscal  system.  The  young  arch- 
bishop had  brought  with  him  from  beyond  the 
Alps  the  idea  of  an  Italian  principality.  To 
get  hold  of  money  appeared  to  him  the  first 
grand  problem  of  statesmanship.  He  had 
taken  Sixtus  V.  for  his  model,  and  his  great 
object  was,  like  him,  to  be  master  of  an  obe- 
dient, thoroughly  catholic,  tribute-paying  state. 
The  removal  of  the  citizens  of  Salzburg,  whom 
he  regarded  as  rel)els,  afforded  him  even  plea- 
sure. He  caused  their  evacuated  houses  to 
be  pulled  down,  and  palaces  in  the  Roman 
style  to  be  erected  in  their  stead. f 

For  above  all  things  he  loved  splendour. 
He  never  refused  knightly  entertainment  to 
any  foreigner,  and  once  he  was  seen  proceed- 
ing to  the  diet  followed  by  a  suite  of  four  hun- 
dred persons.  He  was  twenty-nine  years  of 
age  in  the  year  1588,  was  full  of  vivacity  and 
ambition,  and  already  fixed  his  eyes  on  the 
highest  spiritual  dignity. 

The  course  pursued  in  the  spiritual  and 
secular  principalities  was  also  followed,  wher- 
ever it  was  practicable,  in  the  cities.  How 
bitterly  did  the  Lutheran  burghers  of  Gmim- 
den  complain  that  they  had  been  struck  off" 
the  roll  of  candidates  for  the  town  council.  In 
Biberach,  the  council  established  by  the  com- 

*  Edict  respecting  the  reformation  in  Giickingk:  Voll- 
konimene  Eniigrationsgeschichte  von  denen  aus  dem 
Erzbisihum  Salzburg  vertriebenen  Lulheranern,  i.  p.  88. 

t  Zauner's  Salzbu'rger  Chronik,  Siebenter  Theil,  is  our 
most  important  authority  on  this  head.  This  part  of  the 
chronicl3  was  itself  constructed  upon  a  contemporaneous 
biography  of  the  archbishop. 


A.  D.  1563-89.]    PROGRESS  OF  COUNTER  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY.    201 


missioner  of  Charles  V.,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
Interim,  still  maintained  its  position;  the 
whole  town  was  protestant,  but  the  council 
was  catholic,  and  sedulously  excluded  every 
protestant  from  its  body.*  What  oppressions 
the  protestants  suffered  in  Cologne  and  Aix  la 
Chapelle  !  The  council  of  Cologne  declared 
it  had  promised  the  elector  and  the  emperor  to 
tolerate  no  other  religion  than  the  catholic, 
and  it  sometimes  punished  attendance  on  a 
catholic  sermon  with  fine  and  imprisonment.f 
In  Augsburg,  too,  the  catholics  gained  the 
upper  hand.  Disputes  arose  on  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  new  calendiir  ;  'in  the  year  1580, 
the  evangelical  superintendent  was  first  ex- 
pelled, then  eleven  clergymen  at  once,  and, 
lastly,  a  number  of  the  most  pertinacious  citi- 
zens. Something  of  the  sort  occurred  on 
similar  grounds  in  Ratisbon  in  1587.  The 
towns  began  to  pretend  to  the  right  of  remo- 
delling their  religious  institutions;  nay,  indi- 
vidual counts  and  lords,  individual  knights  of 
the  empire  even,  come  fresh  from  the  convert- 
ing hand  of  some  Jesuit,  believed  they  might 
use  a  similar  right,  and  began  to  revive  Catho- 
licism in  their  petty  domains. 

It  was  a  measureless  reaction.  Protestan- 
tism was  now  repulsed  with  as  much  energy 
as  it  had  betbre  swept  onwards.  Preaching 
and  doctrine  contributed  to  this,  but  infinitely 
more  was  done  by  policy,  command,  and  open 
violence. 

As  once  the  Italian  protestants  had  fled  over 
the  Alps  to  Switzerland  and  Germany,  so  now, 
far  more  numerous  bodies  of  German  fugitives 
were  driven  from  the  western  and  southern 
districts  to  the  northern  and  eastern.  So 
likewise  the  Belgians  retreated  to  Holland. 
It  was  a  mighty  victory  of  Catholicism  that 
marched  on  from  land  to  land. 

None  now  surpassed  in  their  efforts  to  favour 
and  extend  its  progress  than  the  nuncios,  who 
at  that  time  began  to  reside  regularly  in 
Germany. 

A  memoir  of  the  nuncio  Minuccio  Minucci, 
of  the  year  158S,  has  come  down  to  us,  from 
which  we  learn  the  nature  of  the  views  con- 
ceived and  acted  upon  in  those  times.^ 

Special  consideration  was  given  to  educa- 
tion. It  was  earnestly  desired  that  the  catho- 
lic universities  had  been  better  endowed,  so 
as  to  attract  distinguished  teachers:  Ingold- 
stadt  vi'as  the  only  one  possessed  of  means 
sufficiently  ample.  As  matters  now  stood, 
every  thing  rested  on  the  Jesuit  seminaries. 
Minuccio  Alinucci  wished  that,  in  the  latter, 
care  should  be  devoted  not  so  much  to  form 
great  scholars  or  profound  theologians,  as  able 
preachers.     A  man  of  moderate  knowledge, 


*  Lehmann  de  Pace  Religionis,  ii.  p.  268.  480. 

t  Lehmann,  436.  270. 

i  Discorso  del  molto  illustrate  e  rcvmo-  JMonsignor  Mi- 
nuccio Minucci  sopra  il  modo  di  resliluire  la  caltolica  re- 
ligione  in  Alemagna,  1588.    MS.  Barb. 

26 


content  not  to  aspire  to  the  summit  of  learn- 
ing, and  never  thinking  of  acquiring  fame, 
was,  in  his  estimation,  perhaps,  the  most  uni- 
versally serviceable  and  profitable  man  for  the 
church.  He  recommended  the  same  principle 
to  be  kept  in  view  as  regarded  also  the  insti- 
tutions lor  German  catholics  in  Italy.  In  the 
Collegivm  Germanicinn  there  had  originally 
been  a  distinction  made  between  the  youths 
of  the  middle  classes  and  those  of  noble  blood. 
Minuccio  Minucci  blames  the  departure  from 
the  principle.  Not  only  were  the  nobles  now 
averse  to  remaining  in  the  college,  but,  fur- 
thermore, an  ambition  was  awakened  in  the 
minds  of  the  students  of  the  middle  class  that 
could  never  afterwards  be  satisfied,  a  longing 
for  high  places  that  would  prove  prejudicial 
to  the  perfect  fulfilment  of  the  inferior  ap- 
pointments. We  learn  also  that  endeavours 
were  made  to  attract  another  and  intermediate 
class  to  the  college,  the  sons,  namely,  of  the 
higher  functionaries,  into  whose  hands,  accord- 
ing to  the  usual  course  of  things,  the  greatest 
share  in  the  administration  of  their  native  pro- 
vinces would  fall.  Gregory  XIII.  had  already 
made  arrangements  for  their  reception  in 
Perugia  and  Bologna.  Thus  we  see,  that  the 
distinction  of  rank  even  now  prevailing  in 
German  society  were  already  marked  in  those 
days. 

The  main  dependence  of  the  church  was 
always  on  the  nobility,  to  which  the  nuncio 
especially  ascribed  the  maintenance  of  Catho- 
licism in  Germany  ;  for  since  they  possessed 
an  exclusive  right  to  the  great  benetlces,  they 
defended  the  church  as  their  own  inheritance. 
For  this  very  reason  they  now  opposed  the 
introduction  of  religious  freedom  into  the  dio- 
ceses,* lest  the  very  numerous  protestant 
princes  should,  in  that  case,  engross  all  the 
benefices.  For  this  cause  the  church  ought, 
in  its  turn,  to  conciliate  and  protect  the  nobi- 
lity. They  were  by  no  means  to  be  teased 
with  any  law  against  pluralities:  beside,  fre- 
quent changes  of  residence  had  their  use, 
suice  they  tended  to  unite  the  nobility  from 
the  several  provinces  in  defence  of  the  church. 
Nor  ought  attempts  to  be  made  towards  bes- 
towing ecclesiastical  appointments  on  men  of 
the  burgher  class  ;  it  was  very  useful  to  have 
a  few  scholars  in  a  chapter,  as  had  been  seen 

*  Especially  in  Upper  Germany.  "L'esempio  delta 
suppressione  dell'  allre"  (those  of  Lower  Germany)  "ha 
avverlili  i  nobili  a  metter  cura  maggiore  nella  difesa  di 
queste,  concorrendo  in  cio  tanlo  gli  eretici  quanlo  li  cat- 
tolici,  acconi  gia.,  che  nel  occupalione  delli  principi  si 
leva  a  luro  et  a'  posteri  la  speranza  dell'  utile  che  cavano 
dai  canonical!  e  dagli  altri  Iseneficii  e  che  possono  prelen- 
dere  del  vescovato  menire  a'  canonici  resta  libera  I'elet- 
tione."  [The  example  of  the  suppression  of  the  other 
spiritualities  warned  the  nobles  to  be  more  careful  in 
defending  these,  and  in  this  the  heretics  fully  concurred 
with  the  catholics,  both  parties  agreeing  in  regarding  their 
occupation  by  the  princes  as  aifording  themselves  and 
their  posterity  the  hope  of  the  advantages  to  be  derived 
from  the  canonries  and  other  benefices,  and  in  thinking 
that  they  could  aspire  to  the  bishopric  so  long  as  the 
canons  retained  the  right  of  free  election.] 


202 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD.       [a.  d.  1563-89. 


in  Cologne ;  but  any  attempt  to  carry  this 
further  would  be  the  ruin  of  the  German 
church. 

The  question  next  arose,  how  far  it  might 
be  possible  to  reclaim  the  districts  that  had 
become  wholly  protestant. 

The  nuncio  is  far  from  recommending  open 
violence.  The  protestant  princes  appear  to 
him  vastly  too  strong  for  this.  Still  he  sug- 
gests some  means  likely  to  lead  gradually  to 
the  desired  end. 

Above  all  things  he  holds  it  necessary  to 
maintain  the  good  understanding  subsisting 
between  the  catholic  princes,  especially  be- 
tween Bavaria  and  Austria.  The  league  of 
Landsberg  is  still  in  existence  ;  it  ought  to  be 
renewed  and  strengthened,  and  king  Philip  of 
Spain  micht  be  comprehended  in  it. 

And  might  it  not  be  possible  even  to  gain 
over  some  protestant  princes'?  The  elector 
Augustus  of  Saxony,  liad  long  been  thought 
to  evince  some  leaning  towards  Catholicism. 
Attempts  had  from  time  to  time  been  made 
upon  him,  especially  through  the  medium  of 
Bavaria  ;  but  it  could  only  be  done  with  great 
caution  ;  and  as  the  elector's  wife,  Anne  of 
Denmark,  was  a  stedfast  Lutheran,  all  these 
attempts  had  been  fruitless.  Anne  died  in 
1585.  This  was  not  only  a  day  of  emancipa- 
tion for  the  oppressed  Calvinists,  but  aflbrded 
the  catholics,  too,  an  opportunity  of  approach- 
ing nearer  to  their  prince.  It  would  seem 
that  Bavaria  thought  itself  now  called  on  to 
effect  something  in  the  matter  in  which  it  had 
always  exerted  itself;  and  pope  Sixlus  V. 
held  himself  in  readiness 'to  send  absolution 
to  the  elector.*     Meanwhile   Augustus  died 


*  As  early  as  1574,  Gregory  XIII.  encouraged  duke  Al- 
bert v.,  "  Lit  duni  elector Saxonise  Calvanistarum  seclani 
ex  imperii  sui  finibus  extuibaie  conabatur,  vtUet  seniio- 
nes  cum  principe  illo  aliquando  habiios  de  religione  ca- 
tliolica  in  Saxonia  intioducenda  renovare."  [That 
wliereas  the  elector  of  Saxony  was  endeavouring  to  ha- 
rass and  drive  the  Calvinists  out  of  his  dominions,  he,  the 
duke,  should  cause  a  renewal  of  the  negociations  once 
carried  on  with  tliat  prince  for  the  introduction  of  ihe  ca- 
tholic religion  inio  Saxony.]  He  thought  it  would,  per- 
haps, be  advisable  to  send  an  agent  thither.  But  the  duke 
was  al.ogether  against  this,  because  the  matter  would 
come  immediately  to  the  ears  of  the  elector's  privy-coun- 
cillors, "  ad  consiliarios  et  familiarirs  :  a  quiLius  quid  ex- 
pectandum  aliud  quam  quod  totam  rem  pervertanf?" 
[And  what  then  could  be  expected  but  the  frustration  of 
the  whole  business  1]  He  goes  on  to  say,  "  Aite  hie  opus 
esse  judicatur  quo  tanquam  aliud  agens  errantem  pie  cir- 
cuinveniat.— Uxor,  quo  ex  sexu  impotentiori  concitatior 
est,  eo  impor  uniora  sufi'undet  consilia,  si  resciscat  banc 
apud  mariium  rem  agi."  Legationes  paparum  ad  duces 
Bavaria.  MS.  in  the  library  of  Munich.  [The  matter 
must  be  skilfully  managed,  so  that,  under  cover  of  some 
other  apparent  design,  the  elector  may  be  led  unawares 
into  our  pious  toils.  If  his  wife  comes  to  know  of  these 
pioceedings  with  her  husband,  she  will  beset  him  with 
all  the  passionate  importunity  of  her  excitable  sex.]  Mi- 
nucci  rtlates  that  the  first  overtures  were  made  so  early 
as  in  the  days  of  Pius  V.  The  whole  passage  is  remarka- 
ble. "Con  duca  Augusto  di  Sassonia  giii  morto  si  tratt6 
sin  a  tempi  della  s.  m.  di  papa  Pio  V.  il  duca  Alberto  di 
Baviera,  che  vive  in  cielo,  c  ridusse  la  pratica  lanto  inan- 
zi  che  si  prometteva  sicura  riuscita:  ma  piacque  a  Dio 
benedetto  di  chiamarlo,  nfi  d'opera  di  tanta  importanza 
fu  chi  pailasse  o  pensasse,  se  non  ch'  a  tempi  di  Gregorio 
di  gl.  mem.  il  padre  Possevino  s'ingegno  di  fabricare  so 
pra  quei  fundamenti :  et  in  fine  nel  presenie  felicissimo 


before  any  thing  was  accomplished,  but  the 
catholics  had  other  princes  in  view  :  Louis, 
count  palatine  of  Neuburg,  who  was  .said  to 
evince  an  estrangement  to  all  interests  hos- 
tile to  Catholicism,  and  a  peculiar  forbearance 
towards  all  catholic  priests  who  casually  vi- 
sited his  territories; — and  William  IV.  of 
Hesse,  who  was  learned  and  pacific,  and  had 
occasionally  accepted  the  dedication  of  catho- 
lic works.  Some  likewise  of  the  superior 
nobility  of  northern  Germany  were  not  lost 
sight  of:  hopes  were  entertained  with  regard 
to  Henry  Ranzau. 

But  if  the  result  of  these  experiments  was 
remote,  and  not  to  be  counted  on,  there  were 
yet  other  schemes,  the  accomplishment  of 
which  depended  more  on  the  resolution  and 
the  will  of  their  concocters. 

The  majority  of  the  assessors  of  the  Kam- 
mergericht  (so  at  least  the  nuncio  asserts) 
were  still  inclined  to  protestantism.  There 
still  survived  men  of  the  earlier  times,  when 
in  most  lands,  even  in  those  that  were  catho- 
lic, secret  or  professed  protestants  sat  in  the 
sovereign  councils.  The  nuncio  regards  this 
circumstance  as  calculated  to  drive  the  catho- 
lics to  despair,  and  is  urgent  in  demanding  its 
remedy.  lie  thinks  it  an  ea.sy  matter  to  com- 
pel all  the  assessors  of  catholic  countries  to 
make  a  profession  of  faith,  and  to  oblige  all 
who  should  be  appointed  for  the  future,  to 
pledge  themselves  by  oath  not  to  change  their 
religion,  or  else  to  give  up  their  places.  To 
the  catholics,  he  maintained,  belonged  of  right 
the  preponderance  in  that  court. 

He  did  not  yet  abandon  the  hope  of  retriev- 
ing possession  of  the  lost  bishoprics  without 
violence,  if  efficient  use  were  made  of  exist- 
ing prerogatives.  These  bishoprics  were  not 
yet  wholly  severed  from  all  coimexion  with 
Home  ;  the  old  right  of  the  curia  to  fill  up  the 
vacancies  in  benefices  occurring  during  the 
reserved  months  was  not  absolutely  repudiat- 
ed. Even  the  protestant  bishops  believed  at 
bottom  that  their  nomination  required  to  be 
ratified  by  the  pope's  sanction,  and  Henry  of 
Saxe  Lauenburg  constantly  kept  an  agent  at 
Rome   to  procure  him  this.     If  the  papal  see 

pontificato  di  Sislo,  sendo  morta  la  moglie  d'esso  duca 
Augusto,  fu  chi  ricordo  I'occasione  esser  opportuna  per 
Iraltare  di  nuova  la  conversions  di  quel  principe:  ma  la 
providentia  divina  non  li  diede  tempo  di  poter  aspettare 
la  benedittione  che  S.  Beatne-  pur  per  mezzo  del  signer 
duca  Guilieln.o  di  Baviera  s'apparecchiava  di  mandarli 
sin  acasasua."  [Duke  Albert  of  Bavaria,  who  lives  in 
heaven,  plied  the  late  duke  Augustus  of  Saxony  in  the 
reign  of  pope  Pius  V..  and  the  negociation  was  so  far  ad- 
vanced as  to  promise  certain  success.  But  it  pleased  God 
to  call  him  away,  and  none  remained  to  speak  or  think 
of  so  important  a  work,  till  in  the  days  of  Gregory  of  glo- 
rious memory,  father  Possevino  bethought  him  of  building 
on  that  foundation ;  and,  finally,  in  the  present  most  aus- 
picious pontificate  of  Sixlus,  tlie  wife  of  duke  Augustus 
being  now  dead,  the  opportunity  was  thought  favourable 
for  again  essaying  the  conversion  of  that  prince.  Divine 
providence,  however,  did  not  graiit  him  time  to  receive 
the  benediction  which  his  holiness  was  preparing  to  send 
and  bestow  on  him,  within  his  own  doors,  through  the 
mediation  of  duke  William  of  Bavaria.]  We  see  how 
early  that  line  of  Saxony  was  practised  upon. 


1563-89.] 


THE  LIGUE. 


had  not  yet  been  able  to  take  advantaj^e  of 
this  tbelino',  it  was  because  tiie  emperor  sup- 
plied by  indultoes  the  want  of  tlie  pope's  con- 
firmation, and  the  appointments  made  at 
Rome  to  the  vacant  benefices  always  occur- 
red too  late,  or  contained  some  flaw  in  their 
form,  so  that  the  chapters  could  always  act 
with  legal  freedom.  Minucci  now  urged  the 
necessity  of  the  emperor's  abstaining  alto- 
gether from  granting  indultoes :  nor  had  he 
much  difficulty  in  effecting  tliis  in  tlie  exist- 
ing state  of  feeling  in  the  court.  Duke  Wil- 
liam of  Bavaria  had  already  proposed  com- 
mitting the  patronage  of  the  benefices  to  the 
nuncio,  or  to  some  trustworthy  German 
bishop.  Minucci  gives  it  as  his  opinion,  that 
a  special  dataria  for  Germany  should  be  es- 
tablished in  Rome,  in  which  should  be  kept 
a  list  of  qualified  noble  catholics,  which  might 
easily  be  procured  through  the  nuncio  or  the 
Jesuits,  and  that  all  vacancies  should  be  forth- 
with filled  up  in  accordance  with  the  stand- 
ard thus  obtained.  No  chapter  would  ven- 
ture to  reject  the  candidates  legitimately 
nominated  by  Rome.  What  consequence 
too,  what  influence,  would  this  contrivance 
confer  on  the  curia. 

We  see  clearly  how  earnestly  the  thought 
of  a  complete  restoration  of  the  church's  old 
authority  was  still  pursued.  To  conciliate 
the  nobility,  to  bring  up  the  higher  classes  of 
citizens  in  the  interests  of  Rome,  to  educate 
youth  in  the  same  spirit,  to  renew  the  old 
influence  over  the  chapters  and  dioceses,  even 
though  these  had  become  protestant,  to  reco- 
ver the  ascendency  in  the  Kammergericht,  to 
convert  powerful  princes  of  the  empire,  to 
give  the  leading  catholic  powers  a  voice  in 
the  affairs  of  the  German  confederation — thus 
numerous  were  the  projects  simultaneously 
pursued. 

Nor  must  we  suppose  that  these  counsels 
were  slighted.  At  the  moment  they  were 
proposed  in  Rome,  their  execution  was  in  pro- 
gress in  Germany. 

The  efficiency  and  sound  regulation  of  the 
Kammergericht  mainly  depended  on  the  year- 
ly visitation,  held  during  the  sittings  of  the 
diet,  by  seven  estates  of  the  empire  in  rota- 
tion. Commonly  the  majority  on  these  occa- 
sions was  catholic,  but  in  the  year  15S8,  it 
was  for  once  protestant ;  the  protestant  arch- 
bishop of  Magdeburg,  among  others,  was  to 
take  part  in  it.  It  was  resolved,  on  the  cath- 
olic side,  to  prevent  this.  On  the  elector  of 
Mainz  proceeding  to  summon  the  estates,  the 
emperor,  of  his  own  authority,  commanded 
him  to  postpone  the  visitation  for  that  year. 
But  a  year's  respite  would  have  availed  little, 
since  the  rotation  remained  still  the  same  ;  a 
protestant  archbishop  of  Magdeburg  long  stood 
in  the  way  :  the  consequence  was,  that  the 
prorogation  was  repeated  from  year  to  year, 
nay,  even  that  a  regular  visitation  never  af- 


terwards took  place,  to  the  irremediable  inju- 
ry of  this  noble  institution  of  the  highest  tri- 
bunal of  the  empire.*  Ere  long,  we  hear 
complaints  that  unlearned  catholics  were  ad- 
mitted into  that  body  in  preference  to  learned 
protestants.  The  emperor,  too,  desisted  from 
granting  indultoes.  In  the  year  1.588,  Mi- 
nucci recommended  that  efforts  should  be 
made  for  the  conversion  of  protestant  princes  ; 
and  in  1-590,  we  meet  with  the  first  convert, 
Jacob  von  Baden,  the  foremost  of  a  long  se- 
ries. 

The  Ligue. 

Whilst  these  great  movements  were  taking 
place  in  Germany  and  the  Netherlands,  they 
seized  on  France,  too,  with  resistless  force. 
The  affairs  of  the  Netherlands  had,  from  re- 
mote periods,  been  most  closely  connected 
with  those  of  France  :  how  often  had  the  pro- 
testants of  the  latter,  and  the  catholics  of  the 
former,  respectively  aided  their  brethren  of 
the  neighbouring  country'!  The  downfall  of 
protestantism  in  the  Belgian  provinces  was  a 
direct  blow  to  the  Huguenots  of  Prance. 

But  independently  of  this,  the  tendency  to 
a  restoration  of  Catholicism,  manifest  in  other 
countries,  had  likewise  taken  increasing  hold 
in  France. 

We  have  already  noticed  the  first  appear- 
ance of  the  Jesuits,  and  since  then  they  had 
been  continually  spreading.  The  house  of 
Lorraine,  as  may  be  imagined,  were  their 
special  patrons.  Cardinal  Guise  founded  an 
academy  for  them,  in  1577,  at  I^ont  a  Mous- 
son,  which  was  resorted  to  by  the  princes  of 
his  house.  The  duke  established  a  college  at 
Eu  in  Normandy,  which  was  intended  for  the 
exiled  English. 

But  they  found  many  other  patrons  besides. 
Sometimes  it  was  a  cardinal,  a  bishop,  or  an 
abbot;  sometimes  a  prince,  or  a  high  func- 
tionary, that  took  on  himself  the  cost  of  a  new 
establishment.  Within  a  short  space  of  time, 
the  Jesuits  settled  in  Rouen,  Verdun,  Dijon, 
Bourges,  and  Nevers.  Their  missionaries 
traversed  the  kingdom  in  a  multitude  of  di- 
rections. 

They  met  with  assistants,  however,  in 
France,  whose  aid  they  had  been  obliged  to 
dispense  with,  at  least  in  Germany. 

Cardinal  Lorraine  had  brought  some  Capu- 
chins with  him  from  the  council  of  Trent,  and 
assigned  them  his  palace  at  Meudon  for  their 


*  Minucci  had  written,  besides,  on  the  special  subject 
of  the  Kammergericht.  There  are  good  grounds  for  "sur- 
mising lh:it  the  inhibition  was  brought  about  by  his  repre- 
genlalions.  The  protestant  majority,  as  we  have  said,  he 
retarded  with  detestation  :  "  Non  vole  dir  altro  I'aver  gli 
eretici  I'autoritd.  maggiore  e  li  piu  voli  in  quel  smato  che 
un  redurre  i  catolici  d'Alemagna  adisperatione."  [That 
the  heretics  should  possess  the  greater  weight,  and  the 
more  numerous  votes  in  that  senate,  is  tantamount  to  no- 
thing short  of  reducing  the  catholics  of  Germany  to  des- 
pair:] 


204 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.     FIRST  PERIOD.       [a.  d.  1563-89. 


dwelling:  but  after  his  death  they  again  de- 
parted, the  order  being  still  limited  by  its 
statutes  to  Italy.  In  the  year  1573,  the  chap- 
ter-general sent  a  few  members  across  the 
Alps,  at  first  with  the  intention  only  to  ex- 
plore the  ground.  These  having  been  well 
received,  so  that  on  their  return  they  promised 
"  the  richest  harvest,"  the  pope  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  remove  that  restriction.  In  the  year 
1574,  the  first  colony  of  Capuchins  crossed 
the  Alps,  under  the  conduct  of  Fra  Pacifico 
di  San  Gervaso,  who  chose  his  own  associ- 
ates. 

They  were  all  Italians,  and  naturally  at- 
tached themselves  first  of  all  to  their  own 
countrymen. 

Queen  Catherine  welcomed  them  with  joy, 
and  forthwith  endowed  a  convent  for  them  in 
Paris.  By  the  year  1575,  we  find  them  in 
Lyons,  where,  through  the  queen's  recom- 
mendations, they  received  the  support  of  some 
Italian  money-changers. 

From  these  towns  they  now  spread  more 
widely ;  from  Paris  to  Caen  and  Rouen ; 
from  Lyons  to  Marseilles,  where  queen  Cath- 
erine purchased  a  site  for  them  to  build  on  : 
new  colonies  settled  in  Toulouse  in  1582,  and 
in  1585  in  Verdun.  They  very  speedily 
succeeded  in  making  the  most  brilliant  con- 
versions, as,  for  instance,  that  of  Henri  Joy- 
euse,  one  of  the  first  men  of  France  in  that 
day.* 

Now,  in  one  respect  at  least,  these  religious 
movements  produced  more  powerful  effects  in 
France  than  in  Germany,  inasmuch  as  they 
gave  rise  to  institutions  imitated  from  exist- 
ing ones,  but  with  characteristic  peculiarities. 
Jean  de  la  Barrieie,  who,  in  accordance  with 
the  singular  abuses  that  had  crept  into 
France,  had  been  granted  in  commendam,  in 
his  nineteenth  year,  the  cistercian  abbey  of 
Feuillans,  near  Toulouse,  caused  himself  to 
be  consecrated  as  a  regular  abbot,  in  the  year 
1577,  and  received  novices,  with  whom  he 
tried,  not  only  to  revive,  but  even  to  surpass 
the  austerity  of  the  original  institution  of 
Citeaux.  Solitude,  silence,  and  self-denial, 
were  pushed  to  the  utmost  possible  extent. 
These  monks  never  left  their  convent,  except 
to  preach  in  some  neighbouring  place  ;  with- 
in its  walls  they  wore  neither  shoe,  nor  cov- 
ering for  the  head  ;  they  abstained  not  only 
from  meat  and  wine,  but  even  from  fish  and 
eggs,  living  on  bread  and  water,  with  the  ad- 
dition, at  the  very  most,  of  a  few  vegetables.! 
Such  austerity  failed  not  to  excite  reverence 
and  imitation :  Dom  Jean  de  la  Barriere  was 
very  soon  invited  to  the  court  ofVincennes. 
He  traversed  the  greater  part  of  France  with 
sixty-two  companions,  without  any  interrup- 
tion to  the  usual  exercises  of  the  convent. 


*  Boverio:  Annali  dei  frati  Capucini,  i.  546.  ii.  45,  f. 
I  Felibien:  Histoire  de  Paris,  torn.  ii.  p.  H58. 


Presently  his  institute  was  confirmed  by  the 
pope,  and  spread  itself  over  the  country. 

It  seemed,  too,  as  though  a  new  zeal  had 
animated  the  entire  body  ofthe  secular  clergy, 
although  they  held  their  appointments  free 
from  all  responsibility.  The  parish  priests 
once  more  devoted  themselves  earnestly  to 
the  care  of  souls.  The  bishops,  in  the  year 
1570,  called  not  only  for  the  adoption  of  the 
decrees  of  the  council  of  Trent,  but  even  for 
the  abrogation  of  that  very  concordat  to  which 
they  owed  their  own  existence  :  these  propo- 
sals they  renewed  from  time  to  time  in  in- 
creasing force.* 

Who  shall  pretend  accurately  to  assign  all 
the  causes  that  impelled  the  public  mind  in 
this  direction]  Thus  much  alone  is  certain, 
that  the  greatest  change  was  manifest  about 
the  year  1580.  A  Venetian  asserts  that  the 
number  of  French  protestants  had  fallen 
seventy  per  cent.,  and  that  the  common  people 
were  again  completely  catholic.  Animation, 
novelty,  and  impulsive  force,  were  again  on 
the  side  of  Catholicism. f 

Under  these  circumstances,  however,  it  as- 
sumed a  new  position  as  regarded  the  royal 
authority. 

The  court  was  a  medley  of  self-contradic- 
tions. It  is  not  to  be  doubted  but  that  Henry 
III.  was  a  good  catholic;  no  one  stood  well 
with  him  who  did  not  frequent  the  mass,  and 
he  would  not  suffer  any  protestant  magistrates 
in  the  towns ;  but  notwithstanding  all  this, 
he  continued  from  first  to  last,  to  dispose  of 
ecclesiastical  appointments  in  accordance  with 
court  favour,  regardless  of  worth  and  talent, 
and  to  appropriate  and  squander  the  property 
of  the  church.  He  was  fond  of  religious  ex- 
ercises and  processions,  and  spared  himself  no 
penance;  but  this  did  not  prevent  his  leading 
the  most  scandalous  of  lives,  and  of  sanctioning 
similar  immorality  in  others.  The  most  aban- 
doned debauchery  was  the  order  ofthe  day  at 
court.  The  dissolute  practices  of  the  carnival 
provoked  the  indignation  of  the  preachers. 
Sometimes  Christian  burial  was  refused  to 
courtiers,  on  account  of  the  manner  of  their 
deaths,  and  their  last  expressions,  and  this  in 
the  case  ofthe  very  favourites  ofthe  king. 

Hence  the  rigid  catholic  spirit,  though  in 


*  Remontrance  de  I'Assenibl^e  G^n^rale  du  Clerg^  de 
France  convoquee  en  la  Ville  de  Melun,  faile  au  roi  Henri 
in.  le  SJuillel,  1579.  Recueildes  Actes  du  Cleig6,  torn, 
xiv.  Thuanus  also  gives  an  extract. 

•t  Lorenzo  Pritili:  Relatione  di  Franza,  5  Guisno,  1582. 
Dovemo  maravigliarci,  umanamente  parlando,  che  le  cose 
non  siano  in  peggiore  sta  di  quelloche  si  trnvano :  poiche, 
pergratia  de  Dio,  con  lutti  il  poco  pensiero  clie  Ii  6  stato 
messo  e  che  se  Ii  melte,  6  sminuto  il  numero  degii  Ugon- 
olti  700-0  et  6  grandc  11  zelo  et  il  fervor  che  niontrano 
cattolici  nelle  delle  religione.  [We  have  reason  to 
wonder,  humanly  speaking,  that  matters  are  in  no  worse 
a  condition:  fn,'  by  God's  crace,  notwithstanding  the  little 
consideration  that  has  been  given,  and  that  is  sliU  givea 
to  the  matter,  the  number  ofthe  heretics  is  diminished 
seventy  per  cent.,  and  great  is  the  zeal  and  fervour  dia» 
played  by  catholics  in  matters  of  religion.] 


A.  D.  1563-89.] 


THE  LIGUE. 


205 


various  ways  favoured  by  the  court,  was  yet 
inwardly  and  essentially  opposed  thereto. 

But,  furthermore,  the  kinji'  persevered  in 
the  old  systeui  of  politics,  which  displayed  it- 
self chicHy  in  hostility  to  Spain.  At  any  other 
time  this  would  have  siijnified  nothing;  but  in 
those  days  ihe  religious  element  was  stronger 
in  France  than  the  sense  of  national  interests. 
As  the  Huguenots  felt  themselves  linked  with 
the  protestants  of  the  Netherlands,  so  the 
French  catholics  felt  themselves  the  natural 
allies  of  Philip  H.  and  of  Farnese.  The  Je- 
suits, who  had  rendered  such  great  services 
to  those  princes  in  the  Netherlands,  could  not 
see,  without  uneasiness,  that  the  very  foes 
they  had  combated  there  found  favour  and 
help  in  France. 

In  addition  to  this  came  the  death  of  the 
duke  d'Alengon,  in  the  year  1584,  whereby, 
since  the  king  neither  had,  nor  was  likely  to 
have,  issue,  Henry  of  Navarre  became  heir 
apparent  to  the  throne. 

Anxiety  for  the  future  has,  perhaps,  more 
influence  over  men  than  present  calamity. 
This  prospect  threw  all  the  French  catholics 
into  the  greatest  agitation,*  above  all,  of  course, 
the  old  opponents  and  foes  of  Navarre,  the 
Guises,  who  already  dreaded  the  influence  he 
must  possess  as  heir  to  the  throne,  still  more 
the  power  he  would  have  as  king.  It  is  no 
wonder  if  they  looked  for  support  to  king 
Philip. 

Nor  could  any  thing  be  more  welcome  to 
that  monarch  in  the  general  condition  of  his 
policy  :  he  hesitated  not  to  enter  into  a  formal 
league  with  the  subjects  of  a  foreign  kingdom. 
The  only  remaining  question  was,  whether 
at  Rome,  where  an  union  of  princes  with  the 
church  had  been  so  often  talked  of,  they  would 
now  sanction  an  insurrection  of  powerful  vas- 
sals against  their  sovereign. 

Now  it  cannot  be  denied  that  this  sanction 
was  given.  Among  the  Guises  there  were 
some  consciences  uneasy  at  the  step  about  to 
be  taken.  Matthieu,  the  Jesuit,  went  to  Rome 
to  procure  a  declaration  from  the  pope  which 
might  appease  their  scruples.  Gregory XIH. 
declared,  upon  hearing  the  representations  of 
Matthieu,  that  he  fully  approved  of  the  French 
princes  taking  up  arms  against  the  heretics; 
that  he  removed  every  scruple  they  might 
entertain  on  the  subject;  that  the  king  would 
surely  approve  of  their  conduct,  but,  should 
that  not  be  the  case,  they  must  nevertheless 
prosecute  their  plan  till  they  achieved  the 


*  An  essay  was  immediately  composed  at  the  time  in 
Rome,  sliowing  how  desirable  it  was  that  a  Guise  should 
succeed  to  the  throne:  Delia  inclinalione  de'  callolici 
verso  la  casa  di  Ghisa  e  del  servitio  che  riceveri  le  chris- 
tianiii  et  il  re  cattolico  delta  successions  d'  uno  di  rjuei 
principi.  [On  the  inclination  of  the  catholics  towards 
the  house  of  Guise,  and  on  the  service  to  be  derived  by 
Christianity  and  by  the  catholic  kins;  from  the  succession 
of  oneofthoae  princes.]  It  was  sent  to  Spain,  and  was  as- 
cribed to  cardinal  Este.  Dispaccio  Veneto,  1584,  Imo.  Dcbr. 


grand  object  of  exterminating  the  heretics.* 
The  process  against  Henry  of  Navarre  was 
already  begun;  by  the  time  it  was  concluded 
[  Si.xtus  V.  had  ascended  the  papal  throne,  and 
he  pronounced  sentence  of  excommunication 
on  Navarre  and  Conde.  By  this  means  he  lent 
more  support  to  the  intentions  of  the  Ligue 
than  he  could  in  any  other  way  have  done.f 

The  Guises  were  by  this  time  already  in 
arms,  and  they  endeavoured  immediately  to 
secure  as  many  provinces  and  places  as  they 
possibly  could. 

At  the  first  movement,  they  took  such  inn- 
portant  towns  as  Verdun,  'i'oul,  Lyons,  Bour- 
ges,  Orleans,  and  Mezieres  with  a  blow.  The 
king,  that  he  might  not  be  vanquished  by 
them  by  force,  adopted  the  expedient  he  had 
once  before  resorted  to,  of  declaring  their 
cause  his  own.  But  before  they  would  re- 
ceive him  into  their  alliance,  they  obliged  him 
to  ratify  and  extend  their  conquests  by  a  for- 
mal treaty.  He  surrendered  to  them  Bur- 
gogne.  Champagne,  agreatpartof  Picardy,  and 
a  multitude  of  places  in  other  parts  of  the 
kingdom. I 

Hereupon,  the  king  and  the  Guises  under- 
took the  war  conjointly  against  the  Protest- 
ants;  but  in  how  different  a  manner!  All 
the  king's  measures  were  lame  and  inconclu- 
sive :  the  catholics  even  believed  he  wished 
success  to  the  protestant  arms,  so  that  he 
might  be  able  under  the  apparent  compulsion 
of  their  alarming  strength,  to  conclude  a  peace 
with  them  disadvantageous  to  the  catholic 
cause.  Guise,  on  the  contrary,  swore  that  if 
God  granted  him  victory,  he  would  not  dis- 
mount from  his  horse  till  he  had  forever 
established  the  catholic  religion  in  France. 
With  his  own  troops,  not  with  those  of  the 
king,  he  surprised  at  Auneau  the  Germans, 
who  were  coming  to  the  aid  of  the  Huguenots, 
and  on  whom  the  latter  built  all  their  hopes, 
and  cut  them  to  pieces. 

The  pope  compared  him  to  Judas  Macca- 
baeus.  He  possessed  a  grandeur  of  character 
that  captivated  the  willing  veneration  of  the 
populace.  He  became  the  idol  of  all  the 
catholics. 

The  king,  on  the  other  hand,  found  himself 
altogether  in  a  false  position  :  he  knew  not 
what  to  do,  nor  even  what  he  should  devise. 
The  papal  ambassador  Morosini,  remarks,  that 
he  consisted  as  it  were  of  two  persons  :  he 
wished  for  the  subjugation  of  the  Huguenots, 

*  Claude  Matthieu,  au  due  de  Nevers,  11  F^vr.  1585, 
perhaps  the  most  important  piece  of  information  in  the 
whole  Iburih  vol.  of  Capeligue:  Keforme,  etc.  p.  173. 

f  Maffei,  Historiarum  ab  excessu  Gregorii  XIII.  lib.  i. 
p.  10.  Infinitis  fctderalorum  precibus,  et  regis  Philippi 
supplicatione  hoitatuque,  haud  aegre  se  adduci  est  passus 
ul  Hug(motas  eorumque  duces  cctlestibus  armis  insf  ctare- 
lur.  [He  easily  sutfered  himself  to  be  induced  by  the  re- 
iterated entreaties  of  the  leaguers,  and  by  the  su|,iplication 
and  advice  of  king  Philip,  to  assail  the  Huguenots  and 
their  leaders  with  divine  arms.] 

t  Reflections  of  cardinal  Ossat  on  the  effects  of  tho 
Ligue  in  P'rance :  Life  of  cardinal  Ossat,  i.  44. 


206 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD. 


[a.  d.  1563-89. 


and  he  dreaded  it  quite  as  much  ;  he  dreaded 
the  overthrow  of  the  catholics,  and  yet  he 
wished  for  it:  such  was  the  etfect  of  this 
mental  discord,  that  he  no  longer  followed 
the  natural  bent  of  his  inclination,  that  he  no 
longer  trusted  his  own  thoughts.* 

A  state  of  mind  like  this,  necessarily  de- 
stroys all  confidence  in  the  subject  of  it,  and 
leads  him  headlong  to  destruction. 

The  catholics  were  firmly  convinced  that 
the  very  man  who  stood  at  their  head  was 
their  secret  enemy ;  they  set  down  in  the  ac- 
count against  him,  every  transient  intercourse 
with  Navarre's  people,  every  trifling  mark  of 
favour  bestowed  on  a  protestant;  they  held 
that  the  most  Christian  king  himself  hindered 
the  complete  re-establishment  of  Catholicism; 
and  they  cherished  so  much  the  more  bitter 
hatred  against  his  favourites,  especially  Eper- 
non,  since  the  king  set  him  up  against  the 
Guises,  and  entrusted  the  important  govern- 
ments to  his  hands. 

Under  these  circumstances,  there  grew  up 
side  by  side  with  the  league  of  the  princes, 
an  union  too  of  the  burgher  class  in  the  in- 
terest of  Catholicism.  In  all  the  towns  the 
populace  were  wrought  on  by  preachers,  who 
combined  a  furious  opposition  to  the  govern- 
ment, with  a  vehement  religious  zeal.  In 
Paris  they  went  still  further.  '  It  was  three 
preachers  and  an  eminent  citizen,  who  first 
conceived  the  project  of  forming  a  popular 
combination  for  the  defence  of  Catholicism. f 
They  bound  themselves  to  each  other  by  oatJi 
in  the  first  place,  to  shed  the  last  drop  of  blood 
for  the  cause  ;  each  of  them  nominated  a  few 
trusty  friends,  with  whom  they  held  their  first 
meeting  in  a  monk's  cell  in  the  Sorbonne. 
They  soon  perceived  the  possibility  of  their 
embracing  the  whole  city  in  their  union.  A 
select  committee  was  chosen  to  conduct  the 
movement,  and  even  to  levy  money  in  case 
of  need.  One  inspector  was  appointed  in  each 
of  the  sixteen  quarters  of  the  city.     The  re- 

*  Dispaccio  Morosini  in  Tempesli,  Vila  di  SistoV.  p. 
346.  II  re,  tulto  che  sia  monarca  si  grande,  6  altrettanto 
povero:  e  quanto  6  poveio,  6  altrettanio  prodigo:  dimos- 
tre  insigne  pieti,  e  npl  stesso  tempo  aborrisce  la  sagra 
lega :  6  in  campo  contra  gli  erelici,  e  pure  6  geloso  de' 
progressi  catolici.  [The  king,  as  great  a  monarch  as  he 
IS,  is  equally  poor;  and  poor  as  he  is,  he  is  equally  prodi- 
gal ;  he  displayssingular  piety,  and  at  the  same  lime  ab- 
hors the  sacred  law ;  he  is  at  war  with  the  heretics,  and 
yet  he  is  jealoiisof  the  prouress  of  the  catholic  cause.] 

t  The  Anoniino  Capitol ino  on  the  life  of  Sixtas  V.  con- 
tains peculiar  notices  on  this  subject.  He  names  as  the 
founder  Carlo  Otloniani  "cittadiho  onorato,"  [a  respect- 
able citizen]  who  first  communicated  its  existence  to 
the  preachers.  At  this  very  first  meeting,  Ottomani  pro- 
posed an  union  with  the  princes;  on  the  second,  Jan.  25, 
1587',  it  was  resolved  to  nominate  sixteen  persons,  one  for 
each  quarter,  "  a  cui  si  riferisse  da  persone  fidate  quanto 
■vi  si  facesse  e  dicesse  appartenentea  fatti  publici"  [to 
whom  should  be  reported  by  trusty  persons,  whatever 
was  done  or  said  in  them,  relating  to  public  affairs.]  In 
the  third  meeting  on  Candlemas  day,  a  council  often  was 
named,  with  the  right  of  levying  contributions,  and  a  de- 
putation was  forthwith  dispatched  to  Guise.  This  ac- 
count gives  some  additional  weight  to  all  we  find  related 
by  Cayet  from  Manaut  and  Maheutre,  by  Poulain,  de 
Thou  and  Davila. 


crniting  went  on  in  the  most  rapid  and  secret 
manner.  The  qualifications  of  candidates  for 
admission  were  first  discussed  in  the  com- 
mittee: no  further  communication  was  made 
to  those  who  were  not  approved  of  They 
had  agents  in  all  the  colleges;  one  in  the 
Chambre  des  Comptes,  one  for  the  Procureurs 
de  la  Cour,  one  for  the  Clerks,  and  one  for  the 
Greffiers,  and  so  forth.  Ere  long  the  city,  which 
had  already  received  a  catholico-militaiy  or- 
ganii^ation,  was  comprehended  in  this  more 
secret  and  effective  league.  It  was  noi  con- 
fined to  Paris ;  it  was  propagated  through 
Orleans,  Lyons,  Toulouse,  Bordeau.x,  and 
Rouen,  and  delegates  from  the  confederates 
appeared  in  Paris.  They  all  bound  them- 
selves to  tolerate  no  Huguenot  in  France,  and 
to  remove  the  abuses  of  the  government. 

This  is  the  so  called  League  of  the  tSi.xteen. 
As  soon  as  it  found  itself  in  some  strength  it 
gave  information  to  the  Guises;  upon  which 
Mayenne,  the  duke's  brother,  arrived  with 
extreme  secrecy  in  Paris,  and  the  union  be- 
tween the  princes  and  the  citizens  was  con- 
cluded.* 

Henry  III.  already  felt  the  ground  rocking 
beneath  his  feet.  The  movements  of  his 
enemies  were  reported  to  him  from  day  to 
day.  To  such  a  pitch  of  boldness  had  they 
advanced  in  the  Sorbonne,  as  publicly  to  pro- 
pose the  question,  whether  it  was  right  to 
withdraw  allegiance  from  the  prince  who  did 
not  perform  his  duty.  It  was  decided  in  the 
affirmative  in  a  council  of  from  thirty  to  forty 
doctors.  The  king  was  highly  incensed,  and 
threatened  to  do  like  Pope  Sixtns,  and  send 
the  refractory  preachers  in  chains  to  the  gal- 
leys. But  he  did  not  possess  the  pope's  energy; 
he  did  nothing  more  than  order  the  advance 
of  the  SvvLss  who  were  in  his  service  to  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  capital. 

Alarmed  at  this  threatening  proceeding,  the 
citizens  sent  to  Guise,  entreating  him  to  come 
to  their  assistance.  The  king  gave  him  to 
understand  that  the  step  would  not  be  pleas- 
ing to  him.     Guise  came  nevertheless. 

Everything  was  ripe  for  a  great  explosion. 

It  burst  forth  when  the  king  ordered  the 
Swiss  to  march  into  Paris,  'i'he  city  was 
barricadoed  in  an  instant.  The  Swiss  were 
driven  back,  the  Louvre  was  threatened,  and 
the  king  was  compelled  to  fly.f 

Cuise  had  already  the  command  of  a  great 
part  of  France,  and  now  he  was  master  of 
Paris.  The  bastile,  the  arsenal,  the  hotel  de 
ville,  and  all  the  surrounding  places  fell  into 
his  hands.     The  king  was  completely  over- 


*  Nel  palazzo  di  Rens  dietro  alia  chiesa  di  S.  Agostino 
.  .  .  guirarano  tutti  una  scambievol  lega  non  solo  defen- 
siva  maassoluta.  (Anon.  Capit. 

t  Maffei  blames  Guise  for  having  suffered  this.  "In- 
anis  popularis  aurae  et  infaustae  ostentatione  contentus 
Henricum  incolumem  abire  permittit."  (1.  1.  ;^8.)  [Con- 
tent with  the  parade  of  empty  popularity  and  ill-oaiened 
power,  he  suffered  Henry  to  depart  in  safety.] 


A.  D.  1563-89  ] 


SAVOY  AND  SWITZERLAND. 


207 


powered.  Ere  ]ong  he  was  compelled  to  pro- 
hibit the  protestant  relioion,  and  to  cede  still 
more  places  to  the  Guises  tlian  they  already 
held.  The  duke  of  Guise  might  be  regarded 
as  master  of  half  of  France,  and  over  the  other 
half  he  derived  a  legitimate  authority  from 
the  ran^c  of  lieutenant  general  conlerred  on 
him  by  Henry  III.  The  estates  were  convok- 
ed, and  there  was  no  doubt  that  the  catholic 
opinions  would  preponderate  in  that  assembly. 
The  most  decided  steps  were  to  be  expected 
from  it,  from  the  destruction  of  the  llugue- 
nots,  and  in  favour  of  the  catholic  party. 

Savoy  and  Switzerland. 

The  predominance  of  Catholicism  in  the 
powerful  realm  of  France,  must  of  course 
have  elicited  a  kindred  result  in  the  neigh- 
boring territories. 

The  catholic  cantons  of  Switzerland  clung 
still  closer  to  the  ecclesiastical  principle,  and 
to  the  Spanish  alliance. 

It  is  strikingly  ren)arkable  what  immense 
effects  ensued,  from  the  establishment  of  a 
permanent  nunciature  in  Switzerland,  as  well 
as  in  Germany. 

Immediately  after  the  adoption  of  this  mea- 
sure, in  1586,  the  catholic  cantons  united  in 
the  so  called  gol^len,  or  Borromean  league,  in 
which  they  bound  themselves  and  their  de- 
scendants forever  "  to  live  and  die  in  the  true, 
indubitable,  ancient,  apostolic,  Roman  qalholic 
faith."*  Thereupon  they  received  the  host 
from  the  hands  of  tlie  nuncio. 

Had  the  party  that  seized  the  powers  of 
government  at  Miihlhausen  in  1587,  gone 
over  actually,  and  at  the  right  time  to  the 
catholic  faith,  as  they  seemed  disposed  to  do, 
they  would  doubtless  have  been  supported  by 
the  catholics :  conferences  were  held  on  the 
subject  in  the  house  of  the  nuncio  at  Lucern. 
But  the  people  of  Miihlhausen  deliberated  too 
long,  while  the  protestants  on  the  other  hand 
pushed  on  their  expedition  with  the  utmost 
rapidity,  and  re-established  the  old  govern- 
ment, which  was  in  the  main  favourable  to 
themselves.! 

At  this  moment,  however,  the  three  forest 
cantons  took  a  new  and  important  step,  in 
conjunction  with  Zug,  Lucern,  and  Freiburg. 
After  long  negociations,  they  concluded  a 
league  with  Spain  on  the  12th  of  May  1587, 
I  in  which  they  pledged  enduring  friencif-hip  to 
°  the  king,  and  confirmed  to  him  the  right  of 
recruiting  in  their  territories,  and  of  marching 
his   troops   through  their  mountains,   whilst 

*  "Ihreewigen  Nachkommen,"  [their  eternal  poster- 
ity] as  it  is  expressed  in  the  documents  relating  to  the 
league.  Lauffer:  BeschreibungHelvetischerGcschichte, 
Bdfx.  S.  331. 

t  The  importance  of  the  Miihlhausen  affair  in  a  reli- 
gious point  of  view,  is  strikingly  manifested  in  the  narra- 
tive of  the  Anonimo  Capitol,  founded  on  the  reports  of  the 
nuncio,  lo  which  we  shall  again  advert,  when  wb  come  to 
examine  Tempesti. 


Philip  II.  on  his  part,  made  them  correspond- 
ing concessions.  The  principal  engagement 
to  each  other,  was  to  give  their  utmost  mutual 
aid  in  all  cases  of  war  on  behalf  of  the  holy 
apostolic  religion.*  In  this  the  six  canrons 
made  no  exception,  not  even  with  regard  to 
their  confederates :  on  the  contrary,  the  league 
was  rather  directly  aimed  against  these,  for 
there  was  no  other  power  with  which  they 
could  entertain  any  likelihood  of  being  involv- 
ed in  war  on  account  of  religion. 

Here  too  how  much  stronger  were  religious 
than  national  considerations  !  Community  of 
faith  now  bouna  together  the  old  Schwytzers, 
and  the  house  of  Austria  !  The  confederation 
was  discarded  for  the  moment. 

Fortunately,  however,  no  immediate  provo- 
cation for  war  arose.  The  operation  of  the 
league  was  immediately  felt  only  by  Geneva. 

Charles  Emanuel,  duke  of  Savoy,  a  prince 
throughout  all  his  life  of  restless  ambition, 
had  often  shown  a  disposition  to  seize  a  favour- 
able opportunity  of  again  reducing  Geneva, 
of  which  he  regarded  himself  as  the  legitimate 
sovereign;  but  his  views  had  always  been 
promptly  met  by  the  resistance  of  the  Swiss 
and  the  French,  and  by  the  aid  those  powers 
extended  to  the  citizens  of  Geneva, 

But  the  state  of  things  was  now  changed. 
In  the  summer  of  1588,  at  the  instigation  of 
Guise,  Henry  III.  promised  no  longer  to  inter- 
fere against  an  enterprize  upon  Geneva  :  nor 
was  it  now  opposed  by  the  catholic  cantons, 
at  least,  of  Switzerland.  Thus  much  only  I 
find  they  demanded,  that  Geneva,  if  taken, 
should  not  be  maintained  as  a  fortified  place. 

Now,  then,  the  duke  prepared  tor  the  attack. 
The  Genevese  did  not  lose  heart ;  but  some- 
times even  made  inroads  into  the  territory  of 
Savoy.  But  on  this  occasion  Bern  afforded 
them  but  very  dubious  aid.  The  catholic 
party  had  pushed  their  association  into  the 
midst  of  that  city,  closely  knit  though  it  was 
to  all  the  protestant  interests  :  a  party  existed 
there,  to  which  it  would  not  have  been  unv^'el- 
come,  had  Geneva  fallen  into  the  duke's 
hands.f  The  consequence  was  that  the  duke 
soon  had  the  advantage.  Hitherto  he  had 
held  the  countries  bordering  on  Switzerland, 
under  very  restrictive  conditions,  imposed  on 
him  by  the  terms  of  former  treaties  of  peace 
with  Bern ;  he  took  this  opportunity  of  becom- 
ing, for  the  first  time,  more  completely  master 
in  those  territories.  He  expelled  the  protes- 
tants, whom  he  had  previously  been  constrain- 
ed to  tolerate,  and  he  inade  the  whole  country 
exclusively  catholic.     Till  now  he  had  been 

*  Trait6  d'AUiance  fait  entre  Philip  II.  etc.  Duniont: 
Corps  Diplomatique,  v.  i.  p.  459. 

t  The  fifth  article  of  the  projected  treaty  leaves  no 
doubt  on  the  subject,  even  ihougii  the  judicial  evidenceof 
guilt  on  Wallenwyl's  pan  is  involved  in  a  certain  degree 
of  obscurity.  Some  extracts  from  contemporaneous,  pam- 
phlets, and  from  the  acts  of  the  council  ot  Bern,  are  to  be 
found  in  Gelzer:  Die  drei  letzien  Jahrhunderte  der 
Schweizergeschichle,  Bd.  i.  p.  123. 137. 


208 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD. 


[a.  d.  1563-89. 


prohibited  from  erecting  fortresses  in  this  part 
of  his  dominions;  he  now  began  to  build  ihem 
in  places  where  tJiey  would  serve  him,  not 
only  for  defence,  but  also  for  harrassing  Ge- 
neva. 

But  before  these  aftairs  were  further  devel- 
oped, other  undertakings  had  been  set  on  foot, 
which  promised  incomparably  more  important 
results,  and  gave  reason  to  expect  a  total  re- 
volution in  ail  the  political  relations  of  Europe. 

Attempt  on  England. 

The  greater  part  of  the  Netherlands  were 
subdu'^d,  and  negotiations  were  actually  on 
foot  for  the  voluntary  submission  of  the  re- 
mainder:  in  Germany  the  efforts  of  the  catho- 
lics had  been  triumphant,  as  we  have  seen  in 
so  many  territories,  and  the  project  was  enter- 
tained of  mastering  those  that  still  adhered  to 
the  opposite  party.  His  victories,  his  invest- 
ment of  the  fortresses,  the  attachment  of  the 
people,  and  his  legitimate  authority,  enabled 
the  champion  of  French  Catholicism  to  pursue 
a  course  that  seemed  inevitably  destined  to 
lead  him  to  the  attainment  of  sovereign  pow- 
er. The  old  metropolis  of  protestant  doctrine, 
the  city  of  Geneva,  was  no  longer  protected 
by  her  former  allies.  At  this  moment  the 
plan  was  conceived  of  laying  the  axe  to  the 
root  of  the  tree,  by  an  attack  on  England. 

The  whole  body  of  the  protestant  power  and 
policy  had  its  centre  unquestionably  in  Eng- 
land. The  yet  unsubdued  provinces  of  the 
Netherlands,  and  the  Huguenots  in  France, 
rested  their  main  support  on  queen  Elizabeth. 

But  in  England,  too,  an  internal  struggle 
had,  as  we  have  seen,  already  begun.  Impel- 
led at  once  by  the  longing  after  the  land  of 
their  birth,  and  by  a  religious  enthusiasm  stu- 
diously nurtured  and  directed  to  this  special 
end,  fresh  swarms  of  pupils  from  the  semina- 
ries, flocks  upon  flocks  of  the  Jesuits,  were 
constantly  passing  over  to  the  island.  Queen 
Elizabeth  enacted  severe  laws  against  them. 
In  1582  it  was  absolutely  declared  high  trea- 
son to  attempt  to  seduce  one  of  her  subjects 
from  the  established  religion  of  the  realm  to 
that  of  Rome.*  In  1.585  she  commanded  all 
the  Jesuits  and  seminarists  to  quit  England 
within  forty  days,  under  pain  of  being  dealt 
with  as  traitors ;  pretty  much  in  the  same  way 
as  so  many  catholic  princes  had  expelled  the 
protestant  preachers  from  their  dominions.! 
In  this  spirit  she  then  brought  into  operation 
the  high  commission,  a  court  expressly  appoint- 
ed to  mquire  into  all  violations  of  the  acts  of 
supremacy  and  of  uniformity,  not  merely  in 
accordance  with  the  customary  legal  forms, 
but  by  all  ways  and  means  whatever  that 
should  seem  advisable,  even  to  the  exaction 

*  Camden,  Rerum  Anglicarum  Annales  regnanle  Eli- 
zabelha,  i.  p.  349. 
t  Ibid.  p.  396. 


of  a  corporal  oath : — a  kind  of  protestant  in- 
quisition.* And  yet,  for  all  that,  Elizabeth 
was  constantly  desirous  of  avoiding  any  ap- 
pearance of  offending  against  liberty  of  con- 
science. She  declared,  that  what  the  Jesuits 
had  at  heart,  was  not  the  re-establishment  of 
religion  ;  that  their  purpose  was  only  to  lead 
the  country  into  sedition  and  revolt,  and  so 
to  prepare  the  way  for  foreign  enemies.  The 
missionaries  protested  "  before  God  and  the 
saints,"  as  they  said,  "  in  the  sight  of  heaven 
and  earth,"  that  their  aim  was  purely  of  a 
religious  kind,  and  in  no  wise  regarded  the 
queen's  majesty.f  But  what  understanding 
could  have  been  capable  of  discriminating  be- 
tween these  two  classes  of  motives'?  The 
queen's  inquisitors  would  not  be  put  off  with 
mere  assertions.  They  required  a  declaration 
as  to  whether,  or  not,  the  curse  pronounced 
against  the  queen  by  Pius  V.  was  lawful  and 
binding  on  Englishmen  ;  prisoners  were  oblig- 
ed to  say  what  they  would  do,  and  to  which 
side  they  would  adhere,  in  case  the  pope 
should  absolve  them  from  their  oath  of  alle- 
j*iance,  and  an  attack  should  be  made  on  Eng- 
land. The  unfortunate  harassed  men  knew 
not  how  to  extricate  themselves  from  their 
dilemma.  They  answered,  indeed,  that  they 
would  render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  were 
Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  that  were 
God's;  but  even  this  subterfuge  was  consider- 
ed by  their  judges  as  tantamount  to  a  confes- 
sion. The  prisons  accordingly  were  crowded ; 
execution  followed  execution, and  Catholicism, 
too,  had  its  martyrs ;  their  number,  under  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth,  has  been  computed  at 
about  two  hundred.  This,  however,  as  was 
natural,  failed  to  crush  the  spirit  of  the  mis- 
sionaries ;  the  numbers  of  the  refractory,  of 
the  recusan's,  as  they  were  called,  kept  pace 
with  the  increasing  severity  of  the  laws,  and 
their  bitterness  augmented  in  the  same  pro- 
portion. Pamphlets  found  their  way  to  the 
court  itself,  in  which  the  slaughter  of  Holo- 
fernes  by  Judith  was  extolled  as  a  deed  of 
piety  and  heroism  deserving  of  imitation.  The 
eyes  of  the  multitude  were  still  turned  to- 
wards the  imprisoned  queen  of  Scotland,  who, 
according  to  the  papal  declarations,  was  the 
legitimate  sovereign  of  England  ;  and  they 
cherished  a  constant  hope  of  a  general  revo- 
lution, to  be  brought  about  by  an  attack  on 
the  part  of  the  catholic  powers.     The  most, 

*  "As  well  by  the  oaths  of  twelve  good  and  lawful  men, 
as  also  by  witnesses,  and  all  other  means  and  ways  you 
can  devise."  It  should,  at  least,  have  been  "  lawful  ways 
and  means."  Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans,  vol.  i.  p. 
414. 

t  Campiani  Vita  et  Martyrlum,  p.  159.  "  Coram  Deo 
profiteer  et  angelis  ejus,  coram  coelo  terraque,  coram 
mundo  et  hoc  cui  adsto  tribunal!,  me  nee  criminis  laesae 
majestalis  nee  perduellionis  nee  ullius  in  patriam  conju- 
ralionis  esse  reum,"  etc.  [I  declare  before  God  and  his 
angels,  before  heaven  and  earth,  before  the  world  and 
ami  this  tribunal  before  which  I  stand,  that  I  am  not 
guilty  of  lese  majesty,  nor  of  sedition,  nor  of  any  conspi- 
racy against  the  country.] 


A.  D.  1563-89.] 


ATTEMPT  ON  ENGLAND. 


209 


revolting'  accounts  were  propagated  through 
Italy  and  Spain  of  the  cruelties  to  which  the 
orthodox  were  exposed  in  England,  accounts 
which  could  not  fail  to  arouse  every  catholic 
heart  to  vengeance.* 

None  felt  more  strongly  on  this  subject  than 
pope  Sixtus.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  he  en- 
tertained a  certain  esteem  for  the  magnani- 
mity and  courage  manifested  in  the  character 
of  Elizabeth,  and  he  did  actually  once  pro[>«se 
to  her  that  she  should  return  to  the  bosom  of 
the  catholic  church.  Singular  proposal !  As 
if  she  had  been  in  a  condition  to  choose ;  as  if 
all  her  previous  history,  the  whole  import  of 
her  being,  her  political  position,  admitting 
even  that  her  conviction  had  not  been  sound, 
had  not  bound  her  fast  to  the  protestant  inte- 
rests. Elizabeth  answered  not  a  word,  and 
only  laughed.  When  this  was  told  the  pope, 
he  said  he  must  bethink  him  of  wresting  her 
kingdom  from  her  by  force. 

Previously  he  had  but  hinted  at  this ;  but 
in  the  spring  of  1596  he  openly  declared  his 
purpose,  and  boasted  that  he  would  lend  the 
king  of  Spain  a  far  different  aid  in  an  enter- 
prise against  England,  from  that  afforded  by 
former  popes  to  Charles  V.f 

In  January,  1587,  he  loudly  complained  of 
the  backwardness  of  the  Spaniards,  and  num- 
bered up  the  advantages  a  victory  over  Eng- 
land would  afford  them  towards  the  reconquest 
of  the  rest  of  the  Netherlands.  J 

He  soon  grew  bitter  on  the  subject.  When 
Philip  II.  issued  a  pragmatica,  imposing  res- 
trictions on  the  spiritual  dignities  generally, 
including  those  over  which  the  Roman  curia 
asserted  claims,  the  pope's  fury  knew  no 
bounds.  "  What !"  he  exclaimed,  "  does  don 
Philip  think  to  bluster  with  us,  and  lets  him- 
self be  bullied  by  a  woman  ■?"§ 

In  truth  the  king  was  not  spared.  Eliza- 
beth openly  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Nether- 
lands, and  her  admiral,  Drake,  rendered  every 
coast  of  America  and  Europe  unsafe.  What 
pope  Sixtus  uttered  was  at  bottom  the  opinion 
of  all  catholics.     They  were  perplexed  at  the 


*  Thealrum  cnidelitatum  liEereticorum  nostri  temporis. 
[Theatre  of  the  cmelties  of  the  heretics  of  our  day.]  It 
begins  witli  a  "Peculiaris  descriptio  crudelitatiini  et  ini- 
manitatum  schisrnaticorum  Angliae  regnante  Henrico 
VIII."  [A  special  description  of  the  cruelties  and  atroci- 
ties of  the  schismatics  of  England  in  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII.],  and  ends  with  "  Inciuisitionis  Anglicanae  et  facin- 
orum  crudelium  Machiavelanorum  in  Anglia  et  Hibernia 
a  Calvinistis  protestantibus  sub  Elizabetha  etiamnum 
regnante  peractorum  descriptiones."  [Descriptions  of 
the  Anglican  Inquisition,  and  of  the  Machiavelian  deeds 
of  cruelty  perpetrated  by  the  Calvinistic  protestants  in 
England  and  Ireland  during  Elizabeth's  reign.]  Plates 
are  given  exhibiting  all  sorts  of  unheard-of  tortures :  a 
horrible  sight. 

+  Dispaccio  Gritti,  31  Maggie,  1.586 :  "Accresciuto  qua- 
Iro  volte  tanto.  U  papa  vorria  die  si  fingesse  d'andar 
contra  Draco  e  si  piegasse  poi  in  Inghilterra."  [Four 
limes  as  much.  The  pope  would  wish  that  a  feint  should 
be  made  of  proceeding  to  encounter  Drake,  and  that  the 
expedition  sliould  then  turn  aside  towards  England.] 

t  Dispaccio,  Gritti,  10  Genn.  1587. 

§  Dolendosi  che  '1  re  si  lascia  strapazzar  da  una  donna 
e  vuol  poj  bravar  con  lei  (Sua  Sanliti). 

27 


strange  endurance  of  that  mighty  king.  The 
cortes  of  Castile  conjured  him  to  avenge  him- 
self. 

Philip  was  even  personally  insulted.  He 
was  made  a  mock  of  in  comedies  and  masques. 
Once  when  this  was  reported  to  him,  the  aged 
monarch,  long  used  only  to  adulation,  sprang 
from  his  chair;  never  had  he  shown  such 
irritation. 

Such  was  the  temper  of  the  pope  and  the 
king,  when  the  news  arrived  that  Elizabeth 
had  caused  the  imprisoned  queen  of  Scotland 
to  be  executed.  This  is  not  the  place  to  in- 
quire what  legal  right  she  may  have  had  to 
take  such  a  step:  it  is  principally  to  be  regard- 
ed as  an  act  of  political  justice.  The  first 
tliought  of  it  arose,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  at 
the  time  of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew. 
In  one  of  his  letters  to  lord  Burleigh,  the  then 
bishop  of  London  expresses  his  anxiety  lest  so 
treacherous  an  act  should  find  its  parallel  in 
England,  and  states  his  opinion  that  the  main 
cause  of  danger  was  presented  by  the  Scot- 
tish queen.  "  The  safety  of  the  realm,"  he 
says,  "  demands  that  her  head  should  be  cut 
oft!"*  But  how  much  more  powerful  was  the 
catholic  party  now  become  in  Europe ;  how 
much  more  was  it  in  ferment  and  commotion 
in  England  itself!  Mary  Stuart  continually 
maintained  a  secret  connexion  with  her  cou- 
sins the  Guises,  with  the  malcontents  in  the 
country,  with  the  king  of  Spain  and  the  pope. 
She  represented  the  catholic  principle,  inasfar 
as  it  was  by  nature  hostile  to  the  existing 
government :  upon  the  first  success  of  the 
catholic  party,  she  would  infallibly  have  been 
proclaimed  queen  of  England.  For  this  her 
position,  arising  out  of  the  circumstances  of 
the  times,  but  from  which  she  certainly  did 
not  attempt  to  withdraw,  she  paid  the  forfeit 
of  her  life. 

Her  execution,  however,  brought  the  Span- 
ish and  papal  schemes  at  last  to  maturity.  It 
exceeded  all  measure  of  catholic  endurance. 
Sixtus  filled  the  consistory  with  his  vocifera- 
tions against  the  English  Jezebel,  who  had 
smote  the  annointed  head  of  a  sovereign,  sub- 
ject to  none  but  to  Jesus  Christ,  and,  as  she 
had  herself  professed,  to  his  vicegerent.  To 
show  his  cordial  approval  of  the  efforts  of  the 
catholic  opposition  in  England,  he  created 
William  Allen,  who  had  been  the  first  founder 
of  the  seminaries,  a  cardinal  of  the  church ;  a 
nomination  which  was  at  once  regarded,  at 
least  in  Rome,  as  a  declaration  of  war  against 
England.  A  formal  league  was  now  also 
concluded  between  Philip  II.  and  the  pope.f 


*  Edwin  Sandys  to  Lord  Burghley,  Fulhani,  5th  of  Sept. 
1572:  "  The  saftie  of  our  quene  and  realme  yf  God  wil ; 
furtwith  to  cutte  of  the  Scotish  queue's  heade:  ipsa  est 
nostri  fundi  calamitas."— Ellis's  Letters,  second  series, 
vol.  iii.  p.  2.5. 

t  The  pope's  original  views,  Dispaccio  Gritti,  27  Giug- 
no,  1587.  "II  papa  fa  gran  oflferta  al  re  per  I'impresa 
d'Inghilterra,  ma  vuole  la  denomination  del  re,  e  che  'i 


210 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD.       [a.  d.  1563-8^ 


The  latter  promised  the  king  a  subsidy  of  a 
million  of  scudi  towards  his  enterprise :  but 
as  he  was  always  on  his  guard,  particularly 
where  money  was  concerned,  he  bound  him- 
self to  payment  only  so  soon  as  the  king 
should  have  made  himself  master  of  an  Eng- 
lish port.  "  Let  your  majesty  delay  no  longer," 
he  wrote  to  the  latter,  "every  delay  would 
change  a  good  intention  into  a  bad  perform- 
ance." The  king  strained  all  the  resources 
of  his  kingdom,  and  fitted  out  that  armada 
that  received  the  name  of  the  "Invincible." 

Thus  did  the  Italico-Spanish  powers,  from 
which  such  mighty  influences  had  gone  forth 
over  the  whole  world,  now  bend  their  ener- 
gies to  an  attack  on  England.  The  king  had 
caused  the  archives  of  Simancas  to  be  search- 
ed, and  a  statement  to  be  drawn  up  of  the 
claims  he  himself  possessed  to  the  throne  of 
that  kingdom,  after  the  extinction  of  the 
Stuart  line.  He  founded  brilliant  anticipa- 
tions on  this  expedition,  especially  that  of  the 
universal  dominion  of  the  seas. 

Every  thing  seemed  to  combine  to  one  end 
— the  ascendancy  of  Catholicism  in  Germany, 
the  renewed  attack  on  the  Huguenots  m 
France,  the  attempt  on  Geneva,  and  the  enter- 
prise against  England.  At  the  same  moment 
occurred  an  event  that  we  shall  hereafter 
consider  more  nearly,  the  elevation  of  a  de- 
cidedly catholic  sovereign,  Sigismund  III.,  to 
the  Polish  throne,  with  the  prospect  also  of 
one  day  succeeding  to  that  of  Sweden. 

Brt  whenever  any  principle,  be  it  what  it 
may,  aspires  to  absolute  dominion  in  Europe, 
it  invariably  encounters  a  vigorous  resistance, 
arising  out  of  the  deepest  springs  of  human 
nature. 

Philip's  path  was  crossed  in  England  by 
the  national  energies  in  the  full  glow  of  youth, 
and  fired  with  the  sense  of  their  future  desti- 
nies. The  bold  corsairs,  who  had  rendered 
every  sea  insecure,  gathered  around  the  coasts 
of  their  native  land.  The  whole  body  of  the 
protestants,  the  very  puritans  themselves, 
though  they  had  been  forced  to  endure  oppres- 
sions as  severe  as  the  catholics,  rallied  round 
the  queen,  who  now  gave  admirable  proof  of 
her  masculine  courage,  and  her  princely  talent 
for  winning  and  guiding  and  steadily  control- 
ling the  minds  of  men.  The  insular  position 
of  the  country,  the  very  elements  leagued 
with  the  defenders  of  England  ;  the  invincible 
armada  was  annihilated  even  before  it  had 
made  its  attack;  the  enterprise  entirely  failed. 

It  must,  however,  be  understood,  that  the 
plan,  the  grand  purpose  itself,  was  not  forth- 
with abandoned. 

The  catholics  were  reminded  by  the  wri- 
ters of  their  party,  that  Julius  Csesar,  that 


regno  sia  feudo  della  chiesa."  [The  pope  made  large 
oflfers  to  ihe  kin?  in  favour  of  the  entfrprise  airainst  Eng- 
land, but  he  desires  to  have  the  noniination  of  the  king, 
OMd  that  the  kirgdorn  should  be  afiefofthe  church.^ 


Henry  VII.,  the  grandfather  of  Elizabeth,  had 
both  of  them  been  unlucky  in  their  first 
attempts  on  England,  though  they  had  after- 
wards become  lords  of  the  country.  "God," 
they  said,  "often  delayed  to  give  the  victory 
to  his  faithful  servants.  The  children  of 
Israel  were  twice  beaten  with  great  loss  in 
the  war  they  had  undertaken  by  God's  ex- 
press command  against  the  children  of  Benja- 
min; it  was  not  till  the  third  attempt  they 
proved  successful,  'then  did  the  devourmg 
flames  lay  waste  the  towns  and  villages  of 
Benjamin,  and  the  edge  of  the  sword  smote 
both  men  and  cattle.'  "  "  Let  the  English," 
they  exclaimed,  "  ponder  this,  and  not  be 
pufl'ed  up  because  their  punishment  tarries."* 

Philip  II.  too  was  by  no  means  disheartened. 
It  was  his  intention  to  equip  smaller  and  more 
manageable  vessels,  with  which  an  attempt 
should  at  once  be  made  to  land  on  the  English 
coasts,  without  previously  endeavouring  to 
fall  in  with  the  fleet  of  the  Netherlands  in  the 
channel.  The  utmost  activity  prevailed  in 
the  arsenal  at  Lisbon.  The  king  was  re- 
solved to  stake  every  thing  upon  the  enter- 
prise, though,  as  he  said  once  at  table,  he 
should  be  driven  to  sell  the  silver  candlesticks 
that  stood  before  him.f 

But  whilst  his  mind  was  still  busy  with 
these  thoughts,  new  prospects  opened  out 
before  him,  a  new  theatre  presented  itself  for 
the  display  of  the  powers  of  Roman  catholic- 
ism,  as  represented  by  Italy  and  Spain, 

The  assassination  of  Henry  III. 

Shortly  after  the  disaster  of  the  Spanish 
fleet,  a  reaction  took  place  in  France,  unex- 
pected, as  so  often  the  case,  violent,  and 
bloody. 

At  the  moment  when  Guise,  who  swayed 
the  states  of  Blois  as  he  willed,  seemed  des- 

*  Andreae  Philopatri  (Parsoni)  ad  Elizabelhas  reginse 
Anglise  ediclum  lesponsio.  §  146, 147.  " Nulla,"  he  adds, 
"  ipsorum  fortitudine  repuisa  vis  est,  sed  iis  potius  casibus 
qui  saepissime  in  res  bellicas  solent  incidere,  aeris  nimi- 
runi  inclementia,  maris  incogniti  inexperientia,  nonnul- 
lorumquo  fortassis  hominum  vel  neeligentia  vel  inscilia, 
Dei  denique  voluntate,  quia  forte  micericors  Dominus  ar- 
borem  infructuosam  diniiltere  adhuc  voluit  ad  terlium 
annum  evangelicum."  [The  assault  was  repulsed  by  no 
valour  of  their  own,  but  rather  by  those  casualties  so  com- 
mon to  warfare,  viz.  by  the  inclemency  of  the  weather, 
want  of  acquaintance  with  unfrequented  seas,  by  the 
negligence  and  unskilfulness,  perhaps,  of  some  individu- 
als, and,  finally,  by  the  will  of  God,  because  it  may  be, 
the  Lord  in  his  mercy  was  pleased  to  spare  the  unlruitl'ul 
tree  to  the  third  gospel  year.] 

t  Dispacci  Gradenigo,  29  Sett.  1588.  Si  come  il  re  ha 
sentilo  molto  questoaccidente  di  mala  Ibrtuna,  cosi  mostra 
di  esser  piu  che  mai  risoluto  di  seguiiar  la  impresa  con 
tutte  le  sue  forze. — 11  Olt.  S.  Mii-  sta  ardemissima  nel 
pensar  e  trattar  le  provisioni  per  I'anno  fuluro.  1  Nov. 
"Si  venderanno,"tne  king  had  exclaimed,  "  esti  candel- 
lieri,  quando  non  vi  sia  allro  modo  di  far  danari."  [How- 
ever much  his  majesty  has  felt  this  painful  mischance, 
still  he  gives  proof  that  he  is  more  than  ever  resolved  on 
pursuing  the  enterprise  with  all  his  might.  11  Oct.  His 
majesty  is  most  ardent  in  devising  and  directing  arrange- 
ments for  next  year.  1  Nov.  "  These  candlesticks  shall 
be  sold,"  exclaimed  the  king,  "  if  no  other  means  remain 
of  raising  money. "j 


A.  D.  1563-89.] 


THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  HENRY  III. 


211 


lined  through  his  office  of  constable  to  rule 
all  the  affairs  of  the  whole  realm,  Henry  III. 
had  him  despatched.  That  king,  finding  him- 
self circumvented  by  the  Spanish  or  catholic 
party,  and  made  their  tool,  tore  himself  from 
them  at  once,  and  threw  himself  into  the  arras 
of  the  opposition. 

But  the  death  of  Guise  was  not  the  extinc- 
tion of  his  party,  or  of  the  Ligue ;  this  now 
for  the  first  time  assumed  a  position  of  undis- 
guised hostility,  and  attached  itself  more 
closely  than  ever  to  Spain. 

Pope  Sixtus  was  wholly  on  its  side. 

The  murder  of  the  duke  whom  he  loved 
and  admired,  and  in  whom  he  beheld  a  pillar 
of  the  church,  was  of  itself  enough  to  fill  him 
with  grief  and  resentment;*  but  it  appeared 
to  him  beyond  all  endurance  that  cardinal 
Guise  had  also  been  assassinated,  "a  priest- 
cardinal,"  he  exclaimed  in  the  consistory,  "a 
noble  member  of  the  holy  see,  without  process 
or  sentence,  by  the  secular  authority,  just  as 
though  there  were  no  pope  in  the  world,  as 
though  there  were  no  longer  a  God  !"  He 
upbraided  his  legate  Morosini  for  not  having 
instantly  excommunicated  the  king;  he  should 
have  done  it  had  it  cost  him  a  hundred  lives.f 

The  king  made  small  account  of  the  pope's 
anger.  Nothing  could  move  him  to  release 
the  cardinal  of  Bourbon  or  the  archbishop  of 
Lyons,  whom  he  kept  imprisoned.  He  was 
incessantly  plied  with  demands  from  Rome 
that  he  should  declare  Henry  of  Navarre  in- 
capacitated from  succeeding  to  tlie  throne ; 
but  instead  of  doing  so  he  made  him  his  ally. 

Upon  this  the  pope  on  his  part  resolved  on 
the  uttermost  measures.  He  cited  the  king 
personally  to  Rome  to  answer  for  the  cardi- 
nal's assassination,  and  he  menaced  him  with 
excommunication  if  he  did  not  release  his  pri- 
soners within  a  stated  time. 

He  was  bound  to  act  thus,  he  declared  ; 
did  he  not  do  so,  God  would  call  him  to  ac- 
count as  the  most  unprofitable  of  all  popes : 
now  that  he  discharged  his  duty  he  needed 
not  to  fear  the  whole  world  ;  he  doubted  not 
that  Henry  HI.  would  perish  like  king  Saul.]: 


*  The  pope  further  complained,  especially,  that  the 
king  had  extracted  a  brief  from  him:  "  che  li  concesse 
poier  esser  assolto  da  qualsivoglia  peccato  anco  riservato 
alia  sede  apostolica,  col  quale  si  voglia  hora  coprire  il 
grave  peccato  che  ha  fatto,"  [which  conceded  to  him  the 
possibility  of  being  absolved  from  any  sin  yet  reserved  to 
the  apostolic  see,  and  wherewith  he  now  seeks  to  cover 
the  grievous  sin  he  has  committed.] 

+  Tempesti,  ii.  137,  gives  both  the  pope's  speech  at  full 
length,  and  the  letter  to  Morosini :  "  Essendo  ammazzato 
il  cardinalp,"  it  says,  "  in  faccia  di  V.  &'''">■■  Illmi',  legato  a 
latere,  come  non  ha  publicato  i'interdetto,  ancorchfi  gli- 
ene  fossero  andale  cento  vite  V 

JDispaccio  Veneto,  2U  Maggio,  1589.  "  II  papa  accusa 
la  sua  negligentia  di  non  haver  fatto,  dipoi  mesi  5  che  gli 
6  stato  ammazzato  un  cardinale  e  tenuto  ne  un'altro  pri- 
gione  con  un  arcivescovo,  alcune  riraostratione  o  provi- 
sione.  Dubita  del  ira  di  Dio,  etc."  [The  pope  blames 
his  negligence  in  not  having  made  any  remonstrance,  or 
taken  -any  suitable  step,  during  all  the  five  months 
elapsed,  since  one  cardinal  had  been  put  to  death,  and 
another  with  an  archbishop  had  been  kept  a  prisoner.  He 
apprehends  the  wrath  of  God,  &c.] 


As  it  was,  the  king  was  abhorred  by  the 
zealously  catholic  and  the  adherents  of  the 
Ligue  as  accursed  and  reprobate,  but  the 
pope's  proceedings  strengthened  them  in  their 
furious  opposition.  The  pope's  foreboding 
was  fulfilled  sooner  than  could  have  been  ex- 
pected. The  monitorium  was  published  in 
France  on  the  23rd  of  June  :  on  the  1st  of 
August  the  king  was  murdered  by  Clement. 

The  pope  himself  was  amazed.  "  In  the 
midst  of  his  army,"  he  exclaimed,  "  on  the 
very  point  of  conquering  Paris,  in  his  own 
closet  he  has  been  dispatched  at  one  blow  by 
a  poor  monk."  He  ascribed  this  to  the  imme- 
diate interposition  of  God,  who  thereby  showed 
that  he  would  not  abandon  France.* 

How  is  it  that  the  empire  of  an  illusion  can 
become  so  universal !  This  was  a  conviction 
prevailing  over  the  minds  of  innumerable 
catholics.  "To  nothing  but  the  hand  of  the 
Almighty  himself,"  says  Mendoza  in  his  dis- 
patch to  Philip,  "  that  we  are  to  ascribe  this 
happy  event."!  Young  Maximilian  of  Bava- 
ria was  then  pursuing  his  studies  in  the  dis- 
tant city  of  Ingolstadt :  in  one  of  the  earliest 
of  his  letters  extant,  he  expresses  to  his 
mother  the  joy  with  which  the  intelligence 
had  filled  him,  "  that  the  king  of  France  had 
been  dispatched."]: 

Nevertheless,  the  event  had  another  aspect, 
Henry  of  Navarre,  whom  the  pope  had  ex- 
communicated, and  the  Guises  had  pursued 
with  such  rancorous  animosity,  now  succeeded 
to  his  legitimate  rights.  A  protestant  assumed 
the  title  of  king  of  France. 

The  Ligue,  Philip  II. ,  and  the  pope,  were 
resolved  on  no  condition  to  suffer  him  to  at- 
tain the  enjoyment  of  his  rights.  In  place  of 
Morosini,  who  appeared  far  too  lukewarm, 
the  pope  sent  another  legate  to  France,  Gae- 
tano,  who  was  considered  to  be  inclined  to 
Spain,  and  gave  him,  contrary  to  what  he  had 
ever  done  before,  a  sum  of  money  to  be  aplied 
to  the  purposes  of  the  Ligue.  The  grand  ob- 
ject of  his  care  was  to  be,  that  none  but  a 
catholic  should  be  king  of  France.  The  crown 
was  by  all  means  to  belong  to  a  prince  of  the 
blood  ;  but  that  was  not  the  sole  condition  to 
be  insisted  on  :  there  had  been  occasions  on 
which  the  strict  order  of  inheritance  had  been 
disregarded,  but  never  had  an  instance  occur- 
red of  the  acceptance  of  a  heretic.  The  main 
thing,  in  short,  was,  that  the  king  should  be  a 
good  catholic.} 


*Dsipaccio  Veneto,  1  Sett.  II  papa  nel  consistorio  dis- 
corre,  che'l  successo  della  niorte  del  re  di  Francia  si  ha 
da  conoscer  dal  voler  espresso  del  signorDio,  e  che  perci6 
si  doveva  confidar  che  continuarebbe  al  haver  quel  regno 
nella  sua  protetiione. 

+  Cappfieue,  v.  290. 

t  Wolf  :'^Maximilian,  I.  Th.  I.  S.  107. 

§  Dispaccio  Veneto,  30  Sett.  The  pope  declares,  "che 
non  importava  che'l  fosse  eletto  piu  del  sangue  che  di 
altro  famiglia,  essendo  cio  al  re  volte  occoiso,  ma  mai 
erelico  dopo  la  nostra  religione:  che  Savoia,  Lorena  e 
forse  anche  Umena  pretendeva  lacarona:  che  S.  S'»"  non 
vuol  favorir  I'uno  piu  che'l  altro." 


212 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    FIRST  PERIOD.       [a.  d.  1563-89. 


In  this  state  of  feeling  the  pope  even  thought 
it  laudable  in  the  duke  of  Savoy,  that  he  had 
taken  advantage  of  the  disorders  of  France  to 
possess  himself  of  Saluzzo,  which  then  be- 
longed to  the  French.  It  was  better,  Sixtus 
said,  that  the  duke  should  take  it,  than  that 
it  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Hugue- 
nots.* 

And  now  every  thing  depended  on  enabling 
the  Ligue  to  be  victorious  in  its  contest  with 
Henry  IV. 

For  this  end  a  new  treaty  was  planned  be- 
tween Spain  and  the  pope.  Cardinal  Sanse- 
verina,  the  most  zealous  of  the  inquisitors, 
was  commissioned  under  the  seal  of  confes- 
sion to  arrange  the  project.  The  pope  pro- 
mised actually  to  send  an  army  of  fifteen 
thousand  foot  and  eight  hundred  horse  into 
France,  and  he  furthermore  declared  himself 
ready  to  come  forward  with  subsidies  so  soon 
as  the  king  should  have  entered  France  with 
a  powerful  army.  The  papal  forces  were  to  be 
commanded  by  the  duke  of  Urbino,  a  subject 


*  Reproaches  were  cast  against  him  on  that  account: 
il  papa  si  giuslifica  con  inolle  ragioni  dellaimpressache'l 
sopradetto  duca  ha  fatlo  del  marchesato  di  Saluzzo  con 
sua  participalione.    (Dispaccio  Venelo.) 


of  the  pope,  and  an  adherent  to  his  majes- 
ty.* 

In  this  manner  did  the  united  powers  of 
Italy  and  Spain  prepare  in  combination  with 
their  adherents  in  France,  to  secure  forever 
the  throne  of  that  kingdom  to  their  own 
party. 

No  greater  prospect  could  present  itself 
either  to  Spain  or  to  the  pope.  The  former 
would  be  forever  freed  from  that  ancient 
rivalry  that  had  so  long  crippled  her.  The 
sequel  showed  how  much  Philip  II.  had  this 
at  heart.  It  would  have  been  an  immense 
stride  for  the  papal  power  to  have  exercised 
an  active  influence  in  placing  a  king  upon 
the  throne  of  France.  Gaetano  was  instructed 
to  demand  the  introduction  of  the  inquisition 
and  the  repeal  of  the  Gallican  liberties.  But 
it  would  have  been  of  still  greater  signifi- 
cance, that  a  legitimate  prince  should  have 
been  excluded  from  the  throne  upon  religious 
considerations.  The  ecclesiastical  impulses, 
already  pervading  the  world  in  every  direc- 
tion, would  thereby  have  achieved  complete 
supremacy. 

*  Authentic  account  in  the  autobiography  of  the  cardi- 
nal adopted  by  Tempesti,  ii.  236. 


END  OF  THE  FIRST  PART. 


THE  POPES  OF  EOME, 


THEIR  CHURCH  AND  STATE 


SIXTEENTH    AND    SEVENTEENTH    CENTURIES. 


PART    THE    SECOND. 


BOOK    THE    SIXTH. 
RADICAL  DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL. 

1589—1607. 


Introduction. 

The  moral  and  intellectual  growth  of  the 
century  had  now  assumed  a  totally  different 
bent  from  that  which  might  justly  have  been 
anticipated  at  its  commencement. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  century  the  bonds  of 
ecclesiastical  authority  gav^e  way  ;  the  nations 
sought  to  cast  off  their  connexion  with  their 
common  spiritual  head ;  the  principles  on 
which  the  hierarchy  was  based  were  treated 
with  mockery  in  the  very  court  of  Rome ;  a 
profane  spirit  predominated  in  literature  and 
art ;  and  the  maxims  of  pagan  morality  were 
professed  without  disguise. 

How  wholly  otherwise  was  it  now !  Wars 
were  entered  upon,  conquests  achieved,  and 
states  revolutionized  in  the  name  of  religion ! 
Never  has  there  been  a  period  when  theolo- 
gians were  more  powerful  than  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century.  They  sat  in 
the  councils  of  sovereigns,  and  discussed  poli- 
tical matters  in  presence  of  the  whole  people 
from  the  pulpit ;  they  controlled  the  establish- 
ments for  education,  the  labours  of  the  learn- 
ed, and  the  general  range  of  literature  ;  the 
confessional  yielded  them  opportunity  to  spy 
out  the  self-contradictions  of  the  soul,  and  to 
give  the  decisive  bias  in  all  the  doubtful  con- 
tingencies of  private  life.  We  may  perhaps 
assert,  that  the  very  vehemence  of  their  mu- 
tual opposition,  the  fact  that  within  their  own 
body  each  of  its  two  great  sections  found  its 
direct  antagonist,  was  precisely  the  cause 
that  made  their  influence  so  comprehensive 
and  pervading. 

If  this  was  true  of  both  parties,  it  was  more 


particularly  manifest  with  regard  to  the  catho- 
lics. Among  them  the  ideas  and  institutions 
that  exert  the  most  immediate  discipline  and 
guidance  over  the  minds  of  men  had  been 
wrought  up  to  the  highest  degree  of  practical 
efficiency :  there  was  absolutely  no  living 
without  father  confessors.  Among  them  the 
clergy,  whether  as  brethren  of  some  order,  or 
as  members  of  the  hierarchy  in  general,  con- 
stituted a  corporation  held  together  in  strict 
subordination,  and  acting  in  entire  unison. 
The  head  of  this  hierarchical  body,  the  pope 
of  Rome,  again  acquired  an  influence  not 
much  less  than  that  he  had  possessed  in  the 
eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries ;  he  kept  the 
world  perpetually  astir  by  the  enterprises 
to  which  he  was  prompted  by  his  religious  in- 
terests. 

Under  these  circumstances  were  revived 
the  boldest  pretensions  of  the  days  of  Hilde- 
brand :  principles  that  had  hitherto  lain  by 
rather  as  relics  of  antiquity  in  the  lumber- 
rooms  of  the  canon  law,  once  more  came 
forth  in  full  force  and  efficacy. 

The  European  commonwealth  has  never 
been  subjected  to  the  despotism  of  mere  force ; 
thoughts  and  opinions  have  been  rife  within  it 
in  every  stage  of  its  history ;  no  enterprize  of 
moment  can  succeed,  no  power  can  rise  to 
general  importance,  without  immediately  sug- 
gesting the  conception  of  a  forthcoming  new 
order  of  society.  Hence  the  origin  of  theories. 
They  express  the  moral  import  and  signifi- 
cance of  a  fact,  and  present  it  in  the  light  of 
a  general  truth,  as  a  deduct  on  from  reason  or 
from  religion,  as  a  result  arrived  at  by  reflec- 
tion.    Thus  they  anticipate,  as  it  were,  the 


214 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL.        [a.  d.  1589-1607. 


fulfilment  of  the  event,  which  at  the  same  time 
they  mightily  promote. 

Let  us  observe  how  this  is  exemplified  in  the 
case  before  us. 

Ecclesiastico-political  theory. 

The  catholic  principle  has  not  unfrequently 
been  regarded  as  characterised  by  a  special 
importance  with  regard  to  monarchy  or  aris- 
tocracy, an  intrinsic  sympathy  for  those  forms 
of  government.  A  century  like  the  sixteenth, 
in  which  tliat  principle  stood  forth  in  the  ple- 
nitude of  its  vigour  and  self  control,  affords 
the  amplest  data  for  investigating  the  truth  of 
this  opinion. 

Now  we  find  that  in  those  times  it  adhered 
in  Italy  and  Spain  to  the  existing  order  of 
things;  in  Germany  it  was  subservient 
towards  conferring  on  the  sovereign  autiiority 
a  new  preponderance  over  the  estates;  in  the 
Netherlands  it  helped  forward  the  subjuga- 
tion of  the  country ;  and  in  Upper  Germany 
and  in  the  Walloon  provinces  it  was  main- 
tained with  peculiar  preference  and  attach- 
ment by  the  nobility. 

But  if  we  carry  our  inquiries  further,  we 
find  that  these  were  not  the  only  sympathies 
it  awakened.  If  in  Cologne  it  was  adhered 
to  by  the  patricians,  in  the  neighbouring  city 
of  Trier  it  commanded  no  less  the  affections 
of  the  common  people.  In  France  it  was 
every  where  associated  with  the  claims  and 
struggles  of  the  populace.  The  only  conside- 
ration it  looked  to  was  this,  where  might  it 
find  its  surest  and  strongest  supports  If  the 
existing  authorities  were  inimical  to  it,  far 
was  it  indeed,  from  sparing  them, — nay,  even 
from  acknowledging  them.  It  corroborated 
the  Irish  nation  in  its  spontaneous  refractori- 
ness against  the  English  government ;  in 
England  itself  it  undermined  to  the  utmost  of 
its  power  the  allegiance  demanded  by  the 
queen,  and  frequently  broke  out  into  active 
rebellion  ;  finally,  in  France  it  confirmed  its 
adherents  in  their  insurrection  against  their 
legitimate  sovereigns.  Intrinsically,  the  reli- 
gious principle  in  general  has  no  special  par- 
tiality for  any  one  form  of  government. 
During  the  short  period  of  its  renovation, 
Catholicism  displayed  the  most  diversified  in- 
clinations :  first,  to  the  monarchical  authority 
in  Italy  and  Spain,  and  to  the  strengthening 
of  feudalism  in  Germany ;  next,  in  the 
Netherlands  to  the  conservation  of  the  rights 
of  aristocratic  bodies;  lastly,  at  the  close  of 
the  century  it  allied  itself  decidedly  with  the 
spirit  of  democracy.  This  was  the  more  im- 
portant, since  Catholicism  was  now  in  the 
acme  of  its  vigour,  and  the  movements  in 
which  it  took  part  were  the  most  serious 
events  of  the  political  world  in  those  days. 
Had  the  popes  been  successful  then,  they 
would  have  secured  forever  a  paramount  in- 


fluence over  the  state.  They  advanced 
claims,  their  adherents  and  champions  put 
forth  opinions  and  principles,  that  threatened 
kingdoms  and  states  both  with  internal  revo- 
lutions and  with  loss  of  independence. 

It  was  the  Jesuits  principally  who  appeared 
on  the  arena  as  propounders  and  champions  of 
doctrines  of  this  sort. 

First  of  all  they  claimed  for  the  church  an 
unlimited  supremacy  over  the  state. 

To  this  a  certain  necessity  impelled  them 
in  England,  where  the  queen  had  by  the  laws 
of  the  land  been  declared  head  of  the  church. 
The  leaders  of  the  catholic  opposition  met  this 
principle  with  contrary  pretensions  of  the  most 
violent  kind.  William  Allen  pronounced  not 
only  the  right,  but  the  duty,  of  a  nation,  espe- 
cially when  further  sanctioned  by  the  pope's 
command,  to  refuse  allegiance  to  a  sovereign 
who  had  fallen  off"  from  the  catholic  church.* 
Parsons  stated  it  as  the  fundamental  condition 
of  a  sovereign's  whole  authority,  that  he 
should  cherish  and  protect  the  Roman  catho- 
lic faith ;  such  was  the  tenour  of  his  baptis- 
mal vows,  and  of  his  coronation  oath ;  it 
would  be  blindness  to  regard  him  as  capable 
of  reigning  should  he  fail  to  fulfil  that  condi- 
tion :  much  rather  would  his  subjects  be  bound^ 
in  such  a  case  to  expel  him  from  the  throne.f 
All  this  was  perfectly  natural  in  these  authors: 
they  beheld  in  the  exercise  of  religion  the 
grand  aim  and  duty  of  life  ;  they  regarded 
the  Roman  catholic  church  as  the  only  true 
one ;  that  authority  they  concluded,  there- 
fore, could  never  be  legitimate  which  resisted 
this  religion :  they  made  the  existence  of  a 
government  and  the  allegiance  paid  to  it,  to 
depend  on  the  application  of  its  power  to  the 
interests  of  the  catholic  church. 

This  was  indeed  the  general  tenour  of  the 


*  In  the  letter :  Ad  persecutores  Anglos  pro  Christianis 
responsio  (1582),  I  remark  the  following  passage:  "Si 
reges  Deo  et  Dei  populo  tidem  datam  fregerim,  vicissim 
populo  non  solum  permitlitur,  sed  etiani  ab  eo  requiritur 
ut  jubente  Chrisli  vicario,  supremo  nimirum  populorum 
omnium  paslore,  ipse  quoque  fidem  datam  tali  principi 
non  servet."  [If  liings  violate  the  faith  pledged  to  God 
and  to  God's  people,  it  is  in  turn  not  only  allowed  the 
people,  but  it  is  even  demanded  of  them,  that  at  the  be- 
hest of  Christ's  vicar,  the  supreme  pastor  assuredly  of  all 
peoples,  that  they  too  should  cease  to  observe  the  faith 
pledged  to  such  a  sovereign.] 

tAndrese  Philopatri  (Parsons)  ad  Elizabethse  reginae 
edictum  responsio.  No.  162:  "  Non  tautum  licet  sed  sum- 
ma  etiam  juris  divini  necessitate  ac  preceplo,  inio  con- 
scienliae  vinculo  arctissimo  et  extreme  animarum  suarum 
periculo  ac  discrimine  christianis  omnibus  hoc  ipsum  in- 
cumbit,  si  praestare  rem  possunt.  No.  163:  Incumbit 
vero  tum  maxime  .  .  .  cum  res  jam  ab  ecclesia  ac 
supremo  ejus  moderatore,  pontifice  nimirum  Romano, 
judicata  est:  ad  ilium  enim  ex  officio  pertinet  religionis 
ac  divini  cultus  incolumitali  prospicere  etleprosos  amun- 
dis,  ne  inficiantur,  secernere."  [This  is  not  only  lawful, 
but  it  is  even  incumbent  on  all  Christians,  with  the  utmost 
force,  and  by  the  precepts  of  the  divine  law,— nay,  by  the 
strictest  bonds  of  conscience,  and  at  the  utmost  hazard  of 
their  souls,  if  they  can  accomplish  it.  But  it  is  especially 
incumbent  .  .  .  when  the  matter  has  already  been 
judged  and  decided  by  the  church  and  its  supreme  direc- 
tor, the  pope  of  Rome;  for  to  him,  by  virtue  of  his  office, 
it  belongs  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  religion  and  of  divine 
worship,  and  to  separate  the  leprous  from  the  clean,  thai 
the  latter  be  not  infected.] 


A.  D.  1589-1607.]  ECCLESIASTICO-POLITICAL  THEORY. 


215 


doctrines  now  gaining  ground.  What  in 
England  was  thrown  out  in  the  heat  of  con- 
troversy, Bellarmine  repeated  from  the  soli- 
tude of  his  study  in  circumstantial  works,  in 
a  consistent  and  well-weighed  system.  He 
laid  down  the  proposition,  that  the  pope  is  set 
over  the  whole  church  as  its  guardian  and 
head  immediately  by  God  himself*  For  this 
reason  the  fulness  of  the  spiritual  authority  is 
his  ;  it  is  granted  to  him  that  he  cannot  err  ; 
he  judges  all,  and  may  not  be  judged  of  any  : 
whence  there  accrues  to  him  a  great  share  in 
the  secular  authority.  Bellarmine  does  not 
go  the  length  of  ascribing  a  secular  power  to 
the  pope  directly  of  divine  right  ;f  though 
Sextus  V.  cherished  this  opinion,  and  was 
even  displeased  when  any  abandoned  it ;  but 
he  nevertheless  distinctly  attributes  to  him  an 
indirect  power  of  the  kind.  He  compares  the 
secular  authority  to  the  body,  the  spiritual  to 
the  soul  of  man,  and  ascribes  to  the  church  the 
same  sway  over  the  state  which  the  soul  exer- 
cises over  the  body.  It  is  the  right  and  the 
duty  of  the  spiritual  authority  to  curb  the 
secular  whenever  the  latter  becomes  prejudi- 
cial to  the  purposes  of  religion.  It  cannot  be 
said  that  to  the  pope  belongs  a  regular  influ- 
ence over  the  legislation  of  the  state  ;|  but 
should  a  law  be  necessary  to  the  welfare  of 
souls,  and  the  sovereign  refuse  to  pass  it,  or 
should  a  law  be  noxious  to  the  welfare  of  souls, 
and  the  sovereign  obstinately  persist  in  main- 
taining it,  then  is  the  pope  by  all  means  justi- 
fied in  enjoining  the  one  and  abrogating  the 
other.  This  same  principle  carries  him  very 
far  indeed.  Does  not  the  soul  command  even 
the  death  of  the  body  if  it  be  necessary  ]  In 
the  common  routine  the  pope  can  certainly 
not  depose  a  prince  ;  but  should  it  be  neces- 
sary to  the  welfare  of  souls,  in  that  case  he 
possesses  the  right  of  changing  the  govern- 
ment, and  transferring  it  from  one  occupant  to 
another.  5 

*BeUaniiiQus  de  conciliorum  auloritale,  c.  17:  "Sum- 
mits ponlifex  simpliciter  el  absolute  est  supra  ecclesiam 
universam  et  supra  concilium  generalf>,  ita  ut  nullum  in 
lerris  supra  se  judicium  agnoscat."  [The  supreme  pon- 
tifi"  is  simply  and  absolutely  above  the  universal  church 
and  above  the  general  council,  so  that  he  owns  no  judg- 
ment on  earth  over  him.] 

t  Bellanninus  de  Romano  pontifice  v.  VI. :  "  Asserimus 
pontificem  ut  pontificem  etsi  non  habeat  ullam  merara 
lemporalempotestalem,  tamen  habere  inordine  adbonum 
spirituale  summain  potestatem  disponendi  de  temporali- 
bus  rebus  omnium  cliristianorum."  [We  assert  that  the 
pope,  as  pope,  though  he  has  no  mere  temporal  authority, 
yet  has,  in  order  to  spiritual  good,  supreme  power  of  dis- 
posing of  the  temporal  things  of  all  Clirislians.] 

J  Bellarminus  de  Romano  pontifice  V.  VI. :  "  Quantum 
ad  personas,  non  potest  papa  ut  papaordinarie  temporales 
principes  deponere,  etiam  justa  de  causa,  eo  modo  quo  de- 
ponet  episcopos,  id  est  tanquam  ordinarius  judex :  tamen 
potest  mutare  regna  et  uni  auferre  atque  alleri  conferre 
tanquam  summus  princeps  spiritualis,  si  id  necessarium 
sit  ad  animarum  salutem,"  etc.  etc.  [As  regards  persons, 
Ihe  pope  cannot,  as  pope,  ordinarily  depose  temporal 
princes,  even  for  just  causes,  in  the  same  way  as  he  de- 
poses bishops,— that  is,  as  ordinary  judge;  nevertheless, 
as  supreme  spiritual  prince,  he  can  change  kingdoms,  and 
take  them  from  one  sovereign  and  bestow  them  on  ano- 
ther, if  that  be  necessary  to  tlie  weal  of  souls,  &c.  &c.] 
§  These  doctrines  are,  in  fact,  but  a  recapituation  of  the 


But  these  assertions  were  exposed  to  the 
objection,  that  the  royal  authority  was  like- 
wise based  on  divine  rigjit. 

If  not,  what  was  its  origin  ? — what  its  inhe- 
rent force  and  import'! 

The  Jesuits  did  not  hesitate  to  deduce  the 
princely  power  from  the  people.  They  blend- 
ed together  into  one  system  the  thcoiy  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  people,  with  their  doctrine 
of  the  pope's  omnipotence.  That  theory  had 
already  been  virtually  put  forth  with  more  or 
less  explicitness  by  Allen  and  Parsons;  Bel- 
larmine sought  to  establish  it  in  detail.  He 
finds  that  God  has  not  bestowed  the  temporal 
authority  on  any  one  in  particular  ;  whence  it 
follows  that  he  has  bestowed  it  on  the  masses. 
The  authority  of  the  state  therefore  is  lodged 
in  the  people,  and  the  people  consign  it  some- 
times to  a  single  person,  sometimes  to  several : 
it  perpetually  retains  the  right  of  changing 
the  forms  of  government,  of  retracting  its 
grant  of  authority  and  disposing  of"  it  anew. 
Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  these  are  only  the 
author's  individual  views;  they  are,  in  fact, 
identical  with  the  prevailing  doctrine  of  the 
Jesuit  schools  of  those  times.  In  a  manual  for 
confessors,  which  obtained  currency  through- 
out the  whole  catholic  world,  and  which  had 
been  revived  by  the  Magister  Sacri  Palatii,  the 
monarchiai  authority  is  not  merely  considered 
as  subject  to  the  pope  in  as  far  as  weal  of  the 
souls  demands  ;*  it  is  roundly  asserted,  that  a 
king  may  be  deposed  by  the  people  for  tyr- 
anny, or  for  neglect  of  his  duties,  and  another 
be  elected  in  his  stead  by  the  majority  of  the 
nation. t  Francis  Suarez,  professor  primarius 
of  theology  in  Coimbra,  makes  it  his  espe- 
cial business,  in  his  defence  of  the  catholic 
church  against  the  Anglican,  to  expound  and 
confirm  Bellarmine's  doctrine.|  But  it  is 
above  all-  Mariana  who  elaborates  with  pecu- 
liar zest  the  idea  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people.     He  suggests  all  the  questions  that 

maxims  put  forward  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Thomas 
Aquinas  had  already  employed  the  comparison  that  here 
plays  so  important  a  part:  "Potestas  secularis  subditur 
spiritual!  sicut  corpus  animae."  [The  secular  power  is 
subordinate  to  the  spiritual,  as  the  body  is  to  the  soul.] 
Bellarmine,  in  his  Tractatus  de  potestate'summi  pontificis 
in  rebus  temporalibus  adversus  G.  Barclaium,  cites  up- 
wards of  seventy  authors  of  difterent  countries,  by  whom 
the  power  of  the  pope  was  regarded  nearly  in  the  same 
light  as  by  himself 

*  Aphorismi  confessariorum  ex  doctorum  sententiis  col- 
lecti,  auctore  Emanuele  Sa,  nuper  accurate  expurgati  a 
revnio-  sacri  palalii  ed.  Antv.  p.  480.  The  author  adds, 
however,  as  though  he  had  not  said  enough :  "  Quidam 
tamen  juris  periti  putarunt  sunimuni  pontificem  suprema 
civili  potestate  pollers. "  [Some  jurists,  however,  have 
been  of  opinion,  that  the  pope  is  endowed  with  supreme 
civil  authority.] 

t  Ibid.  p.  5118  (ed.  Colon,  p.  313).  "  Rex  potest  per  rem- 
publicam  privari  ob  tyrannidem  et  si  non  facial  officium 
suum  et  cum  est  aliqua  causa  justa,  et  eligi  potest  alius  a 
majore  parte  populi :  quidem  tamen  solum  tyrannidem 
causam  putani." 

t  R.  P.  Franc.  Suarez  Granatensis,  etc.  defensio  fidei 
catholica  et  apostolicae  adversus  Anglicanaesectae  errores 
lib.  III. :  desummi  pontificis  supra  temporales  regesexcel- 
lentia  et  potestate.  It  is  evident  that  Bellarmine's  doc- 
trine of  the  right  of  the  people  to  revoke  the  delegated 
1  authority,  had  excited  special  opposition. 


216 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL.      [a.  d.  1589-1607. 


could  be  raised  on  the  subject,  and  uncompro- 
misingly decides  them  in  favour  of  tlie  people, 
and  to  the  prejudice  of  the  royal  authority. 
He  doubts  not  that  a  prince  may  be  deposed, 
nay,  put  to  death,  if  iiis  conduct  be  hurtful  to 
religion.  He  pronounces  an  euloguim  full  of 
pathetic  declamation  on  Jacques  Clement,  who, 
after  taking  counsel  with  theologians,  went 
and  slew  his  king.*  He  is  at  least  perfectly 
logical  and  consistent  in  this ;  these  very  doc- 
trines had  unquestionably  kindled  the  fanati- 
cism of  the  assassin. 

For  no  where  were  they  promulgated  with 
such  furious  violence  as  in  France.  It  is  im- 
possible to  meet  with  any  thing  more  anti- 
royal  than  the  diatribes  thundered  out  from 
the  pulpit  by  Jean  Boucher.  That  preacher 
finds  centred  in  the  estates  of  the  nation  the 
public  might  and  majesty,  the  power  to  bind 
and  to  loose,  the  indefeasible  sovereignty,  and 
the  judicial  sway  over  sceptre  and  realm  :  for 
in  them  subsists  the  very  fountain  of  all  these  ; 
from  the  people  comes  the  prince,  not  by  neces- 
sity and  compulsion,  but  by  free  choice.  He 
takes  the  same  view  with  Bellarmine  of  the 
relation  between  church  and  state,  and  repeats 
the  comparison  of  body  and  soul.  One  condi- 
tion alone,  he  says,  limits  the  freedom  of  the 
popular  choice  :  one  thing  alone  is  forbidden 
the  people,  namely,  to  accept  a  heretic  king ; 
it  would  thereby  draw  down  upon  it  the  curse 
ofGod.t 

Strange  combination  of  ecclesiastical  pre- 
tensions and  democratic  notions,  of  absolute 
freedom  and  complete  subjection, — self-con- 
tradictory and  anti-national, — but  which  yet 
cast  an  inexplicable  spell  over  the  minds  of  men. 

The  Sorbonne  had  hitherto  constantly  de- 
fended  the    royal    and    national    privileges 

*  Mariana  de  rege  et  regis  insiitutione.  The  follow- 
ing among  other  expressions :  "  Jac.  Clemens  .  .  cognilo 
a  theologis,  quos  erat  sciscitalus,  lyrannum  jure  inierimi 
posse  .  .  cseso  rege  ingens  sibi  nomen  fecit."  [Jacques 
Clement  .  .  having  learned  from  the  divines  he  had 
consulted,  that  a  tyrant  might  justly  be  put  to  death, .  .  . 
achieved  a  great  name  by  liilling  the  king.] 

f  Jean  Boucher  :  Sermons,  Paris,  1594,  in  several  pas- 
sages. He  says,p.l94, '"L'Egliseseigneurieles  royaumes 
et  estates  de  la  chrelient^,  non  pour  y  usurper  puissance 
directe  comme  sur  son  propre  temporel,  mais  bien  indi- 
reclemenl  pour  empescher  que  rien  ne  se  passe  au  tem- 
porel qui  soit  au  prejudice  du  royaume  de  Jesus  Christ, 
comme  par  cydevant  il  a  est6  declare  par  la  similitude  de 
la  puissance  de  I'esprit  surle  corps."  Further  on,  p.  162 : 
"  La  difference  du  prestre  et  du  roi  nous  eclaircit  cette 
maliere,  le  pretre  eslant  de  Dieu  seul,  ce  qui  ne  se  peut 
dire  du  roi.  Car  si  tous  les  rois  estoient  morls,  les  peuples 
s'en  pourroient  bien  faire  d'aulres:  mais  s'il  n'y  avoit 
plus  aucun  prestre,  il  faudroit  que  Jesus  Christ  vint  en 
personne  pour  en  faire  de  nouveaux."  [The  church  has 
aominion  over  the  kingdoms  and  states  of  Christendom, 
not  to  usurp  direct  power  over  them  as  in  its  own  tempora- 
lities, but  indirectly  to  prevent  any  thing  occurring  in  the 
temporal  government  prejudicial  to  the  kingdom  of  Jesus 
Christ,  as  heretofore  it  has  been  set  forth  by  the  similitude 
of  the  power  of  the  mind  over  the  body.  .  .  The  dilfer- 
ence  between  the  priest  and  the  king  elucidates  this  mat- 
ter to  us;  the  priest  being  of  God  alone,  which  cannot  be 
said  of  the  king.  For  if  all  kings  were  dead,  the  people 
might  readily  make  them  others  in  their  places  ;  but  if 
there  was  no  longer  a  priest  in  existence,  it  would  be  ne- 
cessary that  Jesus  Christ  should  come  in  person  to  make 
new  ones.] 


against  these  ultra-montane  sacerdotal  pre- 
tensions. When  now,  after  the  murder  of  the 
Guises,  these  doctrines  were  preached  from  all 
the  pulpits, — when  it  was  proclaimed  aloud  in 
the  streets,  and  typified  by  symbols  on  the 
altars  and  in  processions,  that  king  Henry  HI. 
had  forfeited  his  crown,  "  the  good  citizens 
and  inhabitants  of  the  city,"  as  they  called 
themselves,  turned,  "in  their  scruples  of  con- 
science," to  the  theological  faculty  of  the 
university  of  Paris,  to  obtain  from  it  a  valid 
decision  respecting  the  legitimacy  of  their 
withstanding  their  sovereign.  Thereupon  the 
Sorbonne  assembled  on  the  7th  of  January, 
1589.  "  After,"  says  their  decision,  "  having 
heard  the  nature  and  free  counsels  of  all  the 
magistri, — after  many  and  divers  arguments 
heard,  drawn  for  the  most  part  verbatim  from 
holy  writ,  the  canon  law,  and  the  papal  ordin- 
ances,— it  has  been  concluded  by  the  dean  of 
the  faculty,  without  any  dissenting  voice : 
first,  that  the  people  of  this  realm  are  absolved 
from  the  oath  of  fidelity  and  obedience  sworn 
by  them  to  king  Henry.  Furthermore,  that 
the  said  people  may,  without  scruple  of  con- 
science, combine  together,  arm  themselves, 
and  collect  money  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
Roman  catholic  apostolic  religion  against  the 
abominable  proceedings  ofthe  aforesaid  king."* 
Seventy  members  of  the  faculty  were  present, 
the  younger  of  them  in  particular  voted  for 
the  resolution  with  fierce  enthusiasm.f 

The  general  acquiescence  which  these  theo- 
ries obtained,  was  doubtless  owing  chiefly  to 
their  being  at  this  moment  the  real  expression 
of  the  phenomena,  of  the  occurrences.  In  the 
French  troubles,  popular  and  ecclesiastical 
opposition  had  actually  come  forward  from 
their  respective  sides  and  met  in  alliance  ;  the 
citizens  of  Paris  had  been  countenanced  and 
confirmed  in  their  insurrection  against  their 
lawful  sovereign  by  the  pope's  legate.  Bel- 
larmine himself  had  long  been  in  the  suite  of 
the  latter :  the  doctrines  he  had  wrought  out 
in  his  learned  solitude,  and  put  forward  with 
such  logical  consistency  and  Vv'ith  such  great 
success,  announced  themselves  in  the  event 
which  he  witnessed  and  in  part  elicited. 

It  accords  too  with  this  view  of  the  case, 
that  the  Spaniards  approved  of  these  doctrines, 
and  that  they  were  tolerated  by  a  sovereign 
so  jealous  as  Philip  II.  The  Spanish  mon- 
archy was  a  power  essentially  supported  by 
ecclesiastical  attributes.  Numerous  passages 
from  Lope  de  Vega  manliest  that  it  was  so 
understood  by  tiie  nation,  and  that  it  was  the 
religious  majesty  they  loved,  and  liked  to  see 
represented,  in  their  sovereigns.     But  besides 


*  Responsum  facultatis  theologiae  Parisiensis:  printed 
in  the  Additions  au  Journal  de  Henry  HI.  p.  317. 

t  Thuanus,  lib.  94,  p.  258,  states  the  members  present  at 
but  sixty,  and  will  not  allow  of  their  unanimity,  although 
the  document  cited  says  verbatim :  "  audita  omnivun  et 
singulorum  magistrorum,  quid  ad  septuagintaconveuerant, 
deliberatione    ,    .    conclusum  est  nemine  refragante." 


A.  D.  15S9-1607.] 


CONFLICT  OF  DOCTRINES, 


217 


this,  the  king  was  linked  in  the  efforts  for  the 
renovation  of  Catholicism,  not  with  the  priests 
alone,  but  also  with  the  revolted  people.  The 
people  of  Paris  reposed  greater  confidence  in 
him  than  in  the  French  princes  at  the  head  of 
the  Ligue.  A  new  ally,  as  it  were,  now  pre- 
sented itself  to  the  king  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
Jesuits.  There  seemed  no  reason  to  foresee 
that  he  should  have  any  thing  to  fear  from 
them  ;  they  rather  afforded  his  policy  a  justi- 
fication both  legal  and  religious,  highly  advan- 
tageous to  his  dignity  and  consideration  even 
in  Spain,  and  immediately  conducive  to  the 
success  of  his  foreign  enterprizes.  The  king 
dwelt  more  on  this  momentary  utility  of  the 
Jesuit  doctrines,  than  on  their  general  purport 
and  tendency.* 

Now  is  not  this  commonly  the  case  with 
regard  to  political  notions  ]  Whether  do  they 
rather  arise  out  of  the  events,  or  originate 
them]  For  which  of  the  two  are  they  more 
cherished,  for  their  own  sake,  or  for  the  use  to 
which  it  is  thought  they  can  be  turned  ! 

However  this  may  be,  their  force  remains 
the  same.  Whilst  the  Jesuit  doctrines  express 
the  efforts  of  the  papacy  in  its  crisis  of  restora- 
tion, or  rather  those  of  the  world  at  large  in 
the  midst  of  wiiich  the  papacy  was  placed, 
they  gave  it  new  strength  by  furnishing  it 
with  a  systematic  foundation  in  accordance 
with  the  predominant  convictions  in  theology, 
and  they  promoted  a  spirit  in  the  minds  of 
men,  on  the  prevalence  of  which  the  victory 
was  dependent. 

Conflict  of  doctrines. 

Never,  however,  in  Europe  has  either  a 
power  or  a  doctrine,  least  of  all  a  political 
doctrine,  attained  to  complete  and  sole  domi- 
nion. 

Nor  can  any  be  conceived  which  shall  not 
appear  partial  and  narrow  when  compared 
with  the  highest  abstract  standard. 

At  every  period  the  notions  that  strove  for 
exclusive  dominion  have  been  met  by  a  resis- 
tance which,  springing  from  the  inexhausti- 
ble soil  of  common  daily  life,  has  called  new 
and  vigorous  powers  into  action. 

Whilst  we  perceive  that  no  power  can  rise 
to  eminence  unless  it  rests  upon  a  basis  of 
opinion,  we  may  add  to  this,  that,  in  opinion 
too  it  finds  its  limits ;  the  conflicts  of  ideas 


*  Pedro  Ribadeneira,  in  his  book  against  Machiavelli, 
which  was  produced  as  early  as  ihe  year  1595,  and  dedi- 
cated to  the  prince  of  Spain,  repeated  them,  in  a  moderdt- 
ed  form  it  is  true,  but  he  did  repeat  them.  Tratado  de  la 
religion  y  viitudes  que  deve  tener  el  principe  Christiano 
para  governar  y  conservarsus  estados,  contro  lo  que  Nicolo 
Machiavello  y  los  politicos  d'este  tiempo  ensenan.  Anve- 
res,  1597.  Princes,  according  lo  him,  are  the  servants  of 
the  church,  but  not  its  judges,  armed  to  chastise  heretics, 
the  enemies  of  the  church,  and  rebels  against  it:  but  not 
to  give  laws  to  it,  nor  to  be  expositors  of  God's  will.  He 
abides  by  the  illustration  of  body  and  soul.  The  earthly 
kingdom,  as  St.  Gregory  says,  must  obey  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

28 


that  engender  great  social  results  always  find 
their  accomplislimcnt  too  in  the  regions  of 
conviction  and  thought. 

Thus  in  the  present  case  the  idea  of  a  sa- 
cerdotal religion  ruling  supreme  over  all  the 
temporalities  of  the  world,  encountered  a 
mighty  resistance  in  that  national  indepen- 
dence, which  is  the  proper  expression  of  the 
temporal  element  of  society. 

The  Germanic  institution  of  monarchy  dif- 
fused through  the  nations  of  Romish  origin, 
and  deeply  rooted  amongst  them,  has  invari- 
ably triumphed  over  every  attempt  to  over- 
throw it,  whether  by  the  pretensions  of  the 
priesthood,  or  by  the  fiction  of  the  sovereignty 
of  the  people,  which  has  always  finally  proved 
untenable. 

The  extravagant  connexion  into  which 
these  two  principles  had  entered  in  the  times 
under  consideration,  was  met  by  the  doctrine 
of  the  divine  right  of  monarchy. 

It  was  next  attacked  by  the  protestants, 
though  at  first  they  may  possibly  have  wa- 
vered, with  all  the  ardour  of  an  enemy  who 
sees  his  opponent  venturing  on  a  desperate 
game,  and  entering  upon  a  path  that  must 
lead  him  to  destruction. 

God  alone,  the  protestants  maintained,  sets 
princes  and  sovereigns  over  the  human  race : 
Me  has  reserved  to  Himself  to  lift  up  and 
bring  low,  to  apportion  and  moderate  authori- 
ty. True,  He  no  longer  descends  from  hea- 
ven to  point  out  with  his  finger  those  to  whom 
dominion  is  due,  but  through  his  eternal  pro- 
vidence there  have  been  introduced  into  every 
kingdom  laws  and  an  established  order  of 
things,  according  to  which  the  ruler  is  chosen. 
If  by  virtue  of  this  appointed  order  a  prince 
accedes  to  command,  his  title  is  to  th"  fill 
the  same  as  though  God's  voice  declared, 
This  shall  be  your  king.  Time  was  when 
God  did  point  out  Moses,  the  judges,  and  the 
first  kings  personally  to  his  people,  but  after 
a  fixed  order  had  been  established,  those  who 
subsequently  ascended  the  throne  were  equal- 
ly God's  anointed  as  the  former.* 

Arguing  from  these  principles,  the  protest- 
ants now  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  submit- 
ting even  to  unjust  and  censurable  sovereigns. 
No  man  is  perfect.  Now,  if  it  were  once 
deemed  allowable  to  deviate  from  the  order 
appointed  by  God,  even  trifling  defects  would 
be  seized  on  to  justify  the  deposition  of  a  so- 
vereign. Not  even  heresy  on  the  monarch's 
part  could,  they  said,  on  the  whole,  absolve 
subjects  from  their  allegiance.  The  son  must 
not  indeed  obey  the  impious  father  in  what  is 
contrary  to  God's   commands,   in  other  re- 


*  Explicatio  controversiamm  quse  a  nonnullis  moventur 
ex  Henrici  Borbonii  ragis  in  regnum  Franciae  constitu- 
lione,  .  .  .  opus  ...  a  Tossano  Bercheto  Lingonensi  e 
Gallico  in  Latinum  sennonem  conversum.  Sedani,  1590. 
Cap.  ii. 


218 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL,     [a.  d.  1589-1607. 


spects,   however,   he  continues  to  owe  him 
reverence  and  subjection. 

The  matter  would  not  have  been  insignifi- 
cant had  tlie  protestants  even  been  alone  in 
devising  and  adhering  to  these  principles  ;  but 
what  was  of  still  more  moment,  these  also 
found  acceptance  among  a  part  of  the  French 
catholics,  or  rather  the  latter  arrived  sponta- 
neously at  analogous  conclusions. 

In  spite  of  the  papal  excommunication,  no 
inconsiderable  body  of  good  catholics  main- 
tained unswerving  fidelity  to  Henry  III.,  and 
transferred  their  allegiance  to  his  successor, 
Henry  IV.  The  Jesuit  doctrines  did  not  take 
with  this  party,  who  were  not  wanting  in  ar- 
guments to  defend  their  position,  without  yet 
apostatising  from  Catholicism. 

This  party  next  endeavoured  to  define  the 
authority  of  the  clergy,  and  its  relation  to  the 
temporal  power,  upon  opposite  views  to  those 
of  the  Jesuits.  They  held  that  the  spiritual 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  world  ;  that  the  power 
of  the  clergy  relates  only  to  spiritual  things; 
that  excommunication  can,  by  its  very  na- 
ture, only  afi^ect  communion  with  the  church, 
but  can  detract  nothing  from  temporal  rights. 
Now  a  king  of  France  can  never,  on  any  ac- 
count, be  excluded  from  the  communion  of 
the  church  ;  for  this  is  one  of  the  privileges 
belonging  to  the  lilies;  how  much  less  allow- 
able is  it  to  attempt  to  strip  him  of  his  inher- 
itance. And  where  is  it  to  be  found  distinct- 
ly written  that  the  subject  may  rebel  against 
his  king,  and  adopt  measures  of  force  against 
him  1  God  has  appointed  him  ;  he  calls  him- 
self king  by  the  grace  of  God  ;  in  one  solitary 
case  may  the  subject  refuse  him  allegiance, 
namely,  when  he  exacts  any  thing  contrary 
to  God's  commands.* 

From  these  principles  of  divine  right  they 
drew  the  conclusion,  that  not  only  was  it  law- 
ful for  them,  but  that  it  was  their  duty  to 
obey  even  a  protestant  king.  The  subject 
must  accept  the  king  such  as  God  imposes 
him;  obedience  to  him  is  God's  command; 
there  can  exist  absolutely  nothing  to  justify 
depriving  a  prince  of  his  rights.f  They  even 
maintained  that  their  proceedings  were  the 
most  advantageous  for  the  catholic  interests. 
Henry  IV.  was  intelligent,  gracious,  and  up- 
right ;  nothing  but  good  was  to  be  expected 
of  him  ;  but  if  France  should  reject  him,  petty 
potentates  would  spring  up  in  every  direc- 
tion, till  the  general  discord  would  enable 
the  protestant  party  to  acquire  complete  as- 
cendency.]: 

Thus  within  the  limits  of  Catholicism  itself 
arose  an  opposition  against  the  endeavours  of 


*  I  follow  in  this  place  the  extract  from  an  anonymous 
writing  which  appeared  in  Paris  in  1588,  in  Cayet,  Col- 
lection Univprselle  de  M^iiioires,  tome  56,  p.  44. 

t  Elienne  Pasquier,  Recherches  de  France,  341.  344. 

i  Explanation  in  Thuanus,  lib.  97,  p.  316.  Sectanos 
dissoliito  imperio  et  singulis  regni  partibus  a  reliquo  cor- 
pore  divisis  potentiores  lore. 


the  papacy  which  had  grown  out  of  the  revi- 
val ;  and  it  was  dubious  from  the  very  first 
whether  Rome  would  be  able  to  put  down 
these  antagonists.  It  might  be,  the  doctrine 
of  the  opposition  was  not  fully  wrought  out ; 
it  might  be  it  possessed  less  practised  cham- 
pions, but  it  was  more  firmly  rooted  in  the 
convictions  of  the  European  comnmnity  ;  its 
whole  position  was  in  itself  just  and  blame- 
less ;  and  what  above  all  gave  it  accessory 
strength  was,  that  the  papal  doctrines  were 
in  alliance  with  the  Spanish  power. 

The  monarchy  of  Philip  II.  seemed  day  by 
day  to  become  more  menacing  to  the  general 
freedom,  and  it  awoke  throughout  all  Europe 
that  jealous  dislike,  which  arises  less  from 
actual  aggressions  than  from  apprehension  of 
them,  and  from  that  sense  of  endangered  li- 
berty which  seizes  on  men's  minds,  though 
they  cannot  fully  account  to  themselves  for 
their  motives. 

So  close  an  imion  now  subsisted  between 
Rome  and  Spain,  that  those  who  gainsayed 
the  pretensions  of  the  Church,  thereby  at  the 
same  time  resisted  the  progress  of  the  Span- 
ish power.  They  thereby  fulfilled  a  course 
become  necessary  in  Europe,  and  were  in 
consequence  secure  of  approbation  and  sup- 
port. A  secret  sympathy  links  nations  to- 
gether. Resolute  allies  arose  unsolicited  and 
from  unexpected  quarters  in  aid  of  the  nation- 
al party  of  French  catholics,  and.  this,  too,  in 
Italy  itself,  before  the  pope's  eyes. 

The  Venetians  were  the  first. 

In  Venice  some  few  years  previously — in 
the  year  1.582 — there  had  taken  place  a 
noiseless  change,  almost  wholly  overlooked 
in  the  history  of  the  republic,  but  not  the  less 
highly  influential.  Hitherto  important  mat- 
ters had  been  confined  to  the  hands  of  a  few 
old  patricians  chosen  out  of  a  small  circle  of 
families.  But  at  this  period  a  discontented 
majority  in  the  senate,  consisting  chiefly  of 
the  younger  members,  were  successful  in 
their  struggles  to  obtain  a  share  in  the  admin- 
istration, such  as  they  were  by  all  means  en- 
titled to  according  to  the  letter  of  the  consti- 
tution. 

Now  the  former  government  had  never,  in- 
deed, been  backward  in- carefully  upholding 
its  own  independence,  but  still  it  had  always, 
as  far  as  practicable,  coalesced  in  the  mea- 
sures of  the  Spaniards  and  of  the  Church. 
The  new  government  no  longer  observed  this 
policy,  but  rather,  for  mere  opposition's  sake, 
were  disposed  to  cross  the  designs  of  those 
powers. 

The  Venetians  had  naturally  a  strong  in- 
terest in  so  doing. 

On  the  one  hand  they  remarked  with  dis- 
pleasure that  the  doctrine  of  the  pope's  omni- 
potence, and  of  the  blind  obedience  due  to 
him,  was  preached  even  in  their  own  domin- 
ions ;  on  the  other  they  dreaded  the  complete 


A.  D.  1589-1607.] 


LATTER  TIMES  OF  SIXTUS  V. 


219 


destruction  of  the  European  balance  of  power 
if  the  Spaniards  succeeded  in  acquiring  a  pre- 
dominant influence  in  France.  Hitherto  the 
liberties  of  Europe  had  seemed  to  depend  on 
the  mutual  hostility  of  those  two  countries. 

The  coarse  of  events  in  France  was,  there- 
fore, watched  with  redoubled  interest.  Those 
writings  which  defended  the  royal  preroga- 
tive were  fastened  on  with  avidity.  Especial 
influence  was  exercised  by  a  society  consist- 
ing of  statesmen  and  men  of  letters,  which 
assembled  at  the  house  of  Andrea  Morosini, 
and  which  numbered  among  its  members  Le- 
onardo Donate  and  Niccolo  Conterini,  both  of 
them  afterwards  doges,  Domenico  Molini, 
subsequently  a  leading  chief  of  the  republic, 
fra  Paolo  Sarpi,  and  other  distinguished  men, 
all  of  them  at  an  age  when  men  are  disposed 
not  only  to  adopt  new  opinions,  but  also  to 
adhere  to  them  and  carry  them  out ;  and  all 
of  them  declared  adversaries  of  the  assump 
tionsof  the  Church,  and  of  the  ascendency  of 
the  Spaniards.*  It  is  always  highly  impor- 
tant towards  working  out  a  political  system, 
and  giving  it  efficacy,  even  when  it  is  found- 
ed on  fact,  that  there  should  exist  men  of 
talent  who  may  represent  it  in  their  own  per- 
sons, and  who  are  agreed  among  themselves 
to  propagate  it  each  in  his  own  circle :  but 
this  is  doubly  important  in  a  republic. 

Under  these  circumstances,  matters  were 
not  left  at  the  point  of  mere  thought  and  in- 
clination. From  the  very  first  the  Venetians 
had  conceived  a  confidence  in  Henry  IV.  that 
he  would  prove  capable  of  raising  up  France 
again,  and  restoring  the  lost  balance  of  power. 
Though  themselves  under  manifold  obliga- 
tions to  the  pope  who  had  excommunicated 
him,  though  encompassed  both  by  land  and 
sea  by  the  Spaniards,  who  wished  for  his 
downfall,  and  though  possessed  of  no  vast  and 
commanding  power,  they  were  yet  of  all  ca- 
tholics the  first  who  had  the  spirit  to  recog- 
nize that  king.  On  the  notification  of  their 
ambassador,  Mocenigo,  they  empowered  him 
to  congratulate  Henry  IV.  on  his  accession.! 
This  example  was  not  lost  on  others.  Though 
the  archduke  Ferdinand  of  Tuscany  had  not 
the  courage  to  commit  himself  to  an  open  re- 
cognition, he  yet  engaged  in  a  friendly  per- 
sonal correspondence  with  the  new  king.| 
The  protestant  monarch  suddenly  saw  him- 
self surrounded  by  catholic  allies,  nay,  pro- 


*  In  the  anonymous  Vita  di  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi  (by  Fra 
Fulgentio)  p.  104,  in  Griselini's  Memorabilia  of  Fra  Pao- 
lo, p.  p.  40.  78,  and  in  some  passages  in  Foscarini,  we  find 
accounts  of  this  "  ridotto  Mauroceno."  Besides  the  above- 
named  meiubers  of  the  society,  there  belonged  to  it  like- 
wise Pielro  and  Giacopo  Contarini,  Giacopo  Morosini, 
Leonardo  Mocenigo,  who,  however,  did  not  attend  as  reg- 
ularly as  the  others,  Antonio  Quirini,  Giacopo  Marcello, 
Marino  Zane,  and  Alessandro  Malipiero,  who,  old  as  he 
was,  always  accompanied  Fra  Paolo  home. 

t  Andreae  Mauroceni  Historiarum  Venelarum,  lib.  xiii. 
p.  548. 

tGalluzzi.  Isloria  del  Granducalo  di  Toscana,  lib.  v. 
(torn.  V.  p.  78.) 


tected  by  them  against  the  head  of  their  own 
Church. 

In  every  crisis  of  great  moment  the  public 
opinion  of  Europe  invariably  declares  its  bias 
in  a  manner  that  admits  of  no  ambiguity. 
Fortunate  is  he  on  whose  side  it  ranges  itself; 
all  his  cnterprizes  proceed  thencetbrth  with 
so  much  the  more  facility.  Henry  IV.  was 
now  the  favourite.  The  ideas  coupled  with 
his  name  had  hardly  found  utterance,  yet 
were  they  already  so  mighty,  the}'  could  even 
venture  to  attempt  winning  over  the  papacy 
to  own  their  validity. 

Latter  times  of  Sixtus  V. 

We  return  once  more  to  Sixtus  V.  Hav- 
ing already  spoken  of  his  internal  administra- 
tion, and  of  his  share  in  the  ecclesiastical  re- 
vival, we  must  now  say  a  word  or  two  about 
his  policy  in  general. 

It  is  exceedingly  remarkable  how  the  inex- 
orable justice  he  practised,  the  severe  finan- 
cial system  he  introduced,  and  his  rigid  eco- 
nomy, were  yet  associated  with  an  extraor- 
dinary propensity  to  fantastical  plans  of  po- 
licy. 

What  a  medley  of  strange  projects  entered 
his  head  ! 

For  a  long  while  he  flattered  himself  with 
the  hope  of  being  able  to  annihilate  the  Turk- 
ish empire.  He  entered  into  correspondences 
in  the  East,  with  the  Persians,  some  Arab 
chiefs,  and  the  Druses;  he  fitted  out  galleys, 
and  others  were  to  be  furnished  him  by  Spain 
and  Tuscany.  Thus  he  thought  he  should  be 
able  to  second  by  sea  the  efforts  of  Stephen 
Bathory,  king  of  Poland,  who  was  to  make 
the  main  attack  by  land.  The  pope  hoped  to 
combine  all  the  powers  of  the  north-east  and 
south-west  in  this  undertaking,  and  persuaded 
himself  that  Russia  would  not  only  coalesce 
with  the  king  of  Poland,  but  even  become 
subject  to  his  authority. 

Another  time  he  indulged  the  thought  of 
conquering'  Egypt,  either  alone,  or  with  no 
other  alliance  than  that  of  Tuscany.  On  this 
project  he  founded  the  most  extensive  views 
and  schemes — the  connection  of  the  Red  Sea 
with  the  Mediterranean,*  the  revival  of  the 
old  commercial  system  between  the  east  and 
the  west,  and  the  conquest  of  the  holy  sepul- 
chre. Supposing,  however,  that  this  should 
not  appear  immediately  practicable,  what  was 


*  Dispaccio  Gritti,  23  Agosto,  1587.  "  (II  papa)  entrf)  a 
parla  della  fossa  che  li  re  dell'  Egitto  havevano  fatta  per 
passar  del  inare  rosso  nel  mare  mediterraneo."  [Tha 
pope  began  to  talk  of  the  canal  the  kings  of  Egypt  had 
made  in  order  to  pass  from  the  Red  Sea  into  the  Mediter- 
ranean.] Sometimes  he  contemplated  attacking  Egypt 
single  handed.  "  Scopri  la  causa  del  desiderar  danari 
per  implegarli  in  unaarmata  che  vorria  far  solo  per  leim- 
presa  dell'  Egitto  e  pasar  quelle  ealee  che  ajulassero  a 
far  quella  impresa."  [He  made  known  the  cause  of  his 
wishing  for  money,  namely,  to  spend  it  on  an  expedition 
to  be  fitted  out  by  himself  alone  against  Egypt,  and  to  pay 
those  galleys  which  should  aid  in  the  enterprize.] 


220 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL. 


[a.  d.  1589-1607. 


to  hinder  at  least  an  expedition  to  Syria,  in 
order  to  have  the  tomb  of  the  Saviour  cut  out 
from  the  rock  by  skilful  artists,  and  conveyed, 
carefully  wrapt  up,  to  Italy?  He  already  in- 
dulged the  hope  of  yet  setting'  up  in  Montalto 
that  most  holy  of  all  shrines;  then  would  his 
native  land,  the  March,  where  already  stood 
the  sacred  house  of  Loretto,  comprise  within 
its  boundaries  the  birthplace  and  the  grave  of 
the  Saviour. 

One  other  idea  I  find  attributed  to  him, 
which  surpasses  all  the  others  in  extrava- 
gance. It  is  said  that  after  the  murder  of  the 
Guises,  the  proposal  was  made  to  Henry  III. 
that  he  should  nominate  a  nephew  of  the 
pope's  as  heir  to  the  throne.  The  legate,  it  is 
said,  made  this  proposal  with  the  pope's  know- 
ledge. If  the  nomination  was  made  with  all 
due  formality,  his  holiness  was  convinced  that 
the  king  of  Spain  would  give  the  infanta  in 
marriage  to  the  declared  heir:  such  a  suc- 
cessor would  be  recognized  by  every  one,  and 
an  end  would  be  put  to  all  troubles.  It  is  as- 
serted that  Henry  III.  was  really  for  a  mo- 
ment caught  by  these  representations,  until  it 
was  set  before  him  what  a  reputation,  if  he 
yielded  to  them,  he  would  leave  behind  for 
cowardice  and  pusillanimity.* 

Projects  these,  or  rather,  for  the  word  is  al- 
most too  definite,  fantasies,  castles  in  the 
air  of  the  most  extraordinary  kind.  How 
strangely  discordant  do  they  seem  with  this 
pope's  active  measures,  so  strenuously  practi- 
cal and  to  the  purpose ! 

And  yet,  might  we  not  venture  to  assert, 
that  these  were  often  based  on  extravagant, 
impracticable  thoughts'?  The  elevation  of 
Rome  into  a  regular  metropolis  of  Christen- 
dom, to  be  visited  after  the  lapse  of  an  ap- 
pointed number  of  years  by  the  people  of 
every  country,  even  of  America;  the  conver- 
sion of  the  monuments  of  antiquity  into  memo- 
rials of  the  subjugation  of  paganism  by  the 
Christian  religion;  the  hoarding  up  of  money 
borrowed  at  interest,  to  form  a  treasure  on 
which  the  temporal  power  of  the  Church  was 


*  This  account  is  contained  in  a  Menioire  du  seii^neur 
de  Schomberg,  Marechal  de  France  sous  Henri  III.,  in 
the  Hohendorf  MSS.  of  the  imp.  library  in  Vienna,  No. 
114.  "Quelque  temps  apr6s  la  mort  de  Mr.  de  Guise 
avenue  en  Blois  il  lut  propose  par  le  cardinal  de  More- 
sino  de  la  part  de  Sa  Saintel^,  que  si  S.  M.  vouloit  de- 
clarer le  marquis  de  Pom  0  probably  misspelt)  son  neveu 
herilier  de  la  couronne  et  le  faire  recevoir  pour  tel  avec 
solemnitez  requises,  que  S.  S.  s'assuroil  que  le  roy  d'Es- 
pEigne  bailleroit  en  niariajre  audit  marquis  rinlanie  et 
qu'en  ce  faisant  tous  les  troubles  de  France  prendroient 
fin.  A  quoi  le  roy  estant  prest  a  se  laisser  aller,  et  ce  par 
la  persuasion  de  ((uehiu'uns  (pii  pour  lors  esloient  pres  de 
S.  M.,  Mr.  de  Schomberg  rompitce  coup  partelles  raisons, 
que  ce  seroit  I'invenir  i'ordre  do  !•' ranee,  abolir  les  loix 
fondamenlales,  laisser  A  la  posterity  un  argument  certain 
de  la  lachet6  et  pusillanimit6  de  S.  M."  It  is  very  true 
that  Schomberg  makes  a  merit  of  having  prevented  this 
intention,  but  I  should  not  on  that  account  be  inclined  at 
once  to  pronounce  it  altogether  imaginary.  The  memoir 
which  sets  forth  the  legitimacy  of  Henry  IV. 's  claims 
gives  this  warrant  for  its  genuineness,  that  it  lies  ob- 
scurely among  other  papers.  It  is  only  surprising  that 
nothing  more  should  have  been  said  on  the  matter. 


to  be  founded  ;  all  of  them  plans  surmounting 
the  limits  of  practicability,  and  whose  origin 
is  to  be  sought  in  the  fire  of  religious  enthu- 
siasm, and  yet  which  mainly  determined  the 
active  character  of  this  pope's  life. 

From  youth  upwards,  hopes  and  desires 
sway  all  the  conduct  and  feelings  of  men; 
the  present  is  as  it  were  compassed  round  by 
the  future,  and  the  soul  is  never  weary  of 
committing  itself  to  the  expectation  of  a  per- 
sonal good  fortune.  But  the  more  a  man's 
condition  rises,  the  more  do  these  longings 
and  anticipations  attach  themselves  to  gene- 
ral interests,  to  some  great  purpose  in  science, 
in  politics,  or  in  the  general  concerns  of  life. 
In  our  Franciscan,  the  stimulus  and  impulse 
of  personal  hopes  had  always  been  the  stronger 
inasmuch,  as  he  found  himself  on  a  career  that 
opened  out  to  him  the  noblest  prospects ;  they 
had  led  him  on  from  step  to  step,  and  nurtured 
and  sustained  his  spirit  in  the  days  of  his  pe- 
nury ;  he  had  caught  up  every  prophetic  word 
and  treasured  it  in  his  heart,  and  linked  with 
it,  against  the  time  of  success,  exalted  plans 
suggested  by  monkish  enthusiasm.  At  last  all 
his  hopes  were  fulfilled  ;  from  a  mean  and  un- 
promising beginning  he  had  reached  the  high- 
est eminence  in  Christendom,  a  dignity  of  the 
importance  of  which  he  entertained  an  ex- 
aggerated conception :  he  believed  himself 
chosen  by  a  special  providence  to  carry  into 
effect  the  ideas  that  floated  before  him. 

Even  in  the  possession  of  the  supreme  au- 
thority he  did  not  abandon  his  habit  of  dis- 
cerning, amidst  all  the  bustle  of  general  busi- 
ness, the  possibility  of  brilliant  enterprizes, 
and  of  forming  projects  for  their  execution. 
There  was  in  all  of  them  an  element  of  a 
very  personal  nature  :  power  and  renown  had 
charms  for  him;  he  loved  to  difluse  his  own 
splendour  over  all  that  belonged  to  him,  his 
family,  his  birth-place,  and  his  native  pro- 
vince ;  but  these  desires  were  always  subordi- 
nate to  the  general  interests  of  catholic  Chris- 
tendom ;  his  mind  was  always  open  to  grand 
ideas.  Only  this  difference  is  to  be  taken 
into  account ;  one  part  of  his  projects  he  could 
himself  carry  out;  another  he  had  to  leave 
for  the  most  part  to  other  agents.  To  the 
former  he  applied  himself  with  that  inex- 
haustible activity  which  springs  from  convic- 
tion, enthusiasm,  and  ambition  ;  in  the  latter, 
on  the  contrary,  we  find  him  display  far  less 
zeal,  either  because  he  was  by  nature  dis- 
trustful, or  because  the  chief  part  of  the  exe- 
cution, and  consequently  of  the  fame  and  ad- 
vantage, was  to  be  consigned  to  others.  If 
we  ask  what  he  really  did  towards  the  accom- 
plishment, for  instance,  of  his  oriental  schemes, 
we  find  it  amounts  after  all  to  no  more  than 
this,  that  he  cemented  alliances,  interchanged 
letters,  issued  admonitions,  and  made  prepa- 
rations; we  do  not  observe  that  he  ever 
.adopted  serious  measures  adequate  to  the  end 


A.  D.  1589-1607.] 


LATTER  TIMES  OF  SIXTUS  V. 


221 


in  view.  He  grasped  the  plan  with  the  ar- 
dour of  an  enthusiastic  imagination  ;  but  as  he 
could  not  forthwith  set  his  own  hand  to  the 
work,  as  the  accomplishment  was  remote,  his 
will  was  not  really  effective  ;  the  scheme  that 
had  so  busily  occupied  his  mind  he  let  drop 
again,  and  its  place  was  taken  by  another. 

At  the  moment  before  us  the  pope  was  full 
of  the  grand  anticipations  connected  with  the 
undertaking  against  Henry  IV.,  anticipations 
of  a  complete  victory  for  strict  Catholicism, 
and  of  renovated  power  over  the  world  for  the 
popedom  :  with  these  thoughts  he  was  wholly 
engrossed.  Nor  did  he  doubt  but  that  all 
catholic  states  were  fully  agreed,  that  they 
would  make  cominon  cause  against  that  pro- 
testant  who  pretended  to  the  throne  of  France. 

Such  was  the  tone  of  his  mind,  such  his 
ardour,  when  the  fact  obtruded  itself  upon  him, 
that  a  catholic  power  with  which  he  thought 
he  was  on  peculiarly  good  terms,  that  Venice 
had  offered  her  congratulations  to  that  very 
protestant.  He  was  profoundly  mortified  by 
the  intelligence.  For  a  while  he  endeavoured 
to  restrain  the  public  from  taking  further 
steps;  he  entreated  her  to  wait ;  time,  he  said, 
bore  marvellous  fruit ;  he  had  himself  learned 
from  the  good  old  senators  to  let  them  come 
to  maturity.*  Venice  for  all  that  recognized 
the  existing  ambassador  from  France,  de 
Maisse,  after  he  had  received  his  credentials 
as  plenipotentiary  from  Henry  IV.  Upon  this 
the  pope  proceeded  from  admonitions  to  threats. 
He  exclaimed  that  he  would  know  what  it 
behoved  him  to  do :  he  had  the  old  nionito- 
ria  which  Julius  II.  had  issued  against  the 
Venetians  brought  tbrth,  and  a  draft  of  a  new 
one  against  them  prepared. 

Still  it  v;as  not  without  pain  and  inward 
repugnance  he  did  this.  Let  us  hear  for  a 
moment  how  he  expressed  himself  to  the  am- 
bassador whom  the  Venetians  sent  him  on  the 
subject. 

"To  fall  out  with  those  one  does  not  love," 
said  the  pope,  "  is  no  such  great  mischance  ; 
but  to  quarrel  with  those  one  loves,  is  indeed 
painful.  Yes ;  it  will  give  us  pain" — he 
laid  his  hand  on  his  breast — "  to  break  with 
Venice. 

"  But  Venice  has  aggrieved  us.  Navarre," 
so  he  called  Henry  IV.,  "  is  a  heretic  excom- 
municated by  the  holy  see ;  yet  has  Venice 
recognized  him  in  defiance  of  all  our  admo- 
nitions. 

"Is  the  Signory  then  the  first  among  the 
sovereigns  of  the  earth,  v;hose  place  it  is 
to  set  an  example  to  others  ?  There  is  still 
a  king  of  Spain,  there  is  still  an  emperor. 

"  Is  it  that  the  republic  has  any  fear  of  Na- 
varre ?  We  will  defend  it,  if  necessary  with 
all  our  might ;  we  have  the  strength  thereto. 


*  9  SeU.  1589.    "  Che  per  amor  di  Dio  non  si  vada  tanto 
avanti  con  questo  Navarre,  che  si  stia  a  veder,"  &c. 


Or  does  the  republic  think  to  inflict  any  in- 
jury on  us?     God  himself  would  stand  by  us. 

"The  republic  should  prize  our  friendship 
higher  than  that  of  Navarre.  We  can  better 
aid  it. 

"  I  entreat  you  recall  one  step !  The  catho- 
lic king  has  retracted  many  a  thing  because 
we  desired  it;  not  from  fear  of  us,  for  our 
power  against  his  is  but  as  that  of  a  fly  against 
an  elephant's,  but  from  love,  because  it  was 
the  pope  who  made  the  request,  the  vicege- 
rent of  Christ,  who  prescribes  the  rules  of 
faith  to  him  and  to  all  others.  Let  the  Signory 
do  likewise  ;  let  it  find  some  pretext  of  escape, 
it  will  be  no  difficult  matter ;  it  has  men 
enough  full  of  years  and  wisdom,  every  one  of 
whom  might  rule  a  world."* 

But  one  cannot  speak  forever  without  re- 
ceiving an  answer.  The  ambassador  extraor- 
dinary from  Venice  was  Leonardo  Donato,  a 
memijer  of  Andrea  Morosini's  society  ;  wholly 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  ecclesiastico- 
political  opposition  ;  a  man  as  we  should  say 
in  the  present  day,  of  the  greatest  diplomatic 
dexterity,  who  had  already  conducted  many 
difficult  negociations  to  a  prosperous  issue. 

Donato  could  not  explain  in  Rome  all  the 
motives  that  wrought  on  the  Venetians;  he 
put  forward  those  which  were  likely  to  find 
acceptance  with  the  pope,  since  their  import 
concerned  himself  in  common  with  Venice. 

For  was  it  not  manifest  that  the  Spanish 
ascendancy  in  the  south  of  Europe  was 
mightily  augmenting  from  year  to  year  !  The 
pope  felt  this  as  distinctly  as  any  other  Italian 
sovereign :  even  now  he  could  not  take  one 
step  in  Italy  without  the  approbation  and  con- 
sent of  the  Spaniards;  what  would  be  the 
state  of  things  when  they  should  have  become 
masters  of  France  1  Donato  most  prominently 
put  forward  this  consideration,  dwelling  on  the 
balance  of  power  in  Europe,  and  the  necessity 
of  its  restoration.  He  laboured  to  show  that 
the  republic  had  not  conceived  the  thought  of 
injuring  the  pope,  but  rather  of  favouring  and 
protectmg  a  grand  interest  of  the  Roman  see 
itself. 


*  Dispaccio  Donato,  25  Nov.  1589.  The  pope  spoke  so 
long,  that  the  ambassadors  said  were  they  to  write  it  all 
down,  it  would  take  an  hour  and  a  half  to  read  it  in  the 
senate.  Among  other  things  he  insisted  continually  on 
the  effects  of  excommunication.  "  Tre  sono  stali  scom- 
niunicati,  il  re  passato,  il  principe  di  Conde,  il  re  di  Na- 
varra.  Due  sono  malamente  moni,  il  lerzo  ci  Ira  vagi  ia  e 
Dio  per  nostro  esercito  lo  manliene :  ma  finira  anche  esso 
e  lerminari  male :  dubitiamo  punto  di  lui. — 2.  Dec.  II  papa 
publicaun  solennissimo  eiubileo  per  invitar  ogn' uno  a 
dover  pregar  S.  Divina  M-i.  per  la  quiete  el  augumento 
della  fede  cattolica."  [There  were  three  excommuni- 
cated, the  late  king,  the  prince  of  Cond6,  and  the  king  of 
Navarre.  Two  of  them  came  to  a  bad  end ;  the  third  is 
labouring  under  the  burthen,  and  God  for  our  trial  still 
supports  him,  but  he  too  will  at  last  end  badly :  let  us  not 
have  any  doubt  about  him.— 2  Dec.  The  pope  publishes  a 
very  solemn  jubilee,  inviting  every  one  to  pray  to  the 
Divine  Majesty  for  the  quiet  and  increase  of  the  catho- 
lic faith.]  During  this  jubilee  he  would  see  no  one  per 
viver  a  se  slesso  el  a  sue  divotioni."  [That  he  might  pasa 
his  time  with  himself  and  his  devotions.] 


222 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL.      [a.  d.  1589-1607, 


The  pope  listened  to  him,  but  appeared  im- 
movable and  not  to  be  convinced.  Donato 
despaired  of  effecting  any  thing  with  him, 
and  applied  for  an  audience  to  leave.  He  re- 
ceived it  on  the  16th  of  December,  1589,  and 
the  pope  appeared  disposed  to  refuse  him  his 
blessing.*  Sixtus  V.,  however,  was  not  so 
blinded  by  prejudice,  that  substantial  argu- 
ments could  make  no  impression  on  him.  He 
was  self-opinionated,  high-handed,  dogmati- 
cal, and  obstinate,  yet  with  all  that,  his  in- 
ward thoughts  were  not  unsusceptible  of 
change,  he  was  capable  of  being  gained  over 
to  new  views,  and  at  bottom  he  was  good  na- 
tured.  Even  whilst  he  was  still  disputing, 
and  stubbornly  upholding  his  principles,  he 
felt  himself  in  his  heart  shaken  and  convinced. 
In  the  middle  of  the  audience  he  became  all  at 
once  mild  and  complying.!  "  He  who  has  a 
colleague,"  he  exclaimed,  "  has  a  master:  I 
will  talk  with  the  congregation  ;  I  will  tell  it 
that  I  have  been  angry  with  you,  but  that  I 
have  been  overcome  by  you."  The  ambassa- 
dors waited  a  few  days  longer  ;  the  pope  then 
declared,  that  he  could  not  approve  of  what 
the  republic  had  done,  still  he  would  not  adopt 
the  measures  he  had  contemplated  against  it. 
He  gave  Donato  his  blessing  and  kissed  him. 

Here  was  an  almost  insensible  change  of 
personal  feeling,  and  yet  it  was  pregnant  with 
the  greatest  results.  The  pope  himself  re- 
laxed the  rigour  with  which  he  persecuted 
the  protestant  king;  nor  would  he  absolutely 
condemn  the  catholic  party  that  had  adhered 
to  that  monarch  in  opposition  to  the  policy 
hitherto  pursued  by  Sixtus.  A  first  step  is  of 
much  importance,  as  it  determines  the  whole 
subsequent  course.  This  was  palpably  per- 
ceived on  the  part  of  the  opposition :  origin- 
ally it  had  only  sought  to  excuse  itself,  but 
now  it  forthwith  endeavoured  to  win  over  and 
subdue  the  pope  himself. 

Commissioned  by  the  princes  of  the  blood 
and  by  the  catholic  peers  that  had  sided  with 
Henry  IV.,  monseigneur  de  Luxembourg 
made  his  appearance  in  Italy.  In  spite  of 
the  warnings  of  the  Spaniards,  Sixtus  V.  ad- 
mitted him  into  Rome  in  January,  1590,  and 
gave  him  an  audience.  The  envoy  dwelt 
particularly  on  Henry's  personal  qualities,  and 
set  forth  in  glowing  colours  his  valour,  his 
magnanimity  and  goodness  of  heart.  The  pope 
was  quite  charmed  with  the  picture.  "  Now 
truly,"  he  cried,  "  I  grieve  that  I  have  ex- 
communicated him."  Luxembourg  said  his 
lord  and  king  would  even  yet  make  himself 
worthy  of  absolution,  and  return  at  the  feet  of 
his  holiness  into  the  bosom  of  the  catholic 
church.  "  In  that  case,"  replied  the  pope, 
"I  will  embrace  and  comfort  him." 


His  imagination  was  already  strongly  pos- 
sessed :  these  advances  at  once  suggested  to 
him  the  boldest  hopes.  He  gave  admission  to 
the  notion  that  it  was  rather  political  aversion 
to  Spain,  than  any  religious  conviction  hostile 
to  the  Roman  see,  that  withheld  the  protest- 
ants  from  returning  to  the  catholic  church,  and 
thought  that  he  ought  by  no  means  to  repulse 
them.*  An  English  envoy  was  already  in 
Rome ;  one  from  Saxony  was  announced.  He 
was  very  ready  to  hear  them :  "  Would  to 
God,"  he  said,  "  they  would  all  come  to  our 
feet." 

The  extent  of  the  change  that  had  taken 
place  in  him  was  manifested,  among  other 
proofs,  by  his  behaviour  to  cardinal  Morosini, 
his  legate  in  France.  The  cardinal's  com- 
pliancy towards  Henry  III.  had  formerly  been 
regarded  as  criminal,  and  he  had  returned  to 
Italy  loaded  with  the  pope's  displeasure :  he 
was  now  introduced  into  the  consistory  by 
cardinal  Montalto,  and  the  pope  received  him 
with  the  declaration  that  he  rejoiced  that  a 
cardinal  of  his  own  choice  had  obtained  such 
universal  approbation.!  Donna  Camilla  led 
him  to  table. 

How  amazed  must  the  rigid  catholics  have 
been  at  this  change.  The  pope  showed  a 
leaning  towards  a  protestant  he  had  himself 
excommunicated,  and  who,  according  to  the 
old  principles  of  the  church,  was  incapacitated 
for  absolution  as  a  double  apostate. 

It  is  in  the  nature  of  things  that  this  should 
have  produced  a  re-action.  The  strict  catholic 
parly  was  not  so  thoroughly  dependent  on  the 
pope  that  it  could  not  offer  him  resistance  : 
the  Spanish  power  afibrded  it  a  stay  to  which 
it  eagerly  clung. 

The  liguists  in  France  upbraided  the  pope 
with  avarice :  he  would  not  draw  his  purse 
strings ;  he  wanted,  they  said,  to  economise 
the  gold  accumulated  in  the  castle  of  St.  An- 
gelo  for  his  nephews  and  his  relations.     In 


*  Disp.  Donato  Dec.  16.  "  Dope  si  lungo  negotio  restan- 
do quasi  privi  d'osni  aperanza." 

f  Ibid.  "  Finalinente  inspiraladel  signorDio  .  .  .  disse 
di  conieniarsene  (lo  give  him  bis  blessing)  e  di  essersi 
lascialo  viucer  da  noi," 


*  Dispaccio  Donato,  13  Genn.  1590.  "11  papa  biasima 
1'  opinione,  de'  cardinali  e  d'altri  prelati  che  lo  stimulano 
a  dover  licentiar  esso  signor  di  Lucenburg  e  li  accusa  clie 
vogliano  farsi  siio  pedants  (liis  prompter,  as  we  should 
say)  in  quello  che  ha  studiato  tutto  il  tempo  (Je  la  vita  sua. 
SoL'giunse  che  haveria  caro  che  la  regina  d'  Inghilterra, 
il  liuca  di  Sassonia  e  tulti  gli  altri  andassero  a  suoi  piedi 
con  bona  dispositione.  Che  dispiaceri  a  Si-  che  andassero 
ad  altri  principi  (catholic  that  is)  et  havessero  communi- 
catione  con  loro,  ma  si  consolava  quande  vadino  a  suoi 
piedi  a  dimandar  perdono."  [The  pope  finds  fault  with 
the  opinions  of  the  cardinals  and  other  prelates,  who  urge 
him  to  dismiss  this  monseigneur  Luxembourg,  and  charges 
them  with  a  desire  to  malje  themselves  his  prompter  in  a 
matter  he  had  studied  all  his  life.  He  added,  that  he 
would  be  glad  if  the  queen  of  England,  the  duke  of  Sax- 
ony, and  all  the  rest  of  them  would  approach  his  feet  in  a 
becoming  disposition:  that  it  was  displeasing  to  his  holi- 
ness that  they  should  have  recourse  to  other  princes,  but 
that  it  would  be  cheering  to  him  if  they  betook  them- 
selves to  his  feet  to  ask  for  pardon.]  He  repeated  these 
sentiments  in  various  forms  in  every  audience. 

•t  Dispaccio,  3  Marzo.  "  Dice  di  consolarsi  assai  ch'  egli 
soa  creatura  fusse  di  tutti  tanto  celebrato.  II  clmo-  Moro- 
sini acquisla  niolto  honore  e  reputatione  per  la  soa  rela- 
tione delle  cosi  di  Francia."  [  .  .  •  His  eminence  cardi- 
dal  Morosini  acquired  much  honour  and  reputation  by  his 
report  of  the  affairs  of  France.] 


A.  D.  1589-1607.] 


LATTER  TIMES  OF  SIXTUS  V. 


223 


Spain  a  Jesuit  preached  upon  the  deplorable 
condition  in  which  the  church  was  then 
placed.  "Not  only  does  the  republic  of  Ve- 
nice countenance  the  heretics,  but — hush  ! 
hush  !"  he  said,  laying  his  finger  on  his  lips, 
"  but  even  the  pope  himself."  This  was 
echoed  in  Italy.  Sixtus  V.  was  already  grown 
so  captious,  that  the  admonition  issued  by  the 
general  of  the  capuchins  for  general  prayers, 
"  to  invoke  God's  grace  on  the  aflairs  of  the 
church,"  was  regarded  by  him  in  the  light  of 
a  personal  insult,  and  he  suspended  the  gen- 
eral. 

Hints  and  private  complaints  were  not  all 
the  effect  produced.  On  the  ■22nd  of  March, 
1.590,  the  Spanish  ambassador  appeared  in  the 
papal  apartments,  to  make  a  formal  protest  in 
his  master's  name,  against  the  pope's  con- 
duct.* There  was,  we  see,  a  system  of  opi- 
nion more  orthodox  and  more  catholic  than 
the  pope  himself:  the  Spanish  ambassador 
stood  forth  to  give  it  expression  and  words  be- 
fore the  pope's  face.  Strange  incident !  The 
ambassador  knelt  on  one  knee,  and  besought 
his  holiness  to  permit  him  to  execute  his  mas- 
ter's commands.  The  pope  endeavoured  to 
raise  him  up,  saying,  ♦'  it  was  a  heresy  to  con- 
duct himself  towards  Christ's  vicegerent  in 
the  manner  he  purposed."  The  ambassador 
was  not  to  be  put  out  of  his  course.  "  May  it 
please  your  holiness,"  he  began,  "  to  proclaim 
Navarre's  adherents  excommunicated  without 
distinction,  and  to  declare  Navarre  incapable 
under  all  circumstances  and  forever,  of  hold- 
ing the  crown  of  France.  If  not,  the  catholic 
king  will  renounce  his  allegiance  to  your  ho- 
liness, for  he  cannot  suffer  the  cause  of  Christ 
to  be  ruined. "t  The  pope  hardly  let  him  utter 
thus  much  ;  he  cried  out  that  this  was  not  the 
king's  business.  The  ambassador  stood  up, 
threw  himself  on  his  knees  again,  and  tried 
to  proceed.  The  pope  called  him  a  stone  of 
offence  and  went  away.  But  Olivarez  was 
not  to  be  put  off  so ;  he  declared  that  he 
would  and  must  finish  his  protestation,  though 


*  Already  on  the  10th  of  March,  the  ambassador  had 
laid  the  following  questions  before  the  pope.  "Li  ha 
ricercato  la  risposla  sopra  le  tre  cose,  cio6  di  licentiarLu- 
cenburg,  iscommunicar  li  cardinali  et  altri  prelati  die 
seguono  il  Navarra  e  promettar  di  non  habilitar  mai  esso 
Navarra  allasuccessione  della  corona:"  [he  demanded 
a  reply  touching  three  things ;  viz.  the  dismissal  of  Lux- 
emburg, the  excommunication  of  the  cardinals  and  other 
prelates  who  followed  Navarre,  and  a  promise  never  to 
capacitate  the  said  Navarre  for  succeeding  to  the  crown.] 
He  had  also  given  notice  of  a  protest.  Upon  this  the  pope 
had  threatened  excommunication.  "  Minaccia  di  iscom- 
municar quei  e  castigarli  nella  vita  che  ardiranno  di  ten- 
lar  quanio  egli  li  havea  detlo,  cacciandolo  inanzi  e  seran- 
dogli  in  faccia  la  porta."  [He  threatens  to  excommuni- 
cate and  to  punish  capitally,  those  who  shall  dare  to  at- 
tempt what  he  (the  ambassador)  had  said  to  him,  turning 
him  out  and  slamming  the  door  in  his  face.] 

f'Che  S.  Si'  dichiari  iscommunicati  lutti  quei  che 
seguitano  in  Francia  il  Navarra  e  tulti  gli  altri  che  quo- 
vismodo  il  desseroa  juto,  e  che  dichiari  es.so  Navarra  inca- 
pace  perpetualmente  alia  corona  di  Francia:  altramente 
chp  il  re  suo  si  leveri  dalla  obedicnza  della  chiesa,  e  pro- 
cureri  che  non  sia  fatta  ingiuria  alia  causa  di  Christo  e 
che  la  pieii  e  la  religione  soa  sia  conosciuta." 


the  pope  should  cut  off  his  head ;  he  knew 
well  that  his  king  would  avenge  him,  and 
reward  his  fidelity  in  the  persons  of  his  chil- 
dren. Sixtus  V.  on  the  other  hand  was  infu- 
riated. "  No  prince  in  the  world,"  he  said, 
"  was  entitled  to  dictate  to  a  pope,  to  him 
who  is  set  by  God  as  master  over  others  :  the 
ambassador's  conduct  was  quite  indecent :  his 
instructions  empowered  him  to  protest  only 
in  case  the  pope  should  manifest  coldness  in 
the  cause  of  the  Ligue :  how  did  he  know 
that  such  was  the  ca.se  1  Did  the  ambassa- 
dor pretend  to  direct  the  steps  of  his  holi- 
ness !" 

Genuine  Catholicism  seemed  to  have  only 
one  aim,  one  undivided  system  of  thought,  it 
seemed  to  be  borne  along  on  the  full  tide  to  vic- 
tory, to  be  at  the  very  point  of  success;  when, 
unexpectedly,  there  arose  within  it  two  parties, 
two  systems  of  opinion,  politically  and  ecclesi- 
astically opposed  to  each  other ;  the  one  ag- 
gressive, the  other  opposed  to  resistance.  The 
commencement  of  their  warfare  was  marked 
by  the  efforts  which  each  made  with  all  its 
might  to  gain  over  the  head  of  the  church  to 
itself  The  one  party  had  already  possessed 
the  pope,  and  now  with  bitter  exasperation, 
with  threats,  and  almost  by  force,  strove  to 
retain  him.  To  the  other  he  had  been  in- 
clined by  a  secret  emotion  in  a  critical  mo- 
ment, and  it  now  sought  to  get  complete  hold 
of  him,  offering  alluring  promises,  and  setting 
before  him  the  most  brilliant  prospects.  It 
was  of  the  greatest  moment  as  regarded  the 
struggle,  to  which  of  the  two  parties  he  should 
give  his  countenance. 

The  behaviour  of  this  pope,  so  renowned 
for  his  energy  and  decision  of  character,  fills 
us  with  amazement. 

Does  he  receive  letters  from  Philip  II.  de- 
claring that  sovereign  would  defend  the  right- 
ful cause,  and  that  he  would  support  the 
Ligue  with  the  strength  of  his  dominions,  and 
at  the  cost  of  his  own  blood  ;  the  pope,  too,  is 
full  of  zeal,  and  vows  he  will  not  bring  upon 
himself  the  disgrace  of  having  failed  to  op- 
pose a-  heretic  like  Navarre.* 

Yet  for  all  that,  he  inclined  again  to  the 
other  side.  When  the  difficulties  in  which 
the  affairs  of  France  involved  him  were  re- 
presented to  him,  he  exclaimed  that,  "  were 
Navarre  present  he  would  beseech  him  on  his 
knees  to  become  catholic." 


*  He  declares  even  in  the  consistory  ,  "  di  haver  scritto 
al  re  con  sua  propria  mano,  che  procurera  sempre  con 
tutte  le  sue  forze  spirituali  e  temporali  che  mai  riesca  re 
di  Francia  alojuo  che  non  sia  di  compita  sodisfattione 
alia  Sua  Catolica  Maesli:"  [that  he  had  written  to  the 
king  with  his  own  hand  saying,  that  he  would  always  en- 
deavour with  all  his  might,  spiritual  and  tenporl,  that 
no  one  should  ever  succeed  to  the  throne  of  France,  who 
was  not  fully  satisfactory  to  his  catholic  majesty.]  In 
Jan.  1590,  the  ambassadors  say :  "  II  papa  nelle  traltationi 
parla  con  unoad  un  modo  con  suoi  disegni  ed  ad  un  altro 
con  altri  (disegni)."  [He  in  tlie  discussion  of  business, 
holds  one  sort  of  language  touching  his  designs  with  one 
party,  and  a  different  one  with  another.], 


224 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL.      [a.  d.  15891607. 


Never  surely  did  any  prince  stand  in  a 
stranger  relation  to  his  plenipotentiary  than 
did  pope  Sixtus  to  the  legate  Gaetano,  whom 
he  had  sent  to  France  during  the  period  of 
his  close  union  with  Spain.  At  present  the 
pope  had  not  indeed  passed  over  to  the  side  of 
the  French,  but  he  had  been  brought  to  an  ir- 
resolute, neutral  way  of  thinking.  The  legate 
followed  his  original  instructions  without  the 
least  consideration  for  the  change  in  his  mas- 
ter's sentiments.  When  Henry  IV.  besieged 
Paris  after  his  victory  at  Ivry,  it  was  the 
pope's  legate  who  offered  him  the  most  resist- 
ance. Captains  and  magistrates  took  the 
oath  administered  by  him  never  to  capitulate 
with  Navarre ;  and  by  the  dignity  of  his  of- 
fice, and  by  a  deportment  equally  adroit  and 
firm,  he  succeeded  in  keeping  them  fast  to 
their  engagements.* 

In  the  end,  however,  the  rigidly  orthodox 
opinions  manifested  the  greatest  strength. 

Olivarez  obliged  the  pope  to  send  away 
Luxemburg,  though  it  were  only  under  the 
pretext  of  a  pilgrimage  to  Loreto.  The  pope 
had  designed  to  send  as  legate  to  France 
Monsignor  Serafino,  who  was  reputed  to  hold 
French  opinions:  Olivarez  complained  loudly, 
and  threatened  he  would  not  present  himself 
at  another  audience;  to  which  the  pope  re- 
plied, "he  might  depart  in  God's  name:" 
finally,  however,  Olivarez  was  victorious,  and 
the  mission  of  Serafino  was  postponed.  There 
is  an  incredible  power  in  an  onthodox  system 
adhered  to  with  unwavering  stedfastness, 
especially  when  it  is  advocated  by  a  man  of 
capacity.  Olivarez  had  on  his  side  the  con- 
gregation which  managed  the  French  de- 
partment of  business,  and  which  had  been 
constituted  in  earlier  times.  In  1590  a  new 
alliance  between  Spain  and  the  pope,  was 
taken  into  consideration,!  and  the  pope  de- 
clared he  must  do  something  in  favour  of 
Spain. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  he 
had  meanwhile  given  up  the  other  party.  He 
had  at  his  court  at  the  very  same  time,  the 


*  Discours  veritable  et  notable  du  siege  de  la  ville  de 
Paris  en  I'an  1590;  in  Villeroy,  M6moires  d'estat,  t.  ii. 
p.  417. 

t  The  king  was  to  equip  20,000  infantry,  and  3000  cav- 
alry, the  pope  15,000  infantry,  and  2,0U0  cavalry.  "Li 
ambasciatori  sollicitano  con  li  cardinali  la  conclusione  e 
soltoscritlione  del  capitolalo  (Disp.  14.  Luglio)."  [The 
ambassadors  were  urgent  with  tlie  cardinals  for  the  con- 
clusion and  subscription  of  the  convention,  Desp.  14. 
July.]  The  pope  proposed  in  the  congregation  the  ques- 
tions: an  electio  regis  Franciae,  vacante  principe  ex  cor- 
pora sanguinis,  spectet  ad  pontificem."  [Whether  the 
election  of  a  king  of  France,  failing  a  prince  of  the 
blood,  belongs  to  thn  sovereign  pontiff.]  "  Esortato  a  star 
neutrale,  laudando  il  consiglio  risponde  non  polerreslara 
far  qualche  cosa  (Disp.  28  Luglio.)"  [Being  exhorted  to 
remain  neutral,  he  replied,  while  he  commended  the 
counsel,  that  he  could  not  refrain  from  doing  something. 
(Desp.  July  28.)]  It  is  said,  however,  in  the  dispatch  of  tlie 
2Isl  of  July  ;  "  Laodigeres  haveva  mandalo  un  suo  huoiiio 
a  trattar  con  S.  Si'  il  quale  ha  tratlalo  lungamente  seco." 
[Lesdiguieres  had  sent  a  man  of  his  to  treat  with  his 
Holiness,  which  said  person  had  treated  with  him  at  much 
length.] 


agent  of  Lesdiguieres,  a  leader  of  the  Hugue- 
nots ;  a  minister  of  the  landgrave,  and  an 
English  ambassador  were  also  there,  and  the 
imperial  ambassador  was  already  bestirring 
himself  to  make  head  against  the  suggestions 
he  apprehended  on  the  part  of  the  Saxon  en- 
voy, who  was  once  more  expected  :  the  ma- 
ncEuvres  of  chancellor  Crell  extended  even 
to  Rome.* 

Such  was  the  position  of  the  potent  eccle- 
siastical sovereign,  who  cherished  the  belief, 
that  he  was  invested  with  direct  authority 
over  the  whole  earth,  and  who  had  amassed  a 
treasure  that  might  well  have  enabled  him  to 
give  a  grand  decisive  impetus  to  the  course  of 
events ;  thus  irresolute  and  vacillating  was 
he  at  the  critical  moment. 

May  this  fairly  be  charged  upon  him  as  a 
fault !  I  fear  in  judging  thus  we  should  do 
him  wrong.  He  saw  through  the  posture  of 
things ;  he  saw  the  dangers  on  either  side ; 
he  gave  admission  to  contending  opinions;  no 
conjuncture  occurred  to  force  him  to  a  final 
decision.  His  own  soul  was  filled  with  the 
strife  of  those  elements  that  parted  the  world 
between  them,  none  obtained  the  mastery 
over  the  rest. 

But  hence  assuredly  it  became  impossible 
for  him  to  constrain  the  course  of  European 
affairs,  or  to  exert  any  vast  influence  over 
them.  On  the  contrary,  the  forces  agitating 
society  reacted  upon  himself;  this  re-action 
took  place  under  the  most  peculiar  form. 

Sixtus  had  succeeded  in  putting  down  the 
banditti,  chiefly  in  consequence  of  the  good 
understanding  into  which  he  entered  with 
his  neighbours.  But  this  being  now  interrupt- 
ed, different  opinions  prevailing  in  Tuscany 
and  Venice  from  those  entertained  in  Naples 
and  Milan,  and  the  pope  not  declaringdecided- 
ly  for  either,  he  incurred  the  suspicion  now  of 
one,  now  of  another  of  his  neiglibours,  and  the 
banditti  sprung  up  once  more. 

They  made  their  appearance  again  in  April 
1590,  led  by  Sacripante  in  the  Maremma,  by 
Piccolomini  in  Romagna,  and  by  Battistella 
in  the  campagna  of  Rome.  They  were 
abundantly  provided  with  money,  and  it  was 
said  to  have  been  noticed  that  they  passed 
many  Spanish  doubloons.  Their  chief  ad- 
herents were  of  the  Guelphish  party;  already 
they  marched  through  the  land  in  regular 
bodies,  with  banners  flying,  and  drums  beat- 
ing; nor  had  the  papal  troops  any  mind  to 
engage  them.f     This  state  of  things  imme- 

*  We  cannot  otherwise  account  for  the  fact  that  the 
imperial  ambassador  warned  the  pope  against  Saxon  in- 
sinuations. "  L'ambasciatore  dell'  imperatore  prega  il 
pontefice  di  non  voler  ascollare  quel  huoino  che  viendetto 
esser  mandato  dal  duca  di  Sassonia,  in  quello  che  fusse 
di  pregiuditio  del  suo  patron  e  della  casa  d'Auslria:  ecosl 
li  vien  promesso."  [The  ambassador  from  the  emperor 
entreated  the  pope  not  to  lend  an  ear  to  that  man  who 
was  said  to  be  sent  by  the  duke  of  Saxony,  in  what  might 
be  to  thp  prejudice  of  his  master,  and  of  tlte  house  of  Aus- 
tria :  and  tlie  same  was  promised  him.] 

t  Disp.  21  Luglio.    "  f  fuorusciti  corrouo  fine  su  le  porte 


A.  D.  1589-1607.]     URBAN  VII.,  GREGORY  XIV.,  INNOCENT  IX. 


225 


diately  made  itself  felt  throughout  all  the  re- 
lations of  the  country.  The  Bolognese  op- 
posed, with  a  boldness  and  independence  of 
spirit  long  unexampled,  the  pope's  design  of 
augmenting  the  number  of  senators  in  their 
city. 

In  this  situation,  beset  by  so  many  near  and 
pressing  vexations,  without  having  even  at- 
tempted to  come  to  a  decision,  or  to  adopt  any 
resolution  in  the  weightiest  matters,  died  pope 
Sixtus  V.  on  the  27th  of  August,  1590. 

Just  at  the  moment  he  breathed  his  last,  a 
storm  burst  over  the  Quirinal.  The  stupid 
multitude  persuaded  themselves  that  Fra  Fe- 
lice had  made  a  compact  with  the  evil  one, 
by  whose  help  he  had  climbed  from  step  to 
step,  and  that  now  on  the  expiration  of  the 
stipulated  time,  his  soul  was  fetched  away  in 
the  midst  of  the  tempest.  In  this  way  they 
symbolized  their  dissatisfaction  at  the  many 
new  taxes  he  had  imposed,  and  the  doubts  as 
to  his  perfect  ortliodoxy  which  had  so  often 
been  agitated  of  late  years.  In  an  excess  of 
tumultuous  fury  they  pulled  down  the  statues 
they  had  once  erected  to  him  ;  nay  a  resolu- 
tion was  passed  in  the  capitol,  tliat  never  again 
should  a  statue  be  erected  to  a  pope  during 
his  life  time. 

Urban    VII.,  Gregory  XIV.,  Innocent  IX., 
and  their  conclaves,  1590,  1591. 

The  new  election  was  now  doubly  moment- 
ous. It  depended  mainly  on  the  personal 
disposition  of  the  pope  to  be  chosen,  for  which 
of  the  two  parties,  whose  strife  had  just  be- 
gun, he  would  declare  himself,  and  there  was 
no  doubt  that  his  determination  might  lead  to 
results  whose  influence  would  be  universally 
felt.  Hence  the  intrigues  and  the  election- 
eering struggles  of  the  conclave  derived  a  pe- 
culiar significancy,  and  compel  us  to  devote 
a  few  words  to  them  in  this  place. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
the  ascendancy  of  the  imperial  or  of  the  French 
faction  commonly  prevailed  among  the  elec- 
tors; the  cardinals,  as  a  pope  once  said,  en- 
joyed no  longer  any  freedom  of  election.  After 
the  middle  of  the  same  century  this  influence 
of  foreign  powers  had  greatly  diminished,  and 
the  curia  was  left  much  more  to  the  course  of 
its  own  inclinations.  Thereupon  there  arose 
out  of  the  ferment  of  its  internal  agitations  a 
principle  or  a  custom  of  a  very  singular  kind. 

Each  pope  was  wont  to  nominate  a  number 
of  cardinals,  who,  in  the  next  conclave  con- 
sorted with  the  nephews  of  the  deceased,  con- 
stituted a  new  power,  and  usually  sought  to 
advance  one  of  their  own  party  to  the  throne. 
It  is  a  remarkable  fact   that  they  never  suc- 


ceeded in  this,  that  the  opposition  was  always 
victorious,  and  commonly  promoted  an  ad- 
versary of  the  last  pope. 

I  Will  not  attempt  to  investigate  this  matter 
in  detail.  We  are  m  possession  of  documents 
relating  to  these  elections,  which  are  not  al- 
together unworthy  of  credit ;  still  it  would  be 
impossible  to  bring  fully  and  fairly  before  our 
eyes  all  the  personal  considerations  that  ope- 
rated in  them  ;  our  delineations  would  always 
remain  mere  shadows. 

It  is  enough  that  we  direct  attention  to  the 
principle.  During  the  period  in  question,  it 
was  without  exception  not  the  adherents  but 
the  antagonists  of  the  last  pope,  that  is  to  say, 
the  creatures  of  the  last  but  one,  who  were 
victorious.  Paul  IV.  was  elected  by  the  crea- 
tures of  Paul  III. ;  Pius  IV.  by  the  enemies  of 
Caiaffa  and  of  Paul  IV.  The  nephew  of  Pius 
IV.,  Borromeo,  had  the  self-denial  voluntarily 
to  give  his  support  to  a  man  of  the  opposite 
parly,  whom  he  esteemed  the  most  devout, 
namely,  Pius  V.  ;  but  he  did  so  not  without 
the  most  vehement  remonstrances  on  the  part 
of  his  uncle's  creatures,  who,  as  it  is  said  in 
the  report,  hardly  believed  they  saw  what  they 
saw  or  did  what  they  did.  Nor  did  they  neglect 
to  turn  their  compliance  to  account  on  the  next 
occasion.  They  endeavoured  to  give  a  recog- 
nized validity  to  the  precedent,  and  to  constitute 
it  a  rule ;  and  in  tact  they  chose  the  successor  of 
Plus  V.  out  of  the  creatures  of  Pius  IV.  The 
same  was  the  case  in  the  election  of  Sixtus 
v.,  who  was  elevated  from  among  the  adver- 
saries of  his  predecessor,  Gregory  Alll. 

Under  these  circumstances  it  is  no  wonder 
that  we  always  encounter  men  of  opposite 
character  in  the  successive  occupants  of  the 
papal  sees.  The  several  factions  alternately 
drove  each  other  out. 

On  the  present  occasion  this  usage  ofl^ered 
a  great  prospect  to  the  antagonists  of  iSixtua 
V.  especially  to  the  opponents  of  his  latter 
policy.  iSixtus  V.  had  made  his  nephew  ex- 
ceedingly powerful,  and  the  latter  now  entered 
the  conclave  wiih  a  body  of  cardinals  devoted 
to  his  interest  as  nunierous  as  had  ever  betbre 
been  combined  together.  Notwithstanding 
all  this  he  was  obliged  to  give  way.  The 
creatures  ot  Gregory  carried  the  election  of 
an  opponent  of  ttie  last  pope,  one  who  had 
even  been  peculiarly  offended  by  him,  and 
who  was  unquestionably  attached  to  the  Span- 
ish party — Giambattista  Castagna,  Urban 
VII.* 


di  Roma."  [The  outlaws  make  incursions  up  to  llie 
very  gates  of  Rome.]  The  dispatches  of  March  17tti, 
April  7ih,  April  28th,  May  12th,  June  2aJ,  contain  de- 
tails on  this  subject.] 

29 


♦  Conclave  di  papa  Urbano  VII.  MS.  "Lapratica  (di 
quesla  elettione)  lu  guidala  dal  cardinal  Sforza  (capo  delle 
ciBalure  di  papa  Gregono  Aill.)  e  da  cardinal!  Geuovesi." 
[I'he  proceedings  of  this  election  were  directed  by  cardi- 
nal Sioiza  (vhi  head  of  the  creatures  of  On  gory  XIII.,) 
and  by  Genoese  cardinals.]  In  a  despatch  fio.n  Maisse, 
the  trench  ambassador  at  Venice,  in  F.  v.  Raumer's 
Histor.  Briefen,  i.  360,  it  is  staled  that  Sforza  had  dragged 
down  Colonna  from  the  papal  chair,  after  he  had  already 
seated  himself  theie;  this,  however,  is  not  to  be  under- 
stood literally. 


226 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL.        [a.  d.  1590-1. 


But  they  were  unfortunate  in  this  choice. 
Urban  VII.  died  before  he  had  even  been 
crowned,  before  he  had  nominated  a  single 
prelate,  on  the  twelfth  day  of  his  pontificate, 
and  the  contest  broke  out  afresh. 

It  was  distinguished  by  the  circumstance  that 
the  Spaniards  again  took  the  most  earnest  part 
in  it.  They  saw  plainly  how  much  depended 
on  the  result  with  regard  to  the  affairs  of 
France.  The  king  resolved  on  a  step  which 
was  charged  upon  him  in  Rome  as  a  dangerous 
innovation,  and  which  even  his  adherents 
could  only  attempt  to  justify  on  the  ground  of 
the  urgent  circumstances  in  which  he  was 
placed  :*  he  named  seven  cardinals  who  seem- 
ed likely  to  be  of  service  to  him,  and  would 
not  accept  any  other.  At  the  head  of  these 
nominees  stood  the  name  of  Madruzzi,  and  the 
Spanish  cardinals  forthwith  made  an  effort  to 
to  effect  his  election. 

But  they  met  with  obstinate  resistance. 
The  cardinals  would  not  have  Madruzzi,  be- 
cause he  was  a  German,  and  they  could  not 
bear  to  have  the  papacy  pass  again  into  the 
hands  of  the  barbarians,t  nor  would  Montalto 
allow  the  election  ofany  of  the  others.  Montalto 
would,  indeed,  in  vain  have  attempted  to  raise 
any  of  his  own  party  to  the  papal  chair,  but 
at  least  he  was  able  to  exclude  from  it  those 
whom  he  opposed.  The  conclave  was  im- 
moderately protracted ;  the  banditti  were 
masters  in  the  land  ;  accounts  were  daily 
heard  of  property  plundered  and  villages  burn- 
ed ;  commotions  were  to  be  apprehended  in 
Rome  itself. 

One  only  means  presented  itself  of  reaching 
the  desired  end ;  that  was  to  select  from 
amongst  the  proposed  candidates  him  who  was 
least  objectionable  to  the  kinsmen  of  Sixtus 
V.  In  the  Florentine  memoirs  I  it  is  stated 
that  the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  in  the  Roman 
that  cardinal  Sforza,  the  chief  of  the  Gregor- 
ian cardinals,  contributed  most  to  bring  this 
about.  Cardinal  Sfondrato,  one  of  the  seven, 
was  passing  his  days  in  the  retirement  of  his 
cell,  perhaps  because  he  had  been  told  that 
his  interests  would  be  best  promoted  by  silence, 
and  was  suffering  there  from  fever.  The  two 
parties  accorded  in  choosing  him,  and  an  union 
between  the  two  houses  of  Sfondrato  and  Mon- 
talto was  immediately  discussed  by  way  of 
preliminary.  Upon  this  Montalto  visited  the 
cardinal  in  his  cell,  and  found  him  praying 
before  a  crucifix,  and  not  wholly  free  from 
fever;  he  told  him  that  he  should  be  elected 
the  next  morning.  On  the  morrow  (Dec.  5, 
1590)  he  accompanied  him,  along  with  Sforza, 


*  "  II  grande  interesse  del  re  caUolico  e  la  sppsa  nella 
quale  si  Irova  spnza  ajulo  nissuno  per  servitio  della  chris- 
tianili  fa  che  gli  si  debbia  condonare." 

t  Cardinal  Morosiiii  said,  "  Italia  andercbbein  predaa' 
barbari,  che  farrebbe  una  vergogna.  Concl.  della  seJe 
vacanle  di  UrXjano  VII."  [Italy  would  become  the  booty 
of  the  barbarians,  which  would  be  a  sliaiiic.] 

t  Galluzzi.    Sloria  del  graiiducalo  di  Toscano,  v.  99. 


to  the  chapel  where  the  votes  were  taken. 
Sfondrato  was  chosen,  and  assumed  the  name 
of  Gregory  XIV.* 

He  was  a  man  who  fasted  twice  every  week, 
read  mass  every  day,  always  repeated  the 
appointed  number  of  prayers  on  his  knees,  and 
then  devoted  an  hour  to  his  favourite  author, 
St.  Bernard,  out  of  whom  he  carefully  noted 
the  sentences  that  particularly  struck  him; — 
a  soul  of  virgin  innocence.  It  was  remarked, 
however,  half  in  jest,  that  as  he  had  come 
prematurely  into  the  world,  in  the  seventh 
month,  and  had  been  reared  but  with  diffi- 
culty, he  had  on  the  whole  too  little  earthly 
stuff  about  him.  He  had  never  been  able  to 
comprehend  any  thing  of  the  practice  or  the 
intrigues  of  the  curia.  The  cause  which  was 
upheld  by  the  Spaniards  he  regarded  purely 
and  simply  as  the  cause  of  the  Church.  He 
was  a  subject  born  of  Philip  11.,  and  a  man 
after  his  own  heart.  He  declared  himself, 
without  the  least  wavering  or  hesitation,  in 
favour  of  the  Ligue.f 

"  Do  you,"  he  wrote  to  the  Parisians,  "who 
have  made  so  praiseworthy  a  beginning,  per- 
severe still,  and  halt  not  till  you  are  arrived 
at  the  goal  of  your  course.  Inspired  by  God, 
we  have  resolved  to  come  to  your  aid.  First, 
we  bestow  upon  you  a  subsidy  in  money,  and 
that  even  beyond  our  means.  Next,  we  des- 
patch our  nuncio,  Landriano,  to  France,  in 
order  to  bring  back  all  deserters  to  your 
union.  Lastly,  we  send  to  you,  though  not 
without  heavily  bnrthening  the  Church,  our 
dear  son  and  nephew,  Ercole  Sfondrato,  duke 
of  Montemarciano,  with  cavalry  and  infantry, 
to  employ  their  weapons  in  your  defence. 
Should  you,  however,  have  need  of  more,  we 
will  supply  you  therewith."! 

The  whole  policy  of  Gregory  XIV.  is  com- 
prised in  this  letter.  It  was  very  efTective. 
The  declaration  itself,  the  repetition  of  the 
excommunication  of  Henry  IV.  which  was 
connected  with  it,  and  then  the  call  which 
Landriano  was  charged  to  make  on  all  the 
clergy,  the  nobles,  the  officers  of  justice,  and 
the  tiers  etat,  to  separate  from  Henry  on  pain 
of  heavy  punishment,  produced  a  deep  impres- 
sion.J  There  were  on  the  side  of  Henry  IV. 
many  strict  catholics,  who  were  at  last  throw^n 


*  Torquato  Tasso  celebrated  his  accession  in  a  splendid 
canzone,  "Dagranlode  immortal." 

+  Cicarella,  de  vita  Gregorii  XIV.,  to  be  found  in  all  the 
later  editions  of  Platina. 

t  Gregoire,  pape  XIV.,  i  mes  fits  bien-aymez  les  gens 
du  conseil  des  seize  quartiers  de  la  villa  de  Paris,  in 
Cayet.  Chronologie  novenaire.  M6moires  coll.  univ. 
lorn.  Ivii.  p.  62. 

§  Cayet  remarks  this.  "Le  party  du  roy  estoit  sans 
aucune  division.  Ce  qui  fut  enlretenu  jusques  au  temps 
de  la  publication  des  buUes  monitoriales  du  pape  Gre- 
goire AlV.,  que  d'aucuns  voulurent  engendrer  un  tiers 
party  et  le  former  des  calholiques,  qui  estoit  dans  le  party 
royal."  [The  party  of  the  king  was  without  any  division. 
This  continued  till  the  time  of  the  publication  of  the 
monitorial  bulls  of  pope  Gregory  XIV.,  when  certain  per- 
sons wished  10  form  a  tiers  parti,  and  to  constitute  it  from 
among  the  catholics  belonging  lo  the  royal  party. 


A.  D.  1590-1.] 


GREGORY  XIV.,  INNOCENT  IX. 


227 


into  perplexity  by  this  decisive  step  on  the 
part  of  the  head  of  their  Church.  They  de- 
clared, that  not  only  the  kingdom  but  the 
Church,  too,  had  a  succession,  tliat  the  reli- 
gion of  the  state  was  no  more  to  be  changed 
than  tlie  dynasty.  From  this  time  forth  there 
arose  among  the  king's  adherents  the  so-called 
third  party,  that  incessantly  pressed  him  to 
return  to  Catholicism,  remained  faitliful  to 
him  only  on  this  condition  and  with  this  anti- 
cipation, and  was  of  the  more  moment,  inas- 
much as  the  most  powerful  men  immediately 
about  him  became  its  adherents. 

But  still  greater  results  were  to  be  expect- 
ed from  the  other  measures  which  the  pope 
announced  in  this  letter,  and  which  he  de- 
layed not  to  carry  into  effect.  He  sup>piied 
the  Parisians  with  a  montiily  subsidy  of  1.5,000 
scudi;  he  sent  colonel  Lusi  into  Switzerland 
to  raise  troops ;  and  after  he  had  solemnly 
committed  the  standard  of  the  Church  in  S. 
Maria  Maggiore  to  his  nephew  Ercole  as 
their  general,  he  sent  him  to  Milan,  where 
his  forces  were  to  assemble.  The  commis- 
sary who  accompanied  him,  archbishop  Mat- 
teucci,  was  plentifully  furnished  with  money. 

Under  such  auspices  Philip  11.  did  not 
hesitate  longer  to  engage  earnestly  in  French 
affairs.  His  troops  advanced  into  Brittany, 
and  took  possession  of  Toulouse  and  Montpel- 
lier.  He  thought  he  had  peculiar  claims  on 
some  provinces ;  in  others  he  was  in  close 
confederacy  with  the  leading  chiefs,  capu- 
chins having  in  some  cases  cemented  and 
continued  to  uphold  the  union.  In  many 
places  he  was  looked  on  as  "  the  sole  protec- 
tor of  the  orthodox  against  the  Huguenots," 
and  he  was  invited  most  earnestly  even  to 
Paris.  Meanwhile  the  Piedmontese  assailed 
Provence,  and  the  papal  army  formed  a  com- 
binatiou  in  Verdun  with  that  of  the  Ligue. 
There  was  a  general  movement  of  the  powers 
of  Spain  and  Italy  designed  to  drag  France 
along  by  force  in  the  safiie  strictly  catholic 
direction  which  prevailed  in  those  countries. 
The  treasures  which  pope  Sixtus  had  amassed 
with  such  efforts,  and  had  so  carefully  econo- 
mized, were  now  converted  to  the  profit  of 
the  Spaniards.  After  Gregory  XIV.  had  taken 
from  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo  those  sums,  the 
expenditure  of  which  was  limited  by  no  con- 
dition, he  seized  upon  those,  too,  that  were 
most  strictly  tied  up.  He  was  of  opinion  that 
no  more  urgent  need  could  ever  befal  the 
Church. 

The  decision  with  which  proceedings  were 
begun,  the  prudence  of  the  king,  the  wealth 
of  the  pope,  and  the  influence  which  their 
combined  authority  and  dignity  possessed  in 
France,  put  it,  indeed,  beyond  the  possibility 
of  calculating  what  success  might  have  attend- 
ed this  twofold  ambition,  secular  and  spiritual, 
had  not  Gregory  XIV.  died  in  the  midst  of  the 
enterprize.     He  had  occupied  the  Roman  see 


but  ten  months  and  ten  days,  and  yet  had 
brought  about  such  great  changes;  what 
would  have  ensued  had  he  possessed  his  power 
for  some  years!  The  loss  of  him  was  the 
greatest  that  the  party  of  Spain  and  of  the 
Ligue  could  have  sustained. 

The  Spaniards,  indeed,  once  more  carried 
everything  before  them  in  the  conclave.  They 
had  named  seven  candidates  as  before,*  one 
of  whom,  Giovanni  Antonio  Fachinetto,  was 
chosen  pope  by  the  title  of  Iimocent  JX.  He, 
too,  as  far  as  can  be  judged,  was  of  the  Span- 
ish party ;  at  least  he  sent  money  to  the  Ligue, 
and  there  is  a  letter  of  his  extant,  in  which 
he  urges  Alessandro  Farnese  to  hasten  his 
armament,  penetrate  into  France,  and  invest 
Rouen,  services  which  that  leader  performed 
with  much  ability  and  success.f  But  the 
misfortune  was,  that  Innocent  IX.  was  already 
very  old  and  feeble ;  he  hardly  ever  left  his 
bed,  even  giving  audience  there:  from  the 
death-bed  of  an  aged  man,  himself  now  inca- 
pable of  a  movement,  proceeded  exhortations 
to  war  that  set  France,  nay,  all  Europe,  in 
commotion.  Hardly  had  Innocent  IX.  been 
two  months  in  possession  of  the  papal  see, 
when  he  too  died. 

Thus  were  the  struggles  of  the  conclave 
renewed  a  fourth  time.  They  were  the  more 
important,  since  these  incessant  changes  had 
led  to  the  settled  conviction,  that  a  man  of 
vigour,  and  likely  to  live  long,  was  above  all 
things  what  was  wanted.  A  definite  decision 
for  a  lengthened  period  was  now  imperatively 
necessary.  The  conclave  became  an  impor- 
tant item  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

Election  and  character  of  Clement  VIIL 

The  Spaniards  in  the  prosperous  course  of 
their  interests  in  Rome  during  the  last  year 
had  finally  succeeded  in  gaining  over  even 
Montalto.  His  tamily  had  purchased  estates 
in  the  Neapolitan  territory.  Whilst  Montalto 
pledged  himself  no  longer  to  oppose  the  wishes 
of  the  king,  the  latter  promised  in  return, 
that  ho  would  not  absolutely  exclude  all  the 
creatures  of  Sixtus  V.  Thus  were  they 
bound  together,  and  the  Spaniards  no  longer 
delayed  to  put  forward  that  claimant  from 
whom  they  might  promise  themselves  the 
most  effectual  co-operation  in  the  French 
war. 

Of  all  the  cardinals,  Santorio,  who  bore  the 
surname  of  Sanseverina,  might  be  regarded 


*  In  the  Histoire  des  Conclaves,  i.  2JI,  it  is  staled,  "  Lps 
Espagnols  voulaient  retablir  leur  reputation."  This, 
however,  is  but  a  mistranslation.  In  the  MS.  on  which 
this  book  is  founded,  Conclave  di  Innocenzio  IX.  (Inlf. 
Polilt.)  it  is  said,  "Per  non  perder laracquistala  autorita" 
[not  to  lose  the  authority  they  had  re-acquired],  which 
actually  accords  with  the  then  exislina  slate  of  tilings. 

+  From  Davila,  Hisloria  delle  Guerre  Civili  di  Francia 
XII.  p.  763,  il  would  appear  that  Innocent  was  not  so  en- 
tirely in  favour  of  the  Ligue;  but  the  letter  mentioned  (in 
Cayet,  p.  3oG)  removes  all  doubt  on  the  matter. 


228 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL.      [a.  d.  1590-1. 


as  the  most  zealous.     In  his  youth  he  had  i  They  had  acceded  to  the  wishes  of  the  king 
sustained  many  a  contest  with  the  protestants   and  of  Montalto,  but  still  they  only  wanted  an 


of  Naples.  In  his  autobiography,  which  is 
extant  in  manuscript,  he  designates  the  Pari- 
sian massacre  as  "  the  celebrated  day  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  most  cheering  to  the  catho- 
lics."* He  had  always  owned  the  most  vehe- 
ment opinions:  he  was  the  leading  member 
in  the  congregation  for  French  affairs,  had  long 
been  the  soul  of  the  inquisition,  and  was  still 
in  good  health  and  of  tolerably  vigorous  years. 

This  man  the  Spaniards  wished  to  invest 
with  the  supreme  dignity,  and  none  could 
they  have  found  more  devoted  to  them.  Oli- 
varez  too  had  made  every  preparation  ;t  no 
doubt  of  his  success  seemed  to  exist ;  out  of 
fiftv-two  votes  thirty-six  were  counted  in  his 
favour,  just  enough  to  secure  his  election,  for 
which  there  were  always  required  two  thirds 
of  the  votes.  Accordingly  the  very  next 
morning  after  the  conclave  had  been  closed, 
they  proceeded  to  the  formalities  of  election. 
Montalto  and  Madrucci,  the  heads  of  the  uni- 
ted factions,  brought  out  Sanseverina  from 
his  cell,  which  was  stripped  by  his  servants, 
according  to  the  customary  practice  in  the 
case  of  a  pope  elect.  Thirty-six  cardinals 
accompanied  him  to  the  Capella  Paolina;  his 
pardon  was  already  solicited  for  his  oppo- 
nents; he  would  forgive  them  all,  and  as  a 
first  token  of  his  disposition,  adopt  the  name 
of  Clement :  peoples  and  realms  were  com- 
mended to  his  favour. 

^Meanwhile,  one  circumstance  had  escaped 
notice  in  the  selection  of  this  candidate. 
Sanseverina  had  such  a  character  for  seve- 
rity, that  every  one  feared  him. 

This  was  enough  with  many  to  make  them 
inaccessible  to  all  attempts  at  gaining  them 
over,  younger  cardinals,  for  instance,  and  old 
personal  adversaries.  These  assembled  in 
the  Capella  Sistina;  they  were  but  sixteen 
indeed  when  they  came  together,  one  vote 
was  wanting  to  give  them  the  power  of  ex- 
clusion, and  several  of  them  seemed  inclined 
to  yield  to  circumstances  and  declare  for 
Sanseverina ;  the  experienced  Altemps  how- 
ever had  sufficient  influence  over  them  to 
make  them  still  hold  out.  They  relied  on 
him,  that  he  saw  more  clearly  into  the  matter 
than  themselves. 

Now  the  fact  was,  the  same  repugnance 
felt  by  them,  prevailed  among  those  too  who 
had  given  their  promises  to  iSanseverina  ;  no 
few  of  them   abhorred  him   in   their  hearts. 


*  He  speaks  of  a  "  giusto  sdegno  del  re  Carlo  IX.  lii 
gloriosa  memoria  in  quel  celebre  giorno  di  S.  Bartolonieo 
lietissinio  a' caltolici."  [Jusl  wralh  of  king  Charles  IX. 
of  glorious  memory  on  thai  celebrated  day  of  S.  Bartholo- 
mew, most  cheering  to  catholics. 1 

t  Conclave  di  Clemente  VIII.  MS.  "11  conle  di  Oliva- 
rez,  fedele  el  insepar.ibile  aniico  di  S.  Severina,  aveva 
prima  di  partire  di  Ko.na  per  il  governo  di  Sicilia  lulto 
preordinato."  [Count  Olivarez,  the  true  and  inseparable 
friend  of  S.  Severina,  had  arranged  everylhins  before  his 
departure  from  Rome  for  the  governmeni  of  Sicily.] 


opportunity  to  desert.  Upon  the  entry  into 
the  chapel  where  the  election  was  to  be  held, 
there  was  manifest  a  restlessness,  an  agita- 
tion quite  unusual  in  cases  where  the  choice 
was  already  determined.  The  counting  of 
the  votes  began;  there  seemed  a  reluctance 
to  complete  it;  Sanseverina's  own  country- 
men threw  obstacles  in  the  way.*  There 
wanted  only  some  one  who  should  set  the 
example  of  expressing  the  sentiments  enter- 
tained by  so  many.  At  last  Ascanio  Colonna 
summoned  up  the  courage  to  do  this.  He 
was  of  the  number  of  the  Roman  barons,  who 
dreaded  above  all  things  the  inquisitorial  harsh- 
ness of  Sanseverina.  He  cried  out,  "I  see 
that  God  will  not  have  Sanseverina,  neither 
will  Ascanio  Colonna."  He  left  the  Capella 
Paolina,  and  betook  himself  to  the  opposition 
in  the  Sistina. 

This  step  secured  the  victory  to  the  latter. 
A  secret  scrutiny  was  resolved  on.  Some 
there  were  who  would  never  have  ventured 
openly  and  loudly  to  retract  the  promise  they 
had  already  given,  who  nevertheless  did  it 
privily,  as  soon  as  they  knew  that  their  votes 
would  remain  concealed.  When  the  ballot- 
ing papers  were  opened,  there  were  found 
only  thirty  votes  for  the  nominee. 

Sanseverina  had  come  secure  of  his  elec- 
tion :  he  thought  himself  already  in  possession 
of  that  fulness  of  spiritual  authority  which  he 
had  rated  so  highly,  and  in  behalf  of  which  he 
had  so  often  combated ;  between  the  fulfil- 
ment of  his  most  aspiring  wishes,  and  a  future 
forever  marred  by  the  sense  of  rejection, 
between  the  condition  of  ruling  and  being 
doomed  to  obey,  he  had  passed  seven  hours  as 
though  between  life  and  death.  At  last  the 
lot  was  cast,  and  he  went  back  robbed  of  his 
hopes  to  his  dismantled  cell.  "The  next 
night,"  he  says  in  his  autobiography,  "was  to 
me  more  full  of  pSngs  than  any  moment  of 
misfortune  I  ever  experienced.  The  heavy 
affliction  of  my  soul,  and  my  intense  anguish, 
incredible  as  it  may  sound,  forced  bloody 
sweat  from  me." 

He  knew  enough  of  the  nature  of  a  con- 
clave to  indulge  in  no  further  hopes.  His 
friends  subsequently  put  him  forward  as  a 
candidate,  but  it  was  only  a  hopeless  attempt. 

The  Spaniards  themselves  too  had  been 
losers  by  this  event.  The  king  had  proposed 
five  names,  but  on  none  of  them  could  the 
choice  be  made  to  fall.  At  last  it  was  neces- 
sary to  proceed  to  the  sixth,  set  down  by  the 
Spaniards  as  a  supernumerary. 

The  king,  more  to  oblige  his  confederate 
Montalto  than  of  his  own  accord,  had  subjoin- 
ed the  name  of  cardinal  Aldobrandini,  a  crea- 


♦  Besides  the  accounts  of  this  matter  in  printed  and 
MS.  Conclaves,  we  have  also  the  narrative  of  Sanseve* 
rina  himself,  which  I  will  give  in  the  Appendix. 


A.  D.  1592.]         ELECTION  AND  CHARACTER  OF  CLEMENT  VIIL 


229 


ture  of  Sixtus  V.,  whom  he  himself  had  reject- 
ed a  year  before.  He  was  now  recurred  to 
as  the  only  one  whose  election  was  possible. 
He  had,  as  may  be  supposed,  Montalto's  wish- 
es in  his  favour ;  and  the  Spaniards  could  not 
object  against  him,  as  he  was  in  the  list  of 
nominees ;  he  was  not  unwelcome  to  the  rest 
of  the  conclave,  being  universally  beloved : 
accordingly  he  was  chosen  without  much  op- 
position, January  20th,  1592.  He  took  the 
name  of  Clement  VOL 

The  fate  of  the  Spaniards  in  this  matter  is 
very  curious.  They  had  brought  over  Mont- 
alto  to  their  side  in  order  to  carry  the  election 
of  one  of  their  own  party,  and  this  very  con- 
nexion it  was  that  forced  them  to  lend  their 
aid  towards  placing  a  friend  of  Montalto  and 
a  creature  of  Sixtus  V.  on  the  pontifical 
throne. 

We  have  to  observe,  that  a  change  origin- 
ated on  this  occasion  in  the  course  of  papal 
elections,  which  cannot  be  looked  upon  as 
unimportant.  For  a  length  of  time  men  of 
opposite  factions  had  alternately  followed  each 
other.  The  same  thing  had  now  occurred, 
the  cardinals  created  by  Sixtus  V.  had  thrice 
been  forced  to  give  way ;  but  the  elected  popes 
had  in  each  instance  enjoyed  but  a  transient 
possession  of  power,  and  could  not  found  any 
new  strong  faction  :  deaths,  funerals,  and  new 
conclaves  had  followed  one  upon  the  other. 
The  first  who  again  ascended  the  papal  throne 
in  the  full  vigour  of  life  was  Clement  VHL 
There  ensued  a  dominion  of  the  same  party 
which  had  been  the  last  to  enjoy  a  longer 
lease  of  power. 

Universal  attention  was  now  directed  to  the 
question,  who  was  the  new  pontiff,  and  what 
might  be  expected  of  him  ! 

Clement  VUL  had  been  born  an  exile.  His 
father,  Salvestro  Aldrobrandino,  of  a  distin- 
guished Florentine  family,  but  an  earnest  and 
active  adversary  of  the  Medici,  had,  upon  the 
final  triumph  of  the  latter  house  in  the  year 
1531,  been  expelled,  and  forced  to  seek  his 
fortune  in  other  lands.*  He  was  a  doctor  of 
laws,  and  had,  previously  to  these  occurrences, 
once  given  lectures  in  Pisa.  After  his  ban- 
ishment we'  find  him  at  one  time  in  Venice, 
where  he  had  a  share  in  the  reform  of  the 
Venetian  statutes,  and  in  an  edition  of  the 
institutes  ;  at  another  in  Ferrara  or  Urbino, 
employed  in  the  duke's  councils  and  tribunals; 
but  longest  in  the  service  now  of  this  cardinal, 
now  of  that,  and  entrusted  in  their  stead  with 
judicial  and  administrative  functions  in  some 


*  Varthi:  Storia  Fioremina,  iii.  4-2.  CI.  Mazzuchelli, 
Scriuori  d'  Italia,  I.  i.  p.  372.  gives  as  usual  a  very  indus- 
triously compiled  and  instructive  article  on  this  name, 
elill  it  is  not  complete.  Among  other  things  he  omits  to 
mention  his  employment  in  Venice,  with  llie  mention  of 
which  Gio.  Delfino  opens  his  report,  so  that  there  can  be 
no  doubt  of  the  matter:  ''Silvestro  Aldobrandini  ne'  tem- 
pi della  rebellione  di  Firenza  caccialo  da  quella  cilti  se 
ne  vene  qui,  riforma  li  noslri  statuti  e  rivedde  le  leggi  el 
ordini  della  republica." 


one  town  or  another  of  the  ecclesiastical  states. 
What  most  distinguished  him  was  perhaps  the 
fact  that,  though  leading  the  unstable  life  he 
did,  he  was  able  to  bring  up  five  superior  sons. 
The  most  highly  endowed  of  them  all  was 
probably  the  eldest,  John,  who  was  called  the 
charioteer  of  the  house:  it  was  he  who  opened 
the  path  they  followed,  and  he  rose  in  the 
career  of  judicial  dignities  to  the  cardinalate 
in  1570.  Had  he  lived  longer  it  is  thought 
he  might  have  entertained  hopes  of  the  tiara. 
Bernardo  attained  distinction  in  arms;  Tomaso 
was  an  able  philologist ;  his  translation  of  Dio- 
genes Laertius  has  been  frequently  reprinted  ; 
Pietro  had  the  reputation  of  an  eminent  prac- 
tical jurist.  The  youngest  son,  Ippolito,  born 
at  Fano*  in  the  year  1536,  at  first  caused  some 
anxiety  to  his  father,  who  feared  he  should 
not  be  able  to  afford  him  the  education  his 
talents  merited.  But  first  of  all  cardinal  Al- 
essandro  Farnese  took  up  the  boy,  and  granted 
him  a  yearly  allowance  out  of  his  bithopric  of 
Spoleto;  afterwards  the  rising  fortunes  of  his 
brother  were  enough  to  help  him  forward. 
He  soon  got  a  footing  in  the  prelacy,  and 
speedily  thereupon  succeeded  to  his  brother's 
place  in  the  tribunal  of  the  rota.  Sixtus  V. 
nominated  him  a  cardinal,  and  entrusted  him 
with  a  nunciature  to  Poland,  which  was  his 
first  step  to  a  certain  degree  of  connexion 
with  the  house  of  Austria.  The  whole  stock 
of  that  house  felt  bound  in  gratitude  to  the 
cardinal,  because,  through  the  discreet  and 
efficient  use  he  made  of  his  authority,  he  ac- 
complished the  liberation  of  the  archduke 
Maximilian  from  the  captivity  in  which  the 
I'oles  held  him.  When  Philip  determined  to 
nominate  a  creature  of  Sixtus  V.  as  a  super- 
numerary candidate,  it  was  this  circumstance 
that  induced  him  to  prefer  Aldobrandino  to  all 
others.  Thus  was  the  highest  dignity  in  catho- 
lic Christendom  reached  by  the  son  of  a  home- 
less outcast,  for  whom  it  was  once  feared  that 
he  should  be  all  his  life  long  doomed  to  the 
functions  of  a  scribe. 

No  one  can  behold  without  gratified  feel- 
ing the  monument  in  the  church  della  Miner- 
va, erected  by  Salvestro  Aldobrandino  to  the 
mother  of  so  noble  a  band  of  sons, — "  to  his 
dear  wife  Lesa,  of  the  house  of  Deti,  with 
whom  he  lived  in  harmony  seven-and-thirty 
years." 

The  new  pope  now  brought  to  his  high  office 
all  that  active  energy  which  belongs  to  i.  fam- 
ily that  had  worked  it  way  out  of  manifold 
difficulties.  The  sittings  were  held  early,  the 
audiences  in  the  afternoon  ;t  all  reports  were 
received  and  investigated;  all  despatches 
were  read  and  discussed ;   legal   arguu:ients 

*  In  the  Libro  di  battrsnio  della  parochia  cattedrale  di 
Fano,  it  is  recordr^d :  "  A  di  4  Marzo  1556,  fu  batlezaio  un 
puito  di  Mr-  Salvestro,  che  fu  luoioientnte  qui:  hebbe 
nome  Ippolyto." 

t  Bentivoglio,  Meraorie  i.,  p.  54,  gives  the  disposal  of  a 
whole  week. 


228 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL.      [a.  d.  1590-1. 


as  the  most  zealous.     In  his  youth  he  had  i  They  had  acceded  to  the  wishes  of  the  king 
sustained  many  a  contest  with  the  protestants   and  of  Montalto,  but  still  they  only  wanted  an 


of  Naples.  In  his  autobiography,  which  is 
extant  in  manuscript,  he  designates  the  Pari- 
sian massacre  as  "  the  celebrated  day  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  most  cheering  to  the  catho- 
lics."* He  had  always  owned  the  most  vehe- 
ment opinions:  he  was  the  leading  member 
in  the  congregation  for  French  aifairs,  had  long 
been  the  soul  of  the  inquisition,  and  was  still 
in  good  health  and  of  tolerably  vigorous  years. 

This  man  the  Spaniards  wished  to  mvest 
with  the  supreme  dignity,  and  none  could 
they  have  found  more  devoted  to  them.  Oli- 
varez  too  had  made  every  preparation  ;t  no 
doubt  of  his  success  seemed  to  exist ;  out  of 
fiflv-two  votes  thirty-six  were  counted  in  his 
favour,  just  enough  to  secure  his  election,  for 
which  there  were  always  required  two  thirds 
of  the  votes.  Accordingly  the  very  next 
morning  after  the  conclave  had  been  closed, 
they  proceeded  to  the  formalities  of  election. 
Montalto  and  Madrucci,  the  heads  of  the  uni- 
ted factions,  brought  out  Sanseverina  from 
his  cell,  which  was  stripped  by  his  servants, 
according  to  the  customary  practice  in  the 
case  of  a  pope  elect.  Thirty-six  cardinals 
accompanied  him  to  the  Capella  Paolina;  his 
pardon  was  already  solicited  for  his  oppo- 
nents; he  would  forgive  them  all,  and  as  a 
first  token  of  his  disposition,  adopt  the  name 
of  Clement :  peoples  and  realms  were  com- 
mended to  his  favour. 

^Meanwhile,  one  circumstance  had  escaped 
notice  in  the  selection  of  this  candidate. 
Sanseverina  had  such  a  character  for  seve- 
rity, that  every  one  feared  him. 

This  was  enough  with  many  to  make  them 
inaccessible  to  all  attempts  at  gaining  them 
over,  younger  cardinals,  for  instance,  and  old 
personal  adversaries.  These  assembled  in 
the  Capella  Sistina;  they  were  but  sixteen 
indeed  when  they  came  together,  one  vote 
was  wanting  to  give  them  the  power  of  ex- 
clusion, and  several  of  them  seemed  inclined 
to  yield  to  circumstances  and  declare  for 
Sanseverina;  the  experienced  Altemps  how- 
ever had  sufficient  influence  over  them  to 
make  them  still  hold  out.  They  relied  on 
him,  that  he  saw  more  clearly  into  the  matter 
than  themselves. 

Now  the  fact  was,  the  same  repugnance 
felt  by  them,  prevailed  among  those  too  who 
had  given  their  promises  to  ISanseverina  ;  no 
few  of  them  abhorred  him  in  their  hearts. 


*  He  speaks  of  a  "  t^iusto  sdegno  del  re  Carlo  IX.  di 
gloriosa  memoria  in  quel  celebre  giorno  di  S.  Barlolomeo 
lietissiino  a'  cauolici."  [Jusl  wraih  of  king  Charles  IX. 
of  glorious  memory  on  thai  celebrated  day  of  S.  Barlholo- 
mew,  most  cheering  lo  catholics. 1 

j  Conclave  di  Clemenle  VIII.  MS.  "  II  conte  di  Oliva. 
rez,  fedi^le  el  inseparabile  amico  di  S.  Severina,  aveva 
prima  di  paitire  di  Rcna  per  il  governo  di  Sicilia  luuo 
preordinato."  [Count  Olivarez.lhe  true  and  inseparable 
friend  of  S.  Severina,  had  arranged  everything  before  his 
departure  from  Kome  for  the  governnieni  of  Sicily.] 


opportunity  to  desert.  Upon  the  entry  into 
the  chapel  where  the  election  was  to  be  held, 
there  was  manifest  a  restlessness,  an  agita- 
tion quite  unusual  in  cases  where  the  choice 
was  already  determined.  The  counting  of 
the  votes  began ;  there  seemed  a  reluctance 
to  complete  it;  Sanseverina's  own  country- 
men threw  obstacles  in  the  way.*  There 
wanted  only  some  one  who  should  set  the 
example  of  expressing  the  sentiments  enter- 
tained by  so  many.  At  last  Ascanio  Colonna 
summoned  up  the  courage  to  do  this.  He 
was  of  the  number  of  the  Roman  barons,  who 
dreaded  above  all  things  the  inquisitorial  harsh- 
ness of  Sanseverina.  He  cried  out,  "I  see 
that  God  will  not  have  Sanseverina,  neither 
will  Ascanio  Colonna."  He  left  the  Capella 
Paolina,  and  betook  himself  to  the  opposition 
in  the  Sistina. 

Tills  step  secured  the  victory  to  the  latter. 
A  secret  scrutiny  was  resolved  on.  Some 
there  were  who  would  never  have  ventured 
openly  and  loudly  to  retract  the  promise  they 
had  already  given,  who  nevertheless  did  it 
privily,  as  soon  as  they  knew  that  their  votes 
would  remain  concealed.  When  the  ballot- 
ing papers  were  opened,  there  were  found 
only  thirty  votes  for  the  nominee. 

Sanseverina  had  come  secure  of  his  elec- 
tion :  he  thought  himself  already  in  possession 
of  that  fulness  of  spiritual  authority  which  he 
had  rated  so  highly,  and  in  behalf  of  which  he 
had  so  often  combated ;  between  the  fulfil- 
ment of  his  most  aspiring  wishes,  and  a  future 
forever  marred  by  the  sense  of  rejection, 
between  the  condition  of  ruling  and  being 
doomed  to  obey,  he  had  passed  seven  hours  as 
though  between  life  and  death.  At  last  the 
lot  was  cast,  and  he  went  back  robbed  of  his 
hopes  to  his  dismantled  cell.  "The  next 
night,"  he  says  in  his  autobiography,  "was  to 
me  more  full  of  pangs  than  any  moment  of 
misfortune  I  ever  experienced.  The  heavy 
affliction  of  my  soul,  and  my  intense  anguish, 
incredible  as  it  may  sound,  forced  bloody 
sweat  from  me." 

He  knew  enough  of  the  nature  of  a  con- 
clave to  indulge  in  no  further  hopes.  His 
friends  subsequently  put  him  forward  as  a 
candidate,  but  it  was  only  a  hopeless  attempt. 

The  Spaniards  themselves  too  had  been 
losers  by  this  event.  The  king  had  proposed 
five  names,  but  on  none  of  them  could  the 
choice  be  made  to  fall.  At  last  it  was  neces- 
sary to  proceed  to  the  sixth,  set  down  by  the 
Spaniards  as  a  supernumerary. 

'i'he  king,  more  to  oblige  his  confederate 
Montalto  than  of  his  own  accord,  had  subjoin- 
ed the  name  of  cardinal  Aldobrandini,  a  crea- 

*  Besides  the  accounts  of  this  matter  in  printed  and 
MS.  Conclaves,  we  havp  also  the  narrative  of  Sanseve- 
rina  himself,  which  1  will  give  in  the  Appendix. 


A.  D.  1592.]         ELECTION  AND  CHARACTER  OP  CLEMENT  VIIL 


229 


ture  of  Sixtus  V.,  whom  he  himself  had  reject- 
ed a  year  before.  He  was  now  recurred  to 
as  the  only  one  whose  election  was  possible. 
He  had,  as  may  be  supposed,  Montalto's  wish- 
es in  his  favour;  and  the  Spaniards  could  not 
object  against  him,  as  he  was  in  the  list  of 
nominees ;  he  was  not  unwelcome  to  the  rest 
of  the  conclave,  being  universally  beloved : 
accordingly  he  was  choseTi  without  much  op- 
position, January  20th,  1592.  He  took  the 
name  of  Clement  VDL 

The  fate  of  the  Spaniards  in  this  matter  is 
very  curious.  They  had  brought  over  Mont- 
alto  to  their  side  in  order  to  carry  the  election 
of  one  of  their  own  party,  and  this  very  con- 
nexion it  was  that  forced  them  to  lend  their 
aid  towards  placing  a  friend  of  MontaJto  and 
a  creature  of  Sixtus  V.  on  the  pontifical 
throne. 

We  have  to  observe,  that  a  change  origin- 
ated on  this  occasion  in  the  course  of  papal 
elections,  which  cannot  be  looked  upon  as 
unimportant.  For  a  length  of  time  men  of 
opposite  factions  had  alternately  followed  each 
other.  The  same  thing  had  now  occurred, 
the  cardinals  created  by  Sixtus  V.  had  thrice 
been  forced  to  give  way ;  but  the  elected  popes 
had  in  each  instance  enjoyed  but  a  transient 
possession  of  power,  and  could  not  found  any 
new  strong  faction  :  deaths,  funerals,  and  new 
conclaves  had  followed  one  upon  the  other. 
The  first  who  again  ascended  the  papal  throne 
in  the  full  vigour  of  life  was  Clement  VIII. 
There  ensued  a  dominion  of  the  same  party 
which  had  been  the  last  to  enjoy  a  longer 
lease  of  power. 

Universal  attention  was  now  directed  to  the 
question,  who  was  the  new  pontiff,  and  what 
might  be  expected  of  him  1 

Clement  VIIL  had  been  born  an  exile.  His 
father,  Salvestro  Aldrobrandino,  of  a  distin- 
guished Florentine  family,  but  an  earnest  and 
active  adversary  of  the  Medici,  had,  upon  the 
final  triumph  of  the  latter  house  in  the  year 
1531,  been  expelled,  and  forced  to  seek  his 
fortune  in  other  lands.*  He  was  a  doctor  of 
laws,  and  had,  previously  to  these  occurrences, 
once  given  lectures  in  Pisa.  After  his  ban- 
ishment we  find  him  at  one  time  in  Venice, 
where  he  had  a  share  in  the  reform  of  the 
Venetian  statutes,  and  in  an  edition  of  the 
institutes  ;  at  another  in  Ferrara  or  Urbino, 
employed  in  the  duke's  councils  and  tribunals ; 
but  longest  in  the  service  now  of  this  cardinal, 
now  of  that,  and  entrusted  in  their  stead  with 
judicial  and  administrative  functions  in  some 


*  Varchi:  Storia  Fiorenlina,  iii.  4-2.  01.  Mazzuchelli, 
Scritlori  d'  Italia,  1.  i.  p.  372.  gives  as  usual  a  very  indus- 
triously compiled  and  instructive  article  on  tliis  name, 
Blill  it  is  not  complete.  Among  other  thini;s  he  omits  to 
mention  his  employment  in  Venice,  w'ah  tile  mention  of 
which  Gio.  Delfino  opens  his  report,  so  that  there  can  be 
no  doubt  of  the  matter:  "Silvestro  Aldobrandini  ne' tem- 
pi della  rebellione  di  Firenza  caccialo  da  quella  citti  se 
ne  vene  qui,  riformo  li  nostri  staluti  e  rivedde  le  leggi  et 
ordini  della  republica." 


one  town  or  another  of  the  ecclesiastical  states. 
What  most  distinguished  him  was  perhaps  the 
fact  that,  though  leading  the  unstable  life  he 
did,  he  was  able  to  bring  up  five  superior  sons. 
The  most  highly  endowed  of  them  all  was 
probably  the  eldest,  John,  who  was  called  the 
charioteer  of  the  house:  it  was  he  who  opened 
the  path  they  followed,  and  he  rose  in  the 
career  of  judicial  dignities  to  the  cardinalate 
in  1570.  Had  he  lived  longer  it  is  thought 
he  might  have  entertained  hopes  of  the  tiara. 
Bernardo  attained  distinction  in  arms;  Tomaso 
was  an  able  philologist ;  his  translation  of  Dio- 
genes Laertius  has  been  frequently  reprinted  ; 
Pietro  had  the  reputation  of  an  eminent  prac- 
tical jurist.  The  youngest  son,  Ippolito,  born 
at  Fano*  in  the  year  15:36,  at  first  caused  some 
anxiety  to  his  father,  who  feared  he  should 
not  be  able  to  afford  him  the  education  his 
talents  merited.  But  first  of  all  cardinal  Al- 
essandro  Farnese  took  up  the  boy,  and  granted 
him  a  yearly  allowance  out  of  his  bishopric  of 
Spoleto;  afterwards  the  rising  fortunes  of  his 
brother  were  enough  to  help  him  forward. 
He  soon  got  a  footing  in  the  prelacy,  and 
speedily  thereupon  succeeded  to  his  brother's 
place  in  the  tribunal  of  the  rota.  Sixtus  V. 
nominated  him  a  cardinal,  and  entrusted  him 
with  a  nunciature  to  Poland,  which  was  his 
first  step  to  a  certain  degree  of  connexion 
with  the  house  of  Austria.  The  whole  stock 
of  that  house  felt  bound  in  gratitude  to  the 
cardinal,  because,  through  the  discreet  and 
efficient  use  he  made  of  his  authority,  he  ac- 
complished the  liberation  of  the  archduke 
Maximilian  from  the  captivity  in  which  the 
Poles  held  him.  When  Philip  determined  to 
nominate  a  creature  of  Sixtus  V.  as  a  super- 
numerary candidate,  it  was  this  circumstance 
that  induced  him  to  prefer  Aldobrandino  to  all 
others.  Thus  was  the  highest  dignity  in  catho- 
lic Christendom  reached  by  the  son  of  a  home- 
less outcast,  for  whom  it  was  once  feared  that 
he  should  be  all  his  lite  long  doomed  to  the 
functions  of  a  scribe. 

No  one  can  behold  without  gratified  feel- 
ing the  monument  in  the  church  della  Miner- 
va, erected  by  Salvestro  Aldobrandino  to  the 
mother  of  so  noble  a  band  of  sons, — "  to  his 
dear  wife  Lesa,  of  the  house  of  Deti,  with 
whom  he  lived  in  harmony  seven-and-thirty 
years." 

The  new  pope  now  brought  to  his  high  office 
all  that  active  energy  which  belongs  to  &  fam- 
ily that  had  worked  it  way  out  of  manifold 
difficulties.  The  sittings  were  held  early,  the 
audiences  in  the  afternoon  ;t  all  reports  were 
received  and  investigated ;  all  despatches 
were  read  and  discussed ;   legal  arguments 

*  In  the  Libro  di  battesn.0  della  parochia  caltedrale  di 
Fano,  it  is  recorded  :  "  A  di  4  Marzo  1556,  fu  battezato  un 
puiio  di  Mr-  Salvestro,  che  fu  luoioienente  qui:  hebbe 
nome  Ippolyto." 

t  Bentivoglio,  Memorie  i.,  p.  54,  gives  the  disposal  of  a 
whole  week. 


232 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL.        [a.  d.  1593. 


abide  by  the  side  which  he  had  once  adopted, 
and  which  seemed  most  consonant  with  the 
nature  of  his  office.  Only  this  is  to  be  ob- 
served, that  he  did  not  altogether  repudiate 
the  other  party,  nor  wislf  to  provoke  its  deter- 
mined hostility.  By  means  of  secret  advan- 
ces and  indirect  expressions  he  held  out  to  it 
the  prospect  of  a  reconciliation  at  some  future 
time.  He  satisfied  the  Spaniards  ;  yet  might 
their  adversaries  persuade  themselves  tliat 
his  proceedings  were  not  wholly  free, — that, 
whatever  they  were,  they  were  such  in  defe- 
rence to  the  Spaniards.  In  Sixtus  it  was  the 
strife  of  contending  thoughts  that  finally  pre- 
vented his  adopting  any  decided  line  of  poli- 
cy ;  in  Clement  it  was  regard  for  the  senti- 
ments of  both  parties,  and  prudence  and  cir- 
cumspection, the  results  of  large  experience, 
and  of  a  desire  to  avoid  hostilities.  The  con- 
sequence, however,  certainly  was,  that  he  too 
exerted  no  decisive  influence. 

lieft  accordingly  to  themselves,  the  affairs 
of  France  proceeded  in  obedience  to  their 
natural  bent. 

The  most  important  thing  was,  that  dissen- 
sion broke  out  between  the  chiefs  of  the 
Ligue.  The  Sixteen  adhered  closely  to 
Spain  ;  Mayenne  pursued  the  aims  of  his  per- 
sonal ambition.  The  jealousy  of  the  Sixteen 
became  the  more  exasperated,  and  they  pro- 
ceeded to  the  most  cruel  atrocities  against 
those  who  were  suspected  or  known  to  be  de- 
serters from  them, — for  instance,  to  the  mur- 
der of  the  president  Brisson.  Mayenne  held 
it  good  to  punish  them,  and  caused  their  most 
violent  ringleader  to  be  executed.  Promoted 
by  this  discord,  there  grew  up,  even  in  Paris, 
from  the  beginning  of  1593,  a  more  moderate 
temper,  political  and  religious;  one  still  ca- 
tholic indeed,  but  opposed  to  the  course  hith- 
erto pursued  by  the  Ligue,  and,  above  all,  to 
the  Sixteen  and  the  Spaniards.  A  confede- 
racy was  formed,  nearly  in  the  same  way  as 
the  Ligue  itself,  the  object  of  which  was,  in 
the  very  first  place,  to  put  all  the  offices  of 
the  city  into  the  hands  of  moderate  men  of 
accordant  sentiments  ;  and  this  was  tolerably 
well  accomplished  in  the  course  of  that  year.* 
Similar  tendencies  were  manifested  through- 
out the  whole  kingdom.  They  were  very 
influential  over  the  result  of  the  elections  for 
the  assembly  of  the  estates.  Hence  it  was 
that  the  Spaniards  found  all  their  proposals 
met  by  so  resolute  an  opposition.  Whilst  the 
furious  preachers  pronounced  every  one  ex- 
comnmnicated  who  should  venture  but  to  speak 
of  peace  with  the  heretic,  even  though  he 
should  return  to  the  mass,  the  parliament  re- 
called to  memory  the  fundamental  laws  of 
the  realm,  by  which  foreign  princes  were  ex- 
cluded from  the  throne.  It  was  not  to  be 
mistaken,  that  the    wh(de  party   which  was 

*  Cayel,  lib.  iv.  (tome  58,  p.  5,)  communicates  the  pro- 
positions which  were  made  in  the  first  assembly.  j 


designated  as  the  political,  only  waited  for 
Henry's  conversion  to  submit  to  him. 

What  difference  was  there  then  between 
them  and  the  catholic  royalists  in  the  camp 
of  Henry  IV.  1  The  only  one  was,  that  the 
former  required  before  their  submission  to  see 
a  step  taken,  which  the  latter  thought  they 
might  venture  to  wait  for.  For  even  the  ca- 
tholic royalists  were  unanimous  in  thinking 
that  the  king  must  return  to  their  church 
though  they  did  not  make  his  right  and  his 
legitimacy  depend  on  his  doing  so.  Perhaps 
too  their  ill-will  to  the  protestants  immediate- 
ly about  the  king  continually  urged  them  to 
insist  the  more  on  this  point.  The  princes 
of  the  blood,  the  most  eminent  statesmen,  and 
the  majority  of  the  court  joined  the  tiers-par- 
ti, the  distinctive  characteristic  of  which  lay 
in  this  demand.* 

As  soon  as  matters  had  assumed  this  as- 
pect, every  one  said,  and  the  protestants 
themselves  did  not  deny,  that  if  Henry  was 
ever  to  be  king,  he  must  become  catholic.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  investigate  the  pretensions 
of  those  who  assert  that  they  gave  the  final 
impulse  towards  this  consummation.  The 
chief  part  was  effected  by  the  great  combina- 
tion, the  necessity  of  things.f  In  completing 
the  act  that  brought  him  over  to  Catholicism, 
Henry  linked  himself  with  that  national  sen- 
timent of  French  catholics,  which  was  repre- 
sented by  the  tiers-parti  and  the  political 
party,  and  which  now  had  a  prospect  of  be- 
coming predominant  in  France. 

Now  this  was  at  bottom  precisely  the  very 
spirit  of  that  catholic  opposition,  which  had 
rallied  round  the  banners  of  legitimacy  and 
national  independence,  to  resist  the  attempts 
of  the  ecclesiastico-Spanish  party.  How 
vastly  had  it  now  augmented  in  power  and 
consequence  !  It  had  unquestionably  the  as- 
cendency in  the  public  opinion  of  France ; 
throughout  all  the  country  the  people  de- 
clared, if  not  openly,  at  least  privately  in  its 
favour;  it  acquired  intrinsic  firmness  by  the 
conversion  of  the  sovereign,  a  sovereign  too 
who  was  so  warlike,  courageous,  and  victor- 
ious. Thus  invigorated,  it  appeared  once 
more  before  the  pope,  and  besought  his  recog- 
nition and  his  blessing.  What  renown,  what 
cogent  influence  were  to  be  obtained  if  he 
now  at  least  declared  himself  without  ambi- 
guity in  its  favour  !  So  much  stiH  depended 
on  this.  The  prelates  even  who  had  received 
the  king  into  the  bosom  of  the  church,  had 
done  so  only  on  the  anticipated  condition  of 
papal  absolution  ;l  and  this  was  urgently  soli- 


*  It  is  so  represented  by  Sully,  v.  249. 

t  That  Henry  was  resolved  on  the  step  in  April  1593,  is 
shown  by  his  letter  to  the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany  of  the 
2Gth.     IVi.  Galluzzi,  Istoria  del  Granducato,  t.  v.  p.  160. 

t  "  Messieurs  du  clerg6  luy  avoient  donn6  I'absolution 
a  la  charge  qu'  il  envoyerait  vers  sa  S'e-  le  requerir  d'ap- 
prouver  ce  qu'ils  avoient  fait."  [The  clergy  had  given 
him  absolution,  conditioned  that  he  should  send  to  his 


D.  1594.] 


ABSOLUTION  OF  HENRY  IV. 


233 


cited  by  the  most  powerful  leaders  of  the 
Ligue,  with  whom  the  king  had  entered  into 
negociations.*  Thoiigli  promises  are  not  al- 
ways fulfilled,  it  cannot  yet  be  doubted  that 
the  pope's  absolution  granted  at  this  moment 
would  have  mightily  affected  the  course  of 
things.  Henry  sent  a  grandee  of  the  realm, 
the  duke  of  Nevers,  to  sue  to  the  pope  in  the 
matter.  A  truce  was  agreed  on  till  the  an- 
swer should  be  received. 

The  pope  was  distrustful  and  wary.  As 
the  hopes  of  spiritual  ambition  had  fired  Six- 
tus,  so  the  dread  of  being  overreached  and  ex- 
posed to  irksome  consequences,  kept  back 
Clement  Vlll.  He  still  apprehended  that 
Henry  IV.  would  probably  relapse  into  pro- 
testantism as  he  had  once  already  done,  and 
declared  he  would  not  believe  that  the  king 
was  a  genuine  convert  unless  an  angel  from 
heaven  came  and  whispered  it  in  his  ear.  He 
looked  around  him  and  saw  the  majority  of 
the  curia  still  averse  to  the  French  ;  from 
time  to  time  too,  pamphlets  appeared  reiterat- 
ing, that  Henry,  as  a  "  hiereticus  relapsus," 
could  not  be  absolved  even  by  the  pope  :  Cle- 
ment had  still  no  heart  to  set  himself  against 
the  Spaniards,  who  were  the  foremost  main- 
tainers  of  this  opinion. f  And  was  not  the 
party  that  applied  to  him  for  pardon  actually 
engaged  in  hostility  to  the  claims  of  the  Ro- 
man see  ]  Were  they  not,  as  he  expressed 
himself,  "  faithless  to  the  crown  and  to  the 
Church,  bastards,  children  of  the  handmaid 
and  not  of  the  wife,  whilst  they  of  the  Ligue 
had  proved  themselves  the  true  sons'!"!  ^g^- 
tainly  on  this  ground  too  it  would  have  de- 
manded some  resolution  to  grant  their  request, 
and  Clement  could  not  nerve  himself  up  to 
that  point. 5  Nevers  entered  Rome  with  the 
double  confidence  inspired  by  his  high  rank, 
and  by  the  importance  of  his  mission ;  he 
doubted  not  that  he  would  be  received  with 
joy;  he  expressed  himself  in  language  to  that 
effect,  and  the  king's  letter  whicii  he  con- 
veyed was  also  composed  in  the  same  tone. 
The  pope  fancied  it  read  as  though  the  king 
was  not  only  a  catholic  of  long  standing,  but 
as  though  he  were  returning,  like  a  second 
Charlemagne,  from  a  victory  over  the  foes  of 
the  church.     Nevers    was   quite   amazed  at 


holiness  to  petition  him  to  approve  of  what  they  had 
done.]     Cayet,  58.  290. 

*  Villeroy,  M6moires  Coll.  Univ.  62.  186. 

+  Les  iniiinidaiionsqui  furent  faites  au  pape  Clement 
VIII.  par  le  due  de  Sessa  ;  not  very  authentic,  however, 
and  long  ago  printed  in  the  Mf^moires  de  M""-  le  due  de 
Nevers,  ii.  p.  716,  yet  given  as  something  new  in  Capeti- 
gue's  Hisloire  de  la  Reforme,  toai.  vii. 

$  Disp.  2  J  Ag.  1533.  Report  of  Henry's  conversion. 
""11  papa  non  s'era  per  tali  avisi  molto  alierato  etuttavia 
restava  con  I'animo  molto  involto  nelli  suoi  solili  dubbj 
e  perplessiti."  [The  pope  was  not  much  displeased  at 
such  aecouiils,  and  yet  remained  much  involved  as  usual 
in  doubt  and  perplexity.]  He  said  to  the  Venetian  am- 
bassador, that  Henry  remained  a  hae.-elicus  relapsus,  and 
that  no  one  could  rely  upon  his  conversion. 

§  Relatio  dictoi-uai  aClem^nteVlH.  papa  die  28  Dec. 
1593,  in  consislorio.    ]\I6m.  de  Neveis,  ii.  638. 

30 


finding  how  coldly  he  was  received.  All  his 
efiwts  proving  fruitless,  he  at  last  asked  the 
pope  what  the  king  was  to  do  to  merit  the  fa- 
vour of  his  holiness.  The  pope  answered, 
there  were  theologians  enough  in  France  to 
point  tiiat  out  to  him.  "  Will  your  holi- 
ness be  satisfied  with  what  the  theologians 
say  ]"  The  pope  refused  to  answer  the  ques- 
tion. He  would  never  even  acknowledge 
him  as  Henry's  ambassador,  but  as  Louis  Gon- 
zaga,  duke  of  Nevers;  and  all  that  passed  be- 
tween them  he  would  have  regarded  only  in 
the  light  of  private  discourse,  not  as  official 
negociation.  He  was  not  to  be  prevailed  on 
to  communicate  any  resolution  on  his  part  in 
writing.  "  Nothing  remains  for  me,"  said 
Nevers  to  cardinal  Toledo,  who  made  known 
to  him  this  conclusion  of  the  pope's,  "  but  to 
bewail  the  evils  which  the  fury  of  the  sol- 
diery will  bring  on  France  upon  the  new  out- 
break of  war."  The  cardinal  said  not  a  word, 
but  smiled  :  Nevers  left  Rome,  and  vented 
his  dissatisfaction  in  bitter  reports.* 

Men  have  in  general  no  feeling  but  for  their 
personal  situation.  The  Roman  curia  knew 
only  what  was  for  its  own  advantage  ;  we  dis- 
cover in  it  no  true  sympathy  for  the  fate  of 
France. 

We  know  indeed  enough  of  this  pope,  to  be- 
lieve that  he  would  not  absolutely  repulse  the 
adherents  of  Henry,  and  least  of  all  now,  when 
their  strength  was  so  greatly  increased.  On 
the  contrary,  he  assured  a  secret  agent,  that 
so  soon  as  the  king  should  show  himself  tho- 
roughly catholic,  he  should  not  fail  to  receive 
an  absolution.  It  is  characteristic  of  him,  that 
whilst  in  public  he  so  decidedly  disavowed  any 
interest  in  the  king's  return  to  the  catholic 
I'aith,  he  privately  gave  the  archduke  of  Tus- 
cany to  know,  that  he  nevertheless  would  offer 
no  objection  to  whatever  the  clergy  of  France 
should  think  fit  to  do.  The  grand  duke  was 
also  instructed  to  communicate  favourable 
declarations  on  the  pope's  part  to  the  catholic 
royal ists.f  Yet  with  all  this,  his  real  care  was 
only  for  his  own  prospects ;  in  France  there- 
fore things  were  left  to  proceed  as  they  might. 

The  truce  was  expired ;  the  sword  wa.s 
again  drawn,  and  the  fortune  of  war  was  once 
more  invoked. 

But  Henry's  superiority  was  now  made  in- 
stantly and  decisively  manifest.  The  com- 
manders of  the  forces  opposed  to  him,  lacked 
that  security  of  conviction  which  previously 
had  ensured  them  so  strong  a  position :  the 
doctrines  of  the  political  party,  the  king's  con- 
version, and  the  prosperous  course  of  his  for- 


*  Two  documents, almost  entirely  of  the  same  import: 
Discours  de  ce  que  fit  M^-  de  Nevers  i  son  voyage  de 
Koine  en  l'ann6e  1593,  and  Discours  dela  legation  de  M'" 
leduc  de  Nevers,  both  in  the  2d  volume  of  the  before-men- 
tioaed  Memoirs  of  Nevers,  the  first  neatly  verbatim  in 
Cayet.  Extracts  in  Thuanus,  Davila,  and  recently,  as  if 
from  unknown  documents,  in  Capefigue. 

t  Davila,  lib.  xiv.  p.  939. 


234 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL.  [a.  d.  1594. 


tune,  had  made  them  all  quail  in  their  hearts. 
One  after  tlie  other  they  passed  over  to  him 
without    waiting   for    the    papal    absolution. 
Vitri,  the  commandant  in  Meaux,  no  longer 
receiving  pay  for  his  troops  of  the  Spaniards, 
set  the  example;  it  was  followed  in  Orleans, 
Bourges,  and  Rouen.     The  chief  considera- 
tion now  was,  how  matters  would  turn  out  in 
Paris.     There  the  political  or  national  French 
party,  after    many  oscillations,   had   gained 
complete  ascendancy,  gathered  the  first  fami- 
lies to  itself,  and   filled  the   most  important 
places   with  individuals   from   among   them. 
The  armed  citizens  were  already  officered  by 
men  of  the  party;  the  hotel  de  Ville  was  di- 
rected  in  the  same  spirit ;  the  provost   des 
marchands  and  the  echevins  were  to  a  man 
of  these  opinions.     Under  these  circumstances 
there  could  no  longer  be  any  impediment  to 
the  king's  return.     It  took  place  on  May  22d, 
1594.     Henry  IV.  was  astonished  to  find  him- 
self received  with  such  joyous  acclamations 
by  the  same  people  that  had  so  long  stood  out 
against  him,  and  was  disposed  to  think,  that  it 
must  till  then  have  been  under  the  yoke  of 
tyrannous  rulers.     This  however  was  not  pre- 
cisely the  fact;  the  minds  of  the  people  had 
really  been  swayed  by  the  sentiments  that 
pervaded  the  Ligue,  but  others  had  now  taken 
their  places.     The  king's  return  was  mainly 
a  victory  of  political  opinion.     The  party  of 
the  Ligue  now  endured  a  persecution  similar 
to  that  they  had  so  often  inflicted.     With  the 
departure  of  the  Spanish  troops,  the  most  influ- 
ential founders  and  chiefs  of  the  Ligue,  such 
as  the  despotic  Boucher, quitted  the  city:  more 
than  a  hundred  of  the  others  who  were  deem- 
ed the  most  dangerous  were  formally  banished. 
All  authorities,  and  the  entire  people,  took  the 
oath  of  allegiance.     Even  the  Sorbonne,  the 
most  obstinate  members  of  which,  including 
the  rector  himself,  were  banished,  acquiesced 
in  the  doctrines  that  had  become  dominant. 
How  very  different  were  their  resolutions  now, 
from  those  they  had  passed  in  1589.     Now 
the  Sorbonne  too  admitted  that  all  power  is  of 
God,  according  to  the  13th  chapter  of  Romans, 
and  that  whosoever  resists  th.e  king  withstands 
God  and  falls  under  condemnation.     It  repro- 
bated the  opinion,  that  a  subject  may  refuse 
obedience  to  a  king,  because  he  is  not  yet  re- 
cognized by  the  pope,  as  a  suggestion  of  wicked 
and  evil  advised  men.    All  the  members  of  the 
university,  rectors,  deans,  theologians,  decre- 
tists,  physicians,  artists,  monks  and  conventi- 
cals,  students  and  officers,  now  swore  fidelity 
and  allegiance  to  Henry  IV.,  and  pledged  them- 
selves to  spill  their  blood  for  him.     Nay,  what 
was  more,  on  the  strength  of  this  new  ortho- 
doxy the  university  began  a  campaign  against 
the  Jesuits.  It  reproached  them  with  their  sedi- 
tious principles,  which  indeed  it  had  itself  pre- 
viously shared,  and  with  their  leaning  to  the 
Spanish  interests.  For  a  long  while  the  Jesuits 


defended  themselves  not  unsuccessfully.  But 
since,  in  the  same  year,  Jean  Chastel,*  a  man 
who  attended  their  schools,  made  an  attempt 
to  murder  the  king,  and  admitted  on  his  exa- 
mination that  he  had  often  heard  from  the 
Jesuits,  that  it  was  lawful  to  kill  a  king  who 
was  not  reconciled  to  the  church,  they  could 
no  longer  resist  the  general  success  of  the 
party  to  which  they  had  always  been  opposed. 
The  people  was  with  difliiculty  restrained  from 
sacking  their  college ;  at  last  all  the  members 
of  the  order  were  condemned,  as  seducers  of 
youth,  disturbers  of  the  public  peace,  and  ene- 
mies of  the  king  and  the  state,  to  quit  the 
kingdom  within  fourteen  days.f  Thus  the 
opinions  which  had  taken  up  their  position  as 
opposition  by  small  and  feeble  beginnings, 
now  gradually  overspread  Paris  and  the^whole 
kingdom,  and  drove  their  antagonists  out  of 
the  field.  Similar  movements  took  place  in 
all  quarters.  New  submissions  daily  occur- 
red ;  the  king  was  crowned  and  anointed  at 
Chartres ;  prayers  were  offered  up  for  him  in 
all  the  churches ;  the  monastic  orders  recog- 
nized him ;  he  exercised  the  ecclesiastical 
prerogatives  of  the  crown,  important  as  these 
are,  without  gainsay.  In  this  matter  he 
evinced  the  soundness  of  his  Catholicism ; 
where  the  ritual  of  the  church  had  suffered 
any  detriment  during  the  late  troubles,  he  en- 
deavoured to  restore  it;  where  the  exclusive 
practice  of  it  had  been  m.aintained,  he  confir- 
med that  right  to  it  by  solemn  privileges.  All 
this  he  did  without  having  yet  been  reconciled 
with  the  pope. 

But  it  had  now  become  for  the  latter  urgent- 
ly necessary  to  think  of  reconciliation-!  Had 
he  delayed  longer  there  was  a  possibility  of 
schism  ;  an  actually  separate  church  of  France 
might  have  arisen. 

The  Spaniards,  it  is  true,  still  held  out 
against  the  measure.  They  maintained  that 
decidedly  Henry's  conversion  was  not  real ; 

*  Juvenciiis,  partis  v.  lib.  xii.  n.  13,  gives  the  following 
description  of  the  criminal:  "Indoles  juveni  tristis  ac 
tetrica,  mores  iiiiprobi,  mens  anxiarecordatione  criminum 
alque  unius  potissiraum  quod  matrem  aliquando  vi'rberas- 
set  .  .  .  Conscientia,  criminum  ultrix,  meniem  etferatam 
diro  vexare  pergebal  metti:  quein  ut  leniret  immane  par- 
ricidium  imposlnemis  an  potius  erebi  furiis  incitatus  de- 
signat,  quo  tamquam  de  religions  ac  regno  bene  merilua 
peccatorum  veniam  facilius,  ut  demons  repulabat,  conse- 
queretur."  [The  young  man's  disposition  was  gloomy 
and  morose,  liis  morals  depraved,  his  mind  was  harassed 
by  the  remembrance  of  crimes,  and  of  one  especially, 
namely,  that  he  had  once  beaten  his  mother  ....  Con- 
science, the  avenger  of  crimes,  continued  to  torture  his 
brutalized  mind  v/ith  dire  fears:  to  mitigate  these  he  con- 
ceived in  his  insanity,  or  rather  incited  by  hellish  rage, 
the  design  of  committing  a  monstrous  parricide,  whereby, 
as  though  having  done  service  to  religion  and  the  realm, 
he  migiitthe  more  easily,  as  the  madman  imagined,  obtain 
foreiveness  of  his  sins.] 

f  Annuce  Literae  Societatis  Jesu,  159G,  p.  3-50.  "  Tanta 
superat  adhuc  preeterili  naufragii  fluctuatio  ul  nondum  ta- 
bulas  omnes  alque  arraamenta  disjecta  collegerimus." 
[Such  is  still  the  surge  left  behind  by  the  late  shipwreck, 
that  we  have  not  yet^coUected  all  our  scattered  goods  and 
cliauels.] 

t  Not  until  Nov.  5, 1594,  the  Venetian  ambassador  finds 
the  pope  with  respect  to  tlie  affairs  of  France  "  meglio 
incliaaio  che  nel  passato"  [beuer  disposed  than  formerly.] 


A.  D.  1594.] 


ABSOLUTION  OF  HENRY  IV. 


235 


that  the  true  grounds  for  apprehending  a 
schism  would  only  make  themselves  felt  when 
he  received  absolution  ;*  they  even  pointed 
out  the  occasion  on  which  it  would  break  out. 
It  still  required  resolution  on  the  pope's  part, 
to  set  himself  in  opposition  to  those  whose 
power  encompassed  liim,  and  who  possessed  a 
great  party  in  the  curia,  to  separate  from  opi- 
nions which  passed  for  orthodox,  for  which  his 
predecessors  had  so  often  wielded  the  spiritual 
and  temporal  weapon,  nay,  which  he  himself 
had  countenanced  for  so  many  years.  He  saw, 
however,  that  every  delay  would  be  pernicious, 
and  that  he  had  nothing  more  to  expect  from 
the  opposite  party ;  he  felt  that  the  party 
triumphant  in  France,  though  to  a  certain 
extent  at  variance  with  the  strict  doctrines, 
nevertheless  in  temporal  matters  exhibited  a 
manifest  sympathy  with  the  interests  of  Rome  ; 
the  former  feeling  might  perhaps  be  removed 
and  the  latter  turned  to  better  account :  in 
short,  Clement  now  manifested  a  willing 
alacrity  upon  the  very  first  word  addressed  to 
him.  We  have  the  account  of  his  negocia- 
tions  written  by  the  French  plenipotentiary 
D'Ossat ;  they  are  amusing,  instructive,  and 
worth  reading ;  but  I  do  not  find  that  he  had 
great  difficulties  to  overcome.  It  would  be 
useless  to  follow  the  proceedings  in  detail  ; 
the  general  posture  of  things  had  already  de- 
cided the  pope.  The  only  question  was,  would 
the  king  too  on  his  part  make  some  conces- 
sions to  the  pope.  Those  who  were  averse 
to  the  reconciliation,  would  fain  have  raised 
the  demand  for  these  as  high  as  possible,  alleg- 
ing that  the  church  required  the  strongest 
securities  in  such  cases ;  the  pope,  however, 
remained  satisfied  with  more  moderate  terms. 
He  demanded  especially  the  restoration  of 
Catholicism  in  Beam,  the  introduction  of  the 
regulations  of  the  council  of  Trent,  so  far  as 
this  was  consistent  with  the  laws  of  the  land, 
close  observance  of  the  concordat,  and  the 
education  of  the  prince  of  Conde,  the  presump- 
tive heir  to  the  throne,  in  the  catholic  faith. 
On  the  king's  part  it  still  continued  highly 
desirable  that  he  should  be  reconciled  to  the 
Roman  see.  His  power  was  based  on  his  con- 
version to  Catholicism,  an  act  which  could  only 
derive  full  authenticity  from  the  pope's  absolu- 
tion :  although  by  far  the  greater  number 
were  compliant  on  this  point,  still  there  were 
6ome  who  availed  themselves  of  the  want  of 
this  sanction  to  justify  their  continued  resist- 
ance.!    Henry  IV.  agreed  to  the  stipulations 

*  Ossat  a  Mr-  de  ViUeroy,  Kome,  Dec.  G,  1594.  LeUers 
d'  OssLil,  i.  53. 

t  Du  Perron  au  Roi,  Nov.  G,  1595.  "  De  toucher  icy  com- 
bien  I'aulhoriie  et  la  faveiir  de  ce  siege  eslaiil  eiilre  vos 
mains  vous  pent  servir  d'un  utile  instrumenl  noa  seule- 
nienl  pour  reinetlre  et  conserver  vos  sujeis  en  paix  et  en 
obeissance,  niais  aussi  pour  vous  preparer  toules  sortes  de 
grandeur  hors  de  voire  royaume,  et  4  tout  le  moins  pour 
lenirvds  ennemis  en  quelque  crainte  el  devoir  par  I'ap- 
prehension  de  la  mesme  autliorite  dont  il  at  sont  aydez 
pour  troubler  vos  estats  et  vos  peuples,  ce  seroit  un  dis- 
cours  superflu." — Les  ambassades  du  cardinal  du  Perron, 


with  no  great  difficulty.  He  had  already 
spontaneously  prepared  their  fulfilment  in 
part.  He  had  it  at  heart  to  show  himself  a 
good  catholic.  Much  as  his  power  now  ex- 
ceeded what  it  was  at  the  period  of  the  duke 
de  Nevers's  mission,  still  the  letter  in  which 
he  now  solicited  absolution  of  the  pope,  was 
much  more  humble  and  submissive  than  the 
former.  "  The  king,"  it  said,*  "  returns  to 
the  feet  of  your  Holiness,  and  beseeches  you 
in  all  humility  by  the  bowels  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  to  deign  to  accord  him  your  holy  bles- 
sing and  your  highest  absolution."  The  pope 
felt  perfectly  satisfied.! 

It  now  only  remained  that  the  college  of 
cardinals  should  declare  its  assent.  The  pope, 
however,  would  not  let  the  matter  be  brought 
before  a  regular  consistory,  in  which  incon- 
venience might  easily  have  resulted  from  the 
observance  of  old  resolutions  :  he  invited  the 
cardinals  to  give  him  their  several  opinions  in 
special  audiences,  an  expedient  often  before 
resorted  to  on  similar  occasions.  Having  heard 
them  all,  he  declared  that  two-thirds  of  the 
votes  were  in  favour  of  absolution. 

Accordingly  on  the  ITth  of  Dec.  1595,  the 
ceremony  was  performed.  The  pope's  throne 
was  erected  before  the  church  of  St.  Peter, 
and  the  cardinals  and  the  curia  reverently 
surrounded  their  head.  The  king's  petition 
and  the  conditions  to  which  he  had  agreed 
were  read.  Thereupon  the  representative  of 
the  most  Christian  king  cast  himself  at  the 
pope's  feet,  who  striking  him  slightly  with  a 
rod,  bestowed  absolution  upon  him.  Once 
more  the  papal  see  appeared  in  all  the  undi- 
minished splendour  of  its  ancient  traditional 
authority.  J 

i.  27.  [Du  Perron  to  the  king,  Nov.  6, 1595.  To  discuss 
in  this  place  how  much  the  authority  and  favour  of  this 
see  placed  in  your  hands  may  serve  you  as  an  useful  instru- 
ment not  only  to  reduce  your  subjects  to  peace  and  obedi- 
ence and  to  maintain  the  same,  but  also  to  prepare  for  you 
all  kinds  of  greatness  beyond  the  limits  of  your  kingdom, 
and  at  the  very  least  to  keep  your  enemies  in  some  fear 
and  duty  by  the  apprehension  of  the  same  authority, 
whereof  they  have  availed  themselves  to  trouble  your 
states  and  your  subjects,  would  be  asuperfluous  discourse.] 

*  Requete  du  Roi,  in  Amelot's  remark,  cited  by  Ossat, 
i.  ICO. 

t  The  court  of  Rome  still  considered  the  resolution  rash 
and  hazardous.  Doltino,  Relatione ;  "  I  piu  gravi  negotii 
il  [lapa  ha  saputo  espedire  e  molto  bene  e  ancora  con  gran 
celeriti;  perche  con  tanti  contrarj  quanti  ogn'  uno  sa 
benedisse  il  re  di  Francia,  lo  accetto  nel  grembo  della 
chiesa,  mando  li  un  legato  nel  tempo  che  tutti  lo  ributta- 
vano  sotto  pretesto  che  non  fosse  sua  dignity  mandarlo 
avanti  che  il  re  mandasse  il  suo  ambasciatore  a  Roma,  et 
in  quelle  I'autoriti  della  Sna-  Vra-  giovo  assai,  che  cosi 
mi  disse  S.  Si-  per  diversi  offlci  cheaque!  tempo  io  aveva 
latte  a  nome  di  lei."  [The  pope  succeeded  in  dispatch- 
ing the  gravest  atfairs,  not  only  very  well  but  with  the 
greatest  expedition:  for  in  spite  of  so  many  notorious  ob- 
stacles, he  gave  his  benediction  to  the  king  of  France,  re- 
ceived him  into  the  bosom  of  the  church,  and  sent  him  a 
legale,  at  the  time  when  every  one  op[)osed  this  ujion  the 
pretext  that  it  was  not  consistent  with  his  dignity  to  do  so, 
till  the  king  had  first  sent  an  ambassador  on  liis  jjart ;  and 
in  this  matter  the  authority  of  your  signory  assisted  not  a 
little,  as  his  Holiness  told  me,  in  respect  to  various  ser- 
vices I  perforuied  at  that  time  in  the  name  thereof] 

t  Ossai,  who  on  other  occasions  is  very  circumstantial, 
passes  very  lighly  overihis  ceremony  (i.  168.)  "  Tout  s'y 
est  pass6,"  he  says,  "  convenablemenl  a.  la  dignity  de  la 


236 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL,    [a.  d.  1560-97. 


And  in  truth  the  ceremony  was  indicative 
of  a  greal  result  obtained.  The  ruling  power 
in  France,  now  strong  and  firmly  rooted,  was 
again  catholic  ;  it  had  consequently  an  inter- 
est in  standing  well  with  the  pope.  A  new 
focus  of  Catholicism  was  formed  in  that  coun- 
try, from  which  great  influences  would  of 
necessity  emanate. 

More  closely  considered,  this  result  present- 
ed two  different  aspects. 

It  was  not  by  the  immediate  efforts  of  the 
pope,  or  by  a  victory  achieved  by  the  strict 
party,  that  France  had  been  won  back  to  the 
church ;  it  was  rather  by  an  union  of  the  mo- 
derate opinions  lying  midway  between  both 
extremes,  by  the  paramount  strength  of  a  party 
that  had  first  appeared  as  an  opposition.  Hence 
it  was  that  the  French  church  assumed  quite 
a  different  position  from  that  of  Italy,  or  of  the 
Netherlands,  or  that  newly  erected  in  Germa- 
ny. It  submitted  to  the  pope,  but  it  did  so 
with  a  freedom  and  an  intrinsic  independence 
founded  on  its  origin,  the  sentiment  of  which 
was  never  again  lost.  So  far  the  papal  see 
could  by  no  means  regard  France  as  an  abso- 
lute conquest. 

But  its  advantages  on  the  other,  the  politi- 
cal side,  were  very  great  indeed.  The  lost 
balance  of  power  was  restored  : — two  great 
powers,  jealous  of  each  other,  involved  in  in- 
cessant mutual  struggles,  held  each  other  in 
check.  Both  were  catholic,  and  might  after 
all  fall  into  the  same  views  ;  but  between  the 
two  the  pope  assumed  a  far  more  independent 
position  than  had  been  possible  for  any  of  his 
predecessors  for  a  long  period.  He  was  now 
to  a  great  degree  liberated  from  the  bondage 
in  which  the  superiority  of  Spain  had  hitherto 
held  him. 

This  political  result  came  to  light  only  with 
the  progress  of  events.  The  French  influence 
for  the  first  time  re-appeared  in  Italy  upon 
the  lapse  of  Ferrara  to  the  holy  see,  an  event 
in  other  respects  also  of  great  moment,  as 
regarded  the  growth  of  the  political  power  of 
the  ecclesiastical  states,  and  which  we  may 
here  suffer  to  interrupt  our  attention  to  the 
affairs  of  religion,  as  it  then  did  that  of  con- 
temporaries. We  shall  begin  with  a  re- 
view of  the  country  under  its  last  sover- 
eigns. 

Ferrara  under  Alfonso  II. 

It  is  frequently  assumed  that  Ferrara  was 
peculiarly  prosperous  and  flourishing  under 
the  last  Edtes:  this,  however,  is  but  an  illu- 
sion, like  so  many  others,  originating  from  the 
aversion  entertained  for  the  secular  dominion 
of  Rome. 

Montaigne  visited  Ferrara  under  Alfonso 

couronnc  irSschrelienae.  [The  whole  was  conducted  in 
a  manner  befiuing  the  dignity  of  the  most  Christian 
crown.]    Every  one  was  of  that  opinion.  I 


II.  He  admired  the  broad  streets  of  the  city, 
and  its  beautiful  palaces,  but  even  he  made 
the  remark  that  occurs  to  modern  travellers, 
that  they  were  lonely  and  deserted.*  The 
prosperity  of  the  country  depended  on  the 
maintenance  of  the  dams,  and  the  regulation 
of  the  waters;  but  neither  dams,  nor  streams, 
nor  canals  were  kept  in  proper  order ;  inun- 
dations were  not  unfrequent;  Volana  and  Pri- 
maroo  became  choked  with  sand,  so  that  their 
navigation  ceased  entirely.f 

But  it  were  a  still  greater  error  to  look  on 
the  subjects  of  that  house  as  free  and  happy. 
Alfonso  most  severely  enforced  the  rights  of 
his  exchequer.  On  every  contract,  though  it 
only  related  to  a  loan,  a  tenth  accrued  to  the 
duke,  and  he  levied  a  tenth  on  every  thing 
that  entered  the  city.  He  had  the  monopoly 
of  salt ;  he  burthened  the  commerce  in  oil  with 
a  new  tax:  at  the  advice  of  his  minister  of 
taxes,  Christofano  da  Fiume,  he  finally  appro- 
priated to  himself  the  trade  in  flour  and  bread, 
and  no  one  could  procure  those  necessaries  of 
life  from  any (jther  than  the  ducal  officers;  no 
neighbour  would  have  dared  to  lend  a  few 
handfuls  of  flour  to  another.^  Even  the  nobil- 
ity were  allowed  the  privilege  of  hunting  only 
a  iew  days,  and  never  with  more  than  three 
dogs.  One  day  six  men  were  seen  hanging 
in  the  market-place,  with  dead  pheasants  tied 
to  their  feet.  This  was  a  token,  it  was  said, 
that  they  had  been  shot  in  the  act  of  poaching 
in  the  duke's  presferves. 

If,  therefore,  writers  speak  of  the  flourishing 
condition  and  the  activity  of  Ferrara,  they 
cannot  mean  the  country  and  the  city,  but 
only  the  court. 

In  the  tempestuous  days  of  the  early  part 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  when  so  many  flour- 
ishing families,  so  many  powerful  principali- 
ties perished,  and  all  Italy  underwent  a  radi- 
cal revolution,  the  house  of  Este  had,  by  its 
dexterous  policy,  and  its  stout-hearted  selt- 


*  Montaigne:  Voyage  i.  226.  231. 

I  A  report  respecting  the  state  of  the  church  belonging 
to  tiie  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  cisserls  that 
the  duke  had  transferred  lo  liis  country  seat,  Mesola,  the 
peasants  whose  tasli  i  was  to  work  on  the  Po,  so  that  eve- 
ry thing  connected  with  the  latter  had  fallen  into  ruin, 
and  could  not  be  repaired.     (Inf.  Poliil.  t.  ix.) 

t  Frizzi :  ftlemorie  per  la  storia  di  Ferrara,  torn.  iv.  p. 
3G4.  More  particularly  Manolesso,  Relatione  di  Ferrara. 
"  II  duca  non  e  cost  aiiiaio  come  le  suoi  precessori  e  questo 
per  I'austeritS.  e  esattioni  che  fa  Christofano  da  Fiume 
cognominato  il  Frisaio  (Sfregiato)  suo  gabelllere  ...  II 
Frisato  s'oil'erse  di  vendere  iriiglior  mercato  le  robbe  a 
beneficio  del  popolo  di  quello  che  facevano  gli  allri  e 
darne  mollu  utile  a  S.  Eccz»':  piacque  il  partilo  la  duca  : — 
ma  se  bene  il  Frisato  paga  al  duca  quello  che  gli  ha  data 
inteniione,  non  sudisfa  pero  al  popolo,  vendendo  la  robba 
cattivaquantoallaqualitu.  e  mollocara  quanloal  prezzo." 
[The  duke  is  not  so  beloved  as  his  predecessor,  by  reason 
of  the  harshness  and  the  ej<actions  of  Christofano  da  Fi- 
ume, surnamed  il  Frisato  (the  scarred),  his  comptroller  of 
taxes  ...  11  Frisato  oifered  lo  sell  goods  lo  the  profit  of 
the  i)eople,  at  lower  prices  than  others,  and  lo  derive 
much  advantage  thence  for  his  excellence.  The  dulce 
approved  the  propo,sal :  — but  though  il  Frisato  pays  the 
duke  what  he  gave  him  to  expect,  yet  he  does  not  satisfy 
the  people,  since  he  sells  goods  of  bad  quality,  and  very 
high  priced.] 


A.  D.  1560-97.] 


FERRARA  UNDER  ALFONSO  II. 


237 


defence,  contrived  to  weather  through  all 
dangers.  With  these  qualities,  however,  it 
united  others.  Who  has  not  read  of  that 
stock  which,  as  Bojardo  expressed  himself, 
was  destined  to  be  the  great  preserver  of  all 
valour,  goodness,  courtesy,  love,  grace,  and 
gaiety.*  Who  has  not  read  of  its  residence, 
which  he,  as  well  as  Ariosto,  says,  was  adorn- 
ed not  only  with  ample  royal  palaces,  but  also 
with  fair  studies  and  excellent  manners  !f  If 
the  Estes  had  the  merit  of  patronizing  poetry 
and  learning,  they  have  been  abundantly  re- 
warded. The  memory  of  that  splendour  and 
power  which  rapidly  pass  away,  has  been  pro- 
pagated in  the  works  of  great  writers  that 
Jive  forever. 

Alfonso  II.  sought  to  keep  up  the  same  state 
of  things  that  had  existed  under  his  predeces- 
sors.    He,  too,  held  the  same  views. 

He  had  not,  indeed  to  sustain  the  same  rude 
conflicts  as  they;  nevertheless,  since  he  was 
in  constant  dissension  with  Florence,  and  was 
not  always  secure  of  his  liege  lord,  the  pope, 
he  always  held  himself  in  a  posture  of  defence. 
Ferrara  was  esteemed,  next  to  Padua,  the 
strongest  hold  in  Italy  :  27,000  men  were  en- 
rolled in  the  militia.]:  Alfonso  strove  to  en- 
courage the  martial  spirit.  In  order  adequate- 
ly to  counterbalance  the  partiality  displayed 
towards  Tuscany  by  the  papal  court,  he  attach- 
ed himself  to  the  German  emperors.  He  fre- 
quently crossed  the  Alps  with  a  splendid 
retinue,  united  himself  in  marriage  with  an 
Austrian  princess,  spoke  German,  it  is  said, 
and  in  1566  marched  with  a  body  of  troops, 
amounting  to  some  four  thousand  men,  to  the 
aid  of  the  emperor  in  his  war  against  the 
Turks. 

In  like  manner  the  cause  of  literature  throve 
under  his  patronage.  I  know  not  that  this 
world  has  ever  elsewhere  seen  a  closer  union 
between  literature  and  the  court  and  govern- 
ment of  a  country.  Pigna  and  Montecatino, 
two  professors  of  the  university,  were  succes- 
sively prime  ministers  of  the  country  ;  nor  did 


The  poet,  Battista  Guarini,  the  author  of  Pas- 
tor Fido,  was  sent  ambassador  to  Venice  and 
Poland.  Even  Francesco  I'atrizi,  though  en- 
gaged upon  abstruse  subjects,  extols  the  sym- 
pathy he  met  with  at  the  court.  All  liberal 
pursuits  met  with  like  measure  of  encourage- 
ment. The  contests  of  science  alternated 
with  disputations  touching  controverted  ques- 
tions of  love  :  Torquato  Tasso,  for  instance, 
who  had  long  occupied  a  place  in  the  univer- 
sity, originated  one  of  these.  Sometimes  a 
play  was  produced  by  the  university,  some- 
times by  the  court:  the  theatre,  in  addition  to 
its  ordinary  attractions,  possessed  one  of  a 
literary  kind,  since  continual  efforts  were 
made  after  new  forms,  and  just  at  this  time  it 
perfected  the  pastoral  drama,  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  opera.  Sometimes  Ferrara 
was  visited  by  foreign  ambassadors,  cardinals, 
and  princes,  at  least  by  those  of  the  neigh- 
bouring cities  of  Mantua,  Guastalla,  Urbino, 
and  now  and  then  even  by  an  archduke.  Upon 
these  occasions  the  court  slione  forth  in  all  its 
splendour ;  tournaments  were  held  in  which 
the  nobility  of  the  land  spared  no  cost;  at 
times  a  hundred  cavaliers  tilted  in  the  court- 
yard of  the  palace.  The  festivities  were  ar- 
ranged to  represent  some  fabulous  legend  or 
poeiic  tale,  as  their  names  sufficiently  indicate 
— the  Temple  of  Love,*  the  Island  of  Bliss ; 
enchanted  castles  were  defended  and  stormed. 

Thus  did  the  court  of  Ferrara  display  the 
closest  union  of  poetry,  learning,  politics,  and 
chivalry.  There  splendour  was  ennobled  by 
the  spirit  that  animated  it,  and  the  defect  of 
means  by  the  wealth  of  mind. 

The  "Rime"  and  the  epic  poems  of  Tasso, 
gives  us  a  living  portraiture  of  this  court,  of 
the  sovereign  "in  whom  are  obvious  loftiness  of 
heart  and  vigour,  and  of  whom  it  cannot  be  said 
whether  he  is  better  as  a  knight  or  as  a  leader," 
of  his  wife,  and  above  all,  of  his  sisters.  The 
elder,  Lucrecia,  resided  but  a  short  while  with 
her  husband  in  Urbino,  and  afterwards  contin- 
ally  in  Ferrara,  where,  likewise,  she  had  in- 


they,  therefore,  give  up  their  literary  labours ;  I  fluence  in  public  affairs,  though  her  chief  care 


at  least  Pigna,  whilst  he  had  the  conduct  of 
public  business,  continued  his  academical  lec- 
tures, and  from  time  id  time  published  a  book.  5 

*  Bojardo:  Orlando  Innamorato,  ii.  22. 

Da  qupsta  (stirpe)  fia  servato  ogni  valore, 
Ogni  bonlade  et  ogni  cortesia, 
Amore,  Ipggiadria,  stalo  giocundo 
Tra  quplla  genie  fiorila  nel  mundo. 
+  Arioslo,  Orlando  Furioso,  xxxv.  6. 

Nor  pur  di  nuira  e  d'  ampli  lelli  rpgi, 

Ma  (ii  bei  studi  e  di  costumi  pgregi. 

t  Relationp  sopra  la  Komagna  di  Ferrara :  "  Erano  des- 

critti  nelli  rolli  della  militia  dal  commissario  ilella  batla- 

gliaa  cio  deputato  luui  i  sudili  alti  a  portar  arnii.     Erano 

coslrelli  aslarne  rovisli  per  haver  daservi  e  nel  occasioni 


was  to  kindle  and  foster  literary  and  musical 
efforts ;  it  was  she  who  patronized  Tasso.  The 
younger,  Leonora,  moved  in  a  more  limited 
sphere  ;  she  was  delicate,  quiet,  and  retiring, 

na,  per  mano  del  quale  passano  tutti  negotii.  Legge  pub- 
licamenli  la  filosofia  morale,  e  scrive  1  isloria  della  casa 
d'Este:  6  oralore  filosofo  e  poela  molto  eccelente:  pos- 
siede  benissimo  la  lingua  Greca,  e  servendo  il  suo  prin- 
cipe  ne'  negotii  e  irattando  e  iscrivendo  quanlo  occorre, 
non  tralascia  pert)  i  studi,  et  in  tutte  le  profrssioni  6  tale 
che  pare  che  ad  una  sola  atlenda."  [His  private  secretary- 
is  Signor  Giovamb.  Pigna,  through  whose  hands  all  busi- 
ness passes.  He  gives  public  lectures  on  moral  |)hiloso- 
phy,  and  is  engaged  in  writing  the  history  of  the  house  of 


isle :  he  is  a  very  excellent  orator,  philosopher,  and  poel ; 
a  piedi  0  a  cavallo  secondo  le  forze  delle  loro  facolti  a  he  is  exceedingly  well  versed  in  the  Greek  language,  and 
godevano  essi  alcune  esentioni."  [All  subjects  capable  while  employed  in  the  public  service  of  his  prince,  and 
of  bearing  arms  were  inscribed  in  the  rolls  of  the  miliiia  transacting  and  writins  whatever  his  office  requires,  he 
by  the  commissioner  of  war  appointed  to  that  duty.  They  yet  docs  not  neelecl  his  studies,  and  in  all  hisoccujjations 
were  required  Ui  hold  themselves  ready  to  serve  when  he  acquits  himself  as  if  he  attended  to  but  one  alone.] 
called  on,  on  fool  oron  horseback  according  to  their  means,  j  *  Extracts  from  descriptions  which  appeared  at  the 
and  they  enjoyed  certain  exemptions.]  time,  for   instance  from  the  Tempio  d'Amore,  may  ba 

§  Manolesso ;  "  Segretano  iutimo  6  il  Sf  Giovamb.  Pig.  |  seen  in  Muralori,  Serassi,  and  Frizzi. 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL,     [a.  d.  1560-97. 


but,  like  her  sister,  possessed  a  mind  of  strong- 
ly marked  lineaments.*  Once,  during'  an 
earthquake,  they  both  refused  to  leave  the 
castle ;  Leonora  especially  felt  pleasure  in  in- 
dulging- a  stoical  indifference  ;  when  at  last 
they  did  give  way,  it  was  a  moment  in  the 
last  degree  critical ;  the  roof  fell  in  imme- 
diately behind  them.  Leonora  was  looked  on 
almost  as  a  saint ;  to  her  prayers  people  as- 
cribed their  preservation  from  an  inundation. f 
Tasso  paid  them  his  court  in  a  manner  suited 
to  their  respective  dispositions ;  towards  the 
younger  his  tone  was  subdued,  his  language 
sparing  and  unfrequent,  and  always  appearing 
as  if  he  purposely  abstained  from  a  full  ex- 
pression of  his  sentiments;  the  elder  he 
addresses  without  any  reserve;  he  compares 
her  to  the  full  blown  fragrant  rose,  which 
maturity  has  not  divqsted  of  its  charms,  &c. 
Other  ladies  besides  graced  the  court  of  Fer- 
rara,  such  as  Barbara  Sanseverina  and  her 
daughter  Leonora  Sanvitale;  Tasso  has  in- 
comparably pourtrayed  the  calm  self-posses- 
sion of  the  matron,  and  the  gladness  and 
grace  of  the  daughter's  youthful  beauty ;  no 
limner  could  place  them  more  perfectly  before 
us.  Then  follow  descriptions  of  the  villegia- 
ture  frequented  by  the  court,  the  hunting 
parties,  and  the  sports,  the  whole  round  of 
their  pursuits.  Who  can  resist  the  impres- 
sion wrought  by  these  descriptions,  with  all 
their  gushing  fulness  of  melody  ! 

Still  must  we  forbear  from  yielding  our- 
selves up  wholly  to  this  impression.  The 
same  arbitrary  force  that  held  the  whole  land 
in  such  strict  obedience,  made  itself  likewise 
felt  at  court. 

Those  scenes  of  poetry  and  sport  were 
sometimes  dashed  with  very  discordant  inci- 
dents. The  nobles  were  treated  with  as 
little  forbearance  as  the  common  people. 

A  Gonzaga  had  been  murdered.  Every 
one  laid  the  crime  at  the  door  of  the  young 
Ercole  Contrario;  at  all  events  the  murderers 
had  taken  refuge  on  an  estate  belonging  to 
him.  The  duke  demanded  that  they  should 
be  given  up.  Young  Contrario,  to  avoid  being 
criminated  by  them,  himself  caused  them  to 
be  put  to  death,  and  their  corpses  only  were 
delivered  over  to  the  duke.  Upon  this  he 
was  one  day  summoned  to  the  court,  and  on 
the  2d  of  Aug.,  1575,  he  had  his  audience. 
The  Contrarj  were  the  wealthiest  and  most 
ancient  family  in  Ferrara ;  Ercole  was  the 
last  scion  of  the  house.  Not  long  after  he 
entered  the  palace  he  was  carried  out  of  it  a 
corpse.     The  duke  said,  that  the  young  man, 

*  She  acted  as  regent  during  the  Duke's  absence  in  the 
year  155G,  accordins;  to  Manolesso,  "  con  infiniia  sodisfat- 
lione  de'  suddlli"  [to  the  subjects'  infinite  satisfaction] 
"  Non  ha  preso,"  he  continues,  "n6  vunl  prendere  mariio 
per  esser  di  debolissima  complessione :  6  peio  di  gran 
spirito."  [She  is  not  married,  nor  will  she  marry,  being 
of  a  very  feeble  constitution  ;  and  yetshe  possesses  a  great 
spirit.] 

t  Serassi ;  Vita  di  Torquato  Tasso,  p.  150. 


while  conversing  with  him,  had  been  suddenly 
struck  with  apoplexy ;  but  no  one  believed 
him.  Traces  of  violence  were  discovered  on 
the  body,  and  the  duke's  friends  acknowledged 
that  their  master  had  caused  Contrario  to  be 
put  to  death,  excusing  the  act  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  been  loath  to  sully  an  illustrious 
name  by  a  more  ignominious  death.* 

Such  justice  as  this  struck  terror  into  every 
one.  The  worst  was,  that  the  property  of  the 
family  was  now  to  lapse  to  the  duke. 

But  on  the  whole  it  would  have  been  no 
prudent  thing  for  any  one  to  offer  even  the 
slightest  resistance  to  the  sovereign. f  The 
court  was  a  perilously  slippery  ground.  Sub- 
tle as  was  Montecatino,  he  could  not  yet 
maintain  himself  in  the  end.  Panigarola,  in 
those  days  the  most  distinguished  preacher  in 
Italy,  had  been  allured,  not  without  difficult)', 
to  Ferrara :  suddenly  he  was  banished  with 
boisterous  violence.  Men  asked  what  was  his 
offence,  and  nothing  was  discovered  against 
him,  but  that  he  had  entertained  a  correspon- 
dence respecting  an  invitation  from  another 
quarter.  In  such  a  scene  the  unstable,  irri- 
table, melancholy  Tasso  was  not  fitted  to  hold 
up  long.  The  duke  seemed  to  like  him,  list- 
ened to  him  with  pleasure,  and  even  conde- 
scended to  correct  the  military  descriptions 
that  occur  in  the  Gerusalemme  Liberata. 
But  from  the  moment  Tasso  showed  a  dispo- 
sition to  pass  into  the  service  of  the  Medici, 
there  was  an  end  to  all  cordiality  between 
them.  The  poor  poet  withdrew  from  Ferrara, 
but  an  irresistible  longing  having  brought  him 
back  again,  some  satirical  expressions  which 
had  escaped  him  in  one  of  his  melancholy  fits, 
were  enough  to  determine  the  duke  to  keep 
the  unhappy  man  imprisoned  seven  long 
years.  I 

Here  we  behold  the  whole  character  of  the 
Italian  principality,  precisely  as  it  was  in  the 
fifteenth  century ;  reposing  on  well-weighed 
political  telations,  unlimited  and  arbitrary  at 
home,  surrounded  with  splendour,  allied  with 
literature,  jealous  even  of  the  show  of  power. 
Strange  aspect  of  human  things !  The  re- 
sources of  the  country  produced  the  court,  the 
centre  of  the  court  was*  the  prince,  the  ulti- 
mate product  of  the  whole  social  existence 
was  the  autocracy  of  the  sovereign.  From 
his  position  in  the  world,  the  obedience  ren- 


*  Frizzi :  Memorie,  iv.  382. 

f  W^hen  Tasso  is  not  in  good  humour  he  e.vpresses  him- 
self otherwise  than  as  above.  "Perche  io  conosceva," 
he  says,  in  a  letter  to  the  duke  of  Urbino,  "  il  duca  per 
natural  inclinalione  dispostissimo  alia  maligniti  e  pieno 
d'una  certa  ambitiosa  alterezza,  la  quale  pgli  trae  della 
nobilta  del  sangue  e  della  conoscenza  ch'egli  ha  del  suo 
valore,  del  quafe  in  molte  cose  non  si  da  punto  ad  inten- 
dere  il  false."— (Lettere  n.  284.  Opere,  torn.  ix.  188.)' 
[Because  I  knew  the  duke  to  be  naturally  very  prone  to 
malice,  and  full  of  a  certain  overweening  arrogance, 
which  he  derives  from  the  nobility  of  his  blood,  and  from 
the  consciousness  of  his  own  wortli,  which  in  many  paiti- 
culars  is  not  to  be  mistaken.] 

t  Serassi :  Vita  del  Tasso,  p.  282. 


A.  D.  1560-97.] 


FERRARA  UNDER  ALFONSO  II. 


239 


dered  him,  and  the  homage  paid  him,  he 
derived  the  feeling  of  his  own  value  and 
importance. 

It  was  the  fate  of  Alfonso  II.  to  be  childless 
th^jugh  thrice  married.  His  whole  policy 
was  exemplified  in  the  mode  he  adopted  to 
remedy  that  disadvantage. 

His  purpose  was  twofold ;  first,  to  prevent 
his  subjects  from  believing  that  they  could 
pass  under  the  rule  of  any  other  house  than 
his  own ;  and  next,  to  hold  the  nomination  of 
his  successor  in  his  own  hand,  and  not  by  any 
chance  to  set  up  a  rival  against  himself. 

In  September,  1589,  he  went  to  Loretto, 
where  Donna  Camilla,  the  sister  of  Sixtus  V., 
was  then  staying ;  he  spared  neither  presents 
nor  promises  to  gain  her  over.  Through  her 
instrumentality  he  expected  to  be  empowered 
to  name  as  his  successor  that  one  of  his  ne- 
phews who  seemed  to  him  most  fitted  for  the 
choice.  And  hardly  had  his  negociations  been 
really  begun  when  Sixtus  V.  died,  - 

By  similar  means,  presents  to  the  pope's 
sister-in-law,  and  oificious  complaisance  to  his 
nephews,  Alfonso  succeeded,  in  the  year  1.591, 
in  gaining  the  ear  of  Gregory  XIV.  When 
he  saw  that  he  might  entertain  hope,  he  went 
to  Rome  to  ply  the  negociation  in  person. 
The  first  question  was,  whether  the  bull  of 
Pius  v.,  which  forbade  the  reinfeudation  of 
lapsed  papal  fiefs,  was  applicable  to  Ferrara. 
Alfonso  denied  this,  because  it  had  never  yet 
lapsed.  Still  the  words  were  but  too  plain ; 
the  congregation  decided  that  the  bull  by  all 
means  comprehended  Ferrara.  All  that  re- 
mained, then,  to  be  asked  was,  whether  a 
pope  had  not  the  power  to  make  special  deter- 
minations in  special  cases'?  The  congrega- 
tion did  not  venture  to  give  a  negative  to 
this ;  it  laid  it  down,  however,  as  a  condition, 
that  the  necessity  should  be  urgent,  and  the 
utility  obvious.*  A  great  step  was  thus  gain- 
ed. It  is  not  improbable  tliat  had  speed  been 
used,  and  a  new  investiture  prepared  forth- 
with in  favour  of  some  individual  by  name, 
the  object  desired  might  have  been  accom- 
plished. Alfonso,  however,  would  not  name 
his  heir.  Moreover  the  Sfondrati  and  he 
were  not  fully  agreed  on  this  subject ;  they 
would  have  preferred  the  marchese  Filippo  di 
Este,  while  the  duke  was  more  inclined  to  his 
nearer  kinsman,  Cesare.  Time  was  wasted 
in  discussions  on  this  matter,  and  Gregory, 
too,  died  before  any  thing  was  settled.f 

*  Dispaccio  Donato:  "  Quando  ci  fusse  evidentissima 
ulilita  et  urgente  necessity  .  .  .  .  il  che  fu  fatto  per  aprire 
lastrada  all'  inlenlione  del  Sf  Duca."  Cardinal  S.  Se- 
verina  asserls  that  il  was  he  who  principally  frustrated 
this  design,  though  with  much  difficulty  and  against  much 
opposition,  and  liial  the  pope  afterwards  repented  of  that 
addition. 

t  Cronica  di  Ferrara,  MS.  Bibl.  Albani  also  states 
there  is  no  doubt  Gregory  XIV.  would  have  done  some- 
thing for  Ferrara  ;  that  he  left  the  congregation  in  a  pas- 
sion, and  was  seized  with  illness  in  consequence.  Al- 
fonso went  to  a  villa  of  Cardinal  Farnese's  "aspeltando  o 
vita  0  morte  di  questo  papa.    Venne  la  morte.    II  duca 


Meanwhile  negociations  had  also  been  en- 
tered into  with  the  imperial  court.  Ferrara 
was  indeed  a  papal,  but  Modena  and  Reggio 
were  imperial  fiefs.  Tlie  duke's  previous 
line  of  policy  now  stood  him  in  good  stead  ;  he 
was  on  the  best  of  terms  with  the  emperor's 
leading  minister.  Wolf  Rumpf  Rudolph  II. 
actually  accorded  him  the  renewal  of  the  fief, 
and  even  allowed  him  an  interval  during 
which  he  should  be  free  to  choose  whom  he 
would  name  as  his  successor. 

But  Clement  VIII.  showed  himself  altoge- 
ther as  intractable  as  the  emperor  was  com- 
pliant. It  seemed  more  catholic,  more  eccle- 
siastical, to  call  in  a  fief  than  to  bestow  it 
again  ;  such  had  been  the  rule  laid  down  by 
the  sainted  pope  Pius  V.  Even  in  the  year 
1592,  Clement  in  a  private  consistory  pro- 
posed to  confirm  the  before-mentioned  bull  in 
Its  original  tenour,  without  the  addition  made 
by  Gregory  XIV. ;  in  tliis  state  it  was  passed.* 

And  now  the  delay  allowed  by  the  empe- 
ror was  expired,  and  the  duke  was  called  on 
to  designate  his  successor.  Alfonso  I.  had, 
late  in  life,  married  Laura  Eustochia,  after 
she  had  already  borne  him  a  son,  from  whom 
was  sprung  don  Cesare  d'Este,  whom  the 
duke,  after  much  hesitation,  fixed  on  as  his 
heir.  But  even  yet  he  did  not  abandon  the 
most  cautious  secrecy.  Without  communica- 
ting his  intentions  to  any  one  else,  he  made 
known  his  choice  to  the  emperor  in  an  auto- 
graph letter,  most  urgently  requesting  him  at 
the  same  time  not  to  divulge  the  matter  to 
any  one,  not  even  to  his  own  ambassador  at 
the  imperial  court,  and  only  to  express  his 
approval  of  the  measure  by  sending  back  the 
letter  with  his  imperial  signature.! 

He  was  resolved  to  retain,  unshared  with 
any  one  to  his  last  gasp,  the  highest  conse- 
quence in  his  little  territory ;  he  would  not 
have  his  court  direct  their  attention  to  the 
rising  sun.  Cesar  himself  was  not  made  at 
all  acquainted  with  the  favour  bestowed  on 
him,  he  was  still  forced  to  make  an  appear- 
ance somewhat  restricted  in  splendour  (he 
was  never  allowed  to  have  more  than  three 
gentlemen  in  his  suite),  and  it  was  not  till  the 
duke's  life  was  at  the  last  ebb,  and  the  physi- 
cians had  given  up  all  hope,  that  he  called 
for  the  young  man  to  announce  to  him  his 
good  fortune.  His  will  was  opened  in  pre- 
sence of  the  most  distmguished  inhabitants  of 


ritorni)."  [Wating  to  see  whether  the  pope  would  live 
or  die.    He  died.     The  duke  returned.] 

*  Dispaccio  Donato,  Tl  Dec.  1592. 

f  Relatione  di  quello  che  6  successo  in  Ferrara  dopo  la 
morte  del  duca  Alfonso.  MS.  Barber.  "  II  duca  fra 
I'anno  concessogli  di  tempo  alia  dichiaratione  scrisse  di 
suo  pugno  una  lettera  all'  imperatore  e  nomin6  Don  Ce- 
sare, pregando  caUlamente  S.  M.  Cesi-  che  in  confirma- 
tione  del  nominate  soltoscrivesse  la  sua,  quale  sigillata 
senza  publicare  il  falto  la  rimandasse  indietro  per  il  conte 
Ercole  Rondinelli,  non  conferendogli  altramente  il  ne- 
gotio.  II  lulio  faceva  S.  A.  accif)  Don  Cesare  non  s'insu- 
perbisse,  ne  della  nobiltti  fusse riverito  e  corteggialo  come 
lor  principe." 


240 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL.         [a.  d.  1597. 


Ferrara,  who  were  admonished  by  the  minis- 
ter to  be  true  to  the  house  of  fiste.  The  duke 
told  Cesar  he  left  him  the  fairest  state  in  the 
world,  strong  in  arms,  population,  and  allies 
within  and  beyond  Italy,  from  whom  he  might 
expect  every  aid.  Thereupon,  on  the  same 
day,  died  Alfonso  II.  Oct.  27,  1597. 

Conquest  of  Ferrara. 

Cesar  took  possession  of  the  imperial  fiefs 
without  question :  even  those  of  the  pope  did 
him  homage.  In  Ferrara  he  was  decked  with 
the  ducal  mantle  by  the  magistrates,  and 
hailed  with  loud  acclamations  by  the  people 
as  their  sovereign. 

Now  if  his  predecessor  had  told  him  of  na- 
tive strength  and  foreign  aid,  he  was  very 
soon  in  a  condition  to  put  their  value  to  the 
test. 

Clement  remained  unmovable  in  his  reso- 
lution to  resume  Ferrara.  Many  popes  before 
him  had  made  the  attempt.  On  the  receipt 
of  the  news  of  Alfonso's  death,  he  declared  he 
lamented  that  the  duke  had  left  no  son,  but 
that  the  church  must  repossess  itself  of  its 
own.  He  would  not  hear  Cesar's  ambassa- 
dors, and  he  designated  his  taking  possession 
as  an  usurpation,  threatening  him  with  the 
ban  if  he  did  not  resign  within  fourteen  days. 
To  give  force  to  his  words  he  began  forthwith 
to  prepare  for  war.  A  new  loan  was  taken 
up,  and  a  new  monte  founded,  in  order  to 
avoid  touching  the  money  in  the  castle  of  St. 
Angelo.*  Cardinal  Pietro  Aldobrandino  be- 
took himself  soon  after  to  Ancona  with  a  suite 
of  experienced  military  men,  to  gather  toge- 
ther an  army.  Recruiting  parties  were  sent 
out  in  every  direction,  and  the  provinces  were 
forced  to  contribute  considerable  levies. 

Cesar,  too,  displayed  spirit  at  first.f  He 
declared  that  he  would  defend  his  just  rights 
to  the  last  drop  of  his  blood  ;  that  neither  his 
religion  nor  his  salvation  would  suffer  for  his 
doing  so.  Accordingly  he  renewed  the  forti- 
fications of  his  strongholds;  the  militia  were 
put  under  arms ;  a  body  of  troops  advanced  to 
the  frontiers  of  the  papal  states,  and  we  find 


♦  Though  many  asserted  that  this  was  done,  Delfino 
says  on  the  contrary :  "  Con  gran  stretlezza  de'  danari, 
senza  metier  mano  a  quelli  del  castello,  per  coiiservar  la 
repulatione  della  chiesa,  in  poco  piu  di  un  mese  ha  posto 
insienie  un  esercito  di  2-2  m.  fanti  e  3  m.  cavalli." 
[Though  very  much  pinched  for  money,  without  touching 
that  in  the  castle,  to  preserve  the  reputation  of  the  church, 
he  brought  together  in  little  more  than  a  month  an  army 
of  22,fX)0  infantry  and  3003  cavalry.] 

+  Niccolo  Contarini  delle  historic  Venetiane,  MS.  torn, 
i.  lib.  i.  "Cesare  n;l  principio  si  iriosiro  mtlio  corag- 
gioso  in  voler  defender  Ic  sue  ragioni,  o  perch6  non  pre- 
vedeva  il  contra^o  o  pur  perch6  gl'  inesperti  come  nei 
vicini  pericoli  s'atterriscono  cosi  nelli  lonlanisi  manifes- 
tano  inlrepidi."  [Cesar  at  first  appeared  very  courage- 
ously resolved  on  defending  his  claims,  either  because 
he  did  not  foresee  the  struggle  he  would  have  to  make,  or 
because  the  inexperienced  are  as  intrepid  when  danger 
is  remote  as  they  are  terrified  upon  its  near  approach.] 
Coniarini's  narrative  contains  very  good,  exact,  and 
Striking  information  on  this  event. 


an  invitation  addressed  to  him  to  enter  Ro- 
magna,  where  the  inhabitants  were  dissatis- 
fied with  the  papal  government,  and  only 
desired  an  opportunity  to  shake  it  off.  la 
addition  to  this,  it  was  his  good  fortune  to 
have  the  neighbouring  Italian  states  on  his 
side.  His  brother-in-law,  the  archduke  of 
Tuscany,  declared  he  would  not  abandon  him. 
The  republic  of  Venice  hindered  the  pope 
from  recruiting  in  Dalmatia,  and  refused  him 
the  arms  and  muniments  of  war  he  wished  to 
draw  from  Brescia.  All  heartily  abhorred 
the  augmentation  of  the  ecclesiastical  states. 

Had  Italy  been  in  a  condition  like  that 
which  had  existed  a  hundred  years  before, 
tolerably  independent  of  foreign  influence, 
and  left  to  take  its  own  course,  Clement  VIII. 
would  probably  not  have  effected  more  than 
Sixtus  IV.  did  in  his  day;  but  those  times 
were  gone  by ;  every  thing  now  depended  on 
the  general  state  of  European  affairs,  and  on 
the  great  powers  of  that  time,  France  and 
Spain. 

The  inclinations  of  the  Spaniards  did  not 
now  admit  of  much  doubt.  Cesar  d'Este  re- 
lied so  strongly  on  Philip  II.  that  he  proposed 
him  to  the  pope  as  an  arbitrator  in  their  dis- 
pute. The  royal  governor  in  Milan  declared 
roundly  in  favour  of  Cesar,  and  offered  him 
Spanish  garrisons  for  his  fortresses.  There 
was,  however,  no  mistaking  but  that  the  king, 
who  all  his  life  had  deprecated  every  commo- 
tion in  Italy,  now  hesitated  in  his  advanced 
years  to  give  occasion  to  a  war,  and  conduct- 
ed himself  with  extraordinary  caution,  as  did 
likewise  his  ambassador  in  Rome.* 

Under  these  circumstances  so  much  the 
more  depended  on  the  position  of  Henry  IV., 
the  restoration  of  France  as  a  mighty  catholic 
power  was  immediately  followed  by  impor- 
tant consequences  for  Italy.  Henry  IV.  had 
retrieved  his  fortunes  through  his  understand- 
ing with  the  Italian  princes;  they  doubted 
not  but  that  he  would  now  evince  his  grati- 
tude, and  side  with  them  in  their  differences 
with  the  holy  see.  Moreover  the  crown  of 
France  was  under  great  obligations  to  the 
house  of  Este.  During  the  civil  war  the 
Estes  had  advanced  upwards  of  a  million  of 
Scudi  to  the  royal  family,  which  were  not  yet 
paid,  and  which  at  this  moment  would  have 
been  sufficient  to  raise  such  an  army  as  no 
pope  could  have  withstood. 

These,  however,  were  not  the  considerations 
that  Henry  IV.  regarded.     Notwithstanding 


*  Delfino  relates  how  much  was  feared  from  him  in 
Rome :  "  Vi  e  un  pensiero  radicato  a  buon  fundamento 
che  la  benedizione  data  el  re  di  Franza  sia  stata  ofifesa 
tale  al  callolico  et  a  Spagnuoli  che  non  siano  perscordar- 
sela  mai,  e  pare  a  S.  Si-  esserne  molto  ben  chiarila  in 
questa  occasione  di  Ferrara."  [The  opinion  has  taken 
firm  hold  there  that  the  benediction  bestowed  oti  the  king 
of  France  has  so  offen  led  his  catholic  majesty  and  the 
Spaniards,  that  they  will  never  forget  it,  and  of  this  his 
holiness  thinks  he  has  had  very  evident  token  in  thi» 
affair  of  Ferrara.] 


A.  D.  1597.] 


CONQUEST  OF  FERRARA. 


241 


his  conversion  to  Catholicism,  he  would  yet 
be  forced  to  do  many  thing-s  that  could  not 
tail  to  displease  the  court  of  Rome.  He  saw 
in  the  affiiir  of  Ferrara  only  an  opportunity 
of  casting-  these  things  into  oblivion,  and  of 
raising  the  lilies  (as  his  statesmen  expressed 
it)  once  more  at  the  court  of  Rome.  With- 
out the  slightest  hesitation  or  wavering,  he 
offered  the  aid  of  France  to  the  holy  father. 
Not  only  did  he  declare  himself  ready,  so  soon 
as  tlie  pope  should  desire  it,  to  send  an  army 
across  the  mountains,  but  also,  in  case  of  need, 
to  come  to  his  support  in  person,  with  his  whole 
power. 

It  was  this  declaration  that  decided  the 
matter.  The  Roman  court,  that  had  already 
become  sensible  to  all  the  perplexities  in 
which  the  coldness  of  its  neighbours  and  the 
open  resistance  of  Ferrara  might  plunge  it, 
breathed  again.  "  I  cannot  express,"  said 
Ossat,  in  his  dispatch  to  the  king,  "  what  cor- 
diality, praise,  and  blessing  your  majesty  has 
obtained  through  your  offer."  He  promises 
his  master,  if  he  fulfils  it,  a  place  in  relation 
to  the  church  like  that  of  Pepin,  or  Charle- 
magne. On  his  side  the  pope  now  made  in- 
stant preparations  for  the  formal  excommuni- 
cation of  his  adversary. 

The  princes  were  deeply  shocked  and 
alarmed  :  they  talked  of  black  ingratitude ; 
they  lost  courage  to  support  Ferrara,  which 
otherwise  they  undoubtedly  would  have 
done,  either  openly  or  secretly,  with  all  their 
might. 

This  had  an  immediate  effect  on  the  men 
of  Ferrara.  Alfonso's  harsh  sway  had  neces- 
sarily created  many  malcontents.  Cesar  was 
new  in  the  affairs  of  government,  without  re- 
quisite talents,  and  altogether  unpractised.  It 
was  in  the  sittings  he  held  as  sovereign  that, 
for  the  first  time,  he  became  more  intnnately 
acquainted  with  the  members  of  the  privy 
council  :*  having  sent  away  to  the  various 
courts  his  older  friends,  who  knew  him,  and 

*  Niccol6  Contarini.  "  Cesare  si  ridusse  in  camera  co' 
suoi  sol  iconsiglieri,  ill  quali  molti,  perlaritiralezzanella 
quale  era  vissuto,  cosl  volendo  chi  commandava,  non  cono- 
scevase  noa  di  I'accia,  el  egli  non  sufficieme  di  prender 
resolutione  dase,  vacillava  nei  concetli,  perciie  quelli  clie 
consigliavano  erano  pieni  di  passioni  panicolari  e  per  le 
speraaze  di  Koma,  in  qui  miravano,  infelti  di  grandi  conta- 
minationi."  [Cesar  held  a  meeting  willi  his  privy  coun- 
cillors, many  of  whom  were  only  known  to  him  by  sight, 
in  consequence  of  the  great  retirement  in  which  it  had 
been  the  pleasure  of  the  late  ruler  that  he  should  live; 
and  as  he  was  incapable  of  adopting  any  resolution  by 
himself,  his  tlioughts  were  all  unsettled,  for  those  who  ad- 
vised him  were  full  of  their  own  private  interests,  and 
their  fidelity  sorely  infected  with  the  hopes  they  reposed 
in  Rome.]  Ossat  also,  Lettres,  i.  495,  states  as  the  cause 
of  his  ill  success:  "  le  peu  de  fidelity  de  ses  conseillers 
niesmes,  qui  parlie  pour  son  peu  de  resolution,  partie  pour 
avoir  des  rentes  et  autres  biens  en  I'estat  de  I'eglise,  et 
esperer  et  craindre  plus  du  St.  Siege  que  de  lul,  regar- 
doient  autant  ou  plus  vers  le  pape  que  vers  lui."  [The 
scanty  tidelity  of  his  councillors  themselves,  who,  partly 
on  account  of  his  own  lacli  of  resolution,  paitly  to  acquire 
rents  and  other  advantages  in  the  states  of  the  church, 
and  because  of  their  having  more  to  hope  and  to  fear  from 
the  holy  see  than  from  him,  looked  as  much,  or  rather 
more,  to  the  pope  than  to  the  duke.] 

81 


in  whom  he  personally  confided,  he  had  no 
one  about  him  on  whom  he  could  repose  real 
trust,  or  with  whom  he  could  have  any  suita- 
ble communion  of  opinion.  It  was  not  possi- 
ble that  he  should  escape  making  false  steps. 
From  himself  downwards  there  spread  a 
feeling  of  insecurity,  such  as  is  the  usual 
forerunner  of  ruin.  The  more  prominent  in- 
dividuals, who  had  a  share  in  the  power  of 
the  state,  already  began  to  calculate  what 
they  might  gain  by  a  change,  and  tried  to 
conclude  a  secret  treaty  with  the  pope.  An- 
tonio Montecatino  betook  himself  to  Rome. 
But  unquestionably  the  most  startling  misfor- 
tune was,  that  dissension  had  broken  out  in 
the  house  of  Este  itself.  Lucrecia  had  hated 
Cesar's  father,  she  hated  himself  no  less;  and 
could  not  bear  to  be  his  subject :  she  herself, 
the  sister  of  the  late  duke,  scrupled  not  to 
enter  into  a  confederacy  with  the  pope  and 
cardinal  Aldobrandini. 

Meanwhile  the  pope  had  performed  the  act 
of  excommunication.  On  the  22nd  of  De- 
cember, 1597,  he  went  in  state  to  St,  Peter's 
and  ascended  the  loggia  of  that  church  with 
his  more  immediate  retinue.  A  cardinal  read 
the  bull.  Don  Cesare  d'Este  was  declared 
therein  an  enemy  to  the  Roman  church,  guilty 
of  treason,  fallen  under  the  heaviest  censure, 
and  under  the  sentence  of  anathema ;  his 
subjects  were  absolved  from  their  oath  of 
allegiance,  and  his  officers  were  exhorted  to 
quit  his  service.  After  the  bull  had  been 
read,  the  pope,  with  angry  looks,  threw  down 
a  burning  candle  on  the  ground  beneath ; 
trumpets  and  drums  sounded,  cannons  were 
discharged,  and  louder  than  all  rose  the  cries 
of  the  populace. 

Circumstances  were  in  such  a  posture,  that 
this  excommunication  could  not  but  produce 
its  full  effect.  An  inhabitant  of  Ferrara 
itself  conveyed  a  copy  of  the  bull,  sowed  up 
in  his  clothes,  into  the  city,  and  delivered  it 
to  the  bishop.*  A  canon  was  to  be  buried  the 
next  morning,  Dec.  81,  1597:  the  church 
was  hung  with  black;  the  people  were  assem- 
bled to  hear  the  funeral  sermon.  The  bishop 
ascended  the  pulpit  and  began  to  speak  of 
death.  "  But  far  worse  still,"  he  said,  with 
a  sudden  turn  of  his  discourse,  "than  the 
death  of  the  body,  is  the  destruction  of  the 
soul  that  now  threatens  us  all."  He  paused, 
and  had  the  bull  read,  wherein  all  who  would 

♦A  certain  Coralta.  "  Ributtato  al  primo  ingresso  da' 
soldati  se  excusu  che  lui  ivi  dimorava  n6  era  ancora  par- 
tito  per  Bologna  (whence  he  was  just  arrived  :  he  had  dis- 
mounted from  his  horse  some  distance  from  the  gate)  e 
ragionando  si  pose  fra  loro  a  sedere ;  finalinente  assicurato, 
si  licentiodellaguardia,  eniriinellacitti,  presentC)al  ves- 
covo  la  scommunica  con  la  lettera  del  arcivescovo  di  Bo- 
logna." (Relatione  di  quello  che, &c.)  Being  repulsed 
by  the  soldiers  on  his  first  attempt  to  enter,  he  excused 
himself,  saying  that  he  lived  there,  and  had  not  yet  set 
out  for  Bologna ;  he  then  sat  down  and  conversed  with 
them,  and  when  he  had  made  all  safe  he  left  the  guard, 
entered  the  city,  and  presented  the  e.xcomiuunication  to 
the  bishop,  with  the  archbishop  of  Bologna's  letter.] 


242 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL. 


[a.  d.  1598. 


not  separate  from  Don  Cesare  were  threaten- 
ed "  to  be  lopped  off  as  withered  branches 
from  the  tree  of  spiritual  life."  Upon  this  the 
bull  was  affixed  to  the  door,  the  church  was 
filled  with  cries  and  sobs,  and  dismay  spread 
through  the  city. 

Don  Cesar  was  not  the  man  to  stay  the 
course  of  such  an  agitation.  He  had  been 
,  counselled  to  enlist  Swiss  and  Germans  in  his 
service,  but  he  could  not  make  up  his  mind  to 
do  so.  Catholics  he  would  not  have,  because 
they  were  adherents  of  the  pope,  but  still  less 
would  he  have  to  do  with  protestants,  because 
they  were  heretics:  "just  as  if,"  saysNiccolo 
Contarini,  "  it  was  for  him  to  fill  the  office  of 
an  inquisitor."  He  now  asked  his  father  con- 
fessor what  he  ought  to  do"?  This  was  Bene- 
detto Palma,  a  Jesuit,  and  by  him  he  was  ad- 
vised to  submit. 

To  such  a  pass  was  Don  Cesar  brought,  that, 
to  enable  him  to  make  this  submission  under 
favourable  conditions,  he  was  obliged  to  have 
recourse  even  to  her  whom  he  knew  to  be  his 
most  vehement  enemy.  He  was  obliged,  in 
order  to  escape  on  tolerable  terms,  to  avail 
himself  of  the  secret,  and  in  a  certain  sense 
treasonable,  connexion  into  which  Lucrecia 
had  entered  with  Rome.*  At  the  duke's  re- 
quest Lucrecia  rapaired  with  her  accustomed 
pomp  to  the  hostile  camp. 

Cesar's  adherents  always  maintained  that 
she  might  have  obtained  better  conditions ; 
but  that,  allured  by  the  promise  of  possession 
for  life  of  Bertinoro,  with  the  title  of  duchess, 
and  personally  captivated  by  the  young  and 
witty  cardinal,  she  had  assented  to  every 
thing  demanded  of  her.  On  the  12th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1598,  the  treaty  was  drawn  up,  by  vir- 
tue of  which  Cesar  surrendered  his  interest 
in  Ferrara,  Comacchio,  and  his  portion  of 
Romagna  :  in  return  for  which  he  was  to  re- 
ceive absolution  from  the  church's  ban.  He 
had  flattered  himself  with  the  hope  of  saving- 
something  at  least ;  so  sweeping  a  loss  ap- 
peared to  him  very  hard.  He  once  more  called 
together  the  leadmg  magistrates  of  the  city, 
the  giudice  de'  savi,  some  doctors  and  nobles, 
to  consult  with  them.  They  gave  him  no  com- 
fort or  encouragement ;  every  one  already 
thought  only  how  he  might  place  himself  on 
a  good  footmg  with  the  expected  new  author- 
ity ;  everywhere  men   vied  with  each  other 


*  Contarini :  "  Come  chi  abandona  ogni  speranza  pin 
facilniente  si  reinelle  nel  arbltrio  dell'  ininiico  che  nella 
confideiiza  ddl'amico,  ando  (Cesare)  a  rilrovare  laduch- 
essa  d'Urbino,  » la  lei,  la  qual  ben  sapeva haver  purlrop- 
po  inlelligenza  col  c'-  Aldobrandino,  remise  ogni  sua  for- 
tuna.  Accello  ella  allegraniente  I'impressa  ridotla  ilove 
al  principle  haveva  desideralo. — Con  niolta  coinitiva 
quasi  trionfante,  acconipagnala  dal  niarchi  seBemivoglio, 
capo  delle  mililie  del  duca,  faceva  il  suo  viaggio."  He 
describes  Lucrecia  as  "  di  pensieri  torbidi :  bench6  simu- 
lasse  altrimente,  era  non  di  meno  di  lungo  tempo  acer- 
rima  nrniica  di  Ton  Cesare."  [A  woman  of  foul  and 
troubled  thoughts:  though  she  pretended  otherwise,  slie 
tiad  neverthefess  long  been  the  most  rancorous  enemy  to 
Don  Cesare.] 


in  pulling  down  the  arms  of  the  house  of  Este 
and  expelling  its  officers.  Nothing  remained 
for  the  prince  but  to  sign  the  act  of  abdi- 
cation, and  to  quit  the  inheritance  of  hia 
fathers. 

Thus  did  the  house  of  Este  lose  Ferrara. 
The  archives,  the  museum,  the  library,  and  a 
part  of  the  artillery  which  Alfonso  I.  had  cast 
with  his  own  hand,  were  transferred  to  Mode- 
na:  everything  else  was  lost.  The  widow  of 
Alfonso  II.  carried  away  fifty  wagons  full  of 
her  property  :  his  sister,  having  married  in 
France,  asserted  in  her  own  favour  the  claims 
of  her  family  on  the  crown  of  that  country  ; 
but  the  conduct  of  Lucrecia  was  the  most  un- 
expected. She  had  no  opportunity  of  taking 
possession  of  her  duchy.  Exactly  a  month 
after  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty,  she  died, 
Feb.  12.  When  her  will  was  opened,  it  was 
found  that  she  had  constituted  her  universal 
legatee  that  very  man,  cardinal  Aldobrandini, 
who  had  driven  out  their  family  from  their 
ancient  possessions.  She  had  even  transferred 
to  him  her  claims  which  were  now  to  be  con- 
tested against  Cesar  himself.  It  would  seem 
as  though  she  had  wished  to  bequeath  her  old 
foe  an  adversary  who  might  embitter  all  his 
days.  There  is  something  fiendish  in  the 
character  of  this  woman,  who  felt  pleasure 
and  satisfaction  in  contributing  to  the  ruin  of 
her  own  house. 

Now  then  the  ecclesiastical  supplanted  the 
ducal  rule.  On  the  8th  of  May  the  pope 
himself  entered  Ferrara.  He  wished  to  en- 
joy a  sight  of  his  new  conquest,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  bind  it  to  the  church  by  suitable 
institutions. 

He  began  with  gentleness  and  clemency. 
Ecclesiastical  dignities  were  bestowed  on  a 
number  of  the  principal  men  of  Ferrara  ;* 
cardinals'  hats,  bishoprics,  and  auditorships 
fell  to  their  lot.  Among  otliers,  young^Benti- 
voglio  the  historian  was  made  privy  chamber- 
lain of  the  pope.  The  duke's  power  had  been 
founded  on  the  usurpation  of  municipal  rights  : 
the  pope  resolved  to  restore  the  burghers  their 
ancient  privileges.  He  instituted  a  conseglio 
of  three  classes ;  one  of  the  superior  nobility, 
including  twenty-seven  members,  one  of  the 
inferior  nobility  and  the  eminent  citizens  con- 
taining fifty-five,  and  one  of  the  trades  with 
eighteen  members.  Their  rights  were  care- 
fully defined :  those  of  the  first  class  were  the 
most  important,  but  in  return,  the  filling  up 
of  vacancies  in  their  numbers  rested  prmci- 
pally  with  the  pope.  To  this  conseglio  the 
pope  committed  the  superintendence  of  provi- 

*  Contarini:  "Al  Bevilacqua,  che  era  di  molto  potere, 
fu  dato  il  patriarcalo  latino  di  Constantinopoli.  II  Sacialo 
fu  creato  auditor  di  rota.  Ad  altri  si  dispensarono  abba- 
tie."  [The  latin  patriarchate  of  Constantinople  was  given 
to  Bevilacque,  who  was  a  man  of  great  weight.  Saciato 
was  created  auditor  di  rota.  Abbeys  were  conferred  ou 
others.] 


1598.] 


COMMOTIONS  AMONG  THE  JESUITS. 


243 


sions,  the  regulation  of  water  courses,  the 
nommation  of  judges  and  podestas,  and  even 
the  appointment  to  places  in  the  university : 
all  of  them  rights  which  the  duke  had  for- 
merly jealously  reserved  to  himself.  This,  as 
may  be  imagined,  was  the  beginning  of  a  new 
order  of  things.  The  lower  classes  too  were 
not  forgotten :  considerable  relaxations  were 
made  in  the  rigid  fiscal  regulations.* 

But  every  thing  could  not  be  arranged  in 
this  spirit :  even  the  ecclesiastical  sway  was 
not  all  mildness.  The  judicial  duties  of  the 
papal  officials  presently  became  burdensome 
to  tbe  nobility :  the  first  giudice  de'  savi,  Mon- 
tecatino,  took  offence  at  the  restrictions  im- 
posed on  the  rights  of  his  office,  and  resigned. 
it  excited  universal  discontent  that  pope  Cle- 
ment deemed  it  necessary  to  secure  his  con- 
(juest  by  a  fortress.  The  representations  made 
by  the  inhabitants  against  this  proceeding, 
urgent  and  imploring  as  they  were,  were  in 
vam  :  precisely  the  most  populous  part  of  the 
city  was  chosen  for  the  site  of  the  castle. f 
Whole  streets  were  pulled  down,  churches, 
oratories,  and  hospitals,  the  pleasure  houses 
ofthe  duke  and  the  court,  and  the  beautiful 
Belvidere,  extolled  by  so  many  poets. 

Perhaps  it  had  been  expected  that  this  de- 
vastation would  completely  obliterate  from 
men's  minds  the  memory  of  the  ducual  house  : 
on  the  contrary,  it  proved  the  means  of  reviv- 
ing it ;  the  smouldering  affection  for  the  here- 
ditary race  of  sovereigns  shot  up  again.  All 
those  who  had  belonged  to  the  court  turned  to 
Modena, — Ferrara,  never  very  animated,  bo- 
came  still  more  deserted. 

But  it  was  not  possible  for  all  to  follow  the 
court  who  desired  to  do  so.  There  is  extant 
a  manuscript  chronicle  by  an  old  servant  of 
the  ducal  house,  in  which  he  recounts  with 
delight  the  doings  of  Alfonso's  court,  its  plea- 
sures, its  concerts,  and  its  sermons.  "  But 
now,"  he  says  at  the  conclusion,  "  all  this  is 
gone  by.  Now  there  is  no  duke  in  Ferrara, 
no  princesses,  no  concerts  or  concert-givers  : 
so  passes  the  glory  of  this  world.  For  others 
the  world  may  be  made  pleasant  by  changes, 
but  not  for  me,  who  am  left  lonely,  aged, 
toothless,  and  poor.  Nevertheless,  praised 
be  God."t 

Commotions  among  the  Jesuits. 

It  is  manifest  that  the  great  advantages 

*  Frizzi :  Metnorie,  v.  p.  25. 

tDispaccio  Delfino,  7  Giugno,  1.598.  "Si  pensa  dal 
papa  di  far  una  ciladella  parte  verso  Bologna,  per  la  poca 
sodisfattione  che  ha  la  nobillii  per  non  esser  rispeuata 
dalli  minislri  della  giiistiiia  e  che  non  li  siano  per  esser 
restiluite  le  enlrate  vecchie  della  community — dolendosi 
di  esser  ingannali."  [The  pope  thinks  of  construcling  a 
citadel  on  the  side  next  Bologna,  because  of  the  dissatis- 
faction the  nobility  express  at  the  little  respect  paid  them 
by  the  ministers  of  justice,  and  at  the  refusal  to  restore  to 
Ihera  the  old  revenues  of  the  corporation— complaining 
that  they  have  been  deceived.] 

t  Cronica  di  Ferrara  "  Sic  transit  gloria  mundi.  E  per 
tale  variare  naiura  6  bella,  ma  non  per  me,  che  ioson  res- 


which  accrued  to  Clement  VIII.,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  amicable  relation  to  the  policy 
of  France,  must  have  made  him  feel  more  and 
more  bound  to  that  power.  He  now  reaped 
the  benefit  of  tlie  moderation  with  which  he 
had  mingled  in  tlie  affairs  ofthe  Ligue,  of  his 
having  opposed  no  serious  obstacle  to  the  na- 
tural course  of  events  in  France,  and  of  his 
having,  at  least  at  the  last  moment,  resolved 
on  granting  absolution  to  Henry.  The  war 
which  was  now  waged  on  the  frontiers  of  the 
Netherlands  and  France,  excited  as  much  in- 
terest in  Rome  as  thougli  the  cause  had  been 
its  own :  that  interest  was  decidedly  in  fa- 
vour of  France.  The  conquest  of  Calais  and 
Amiens  achieved  by  the  Spanish,  excited  at 
the  Roman  court  a  dissatisfaction  "  that  can- 
not be  described,"  says  d'Ossat,  "  an  extreme 
melancholy,  shame,  and  indignation."*  The 
pope  and  his  nephews  feared,  we  are  told  by 
Delfino,  that  the  Spaniards  might  be  inclined 
to  vent  upon  thein  their  displeasure  at  the 
grant  of  absolution.  Fortunately  Henry  IV. 
soon  retrieved  the  check  his  reputation  had 
sustained,  by  the  re-conquest  of  Amiens. 

It  was  not  that  they  had  begun  at  Rome  to 
love  those  with  whom  they  had  formerly  been 
at  strife :  the  conduct  of  those  heads  of  the 
clergy  who  had  first  attached  themselves  to 
Henry  IV.,  and  founded  the  party  of  the  oppo- 
sition, was  never  forgotten  or  forgiven :  pro- 
motion was  much  more  willingly  bestowed  on 
the  adherents  of  the  Ligue,  provided  only  they 
at  last  spontaneously  retraced  their  steps, 
that  is  to  say,  provided  they  were  pretty 
nearly  in  the  predicament  of  the  curia  itself. 
But  as  all  human  opinions,  however  nearly 
they  may  approximate  to  each  other,  yet  mani- 
fest varieties  of  character  and  tendency,  there 
very  soon  arose  among  the  king's  adherents 
themselves  a  party  deliberately  professing 
rigid  catholic  principles,  and  aiming  above  all 
things,  at  maintaining  a  good  understanding 
with  the  court  of  Rome.  The  pope  clung 
particularly  to  this  party :  he  hoped  that  he 
should  succeed  in  equalizing  all  the  differ- 
ences  that    might   still   exist  between   the 


tato  senza  patrone,  vecchio,  pri vo  di  tutti  i  denti,  e  povero. 
Laudetur  Deus." 

*  Ossal  a  Villeroy,  14  Mai,  1596,  20  April  1591.  i.  251, 
4-58.  Delfino:  "Li  pericoli  di  Marsiglia  fecero  stare  il 
papa  in  gran  timore  e  li  nepoli :  la  perdita  di  Cales  e  poi 
quella  di  Amiens  apport6  loro  gran  mestitia,  e  massime 
che  si  dubito  allora  per  le  voci  che  andavano  altorno  di 
peggio,  leniendo  quelli  che  ogni  poco  che  cadeva  piu  la 
riputatione  de'  Francesi.  i  Spagnoli  non  avessero  mostrata 
apertamente  lo  sdegno  che  hanno  avuto  de  la  resolutione 
(absolutione  ?)  loro  e  la  sua  mala  volonti:  per  questa 
causa  principalmente  hanno  avuto  carissimo  il  bene  della 
Franza."  [The  danger  of  Marseilles  put  the  pope  and 
his  nephews  in  great  fear ;  the  loss  of  Calais  and  then 
that  of  Amiens  caused  them  great  grief,  and  especially  be- 
cause rumours  of  worse  things  were  afloat;  they  feared 
that  with  every  little  diminution  of  reputation  sustained 
by  France,  the  Spaniards  would  more  openly  display 
their  resentment  respecting  the  absolution  granted  to 
Henry,  and  the  pope's  backwardness  in  their  cause:  for 
this  reason  chiefly,  the  pope  and  his  nephews  were  most 
warmly  interested  in  the  prospects  of  France.] 


244 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL. 


[a.  d.  1573-92. 


French  and  Roman  institutions:  above  all,  his 
wishes  and  his  efforts  were  directed  towards 
the  restoration  of  the  Jesuits,  who  as  we  have 
seen  had  been  expelled  from  F'rance,  whereby 
in  defiance  of  the  course  things  had  taken  in 
that  country,  a  freer  field  would  be  procured 
there  for  the  Roman  doctrines. 

In  this  project  he  was  aided  by  a  move- 
ment in  the  Jesuit  order,  which,  though  ori- 
ginating from  within,  had  j^et  a  great  analogy 
to  the  change  in  the  general  tendency  of  the 
Roman  court. 

Such  is  often  the  strange  complication  in 
which  the  affairs  of  the  world  are  involved, 
that  at  the  moment  in  which  the  Parisian 
university  urged  no  criminal  charge  so  strong- 
ly against  the  Jesuits  as  their  connexion  with 
Spain,  in  which  it  was  said,  and  believed  in 
France,  that  the  Jesuits  pra,yed  daily  for  their 
king  Philip,*  and  were  bound  by  a  fifth  vow 
to  devotion  towards  Spain,  that  even  then  the 
society  was  sustaining  in  Spain  the  rudest 
assaults  on  the  part  of  the  malcontent  mem- 
bers of  the  inquisition,  of  another  order,  and 
lastly  of  the  royal  authority. 

This  turn  of  things  arose  out  of  more  than 
one  cause,  but  its  immediate  origin  was  as 
follows. 

At  first  the  elder  and  already  educated  men 
who  entered  the  society,  were  for  the  most 
part  Spaniards ;  the  members  wbo  joined  them 
from  other  nations  were  generally  young  men 
who  had  yet  to  be  trained.  The  natural  con- 
sequence was,  that  the  government  of  the  so- 
ciety in  the  earlier  years  of  its  existence  fell 
chiefly  into  Spanish  hands.  The  first  general 
congregation  consisted  of  twenty-five  mem- 
bers, eighteen  of  whom  were  Spaniards.!  The 
first  three  generals  belonged  to  the  same  na- 
tion ;  after  the  death  of  Borgia,  the  third  of 
them,  in  157J^,  it  was  once  more  a  Spaniard, 
Polanco,  who  had  the  best  prospect  of  succeed- 
ing him. 

It  became  apparent,  hoAvever,  that  his  elec- 
tion would  not  have  been  favourably  regarded 
even  in  Spain.  There  were  many  new  con- 
verts in  the  society,  christianized  Jews,  to 
which  class  Polanco  too  belonged.  It  was  not 
desired  in  that  country  that  the  chief  autho- 
rity in  so  powerful  and  so  monarchically  con- 
stituted a  society  should  fall  into  such  hands.| 
Pope  Gregory  XIIl.  who  had  received  a  hint 
on  this  subject,  deemed  a  change  advisable  on 
other  grounds  likewise.  When  a  deputation 
from  tiie  congregation  assembled  for  the  elec- 
tion presented  themselves  before  him,  he  asked 


*  "  Pro  rege  noslrorhilippo." 

f  Sacchinus  v.  7.  99.  In  the  second  general  consrega- 
lion,  the  disproporlion  was  diminished,  though  but  slight- 
ly.   Of  ihirly-iiine  members  twemy-four  were  Spaniards. 

t  Sacchinus,  Historia  Societatis  Jesu,  pars  iv.  sive  Eve- 
rardus,  lib.  i:  "Horuni  origo  nioluum  duplex  fuil,  studia 
n.itionum,  el  neoi)hylorum  in  Hispania  odium."  [The 
origin  of  these  movements  was  two-fold,  national  jeal- 
ousies, and  the  dislike  of  new  converls  felt  in  Spain.] 


them  how  many  votes  each  nation  possessed : 
it  appeared  that  the  Spaniards  had  more  than 
all  the  others  put  together.  He  further  in- 
quired, from  what  nation  the  general  of  the 
order  had  hitherto  been  taken.  He  was  told 
that  the  order  had  had  three  generals,  all  of 
them  Spaniards.  "  It  is  reasonable,"  replied 
Gregory,  "  that  you  should  for  once  choose 
one  from  some  of  the  other  nations."  He  even 
himself  proposed  a  candidate  to  them. 

The  Jesuits  for  a  moment  strove  against 
this  as  an  encroachment  on  their  privileges ; 
but  at  last  they  elected  the  very  candidate  the 
pope  had  proposed.  This  was  Ebei'hard  Mer- 
curianus. 

This  election  marked  the  commencement 
of  an  important  change.  Mercurianus,  a  weak 
and  irresolute  man,  left  the  management  of 
affairs  first  of  all  to  a  Spaniard,  and  after- 
wards to  a  Frenchman,  his  appointed  admoni- 
tor.  Factions  sprang  up;  the  one  expelled 
the  other  from  offices  of  moment ;  the  domin- 
ant ranks  at  times  met  with  resistance  on  the 
part  of  the  inferior. 

It  was  however  a  much  more  important  cir- 
cumstance, that  upon  occasion  of  the  next 
vacancy  in  1581,  the  office  was  bestowed  on 
Claudius  Aquaviva,  a  Neapolitan,  sprung  from 
a  family  that  had  formerly  belonged  to  the 
French  party,  a  vigorous  man,  whose  age  did 
not  exceed  thirty-eight. 

The  Spaniards  imagined  for  a  time,  that 
their  nation,  which  had  founded  the  society 
and  guided  its  early  steps,  was  forever  ex- 
cluded from  the  generalship ;  they  were  dis- 
contented at  this,  and  refractory,*  and  con- 
ceived the  design  of  making  themselves  inde- 
pendent of  Rome  in  some  way  or  other,  such 
as  setting  up  a  special  commissioner  general 
for  the  Spanish  provinces.  Aquaviva  on  the 
other  hand  had  no  thought  of  foregoing  the 
least  particle  of  the  authority  accorded  him  by 
the  letter  of  the  constitution.  In  order  to 
curb  the  malcontents,  he  set  over  them  supe- 
riors on  whose  devotion  to  his  own  person  he 
could  rely,  young  men  who  were  more  as- 
similated lo  himself  in  years  and  disposition,! 
also  members  of  inferior  merit,  coadjutors  not 
possessed  of  all  the  rights  of  the  order,  who 
all  alike  ])eheld  their  protector  in  the  general, 
and  lastly  countrymen  of  his  own,  Neapo- 
litans.! 

*  Mariana :  Discurso  de  las  enfermedades  de  la  com- 
pania,  c.  xii.  "  La  nacion  espanola  esl4  persuadida  queda 
para  sempre  excliiida  del  generalato.  Esta  persuasion, 
sea  verdadera  sea  falsa,  non  puede  dexar  de  causar  dis- 
gustos  y  disunion  tanto  masque  esta  nacion  fuuda  la  com- 
pania,  la  honro,  la  ensen6,  y  aun  sustent6  largo  tiempo 
con  su  substancid." 

t  Mariana,  c.  xii.  "Ponen  en  los  gobiernos  homes 
mozos— porque  son  mas  enlremetidos  saben  lamer  a  sus 
lieiTipos." 

t  Besides  Mariana,  the  reports  to  Clement  VIII.  are  also 
important  on  this  subject:  they  are  printed  in  the  Tuba 
magnum  clangens  sonuni  ad  Clementem  XI.  p.  5S3. 
"  Videmus  cum  magno  detrimento  religionis  nostrae  et 
scandalo  mundi  quod  general  is  ulla  hai)ita  ratione  nee 
aniiquitatis  nee  laborum  nee  meritorum  facit  quos  vuJt 


A.  D.  1591.] 


COxM MOTIONS  AMONG  THE  JESUITS. 


245 


The  aged,  learned  and  experienced  fathers 
beheld  themselves  excluded  not  only  from  the 
highest  dignity,  but  also  from  the  appoint- 
ments in  the  provinces.  Aquaviva  pretended 
that  this  vi'as  caused  by  their  own  defects ; 
one  was  choleric,  another  melancholy  ;  natu- 
rally, says  Mariana,  distinguished  men  are 
commonly  wont  to  be  afflicted  with  some  de- 
fect :  but  the  real  ground  was,  that  he  feared 
them,  and  wished  tor  tools  more  suitable  for 
the  execution  of  his  commands.  In  general 
men  have  a  craving  for  an  active  share  in 
public  matters,  and  there  is  nothing  a  man  is 
so  little  disposed  to  submit  to  as  expulsion  from 
his  own  holding.  Bickerings  began  in  all  the 
colleges.  The  new  superiors  were  received 
with  sullen  animosity ;  they  could  carry  out 
no  essential  measures,  and  were  glad  enough 
if  they  could  come  off  without  commotions  and 
disturbances.  Yet  they  had  power  enough  to 
retaliate.  They  too  filled  the  inferior  offices 
only  with  their  personal  adherents,  for  such 
they  could  not  long  fail  to  have,  seeing  the 
monarchical  constitution  of  the  order,  and  the 
ambition  of  the  members  ;  they  sent  their  most 
pertinacious  opponents  abroad  to  other  pro- 
vinces, and  this  more  particularly  at  the  very 
juncture  when  an  important  debate  was  pend- 
ing. Thus  every  thing  merged  into  a  system 
of  personal  offence  and  retaliation.  It  was  not 
only  the  right,  but  even  the  duty  of  a  mem- 
ber to  point  out  the  defects  he  remarked  in 
another,  a  regulation,  that  in  the  innocence  of 
a  small  association  might  have  some  good 
moral  tendency,  but  which  now  was  converted 
into  the  most  loathsome  espionage  ;  it  was  an 
instrument  of  private  ambition,  of  hatred  con- 
cealed under  the  mask  of  friendship ;  "  if  any 
one  would  search  the  archives  in  Rome,"  ex- 
claims Mariana,  "  he  would  perhaps  not  find 
a  single  honest  man  at  least  among  us  who 
are  at  a  distance  :"  universal  distrust  crept 
in  ;  no  man  would  have  spoken  his  mind  unre- 
servedly to  his  brother. 

To  this  was  added  that  Aquaviva  could  not 
be  induced  to  quit  Rome  and  visit  the  pro- 
vinces, as  Lainez  and  Borgia  had  done.  The 
excuse  offered  ibr  this  was,  that  there  was 
even  some  advantage  in  having  things  stated 
in  writing,  in  an  unbroken  series,  without  the 
interruption  arising  out  of  the  contingencies 
of  a  journey.  Still  in  any  case  it  followed  di- 
rectly from  the  practice,  that  the  provincials, 


superiores  el  ut  pluriraum  juvenes  el  novicios,  qui  sine 
ullis  meritis  el  sine  iilla  experienlia  cum  maxima  arro- 
pantia  praesunl  senioribus :  el  denique  generalis,  quia 
homo  est,  liabel  eliam  suos  affeclus  parliculares, . . .  et  quia 
esl  Neapolilanus,  melioris  condilionis  sunt  Neapolilani." 
[We  see  liovv  to  the  great  detriment  of  our  religion  and  to 
Ihe  scandal  of  the  world,  the  general,  utterly  regardless  of 
antiquity,  and  of  labours  and  desert,  appoints  whomsoever 
he  pleases  as  superio.s,  and  generally  young  men  and 
novices,  who,  entirely  destitute  alike  of  merit  and  expe- 
rience, rule  with  great  arrogance  over  their  seniors :  .  .  . 
and  finally  the  general,  since  he  is  a  man,  has  also  his 
private  affections,  and  since  he  is  a  Neapolitan,  the  Nea- 
politans are  in  better  case.] 


in  whose  hands  the  correspondence  lay,  ac- 
quired a  greater  degree  of  independence.  It 
was  in  vain  to  complain  of  them  ;  they  could 
easily  anticipate  every  thing  of  the  kind,  and 
render  it  nugatory  before  hand,  the  more  so 
inasmuch  as  Aquaviva  was  wholly  favourable 
to  them.  They  retained  their  places  virtually 
for  life. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  old  Jesuits 
in  Spain  felt  that  a  state  of  things,  which  they 
regarded  as  a  tyranny,  would  never  receive 
any  change  from  within  the  pale  of  society : 
they  resolved  therefore  to  look  round  for  ex- 
ternal aid. 

First  they  turned  to  the  national  spiritual 
authority  of  their  country,  the  inquisition.  A 
multitude  of  transgressions,  as  is  well  known, 
were  specially  reserved  to  the  tribunal  of  the 
inquisition.  A  malcontent  Jesuit,  impelled  as 
he  said  by  conscientious  scruples,  accused  his 
order  of  concealing  and  even  remitting  offen- 
ces of  this  kind  when  they  were  committed 
by  its  own  members.  Suddenly  the  inquisi- 
tion caused  the  provincial,  who  was  implicat- 
ed in  a  case  of  this  kind,  and  some  of  his  most 
active  associates,  to  be  arrested.*  Other  ac- 
cusations being  preferred  after  this  beginning, 
the  inquisition  caused  the  statutes  of  tlie  order 
to  be  delivered  up,  and  proceeded  to  further 
arrests.  There  arose  among  the  true  believ- 
ing Spaniards  an  excitement  the  more  vehe- 
ment, inasmuch  as  its  cause  was  so  obscure, 
and  the  opinion  became  current  that  the  Je- 
suits had  been  arrested  on  account  of  some 
heresy. 

The  inquisition  however  was  competent 
only  to  inflict  punishment,  but  not  to  make  any 
change  in  the  constitution  of  the  order.  When 
matters  had  gone  thus  far,  the  malcontents 
turned  likewise  to  the  king,  and  beset  him 
with  memorials  complaining  of  the  defects  in 
their  constitution.  That  constitution  had 
never  been  satisfactory  to  Philip  II. ;  he  used 
to  say  that  he  could  see  through  all  other 
orders,  but  the  Jesuits  alone  he  could  not 
understand :  he  was  particularly  struck  with 
the  apparent  truth  of  what  was  said  to  him 
respecting  tlie  abuse  of  absolute  authority,  and 
the  monstrous  system  of  secret  accusation. 
Amidst  the  occupations  of  the  great  European 
struggle  in  which  he  was  engaged,  he  bent 
his  attention  on  this  matter  too.  He  pointedly 
enjoined  bishop  Manrique  of  Carthagena  to 
hold  a  visitation  of  the  order,  especially  with 
regard  to  those  two  points. 

This  was  obviously  an  attack  affecting  the 

*  Sacchinua,  pars  v.  lib.  vi.  no.  85.  "  Quidam  econfes- 
sariis,  seu  vereseu  falso,  delatusadprovincialem  tumCas- 
lellae,  Antonium  Marcenium  ;  eral  de  tentata  puellae  per 
sacras  confessiones  pudicitia,  quod  crimen  in  Hispania 
sacrorum  quaesitorum  judicio  reservabatur."  [A  certain 
confessor  was  informed  against,  whether  truly  or  falsely, 
to  the  then  provincial  of  "Castile,  Antonio  Marcenis,  for 
having  perverted  the  sanctity  of  confession  to  attempt  the 
chastity  of  a  young  female,  a  crime  which  in  Spain  waa 
reserved  for  the  jurisdiction  of  the  holy  inquisitors.] 


246 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL. 


[a.  d.  1592. 


character  of  the  institution,  and  its  chief  him- 
self:  the  more  serious,  since  it  originated  in 
the  country  from  which  the  soqiety  had  sprung, 
and  where  it  had  first  established  itself 

Aquaviva  was  not  dismayed.  He  was  a 
man  who  concealed  a  profound  inflexibility 
under  an  aspect  of  great  mildness  and  great 
suavity  of  manners,  of  a  character,  like  that 
of  Clement  VIII.  and  many  another  of  that 
age,  in  the  utmost  degree  deliberate,  moderate, 
prudent,  and  taciturn.  He  had  never  ven- 
tured to  pronounce  a  positive  judgment ;  he 
would  not  even  suffer  one  to  be  uttered  in  his 
presence,  least  of  all  upon  a  whole  nation. 
His  secretaries  were  expressly  directed  to 
avoid  every  offensive,  every  bitter  word.  He 
loved  piety,  and  even  its  own  outward  appear- 
ance. In  his  bearing  at  the  altar  he  expres- 
sed a  rapt  enjoyment  of  the  service  ;  still  he 
kept  aloof  from  every  tincture  of  enthusiasm. 
He  refused  permission  to  print  an  exposition 
of  Solomon's  song,  because  he  thought  it  offen- 
sive, that  the  language  fluctuated  on  the  con- 
fines of  sensual  and  spiritual  love.  Even 
when  he  chided  he  had  the  art  of  winning  the 
feelings:  he  manifested  the  superiority  of 
calmness :  he  led  the  erring  into  the  right 
path  by  substantial  arguments;  the  young 
clung  to  him  with  ardour.  "  One  must  love 
him,"  writes  Maximilian  of  Bavaria  to  his 
father  from  Rome,  "if  one  but  looks  on  him." 
These  qualities,  his  indefatigable  activity, 
even  his  noble  descent,  and  the  constantly  in- 
creasing importance  of  his  order,  procured  him 
an  eminent  position  in  Rome.  Ifhisadversaries 
succeeded  in  gaining  over  the  national  autho- 
rities in  Spain,  he  on  the  other  hand  had  in 
his  favour  the  Roman  court,  which  he  had 
known  from  his  youth  upwards  (he  was  cham- 
berlain when  he  entered  the  order)  and  with 
which  he  knew  how  to  deal  with  the  mastery 
of  innate  and  practised  talents.* 

It  was  particularly  easy  for  him,  consider- 
ing the  character  of  Sixtus  V.,  to  excite  the 
antipathies  of  that  pope  against  the  efforts  of 
the  Spaniards.  It  was  the  conception  of  pope 
Sixtus,  as  we  are  aware,  to  make  Rome,  still 
more  than  it  was,  the  metropolis  of  Christen- 
dom. Aquaviva  represented  to  him  that  the 
object  sought  in  Spain  was  no  less  to  make 
themselves  independent  of  Rome.  Pope  Sixtus 
hated  nothing  so  much  as  illegitimate  birth : 
Aquaviva  intimated  to  him  that  Manrique,  the 
bishop  selected  to  make  the  visitation,  was  a 
bastard.  This  was  reason  enough  for  the  pope 
to  recal  the  approval  he  had  already  given  of 
the  visitation.  He  likewise  evoked  the  pro- 
ceedmgs  against  the  provincial  to  Rome. 
Under  Gregory  XIV,  the  general  succeeded 
in  obtaining  a  formal  confirmation  of  the  insti- 
tutes of  the  order. 


*  Sacchinus,  and  particularly  Juvencius,  Hist.  Soc. 
Jesu,  partis  quintae  tomus  posterior,  xi.  21.  and  xxv.  33— 
41. 


But  the  hostile  party  was  too  obstinate  and 
crat\y.  They  saw  clearly  that  they  must 
assail  the  general  himself  at  the  Roman  court. 
They  availed  themselves  of  a  momentary  ab- 
sence of  his  (he  had  been  charged  with  the 
task  of  accommodating  a  dispute  between 
Mantua  and  Parma)  to  gain  the  ear  of  Clement 
VIII.  Upon  the  solicitation  of  the  Spanish 
Jesuits  and  of  Philip  II.,  Clement,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  L592,  commanded  a  general  congrega- 
tion without  Aquaviva's  knowledge. 

Astonished  and  alarmed,  Aquaviva  hasten- 
ed back.  General  congregations  were  as 
irksome  to  the  general  of  the  Jesuits,  as  a  con- 
vocation of  the  church  to  the  pope.  If  they 
were  sedulously  avoided  by  every  other  gene- 
ral, how  much  more  were  they  to  be  deprecat- 
ed by  Aquaviva,  against  whom  there  prevailed 
such  violent  hatred.  But  soon  observing  that 
the  arrangement  was  irrevocable,*  he  com- 
posed himself,  and  said,  "  We  are  obedient 
sons,  the  will  of  the  holy  father  be  done."  He 
then  hastened  to  take  his  measures. 

He  contrived  to  possess  himself  of  great 
influence  in  the  elections,  and  it  was  his  good 
fortune  to  see  many  of  his  most  formidable 
opponents,  for  example  Mariana,  rejected  even 
in  Spain. 

When  the  assembly  was  now  met,  he  did 
not  wait  until  he  was  assailed.  In  the  very 
first  sitting  he  declared  that,  since  he  had  the 
misfortune  to  labour  under  the  displeasure  of 
some  of  his  brethren,  he  begged  for  an  inquiry 
into  his  conduct  before  any  other  business  was 
entered  on.  A  committee  was  named  ;  grie- 
vances were  specified  :  but  how  should  it  have 
been  possible  to  convict  him  of  the  violation  of 
a  positive  law "!  He  was  much  too  prudent  to 
expose  himself  to  such  an  accusation  :  he  was 
triumphantly  acquitted. 

Thus  personally  secured,  he  joined  with  the 
assembly  in  investigating  the  topics  advanced 
with  respect  to  the  institute. 

King  I'hilip  had  demanded  some  things,  and 
others  he  had  recommended  for  consideration. 


*  In  a  Consulta  del  padre  C'-  Aquaviva  coi  siioi  padri 
assigtenle,  MS.  in  the  Bibl.  Corsini,  n.  10,55,  which  sets 
forth  the  facts  of  the  internal  dissensions  of  the  order  on 
the  whole  very  correctly  and  in  accordance  with  Ma- 
riana's account,  Aquaviva  is  made  to  eive  the  following 
statement  of  a  conversation  he  had  with  the  pope :  "  S.  S4* 
disse  clie  io  non  avevasufflciente  notiziade'soggetti  della 
religione,  che  io  veniva  ingannato  da  falsi  delatorl,  che  io 
mi  dimostrava  troppo  credulo."  [His  holiness  said  that  I 
was  not  in  possession  of  sufficient  information  respecting 
the  affairs  of  religion,  that  I  was  deceived  by  false  accu- 
sers, that  I  manifested  too  much  credulity.]  The  follow- 
ing was  also  included  in  the  list  of  causes  rendering  a  con- 
gregation necessary :  "  Perche  molti  soggetti  di  valore,  che 
per  non  esser  conosciuti  piu  che  tanto  da'  generali,  non 
hanno  mai  parte  alcuna  nel  governo,  venendo  a  Koma  in 
occasione  delle  congrcgationi  sarebbero  meglio  conosciuti 
e  per  consoquenza  verrobbero  piu  facilmente  in  parte  del 
medesimo  governo,  senza  che  questo  fosse  quasi  sempre 
ristretto  a  pochi."  [Because  many  able  men,  being  but 
slightly  known  to  the  generals,  never  have  any  share  in 
the  government  of  the  order,  btU  on  coming  to  Kome  to 
attend  the  congregations,  they  would  be  belter  known,  and 
consequently  could  more  e.asily  acquire  a  share  in  the  said 
government,  so  that  it  should  no  longer  be  almost  invari- 
ably confined  to  a  few.] 


A.  .D  1692-4.1 


COMMOTIONS  AMONG  THE  JESUITS. 


247 


His  demands  were  two,  the  abandonment  of 
certain  papal  privileges,  for  instance,  those  of 
reading  forbidden  books,  and  of  absolving  from 
the  crime  of  heresy,  and  a  law,  by  virtue  of 
which  every  novice  on  entering  the  order 
should  surrender  any  majorate  he  might  pos- 
sess, and  even  all  his  benerices.  These  were 
points  on  which  the  society  clashed  with  the 
inquisition  and  the  government.  After  some 
deliberation  tliese  demands  were  conceded, 
chieHy  through  Aquaviva's  own  influence. 

But  those  points  which  the  king  had  merely 
recommended  for  consideration,  were  far  more 
important.  Foremost  among  them  were  the 
questions,  whether  tlie  authority  of  superiors 
ought  not  to  be  limited  to  a  definite  period, 
and  whether  a  renewal  of  tlie  general  congre- 
gation after  a  fixed  interval  should  not  be  ap-  j 
pointed.  The  essence  of  the  institution,  the 
right  of  absolute  command,  was  thus  brought! 
in  question.  On  this  subject  Aquaviva  did  not 
show  himself  equally  compliant.  After  ani- 1 
mated  debates,  the  congregation  rejected  these 
suggestions  of  the  king.  But  the  pope  too 
was  persuaded  of  their  necessity.  The  pope 
now  commanded  what  had  been  refused  to  the 
king;  in  his  apostolic  plenitude  of  power,  he 
determined  that  the  superiors  and  rectors  of 
the  order  should  be  changed  every  three  years, 
and  that  every  si.x  years  the  general  congre- 
gation should  be  assembled.* 

It  is  true,  however,  tliat  the  execution  of 
these  ordinances  did  not  eli'cct  so  much  as  was 
expected  of  them.  The  congregations  could 
be  gained  over  :  the  rectors  were  changed  i 
indeed,  but  within  a  narrow  range,  and  the  i 
same  men  soon  returned.  But  at  all  events  [ 
it  was  a  serious  blow  to  the  society,  that  it  had 
l)een  brought  by  insurrection  within,  and  by  i 
interference  from  without,  to  make  a  change  ' 
in  its  laws.  | 

And  already  another  storm  broke  out  in  the 
same  region. 

The  Jesuits  had  at  first  adhered  to  the 
docrinal  system  of  the  Thomists,  generally 
prevalent  m  the  schools  ofthatciay.  Ignatius 
had  expressly  enjoined  upon  his  disciples  the 
doctrines  of  the  Doctor  Angelicus. 

But  they  very  soon  began  to  think  that  this 
doctrine  helped  but  little  in  their  debates  with 
the  protestants.  They  wished  to  be  indepen- 
dent in  doctrine  as  well  as  in  life.  It  was  not 
to  their  mind  to  follow  in  the  track  of  the 
Dominicans,  to  whom  St.  Thomas  had  be- 
longed, and  who  were  regarded  as  tlie  natural 
expounders  of  his  opinions.  After  they  had 
already  given  many  tokens  of  this  feeling,  so 
that  at  times  mention  was  made  in  the  incjui- 
sition  of  the  somewhat  free  turn  of  thought  of 


the  Jesuit  fathers,*  Aquaviva  in  the  year  1.584, 
openly  advanced  these  sentiments  in  his  Rule 
of  Studies.  He  declares  his  opinion  that  St. 
Thomas  was  indeed  tlie  autlior  most  worthy 
of  approbation,  but  that  it  would  be  an  intol- 
erable yoke  to  be  bound  to  follow  his  footsteps 
in  all  things,  and  to  entertain  absolutely  no 
free  opinions;  tiiat  many  old  doctrines  had 
been  better  established  by  recent  theologians, 
many  new  ones  brought  forward  by  them  of 
admirable  service  in  combating  the  heretics, 
and  that  in  all  these  it  was  allowable  to  follow 
these  doctors. 

This  was  enough  tocccasion  a  powerful  ex- 
citement in  Spain,  where  the  theological  cliairs 
were  for  the  most  part  occupied  by  Domini- 
cans. The  Rule  of  Studies  was  pronounced 
to  be  the  most  audacious,  presumptuous,  dan- 
gerous book  of  its  kind :  both  the  king  and 
tiie  pope  were  assailed  with  remonstrances 
on  the  subject.f 

But  how  much  greater  must  have  been  the 
commotion  when  the  Thomist  system  was  de- 
parted from  in  one  of  the  most  important  doc- 
trinal works  of  the  Jesuits. 

Throughout  the  whole  range  of  theology, 
catholic  as  well  as  protestant,  the  question  re- 
specting grace  and  merits,  free  will  and  pre- 
destmation,  were  still  the  most  important  and 
the  most  exciting :  they  still  occupied  the 
minds,  the  erudition,  and  the  speculative  pow- 
ers of  clergy  and  laity.  On  the  protestant 
side,  the  majority  were  at  this  period  in  favour 
of  Calvin's  rigid  doctrine  of  God's  special  de- 
crees, according  to  which,  "some  were  fore- 
doomed to  everlasting  blessedness,  and  others 
to  damnation :"  the  Lutherans  with  their 
milder  notions  were  at  disadvantage,  and  sus- 
tained losses  in  sundry  quarters.  An  opposite 
course  of  opinion  took  place  on  the  catholic 
side.  Whenever  any  leaning  towards  the 
notions  of  even  the  mildest  protestant,  or  even 
a  more  rigid  construction  of  St.  Augustine's 
expositions,  showed  itself  (as  in  the  case 
of  Bajus  in  Lou  vain,)  it  was  combated  and  put 
down.  The  Jesuits  evinced  especial  zeal  in 
this  matter.  'J'hey  defended  against  every 
bias  towards  the  abjured  and  abandoned  sys- 
tem, that  body  of  doctrine  which  had  been  set 
up  in  the  council  of  Trent,  and  which  more- 
over had  been  established  in  part  through  the 
influence  of  their  brethren  Laiiiezand  Salme- 
ron.  And  even  this  system  was  not  always 
enough  to  content  their  polemical  zeal.  In 
the  year  1588,  Luis  Molina  of  Evora  produced 
a  book,  in  which  he  handled  those  disputed 


*  Juvencius  jives  in  hia  first  book,  which  he  calls  his 
eleventh,  ".Socielas  ilomesticis  moiihus  agitulii,''  detuiled 
information  oa  this  head,  on  which  the  account  in  the  text 
J3  founded. 


*  Lainez  himself  was  regarded  with  suspicion  by  the 
Spanish  in(|uisitioa.    Llorentc,  iii.  83. 

t  Pegna  in  Serry  :  Historia  congregationum  de  auxiliis 
divinae  gralite,  p.  8.  "  Ydado  a  censurar,  fue  dicho  por 
aquellos  censores  (Mariana  and  Serry  speak  of  the  in- 
quisition) que  aquel  libro  era  el  mas  pel igroso,  temerario 
y  arrogaute  (iud  jamas  havia  salido  in  spmejante  materia, 
y  quesi  se  metia  en  pralica  lo  que  conienia,  causaria  in- 
finitos  dauos  y  alborolos  en  la  republica  Christiana." 


248 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL.         [a.  d.  1594-6. 


points  anew,  and  sought  to  explain  the  diffi- 
culties still  affecting  them  in  a  novel  manner.* 
His  principal  design  in  this  book,  was  to  vin- 
dicate for  man's  free  will  a  still  wider  sphere 
of  action  than  was  admitted  by  the  doctrines 
of  St.  Thomas  or  of  Trent.  At  Trent  the  work 
of  salvation  had  been  declared  to  be  based 
chiefly  on  the  inherent  righteousness  of  Christ, 
which  being  infused  into  us,  excites  love,  leads 
to  all  virtues  and  good  works,  and  finally  pro- 
duces justification.  Molina  goes  an  important 
step  further.  He  maintains  that  free  will  can, 
without  the  help  of  grace,  produce  morally 
good  works ;  that  it  can  resist  temptation,  that 
it  can  elevate  itself  to  various  acts  of  hope, 
faith,  charity,  and  repentance.f  When  a  man 
has  advanced  thus  far,  then,  as  he  asserts, 
God,  for  the  sake  of  Christ's  merits  accords 
him  grace,|  whereby  he  experiences  the  su- 
pernatural operations  of  sanctification  ;  but 
even  in  the  reception  of  this  grace,  and  with 
regard  to  its  growth,  free  will  continue  as  be- 
fore incessantly  active.  Every  thing  in  fact 
depends  on  it :  it  rests  with  ourselves  to  make 
God's  grace  effectual  or  the  reverse.  Justifi- 
cation rests  upon  the  union  of  the  will  and  of 
grace,  they  are  bound  together  like  two  men 
rowing  in  the  same  boat.  It  is  manifest  that 
Molina  could  not  admit  the  notion  of  predesti- 
nation, as  entertained  by  Augustine  or  Thomas 
Aquinas.  He  considers  it  too  stern  and  cruel. 
He  will  own  no  other  predestination  than  such 
an  one  as  is  properly  foreknowledge.  God 
from  his  omniscient  insight  into  the  nature  of 
each  man's  will,  knows  beforehand  what  each 
will  do  in  any  contingency,  even  though  it  be 
in  his  power  to  do  the  contrary.  But  a  thing 
does  not  occur  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  God 
forsees  it ;  but  God  forsees  it  because  it  will 
occur. 

This  was  a  doctrine  assuredly  most  directly 
opposed  to  that  of  Calvin  ;  it  was  at  the  same 
time  the  first  that  undertook  to  rationalize  this 
mystery,  if  we  may  so  speak.  It  is  intelligible, 
acute,  and  superficial,  and  therefore  it  could 
not  fail  of  certain  success.  It  may  be  com- 
pared with  the  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of 


*  Liberi  arbilrii  cum  gratiae  donos  concordia.  In  these 
controversies  it  was  always  held  necessary  carefully  to 
distinguish  between  the  editions  of  Lisbon  155S,  of  Ant- 
werp 1595,  and  of  Venice,  as  they  all  vary. 

■f  The  "  concursus  generalis  Dei"  [the  general  co-ope- 
ration of  God]  is  always  presupposed ;  but  by  that  is 
meant  no  more  than  the  natural  condition  of  free  will, 
which  certainly  is  not  what  it  is  without  God.  "  Deus 
semper  praesto  est  per  concursum  generaleni  libero  arbi- 
trio,  ut  naturaliter  velitaut  nolitprout  placuerit."  Pretty 
nearly  in  the  same  way  Bellarmine  identifies  natural  and 
divine  law,  because  God  is  the  author  of  nature. 

t  This  grace  he  also  explains  very  naturally  :  Disput. 
54.  "  Dum  homo  expend  it  res  credendas  .  .  .  pernotitias 
concionaloris  aul  aliunde  comparalas,  influit  Deus  in  eas- 
dem  notitias  inlluxu  quodam  i)articulari  quo  cognitionem 
illara  adjuvat."  [Whilst  a  man  weighs  matters  of  belief 
.  .  .  collected  from  the  discourses  of  the  preacher,  or 
from  other  sources,  God's  influence  enters  in  some  special 
manner  into  those  means  of  information,  whereby  the 
perception  in  question  is  assisted.] 


the  people,  which  the  Jesuits  produced  about 
the  same  period.* 

It  could  not  be,  however,  but  that  by  such 
doctrines  they  should  excite  opposition  in  their 
own  church,  if  it  were  only  because  they  de- 
parted from  the  Doctor  Angelicus,  whose 
"  Summa  Theologige"  still  constituted  the 
most  esteemed  manual  of  catholic  theologians. 
Some  members  even  of  the  order,  such  as 
Henriquez  and  Mariana,  openly  censured 
them.  But  the  zeal  of  the  Dominicans  in 
defence  of  their  patriarch  was  far  more 
energetic.  They  wrote  and  preached  against 
Molina,  and  attacked  him  in  his  preelections. 
At  last  a  disputation  was  agreed  to  be  held 
between  the  two  parties  in  Valladolid  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1-594.  The  Dominicans,  who 
thought  themselves  the  peculiar  possessors  of 
orthodoxy,  were  violent,  "Are  then,"  ex- 
claimed a  Jesuit,  "  the  keys  of  wisdom  in 
your  hands'?"  The  Dominicans  cried  out 
at  this,  considering  it  as  an  attack  on  St. 
Thomas  himself. 

Thenceforth  the  two  orders  became  com- 
pletely estranged  from  each  other.  The 
Dominicans  would  have  nothing  more  to  do  with 
the  Jesuits.  Of  the  latter,  if  not  all,  at  least 
by  far  the  greater  number  sided  with  Molina. 
Among  these  were  Aquaviva  himself  and  his 
assistants. 

But  here  too  the  inquisition  interfered.  The 
grand  inquisitor,  that  same  Geronimo  Man- 
rique  who  had  been  designed  for  visiter  of  the 
order,  seemed  disposed  to  condemn  Molina; 
he  gave  him  to  understand  that  his  book  would 
perhaps  not  escape  with  a  single  sentence  of 
reprobation,  but  be  condemned  to  the  flames. 
He  refused  to  receive  Molina's  counter-com- 
plaints against  the  Dominicans. 

This  quarrel  set  the  whole  catholic  world 
in  agitation,  boih  on  account  of  the  doctrines 
and  of  their  champions,  and  the  hostility  to 
the  Jesuit  institution,  which  had  begun  in 
Spain,  became  greatly  strengthened  in  conse- 
quence. 


*  This  tendency  towards  rationalism  had  also  exhibited 
itself  elsewhere,  as  e.  g.  in  the  propositions  of  the  Jesuits 
Less  and  Hamel  in  1585,  at  Lnuvain:  Proposiliones  in 
Lsssio  et  Hamelio  a  iheologis  Lovaniensibus  notate:  "  ut 
quid  sit  scrplura  sacra,  non  est  necessarium  singula  ejus 
verba  inspiralaesse  a  Spiriiu  Sancto."  [That  to  the  con- 
stitution of  holy  scripture,  it  is  not  necessary  that  every 
word  of  it  should  have  been  inspired  by  the  Holy  Si)iril.J 
From  the  words  of  Scripture  they  immediately  proceed  to 
its  truths  :  "  non  est  necessarium  ut  singulEe  veritates  el 
sententia;  sint  immediate  a  Spiriiu  Sancto  ipsi  scriptori 
inspiratas."  [It  is  not  necessary  that  each  several  truth 
and  doctrine  should  be  immediately  communicated  to  the 
writer  himself  by  the  Holy  Spirit.]  These  maxims  in- 
volve at  least  in  parttheessenceof  Molina's  propositions; 
attention  is  also  drawn  in  them  to  their  total  disagreement 
with  those  of  the  protpstants:  "  Haec  sentenlia  .  .  .  quam 
longissime  a  sententia  Liitheri  et  Calvini  et  reliquorum 
haereticorum  hujus  temporis  recedit,  a  quorum  sententia 
et  argumentig  diihcile  est  alteram  sententiam  (the  Augus- 
tine and  Thomist)  vindicare."  [How  widely  this  doc- 
trine departs  from  that  of  Luther  and  Calvin  and  the  other 
heretics  of  the  day,  from  whose  doctrine  and  arguments  it 
is  hard  to  clear  the  other  doctrines.] 


A.  D.  1596-1603.] 


COMMOTIONS  AMONG  THE  JESUITS. 


249 


And  now  occurred  the  singular  anomaly, 
that  whilst  the  Jesuits  were  expelled  fi-om 
France  on  account  of  their  leaning  towards 
Spain,  they  were  by  the  latter  country  sub- 
jected to  the  most  formidable  attacks.  Po- 
litical and  doctrinal  considerations  co-operated 
towards  this  result  in  both  countries.  The 
political  motive  was  at  bottom  the  same  in 
both,  a  national  opposition  to  the  privileges 
and  immunities  of  the  order.  In  France  it 
was  more  fierce  and  impetuous,  but  in  Spain 
it  was  more  definite  and  better  founded.  With 
regard  to  doctrine,  it  was  the  new  opinions 
that  drew  down  hatred  and  persecution  on  the 
Jesuits.  Their  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of 
the  people,  and  of  the  lawfulness  of  regicide, 
were  ruinous  to  them  in  France ;  so  were  in 
Spain  their  opinions  respecting  free  will. 

This  was  a  moment  in  the  history  of  the 
order,  of  great  importance  in  determining  its 
future  bent. 

Aquaviva  sought  aid  against  the  assaults  of 
the  national  authorities,  the  parliament,  and 
the  inquisition,  in  the  head  of  the  church,  the 
pope. 

He  seized  the  favourable  moment  when  the 
grand  inquisitor  was  dead,  and  his  place  had 
not  yet  been  filled  up,  to  determine  the  pope 
on  evoking  to  Rome  the  decision  of  the  dis- 
puted questions  of  faith.  Much  were  gained 
if  the  decision  could  only  be  procrastinated 
for  a  brief  space,  since  a  variety  of  influences 
were  to  be  found  in  Rome  which  might  be  turn- 
ed to  account  at  a  critical  moment.  The  acts  re- 
lating to  tlie  proceedings  were  sent  to  Rome 
on  the  9th  of  Oct.  1596,  and  the  most  learned 
divines  on  both  sides,  arrived  to  fight  their 
battle  out,  under  the  eyes  of  the  pope.* 

In  French  matters,  Clement  took  part  un- 
reservedly with  the  Jesuits.  He  thought  it 
unjustifiable  to  banish  a  whole  order  on  ac- 
count of  a  single  member  who  might  have  de- 
served punishment,  and  that  order  the  very 
one  that  had  contributed  the  most  to  the  res- 
toration of  Catholicism,  and  that  was  so  strong 
a  prop  to  the  church.  Was  it  not  the  case 
in  fact,  that  the  order  suffered  for  its  devotion 
to  the  papal  see,  and  for  the  earnestness  with 
which  it  advocated  the  claims  of  that  see  to 
supreme  power  on  earth  ?  It  was  of  the  last 
importance  to  the  pope  to  put  an  end  com- 

*  Pegna:  "  Roiae  Romanae  decanus,  istarum  rerum  tes- 
tis loiuplelissiiiius ;"  as  Serry  calls  him  [Dean  of  the 
Roman  Rota,  whose  observation  and  knowU'dpe  in  these 
matters  was  most  abundant]  "  Cerniendo  (Molina)  lo  que 
verisimilmente  podia  sureder  de  que  su  libro  fuesse  pro- 
hibido  y  quemado,  por(]iie  assi  se  lo  avia  asomado  el  in- 
quisitor general,  luego  lo  aviso  a  Roma,  donde  per  obra  y 
negociacion  de  su  general  su  Santidad  avoco  a  se  esta 
causa,  ordinando  a  la  inquisicion  seneral  que  no  la  con- 
cluyesse  ni  diesse  sentenlia."  [Molina  foreseeing  what 
would  very  probably  be  the  consequence  if  his  book  was 
condemned  and  burned,  of  which  intention  the  inquisitor- 
general  had  given  evidence,  immediately  notitied  it  to 
Rome,  when,  through  the  interposition  of  the  general  of 
the  Jesuits,  his  Holiness  evoked  the  cause  before  himself, 
and  commanded  the  inquisition  not  to  conclude  the  mat- 
ter nor  pronounce  sentence.] 

32 


pletely  to  the  opposition  still  subsisting  against 
him  in  France.  The  closer  became  his  con- 
nection with  Henry  IV.,  and  the  greater  the 
harmony  between  their  respective  systems  of 
policy,  the  more  effective  did  his  representa- 
tions become :  Henry's  declarations  wore 
continually  a  more  and  more  decided  aspect 
of  concession.* 

The  cautious  and  discreet  conduct  of  the 
order  greatly  aided  the  pope's  efforts  on  their 
behalf. 

The  Jesuits  carefully  abstained  from  dis- 
playing any  irritation  or  aversion  towards  the 
king  of  France,  nor  were  they  inclined  to 
plunge  again  into  danger  for  the  sake  of  the 
hopeless  cause  of  the  Ligue  :  as  soon  as  they 
were  aware  of  the  turn  taken  by  the  papal 
policj^  they  adopted  a  similar  course.  Father 
Commolet,  who  even  after  Henry's  conversion 
had  exclaimed  from  the  pulpit  that  there 
needed  some  Ehud  against  him,  and  who  had 
been  obliged  to  take  flight  on  the  victorious 
issue  of  the  king's  arms,  had  changed  his 
mind  when  he  came  to  Rome,  and  declared 
himself  in  favour  of  absolving  the  king. 
Amongst  all  the  cardinals,  none  certainly 
contributed  so  much  to  the  grant  of  absolu- 
tion, as  did  the  Jesuit  Toledo,f  by  his  spirit  of 
concession,  his  conciliatory  measures,  and  his 
personal  influence  over  the  pope.  The  Jesu- 
its acted  thus,  even  whilst  the  parliament 
was  constantly  passing  fresh  resolutions 
against  them,  resolutions  against  which 
Aquaviva  remonstrated,  without,  however, 
being  betrayed  into  violence  or  intemperate 
zeal.  It  had  been  impossible  to  expel  all  the 
Jesuits ;  those  that  remained  behind  now  de- 
clared for  the  king,  and  exhorted  the  people 
to  be  faithful  to  him  and  to  love  him.  Some 
were  beginning  to  make  their  way  back  to 
the  places  they  had  left;  but  Aquaviva  did 
not  approve  of  this,  and  directed  them  to  wait 
for  the  king's  permission.  Care  was  taken 
that  both  f'acts  should  be  made  known  to  Hen- 
ry, whereat  he  was  highly  delighted,  and 
thanked  the  general  in  special  letters.  Nor 
did  the  Jesuits  neglect  to  confirm  him  to  the 
utmost  of  their  power  in  these  feelings.  Fa- 
ther Rocheomo,  who  was  styled  the  French 
Cicero,  composed  a  popular  apology  for  the 
order,  which  appeared  particularly  convincing 
to  the  king.J 


*  The  Jesuits  would  fain  have  denied  that  their  con- 
cerns had  beco  ne  mixed  up  with  politics  ;  it  appears 
nevertheless  from  BentivoErlio,  Memorie,  ii.  6.  p.  395,  how 
closely  cardinal  Aldobrandini  regarded  their  interests  in 
the  negociations  of  Lyons,  and  the  king  at  the  very  same 
time  made  a  declaration  in  their  favour  (Le  Roi  au  cardi- 
nal Ossat,  26  Jan  v.  1601.) 

+  Du  Perron  a  Villeroy:  Ambassades,  i.  23.  "  Seule- 
mentvous  diray-je  que  Mr-  le  cl-  Tolela  fait  des  miracles 
et  s'est  monstr6  bon  Francois."  [I  will  only  tell  you  that 
cardinal  Tolet  has  done  wonders,  and  has  shown  himself 
a  good  Frenchman.] 

t  Gretser  has  translated  it  into  Latin  for  the  benefit  of 
those  who  do  not  understand  French.  Grelseri  Opera, 
torn.  xi.  p.  280. 


250 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL,    [a.  d.  1596-1603. 


These  combined  efforts  of  the  pope  and  the 
order  were  now  seconded  by  political  consi- 
derations on  the  part  of  Henry  himself.  He 
saw,  as  he  says  in  a  despatch,  that  by  perse- 
cuting- an  order  that  numbered  so  many  mem- 
bers of  talent  and  learning,  that  possessed  so 
much  power  and  such  a  body  of  followers,  he 
would  raise  up  against  himself  implacable 
foes,  and  occasion  conspiracies  among  the  still 
so  numerous  class  of  zealous  catholics.  He 
saw  that  the  Jesuits  could  not  be  expelled 
from  the  places  where  they  still  remained  ; 
had  he  attempted  to  do  so,  he  would  have  had 
reason  to  apprehend  an  outbreak  of  popular 
violence.*  Besides  this,  Henry  had  by  the 
edict  of  Nantes  made  such  large  concessions 
to  the  Huguenots,  that  he  owed  some  fresh 
guarantee  to  Catholicism  ;  murmurs  likewise 
were  already  heard  in  Rome  ;  sometimes  the 
pope  hinted  that  he  feared  he  had  been  be- 
trayed.f  At  last,  however,  the  king  stood 
Iiigh  enough  to  obtain  a  more  commanding 
view  of  the  general  posture  of  things  than  his 
parliament,  and  to  cease  to  entertain  fear  of 
the  Jesuits'  alliance  with  Spain.  Father  Lo- 
renzo Maggio  hastened  in  the  general's  name 
to  Paris,  to  assure  the  king  with  solemn  oaths 
of  the  tidelity  of  the  society.  "  Should  it  turn 
out  otherwise,  let  himself  and  his  brethren  be 
held  the  blackest  of  traitors."J  The  king 
deemed  it  more  expedient  to  make  trial  of 
their  friendship  than  of  their  enmity.  He 
saw  that  he  could  make  use  of  them  to  his 
own  advantage  against  Spain. ^ 

Induced  by  so  many  motives  of  external 
policy  and  internal  necessity,  the  king  de- 
clared himself,  during  the  negociations  of 
Lyons  in  the  year  1600,  ready  to  admit  the 
return  of  the  order.  He  himself  chose  the 
Jesuit  Cotton  for  his  confessor.  After  many 
preliminary  indications  of  favour,  the  edict 
re-establishing  the  Jesuits  in  France,  appear- 
ed in  Sept.  1603.  Some  conditions  were 
imposed  on  them,  of  which  the  most  import- 
ant was,  that  for  the  future  both  the  superiors 
and  the  members  of  the  society  in  France, 
should  be  exclusively  Frenchmen.  ||  Henry 
doubted  not  that  he  had  arranged  everything 
m,a  manner  to  justify  his  entire  confidence. 

He  bestowed  his  favour  on  them  frankly 
and  unreservedly,  and  gave  them  his  support 

♦  Dispaccio  del  Re  de'  13  Agosto  1603  al  re  Jacopo  d' 
Inghilierra,  abridged  in  Siri:  Memorie  reconditi,  i.  p. 
247.  ^ 

+  Ossal  a  Villeroy,  i.  503. 

t  Sully,  liv.  xvii.  p.  307. 

§  "  Ricouobbe  chiaramente  d'esserne  per  ritrarre  servi- 
gio  e  coaienlamenio  in  varie  occorenze  a  pro  proprio  e 
de'  suoi  amici  contra  gli  Spagnoli  slessi."  (Dispaccio, 
Siri.) 

II  Edictum  regium,  Juvencius,  p.  v.  lib.  xii.  n.  59.  Ju- 
vencius  gives  all  that  was  said  in  those  limes  in  favour 
of  tlie  Jesuits:  Ludovicus  Lucius,  Historia  Jesuitica,  Ba- 
silese,  1G27,  lib.  ii.  c.  ii.  all  tlial  was  said  against  them. 
Neither  of  them  acquaints  us  with  the  points  on  which 
the  decision  turned;  they  are,  however,  more  nearly  in- 
dicated by  the  defender  than  by  the  accuser  of  the  order. 


in  their  ovim  affairs,  particularly  in  their  dis- 
putes with  the  Dominicans. 

Clement  VIII.  displayed  a  lively  theologi- 
cal interest  in  this  matter.  There  were  held 
in  his  presence  sixty-five  meetings,  and  thir- 
ty-seven disputations  upon  all  the  points 
which  could  be  brought  in  question  :  he  him- 
self wrote  much  on  the  subject,  and  so  far  as 
we  can  judge,  he  seemed  to  lean  to  the  old 
established  doctrine,  and  to  be  disposed  to  give 
his  award  in  favour  of  the  Dominicans.  Even 
Bellarmine  said,  he  did  not  deny  that  the  pope 
was  inclined  to  declare  himself  against  the 
Jesuits,  but  he  knew  that  the  event  would  not 
be  so.  It  would  have  been  too  hazardous,  at 
a  period  when  the  Jesuits  were  in  all  the 
world  the  foremost  apostles  of  the  faith,  to 
break  with  them  upon  an  article  of  faith ; 
and  in  fact,  they  already  showed  symptoms 
of  a  purpose  to  demand  a  general  council ; 
the  pope  is  said  to  have  cried  out,  "  They 
dare  every  thing — everything!"*  The  French 
too  took  part  with  them  too  decidedly.  Hen- 
ry IV.  was  for  them  ;  whether  it  was  that 
their  expositions  carried  conviction  to  his 
mind,  which  may  certainly  have  been  the 
case,  or  that  he  supported  the  order  that  com- 
bated protestantism  the  better  to  put  his  own 
orthodoxy  beyond  doubt.  Cardinal  du  Per- 
ron took  part  in  the  congregation,  and  upheld 
the  Jesuit  party  with  dexterous  zeal.  He 
told  the  pope  that  even  a  protestant  might 
subscribe  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Dominicans, 
an  assertion  that  was  well  calculated  to  make 
an  impression  on  his  holiness. 

The  contest  between  Spain  and  France 
that  stirred  the  whole  world,  was  also  mixed 
up  with  this  controversy.  The  Dominicans 
were  as  energetically  protected  by  the  Span- 
iards, as  the  Jesuits  by  the  French.f 


*  Contarini  also  asserts  that  they  had  uttered  threats: 
"  Portata  la  disputatione  a  Roma,  ventilata  tra  theologi,  il 
papa  e  la  maggior  parte  de'  consultori  inclinavano  nell' 
opinione  de'  Domenicani.  Ma  Ii  Gesuiti,  vedendosi  in 
pericolo  di  cader  da  quel  crediio  per  il  quale  pretendono 
d'haver  il  primo  luoco  di  dottrina  nella  chiesa  cattolica, 
erano  resoluti  di  mover  ogni  machina  per  non  ricever  il 
colpo."  [The  disputation  being  transferred  to  Rome, 
and  the  matter  discussed  ajnong  theologians,  the  pope  and 
the  majority  of  the  consultors  were  inclined  to  the  opin- 
ion of  the  Dominicans.  But  the  Jesuits  seeing  the  dan- 
ger that  threatened  them,  of  losing  somewhat  of  that  cre- 
dit on  which  they  based  their  pretensions  to  be  the  lead- 
ers of  doctrine  in  the  catholic  church,  were  resolved  to 
use  every  expedient  to  ward  off  the  blow.]  The  doctrine 
which,  according  to  Contarini,  they  threatened  to  put  for- 
ward, was  that  the  pope  was  certainly  infallible,  but  that 
there  was  no  articleol  faith  commanding  to  acknowledge 
this  pope  or  that.  "  La  potenza  di  questi  e  I'autoritil  di 
chi  Ii  proteggeva  era  tanta  che  ogni  cosa  era  dissimulata 
e  si  mostrava  di  non  sentirlo  e  sopra  diffinire  della  con- 
troversia  si  andava  temporeggiando  per  non  tirarsi  carica 
maggiore."  [Their  own  influence  and  the  authority  of 
their  protectors  was  so  great,  that  everything  was  dissem- 
bled and  overlooked,  and  a  temporising  conclusion  was 
put  to  the  controversy,  to  avoid  incurring  graver  inconve- 
niences.] 

t Principal  passage  in  Du  Perron:  Ambassades  et  Ne- 
gociations, lib.  iii.  torn.  ii.  p.  389.  Lettre  du  23  Janv. 
1606:  "Des  Espagnols  font  profession  ouvrrtement  de 
proteger  les  Jacobins  (the  Dominicans)  en  haine,  comme 
je  croy,  de  I'affeciion  que  le  pere  general  des  Jesuits  et 


A.  D.  1592-1605.]        POLITICAL  SITUATION  OF  CLEMENT  VIII. 


251 


Hence  it  ensued  that  Clement  VIII.  actu- 
ally pronounced  no  decision.  To  offend  the 
one  or  the  other  of  such  powerful  orders,  such 
puissant  sovereigns,  would  have  involved  him 
in  new  perplexities. 

Political  situation  of  Clement  VIII. 

On  the  whole  it  was  now  one  of  the  fore- 
most considerations  of  the  papal  see,  not  to 
estrange  from  it  either  of  the  two  great 
powers,  on  which  rested  the  balance  of  the 
catholic  world,  to  allay  their  mutual  animosi- 
ties, or  at  least  to  prevent  their  ever  breaking 
out  into  open  war,  and  to  preserve  its  influ- 
ence over  both. 

The  papacy  here  appears  to  us  in  its  lau- 
dable vocation,  as  a  mediator  and  peace-ma- 
ker. 

The  world  was  indebted  chiefly  to  Clement 
VIII.  for  the  peace  of  Vervins,  concluded  May 
2nd,  1598.  He  seized  the  auspicious  moment 
when  the  kings  of  France  and  Spain  were 
both  constrained  to  think  of  an  accommoda- 
tion, the  former  by  the  shattered  state  of  his 
finances,  the  latter  by  the  increasing  feeble- 
ness of  his  years.  He  devised  the  prelimina- 
ries, and  made  the  first  overtures.  Fra  Bo- 
naventura  Calatagirona,  the  general  of  the 
Franciscans,  whom  by  a  happy  choice  he  had 
sent  to  France  upon  this  matter,  overcame 
the  first  and  most  formidable  difficnlties. 
The  Spaniards  were  in  possession  of  a  multi- 
tude of  places  in  France;  they  were  willing 
to  give  them  all  up  with  the  exception  of 
Calais :  tlie  French  insisted  on  the  surrender 
of  that  town  likewise,  and  it  was  Fra  Calata- 
girona who  prevailed  on  them  to  consent. 
This  preliminary  being  arranged,  the  nego- 
ciations  were  formally  begun  at  Vervins.  A 
legate  and  a  nuncio  presided  ;  the  general  of 
the  Franciscans  continued  to  mediate  with 
the  greatest  skill,  and  his  secretary  Soto  like- 
wise acquitted  himself  with  great  credit. 
The  most  important  result  was  that  the  king 
of  France  resolved  to  detach  himself  from  his 
allies,  England  and  Holland.  This  was  re- 
garded as  an  advantage  to  Catholicism,  since 
it  appeared  the  crowning  act  of  Henry's  se- 
cession from  the  protestant  system.     Henry 


presqu^  tous  ceux  de  son  ordre,  except^  ceux  qui  depen- 
dent des  peres  Mendozze  et  Personuis,  comme  particu- 
lieremenl  Ips  Jesuiies  Ansilois,  onl  inonstr6  de  porter  a 
vostre  Majesty  :  et  semble  que  d'une  dispute  de  religion 
ils  en  veuillenl  fairs  unequerelle  d'estat."  [Tlie  Span- 
iards openly  profess  to  protect  the  Dominicans,  out  of 
rancour,  as  I  think,  against  the  affection  towards  your  ma- 
jesty manifested  by  the  father-general,  and  all  tlie  mem- 
Ders  of  the  order,  except  those  dependent  on  the  fathers 
Blendoza  and  Parsons,  and  especially  the  English  Jesu- 
its ;  and  it  seems  that  they  are  disposed  to  convert  a  reli- 
gious dispute  into  astate  quarrel.]  We  see  from  this  that 
the  Jesuits,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  fraction  of  the 
ijody,  were  now  considered  in  the  interests  of  France.  It 
appears  from  Serry,  p.  440,  that  the  Dominic:ins  were  at 
that  period  excluded  from  the  French  court.  "  Praedica- 
tores  turn  temporis  in  Gallia  minus  accept!  et  a  publicis 
curiae  muneribus  nuper  amoti." 


consented  to  the  measure  after  long  hesita- 
tion, and  thereupon  the  Spaniards  actually 
surrendered  all  their  conquests,  and  the  right 
of  possessorship  reverted  to  the  condition  in 
which  it  had  been  in  the  year  1559.  The 
legate  declared  that  his  holiness  would  be 
more  delighted  at  this  consummation,  than 
he  had  been  by  the  acquisition  of  Ferrara:  of 
far  more  significance  than  that  temporal  con- 
quest, was  a  peace  that  embraced  and  tran- 
quillized all  Christendom.* 

At  this  peace  there  was  left  unsettled  only 
one  point,  namely,  the  dispute  between 
France  and  Savoy.  The  duke  of  Savoy,  as 
we  have  mentioned,  appropriated  Saluzzo  to 
himself,  and  would  not  consent  to  restore  it. 
After  much  negociation  to  no  purpose,  Henry 
IV.  had  recourse  to  arms  against  him.  The 
pope,  who  had  been  expressly  charged  at 
Vervins  with  the  mediation  of  this  affair,  felt 
the  greatest  possible  interest  in  the  restora- 
tion of  peace,  and  urged  it  on  every  occasion 
and  in  every  audience.  As  often  as  the  king 
offered  him  assurances  of  his  attachment,  he 
demanded  this  peace  as  a  proof  of  his  sinceri- 
ty, as  a  favour  which  must  be  granted  to  him- 
self. The  special  difiiculty  of  the  case  con- 
sisted in  this,  that  the  restitution  of  Saluzzo 
appeared  fraught  with  injury  to  the  general 
interests  of  Italy.  The  Italians  were  unwil- 
ling that  the  French  should  possess  any  terri- 
tory in  their  country.  So  far  as  I  can  disco- 
ver, the  minorite  Calatagirona  was  the  first 
to  propose  the  accommodation,  that  Saluzzo 
should  be  left  to  the  duke,  and  that  France 
should  be  indemnified  with  Bresse  and  some 
adjoining  districts  of  Savoy.f  Cardinal  Al- 
dobrandino  deserves  the  credit  of  having  car- 
ried this  proposal  into  effect  at  Lyons  in  the 
year  1600.  The  French,  too,  were  grateful 
to  him,  since  Lyons,  by  the  arrangement,  ac- 
quired a  more  extended  boundary,  such  as  it 
had  long  desired. f 

Under  such  auspicious  circumstances,  pope 
Clement  sometimes  thought  of  giving  to  the 
catholic  world  united  under  him  a  common 
impulse  against  its  ancient  hereditary  foe. 
The  Turkish  war  had  again  broken  out  in 
Hungary.  Even  at  that  time  people  thought 
they  could  detect  symptoms  of  a  constant  de- 
cline of  the  Ottoman  strength :  the  personal 
imbecility  of  the  sultans,  the  influence  of  the 
seraglio,  and  the  incessant  insurrections,  es- 
pecially in  Asia,  seemed  to  promise  the  possi- 
bility of  some  successful  attempt  against 
Turkey.     The  pope,  at  least,  did  not  fail  to 


*  At  the  end  of  the  edition  of  the  "  M6moires  d'  Angou- 
leme,"  Didot,  17.56,  i.  1.31—363,  there  is  given  under  the 
title  "  Autres  Memoires,"  a  circumstantial  account  of  the 
negociations  of  Vervins,  remarkable  for  its  accuracy  and 
impartiality:  the  accounts  in  the  text  are  derived  from 
it,  the  last  p.  .3.37. 

t  Ossat  to  Villeroy,  23lh  March,  1599. 

t  Bentivoglio,  in  the  principal  portion  of  the  2nd  book 
of  his"  Meuiorie,"  (c.  2— c.  G)  gives  these  transactions  in 
\  detail. 


252 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL,    [a.  d.  1592-1605. 


afford  the  project  aid  on  his  part.  Already 
in  the  year  1599  the  sum  he  had  expended  on 
this  war  amounted  to  a  million  and  a  half 
scudi.  Shortly  afterwards  we  find  a  papal 
army  of  12,000  men  on  the  Danube.  But 
how  much  grander  results  might  there  not 
have  been  expected,  if  ever  the  powers  of  the 
west  were  to  unite  on  a  large  scale  for  an 
eastern  expedition,  and  if  Henry  IV.,  in  par- 
ticular, resolved  to  unite  his  forces  to  those 
of  Austria !  The  pope  never  ceased  to  encou- 
rage him  to  this,  and  Henry  actually  wrote 
to  the  Venetians,  immediately  after  the  peace 
of  Vervins,  that  he  hoped  within  a  short  while 
to  take  ship  at  Venice,  like  the  French  of 
former  times,  for  an  expedition  against  Con- 
stantinople. He  repeated  his  promise  on  the 
conclusion  of  the  peace  with  Savoy.*  But 
assuredly  the  execution  of  the  project  required 
that  it  should  be  preceded  by  a  more  thorough 
and  cordial  understanding,  than  could  imme- 
diately take  place  after  such  rude  collisions. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  antagonism  still 
subsisting  between  the  two  leading  powers 
more  than  once  turned  to  the  advantage  of 
the  papal  see  in  its  own  concerns.  Pope  Cle- 
ment himself  had  once  more  occasion  to  turn 
this  strife  to  account  in  the  aflairs  of  the 
ecclesiastical  states. 

Amidst  his  numerous  brilliant  undertakings, 
and  his  great  success  abroad,  Clement  exer- 
cised a  rigorous  and  very  monarchical  authority 
in  his  court  and  government. 

The  new  modifications  Sixtus  V.  had  im- 
posed on  the  college  of  cardinals  seemed  to 
promise  it  for  the  future  a  due  legitimate 
influence  in  public  affairs.  But  forms  are  not 
substance;  the  direct  contrary  was  the  result. 
The  course  of  business,  encumbered  with  all 
the  tedious  technicalities  of  legal  practice, — 
the  immobility  to  which  a  deliberative  assem- 
bly is  condemned,  chiefly  on  account  of  the 
conflicting  opinions  that  are  wont  to  appear 
in  it,  made  it  impossible  for  Clement  to  en- 
trust affairs  of  weight  to  the  congregations. 
At  first  he  used  to  consult  them :  but  even 
then  he  often  departed  from  their  judgments ; 
afterwards  he  made  it  his  practice  to  commu- 
nicate matters  to  them  only  when  on  the 
point  of  being  concluded  :  the  congregations 
served  rather  as  a  means  of  publication  than 
of  counsel ;  lastly,  he  employed  them  only  in 
subordinate  affairs,  or  in  formalities.! 

Undoubtedly  the  new  turn  which  Clement 


*  Lettre  du  roy,  in  the  appendix  to  the  2d  vol.  of  Ossat's 
Letters,  p.  11. 

t  Delfino :  "  Ora  li  cnnsistoij  non  servano  per  altro  che 
per  comunitare  in  essi  la  collMtiondPlle  chiese  e  per  pub- 
licar  le  resolutioni  d'o^'ni  qualitii  fivtte  dal  papa  ;  e  le  con- 
gregation!, da  quella  dill'  inquisitione  in  poi,  che  si  6 
pur  conservala  in  qualche  decoro  e  si  riduce  ogni  setti- 
uiana,  tutte  le  allre,  anche  quelle  che  sono  de'  regolari  e 
de"  vpscovj,  sono  in  sola  apparenza:  perchesebene  resol- 
vono  ad  un  jnodo  il  papa  eseguisce  ad  un  altro,  e  nelle 
cose  piu  iiuporianti,  come  neldar  ajulo  a  principi,  di  spe- 
dir  legati,  dichiarar  cap!." 


gave  to  the  policy  of  the  Roman  court  ren- 
dered this  mode  of  proceeding  necessary  on 
his  part;  but  a  personal  proneness  to  autocra- 
tic power  had  also  its  share  in  determining 
him.  The  country  was  ruled  on  the  same 
style  :  new  taxes  were  imposed  without  advice 
asked  of  any  one,  the  revenues  of  the  com- 
munes were  put  under  special  inspection,  and 
the  barons  subjected  to  the  most  rigorous 
application  of  the  laws, — no  respect  was  any 
longer  paid  to  descent  and  privilege. 

So  long  as  the  pope  conducted  all  business 
in  person,  every  thing  went  on  well.  The 
cardinals  at  least,  although  they  did  not  carry 
all  their  thoughts  on  the  surface,  were  full  of 
admiration  and  submissiveness. 

But  gradually  with  the  pope's  advancing 
years  the  possession  and  the  exercise  of  this 
monarchical  power  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
pope's  nephew,  Pietro  Aldobrandino.  He 
was  the  son  of  that  Pietro  Aldobrandino  who 
had  distinguished  himself  among  the  brothers 
as  a  practical  jurist.  At  first  sight  he  seemed 
to  promise  little.  His  person  was  insignifi- 
cant, he  was  pitted  with  the  small-pox,  suf- 
fered from  asthma,  was  continually  coughing, 
and  in  youth  he  had  even  made  but  little  pro- 
gress in  his  studies.  But  when  his  uncle 
admitted  him  to  public  business,  he  showed  a 
cleverness  and  flexibility  such  as  no  one  ever 
expected  of  him.  Not  only  did  he  contrive 
to  adapt  himself  very  well  to  the  pope's  cha- 
racter, to  become  as  it  were  supplementary  to 
it,  to  soften  its  asperity,  and  to  make  the 
weaknesses,  that  gradually  appeared,  less 
striking  and  injurious;*  but  he  also  gave  such 
satisfaction  to  foreign  ambassadors,  and  so 
won  their  confidence,  that  they  all  wished  to 
see  business  placed  in  his  hands.  Originally 
it  had  been  intended  that  he  should  divide 
the  management  of  public  affairs  with  his 
cousin  Cinthio,  who  likewise  was  not  without 
talent,  particularly  for  literature  ;  but  Pietro 
had  very  soon  shaken  off  his  associate.  In 
the  year  1603  we  find  cardinal  Pietro  all 
powerful  in  the  court.  "All  negociations," 
says  a  report  of  this  year,  "all  grace  and 
favour  depend  on  him ;  prelates,  nobles,  cour- 
tiers, and  ambassadors  throng  his  house.  It 
may  be  said  that  every  thing  enters  his  ear, 
every  thing  depends  on  his  judgment,  all 
projects  issue  from  his  mouth,  all  execution 
lies  in  his  hands."f 


*  Relatione  al  Cl-  Este.  "  Dove  il  papa  inasprisce,  Al" 
dobrandino  mitiga  ;  dove  rompe,  consolida:  dove  comanda 
giustitia,  intercede  per  gratia." 

f  "  Orbis  in  urbe."  Yet  even  Aldobrandino  was  subject 
to  secret  influences.  "Ha  diversi  servitori,"  says  the 
same  narrative,  "ma  quel  che  absorbi  i  favori  di  tutti  6  il 
caV'  Clemente  Sennesio,  mastro  di  camera,  salito  a  quel 
grado  di  privatissiina  fortuna,  e  che  per  ampliar  maggior- 
mente  la  sua  autorita.  ha  fatlo  salire  it  fratello  al  segreta- 
riato  della  consulta,  cosi  possedeiidolra  lor  due  la  somma, 
I'una  della  gratia  del  cardinale,  1' altro  della  provisione 
d'officj  e  delle  maggiori  espeditioni."  [He  has  several 
servants,  but  he  who  absorbs  all  favours  is  the  cavalier 
Clemente  Senuesio,  mastro  di  camera,  who  has  risen  to 


A.  D.  1592-1605.]        POLITICAL  SITUATION  OF  CLEMENT  VIIL 


253 


Such  a  power,  so  unlimited,  so  searching, 
and  at  the  same  time  by  no  means  legitimate, 
in  spite  of  all  the  friends  it  might  own,  ex- 
cited among  others  a  secret,  profound,  and 
general  repugnance;  and  this  burst  forth 
unexpectedly  upon  a  trivial  provocation. 

A  man  who  had  been  arrested  for  debt 
managed  to  break  his  fetters  at  the  right  mo- 
ment, and  to  rush  into  the  Farnese  palace, 
before  which  he  was  just  then  passing  with 
his  captors. 

For  a  long  while  the  popes  had  set  their 
faces  against  the  assumed  right  of  illustrious 
families  to  grant  asylum  to  criminals  in  their 
houses.  Cardinal  Farnese,  though  related  to 
the  pope  by  the  marriage  of  an  Aldobrandini 
into  the  house  of  Farnese,  now  asserted  this 
right  again.  He  had  the  sbirri  forcibly  eject- 
ed as  they  were  proceeding  to  search  the 
palace  for  their  prisoner.  He  replied  to  the 
governor,  who  interfered  in  the  matter,  that 
it  was  not  the  custom  of  his  house  to  surrender 
the  accused ;  he  gave  an  evasive  answer  to 
cardinal  Aldobrandino,  who  wished  to  avoid 
scandal,  and  went  in  person  to  arrange  the 
matter  amicably :  and  he  notified  to  him  that, 
after  the  death  of  the  pope,  which  might 
shortly  be  expected,  a  Farnese  would  be  of 
more  consequence  than  an  Aldobrandino. 

What  encouraged  him  to  such  audacious 
conduct  was,  above  all,  his  connexion  with 
the  Spaniards.  From  the  renunciation  of 
Saluzzo  by  Henry  IV.,  which  was  regarded 
in  Rome  as  rather  mean-spirited,  it  had  been 
concluded  that  the  French  king  would  not 
concern  himself  with  the  affairs  of  Italy. 
Upon  the  strength  of  this  opinion  the  Span- 
iards rose  again  in  consideration ;  and  since 
the  Aldobrandini  manifestly  displayed  so 
strong  a  bias  towards  France,  the  adversaries 
of  that  family  attached  themselves  to  Spain. 
The  Spanish  ambassador  Viglienna  expressed 
his  full  approbation  of  Farnese's  conduct.* 

Backed  by  a  foreign  power,  protected  by  a 
great  family,  what  more  was  wanting  to  the 
discontent  of  the  Roman  nobility  to  make  it 
break  forth  openly)  Cavaliers  and  nobles 
thronged  into  the  Farnese  palace.  Some 
cardinals  openly  sided  with  these;  others 
favoured  them  in  secret.f     Every  one  cried 


that  station  from  great  obscurity,  and  who,  the  more  to 
enhance  his  interest,  has  had  his  brother  raised  to  the 
secretaryship  of  the  consuUa.  Thus  between  them  they 
engross,  the  one  the  cardinal's  favour,  the  other  the  sup- 
ply of  officei  and  of  the  greater  expeditions.] 

*Coniarini:  Historia  Veneta,  torn.  iii.  lib.  xiii.,  MS., 
on  this  subject  the  most  circumstantial  and  trustworthy  of 
all  authors  of  that  day:  "  Viglienna  manda  ordine  a  tutti 
i  baroni  e  cavalieri  Komani'obligati  alia  corona  che  per 
servitio  del  re  fossero  immediate  nella  casa  del  cardinal 
Farnese."  [Viglienna  gave  orders  to  all  the  Roman  ba- 
rons and  cavaliers  who  were  bound  to  the  Spanish  crown, 
to  repair  immediately  on  the  king's  service  to  the  palace 
of  cardinal  Farnese.] 

tConlarini:  "Diedo  grand'  assenso  al  fatto  la  venuta 
de'  cardinali  Sfondralo  e  Santiquatro,  clie  nienie  mirarono 
trattandosi  di  Spagnaal  debitode' cardinali  verso  il  papa: 
ed  a  questi  che  apertamente  si  dichiaravano,  diversi  altrj 


that  the  pope  and  the  church  must  be  freed 
from  the  captivity  in  which  they  were  held 
by  cardinal  Aldobrandino.  When  the  pope 
summoned  troops  to  Rome,  the  Spanish  am- 
bassador advised  the  confederates,  to  whom  he 
even  promised  rewards,  to  invite  on  their 
part  some  armed  bands  which  just  then  made 
their  appearance  on  the  Neapolitan  frontier. 
Things  were  come  to  such  a  pass,  that  a  feud, 
like  those  of  former  centuries,  had  all  but 
broken  out  in  Rome  itself. 

Cardinal  Farnese,  however,  was  resolved 
to  prevent  such  an  extremity.  It  was  enough 
for  him  to  have  shown  his  independence,  his 
power,  the  possibility  of  a  resistance.  He 
resolved  to  withdraw  to  Castro,  his  private 
property.  He  did  this  in  grand  style.  He 
secured  a  gate,  and  had  troops  posted  at  it, 
and  then  letl;  the  city  with  an  escort  of  ten 
carriages  and  300  horsemen ;  and  in  fact,  by 
this  means,  he  accomplished  all  he  desired. 
His  insubordination  was  quite  triumphant. 
A  formal  negociation  was  commenced ;  the 
pope's  party  affected  to  consider  the  affair  as 
chargeable  upon  the  governor,  and  set  about 
effecting  a  reconciliation  between  him  and 
the  house  of  Farnesi.  The  cardinal  then 
returned  with  no  less  pomp  than  he  had  de- 
parted. All  the  streets,  windows,  and  roofs 
were  filled  with  spectators.  Never  had  the 
Farnesi  in  the  time  of  their  sway  been  so 
brilliantly  received,  or  greeted  with  such  loud 
acclamations.* 

If  cardinal  Pietro  Aldobrandino  suffered  all 
this  to  occur,  his  conduct  was  not  to  be  im- 
puted to  mere  weakness  or  forced  compliance. 
The  Farnesi  were,  after  all,  nearly  related  to 
the  papal  family  ;  besides,  it  would  have  been 
to  no  purpose  to  display  iiDplacable  resent- 
ment: the  first  thing  necessary  was  to  remove 
the  origin  of  the  evil,  which  consisted  in  the 
condition  of  political  affairs.  No  change  of 
their  system  was  to  be  obtained  from  the 
Spaniards,  not  even  the  recall  of  so  unbecom- 
ing   an    ambassador.      Aldobrandino's    only 

in  occulto  adherivano,  tra  quail  il  Ci'  Conli.  .  .  .  Ma 
il  popolo,  la  plebe  senza  nome,  sempre  avida  di  cangiar 
stato,  favoriva  al  cardinale,  e  per  le  piazze,  per  le  strade 
a  gran  caterve  applaudivano  al  partito  di  lui."  [Great 
strength  was  gained  by  the  arrival  of  the  cardinals  Sfon- 
drato  and  Santiquatro,  who  in  their  attachment  to  Spain 
paid  no  regard  to  what  was  due  by  cardinals  to  the  pope  ; 
and,  in  adclition  to  these  who  had  declared  themselves 
openly,  there  were  many  who  did  so  in  secret,  such  as 
cardinal  Conti.  .  .  .  But  the  p0])ulace,  the  nameless 
mob,  always  greedy  of  change,  favoured  the  cardinal,  and 
followed  him  in  great  multitudes  through  the  streets  and 
squares,  loudly  applauding.] 

*  Contarini :  "  S'invi6  in  Roma  entrando  in  guisa  tri- 
onfante  con  clamori  popolari  che  andavano  al  cielo,  in- 
contrato  in  forma  di  re  dall'  ambasciator  di  Cesare,  di 
Spagna,  dalli  cardinali  Sfondrato,  Santiquatro,  San  Cesa- 
reo  e  Conli,  d  il  general  Georgio  suo  cognate,  tutta  la 
cavalleria  e  tutte  le  guardie  del  papa,  confluendo  li  cava- 
lieri e  baroni."  [He  entered  Rome  in  triumphant  guise 
amidst  the  shouts  of  the  people,  that  resounded  to  the  sky, 
met  with  royal  honours  by  the  ambassadors  of  the  empe- 
ror and  of  Spain,  by  Cardinals  Sfondrato,  Santiquatro, 
San  Cesareo  and  Conti,  by  general  Georgio,  his  brother- 
in-law,  and  all  the  cavalry  and  guards  of  the  pope,  cava- 
liers and  barons  flocking  round  him.] 


254 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL,    [a.  d.  1592-1605. 


prospect  of  help  lay  in  his  inducing  Henry 
IV.  to  take  a  more  lively  interest  in  the 
affairs  of  Italy. 

It  was  as  refreshing  to  him,  say  his  friends, 
"as  a  soft  cool  wind  on  a  sultry  day,"  when 
in  December,  1604,  three  French  cardinals, 
all  of  them  distinguished  men,  arrived  in 
Rome  together.  It  was  once  more  possible 
to  form  a  French  party  there.  They  were 
welcomed  with  joy.  The  cardinal's  sister, 
Signora  Olimpia,  declared  to  the  new  arrivals 
a  thousand  times,  that  her  house  would  always 
confide  itself,  unconditionally,  to  French  pro- 
tection. Baronius  asserted  that  he  had  learn- 
ed, from  historical  research,  that  to  no  nation 
was  the  Roman  see  so  much  indebted  as  to 
the  French.  Upon  seeing  a  picture  of  the 
king  he  broke  out  into  loud  vivas.  He  sought 
to  acquaint  himself  whether,  since  the  loss  of 
Saluzzo,  no  Alpine  pass  by  any  chance  re- 
mained in  the  hands  of  the  French.  Now 
this  Baronius  was  not  merely  a  historian ;  he 
was  the  pope's  confessor,  and  saw  him  daily. 
The  pope  and  Aidobrandino  were  more  guard- 
ed, and  did  not  go  such  lengths  as  Baronius ; 
but  the  upshot  seemed  the  same  when  the 
nearest  attendants  spoke  out  so  undisguis- 
edly :  they  seemed  but  to  repeat  their  masters' 
sentiments.  As  Henry  IV.  now  resolved  even 
to  grant  pensions,  he  had  soon  a  party  to 
counterpoise  tliat  of  the  Spaniards. 

But  Aldobrandino's  views  went  still  farther. 
He  often  represented  to  the  Venetian  ambas- 
sador and  cardinals  the  necessity  of  setting 
bounds  to  the  presumption  of  the  Spaniards. 
Was  it  to  be  borne,  that  they  should  presume 
to  act  as  masters  in  another's  house  7*  It  was 
hazardous  indeed  for  one  who  had  soon  to  re- 
turn to  private  life,  to  bring  down  on  himself 
the  dislike  of  that  power,  yet  his  honour 
would  not  endure  that  he  should  allow  the 
papacy  to  lose  in  reputation  under  his  uncle's 
sway.  In  fine,  he  proposed  to  the  Venetians 
an  unioH  of  the  Italian  states  against  Spain, 
under  the  auspices  and  protection  of  France. 

He  had  already  entered  into  negociations 
with  the  other  states.  He  loved  not  Tuscany, 
— he  was  constantly  in  dispute  with  iVIodena. 
— Parma  was  implicated  in  the  proceedings 
of  cardinal  Farnese;  but  he  seemed  to  forget 
every  thing  to  be  revenged  on  Spain.  He 
devoted  himself  passionately  to  that  purpose ; 
he  spoke  of  nothing  else, — seemed  to  think  of 
nothing  else.  To  be  nearer  the  states  with 
which  he  wished  to  ally  himself,  he  went  to 
Ancona  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  160.5. 

He  had  not  yet  effected  anything,  when 
his  uncle  died,  and  therewith  perished  his 
authority. 

The  mere  agitation  of  the  design,  however, 
this  assiduous  renovation  of  the  French  in- 
fluence in  Rome  and  Italy,  was  of  itself  of 


*  Du  Perron  au  Roi,  25  Jany.  1605.    (Ambass.  I.,  509.) 


much  importance.     It  indicates  a  tendency  of 
the  entire  policy  of  the  Aldobrandini. 

We  do  not,  I  think,  push  matters  too  far 
when  we  suffer  our  thoughts  to  be  led  by  this 
association  to  the  original  position  of  this 
family  in  Florence.  It  had  always  belonged 
to  the  French  party.  Messer  Salvestro  espe- 
cially participated  in  producing  the  insurrec- 
tion in  the  year  1-527,  by  which  the  Medici 
were  expelled.  For  this  he  had  been  doomed 
to  quit  his  native  place,  when  it  was  again  oc- 
cupied by  his  adversaries,  the  Spaniards  and 
the  Medici.  Could  pope  Clement  forget  this? 
Could  he  love  the  Spaniards  and  the  Medici  1 
He  was  of  a  close  and  reserved  temper ;  it 
was  but  occasionally  he  unfolded  himself  to 
his  confidential  friends :  when  he  did  so,  he 
was  sure  to  utter  the  text,  "  Ask  the  fore- 
fathers, and  they  will  show  thee  thy  way."* 
It  is  certain  that  he  once  had  it  in  contempla- 
tion to  reform,  as  he  expressed  himself,  the 
government  of  Florence.  His  leaning  to 
France  was  manifest :  he  found  the  papacy  in 
the  closest  alliance  with  Spain,  he  led  it  all 
but  to  an  alliance  with  France  against  Spain. 
If  the  restoration  of  a  national  power  in  France 
was  called  for  by  the  interests  of  the  church, 
it  was  likewise  with  him  a  matter  of  inclina- 
tion and  of  personal  gratification.  Still  this 
pope  was  deliberate,  forecasting,  and  wary ; 
he  attempted  nothing  that  he  did  not  go 
through  with.  Instead  of  reforming  Florence, 
he  reformed,  as  a  Venetian  said,  his  own  de- 
sign when  he  saw  that  it  could  not  be  put  in 
execution  without  general  danger.  |  It  was 
never  his  thought  to  invite  the  French  arms 
into  Italy.  It  was  enough  for  him  to  restore 
the  balance  of  power,  to  rid  himself  of  the 
despotism  of  Spain,  to  give  a  wider  basis  to 
the  policy  of  the  church,  and  to  do  all  this  by 
peaceful  means,  gradually,  without  shock  or 
noise,  but  so  much  the  more  securely. 

Election  and  first  proceedings  of  Paul  V. 

The  influence  of  the  French  prevailed  in 
the  very  next  conclave.  Aidobrandino  joined 
them,  and  united  they  were  invincible.  They 
raised  to  the  papal  dignity  a  cardinal  whom 
the  king  of  Spain  had  excepted  against  by 
name,  a  member  of  the  Medici  family,  and  a 
near  relation  of  the  queen  of  France.  The 
letters  in  which  du  Perron  announces  this  un- 
expected success  to  Henry  IV.  are.full  of  ex- 
ultation :  the  event  was  celebrated  with  fes- 


*Delfino:  "La  poca  inclinatione  che  per  natura  e  per 
hereditfi  ha  il  papa  a  Spagnoli."  [The  little  leaning  the 
pope  has  by  nature  and  inheritance  towards  the  Span- 
iards,] 

f  Venier:  "  Venendo  le  preparazioni  e  risolutioni  di 
Vra-  S?i-  et  anco  del  granduca  e  che  la  nostra  republica 
s'era  dichiarata  col  mandar  un  ambasciatore  espresso  per 
questo  negotio  a  S.  Si-,  conosccndo  ella  che  si  sarebbe 
acceso  un  gran  fuoco  in  Italia  e  con  pericolo  di  gravissimo 
incendio  della  chiesa,  in  luogo  di  tenlar  la  riforma  della 
stato  di  Firenze  rifonnC*  i  suoi  pensieri." 


1592-1605.]  ELECTION  AND  FIRST  PROCEEDINGS  OF  PAUL  V. 


255 


tivities  in  France.*  It  was,  however,  but  a  , 
brief  triumpli.  Leo  XL,  as  this  pope  was 
named,  survived  liis  election  only  twenty-six 
days.  It  is  asserted  that  the  thought  of  his 
dignity,  the  sense  of  the  difficulty  of  his  office, 
had  completely  crushed  the  feeble  powers  of 
the  old  man's  life. 

The  tumultuous  scenes  of  an  election  were 
now  renewed  with  so  much  the  more  violence, 
since  Aldobrandino  was  no  longer  on  such 
close  terms  of  friendship  with  the  French. 
Montalto  powerfully  opposed  him.  A  contest 
began,  as  in  former  elections,  between  the 
creatures  of  the  last  and  of  a  former  pope. 
Sometimes  each  of  the  two  rivals,  surrounded 
by  his  adherents,  conducted  the  man  of  his 
choice  into  one  or  other  of  the  chapels  ;  they 
planted  themselves  opposite  to  each  other; 
attempts  were  made  sometimes  with  one, 
sometimes  with  another ;  even  Baronius, 
though  he  struggled  with  might  and  main, 
was  once  forced  away  to  the  Capella  Paolina; 
still,  on  every  occasion,  the  opposition  ap- 
peared stronger  and  stronger,  and  of  not  one 
of  all  the  candidates  proposed  was  it  possible 
to  carry  the  election.  In  the  choice  of  a  pope, 
as  in  other  competitions,  it  gradually  came  to 
be  of  more  moment  who  had  fewest  enemies 
than  who  had  most  merit. 

At  last  Aldebrandino  cast  his  eyes  on  a  man 
amongst  his  uncle's  creatures  who  had  conci- 
liated general  approbation,  and  had  been  suc- 
cessful in  avoiding  formidable  enemies,  Car- 
dinal Borghese.  He  succeeded  in  gaining 
for  him  the  favour  of  the  French,  wlio  had 
already  effected  some  degree  of  reconcilia- 
tion between  Aldobrandino  and  Montalto. 
The  latter,  too,  assented  to  the  choice,  and 
Borghese  was  elected  before  the  Spaniards 
had  even  learned  that  he  was  proposed,!  May 
16,  1605. 

On  this  occasion,  therefore,  as  in  previous 
cases,  the  nephew  of  the  last  pope  deter- 
mined  the   election  of  the  new  one.     The 


*  Histoire  de  la  (vie  de  Messire  Philippe  de  Mornay, 
Seigneur  du  Plessis,  p.  305.  "  Ce  pape  de  la  maison  des 
Medicis,  dit  Leo  XL,  qui  avoit  cousl6  au  roi  300,000  escus 
k  faire,  en  la  faveur  duquel  il  faisoil  grand  fondenient,  et 
pour  I'eleclion  duquel  parun  example  nouveaufurenl  fails 
feux  de  joie  et  lir6  le  canon  en  France,  qui  vescut  peu 
de  jours  el  na  laissa  au  roy  que  le  reproche  par  les  Espag- 
nols  d'une  largesse  si  mal  employee  el  le  doute  de  ren- 
contrer  une  succession,  comme  il  advinl,  plus  Ikvorable  a 
I'Espagnol."  [Thai  pope  of  the  house  of  Medici,  named 
Leo  XL,  whose  eleclion  had  cosl  Ihe  king  300,000  crowns, 
on  whose  favour  he  buill  great  hopes,  and  for  whose  elec- 
tion the  unprecedented  spectacle  of  feux  de  joie  and  dis- 
charges of  cannon  was  exhibited  in  France,  who  lived  but 
a  few  days,  and  left  the  king  nothing  but  the  reproach  cast 
against  liim  by  the  Spaniards  for  such  ill-direcied  profu- 
sion, and  the  apprehension,  which  the  event  fulfilled,  of 
seeing  a  pope  succeed  more  favourably  disposed  towards 
the  Spaniards. 

t  It  is  possible,  however,  that  Montalto  and  Aldobran- 
dino had  come  to  a  ]jrevious  understanding  in  favour  of 
Borghese.  The  Conclave  di  Paolo  V.  p.  370,  says  of  them 
both:  "Dope  d'haver  proposli  molti,  elessero  Borghese 
amico  de  Montalto  e  crealura  confidente  di  Aldobrandi- 
no.'' [After  having  proposed  many  candidates,  they 
elected  Borghese,  the  friend  of  Montallo,  and  the  creature 
and  trusty  friend  of  Aldobrandino.] 


Borghese  family  was  similarly  circumstanced 
as  that  of  the  Aldobrandini.  The  former 
had  emigrated  from  Siena,  as  the  latter  had 
from  Florence,  to  avoid  submitting  to  the  do- 
minion of  the  Medici.  This  was  a  further 
reason  for  supposing  that  the  new  govern- 
ment would  be  a  direct  continuation  of  the 
former. 

Paul  v.,  however,  instantly  displayed  a 
harsh  and  eccentric  character. 

He  had  risen  from  the  station  of  an  advo- 
cate through  all  the  grades  of  ecclesiastical 
dignity  ;*  he  had  been  vice-legate  in  Bologna, 
auditor  di  camera,  pope's  vicar,  and  inquisitor; 
he  had  lived  quietly  buried  among  his  books 
and  papers,  and  had  mixed  in  no  political  af- 
fairs, for  which  reason  he  had  incurred  no 
enmity  ;  no  party  looked  on  him  as  an  adver- 
sary, neither  Aldobrandino  nor  Montalto, 
neither  the  French  nor  the  Spaniards,  and  this 
it  was  that  procured  him  the  tiara. 

He  himself,  however,  interpreted  this  event 
otherwise.  His  advancement  to  the  papacy 
without  any  interference  on  his  own  part, 
without  the  use  of  any  artful  means,  appeared 
to  him  a  direct  interposition  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
He  felt  exalted  thereby  above  himself;  the 
change  in  his  carriage  and  gesture,  his  coun- 
tenance and  the  tone  of  his  speech,  excited 
the  astonishment  even  of  that  court  so  used 
to  metamorphoses  of  every  kind.  But  he  felt 
himself  at  the  same  time  bound  and  pledged 
to  solemn  duties.  He  proposed  to  himself  to 
administer  the  supreme  authority  with  the 
same  inflexibility  with  which  he  dealt  out  the 
letter  of  the  law  in  the  various  offices  he  had 
hitherto  discharged. 

Other  popes  had  been  wont  to  mark  their 
elevation  by  acts  of  grace.  Paul  V.  began 
with  passing  a  sentence  that  even  to  this  day 
excites  horror. 

A  poor  author  named  Piccinardi,  a  Cremo- 
nese  by  birth,  impelled  by  I  know  not  what 
disgust,  had  occupied  himself  in  his  solitude 
in  composing  a  life  of  Clement  VIII.,  in 
which  he  compared  that  pope  with  the  em- 
peror Tiberius,  small  as  was  the  resemblance 
between  those  two  rulers.  Not  only  had  he 
not  printed  his  strange  work,  but  he  had  kept 
it  wholly  to  himself,  and  not  communicated 
it  to  any  one.  A  woman  whom  he  had  for- 
merly had  in  his  house  denounced  him.  Paul 
V.  at  first  expressed  himself  very  calmly  on 
the  subject,  and  seemed  to  care  the  less  about 
it  since  some  powerful  individuals,  and  even 
ambassadors,  interfered  for  the  author.     But 


*  Relatione  di  IV.  ambasciatori  mandali  a  Roma,  15 
Genn.  1605  ra.  V.  i.  e.  1606.  "  II  padre  Camillo  noa 
volendo  piu  habitare  Siena  caduta  aella  liberti,  se  ne 
ando  a  Roma.  Di  buono  spirito,  d'ingegno  aculo,  riusci 
nella  professions  d'avvocalo. — li  papa  von  vuol  esser 
Sanese  ma  Romano."  [Father  Camillo,  not  choosing  to 
reside  any  longer  at  Siena,  which  had  lost  its  liberty, 
departed  for  Rome.  Being  of  a  forward  spirit,  and  of 
subtle  wit,  he  succeeded  in  the  profession  of  an  advocate. 
—The  pope  will  not  be  called  a  Sienese,  but  a  Roman.] 


256 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL,    [a.  d.  1605-1607. 


what  was  the  astonishment  of  all,  when  one 
day  Piccinardi  was  beheaded  on  the  bridge  of 
St.  Angelo.  Whatever  might  be  said  in  his 
excuse,  still  he  had  committed  the  crime  of 
lese-majesty,  for  which  the  law  appointed  the 
punishment  of  decapitation.  Mercy  was  not 
to  be  looked  for  at  the  hands  of  a  pope  like 
Paul ;  even  the  poor  man's  little  all  was  con- 
fiscated.* 

At  court  the  pope  forthwith  renewed  the 
regulations  of  the  council  of  Trent  with  re- 
spect to  residence.  He  declared  it  a  mortal 
sin  for  a  bishop  to  reside  away  from  his  see, 
and  yet  to  enjoy  its  revenues.  He  did  not 
except  even  the  cardinals,  nor  did  he  admit 
the  occupation  of  posts  in  the  administration 
to  be  pleaded  in  excuse.  Accordingly  many 
actually  retired  from  court,  others  only  in- 
treated  for  delay  ;t  others  again,  to  avoid  be- 
ing compelled  to  quit  Rome,  without  at  the 
same  time  incurring  the  charge  of  neglecting 
their  duties,  gave  in  their  resignations. 

But  the  most  serious  thing  was,  that  his 
canonical  studies  had  filled  him  with  a  most 
overweening  conception  of  the  importance  >of 
the  papacy.  He  was  bent  on  upholding,  in 
its  fullest  significancy,  the  doctrine  that  the 
pope  was  the  sole  vicegerent  of  Jesus  Christ, 
that  to  his  good  pleasure  was  committed  the 
power  of  the  keys,  and  that  he  was  to  be  hum- 
bly reverenced  by  all  nations  and  princes.J 
He  said,  that  not  by  men,  but  by  God's  Spirit 
had  he  been  raised  to  that  chair,  with  the  obli- 
gation of  watching  over  the  immunities  of 
the  church  and  the  prerogatives  of  God,  and 
that  he  was  bound  in  conscience  to  lend  all 
his  strength  towards  liberating  the  church 
from  usurpation  and  violence.  He  would 
rather  risk  his  life  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duty,  than  have  to  answer  for  its  neglect 
when  he  should  stand  before  the  throne  of  God. 
With  lawyer-like  keenness  he  identified 
the  pretensions  of  the  church  with  her  rights, 
and  made  it  a  point  of  conscience  to  renew 
them,  and  carry  them  out  in  all  their  strict- 
ness. 

Disputes  with  Venice. 

From  the  time  that  the  papal  power  had 

♦  The  four  ambassadors  relate  this  occurrence.  "  Si 
congettura,"  they  add,  '•  fondamente  che  abbi  ad  esser  il 
ponlifice  severe  e  rigorosissimo  et  inexoribile  in  fallo  di 
giustitia."  [Il  is  conjectured  that  the  pope  must  be  at 
bottom  severe  and  most  rigorous  and  inexorable  in  matter 
of  justice.] 

t  Du  Perron  k  Villeroy,  17  May,  1606.  "  Le  pape  ayant 
fait  entendre  que  sa  volonte  etoit  que  tous  les  cardinaux 
qui  avoient  des  eveschez  y  allassent  ou  bien  les  resignas- 
sent  ou  y  missent  descoadjuteurs  ....  j'ay  pens6  .  .  .  ." 
[The  pope  having  made  linown  that  it  was  liis  will  that 
all  cardinals  who  had  bishoprics  should  go  to  them,  or 
resign  them,  or  place  coadjutors  in  them  ....  I  have 
thought  .  .  .  .] 

t  Relatione  di  IV.  ambasciatori :  "  Conoscendo  il  pon- 
tefice  presente  sua  grandezza  spirituale,  e  quanlo  se  le 
debba  da  tutti  li  popoli  Christiani  attribuir  di  ossequio  e 
di  obedienza,  non  eccettuando  qualsivo^lia  grandissiuao 
principe." 


again  made  good  its  footing  as  an  opponent  of 
protestantism,  and  revived  the  ideas  on  which 
the  hierarchy  is  mainly  founded,  it  had  also 
enforced  all  its  canonical  rights  with  regard 
to  the  internal  affairs  of  catholic  states. 

With  its  victory  over  its  opponents  grew 
likewise  its  authority  over  its  own  adherents. 
After  the  bishops  had  been  bound  to  more 
strict  obedience,  the  monastic  orders  attached 
more  closely  to  the  curia,  and  all  reforms 
completed  with  a  view  to  the  utmost  promo- 
tion of  the  pope's  power,  there  were  establish- 
ed in  every  capital  of  Europe  regular  nuncia- 
tures, combining  with  the  dignity  belonging 
to  embassies  from  an  influential  power,  juris- 
dictional rights  that  afforded  them  an  essen- 
tial control  over  the  most  important  affairs  of 
social  life  and  of  public  policy. 

Even  where  the  church  had  re-established 
herself  in  unison  with  the  state,  where  they 
had  made  common  cause  in  resisting  the  ad- 
vancement of  protestant  opinions,  this  same 
circumstance  very  soon  gave  rise  to  disagree- 
ments. 

In  those  days  as  now  the  Roman  court  was 
particularly  intent  on  upholding*  its  pretensions 
in  Italy :  we  find  the  Italian  states  incessantly 
involved  in  disputes  with  the  ecclesiastical 
power  on  this  account.  The  old  controversies 
between  church  and  state  had  not  been  dis- 
posed of  either  in  general  by  any  decisive 
principle,  nor  severally  by  treaty  and  agree- 
ment. The  popes  themselves  were  not  always 
consistent.  Pius  V.,  and  Gregory  XIII.,  at 
least  in  the  first  half  of  his  reign,  insisted  most 
pertinaciously  on  their  claims :  Sixtus  V.  was 
much  more  indulgent  in  individual  cases. 
The  states  and  their  envoys  sought  to  escape 
out  of  difficult  contingencies  with  as  little  pre- 
judice as  they  could,  and  to  profit  by  favoura- 
ble moments ;  nor  could  they  wholly  fail  of 
success  in  this:  the  interest  of  popes  was 
transient  and  shifting,  those  of  the  states  were 
permanent.  Hence,  in  every  case,  the  ques- 
tions which  arose  for  decision  were  far  less 
concerns  of  the  jus  canonicum  and  of  legal 
inquiry,  than  of  policy,  and  of  reciprocal  de- 
mands and  concessions. 

The  view,  however,  taken  of  his  rights  by 
pope  Paul  V.  was  once  more  wholly  that  of  a 
lawyer.  He  held  the  canonical  regulations 
of  the  decretals  as  laws  of  God.  He  ascribed 
not  to  the  intrinsic  necessity  of  things,  but  to 
the  personal  remissness  of  his  predecessors, 
whatever  concessions  or  connivances  they 
might  have  stooped  to,  and  deemed  himself 
called  to  repair  these  lapses.  We  find  him 
shortly  after  his  accession  involved  in  angry 
disputes  with  all  his  Italian  neighbours  on  tliis 
account. 

In  Naples  the  regent  Ponte,  president  of 
the  royal  council,  had  condemned  to  the  gal- 
leys an  ecclesiastical  notary  who  had  refused 
to  give  the  civil  court  information  respecting 


A.  D.  1605-1607.] 


DISPUTES  WITH  VENICE. 


257 


a  marriage,  and  a  bookseller  who,  in  defiance 
of  a  royal  order,  had  disseminated  a  book  by 
Baronius  against  the  Sicilian  monarchy.  A 
rnonitorium  of  (/lement  VIII.  against  the  re- 
gent's proceedings  had  remained  without  ef- 
fect Pope  Paul  V.  delayed  not  a  moment  to 
pronounce  excommunication.* 

The  duke  of  Savoy  had  disposed  of  some 
benefices,  the  right  of  conferring  which  was 
claimed  by  the  court  of  Rome:  Genoa  had  in- 
terdicted societies  that  were  held  at  the  Jesuit 
colleges,  because  attempts  were  made  in  them 
to  control  the  elections  to  public  offices:  Lucca 
had  wholly  forbidden  in  general  the  execution 
of  the  decrees  of  papal  functionaries  without 
the  previous  assent  of  the  native  magistrates: 
in  Venice  lastly  a  couple  of  clergymen,  who 
were  guilty  of  grave  crimes,  had  been  brought 
before  the  civil  tribunal.  Precisely  the  univer- 
sality of  this  resistance  against  the  authority  of 
the  church  was  what  kindled  the  official  zeal 
and  the  indignation  of  the  pope.  In  every 
quarter  he  interposed  with  stern  commands  and 
threats.  Nay,  at  this  moment  he  even  enlarged 
upon  the  existing  pretensions  of  church  author- 
ity. He  even  made  the  unheard-of  assertion, 
that  it  was  not  for  the  state  to  forbid  the  com- 
merce of  its  subjects  with  protestants,  that 
this  was  an  affair  of  the  church,  and  belonged 
exclusively  to  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction. 

Most  of  the  Italian  states  looked  on  these 
steps  as  extravagances  that,  with  more  expe- 
rience, would  die  away  of  their  own  accord. 
None  wished  to  be  the  first  to  break  witli  the 
pope.  The  grand  duke  of  Tuscany  declared 
he  had  matters  on  hand  that  would  drive  the 
pope  to  frenzy,  but  that  he  endeavoured  to 
keep  them  back ;  that  Paul  V.  was  a  man  who 
judged  of  the  world  from  a  little  town  of  the 
ecclesiastical  states,  where  everything  pro- 
ceeded according  to  the  letter  of  the  law  ;f 
but  there  would  soon  be  a  change  in  this ;  the 
Spaniards  would  be  caught,  and  they  must 
either  be  let  go,  or  they  would  rend  the  net; 
such  an  example  was  to  be  expected.  Some- 
thing like  this  was  the  thought  of  the  others, 
and  they  gave  way  at  first.  Genoa  repealed 
its  edict;  the  duke  of  Savoy  transferred  the 
disputed  benefices  to  a  nephew  of  the  pope  ; 
the  Spaniards  themselves  allowed  that  the 
regent  should  solicit  and  receive  absolution  in 
presence  of  numerous  witnesses. 

The  Venetians  alone,  usually  so  prudent 
and  compliant,  scorned  to  adopt  this  policy. 

But  Venice  in  truth  had  been  more  irritated 
than  the  rest.  The  case  aflbrded  a  striking 
example  how  offensive  the  encroachments  of 
the  Roman  court  could  be,  especially  towards 
a  neisfhbourinij  state. 


*  Lps  ambassades  du  cardinal  du  Perron,  ii.  683.  736. 

+  Rplalione  di  IV.  ainbasciatori :  "II  granduca  ricor- 
dava  che  il  poniefice  non  era  nso  a  governar  come  prin- 
cipe  grandp,  perche  aver  avulo  qualr.hi?  governo  di  cillii 
della  chiesa,  dove  si  procede  col  rigor  eoclesiaslico  e  da 
prete,  non  basla  per  saper  govornare  come  capo  supremo. ' ' 

33 


This  neighbourhood  proved  in  itself  a  very 
inconvenient  circumstance,  especially  since 
the  acquisition  of  Ferrara  by  the  church.  The 
disputes  about  bounrlaries  which  the  republic 
had  had  with  the  dukes  were  prosecuted  far 
more  earnestly  by  the  Roman  court:  Venice 
was  disturbed  in  the  regulation  of  the  Po, 
which  she  was  engaged  in  carrying  into  effect 
at  a  great  cost,  and  in  the  time-honoured  pos- 
session of  her  fisheries ;  she  had  no  alternative 
but  to  protect  her  hydraulic  works  with  armed 
vessels,  and  to  seize  on  papal  subjects  by  way 
of  reprisal  for  the  confiscation  of  some  of  the 
fishing  boats  by  the  legate  of  Ferrara. 

iVIeanwhile  pope  Paul  V.  laid  claim  to  the 
rights  of  sovereignty  which  for  centuries  Ven- 
ice had  exercised  undisturbed  over  Ceneda : 
he  made  an  attempt  to  carry  to  Rome  the 
appeals  from  the  episcopal  court  which  had 
jurisdiction  there.  A  sharp  altercation  ensu- 
ed on  the  subject ;  the  papal  nuncio  proceeded 
to  excommunication,  whilst  the  Venetian  sen- 
ate made  it  its  care  that  this  should  be  attend- 
ed by  no  evil  consequences.* 

Not  less  bitter  were  the  disputes  concerning 
the  tenths  of  the  clergy.  The  Venetians 
maintained  that  they  had  collected  them  in 
former  times  without  question  asked  of  the 
pope ;  they  would  not  admit  that  the  pope's 
sanction  was  requisite  to  the  levying  of  this 
tax.  But  it  was  a  still  sorer  grievance  to 
them  that  the  Romans  day  by  day  increased 
the  number  of  exemptions  therefrom.  The 
cardinals  who  possessed  very  rich  benefices, 
the  knights  of  Malta,  the  convents,  half  the 
mendicant  orders,  besides  all  who  were  en» 
gaged  abroad  in  the  service  of  the  church,  or 
who  were  numbered  under  any  title  in  the 
household  of  the  pope,  lastly  those  too  to  whom 
the  court  had  assigned  pensions  payable  out 
of  the  Venetian  benefices,  were  declared  ex- 
empt. It  followed  that  the  rich  were  not  call- 
ed on  to  pay  anything,  that  the  whole  burden 
fell  on  the  poor  who  could  not  pay.  The  in- 
come of  the  Venetian  clergy  was  computed  at 
eleven  millions  of  ducats  ;  the  net  tenths  did 
not  amount  to  more  than  12,000  ducats.f 

*  Nicole  Contarini  :  "Mentre  si  disputava,  pareva  che 
da  alciino  fusse  fugitalaconversalione  de'  censurati,  (offi- 
cers of  the  republic  who  had  opposed  the  appeals  to  Rome), 
la  qual  cosa  giudicando  il  senate  apportarli  offesa,  primi- 
eraniente  fece  publicare  un  bando  tontro  chi  lo  havessea 
schivo,  e  dopo  a  qiiesti  tulti  in  vita  11  fu  data  annua  pro- 
vjsione  quale  era  corrispondente  alia  loio  furluna." 
[While  the  dispute  was  going  on,  it  appeared  that  some 
sliunned  intercourse  with  the  persons  censured,  which 
thinj,  the  senate  regarding  as  an  offence  to  iiself,  first 
published  an  ordinance  against  any  one  who  should  shun 
those  persons,  and  the  latter  were  subsequently  granted 
annual  allowances  equivalent  to  their  fortunes.] 

f  From  a  statement  given  in  tothe  government  in  Rome. 
"  Mentre  s'esagera  so\na.  la  serveritS  del  magistrate,  non 
si  ritrovava  fin  hora  essersi  conseguiti  piu  di  12in.  ducati, 
per  li  quali  non  si  doveva  far  tanti  richianii,  a  le  fortune 
ilFlla  republica  per  gratia  di  Dio  non  erano  t.ili  che  ne 
dovesse  far  conto  piu  che  tanto."  [Whilst  exaggerated 
representations  were  made  of  the  severity  of  the  magistra- 
cy, it  was  not  found  that  more  than  12(K)1) ducats  had  been 
raised  up  to  the  current  period,  a  sum  which  was  not 
worth  so  many  remonstrances  being  made  about  il,  and 


253 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL,    [a.  d,  1505-07 


To  these  subjects  of  dispute  were  added  an 
immense  multitude  of  others,  affecting  indivi- 
duals more  than  the  state.  I  \yill  cite  but  one 
of  them. 

It  is  well  known  how  flourishing  was  the 
Venetian  press  in  the  beginning  of  the  six- 
teenth century :  the  republic  was  proud  of  this 
honourable  branch  of  trade,  but  the  regulations 
of  the  curia  gradually  wrought  its  downfall. 
There  was  no  end  to  the  prohibition  of  books 
in  Rome,  first  of  those  of  a  protestant  cast, 
then  of  books  reflecting  on  the  morals  of  the 
clergy,  or  the  immunities  of  the  church,  of  all 
that  in  the  least  degree  departed  from  its  dog- 
mas, and  of  the  entire  works  of  an  author  who 
had  once  incurred  censure.  The  book  trade 
could  only  be  carried  on  in  works  of  indispu- 
table orthodoxy  ;  commercially  speaking,  it 
was  a  little  revived  by  the  splendid  decorated 
missals  and  breviaries,  for  which  the  revival 
of  religious  sentiments  provided  a  fair  sale. 
But  now,  even  this  trade  had  declined.  An 
emendation  of  these  books  was  set  on  foot  in 
Rome,  where  it  was  decided  that  they  should 
be  published  in  their  new  form.*  The  Vene- 
tians remarked  with  that  indignation  wliich 
is  always  excited  by  the  perversion  of  public 
authority  to  the  advancement  of  private  inter- 
ests, that  some  functionaries  belonging  to  the 
congregation  of  the  index,  which  had  the 
control  of  matters  relating  to  the  press,  had  a 
share  in  the  pecuniary  profits  of  the  Roman 
printing  offices. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  relations 
between  Rome  and  Venice  assumed  the  cha- 
racter of  utter  hatred  and  vindictiveness. 

How  much  must  this  have  contributed  to 
promote  that  disposition  to  ecclesiastico-poli- 
tical  opposition,  which  already,  in  1589,  had 
proved  so  serviceable  to  Henry  IV.  That 
king's  triumph,  and  the  whole  course  of  Euro- 
pean events,  confirmed  and  advanced  it.  The 
disputes  with  the  pope  himself  conduced  to- 
wards gradually  investing  the  representatives 
of  this  disposition  with  the  conduct  of  public 
affairs.  None  seemed  more  fit  than  they  to 
guard  the  interests  of  the  republic  against  the 
encroachments  of  the  church.  In  January 
1606,  Leonardo  Donate,  the  leader  of  the 
anti-Roman  party,  was  raised  to  the  rank  of 
doge,  and  he  brought  into  power  all  the  friends 
by  whose  aid  he  had  been  successful  in  the 
struggle  of  parties. 

Whilst  a  pope  arose,  who  with  reckless  zeal 
overstrained  the  disputed  pretensions  of  his 

the  fortunes  of  the  republic,  by  God's  gracp,  were  not  such 
that  a  larger  sum  need  have  been  seriously  regarded.] 
Hereupon  some  arransemonts  were  made  with  a  view  to 
meet  the  evil.  But  Conlarini  says:  "In  eftetlo  mont6 
poco,  perciocche  il  foro  era  gii  fatlo  e  I'abuso  tropo  con- 
fermato  che  distornarlo  era  piu  che  nialagevole."  [But 
little  was  actually  effrcted,  because  the  mischief  was  al- 
ready done,  and  the  abuse  was  so  confirmed,  that  to  undo 
il  was  more  than  difBcult.] 

*  Conlarini:  "  Al  presente  s'era  devenulo  in  Roma  in 
quesio  pensiero  di  risiarnpar  messali  et  aliro,  levando  di 
poterlo  far  ad  altri." 


authority,  the  administration  of  Venice  passed 
into  the  hands  of  men,  with  whom  opposition 
to  the  dominion  of  Rome  had  become  a  per- 
sonal feeling,  who  had  risen  by  its  means,  and 
who  now  urged  their  favourite  principle  with 
the  more  energy,  inasmuch  as  it  enabled  them 
at  the  same  time  to  defeat  and  put  down  their 
adversaries  in  the  republic  itself 

It  followed  from  the  nature  of  the  two  pow- 
ers, that  the  collisions  between  them  should 
every  day  become  more  hostile  and  more  ex- 
tensive. 

The  pope  insisted  not  only  on  the  surrender 
of  the  clerical  malefactors,  but  also  demanded 
the  repeal  of  two  laws,  a  short  while  previous- 
ly renewed  in  the  Venetian  senate,  whereby 
the  alienation  of  real  estates  to  the  clergy  was 
forbidden,  and  the  erection  of  new  churches 
was  made  contingent  on  the  sanction  of  the 
civil  magistrate.  He  declared  that  he  would 
not  tolerate  regulations  so  directly  opposed  to 
the  resolutions  of  the  councils,  the  constitu- 
tions of  his  predecessors,  and  all  the  maxims 
of  the  canon  law.  The  Venetians  did  not 
yield  a  hair's  breadth.  They  said  that  such 
were  the  fundamental  laws  of  their  state, 
handed  down  to  them  from  their  forefathers, 
who  had  rendered  such  services  to  Christen- 
dom, and  that  the  republic  could  not  violate 
them. 

The  disputants,  however,  did  not  long  con- 
fine themselves  to  the  immediate  subject  of 
quarrel,  but  both  parties  speedily  proceeded 
to  allege  further  grievances.  The  church, 
on'its  part,  considered  itself  prejudiced  by  the 
constitution  of  Venice  in  general.  The  re- 
public forbade  recourse  to  Rome,  excluded, 
under  the  title  of  papalists,  from  consultations 
on  ecclesiastical  matters,  those  who  by  means 
of  clerical  offices  had  entered  into  connexion 
with  the  Roman  curia,  and  even  burthened 
the  clergy  with  taxes.  The  Venetians  on  the 
other  hand  declared  these  restrictions  far  from 
adequate.  They  required  that  ecclesiastical 
benefices  should  be  bestowed  only  on  natives, 
that  these  alone  should  take  part  in  the  inqui- 
sition, that  every  bull  should  be  submitted  for 
the  sanction  of  the  state,  that  every  ecclesias- 
tical assembly  should  be  presided  over  by  a 
layman,  and  that  all  remittances  of  money  to 
Rome  should  be  forbidden. 

But  matters  did  not  stop  here :  from  the 
immediate  subjects  of  the  dispute,  the  parties 
proceeded  to  general  principles. 

The  .Jesuits  had  long  since  deduced  from 
their  doctrine  of  the  pope's  power,  the  most 
important  consequences  in  favour  of  the  rights 
of  the  church,  and  they  delayed  not  to  repeat 
them. 

The  spirit,  says  Bellarmine,  guides  and 
bridles  the  flesh,  not  vice  versa.  Just  so  the 
temporal  authority  must  not  presume  to  exalt 
itself  above  the  spiritual,  to  guide,  command, 
or  punish  it;  this  would  be  rebellion,  a  hea- 


A.  D.  1606.] 


DISPUTES  WITH  VENICE. 


259 


thenish  tyranny.*  The  priesthood  have  their 
prince,  who  commands  them  not  only  in  spiri- 
tual, but  also  in  temporal  aftairs;  it  is  impos- 
sible that  they  should  acknowledge  a  special 
temporal  superior :  no  man  can  serve  two 
masters.  It  is  for  the  priest  to  judge  the  em- 
peror, not  ihe  emperor  the  priest :  it  would  be 
absurd  were  the  sheep  to  think  of  judging  the 
shepherd.f  Neither  must  the  prince  exact 
any  taxes  from  the  property  of  the  clergy.  He 
may  take  his  tribute  from  the  laity;  from  the 
priesthood  he  will  receive  the  far  greater  aid 
of  prayer  and  sacrifice.  The  clergyman  is 
exempt  from  all  real  and  personal  burthens, 
he  belongs  to  the  family  of  Christ.  Even 
though  this  exemption  be  not  founded  on  the 
express  commands  of  holy  writ,  it  is  yet  found- 
ed on  the  consequences  that  follow  from  thence 
and  on  analogy.  To  the  clergy  of  the  New 
Testament  belongs  exactly  the  same  right 
that  was  formerly  conceded  to  the  Levites 
under  the  old  dispensation.} 

This  was  a  doctrine  which  promised  that 
spiritual  republic,  to  which  was  to  accrue  so 
great  an  influence  over  the  state,  a  no  less 
complete  independence  of  any  reaction  on  the 
part  of  the  latter  ;  one  which  it  was  sought  in 
Rome  to  establish  by  innumerable  proofs  from 
scripture,  from  councils,  and  from  imperial  and 
papal  constitutions,  and  which  was  considered 
on  the  whole  as  irrefutable.  Where  was  the 
man  in  Venice  who  should  venture  to  stand 
before  a  Bellarmine  or  a  Baronius? 

The  Venetians  possessed  in  Paul  Sarpi, 
their  consultor  of  state,  a  man  whom  nature 
and  circumstances  had  moulded  to  such  a 
frame  of  mind,  and  conducted  to  such  a  posi- 
tion, that  he  could  venture  to  take  up  arms 
agamst  the  power  of  the  clergy. 

Paul  Sarpi  was  the  son  of  a  merchant  who 
had  come  from  St.  Veit  to  Venice,  and  of  a 
lady  of  the  Venetian  family  of  Morelli,  which 
enjoyed  the  privileges  of  cittadinanza.  His 
father  was  a  little,  swarthy,  impetuous,  quar- 
relsome man,  who  had  ruined  himself  by 
erroneous  speculations.  His  mother  was  one 
of  those  beautiful  Venetian  blondes  not  unfre- 
quently  to  be  seen ;  her  figure  was  large,  and 
her  character  marked  by  modesty  and  good 

*  Risposta  del  Ci-  Bellarmino  ad  una  lettera  senza  nome 
dell'  auLore  (Pamphlet  of  lliOB.)  "  La  raggione  indrizza 
et  regge  e  comanda  alia  carne  e  talvolia  la  casliga  con 
digiuni  e  vigitie,  ma  la  carne  non  indiizza  ne  regge  ne 
comanda  n6  punisce  la  ragione:  cosi  lapoiesli  spiriiuale 
6  superiore  alia  secolare  e  pero  la  pub  e  deve  drizzare  e 
reggere  e  comandarla  epunirlaquando  si  porta  male  ;  ma 
la  potesti  secolare  non  6  superiore  alia  spiriiuale  n6  la 
pu6  drizzare  n6  reggere  nftgli  puocomandare  n6  punirla, 
se  non  di  fatto  per  ribellione  e  tirannide,  come  hanno  fat- 
10  talvolta  li  principi  geutili  o  heretici." 

t  Bell  irminus,  de  Clericis,  i.  c.  30.  ''  Respondeo  prin- 
cipem  quidem  ove  ii  ac  spiritualem  filium  pontificis  esse, 
sed  sacenloLem  nullo  modo  filium  vel  ovem  principis  dici 
possp,  quoniam  sacerdoles  et  o  nnes  clerici  suuin  habent 
principem  spiritualem,  a  quo  non  in  spiritualibus  solum 
sed  etiam  in  temporalibus  reguntur." 

t  Tliese  maxims  are  to  be  found  verbatim  either  in  the 
above  named  Rispost;i,  or  in  Bellarmine's  book,  De  Cleri- 
cis, panicularly  in  lib.  i.  c.  30. 


sense.  Her  son  resembled  her  in  his  fea- 
tures.* 

A  brother  of  hers,  Ambrosio  Morelli,  was 
then  at  the  head  of  a  school  which  enjoyed 
peculiar  reputation,  and  was  principally  de- 
voted to  the  education  of  the  young  nobility. 
Of  course  the  master's  nephew  was  admitted 
to  share  the  instruction.  Nicolo  Contarini 
and  Andrea  Morosini  were  Paolo's  school- 
fellows, and  were  very  intimate  with  him.  In 
the  very  threshold  of  his  life  he  formed  the 
most  important  connexions. 

Nevertheless,  he  did  not  suffer  himself  to  be 
restrained  either  by  his  mother  or  by  his 
uncle,  or  by  these  connexions,  from  following 
his  inclination  for  solitude,  and  entering  a 
convent  of  Servites  as  early  as  in  his  four- 
teenth or  fifteenth  year. 

He  spoke  little,  and  was  always  serious. 
He  never  ate  meat,  and  till  his  thirtieth  year 
drank  no  wine;  he  abhorred  lewd  discourse  : 
"  Here  comes  the  maiden,"  his  companions 
used  to  say  when  he  appeared,  "  let  us  talk 
of  something  else."  Every  wish,  inclination, 
or  desire  he  was  capable  of,  was  fixed  on  those 
studies  for  which  he  was  endowed  with  re- 
markable aptitude. 

He  possessed  the  inestimable  gift  of  rapid 
and  just  apprehension  ;  for  instance,  he  always 
recognized  again  a  person  he  had  once  seen, 
or  when  he  entered  a  garden,  he  saw  and  re- 
marked every  thing  in  it  at  a  glance  ;  his 
vision,  both  mental  and  bodily,  was  clear  and 
penetrating.!  Hence  he  applied  himself  with 
particular  success  to  natural  sciences.  His 
admirers  ascribe  to  him  the  discovery  of  the 
valves  in  the  blood  vessels,  and  of  the  dilata- 
tion and  contraction  of  the  pupil,|;  the  first 
observation  of  the  dip  of  the  needle,  and  of  a 
great  many  other  magnetic  phenomena,  and  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  he  took  a  lively  share 
both  in  the  way  of  suggestion  and  discovery, 
in  the  labours  of  Aquapendente,  and  still  more 
of  Porta.J     To  his  physical  studies  he  added 

*  Sarpi,  born  August  14,  1552.  His  father's  name  was 
Francesco,  his  mother's  Elizabetta.  Fra  Fulgentio,  Vita 
di  Paolo  Sarpi.  Griselini,  Memorie  di  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi, 
translated  into  German  by  Lebrel,  p.  13. 

t  According  to  Fra  Fulgentio,  he  himself  spoke  of  his 
"gran  passibiliti,  perche  non  solo  I'oggetlo  in  lui  facesse 
moto,  ma  anco  ogni  minima  reliquia."  "Come  perito 
suonatore,"  continues  Fulgentio,  "  ad  un  sol  locco  fa  giu- 
ditio  del  instroinento,  cosi  con  far  parla  le  persone  con 
prestezza  ammirabile  cono  ceva  i  fini,  gl'  inleressi,"  &c. 
[his  great  delicacy  of  perception,  for  not  only  did  present 
objects  impress  him,  but  even  the  least  traces  of  them.  As 
a  man  of  practised  ear,  continues  Fulgentio,  judges  of  an 
instrument  upon  a  single  touch,  so  he,  by  causing  people 
to  speak,  discovered  with  admirable  quickness,  their  pur- 
poses, their  intentions,  &c.] 

t  See  also  Fischer:  Geschichte  der  Physik,  i.  167. 

§  "  A  quo,"  says  Porta  of  him,  "aliqua  didicisse  non 
solum  fateri  non  erubesciinus,  sed  gloriamur,  quum  eo 
docliorem,  subliliorem,  ([uotquol  adhuc  videre  contigerit, 
neminem  cognoverimus  ad  encyclopsediam"  Magiae 
Natur.  lib.  viii.  praef  Grisellini,  I.  §  20.  24.  [Not  only  do 
we  not  blush  to  own  that  we  have  learned  some  things 
from  him,  but  we  are  even  proud  of  it,  never,  among  all 
tliose  it  has  bpen  our  lot  to  meet,  having  known  any  man 
more  learned  or  more  acute  than  he,  in  the  whole  circle 
of  knowledge.] 


260 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL.         [a.  d.  1606. 


mathematical  calculations,  and  the  observation 
of  intellectual  phenomena.  In  the  Servite 
library  in  Venice,  was  kept  a  copy  of  the 
works  of  V^ieta,  in  which  many  errors  of  that 
author  were  corrected  by  the  hand  of  Fra 
Paolo  :  there  was  also  preserved  there,  a  little 
treatise  of  his  on  the  orgin  and  decline  of  opi- 
nions among  men,  which,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  extracts  given  from  it  by  Foscarmi, 
contained  a  theory  of  the  intellectual  powers, 
which  regarded  sensation  and  reflexion  as 
their  foundations,  and  had  much  analogy  to 
the  theory  of  Locke,*  if  it  did  not  quite  so 
strictly  coincide  with  it,  as  some  have  assert- 
ed. Fra  Paolo  wrote  only  as  much  as  was 
necessary  :  he  had  no  natural  promptings  to 
original  composition :  he  read  continually, 
and  appropriated  what  he  read  or  observed : 
his  intellect  was  sober  and  capacious,  metho- 
dical and  bold  ;  he  trod  the  path  of  free 
inquiry. 

With  these  powers  he  now  advanced  to 
questions  of  theology  and  of  ecclesiastical 
law. 

It  has  been  said  that  he  was  in  secret  a  pro- 
testant;  but  his  protestanism  could  hardly 
have  gone  beyond  the  first  simple  propositions 
of  the  Augsburg  confession,  even  if  he  sub- 
scribed to  these :  at  all  events,  Fra  Paolo  read 
mass  daily  all  his  life.  It  is  impossible  to 
specify  the  form  of  religion  to  which  he  in- 
wardly adhered :  it  was  of  a  kind  often  em- 
braced in  those  days,  especially  by  men  who 
devoted  themselves  to  natural  science, — a 
mode  of  opinion  shackled  by  none  of  the  exist- 
ing systems  of  doctrine,  dissentient  and  spe- 
culative, but  neither  accurately  defined  nor 
fully  worked  out. 

1'hus  much,  however,  is  certain,  that  Fra 
Paolo  bore  a  decided  and  implacable  hatred  to 
the  temporal  authority  of  the  pope.  This  was 
perhaps  the  only  passion  he  cherished.  At- 
tempts have  been  made  to  attribute  it  to  the 
refusal  of  a  bishopric  for  which  he  had  been 
proposed  :  and  who  may  deny  the  efl'ect  which 
a  mortifying  rejection,  barring  the  path  of 
natural  ambition,  may  have  even  on  a  manly 
spirit '.'  Nevertheless,  the  true  cause  lay  tar 
deeper.  It  was  a  politico-religious  habit  of 
thought,  bound  up  with  every  other  conviction 
of  iSarpi's  mind,  corroborated  by  study  and  ex- 
perience, and  shared  with  his  friends,  his  con- 
temporaries, the  men  who  once  had  assembled 
at  iMorosim's,  and  who  now  swayed  the  hehn 
of  the  state.  Before  the  keenness  of  his  pene- 

*  The  explanation  of  substance  would  be  a  particularly 
striking  point  of  tomparison.  Paolo  Sarpi,  according  to 
Foscarmi  and  Griselini,  inlers  substance  from  the  multi- 
plicity of  ideas,  resting  on  a  basis  we  cannot  comprehend  ; 
and  in  this  basis,  he  says,  consists  what  we  call  substance. 
Griselini,  i.  p.  46,  Gennati  translation.  Locke,  Human 
Understanding,  book  ii.  ch.  23.  "  Not  imagining  how  the 
simple  ideas  can  suLsist  by  thrmsilves,  we  accustom  our- 
selves to  suppose  some  subsiratuni  wherein  they  dosubsist, 
and  from  which  ihey  do  result,  which  therelore  we  call 
aubatauce." 


trating  observation  vanished  those  chimerical 
arguments,  with  which  the  Jesuits  laboured 
to  prop  up  their  assertions,  and  those  doctrines, 
the  real  foundation  of  which  was,  in  fact,  to 
be  looked  for  only  in  a  devotion  to  the  Roman 
see,  created  by  a  by-gone  condition  of  society. 

It  was  not  without  difficulty  that  Sarpi  first 
convinced  the  minds  of  the  jurists  in  his  own 
country.  Some  held,  with  Bellarmine,  that 
the  exemption  of  the  clergy  was  an  ordinance 
of  Divine  law  :  others  asserted,  that  at  least 
the  pope  had  a  right  to  appoint  it ;  they  ap- 
pealed to  the  resolutions  of  the  councils  in 
which  the  exemption  was  proclaimed.  Now 
what  a  council  might  do  was  surely  much 
more  within  the  competence  of  a  pope.  The 
first  class  of  objectors  were  easily  refuted  ;  to 
the  others,  Fra  Paolo  proved  chiefly  that  the 
councils  on  which  their  arguments  relied,  hav- 
ing been  called  by  the  sovereign,  were  to  be 
regarded  as  assemblies  of  the  empire,  from 
which,  too,  a  multitude  of  other  political  enact- 
ments had  issued.*  This  is  a  point  on  which 
the  doctrines  put  forward  by  Fra  Paolo  and 
his  friends  were  mainly  grounded. 

They  set  out  from  the  principle  which  had 
been  triumphantly  asserted  in  France,  that 
the  sovereign  authority  is  derived  immediately 
from  God,  and  is  subject  to  no  one.  It  is  not 
for  the  pope  even  to  inquire  whether  the  pro- 
ceedings of  a  stale  are  sinful  or  not.  For 
whereto  should  this  tend  ?  Was  there  any 
that  might  not  be  sinful, — at  least,  as  regard- 
ed its  object  ]  The  pope  would  have  to  probe 
every  thing,  to  interfere  in  every  thing  :  the 
temporal  authority  would  by  such  means  be 
annihilated. 

To  this  authority  the  clergyman  is  equally 
subject  as  the  layman.  All  powers,  says  the 
apostle,  are  of  God.  No  one  is  exempt  from 
the  obedience  due  to  the  magistracy,  any  more 
than  from  tlie  obedience  due  to  God.  The 
prince  imposes  the  laws,  he  judges  every  man, 
he  exacts  tribute :  in  all  these  respects  the 
clergy  owe  him  the  same  obedience  as  the 
laity.f 

The  hope  by  all  means  possesses  a  jurisdic- 
tion, but  one  purely  spiritual.  Did  Christ 
exercise  a  temporal  jurisdiction  1  .He  cannot 
have  transferred  either  to  St.  Peter  or  his  fol- 


*  Letter  from  Sarpi  loLeschasser,3rd  Feb.,  1G19,  in  Le- 
brefs  Magazine,  i.  479.  Anobservationlhe  more  import- 
ant lor  those  times,  inasmuch  as  Mariana,  for  instance, 
deduced  the  most  extensive  temporal  preiogatives  for  the 
clergy  from  the  decrees  of  the  Sjianish  councils.  It  may, 
however,  be  constantly  remarked,  that  already  in  those 
times  spiritual  and  temporal  pretensions  were  either  con- 
founded together  or  were  at  variance.  The  old  Gothic 
monarcliv  in  Spain  possessed,  in  reality,  a  very  strong 
infusion  of  spirituality ;  for  old  laws  are  generally  based 
on  old  conditions  of  things. 

t  Kisjiosta  d'  un  doitore  in  iheologia  ad  una  lettera 
scritiagli  sopra  il  breve  delle  censure.  "Sonodunque 
lutli  gli  ecclesiastic!  et  i  secolari  de  jure  divino  soggetti  al 
principesecolari.  Omnibus  anima  potesiatibus  sublimi- 
oribus  subdila  sit.  E  laragionesi  6,  perchesitcome  niuno 
6  eccettuato  dair  ubidienzachedevealprincipe;  perche, 
come  seggionge  I'apostolo,  Omnia  poieslas  a  Deo." 


A.  D,  1606.] 


DISPUTES  WITH  VENICE. 


261 


lowers  what  he  did  not  claim  in  his  own  per- 
son. 

In  no  degree,  therefore,  can  the  exemption 
of  the  clergy  be  traced  to  an  original  Divine 
right:*  it  depends  alone  on  the  consent  of  the 
prince.  The  prince  has  bestowed  possession 
and  jurisdiction  on  the  church  ;  he  is  her  pro- 
tector, her  common  patron  ;  on  him,  of  right, 
depends  the  nomination  of  the  clergy,  and  tiie 
publication  of  bulls. 

The  prince  cannot  surrender  this  power 
even  if  he  would;  it  is  a  trust  committed  to 
him;  he  is  bound  in  conscience  to  transmit  it 
unimpaired  to  his  successor. 

Thus  boldly  did  the  theory  of  the  state  and 
its  claims  array  themselves  against  those  of 
the  church.  The  tendencies  of  conflicting 
powers  manifest  themselves  in  opposite  sys- 
tems. The  intimate  blending  of  spiritual  and 
temporal  interests  in  the  European  slates  af- 
ford a  wide  field  of  action  in  which  both  meet 
and  mingle.  The  church  had  long  claimed 
this  whole  field  as  her  own,  and  now  did  so 
anew.  The  state  on  its  part  had  at  times  as- 
serted similar  pretensions ;  but  never  before, 
perhaps,  had  it  put  them  forward  so  boldly  and 
systematically  as  in  the  doctrines  before  us. 
These  claims  on  either  side  could  never  be 
adjusted  legally :  politically  it  was  possible 
only  by  mutual  concessions ;  so  soon  as  these 
were  withheld  war  was  the  alternative.  Each 
party  was  impelled  to  try  the  utn'.ost  reach  of 
its  strength ;  and  when  the  contest  was  con- 
cernmg  ihe  right  of  obedience,  it  remained  to 
be  shown  broadly  and  palpably  which  of  the 
two  was  able  to  enforce  it. 

On  the  17th  of  April,  1606,  the  pope  pro- 
nounced sentence  of  excommunication  in  the 
stern  tbrm  of  past  ages,  with  express  refer- 
ence to  predecessors  as  omnipotent  as  Inno- 
cent III.,  on  the  doge,  the  senate,  and  the 
whole  body  of  the  Venetian  authorities,  and 
especially  upon  the  consultors.  He  granted 
the  condemned  only  the  shortest  intervals  for 
recantation,  three  of  eight  and  one  of  three 
days.  After  the  lapse  of  these,  all  the  churches 
in  the  Venetian  territory — those  of  the  con- 
vents and  private  chapels  not  excepted — lay 
under  interdict,  divine  service  in  them  was 
forbidden.  The  clergy  of  the  land  were  en- 
joined to  publish  this  damnatory  brief  before 
the  assembled  congregations,  and  to  have  it 
aflixed  to  the  church  doors.f    The  whole  body. 


*  Difesadi  Giovanni  Marsilio  a  favore  della  risposta 
delle  olio  proposilioni,  contra  la  quale  ha  scritlo  I'illn'O'  e 
revmo- S"-  Ci- Btllarmino:  Venezia,  1605.  The  author, 
who  has  expressed  himself  somewhat  obscurely,  explains 
himself  in  the  following  way,  and  the  explanation  is  at 
least  authentic,  as  coming  from  the  same  quarter:  "  Dice 
I'autore  due  cose:  la  prima  si  6  che  le  persone  ecclesiaa- 
tiche  non  siano  esenle  dalla  prolesti  aecolare  ne  meno  i 
beni  di  esse,  inlendendo  in  quelle  cose  alle  quali  la  detta 
polesa.  si  eslende  (i.  e.  not  in  purely  spiritual  matters) :  la 
secondachel'esentioiiech'  hanno  Udelti  ecclfsjasticinon 
6  de  jure  divino,  ma  de  jure  humano."     (p.  62.) 

f  JWentre  in  esse  si  tioveriiadunatamaggior  moltitudine 
di  popolo  per  senlir  li  divini  olScj."    [When  a  consider- 


from  the  patriarch  to  the  parish  priests,  were 
commanded  to  do  this,  under  pain  of  heavy 
punishment,  human  and  divine. 

Such  was  the  attack :  the  defence  was  not 
so  vigorous. 

It  was  proposed,  in  the  college  of  Venice, 
to  make  a  solemn  protestation,  as  had  been 
done  in  times  past;  this,  however,  was  not 
approved  of,  on  the  principle  that  the  pope's 
sentence  was  in  itself  null  and  void,  and  had 
not  even  a  show  of  justice.  In  a  short  pro- 
clamation, contained  in  a  quarto  sheet,  Leon- 
ardo Donato  made  known  to  the  clergy  the 
resolution  of  the  republic  to  uphold  the  sove- 
reign authority,  "  which  in  temporal  things 
acknowledges  no  superior  but  God  ;"  her  faith- 
ful clergy  would  of  themselves  perceive  the 
nullity  of  the  censure  issued  against  them, 
and  would  continue  uninterruptedly  in  the 
discharge  of  their  functions,  in  the  care  of 
souls,  and  the  service  of  God.  No  alarm,  no 
threats  were  uttered :  the  proclamation  was 
simply  a  declaration  of  confidence.  Probably, 
however,  something  more  was  expressed  by 
word  of  mouth.* 

And  now,  out  of  the  question  of  claim  and 
of  right,  arose  immediately  a  question  of  power 
and  of  possession.  Challenged  by  their  two 
chiefs,  the  pope  and  the  republic,  to  tender 
contradictory  proofs  of  obedience,  the  Vene- 
tian clergy  had  to  decide  with  which  of  the 
two  calls  they  would  comply. 

They  did  not  hesitate,  but  clung  to  the  re- 
public. Not  a  single  copy  of  the  papal  brief 
was  posted  up.f  The  delay  allowed  by  the 
pope  expired.  The  clergy  every  where  con- 
ducted public  worship  as  usual.  The  regular 
clergy  acted  like  the  secular. 

The  newly-founded  orders  formed  the  only 
exception:  those  orders  namely  which  more 
particularly  represented  the  principle  of  eccle- 
siastical restoration, — the  Jesuits,  the  Thea- 
tines,  and  the  Capuchins.  The  Jesuits  were 
not  very  well  decided  in  their  own  minds; 
they  consulted  their  provincial  in  Ferrara, 
and  the  general  in  Rome,  and  the  latter  ajv 
plied  to  the  pope ;  the  answer  of  Paul  V.  was, 
they  must  either  observe  the  interdict,  or 
shake  the  dust  from  off  their  feet  and  quit 
Venice.  A  hard  resolve,  assuredly,  since  ihey 
were  flatly  told  there  they  should  never  be 
permitted  to  return.  But  their  principles  al- 
lowed them  no  choice;  they  betook  them- 
selves in  a  few  vessels  to  the  papal  domi- 

able  number  of  persons  shall  have  assembled  there  to 
hear  divine  service]  which  had  been  done  in  Ferrara  with 
such  vast  effect.  Breve  di  censure  el  inlerdetto  della 
Sii.  de  NSre.  P.  Paolo  V.  contio  li  S".  Veneiiaui,  1G06. 

*  This  proclamation  of  the  IJth  of  May,  1606,  is  printed 
by  Rarapazetto,  stampator  ducale.  On  the  title-page  is 
represented  St.  Mark,  with  the  gospel  and  the  drawQ 
sword.  In  the  senate  they  investigated,  as  Priuli  says, 
"  le  nullita  molte  e  notorie"  [the  many  and  notorious 
nullities]  (if  the  papal  brief. 

t  P.  Sarpi,  Hisioria  parlicularp,  lib.  ii.p.  55,  affirms  that 
persons  who  had  attempted  to  post  the  bull  were  arrested 
by  the  inhabitants  themselves. 


262 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL. 


[a.  d.  1607. 


nions.*  Their  example  was  followed  by  the 
other  two  orders.f  A  middle  course,  which 
the  Theatines  had  proposed,  was  rejected,  as 
inexpedient,  by  the  Venetians,  who  were  un- 
willing- to  have  any  division  in  their  land; 
they  required  either  obedience  or  departure. 
The  deserted  churches  were  easily  supplied 
with  other  priests,  and  care  was  taken  that  no 
one  should  detect  any  lack  of  spiritual  aid. 
The  next  Corpus  Christi  day  was  celebrated 
with  special  pomp,  and  an  unusually  nume- 
rous procession.  I 

At  all  events,  here  was  a  complete  rupture. 

The  pope  was  astounded;  the  reality  of 
things  stood  in  rude  contrast  with  his  over- 
strained pretensions ; — were  there  any  means 
of  overcoming  it  1 

Paul  V.  thought  at  times  of  the  employment 
of  armed  force,  and  in  the  congregation,  too, 
warlike  views  once  predominated.  Cardinal 
Sauli  cried  out  that  the  Venetians  should  be 
chastised ;  legates  were  appointed,  and  an 
army  was  equipped.  But  at  bottom  they 
durst  not  venture  on  war.  They  would  have 
had  reason  to  dread  that  Venice  should  call  in 
protestant  aid,  and  cast  Italy, — nay,  the  whole 
catholic  world, — into  the  most  perilous  com- 
motion. 

The  settlement  of  questions  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal right  was  after  all  to  be  attempted,  as  in 
former  instances,  by  political  means :  not  that 
this  could  be  done  by  the  contending  parties, 
the  rupture  between  whom  was  too  violent; 
but  it  devolved  on  the  mediation  of  the  two 
leading  powers,  Spain  and  France.  The  pri- 
vate interests  of  the  mediators  would  of  course 
likewise  play  a  part  in  the  matter. 

There  was  a  party  in  both  kingdoms  that 
would  have  welcomed  the  outbreak  of  hostili- 
ties. Among  the  Spaniards  it  consisted  of  the 
zealous  catholics,  who  hoped  once  more  to  en- 
slave the  Roman  see  to  the  monarchy,  and  the 
governors  of  Italian  districts,  whose  power 
would  be  augmented  by  war:  Viglienna,  the 
ambassador  at  Rome,  also  entertained  this 
wisl),  expecting,  by  means  of  the  event,  to 
promote  his  house  to  ecclesiastical  dignities. 
In  France,  on  the  other  hand,  the  war  party 
was  comprized  of  the  zealous  protestants. 
Sully  and  his  adherents  would  have  gladly 
hailed  an  Italian  war,  were  it  for  no  other 
reason  than  its  causing  a  diversion  in  favour 
of  the  Netherlands,  which  were  then  pressed 
hard  by  Spinoia.  On  both  sides  these  parties 
came  to  open  demonstrations.  The  king  of 
Spain  dispatched  a  letter  to  the  pope,  in  which 
he  promised  him  aid,  at  least  in  general  terms. 
In  France  the  Venetian  ambassador  also  re- 
ceived offers  from  men  of  eminence  ;  it  was 

♦  Juvencius,  Hist.  Soc.  Jpsu,  v.  ii.  p.  93. 

I  The  inr-nlion  made  by  V.  Sanili  (vi.  1110,)  of  "i  rifor- 
mail  di  S.  Fr.incisco,''  an  error  into  which  many  authors 
have  fallen,  as  well  as  he,  arose  out  of  the  fact  that  the 
Capuchins  are  reformed  Franciscans,  and  were  SO  desig- 
nated by  A.  Morisini  on  this  cxasion. 

J  A.  Maurocensis,  Hist.  Ven.  torn.  iii.  p.  350. 


his  belief  that  he  could  bring  together  an  army 
of  1.5,000  Frenchmen  within  a  month.  Tlie.se 
impulses,  however,  did  not  prevail.  The  lead- 
ing ministers,  Lerma  in  Spain,  and  Villeroy 
in  France,  wished  for  tranquillity.  The  for- 
mer rested  his  reputation  above  all  on  the  re- 
storation of  peace  ;  the  latter  belonged  to  the 
strict  catholic  party,  and  would  never  have 
consented  to  an  attack  by  the  French  on  the 
pope.*  The  princes  agreed  with  their  minis- 
ters. Henry  IV.  justly  observed  that,  should 
he  draw  his  sword  for  the  republic,  he  would 
hazard  his  reputation  as  a  good  catholic. 
Philip  III.  sent  a  new  declaration  to  the  pope. 
He  would  willingly  assist  him,  but  not  with- 
out security  for  the  expense  to  be  incurred, 
and  if  he  aided  him  it  should  be  for  good  and 
not  for  evil.f 

Thus  perished  the  possibility  of  war.  Both 
the  great  powers  only  vied  which  should  most 
contribute  towards  peace,  and  thereby  best 
secure  its  own  influence.  To  this  end  Fran- 
cisco de  Castro,  Lerma's  nephew,  was  sent 
from  Spain  to  Venice,  and  cardinal  Joyeuse 
from  France. 

I  have  neither  the  disposition  nor  the  means 
of  detailing  the  whole  course  of  their  negotia- 
tions ;  it  is  enough  if  we  touch  only  on  the 
most  important  pomts. 

The  tirst  difficulty  consisted  in  this,  that 
the  pope  demanded  above  all  things  the  repeal 
of  the  Venetian  laws  that  had  given  him  such 
offence,  and  he  made  the  suspension  of  his 
ecclesiastical  censure  dependent  thereon. 


J 


*  Relatione  di  Pietro  Priuli  rito'-nato  di  Francia,  4  Sett. 
1608,  contains  a  copious  account  of  the  interest  talien  by 
the  French  in  these  proceedings.  Villeroy  declared; 
"  Esser  questa  opponunissima  e  propria  occasione  di  gua- 
dagnare  I'animo  del  papa. — II  re  assicuralo  dal  suo  am- 
basciatore  presso  la  rejjublica  che  V.  Sa.  non  nietteria  in 
mano  d'altri  queslo  negotio  che  della  Mi.  S.  ebbe  miradi 
guadagnare  etobbligarsi  con  questa  occasione  I'animo  del 
pontelice."  [Tliat  this  was  a  most  opportune  and  fitting 
occasion  for  conciliating  the  pope. — The  liing,  assured  by 
his  ambassador  to  tlie  republic,  that  your  Signory  would 
not  put  this  atfair  into  any  other  hands  than  his  majesty's, 
aimed  at  employing  this  opportunity  to  gain  a  hold  upon 
the  pope's  good  will.] 

fl^rancesco  Priuli:  Relatione  di  Spagna,  20  Ag.  1608. 
"  Venne  il  contestabile  a  trovarmi  a  casa,  e  mi  disse  con- 
stantamente  che  gli  ordini  dell'  aramassar  genti  non 
erano  per  altro  se  non  per  non  star  in  olio  menire  lutti 
potenze  del  mondo  si  armavano,  ma  che  pero  non  s'erano 
proveduti  di  danaro:  raccomandij  la  pace  d'ltalia,  non 
potendo  perder  la  republica  nell'  esser  liberate  di  parole 
ossequenti,  per  haver  in  effetloquelloche  desiderava.  .  .  . 
In  quel  tempo  che  il  duca  di  Lerma  delle  forzi  da  amas- 
sarsi  parlo  iperbolicamenle  al  ambasciaior  d'lnghilterra, 
.  .  .  scrissono  al  papa  che  S.  Mi.  gli  aveva  ben  promesso 
d'ajutarlo,  ma  che  cio  s'iniendeva  al  bene  e  non  al  male, 
.  .  .  che  il  cominciar  le  guerre  stava  in  mano  degli  uomini 
et  il  finire  in  quelle  di  Dio."  [The  constable  came  to  my 
house  and  assured  me,  that  the  orders  for  levying  men 
were  given  only  to  avoid  being  idle  while  all  other  powers 
of  the  world  were  arming,  but  that  nevertheless  they  were 
not  provided  with  money :  he  recommended  peace  in 
Italy,  whereby  the  republic  would  obtain  in  reality  what 
it  desired,  while  on  the  other  hand  it  could  not  lose  by 
any  liberality  in  obsequious  words.  ...  At  the  time  that 
the  dulie  of  Lerma  spoke  hyperbolically  to  the  ambassa- 
dor of  England  of  the  forces  in  process  of  collecting,  .  .  . 
they  wrote  to  the  pope  that  his  majesty  had  indeed  pro- 
mispd  to  aid  him,  but  that  thereby  was  meant  for  good  but 
ml  forbad,  .  .  .  that  the  beginning  of  war  was  in  the  hands 
of  men,  its  termination  in  those  of  God.J 


A.  D.  1607.] 


DISPUTES  WITH  VENICE. 


263 


Now  the  Venetians  were  wont,  with  a  cer- 
tain republican  pride,  to  declare  their  laws 
sacred  and  inviolable.  When  the  pope's  de- 
mand came  to  be  discussed  in  January  1007, 
although  the  colleg-e  vacillated,  it  was  at  last 
decidedly  rejected.*  The  French,  who  had 
pledged  their  word  to  the  pope,  succeeded  in 
bringing  the  question  forward  again  in  March, 
upon  which  occasion  one,  at  least,  of  the  four 
opponents  of  the  measure  in  the  college  gave 
way.  After  the  arguments  on  both  sides  had 
been  gone  over  a  second  time,  the  result  on 
this  occasion  was  not  indeed  a  formal  and  ex- 
press repeal  of  the  laws  in  question,  but  a  re- 
solution was  passed  in  which  it  was  said,  that 
"the  republic  would  conduct  itself  with  its 
accustomed  piety."  Obscure  as  was  the  lan- 
guage, the  ambassador  and  the  pope  never- 
theless regarded  it  as  importing  the  fulfilment 
of  their  wisiies.  The  pope  now,  on  his  part, 
suspended  his  censure. 

But  another  very  unexpected  difficulty  now 
presented  itself.  The  Venetians  refused  to 
receive  back  the  Jesuits,  who,  after  their  de- 
parture from  tjie  dominions  of  the  republic, 
had  been  excluded  by  a  solemn  decree. 

But  could  the  pope  suffer  his  faithful  fol- 
lowers, whose  only  fault  was  their  inviolable 
attachment  to  him,  to  be  left  at  such  disadvan- 
tage ! 

He  employed  every  device  to  change  the 
purpose  of  the  Venetians.  The  Jesuits,  too, 
had  the  French  on  their  side  ;  they  had,  by  a 
special  mission,  secured  the  king's  favour  on 
this  emergency,  and  Joyeuse  interested  him- 
self strongly  for  them.  The  Venetians,  how- 
ever, remamed  imtnovable.t 

The  most  striking  thing  was,  that  the  Spa- 

*  Ger.  Priuli:  Cronicca  Venela,  20  Zener.  1600(1607): 
"  Dopo  lunsa  dispula  di  otto  giorni  e  varie  pedentie  di 
^iudicio  dt libfro  il  senaio  rispondere  agli  ainbasciatori  di 
Francia  e  di  Sjiagna,  che  il  devenir  a  (iiialsivoelia  forma 
di  sospensione  nonsi  puiiaccomodarlareiiublica, essendo 
cosa  di  perpMuo  prejudicio:  il  che  fu  proposlo  da  S. 
Bembo  el  Al.  Zorzi  savj  del  coiisilio  el  A.  Mula  ei  S.  Ve- 
nier  savj  della  terra  ferma."  [After  a  lengthened  debate 
of  eight  days,  and  various  fluctuations  of  opinion,  the 
senate  resolved  to  reply  to  the  ambassadors  of  France  and 
Spain  thai  ihe  republic  cannot  consent  to  any  forms  of 
suspension  whatever,  inasmuch  as  the  same  would  be  per- 
manently injurious;  this  was  proposed  by,  &c.]  Otliers 
were  for  amore  moderate  decision.  Norwas  it  improbable 
ihal  they  would  carry  their  point;  but  meanwhile  news 
arrived  that  there  was  nothing  to  be  feared  from  the  Span- 
ish arms  in  consequence  of  the  troubles  in  Naples.  "E 
fu  perciO  preso  la  total  negativa  di  sospensione."  [For 
ihat  reason  the  question  of  suspension  was  absolutely  ne- 
gatived] by  ninety-nine  votes  to  seventy-eight,  thai  is  to 
say  a  majority  of  twenty  one.  On  the  9lh  of  March,  how- 
ever, Bembo  withdrew  his  support  from  hi30wnpro|josal. 
The  more  moderate  decision  was  carried  on  the  14th  of 
March  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  Zorgi,  Mula,  and 
Venier. 

+  Pielro  Priuli:  Relatione  di  Francia, adds  to  this,"  So- 
lamente  Fufficio  dell'ambasciatore  ritenne  la  Jisposilione 
che  avevaS.  Ma.,  eccilala  dall'  efficaci  instanze  che  fur- 
ono  fatte  da  un  padre  Barisoni  Padoano  mandato  in  Fran- 
cia espressamenie  dalla  sua  congregaijone  con  pensiero 
d'oltener  di  interessarsi  acciocch6  fussero  di  nuovo  rice- 
vuti."  [Only  the  embassy  continues  in  the  disposition 
excited  in  his  majesty  by  the  efficacious  appeals  of  father 
Barisoni  of  Padua,  who  was  sent  expressly  to  France  by 
his  congregation,  with  the  intention  that  he  should  take 
such  measures  as  might  lead  to  their  recall.] 


niards  rather  declared  against  the  order  than 
for  it.  The  Dominican  interest  was  predom- 
inant in  Spain  :  Lerma  did  not  like  Jesuits, 
and  held  it  to  be  a  bad  principle  in  general 
that  a  state  should  be  compelled  to  receive 
back  disobedient  subjects.  In  short,  Francis- 
co de  Castro  avoided  at  first  making  mention 
of  the  Jesuits,  and  at  last  directly  opposed  the 
intercession  made  for  them  by  the  French.* 

This  phenomenon,  though  naturally  arising 
out  of  the  position  of  things,  was  yet  so  strik- 
ing that  the  pope  himself  was  startled  by  it, 
and  suspecting  some  deep  mystery  at  the  bot- 
tom of  it,  gave  up  insisting  on  the  restoration 
of  the  Jesuits.f 

But  the  resolution  must  have  cost  him  dear. 
He  had  seemed  determined  to  embroil  the 
world  for  the  sake  of  a  couple  of  insignificant 
laws,  and  now  he  abandoned  his  most  trusty 
adherents  to  perpetual  exile  from  a  catholic, 
an  Italian  territory.J 

On  the  other  hand  the  republic  now  con- 
sented to  deliver  up  the  two  clergymen  she 
had  imprisoned. 

But  even  while  doing  so,  she  claimed  a 
right  to  make  a  protest,  which  the  pope  ab- 
solutely refused  to  hear  of.  The  expedient 
at  last  resolved  on  to  end  the  difficulty  was  a 
very  singular  one. 5  'I'he  secretary  of  the 
Venetian  senate  led  the  prisoners  into  the 
palace  of  the  French  ambassador,  and  deliver- 
ed them  up  to  him  "out  of  consideration,"  he 
he  said,  "  for  the  most  Christian  king,  and 
with  the  proviso  that  the  right  of  the  republic 
to  judge  of  its  own  ecclesiastics  should  not 
thereby  be  impaired  or  diminished."  "  So  I 
receive  them,"  replied  the  ambassador,  and 
led  them  before  the  cardinal,  who  was  walk- 
ing up  and  down  in  the  loggia.  "  These  are 
the  prisoners,"  ho  said,  "  who  are  to  be  de- 
livered up  to  the  pope;"  but  he  made  no  men- 
tion of  the  proviso.  The  cardinal,  tiien,  with- 
out uttering  one  word,  handed  them  over  to 
the  papal  commissioner,  who  received  them 
witli  the  sign  of  the  cross. 

How  far  were  the  several  parties  from  any 
thing  like  a   good  understanding :    all   they 


*  Francesco  Priuli :  Relatione  di  Spagna:  "  Sentendo 
(i  Spagnuoli)  che  Franciosi  insistevanonell' introduzione 
de'  Gesuiii,  scrJsseroaRoma  eta  Veneziache  non  irattas- 
sero  di  cii),  dando  raginne  alia  republica  di  non  volar 
capitolare  con  gente  suddita  che  I'aveva  si  gravemente 
oft'esa." 

f  Francesco  Priuli  :  "  Venuto  I'avviso  dell'  intiero  ac- 
comodamenio,  desisterono  dal  procurare  che  si  trattasse 
di  loro  con  la  S'i.  V.,  non  solo  per  aon  aver  voluioparlar 
di  loro,  ma  per  essersi  attraversati  agli  gagliardi  ufficj  di 
Francesi :  che  fece  dubitare  il  papa  di  qualche  recondito 
mistero,  e  non  vi  volse  insistere  con  che  essi  non  sapeva- 
nochedire." 

t  Ger.  Priuli :  "  Peso  molto  a  S.  S'i.  questa  cosa  de' 
Gesuiti,  non  per  loro,  ma  per  la  sua  propria  riputatione." 
[His  holiness  felt  sorely  this  aft'air  of  the  Jesuits,  not  on 
their  account,  but  for  his  own  reputation.] 

§  Joyeuse  thus  mentions  il  as  a  condition:  "Chelevan- 
dosi  le  censure  siaiio  con.signati  li  due  prigioni  a  chi  li 
riceve  in  nome  di  S.  Santiil,  li  quali,  se  bene  S.  Serenity 
(Venice)  dice  di  darliin  gralificatione  di  S.  M.  Chrma.,  si 
dovessero  consignare  senza  dir  ultro." 


264 


DISCREPANCIES,  DOCTRINAL  AND  POLITICAL.  [a.  d.  1607. 


desired  was  an  outward  show  of  reconcilia- 
tion. 

To  this  end  the  removal  of  the  censure 
and  the  grant  of  absolution  were  still  requisite. 

But  even  upon  these  points  the  Venetians 
had  objections  to  propose.  Tiiey  persisted  in 
asserting  that  the  censure  was  in  itself  null 
and  void,  and  in  no  way  whatever  affected 
them,  consequently  that  they  needed  no  abso- 
lution. Joyeuse  declared  to  them  that  he  could 
not  change  the  forms  of  the  church.  At  last 
it  was  agreed  on  that  the  absolution  should 
not  be  performed  with  the  usual  publicity: 
Joyeuse  appeared  in  the  college,  and  pro- 
nounced it  privately  as  it  were.  The  Vene- 
tians have  always  persuaded  themselves  that 
they  came  off  altogether  without  absolution.* 
It  is  true,  indeed,  it  was  not  given  in  full  form, 
but  given  it  certainly  was. 

On  the  whole,  it  is  plain  that  the  strife  did 
not  terminate  so  thoroughly  to  the  advantage 
of  the  Venetians  as  is  commonly  asserted. 

The  laws  which  the  pope  complained  of 
were  suspended ;  the  clergymen  whose  sur- 
render he  demanded  were  delivered  up  to  him ; 
absolution  even  was  received.  Still  all  this 
took  place  but  under  extraordinary  restrictions, 
The  Venetians  proceeded  as  in  an  affair  of 
honour,  with  a  painful  sensitiveness  to  the 
preservation  of  their  reputation  ;  they  narrow- 
ed every  concession  they  made  with  restrict- 
ive clauses,  and  stifled  its  force  to  the  utmost 
of  their  power.  The  pope,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  in  the  disadvantageous  position  of  being 
constrained  to  a  remarkable  and  little  credit- 
able concession,  which  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  whole  world. 

Subsequently  the  relations  between  Rome 
and  Venice  returned,  outwardly  at  least,  to 
to  their  old  course.  Paul  V.  cried  out  to  the 
first  ambassador  of  the  Venetians,  "  Let  old 
things  be  done  away  with,  let  all  things  be- 
come new."  He  complained  at  times  that  Ve- 
nice would  not  forget  what  he  on  his  part  had 
forgotten,  and  he  displayed  as  much  mildness 
and  indulgence  as  any  of  his  predecessors.f 

But  alter  all,  this  in  reality  but  enabled  him 
to  avoid  fresh  hostilities:  the  latent  discords 
remained  :  a  proper  mutual  confidence  was 
not  very  speedily  restored. 

Issue  of  the  affairs  of  the  Jesuits. 

Meanwhile  the  contest  between  the  Jesuits 
and  the  Dominicans  was  settled  in  a  similar, 
that  is  to  say,  an  imperfect  manner. 


*  Daru,  at  the  clo.«!e  of  his  twenty-ninth  book,  gives 
Joyeuae's  letter,  doubtless  the  only  thing  of  importance 
he  brings  forward  concerning  the  mailer,  but  he  makes 
some  objections  to  it,  very  untenable,  as  1  think. 

+  Kfilatione  di  Mocenisio.  IGI'2.  The  pope  declared, 
"Che  conveniva  per  servitio  d' Italia  che  fosse  sempro 
buona  jntdlinenzafia  quella  sede  e  quesla  repiiblica."  j 
[That  it  was  fur  the  interest  of  Italy  that  there  should  al- 
ways be  a  cooJ  understanding  between  that  see  and  thai  I 
republic]  .  \ 


Clement  died,  as  we  have  seen,  before  pro- 
nouncing his  decision.  Paul  V.  who  took  the 
matter  up  with  all  the  zeal  which  in  general 
marked  the  beginning  of  his  reign  (from  Sep- 
tember, 1(J05  till  February,  1606,  seventeen 
assemblies  were  held  in  his  presence,)  was  no 
less  inclined  than  his  predecessor  to  the  old 
system,  and  to  the  views  of  the  Dominicans. 
In  October  and  November,  1006,  assemblies 
were  already  held  to  fix  on  the  form  in  which 
the  doctrine  of  the  Jesuits  was  to  be  condemn- 
ed. The  Dominicansthought  the  victory  was 
in  their  hands.* 

But  just  then  the  Venetian  affairs  had  as- 
sumed the  perplexed  aspect  we  have  just  been 
considering :  the  Jesuits  had  given  the  Roman 
see  a  proof  of  attachment,  in  which  they  far 
surpassed  every  other  order,  and  Venice  made 
them  pay  the  penalty  of  their  fidelity. 

Under  the  circumstances,  it  would  have 
seemed  barbarous  had  the  Roman  see  thought 
of  visiting  these  it  most  faithful  servants  with 
a  decree  of  condemnation.  When  everything 
was  prepared  for  the  act,  the  pope  paused. 
He  let  the  matter  drop  for  a  while,  and  at  last, 
on  the  29th  of  August,  1607,  he  published  a 
declaration,  by  which  Disputatores  and  Con- 
sultores  were  dismissed  to  their  homes :  the 
decision  would  be  made  known  in  due  time ; 
meanwhile,  it  was  the  pope's  most  earnest  de- 
sire that  neither  party  should  revile  the 
other.f 

Thus  did  the  Jesuits,  after  all,  reap  an  ad- 
vantage from  the  loss  they  had  sustained  in 
Venice.  It  was  a  great  gain  for  them,  that 
their  assailed  doctrine,  though  not  formally 
ratified,  had  yet  not  been  repudiated.  They 
even  boasted  of  victory.  With  the  public 
prejudice  once  for  all  enlisted  in  favour  of 
their  orthodoxy,  they  now  followed  up  with 
unabating  ardour  that  line  of  doctrinal  specu- 
lation to  which  they  had  begun  to  apply  tiiom- 
selves. 

The  only  question  was,  would  they  be  able 
to  put  an  end  to  their  own  internal  discords. 

There  was  still  a  violent  fermentation  in 
the  order.  The  alterations  in  the  constitution 
proved  insufficient,  and  the  Spanish  party  did 
not  desist  from  their  efforts  to  displace  Aqua- 
viva.  At  last,  the  procurators  of  all  the  pro- 
vinces took  the  yet  unprecedented  step  of  de- 
claring a  general  congregation  necessary.  It 
met  in  the  year  1607,  and  sweeping  changes 
were  once  more  talked  of 

We  have  already  frequently  remarked  the 
close  connexion  into  which  the  Jesuits  had 
entered  with  France,  and  the  favour  which 
Henry  IV.  extended    to  them.     He  took  an 

f  Serry,  Historia  congre£;ationum  de  auxiliis,  p.  5G2,  el 
seq.,  gives  the  documents  relating  to  this  alf'air.  "  Gratia; 
viclri'ci,"  he sayg  himself,  "jam  canebantur'Iotriumphe.'  " 

t  Coionelli,  secretary  to  the  congregation,  in  Serry,  p. 
589:  "  Tratanlo  haordinato  (S.  S^.)  molto  seriumente  che 
nel  tratlare  di  quesle  maierie  nrwuno  ardisca  Ui  qualili- 
cari  e  censui-are  I'aUra  parte." 


A.  D.  1607.] 


CONCLUSION. 


265 


interest  also  in  the  internal  dissensions  of  the 
order,  and  was  entirely  for  Aquaviva.  He 
not  only  assured  the  latter  in  a  special  letter 
of  his  good  will,  but  also  intimated  his  wish 
to  the  congregation,  that  no  change  should  be 
made  in  the  constitution  of  the  society.* 

Aquaviva  managed  to  turn  so  powerful  a 
protection  to  admirable  account. 

The  resistance  offered  him  existed  prin- 
cipally in  the  provincial  congregations.  He 
now  carried  a  law,  by  virtue  of  which,  in  the 
first  place  no  proposition  should  be  regarded 
as  adopted  by  a  provincial  assembly,  unless  it 
was  supported  by  two-thirds  of  the  whole 
number  of  votes,  and  secondly,  that  even  a 
proposition  so  approved,  should  not  be  admit- 
ted for  discussion  in  the  general  assembly  un- 
less a  majority  of  the  latter  previously  gave 
their  assent  thereto.  By  these  regulations,  it 
is  manifest  that  the  influence  of  the  provincial 
congregations  was  diminished  in  an  extraor- 
dinary degree. 

But  besides  this,  a  formal  condemnation 
was  also  pronounced  on  the  adversaries  of  the 
general,  and  the  provincial  superiors  were  ex 
pressly  enjoined  to  proceed  against  the  so 
called  disturbers  of  tranquillity.  Hereupon 
peace  was  gradually  restored.  The  Spanish 
members  gave  way,  and  ceased  to  contend 
against  the  new  tenour  of  their  order.  A 
more  plastic  generation  gradually  arose  under 
the  ruling  influence.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
general  endeavoured  by  double  devotedness, 
to  make  a  return  to  Henry  IV.  for  the  favours 
he  had  receieved  at  his  hand. 

Conclusion. 

Thus  all  these  dissensions  once  more  gave 
promise  of  being  allayed. 

But  if  we  reflect  on  their  course,  and  the 
events  by  which  it  was  marked,  we  shall 
perceive  that  they  introduced  the  greatest 
changes  into  the  heart  of  the  catholic  church. 

We  began  from  the  point  at  which  the  pa- 
pal power,  engaged  in  a  career  of  victory,  was 
advancing  to  still  greater  plenitude  of  might. 
Closely  allied  with  the  policy  of  Spain,  it  con- 
ceived the  design  of  hurrying  onward  all  catho- 
lic powers  in  one  direction,  and  of  overpower- 
ing the  refractory  in  one  great  current.  Had 
it  succeeded,  it  would  have  exalted  the  eccle- 
siastical spirit  to  unlimited  supremacy,  bound 
together  all  catholic  countries  in  an  unity  em- 
bracing ideas,  faith,  social  existence  and  policy, 
and  thereby  have  likewise  acquired  a  para- 
mount influence  in  their  domestic  concerns. 

But  at  this  very  moment  the  most  violent 
internal  dissensions  manifested  themselves. 

In  France,  the  feeling  of  nationality  array- 


*  Lilerse  Chrislianissirai  regis  ad  concregalos  palres,  iv. 
Kal.  Dec.  160",  in  Juvencius  v.  ii.  lib.  ix.  n.  108 ;  "  Vosque 
hortamur  ad  retinendara  instituti  vestri  inlegriialem  et 
splendorem." 

34 


ed  itself  against  the  pretensions  of  the  hierar- 
chy. The  very  adherents  of  the  catholic  faith 
would  not  make  themselves  dependent  on  all 
points  upon  the  actuating  principles  of  the 
church,  or  upon  the  guidance  of  its  head  ; 
there  remained  other  principles  of  temporal 
policy,  and  of  national  independence,  which 
resisted  the  designs  of  the  pope  with  uncon- 
querable energy.  We  may  assert  on  the 
whole,  that  these  principles  proved  triumph- 
ant: the  pope  was  constrained  to  acknowledge 
them  ;  the  French  church  itself  sanctioned 
them  by  assuming  them  for  its  own  basi.s. 

Hence,  however,  it  ensued,  that  France 
was  again  plunged  into  hostilities  against  the 
Spanish  monarchy,  that  two  great  powers,  na- 
tural rivals,  and  always  prone  to  strife,  con- 
fronted each  other  in  the  midst  of  the  catho- 
lic world.  So  little  possibility  was  there  of 
maintaining  unity.  The  circumstances  of 
Italy  had  even  the  effect  of  making  this  dis- 
cord, and  the  balance  of  power  that  thence 
ensued,  a  source  of  advantage  to  the  Roman 
see. 

Meanwhile,  new  theological  ruptures  like- 
wise occurred.  Acutely  conceived,  and  point- 
ed as  were  the  decisions  of  the  council  of 
Trent,  they  could  not  yet  prevent  this ;  even 
within  the  boundaries  traced  by  them,  there 
was  still  room  for  new  controversies  of  faith. 
The  two  most  powerful  orders  met  each  other 
in  the  li.sts ;  the  two  great  powers  even  took 
part,  in  some  degree,  in  the  conflict ;  and 
Rome  had  not  the  courage  to  pronounce  a 
decision  of  the  strife. 

Next  came  the  disputes  respecting  the 
boundaries  between  the  ecclesiastical  and  the 
secular  jurisdiction,  disputes  which  had  a  lo- 
cal origin,  carried  on  with  a  neighbour  of  no 
very  great  strength,  but  maintained  on  the 
part  of  that  neighbour  with  a  spirit  and  force 
that  elevated  them  to  general  importance.* 
Justly  is  the  memory  of  Paolo  Sarpi  held  in 
high  estimation  in  all  catholic  lands.  He  it 
was,  that  successfully  established  the  basis 
for  those  ecclesiastical  rights  which  they  all 
enjoy.  The  pope  was  not  able  to  put  him 
down. 

These  conflicts  between  ideas  and  dogmas, 
between  constitutions  and  might,  now  vio- 
lently impeded  and  threatened  utterly  to  an- 
nihilate that  ecclesiasticosecular  unity,  which 
the  pope  desired  to  establish. 

Tlie  course  of  events  shows,  however,  that 
the  conservative  ideas  were  the  strono-er. 
The  internal  discord  there  was  no  preventine-, 
but  an  open  conflict  was  avoided.  Peace 
was  restored   and   maintained   between  the 


*  "  V.  Sti-,"  exclaims  P.  Priuli  on  liis  return  from 
France,  "  ha  dichiarilo,  si  puO  dire,  sin  a  qu?,i  termini  sia 
permesso  al  pontefice  estendere  la  sua  lemriorale  e  spirit- 
uale  authority."  (Relatione  di  Francia,  'iGOS.)  [Your 
serenity  may  be  said  to  have  declared  to  what  limits  the 
pope  may  be  allowed  lo  extend  his  temporal  and  spiritual 
authority.] 


266 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD.        [a.  d.  1590-1617. 


great  powers;  the  Italian  states  had  not  yet 
risen  to  full  consciousness  of  their  strength, 
nor  to  an  effective  use  of  it;  silence  was  im- 
posed on  the  contending  orders.  The  dis- 
putes between  church  and  state  were  not 
pushed  to  extremities.  Venice  accepted  the 
proffered  accommodation. 

The  policy  of  the   papacy  was,  to  assume 
as  much  as  possible  a  position  raised  above 


partie.s,  and  to  act  as  a  mediator  in  their  dif- 
ferences. It  still  possessed  authority  enough 
to  effect  this. 

Without  doubt  this  policy  was  reacted 
upon  by  that  which  was  in  part  its  effect,  the 
continued  progress  of  the  movement  without, 
of  the  march  of  reform,  and  of  the  conflict 
with  protestantism. 

We  must  now  return  to  this  latter  subject. 


BOOK   THE    SEVENTH. 

COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD. 
1590—1630. 


Introduction. 

I  DO  not  think  I  deceive  myself,  or  that  I 
wander  from  tlie  province  of  history,  if  I  here 
take  note  of  what  appears  to  me  to  be  a  gen- 
eral law  of  life. 

It  is  indisputable  that  the  great  movements 
that  stir  society  from  the  very  bottom,  are 
always  impressed  on  it  by  forces  of  the  living 
mind.  Prepared  through  the  foregone  ages, 
these  forces  arise  when  their  time  is  come,  at 
the  call  of  some  master  spirits,  out  of  the  un- 
fathomed  depths  of  the  human  soul.  It  is 
their  nature  to  strive  to  carry  the  world  with 
them,  to  possess  it  wholly  with  their  impulse. 
But  the  more  they  succeed  in  this,  and  the 
wider  the  range  of  their  action  becomes,  the 
more  do  they  encounter  peculiar  and  inde- 
pendent elements  of  social  life,  which  they 
cannot  wholly  subdue  or  absorb.  Hence  it 
happens,  since  they  are  in  a  state  of  ceaseless 
fashioning,  that  they  themselves  experience 
a  transformation.  The  foreign  elements  they 
embrace,  become,  in  fact,  incorporated  with 
them  ;  tendencies  spring  up  in  them,  and  they 
exhibit  manifestations  that  are  not  unfre- 
quenlly  at  variance  with  their  general  charac- 
ter: nor  can  these  fail  to  grow  and  expand 
with  the  general  progre.ss  of  the  movement. 
The  only  matter  of  importance  is,  that  they 
do  not  become  predominant;  otherwise,  they 
would  utterly  destroy  all  unity  and  the  prin- 
ciple on  which  it  rests. 

We  have  seen  how  violently  internal  dis- 
crepancies and  profound  contrasts  wrought 
within  the  restorative  papacy  ;  still  the  pri- 
mary idea  triumphed :  the  higher  principle  of 
unity  maintained  the  ascendancy,  even 
though  it  were  not  with  its  ancient  all-em- 
bracing power,  and  it  advanced  incessantly  to 
new  conquests  even  in  the  moments  of  in- 
ward strife,  from  which  it  rather  seemed 
even  to  gather  fresh  energy  for  conflict. 


These  enterprises  now  solicit  our  attention. 
It  is  a  very  weighty  consideration  for  the 
world  how  far  they  succeeded,  what  meta- 
morphoses ensued  from  them,  what  resistance 
they  encountered  from  within  or  from  with- 
out. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PROGRESS  OF  THE    RESTORATION    OF    CATHOLI- 

CI.SM. 

1590—1617. 

5  1. — Measures  taken  on  behalf  of  Catholi- 
cism in  Poland  and  the  adjoining  coun- 
tries. 

The  opinion  has  been  expressed,  that  the 
protestants,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  long  pos- 
sessed the  upper  hand  in  Poland,  might  have 
been  able  to  put  a  king  of  their  own  creed  on 
the  throne  :  but  that  they  themselves,  after 
all,  thought  a  catholic  king  preferable,  as 
having  in  the  pope  a  higher  authority,  and  a 
judge  over  him. 

If  they  thought  so,  these  very  unprotestant 
sentiments  were  the  means  of  drawing  down 
on  them  a  heavy  chastisement. 

For  it  was  precisely  through  a  catholic 
king  that  the  pope  was  enabled  to  make  war 
on  them. 

Of  all  foreign  ambassadors  in  Poland,  the 
papal  nuncios  alone  had  the  right  of  discours- 
ing with  the  king  without  the  presence  of  a 
senator.  We  know  well  what  sort  of  men 
they  were ;  they  had  prudence  and  skill 
enough  to  cultivate  and  profit  by  the  more 
confidential  intercourse  thus  afforded  them. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  eightieth  year  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  cardmal  Bolognetto 
was  nuncio  in  Poland.     He  complains  of  the 


A.  D.  1590-1617.] 


CATHOLICISM  IN  POLAND. 


267 


inconveniences  of  the  climate,  the  cold, 
which  was  doubly  painful  t»  an  Italian,  the 
dampness  of  the  small  heated  apartments,  and 
the  mode  of  life  altogether  strang-e  to  him  ; 
but,  notwithstanding  all  this,  he  accompanied 
king  Stephen  from  Warsaw  to  Cracow,  from 
Wilna  to  Lublin, — throughout  the  kingdom: 
at  times  in  rather  a  melancholy  mood,  but  not 
the  less  indefatigable.  During  the  cam- 
pains  he  kept  up  a  correspondence  with  the 
king,  and  altogether  he  kept  the  Roman  in- 
terests in  unbroken  connexion  with  the  royal 
person. 

We  have  a  circumstantial  report  of  the 
manner  in  which  he  exercised  the  duties  of 
his  office,  from  which  we  learn  what  were 
his  undertakings,  and  how  far  they  pros- 
pered.* 

Above  all  things,  he  called  on  the  king  to 
fill  the  offices  of  state  with  none  but  catho- 
lics, to  allow  no  other  than  the  catholic  wor- 
ship in  his  towns,  and  to  re-establish  tithes  ; 
measures  which  were  adopted  about  the  same 
time  in  other  countries,  and  which  promoted 
or  marked  the  renovation  of  Catholicism. 

But  he  was  not  successful.  King  Stephen 
did  not  think  he  could  venture  so  far,  and  de- 
clared that  his  power  was  not  sufficient. 

Yet  that  sovereign  was  not  only  inspired 
with  catholic  convictions,  but  even  with  an 
innate  zeal  for  the  interests  of  the  church. 
In  many  other  particulars  he  yielded  to  the 
nuncio's  representations. 

The  Jesuit  colleges  in  Cracow,  Grodno,  and 
Pultusk  were  established  by  the  direct  pa- 
tronage of  the  king,  the  new  calendar  was 
introduced  without  difficulty,  and  the  regula- 
tions of  the  council  of  Trent  fully  enforced. 
But  the  most  important  point  was  the  royal 
determination  for  the  future  to  bestow  the  va- 
cant bishoprics  only  on  catholics.!  Protes- 
tants had  made  their  way  even  into  those  ex- 
alted spiritual  offices;  these  the  nuncio  was 
now  empowered  to  summon  before  him  and 
to  depose  :  a  matter  of  the  more  consequence, 
since  the  episcopal  rank  conferred  likewise  a 
seat  and  a  vote  in  the  senate.  The  nuncio 
sought  to  turn  this  political  significance  of 
the  spiritual  institution  to  account.  He  ur- 
gently required  of  the  bishops  unanimity  of 
proceedings  in  the  diet,  and  prescribed  to 
them  the  measures  they  should  pursue.  He 
formed  a  close  personal  intimacy  with  the 
most  powerful  of  them,  tlie  archbishop  of  Gne- 
sen  and  the  bishop  of  Cracow,  which  was  of 
singular  advantage  to  him.  In  this  way  he 
succeeded  not  only  in  infusing  a  new  fire  of 


*  Spannochi :"  Relatione  all  lUmo-  Rpv'^''-  Cardinal 
Ruslicucci,  segrelario  di  N.  S.  Papa  Sislo  V.,  dflle  cose 
di  Polonia  inlorno  alia  religions  e  delle  azi  <  i  del  cardi- 
nal Bolognetlo  in  quatlro  anni  ch'  egli  e  stato  nunziu  in 
quella  piov  ncia." 

t  "  Sendosi  (11  re)  delerminalo  die  nessuno  possa  le- 
nere  chiese  che  non  sia  della  vera  fede  romana."  (Span- 
no  cchi.) 


zeal  into  the  clergy,  but  acquired  also  a  great 
influence  in  secular  affairs.  The  English 
were  proposing  a  commercial  treaty  with 
Poland,  that  promised  great  advantages  for 
Dantzig  in  particular ;  it  was  the  nuncio 
alone  who  defeated  the  project,  chiefly  be- 
cause the  English  demanded  the  express  pro- 
mise that  they  should  be  allowed  peacefully 
to  ply  their  traffic  without  being  troubled  on 
account  of  their  religion.* 

In  short,  however  moderate  king  Stephen 
may  have  been,  under  him  Catholicism  first 
essentially  resumed  its  empire. 

Now  this  was  of  the  more  consequence, 
since  the  most  powerful  party  in  the  country, 
the  Zamoisky  faction,  to  which,  through  the 
king's  favour,  the  most  important  posts  in  the 
country  accrued,!  also  assumed  a  catholic 
complexion,  and  since  it  was  this  party  that 
after  Stephen's  death  determined  the  election 
of  his  successor.  The  Zamoiskys  placed  on 
the  throne  that  Swedish  prince  whom  Catha- 
rine Jagellonica  had  borne  in  captivity,  and 
who,  from  his  youth  up,  had,  in  the  midst  of  a 
protestant  country,  remained  unswervingly 
steadfast  in  the  catholic  faith,  whether  it  were 
from  natural  inclination,  or  from  the  influence 
of  his  mother,  or  from  the  hope  he  entertained 
of  the  Polish  crown,  or  from  all  these  causes 
together.  This  was  tSigismund  III.,  a  sover- 
eign, the  bent  of  whose  mind  was  in  thorough 
accordance  with  those  catholic  impulses  which 
then  agitated  Europe. 

Pope  Clement  says  in  one  of  his  instruc- 
tions, that  he  had,  when  cardinal  legate  to 
Poland,  counselled  that  prince  for  the  future 
to  bestow  all  public  posts  only  on  catholics. 
The  advice  had  already  been  frequently  given, 
by  Paul  IV.,  by  cardinal  Hosius,|  and  by  Bo- 

♦  Spannochi:  "II  che  non  prima  venne  agli  orecchj 
del  Bologneilo,  che  andO  a  irovar  S.  Mta-  e  con  efficacis- 
sime  ragloni  moslro  quanta  esorbitante  cosa  sarebbe  slata 
che  avesse  concesso  per  publico  decreio  una  tamo  obbro- 
briosa  setta,  e  come  non  senza  nascosto  inganno  e  srieran- 
za  d'importanussime  conseguenze  quella  scelerata  don- 
na voleva  che  si  dichiarasse  cosi  per  decreto  potersi  eser- 
citar  la  setta  Anglicana  in  quel  regno,  dove  tutlo  il  niondo 
pur  troppo  sa  che  si  permetta  il  credere  In  materia  di  re- 
liglone  quel  che  piace  a  chi  si  sia:  ton  queste  ad  altre 
elficacissime  ragioni  il  re  Stcfano  riraase  talmente  persu- 
aso  che  promesse  non  voler  mai  I'ar  menzione  alcuna  di 
religions  in  qualunijue  accordo  avesse  fatlo  con  quella 
regina  o  suoi  mercantl."  [This  no  sooner  came  to  the 
ears  of  Bolognetto  than  he  went  lo  his  majesty  and  point- 
ed out  10  him,  with  tlie  most  cogent  arguinents,  what  a 
monstrous  thing  it  would  be,  were  he,  by  public  decree, 
to  acl£nowledge  so  scandalous  a  sect,  and  that  It  was  not 
williout  some  lurking  trlclcery,  and  hope  of  most  impor- 
tant conseijuences,  that  nefarious  woman  soucht  to  have 
him  proclaim  permission  for  the  exercise  of  the  English 
sect  in  that  kingdom,  where  it  is  but  too  universally  no- 
torious that  every  one  is  at  liberty  to  believe  in  matters 
of  religion  just  what  he  pleases.  These  and  olher  most 
imjjressive  arguments  so  prevailed  with  king  Stephen, 
that  he  promised  he  would  never  make  any  mention  of 
religion  In  whatever  compact  he  should  enter  into  with 
that  queen  or  her  merchants.] 

t  Spannocchi:  "AUedigniia  senatorie  et  all' entrate 
del  regno  dicono  hosgi  non  anmiettersi  se  non  i  depen- 
dent! da  esso  cancplllero,  acciii  che  da  n'^ssuno  venga 
impedito  di  far  quello  che  ad  esso  ed  al  re  piu  torneri  di 
piacere  di  fare." 

$  In  a  despatch  of  the  14th  of  March,  1368,  he  requests 


268 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,   [a.  d.  1590-1617. 


lognetto.  But  now  it  fell  upon  an  ear  more 
ready  to  receive  it.  What  could  not  be  ob- 
tained either  from  Sig-ismund  Augustus,  or 
from  Stephen,  Sigismund  III.  assented  to  with 
alacrity.  He  made  it  his  principle,  in  fact  to 
promote  none  but  catholics,  and  pope  Clement 
was  perfectly  right  in  ascribing  the  progress 
of  Catholicism  in"  Poland  to  this  regulation. 

The  highest  attribute  of  the  kingly  power 
in  Poland  consisted  in  the  bestowal  of  offices 
and  dignities.  The  king  disposed  of  all  spi- 
ritual and  secular  places,  great  and  small,  of 
which  there  were  said  to  be  twenty  thousand. 
What  an  effect  it  must  have  had  when  Sigis- 
mund III.  began  to  fill,  not  alone  all  the  ec- 
clesiastical places,  but  those  of  every  descrip- 
tion whatever,  exclusively  with  catholics,  to 
extend  the  beneficence  of  the  state,  as  the  Ital- 
ians once  expressed  it,  the  full  right  of  citizen- 
ship in  the  highest  sense  of  the  words,  only  to 
his  co-religionists.  A  man's  success  in  life 
was  proportioned  to  his  credit  with  the  bishops 
and  the  Jesuits.  The  Starost  Ludwig  von 
Mortangen  owed  his  advancement  to  the  wai- 
wodeship  of  Pomerellia  principally  to  his  hav- 
ing bestowed  his  house  on  the  society  of 
Jesus.  In  consequence  of  this  system,  there 
arose,  at  least  in  Polish  Prussia,  a  feud  be- 
tween the  towns  and  the  nobility,  which 
assumed  a  religious  complexion.  Originally 
both  had  adopted  protestantism,  but  now  the 
nobility  recanted.  The  examples  of  Kostka, 
Dzialinsky,  and  Konopat,  who  had  risen  to 
power  by  a  change  of  faith,  had  a  great  influ- 
ence on  the  rest.  The  schools  of  the  Jesuits 
were  frequented  chiefly  by  the  you,ng  nobility. 
We  soon  find  quarrels  breaking  out  between 
the  pupils  of  the  Jesuits  and  the  citizens'  sons 
in  the  towns  that  continued  protestant.  But 
the  new  measures  displayed  their  effects  prin- 
cipally among  the  nobility.  The  college  of 
Pultusk  numbered  four  hundred  students,  all 
of  noble  blood.*  The  general  impulse  com- 
menced by  the  spirit  of  the  times,  the  teaching 
of  the  Jesuits,  the  newly-awakened  zeal  of 
the  whole  body  of  the  clergy,  and  the  favour 
of  the  court,  all  these  combined  to  dispose  the 
Polish  nobility  to  return  to  Catholicism. 

But,  as  matter  of  course,  the  government 
went  still  further,  and  let  those  who  would  not 
recant  feel  the  weight  of  its  displeasure. 

In  Poland  tlie  catholic  clergy  insisted  par- 
ticularly on  the  principle,  that  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal edifices,  having  been  founded  by  orthodox 
catholics,  with  the  co-operation  of  the  bishops, 
and  in  many  cases  of  the  popes,  were  the  un- 
alienable property  of  their  church.  In  every 
place  where  the  catholic  worship  was  exclud- 
ed from  the  parish  churches,  the  bishops  took 

the  king  to  declare  "  millis  sr  deinceps  vrl  honores  vel 
praefecluras  vel  quaecuiKiue  landeiii  alia  munera  publice 
mandalururn  nisi  qui  Cliristuin  aperle  confessus  fuerit  el 
omni  perfidire  sive  Lutherislicae  sive  Calvinislicoe  sive 
anabapiistarum  nuntium  remisent." 
*  Maflfei,  ii.  140. 


legal  proceedings,  relying  on  this  principle. 
The  tribunals  were  now  filled  with  zealous 
catholics ;  the  same  suits  were  prosecuted 
against  town  after  town,  and  the  same  judg- 
ments were  pronounced.  In  vain  were  ap- 
peals made  to  the  king, — in  vain  was  he  re- 
minded of  the  confederation  by  which  equal 
protection  had  been  promised  to  both  confes- 
sions ;  the  answer  was,  that  equal  protection 
consisted  exactly  in  helping  each  party  to  its 
lawful  rights;  that  the  confederation  did  not 
comprise  any  assurance  of  the  possession  of 
church  buildings.*  In  a  few  years  the  cath- 
olics were  in  possession  of  all  the  parish 
churches  in  the  towns.  "  In  the  parish  church- 
es," exclaimed  the  pope,  "  the  ancient  God  is 
worshipped."  In  the  smaller  towns  of  Prus- 
sia the  evangelical  service  could  only  be  per- 
formed in  a  room  in  the  council-house;  of  the 
larger  towns  Dantzig  alone  retained  its  par- 
ish church. f 

Thus  rapidly  prosperous,  the  catholics  did 
not  confine  their  aggressions  to  the  protes- 
tants,  but  began  to  turn  their  eyes  upon  the 
Greek  community. 

On  this  point  too  the  king  and  the  pope 
combined  their  influence  ;  but  what  had  most 
efficacy,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  was  the  threat 
of  excluding  the  Greek  bishops  from  sitting 
and  voting  in  the  senate  ;  the  result  was,  that 
the  Wladika  of  Wladimir  and  some  other 
Greek  bishops  resolved,  in  the  year  1595,  to 
unite  themselves  to  the  Roman  church  accord- 
ing to  the  standard  fixed  by  the  council  of 
Florence.  Their  delegates  proceeded  to  Rome ; 
Roman  and  royal  envoys  appeared  in  the  pro- 
vinces; the  ceremony  of  reconciliation  was 
gone  through,  and  a  Jesuit,  the  king's  confes- 
sor, delivered  an  animated  discourse  on  the 
occasion.  In  this  part  of  the  Polish  dominions 
likewise,  some  churches  were  restored  to  the 
catholics. 

This  was  an  extraordinary  advance  to  be 
made  in  a  few  years.  "A  little  while  ago," 
says  a  papal  nuncio  in  the  year  1598,  "it 
might  have  seemed  as  though  heresy  would 
totally  supplant  Catholicism  in  Poland  ;  but 
now  Catholicism  is  carrying  heresy  to  the 
grave." 

If  we  inquire  what  were  the  chief  causes 
of  this  revoUition,  we  shall  find  them  to  have 
consisted  above  all  things  in  the  personal  in- 
clinations of  the  king;  and  to  tliese  the  pecu- 
liar position  of  that  monarch  immediately 
opened  out  still  wider  prospects. 

Attempt  on  Sweden. 

By  the  death  of  his  father  John  in  the  year 
1.592,  Sigismund  became  king  of  Sweden. 

*  The  circumstantial  letter  of  the  Waywode  of  Culm, 
translated  in  Lengnich:Polnisch-preussischeG'^schichle; 
Theil  iv.  S.  291,  pailicularly  exjilains  these  nuHivrs. 

t  Lengnich:  Nachricht  von  der  Religionsiinderung  in 
PreussKn,  §  27, 


A.  D.  1590-1617.] 


ATTEMPT  ON  SWEDEN. 


269 


In  that  king-dom  indeed  neither  was  his 
authority  intrinsically  absolute,  nor  was  he 
personally  free  from  the  ties  of  engagements. 
He  had  signed  an  undertaking  in  the  year 
1587,  that  he  would  make  no  change  in  the 
ceremonies  of  the  church,  and  that  he  would 
even  promote  no  one  who  was  not  a  protes- 
tant ;  and  now  too  he  further  bound  himself, 
that  he  would  maintain  the  privileges  both  of 
the  clergy  and  the  laity,  that  he  would  neither 
love  nor  hate  any  one  for  religion's  sake,  and 
that  he  would  in  no  wise  seek  to  prejudice  the 
national  church.  Notwithstanding  all  this, 
all  the  hopes  of  the  catholics  were  instantly 
awakened,  and  all  the  anxieties  of  the  pro- 
testants. 

The  catholics  had  now  attained  what  had 
always  been  an  object  of  their  fervent  desires, 
the  accession  of  a  king  of  their  own  faith  to 
the  crown  of  Sweden.  Attended  by  a  catho- 
lic suite,  in  which  there  lacked  not  even  a 
papal  nuncio,  Malaspina,  Sigismun.l  arrived 
in  his  hereditary  dominions  in  July  1593.  His 
journey  through  the  Prussian  provinces  was 
marked  by  benefits  conferred  on  Catholicism. 
In  Dantzig  a  papal  envoy,  Bartholomaeus  Pow- 
sinsky,  hastened  to  meet  him  with  a  present 
of  20,000  scudi,  "  a  small  contribution,"  as  his 
introduction  stated,  "  towards  the  expenses 
which  the  restoration  of  Catholicism  might  oc- 
casion." 

This  instruction  is  very  remarkable.  It 
shows  us  how  unconditionally  this  restoration 
was  expected  and  commanded  in  Rome.* 

"  Powsinsky,"  it  states,  "a  confidential  ser- 
vant of  his  holiness  and  vassal  of  his  majesty, 
was  sent  to  testify  the  pope's  interest  in  the 
welcome  events  that  had  occurred  to  his  ma- 
jesty ;  the  delivery  of  his  consort,  the  happy 
issue  of  the  last  diet,  and  above  all  that  great- 
est good  fortune  that  could  befal  him,  namely, 
that  he  had  now  an  opportunity  of  re-establish- 
ing Catholicism  in  his  native  land."  The 
pope  delayed  not  to  indicate  some  points  of 
view  in  which  this  work  might  be  consid- 
ered. 

"  Doubtless  through  God's  providence,"  he 
says,  "  several  bishoprics,  among  others  the 
archiepiscopal  see  of  Upsala,  are  just  now 
vacant. t  Should  the  king  delay  a  moment  to 
depose  the  protestant  bishops  who  are  yet  in 
the  country,  he  will  without  fail  fill  the  va- 
cant sees  with  orthodox  catholics."  The  en- 
voy carried  with  him  a  list  of  Swedish  catho- 
lics, which  seemed  designed  to  this  end.  The 
pope  was  convinced  that  those  bishops  would 
then  make  it  their  business  to  provide  catholic 
parish  priests  and  schoolmasters.     Only  care 

*  Instnillione  al  S^'  Banolommeo  Powsinsky  alia  Mi 
del  re  di  Polonia  e  Sueiia.     (MS.  Koiii.) 

t  "  Inlfndernlosi  restar  vacante  I'arcivpscovato  di  Up- 
salia,  che  1 1  divina  providenza  per  piti  facilitare  le  cose 
del  suo  seivitio,  non  ha  pennesso  che  in  dueaniii  sia  slalo 
provedulo  dal  re  mono,  haveri  S.  M's-  pailiculare  pen- 
siere  a  pigliare  un  arcivescovo  cauolico." 


was  to  be  taken  to  provide  them  with  the 
means  of  doing  so. 

"  Perhaps,"  he  suggests,  "a  catholic  college 
might  be  forthwith  founded  in  Stockholm.  But 
should  this  not  be  done,  the  king  will  assuredly 
send  as  many  young  Swedes  as  he  can  to  Po- 
land, to  be  educated  at  his  court  in  the  catho- 
lic faith,  under  the  most  zealous  bishops,  or  in 
the  Polish  Jesuit  colleges." 

The  first  object  aimed  at  in  this,  as  in  other 
cases,  was  to  become  master  again  of  the 
clergy  :  meanwhile  the  nuncio  had  conceived 
another.  He  thought  of  setting  on  the  catho- 
lics that  were  yet  to  be  found  in  Sweden,  to 
allege  grievances  against  the  protestants. 
Upon  this  the  king  would  assume  a  position 
above  the  two  parties,  and  every  innovation 
would  bear  the  appearance  of  a  legal  decision.* 
He  only  regretted  that  Sigismund  was  not 
accompanied  by  a  stronger  armed  force  to 
give  cogency  to  his  resolutions. 

There  is  indeed  no  proof  that  the  king  forth- 
with adopted  as  his  own  the  views  of  the 
Roman  court.  As  far  as  can  be  collected  from 
his  own  declarations,  his  thoughts  may  have 
been  in  the  first  instance  no  more  than  to  be- 
stow some  privileges  on  the  catholics,  without 
destroying  the  protestant  constitution.  But 
could  he  hope  to  check  the  strong  religious 
impulse  that  possessed  those  about  him,  and 
the  representatives  of  which  he  brought  with 
him  into  the  country  1  Could  it  be  hoped  that 
when  he  had  reached  that  point  he  would  stop 
there  ] 

The  protestants  did  not  chose  to  wait  the 
issue.  The  designs  cherished  on  the  one  side 
called  forth  on  the  other  an  immediate  and 
almost  unconscious  opposition. 

Immediately  after  the  death  of  John,  the 
Swedish  councillors  of  state, — names  renown- 
ed in  earlier  and  latter  times :  Gyllenstern, 
Bielk,  Bauer,  Sparre,  Oxenstern — with  the 
brother  of  the  deceased  and  uncle  of  the  new 
king,  another  of  the  sons  of  Gustavus  Vasa, 
the  zealous  protestant  duke  Charles,  "assem- 
bled to  acknowledge  him  as  governor  of  the 
realm  in  his  nephew'sabsence,  and  to  promise 
him  obedience  in  all  he  should  do  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  Augsburg  confession  in 
Sweden."  With  the  same  view  a  council 
was  held  in  Upsala  in  March  1593.  The 
Augsburg  confe.ssion  was  then  proclaimed 
anew,  kmg  John's  liturgy  condemned,  and  eve- 

*  Rasguaglio  dell'  andata  del  re  di  Polonia  in  Suetia. 
(MS.  Rom.)  "  Erano  luUavia  nel  regno  alcune  reliquie 
de'  cattolici :  et  il  nunlio  seguendo  la  forma  gii  tenuta  da 
Cl-  Madruzzo  per  forliticar  I'auloriti  dell'  iniperatore, 
cercava  di  costiluire  il  re  giudice  ira  gli  cattolici  e  gli 
heretic!  di  Suetia,  inducendo  cjuelli  a  querelarsi  appresso 
il  re  del  insolenza  e  delle  ingiurie  di  qiiesti."  [There 
were  still  in  the  kingdom  soiiTe  remnants  of  the  catholic 
body  ;  and  the  nuncio,  following  the  course  already  pur- 
sued by  cardinal  Madruzzo  to  strengthen  the  aullioiity  of 
the  emperor,  endeavoured  to  constitute  the  king  judge 
between  the  catholics  and  the  heretics  of  Sweden,  incit- 
ing the  former  to  compl.iin  to  the  king  of  the  insolence 
and  injurious  conduct  of  the  latter.] 


270 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,  [a.  d.  1590-1617. 


ry  thing  even  in  the  oldest  ritual  modified, 
that  seemed  to  recall  to  mind  the  usages  of  Ca- 
tholicism,— exorcism  was  retained,  but  in  mild- 
er terms,  ,and  tor  the  sake  of  its  moral  signifi- 
cance;* a  declaration  was  also  drawn  up  that  no 
heresy,  popish  or  calvinistic,  should  be  tole- 
rated in  the  country. f  The  vacant  places 
were  now  filled  in  the  same  spirit.  Many  old 
defenders  of  the  liturgy  abjured  it;  but  all 
did  not  escape  even  so ;  some  were  deposed 
notwithstanding.  The  bishoprics,  on  the  va- 
cancy of  which  such  great  hopes  had  been 
founded  in  Rome,  were  conferred  on  Luther- 
ans; the  archbishopric  of  Upsala  was  given  to 
the  most  ardent  opponent  of  the  liturgy,  M. 
Abraham  Angermaunns,  the  clergy  thus  plac- 
ing at  their  head  the  most  zealous  Lutheran 
they  could  find,  and  by  an  overwhelming  ma- 
jority, there  being  two  hundred  and  lorty-three 
voices  for  him,  and  for  his  nearest  competitor 
but  thirty-eight. 

Under  king  John  there  had  existed  to  the 
last  a  more  temperate  state  of  public  feeling, 
less  keenly  opposed  to  the  papacy  than  in  other 
protestant  countries:  Sigismund  might  have 
easily  founded  on  this  such  a  change  as  the 
catholics  desired,  but  the  other  party  were 
beforehand  with  him ;  protestantism  had  estab- 
lished itself  more  firmly  than  ever. 

Nor  were  Sigismund's  royal  prerogatives 
spared.  He  was  in  reality  no  longer  looked 
on  purely  as  the  king,  but  rather  as  a  for- 
eigner laying  claim  to  the  throne,  as  an  apos- 
tate whom  it  was  necessary  to  watch  closely 
as  dangerous  to  religion.  The  great  majority 
of  the  nation,  unanimous  in  their  protestant 
convictions,  adhered  to  duke  Charles. 

The  king  on  his  arrival  fully  felt  his  iso- 
lated position.  He  could  do  nothing,  and  only 
sought  to  parry  the  demands  that  were  made 
upon  him. 

But  while  he  held  his  peace  and  waited, 
the  two  hostile  parties  came  into  collision. 
The  evangelical  preachers  stormed  against 
the  papists  ;  the  Jesuits  who  preached  in  the 
royal  ciiapel,  did  not  remain  behindhand  with 
their  assailants.  The  catholics  of  the  royal 
suite  took  possession  of  an  evangelical  church 
on  the  occasion  of  a  funeral ;  whereupon  the 
protestants  deemed  it  necessary  for  a  while  to 
forego  the  use  of  their  desecrated  sanctuary. 
Matters  speedily  advanced  to  open  violence. 
The  heretics  used  force  to  possess  themselves 


*  For  we  are  not  to  believe,  with  Messenius,  that  it 
was  don  ^  away  willi.  The  only  change  was  thai  of  the 
words  "Faar  har  uth,"  into  "  Wick  har  ifra;"  and  when 
duke  Charles  required  the  total  abolition  of  the  form,  he 
was  answered,  "  riiin^ndu  n  esse  exorcisinum  lanqiiam 
liberain  ceremoniam  pr0j)ter  utilem  comiiioiiefactionein 
ad  auditorium  el  baplis.ui  spectatores  pennanantem  :"  a 
view  of  the  matter  in  which  duke  Charl  s  ac(iuifsced. 
Baaz :  Invenlarium  iv.  x.  525.  In  B  laz  may  be  found  the 
doctrines  in  general  tolerably  coaipl>^le. 

t  "Concilium  definit,"  it  says  further,  "  ne  haerelicis 
advenientibus  deiur  locus  publice  convpniendi."  [The 
council  enacts  thai  no  alien  heretics  be  allowed  to  assem- 
ble publicly.] 


of  a  pulpit  which  was  closed :  the  nuncio 
was  charged  with  having  suffered  their  choir 
boys  to  be  pelted  with  stones  from  his  house, 
'i  he  rancour  of  either  party  augmented  every 
moment. 

At  last  the  court  proceeded  to  Upsala  to 
celebrate  the  coronation.  The  Swedes  de- 
manded, above  all  things,  the  ratification  of 
the  decrees  of  their  council.  The  king  re- 
sisted. He  desired  only  toleration  for  Catho- 
licism ;  he  would  have  been  content  had  he 
been  allowed  merely  the  prospect  of  confirm- 
ing this  at  some  future  time:  but  the  Swedish 
protestants  were  not  to  be  moved.  It  is  as- 
serted that  the  king's  own  sister*  told  them 
that  it  was  his  character,  after  long  and  sted- 
fast  resistance  to  give  way  at  last,  and  that 
she  inculcated  upon  them  that  they  should 
beset  him  again  and  again.  They  demanded 
peremptorily  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Augs- 
burg confession  should  alone  be  propounded 
everywhere  in  schools  and  churches.f  Duke 
Charles  stood  at  their  head.  The  position  in 
which  he  had  been  placed  gave  him  such  an 
independence  and  power  as  he  could  never 
have  anticipated.  His  personal  relations  with 
the  king  grew  continually  more  disagreeable 
and  bitter.  The  king,  as  we  have  said,  was 
almost  wholly  without  armed  force;  the  duke 
collected  a  couple  of  thousand  men  upon  his 
e.states  round  the  city.  At  last  the  estates 
flatly  declared  to  the  king,  that  they  would 
not  tender  him  their  homage  if  he  did  not 
comply  with  tiieir  demands  J 

The  poor  monarch  was  placed  in  a  painful 
dilemma.  To  accede  to  the  demands  made 
on  lum  was  revolting  to  his  conscience  ;  to  re- 
fuse was  to  lose  his  crown. 

In  his  distress  he  first  addressed  himself  to 
the  nuncio,  asking  hirn  if  they  might  not  give 
way.  There  was  no  prevailing  on  Malaspina 
to  sanction  this. 

Upon  this  the  king  turned  to  the  Jesuits  in 
his  suite.  What  the  nuncio  had  not  ventured 
to  do,  that  they  took  upon  themselves.  They 
declared  that,  in  consideration  of  the  necessi- 
ty and  the  manifest  danger  in  which  the  king 
was  involved,  he  might,  without  offence  to 
God,  grant  the  heretics  what  they  demanded. 
The  king  was  not  sati.^fied  until  he  had  this 
opinion  from  them  in  writing. 

Then,  and  not  till  then,  he  complied  with 
the  desires  of  his  subjects.  He  ratified  the  de- 
crees of  Upsala,  and  the  exclusive  use  of  the 
unaltered   Augsburg  confession,  without  the 


*  The  Ragguaglio  calls  her  "  ostinatissima  eretica."  [A 
most  obstinate  heretic] 

t  Messenius  vii.  19.  "Absolute  urgebant  ut  confessio 
Augustana,  ([Ualis  sub  ultimo  Guslavi  regimine  et  primi 
Johannis  in  palria  viguisset,  talis  in  posterum  unica  sola 
el  ubKiue  lam  in  ecclesiis  quam  in  scholis  perpeluo  flo- 
rerpt." 

$  Supplicalio  ordinum:  "  Quodsi  cl.  rex  denegaverii 
subditis  regiani  approbalionem  honim  postulalorum,  inhi- 
benl  nostri  fratres  donii  remanenles  publicum  homagium 
esse  b.  H.  M.praesiandum." 


A.  D.  1590-1617.] 


ATTEMPT  ON  SWEDEN. 


271 


admission  of  any  admixture  of  foreign  doc- 
trine either  in  church  or  school,  and  with  a 
pledge  that  no  one  should  be  employed  in  the 
public  service  who  was  not  ready  to  stand  up 
in  its  defence.*  He  recognized  the  prelates 
who  had  been  appointed  against  his  will. 

But  could  his  catholic  heart  be  tranquil 
under  these  circumstances?  Could  his  Ro- 
manist court  be  satisfied  with  a  result  it  must 
have  so  thoroughly  condemned  ?  This  was 
not  to  be  expected. 

Accordingly  the  catholic  party  proceeded 
at  last  to  a  protest,  similar  to  many  other 
elsewhere  made  on  like  occasions. 

"  The  nuncio,"  says  the  report  sent  to  Rome 
respecting  these  events,  the  words  of  which  1 
cannot  do  better  than  quote,  "  the  nuncio  ex- 
erted himself  zealously  to  remedy  the  irregu- 
larity which  had  occurred.  He  caused  the 
king  to  draw  up  a  written  protest  for  the  se- 
curity of  his  conscience,  wherein  he  declared 
that  what  he  had  granted,  he  granted  not 
with  his  will,  but  wholly  and  solely  compelled 
thereto  by  force.  Furthermore  the  nuncio 
induced  his  majesty  to  grant  corresponding 
concessions  to  the  catholics,  so  as  to  be  in 
Sweden  as  in  Poland,  under  pledges  to  both 
parties,  a  condition  under  which  the  German 
emperor  is  also  placed.  The  king  was  con- 
tent to  do  this."t 

A  singular  device  this.  A  protest  was  not 
considered  enough.  To  be  rid  in  some  de- 
gree of  an  obligation  contracted  upon  oath, 
a  contrary  oath  is  pledged  to  the  other  party: 
thus  an  engagement  entered  into  with  both 
parties,  and  the  necessity  incurred  of  extend- 
ing equal  rights  to  both. 

The  Swedes  were  astonished  that  the  king, 
after  such  solemn  pledges,  immediately  ex- 
tended an  ill-concealed  protection  to  the  ca- 
tholics. This  was  undoubtedly  the  result  of 
this  secret  obligation.      "  Before  his  depar- 


*  The  words,  however,  were  such  as  to  leave  open  a 
chance  of  evasion.  "Ad  officia  publica  nulli  proinove- 
bunlur  in  palria  qui  religionem  evangelicam  nolunt  salv- 
am,  quin  potius  qui  earn  serio  defendere  volunl  publicis 
officiis  praeficianiur."  Generalis  confirmatio  postulato- 
rum  regis  Sigisniundi  in  Baaz,  p.  537. 

t  Relatione  dello  stato  spiriiuale  e  politico  del  regno  di 
Suezia,  1598.  "  Mandi)  alcuni  senatori  Polacchi  a  darle 
parte  dello  stato  delle  cose  in  le  sue  circoslanze  e  conse- 
guenze,  e  detli  patri  dichiararono  che  presuppostn  la  ne- 
cessity e  pericolo  nel  quale  era  costituita  la  M'^'  S.  la  po- 
tesse  senza  otfender  Dio  concedere  alii  heretici  cio  che 
ricercavano,  e  la  IVIt»-  S.  per  sua  giustificazioiie  ne  voile 
uno  scritlo  da  detli  patri. — Horafatla  lacoronalione  e  con- 
cessione  pose  ogni  studio  il  nunzio  per  applicare  qu  tlche 
remedio  al  disordine  seguilo,  onde  opero  per  sicurezza 
della  conscienzadi  S.  M'»'  che  ella  faresso  una  protesta  in 
scrilto,  come  ella  non  con  la  volonl^  sua  ma  per  pura  for- 
za  si  era  indoita  a  concedere  cii>  che  aveva  concesso  ;  e 
persuase  al  smo-  re  che  concedesse  da  parte  agli  cattolici 
altrettanto  quanto  aveva  conceduto  alii  heretici,  di  modo 
che  a  guisa  dell'  imperalore  e  del  re  di  Polonia  restasse 
la  M<a-  S.  giurala  ulrique  parti.  S.  !«'•»■  si  contento  di 
farlo,  et  iminediatamente  mise  in  esecutione  le  dette  con- 
cessioni :  perche  avanti  la  sua  partenza  diede  ufficj  e  dig- 
nita  a  cattolici,  e  lascic)  in  quattro  luoghi  r(scerciliodplla 
religione  a  fece  giurare  a  quattro  governatori,  se  ben  erano 
heretici,  quali  lascif)  nel  regno,  che  haverebbero  proletto 
la  religioae  e  le  cattolici. 


ture,"  continues  the  author  of  our  report  with 
much  complacency,  "  the  king  bestowed  of- 
fices and  dignities  on  catholics,  and  caused 
four  governors,  although  they  were  heretics, 
to  swear  to  protect  the  catholics  and  their  re- 
ligion. In  four  places  he  re-e.~tablished  the 
exercise  of  the  catholic  service." 

Such  measures  as  these  might  serve  per- 
haps to  Foothe  the  troubled  conscience  of  a 
devout  king,  but  could  have  no  other  than  a 
prejudicial  efl^ect  on  the  course  of  events. 

For  these  precisely  were  the  causes  that  the 
Swedish  estates,  being  kept  in  a  state  of  con- 
tinual excitement,  rushed  into  more  decided 
opposition. 

The  clergy  reformed  their  schools  in  a  spi- 
rit of  rigid  Lutheranism,  and  ordained  a  so- 
lemn thanksgiving  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
true  religion  "  against  the  designs  and  devices 
of  the  Jesuits."  In  1-595  a  resolution  was 
passed  in  the  diet  of  Siidercoping,  that  the 
use  of  the  catholic  ritual,  wherever  the  king 
had  established  it,  should  be  again  abolished. 
"  We  unanimously  resolve,"  say  the  estates, 
"  that  all  sectarians,  who  are  opposed  to  the 
evangelical  religion,  and  who  have  taken  up 
their  abode  in  the  country,  shall  within  six 
weeks  be  removed  out  of  the  whole  realm;"* 
a  resolution  which  was  most  strictly  enforced. 
The  convent  of  Wadstena,  that  had  subsisted 
for  two  hundred  and  eleven  years,  and  had 
stood  its  ground  in  the  midst  of  so  many  com- 
motions, was  now  dissolved  and  destroyed. 
Angermanniis  held  a  visitation  such  as  was 
never  paralleled.  Whoever  neglected  to  at- 
tend the  evangelical  church  was  scourged 
with  rods;  the  archbishop  took  with  him  a 
stout  student  who  inflicted  the  chastisement 
under  his  own  eyes.  The  altars  of  the  saints 
were  destroyed,  their  relics  scattered,  and 
the  ceremonies  which  in  1593  had  been  de- 
clared indifferent,  were  abolished  in  many 
places  in  1.597. 

The  relative  position  of  Sigismund  and 
Charles  to  each  other,  gave  a  cast  of  person- 
ality to  this  movement. 

Every  thing  that  was  done  was  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  well-known  wishes  and  regulations 
of  the  king,  and  in  all  duke  Charles  had  a 
commanding  influence.  The  duke  held  the 
diets  against  the  express  commands  of  Sigis- 
mund, all  attempts  on  whose  part  to  interfere 
in  the  national  concerns,  the  former  endea- 
voured to  prevent.  Charles  procured  the 
passing  of  a  resolution,  by  virtue  of  which,  no 
rescript  of  the  king's  was  to  be  offeree,  till  it 
had  first  received  the  sanction  of  the  Swedish 
administration.! 

Charles  was  already  virtually  lord  and  sov- 

*  Acta  ecclesiae  in  conventu  Sudercop.  in  Baaz  567. 

+  "Ausa  illuslrissimi  principis  doniini  Caroli  Suder- 
manniEe  ducis  adversus  serenissimum  et  potcntis.simum 
dominum  Sigismundum  III.  regem  Sueciae  et  Poloniae  sus- 
cepta,  scripta  et  publicata  ex  mandate  S.  R.  MajeslaiiB 
proprio."    Dani.  1598. 


272 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,    [a.  d.  1590-1617* 


ereign  of  Sweden,  and  the  thought  began  to 
present  itself  to  him  of  making  himself  so  in 
name.  This  is  indicated  among  other  circum- 
stances by  a  dream  he  had  in  1595.  It  seemed 
to  him  that  at  a  banquet  in  Finland,  a  covered 
double  dish  was  set  before  him  :  he  raised 
the  cover,  and  beheld  in  one  dish  the  insignia 
of  royalty,  in  the  other  a  death's  head.  Simi- 
lar thoughts  were  afloat  in  the  nation. 

A  story  was  current  in  the  country,  that  at 
Linkoping  a  crowned  eagle  had  been  seen 
combating  with  one  uncrowned :  the  un- 
crowned bird  had  been  victorious. 

But  when  matters  had  gone  thus  far,  when 
protestant  principles  had  been  asserted  with 
such  rio-our,  and  their  champion  seemed  to 
pretend  to  royal  power,  a  party  at  last  arose 
on  behalf  of  the  king.  Some  nobles  who  had 
recourse  to  his  authority  for  support  against 
the  duke  were  banished  ;  their  adherents  re- 
mained in  the  country  :  the  country-people 
were  dissatisfied  with  the  abolition  of  all  cer- 
emonies, and  attributed  various  evils  that 
befel  the  country  to  that  cause.  In  Finland 
the  governor  Fleming  set  up  the  royal  stand- 
ard. 

This  was  a  state  of  things  that  made  it  on 
the  one  hand  necessary,  on  the  other  expedi- 
ent, for  king  Sigismund  to  as.say  his  fortune 
once  more.  This  was,  perhaps,  the  last  mo- 
ment in  which  it  was  possible  for  him  to  re- 
establish his  authority.  In  the  summer  of 
1598  he  once  more  set  out  to  take  possession 
of  his  hereditary  dominions. 

He  was  this  time  if  possible,  more  strictly 
catholic  than  before.  The  good  soul  believed 
that  many  an  evil  which  had  befallen  him 
since  his  last  journey,  amongst  others,  the 
death  of  his  wife,  had  been  inflicted  on  him 
because,  on  that  occasion,  he  had  made  con- 
cessions to  the  heretics:  with  anguish  of  heart 
he  divulged  these  painful  thoughts  to  the 
nuncio.  He  declared  he  would  rather  die  than 
again  ratify  anything  that  could  sully  the 
purity  of  his  conscience. 

But  the  interests  of  Sigismund  had  now 
acquired  some  community  with  those  of 
Europe  in  general.  Catholicism  was  making 
such  vast  progress,  that  it  regarded  an  enter- 
prize  in  so  remote  a  country  as  Sweden,  prin- 
cipally in  the  light  of  a  portion  of  a  general 
scheme. 

Already,  in  former  times,  the  Spaniards 
had  cast  their  eyes  on  the  Swedish  coasts 
during  their  contests  with  England  ;  it  had 
appea'red  to  them  that  the  possession  of  a ' 
Swedish  port  would  be  of  the  greatest  utility  ' 
to  them,  and  they  had  entered  into  negocia- 
tions  on  the  subject.  It  was  now  not  doubted 
that  Sigismund,  as  soon  as  he  was  master  in 
his  own  dominions,  would  grant  them  Elfsborg 
in  West  Gothland.  In  that  port  a  fleet  might 
easily  be  built,  kept  in  readiness  for  service, 
and  manned  with  Poles  and  Swedes.     How 


much  more  advantageously  might  war  be 
waged  against  England  from  that  port  than 
from  Spain;  she  would  then  very  soon  be 
taught  to  cease  molesting  India.  The  king's 
authority,  too,  in  Sweden,  could  not  but  de- 
rive advantage  from  an  alliance  with  the 
catholic  king.* 

But  there  was  yet  more  to  be  considered : 
the  catholics  contemplated  the  probability  of 
their  acquiring  mastery  in  Finland,  and  on 
the  shores  of  the  Baltic.  From  Finland  they 
hoped  to  make  a  successful  attack  on  Russia, 
and  by  the  possession  of  the  Baltic  sea,  to  be 
able  to  reduce  the  duchy  of  Prussia  under 
their  dominion.  The  electoral  house  of  Bran- 
denburg had  not  yet  been  able,  by  any  nego- 
ciation,  to  obtain  the  investiture  of  this  fief; 
the  nuncio  asserted  that  the  king  was  resolved 
not  to  grant  it,  but  to  annex  the  duchy  to  the 
crown.  He  strove  with  all  his  might  to  con- 
firm him  in  that  design,  chiefly,  of  course, 
from  religious  considerations ;  for  never  would 
the  house  of  Brandenburg  consent  to  the  re- 
establishment  of  Catholicism  in  Prussia.! 

If  we  reflect,  on  the  one  hand,  on  the  range 
of  ulterior  views  which  depended  on  the 
king's  success, — no  very  improbable  event 
after  all, — and,  on  the  other,  on  the  general 
importance  to  which  Sweden  would  be  raised 
if  protestantism  proved  victorious  in  that 
kingdom,  we  shall  then  perceive  that  the 
present  moment  was  that  of  a  great  crisis  in 
the  history  of  Europe. 

Zamoisky  had  advised  the  king  to  advance 
at  the  head  of  a  strong  army,  and  subdue 
Sweden  by  force.  Sigismund  held  such  a 
course  unnecessary ;  he  would  not  believe 
that  there  was  any  thought  of  offering  him  a 
forcible  resistance  in  his  hereditary  domi- 
nions. He  had  with  him,  however,  about 
five  thousand  men,  with  whom  he  landed 
without  opposition  in  Calmar,  whence  he  set 
out  for  Stockholm ;  another  division  of  his 
troops  had  already  arrived  there,  and  been 
admitted  into  the  city,  whilst  a  body  of  Fin- 
landers  advanced  upon  Upland. 

Meanwhile  duke  Charles  had  also  taken  up 
arras.  If  the  king  triumphed,  there  was 
plainly  an  end  to  the  duke's  power,  and  to 
the  ascendancy  of  protestantism.  Whilst  his 
Upland  peasants  held  the  Finlanders  in  check, 

*  Relatione  dello  stato  spiriluale  e  politico.  The  pro- 
posal was:  "Che  a  spese  del  cattolico  si  mantenga  un 
presidio  nella  fortezza  che  guardi  il  porio,  sopra  lo  quale 
njuna  superiority  habbia  il  cattolico,  ma  consegni  lo  sti- 
pendio  per  esso  presidio  al  re  di  Polonia."  [That  a  garri- 
son should  be  maintained  at  the  expense  of  h:s  catholic 
majesty  in  the  fortress  commanding  the  port,  over  which 
garrison  his  catholic  majesty  should  have  no  authority, 
but  should  consign  its  pay  to  the  king  of  Poland.] 

t  Relatione  di  Polonia,  1598.  '-Atteso  che  si  rimarri 
il  ducato  nelle  Brandeburehesi  non  si  pu:)  aspetlare  d' 
introdurre  la  religione  cattolica,  si  moslra  S.  M'a-  risoluto 
di  voler  ricuperare  il  detlo  ducato."  [Seeing  that  if  the 
duchy  remains  in  the  hands  of  the  Brandenburgh  family, 
there  can  be  no  hope  of  introducing  the  catholic  religion 
there,  his  majesty  appears  resolved  on  recovering  posses- 
sion of  the  said  duchy.] 


A.  D.  1590-1617.] 


DESIGNS  ON  RUSSIA, 


273 


he  himself,  with  a  regular  military  force, 
threw  himself  in  the  king's  way  as  he  march- 
ed by  Stegeborg,  demanding  the  withdrawal 
of  the  royal  army,  and  the  reference  of  all 
matters  in  dispute  to  a  diet ;  on  these  terms 
being  agreed  to,  he  would  disband  his  forces. 
The  king  would  not  yield  to  them,  and  the 
two  hostile  bodies  advanced  against  each 
other. 

Their  numbers  were  inconsiderable, — a  few 
thousand  men  on  either  side;  but  the  result 
of  the  conflict  was  not  the  less  serious  and  of 
enduring  effect,  than  if  it  had  been  brought 
about  by  vast  armies. 

Every  thing  depended  on  the  personal  cha- 
racter of  the  princes.  Charles,  his  own  ad- 
viser, was  a  daring,  resolute  man  ;  and,  what 
was  most  important,  he  was  in  actual  posses- 
sion. Sigismund,  dependent  on  others,  was 
weak,  good-natured,  no  soldier ;  and  now  he 
was  placed  under  the  unhappy  necessity  of 
conquering  the  kingdom  that  was  his  own  of 
right ;  the  legitimate  king  indeed,  but  com- 
pelled to  do  battle  against  the  king  de  facto. 

Twice  the  troops  engaged  each  other  near 
Stangebro.  On  the  first  occasion  they  met 
rather  by  chance  than  design ;  the  king  had 
the  advantage,  and  is  said  himself  to  have 
checked  the  carnage  of  the  Swedes ;  but  in 
the  second  engagement,  the  Dalecarlians  hav- 
ing come  to  the  duke's  support,  and  his  fleet 
being  arrived,  he  had  the  upper  hand.  No 
one  checked  the  slaughter  of  the  Poles.  Sig- 
ismund sufiered  a  total  defeat,  and  was  forced 
to  yield  to  whatever  was  demanded  of  him.* 

He  even  consented  to  deliver  up  the  few 
faithful  adherents  he  had  found,  to  be  judged 
by  a  Swedish  tribunal.  For  himself,  he  pro- 
mised to  submit  to  the  decision  of  the  diet. 

This,  however,  was  only  a  subterfuge, 
caught  at  in  the  perplexities  of  the  moment. 
Instead  of  attending  the  diet,  where  he  would 
have  had  but  to  play  the  melancholy  part  of 
the  vanquished,  he  set  sail  with  the  first 
favourable  wind  for  Dantzig. 

He  flattered  himself  with  the  hope  that 
some  other  time,  in  some  happier  moment,  he 
would  at  last  become  master  of  his  inherit- 
ance ;  but  by  thus  withdrawing  from  it,  he, 
in  fact,  abandoned  it  to  itself,  and  to  the  para- 
mount influence  of  his  uncle,  who  did  not 
scruple,  after  some  time,  to  assume  the  title, 
as  well  as  the  authority,  of  king ;  and  then, 
so  far  from  waiting  the  assault  of  war  on 
Swedish  ground,  carried  it  himself  into  Po- 
land, where  it  was  waged  with  varying 
success  on  either  side. 

Designs  on  Russia. 

In  a  short  while,  however,  it  seemed  as  if 

*  Piacessi  Chronicon  gestorum  in  Europa  singulariunn 
p.  159.  Extracts  from  the  letters  of  the  princes  in  Geijer  ■' 
Schwedische  Geschichie  ii.  §  305. 

35 


the  frustration  of  this  enterprise  was  to  be 
made  good  by  happy  results  elsewhere. 

It  is  well  known  how  often  already  the 
pope  had  conceived  hopes  of  gaining  over 
Russia.  Adrian  VI.  and  Clement  VII.  had 
made  the  attempt ;  then  Passevin,  the  Jesuit, 
had  tried  his  fortune  with  Iwan  VVasiljowitsch. 
Again,  in  1594,  Clement  VIII.  sent  a  cer- 
tain Comuleo  to  Moscow,  with  more  than 
usual  confidence  in  his  success,  since  he  was 
acquainted  with  the  language.  But  all  these 
efforts  were  vain.  Boris  Godunow  broadly 
asserted  that  "  Moscow  was  now  the  true 
orthodox  Rome,"  and  caused  himself  to  be 
prayed  for  as  "  the  only  Christian  ruler  in  the 
world." 

The  more  welcome,  under  these  circum- 
stances, was  the  prospect  most  unexpectedly 
presented  by  the  rise  of  the  false  Demetrius. 

Demetrius  attached  himself  almost  more  to 
the  religious  than  to  the  political  interests  of 
Poland. 

It  was  to  a  catholic  confessor  he  first  re- 
vealed himself  Fathers  of  the  company  of 
Jesus  were  despatched  to  examine  him;  atler 
which  Rangone,  the  nuncio,  espoused  his 
cause.  The  latter  declared  to  him,  at  their 
very  first  meeting,  that  he  had  nothing  to 
hope,  unless  he  abjured  the  schismatic  reli- 
gion and  adopted  the  catholic.  Demetrius 
made  no  great  difficulty  in  complying ;  he  had 
already  given  a  previous  promise  to  that 
effect.  On  the  following  Sunday  his  recan- 
tation took  place.*  To  his  great  delight  Sig- 
ismund hereupon  acknowledged  him,  which 
he  justly  ascribed  to  the  interposition  of  the 
legate,  promising  him  in  return  that  he  would 
do  all  tliat  lay  in  his  power  for  the  propaga- 
tion and  defence  of  the  catholic  faith.f 

The  promise  forthwith  acquired  vast  im- 
portance. His  tale  was  hardly  believed  in 
Poland ;  but  how  great  was  the  astonishment 
of  all,  when  the  needy  fugitive  shortly  after- 
wards actually  took  possession  of  the  palace 
of  the  czars.  The  sudden  death  of  his  prede- 
cessor, which  was  looked  on  by  the  populace 
as  a  Divine  judgment,  very  probably  contri- 
buted most  to  the  event. 

Demetrius  now  renewed  his  pledge ;  he 
welcomed  the  nephew  of  the  nuncio  with 
marks  of  high  esteem  and  reverence ;  and  on 
the  arrival,  soon  afterwards,  of  his  Polish 
consort,  with  a  numerous  suite,  not  only  of 
cavaliers  and  ladies,  but,  above  all,  of  monks, 
— Dominicans,  Franciscans,  and  Jesuits,^  he 

*  Allessandro  Cilli :  Hisloria  di  Moscovia,  p.  11.  CiUi 
was  present  at  this  act.  In  Karamiin,  x.  p.  109,  of  the 
translation,  there  is  a  passage  not  taken  so  accurately 
from  Cilli  as  it  may  appear.  Karamsin  did  not  even 
understand  Cilli.  We  tio  not  find  in  the  latter  anything 
lilce  the  words  Karamsin  has  put  into  the  mouth  of  Deme- 

t  Cilli:  -'Con  rinnovare  insieme  la  promessa  dell 
auguiiiento  e  difesa  per  quanto  havessero  poiuio  le  sue 
forze  e  nel  suo  imperio  e  fuori  di  quello  della  santo  fede 
cattolica." 

t  Cilli,  p.  66. 


274 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,    [a.  d.  1590-1617. 


seemed  bent  on  faithfully  executing  his  pro- 
mise. 

But  this  was  the  very  means  that  most 
contributed  to  his  downfall.  That  which  pro- 
cured him  the  support  of  the  Poles,  deprived 
him  of  the  goodwill  of  the  Russians.  They 
said  he  did  not  eat  and  bathe  like  them ;  that 
he  did  not  revere  the  saints ;  that  he  was  a 
heathen,  and  had  placed  an  unbaptized  hea- 
then bride  on  the  throne  of  Moscow; — it  was 
impossible  that  he  should  be  a  son  of  the 
czars.* 

Some  inexplicable  conviction  had  induced 
them  to  recognize  him  ;  by  another  that  pos- 
sessed them  with  still  greater  force,  they  felt 
themselves  impelled  to  hurl  him  from  the 
throne. 

The  true  primary  force  in  this  case,  too, 
was  religion.  In  Russia,  as  well  as  in  Swe- 
den, a  power  arose,  which,  from  its  very  origin 
and  nature,  was  opposed  to  the  tendencies  of 
Catholicism. 

Internal  commotions  in  Poland. 

Abortive  enterprises  against  a  foreign  foe 
have  commonly  the  eflect  of  stirring  up  do- 
mestic troubles.  A  movement  now  began  in 
Poland,  that  made  it  doubtful  whether  the 
king  would  be  able  to  persist  in  the  system 
with  which  he  had  begun  his  reign.  Its 
causes  were  as  follows. 

King  Sigismund  did  not  always  maintain  a 
good  understanding  with  those  by  whose  ef- 
forts he  had  obtained  the  crown.  They  had 
called  on  him  to  oppose  Austria;  whereas  he, 
on  the  contrary,  closely  allied  himself  with 
that  power.  Twice  he  selected  his  consort 
from  the  line  of  Gratz,  and  he  once  incurred 
suspicion  of  a  design  to  make  the  crown  pass 
to  that  family. 

This  conduct  had  been  enough  to  disgust 
the  chancellor  Zamoisky ;  but  what  exaspe- 
rated him  still  more  was,  that  the  king,  to 
make  himself  independent  even  of  his  friends 
and  supporters,  not  unfrequently  advanced 
their  rivals  to  the  more  important  places,  and 
admitted  them  into  the  senate. f 

For  the  senate  was  the  chief  instrument  of 
power  which  Sigismund  endeavoured  to  em- 
ploy. He  filled  it  with  individuals  devoted  to 
his  own  person,  and  made  it  likewise  entirely 
catholic ;  the  bishops,  nominated  under  the 
influence  of  the  legate,  constituted  in   that 

*  Miiller:  Sammlung  Russischer  Gesch.  v.  377,  re- 
marks, thai  Iplters  from  the  pope  were  found  upon  him. 

t  Cilli :  Historia  deUe  sollevalioni  di  Polonia,  160G- 
1608,  Pisloria,  1627 — an  anlhorihe  more  trustworthy,  as  he 
was  long  in  the  king's  service — sets  forth  in  the  very  be- 
ginning how  powerful  was  Zamoisky :  "  Zamoskhi  si 
voleva  alquanio  della  regia  aulorit^  usurpare.'  [Za- 
moisky was  disposed  to  usurp  somewhat  of  the  royal 
authority :]  but  he  tells,  too,  how  the  king  withstood  him, 
"essendo  patrons  S.  Mti'  nnii  solo  di  conferire  le  digniti 
del  regno,  ma  anco  le  stesse  entrate."  [His  majesty 
having  at  his  absolute  disposal  not  only  the  dignities  of 
the  kingdom,  but  also  the  revenues  themselves] 


assembly  a  strong,  and  gradually  a  dominant 
party. 

But  this  system  was  directly  productive  of 
a  twofold  opposition  of  extreme  moment,  as 
regarded  the  constitution  of  Poland,  and  the 
interests  of  religion. 

The  provincial  deputies  set  themselves  in 
opposition  to  the  senate  as  a  political  body. 
As  the  latter  adhered  to  the  king,  so  the  for- 
mer attached  themselves  to  Zamoisky,*  whom 
they  held  in  unbounded  reverence,  and  who 
derived  from  their  devotion,  a  consequence 
almost  equal  to  that  of  royalty.  Such  a  posi- 
tion must  have  had  peculiar  charms  for  an 
enterprising  magnate.  It  was  filled  after  the 
chancellor's  death,  by  Zebrzydowski,  palatine 
of  Cracow. 

The  protestants  joined  this  party.  It  was, 
in  fact,  to  the  bishops  they  both  alike  attribu- 
ted their  grievances,  these  on  account  of  their 
temporal,  those  on  account  of  then*  spiritual 
influence.  The  protestants  were  indignant, 
that  in  a  commonwealth  like  that  of  Poland, 
based  on  the  free  consent  of  parties,  well-won 
rights  were  continually  violated,  that  men  of 
low  grade  were  raised  to  eminent  offices,  and 
men  of  good  blood  were  forced  to  obey  them. 
These  sentiments  were  shared  by  many  ca- 
tholics.f 

There  can  be  no  question  that  this  admix- 
ture of  religious  motives  gave  additional  viru- 
lence to  the  political  commotions. 

After  the  repeated  allegation  of  grievances, 
the  refusal  of  subsidies,  and  the  dissolution  of 
the  diet,  all  in  vain, — the  malcontents  at  last 
adopted  the  only  remaining  means,  and  sum- 
moded  the  whole  body  of  nobility,  to  the  Ro- 
koss.  The  Rokoss  was  a  legal  form  of  insur- 
rection, whereby  the  assembled  nobles  as- 
sumed the  right  of  putting  the  senate  and  the 
king  on  their  trial.  In  this  assembly,  the  pro- 
testants were  the  more  important,  inasmuch 
as  they  combined  with  the  followers  of  the 
Greek  faith. 

The  king,  however,  had  likewise  his  adhe- 
rents. The  nuncio  kept  the  bishops  together  ;| 
the  bishops  gave  the  senate  its  bias :  a  league 
was  resolved  on  in  defence  of  the  king  and  of 
religion,  and  the  favourable  moment  was  pru- 
dently seized,  to  put  an  end  to  the  old  dissen- 
sions between  the  laity  and  the  clergy.  The 
king's  firmness  proved  inflexible  even  in  the 
hour  of  danger;  his  cause  was  just,  and  he 
relied  on  God. 

And,  in  fact,  he  gained  the  upper  hand. 
He  dissolved  the  Rokoss  in  October  1606,  just 

♦  Piasecius:  "Zamoyscius  cujus  autoritate  potissimum 
nitebatur  ordo  nunciorum."  From  this  time  forth  the 
country  delegates  grew  powerful;  one  party  supported 
the  other. 

tCelli:  "  Gli  eretici  spalleggiati  da  cattivi  cattolici 
facevano  gran  forza  pel-  otlenerela  confederatione." 

t  "  II  nuntio  Rangone  con  sua  destrezza  e  diligenza 
tenno  e  conserve)  in  fede  niolti  di  principali."  [The  nun- 
cio Rangone,  by  his  address  and  perseverance,  kept  many 
leading  men  fast  in  their  faith.] 


A.D.  1590-1617.]         INTERNAL  COMMOTIONS  IN  POLAND. 


275 


at  the  time  when  a  great  number  of  its  mem- 
bers had  withdrawn :  in  July  1607,  the  par- 
ties came  to  a  reofular  engagement.  With 
the  cry  of  "Jesu  Maria,"  they  royal  troops 
rushed  upon  the  enemy  and  routed  them. 
Zebrzydowski,  fo«r  a  while,  still  kepi  the  field, 
but  he  was  compelled  to  submit  in  1608.  A 
general  amnesty  was  proclaimed. 

Now,  therefore,  the  administration  was  at 
liberty  to  pursue  the  catholic  course  it  had 
entered  upon. 

The  anti-catholics  were  excluded  from  pub- 
lic employment,  and  Rome  was  incessant  in 
its  praises  of  the  effects  produced  by  this  sys- 
tem.* "  A  protestant  prince, — a  prince  who 
should  bestow  appointments  in  equal  propor- 
tions on  both  parties,  would  fill  the  land  with 
heretics;  for  men  are  evermore  ruled  by  pri- 
vate interest :  but  since  the  king  is  so  stead- 
fast, the  nobility  follow  his  will." 

Restraints  were  also  imposed  on  the  pro- 
testant service  in  the  royal  towns.  "  With- 
out recurring  to  open  force,"  says  a  papal  in- 
struction, •'  the  inhabitants  are  yet  compelled 
to  become  converts. f 

The  nuncio  took  care  that  the  supreme 
courts  should  be  filled  with  judges  well  dis- 
posed to  the  catholic  church,  and  conducted 
"  in  accordance  with  the  holy  canonical  max- 
ims." Mixed  marriages  were  then  matters 
of  peculiar  importance.  The  supreme  court 
would  not  acknowledge  any  which  were  not 
solemnized  in  presence  of  the  parish  priest 
and  some  witnesses :  but  the  parish  priests 
refused  to  hallow  mixed  marrriages ;  it  was 
no  wonder  therefore,  if  many  persons  became 
catholics  simply  to  avoid  prejudicing  their 
children.  Others  were  compelled  to  take  the 
same  course,  because  the  possession  of  church 
patronage  by  protestants,  was  made  subject 
of  litigation.  A  state  possesses  a  thousand 
means  of  promoting  a  system  of  opinion  which 
it  regards  with  favour;  and  these  were  all 
employed  in  the  present  case,  as  far  as  was 
possible  without  direct  compulsion  ;  the  work 
of  conversion  went  on  noiselessly,  but  unceas- 
ingly. Undoubtedly  the  earnestness  and  en- 
ergy with  which  the  nuncios  administered  the 

*  Instruclione  e  V.  Sria.  M^.  di  Torrps :  "  II  re  benchfi 
nalo  di  patre  e  fra  popoli  ereclici,  6  taiilo  pio  e  lanto  di- 
volo  e  di  santi  costumi  guernito,  che  denuo  a  Roma  non 
avrebbe  potuto  nascere  o  allevaisene  un  mi.^liore,  impe- 
rocch^  havendo  esso  con  la  longhezza  del  rpgnare  miitati 
i  senatori  eretici,  che  se  ire  ne  WxW  erano  tuUi,  gli  ha 
fatto  divenire,  levaline  due  o  Ire,  luUi  quanli  caliolici." 
[The  kins,  though  born  of  a  heretic  father,  and  among  a 
heretic  people,  is  so  pious  and  devout,  and  adorned  with 
such  sanctity  of  conduct,  that  a  better  man  could  not  have 
been  born  or  reared  in  Rome  ;  for  having,  in  the  course  of 
his  reign,  changed  the  senators  from  heretics,  as  they 
were  all  except  three,  he  has  made  them,  all  but  two  or 
three,  become  catholics.]  Their  principle  was:  "  Le 
cose  spiriluali  seguono  il  corso  delle  lemporali."  [Spi- 
ritual things  follow  the  course  of  temporal.] 

t  Instruttione  a  Mr.  Lancelotti :  "  La  conforti  (the  king) 
grandemente  a  vietareche  nella  citti  retria,  che  da  lei  di- 
pendono  altro  esercitio  di  religione  che  il  cattolico  si 
comporti,  n6  permetta  che  v'  abbiano  tempi  "^  sinagoge 
loro :  poich6  si  vengono  per  tal  dolce  modo  senza  violenza 
espressa  a  far  converiire  o  a  mutar  paese." 


affairs  of  the  church,  had  a  great  share  in  this 
result.  They  made  it  their  care  that  the 
bishoprics  should  be  filled  by  none  but  well 
qualified  men,  they  visited  the  convents,  and 
put  a  stop  to  the  practice  of  sending  to  Poland 
disobedient  and  turbulent  members  from  other 
places,  where  they  were  glad  to  be  rid  of 
them.  They  also  directed  their  attention  to 
the  parochial  clergy,  and  they  endeavoured  to 
introduce  psalmody  and  schools  into  the  par- 
ishes. They  insisted  on  the  establishment  of 
episcopal  seminaries. 

The  Jesuits  were  particularly  active  agents 
of  the  nuncios.  We  find  them  at  work  in  all 
the  provinces,  among  the  docile  Livonians ;  in 
Lithuania,  where  they  had  to  root  out  the  lin- 
gering relics  of  the  old  serpent  worship; 
among  the  Greeks,  where  the  Jesuits  were 
frequently  the  only  catholic  priests  ;  they  had 
often  to  baptize  youths  of  eighteen,  and  they 
fell  in  with  men  in  years  who  had  never  par- 
taken of  the  Lord's  supper.  But  above  all, 
they  were  employed  in  Poland  Proper,  where, 
as  a  member  of  the  order  boasts,  "  hundreds 
of  learned,  orthodox,  and  godly  men  of  the 
order,  were  busy  in  rooting  out  errors,  and 
sowing  the  seeds  of  catholic  piety,  by  schools 
and  associations,  with  voice  and  pen."* 

Here  too,  they  awoke  the  same  enthusiasm 
as  usual  in  the  minds  of  their  followers ;  but 
it  was  most  unhappily  combined  with  the  in- 
solence of  an  overbearing  young  nobility. 
The  king  avoided  overt  acts  of  violence :  the 
pupils  of  the  Jesuits  deemed  themselves  au- 
thorized to  commit  them. 

They  not  unfrequently  celebrated  Ascen- 
sion day  by  making  an  assault  upon  the  evan- 
gelical party,  breaking  into  their  houses,  pil- 
laging and  destroying.  Woe  to  him  whom 
they  caught  in  his  house,  or  even  met  in  the 
streets. 

In  1606,  the  church  of  the  evangelists  in 
Cracow  was  stormed,  and  the  church  yard  in 
1607:  the  dead  bodies  were  torn  out  of  the 
graves.  In  1611,  the  churches  of  the  protest- 
ants in  Wilna,  were  demolished,  and  the 
priests  abused  or  killed.  In  IGl.^,  there  ap- 
peared, in  Posen,  a  book  maintaining  that  the 
evangelicals  had  no  right  to  reside  in  that 
city  :  next  year  the  Jesuit  students  destroyed 
the  Bohemian  church,  not  leaving  one  stone 
on  another,  and  the  Lutheran  church  was 
burnt.  The  like  doings  were  seen  in  other 
places:  in  some,  the  protestants  were  con- 
strained by  the  incessant  attacks  on  them  to 
dispose  of  their  churches.  Ere  long,  the  mis- 
chief was  not  confined  to  the  towns  :  the  stu- 
dents of  Cracow  burned  the  neighbouring 
churches  in  the  country.  In  Podlachia  an 
aged  evangelical  clergyman  named  Burkuw, 
was  walking  before  his  carriage,  leaning  on 
his  staff;  a  Polish  nobleman,  driving  in  the 

*  Argentus  de  rebus  socielalis  Jesu  in  regno  Poloniae, 
1615 :  il  might  easily  be  more  instmctive. 


276 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.     SECOND  PERIOD,     [a.  d.  1590-1617, 


opposite  direction,  ordered  his  coachman  to 
run  his  horses  straight  at  him  ;  before  the  old 
man  could  step  aside,  he  was  knocked  down, 
and  he  died  of  the  injuries  he  received.* 

But  with  all  that  was  done,  protestantism 
was  not  to  be  extinguished.  The  king  was 
bound  by  a  promise  which  he  had  not  the 
power  to  retract.  The  nobles  remained  free 
from  constraint,  and  did  not  all  recant  imme- 
diately. At  times,  after  numerous  judgments 
unfavourable  to  the  protestant  cause,  a  favour- 
able one  was  given,  and  here  and  there  a 
church  was  restored  to  the  Lutherans.  In  the 
towns  of  Polish  Prussia,  the  protestants  al- 
ways constituted  the  majority.  It  was  still 
more  difficult  to  get  rid  of  the  Greeks;  the 
union  of  1595,  excited  disgust  much  more 
than  imitation.  The  dissenting  party  consist- 
ing of  protestants  and  Greeks,  was  always 
oneof  great  importance  ;  the  most  industrious 
towns,  and  the  most  warlike  tribes,  such  as 
the  Cossacks,  lent  peculiar  cogency  to  their 
demands.  Their  opposition  was  the  more^ 
formidable,  as  it  was  day  by  day  more  strongly 
backed  by  their  neighbours  the  Russians  and 
Swedes,  who  had  successfully  withstood  all 
efforts  to  subdue  them. 

5  2.  Continuation  of  a  counter-reformat ioii 
in  Germany. 

"Wholly  different  were  the  principles  enter- 
tained in  Germany,  where  every  prince  held 
it  to  be  his  undoubted  right  to  arrange  the  re- 
ligion of  his  own  dominions  according  to  his 
own  notions. 

The  movement  begun  in  favour  of  Catholi- 
cism proceeded  therelbre  without  much  assist- 
ance from  the  imperial  power,  and  without 
attracting  extraordinary  attention. 

The  ecclesiastical  princes  in  particular,  con- 
ceived it  to  be  their  duty  to  bring  back  their 
territories  to  Catholicism. 

We  now  find  among  them  men  trained  in 
the  schools  of  the  Jesuits :  Johann  Adam  von 
Bicken,  elector  of  Mainz  from  1601  to  1604, 
was  a  pupil  of  the  Collegium  Germanicum  in 
Rome.  He  once  heard  in  the  castle  of  Kon- 
igstein,  the  Lutheran  congregation  of  the 
place  singing  hyms  in  the  funeral  service  over 
their  deceased  pastor.  "  Let  them,"  he  ex- 
claimed, "give  their  synagogue  decent  bu- 
rial !"  The  next  Sunday  a  Jesuit  ascended 
the  pulpit,  and  from  that  day  forth  it  was 
never  again  filled  by  a  Lutheran  preacher. 
The  same  occurred  elsevvhere.f  What  Bicken 
left  incomplete,  his  successor  Johann  Schweik-' 
ard  zealously  continued.  He  was  a  man  who 
loved  the  pleasures  of  the  table,  but  he  held 
the  reins  of  government  for  all  that  in  his  own 
liands,  and  displayed  uncommon  talent  as  a 


*  Wengerscii  Sluvonia  reformala,  p.  224.  232.  23G.  211. 
247. 
t  Serarius:  Res  Moguniinae,  p.  973. 


ruler.  He  succeeded  in  completing  the  coun- 
ter reformation  in  his  whole  diocese,  and  even 
in  Eichsfeld.  He  sent  a  commission  to  Heili- 
genstadt,  which,  within  the  space  of  two  years, 
brought  back  200  citizens  to  the  catholic  faith, 
among  them  many  who  had  grown  grey  in 
protestantism.  Some  still  held  out,  whom 
he  admonished  personally  "as  their  father 
and  shepherd,"  as  he  said,  "out  of  the  sin- 
cerity of  his  inmost  heart,"  and  he  prevailed 
on  them  to  conform.  It  was  with  extraordi- 
nary satisfaction  he  saw  a  city  return  to  Catho- 
licism, that  for  forty  years  had  been  entirely 
protestant.* 

Similar  were  the  proceedings  of  Ernest  and 
Ferdinand  of  Cologne,  both  of  them  Bavarian 
princes,  and  of  the  elector  Lothaire  of  the 
house  of  Metternich  of  Trier,  a  distinguished 
prince  of  shrewd  understanding,  with  a  happy 
talent  for  overcoming  the  difficulties  that  be- 
set him,  prompt  in  his  justice,  vigilant  in  pro- 
moting the  interests  both  of  his  dominions  and 
of  his  family,  and  in  general  an  affable  man 
and  not  over  rigorous,  provided  religion  was 
not  in  question :  he  tolerated  no  protestants  at 
his  coirrt.f  To  these  distinguished  names 
Neithard  von  Thiingen,  bishf)p  of  Bamberg, 
added  his  own.  When  he  took  possession  of 
his  capital  he  found  the  great  council  wholly 
protestant,  with  the  exception  of  two  members. 
He  had  already  stood  by  bishop  Julian  in 
Wiirzburg,  and  now  resolved  to  adopt  the 
measures  of  that  prince  in  Bamberg.  He  im- 
mediately published  his  reformation  edict  to 
take  effect  at  Christmas  1595.  Its  tenour  was, 
the  Lord's  Supper  according  to  the  catholic 
ritual,  or  banishment;  and  although  chapter, 
nobles,  and  landed  proprietors  opposed  him, 
and  the  most  urgent  remonstrances  were  ad- 
dressed to  him  by  his  neighbours,  yet  we  find 
the  reformation  edict  regularly  published  every 
year,  and  enforced  in  all  its  provisions.|  Theo- 
dore von  Fiirstenberg,  rivalled  in  Paderborn 
the  efforts  of  the  bishop  of  Bamberg.  In  the 
year  1596,  he  imprisoned  all  the  priests  of  his 
diocese  who  administered  the  Lord's  Supper 
in  the  two  kinds.  This  naturally  produced  a 
rupture  between  him  and  his  nobility,  and  we 
find  bishops  and  nobles  engaged  in  driving 
each  other's  cattle  and  horses.  He  also  be- 
came involved  at  last  in  an  open  feud  with 
the  city.  Unfortunately  a  turbulent  dema- 
gogue arose  in  Paderborn,  who  was  not  pos- 
sessed of  the  powers  adequate  to  the  high  sta- 
tion into  which  he  had  thrust  himself  In  the 
year  1601,  Paderborn  was  forced  to  do  homage 
anew.  Thereupon  the  Jesuit  college  was 
most  sumptuously  endowed,  and  an  edict  was 

*Wolf:  Geschichte  vonlleiligpnstadt,  S.  63.  Between 
1581  and  ICOl  there  were  counted  497  converts,  of  which 
15118  had  proportionally  the  greatest  number,  viz.  73. 

I  Masenius,  Continuatio  Broweri,  p.  474. 

t  Jiick :  Geschichte  von  Bamberg,  e.  g.  iii.  212. 199  ;  or, 
indeed,  passim,  for  this  history  irtats  particularly  of  the 
anli-reforniation. 


A.  D.  1590-1617.]      COUNTER  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 


277 


promulgated  as  in  Bamberg,  allowing  but  the 
alternative  of  the  mass  or  exile.  Bamberg 
and  Paderborn  gradually  became  wholly  ca- 
tholic* 

Most  remarkable  is  the  rapid,  yet  persistent 
change  which  was  effected  in  all  these  coun- 
tries. Are  we  to  suppose  that  protestantism 
had  not  taken  firm  root  in  the  heart  of  the 
multitude,  or  are  we  to  attribute  the  pheno- 
menon to  the  operations  of  the  Jesuits  1  At 
least  they  showed  no  lack  of  zeal  and  pru- 
dence. From  every  point  where  they  fixed 
themselves  they  spread  in  wide  circles.  They 
possessed  the  arts  requisite  to  captivate  the 
crowd  ;  their  churches  were  the  most  fre- 
quented ;  they  always  boldly  grappled  with 
the  most  prominent  difficulties ;  was  there 
any  where  a  Lutheran  strong  in  Scriptural 
knowledge,  in  whose  judgment  his  neighbours 
placed  some  reliance,  they  used  every  effort 
to  gain  him  over,  and  in  this,  their  practised 
skill  in  controversy  seldom  left  them  without 
success.  They  were  forward  in  acts  of  charity 
and  kindness,  they  healed  the  sick  and  strove 
to  reconcile  enemies.  Those  whom  they  pre- 
vailed over  and  converted  they  bound  to  them 
by  sacred  oaths.  Multitudes  of  the  faithful 
were  seen  visiting  every  place  of  pilgrimage 
under  iheir  banners ;  men  who  had  been  the 
most  zealous  of  protestants  joined  the  proces- 
sions. 

The  Jesuits  had  educated  not  only  spiritual 
but  also  temporal  princes.  At  the  close  of  the 
sixteenth  century  their  two  illustrious  pupils 
Ferdinand  II.  and  Maximilian  I.  came  forward 
on  the  stage  of  Europe. 

It  is  asserted,  tliat  when  the  young  arch- 
duke Ferdinand  celebrated  Easter  in  the  year 
1596  in  his  capital  of  Gratz,  he  was  the  only 
individual  who  received  the  sacrament  accord- 
ing to  the  catholic  ritual,  and  that  there  were 
but  three  catholics  in  the  whole  city.f 

In  fact,  afler  the  death  of  the  archduke 
Charles,  the  efforts  in  favour  of  Catholicism 
had  dwindled  away  during  the  minority  of  his 
successor,  under  a  not  very  strong  regency. 
The  protestants  had  resumed  the  churches  of 
which  they  had  been  despoiled,  and  streng- 
thened their  schools  at  Gratz  by  the  accession 
of  new  and  able  teachers,  and  the  nobility  had 
formed  a  committee  to  resist  all  attempts  that 
might  be  made  to  the  prejudice  of  protestan- 
tism. 

Despite  of  all  this,  Ferdinand  instantly  re- 
solved on  proceeding  to  the  prosecution  and 
completion  of  the  counter  reformation.  To 
this  he  was  impelled  by  motives  of  religion 


*  Slrunk:  Annates  Paderborn,  lib.  xxii.  p.  720. 

t  Hansiiz  Gerniania  Sacra,  ii.  p.  712.  "NumerusLu- 
theri  seclatonimtantusut  ex  inquilinis  Gracensibus  paene 
cunclis  invenirentur  avitae  ficlei  cullores  ires  non  amp- 
lius."  [Such  is  the  number  of  Luther's  sectaries,  Ihatnol 
more  than  three  adherents  to  the  ancient  fftith  could  be 
found  among  almost  all  the  inhabitants  of  Griitz.]  The 
"psene  cunclis,"  [almost  all]  it  must  be  owned,  makes 
the  matter  ambiguous. 


and  policy  combined.  He  too,  he  said,  was 
determined  to  be  master  in  his  own  dominions, 
as  well  as  the  elector  of  Saxony,  or  the  elec- 
tor of  Palatine.  If  the  peril  was  suggested 
to  him  which  might  attend  an  inroad  of  the 
Turks  during  the  existence  of  civil  discord  in 
his  dominions,  his  answer  was,  that  it  was  not 
till  afler  the  act  of  conversion  should  have 
been  accomplished,  that  his  people  could  count 
on  Divine  assistance.  In  the  year  1.597,  Fer- 
dinand betook  himself  to  Rome  by  way  of 
Loretto  to  cast  himself  at  the  feet  of  Clement 
VIII.  He  made  a  vow  to  devote  himself  to 
the  restoration  of  Catholicism  in  his  hereditary 
estates  even  at  the  peril  of  his  life,  and  in  this 
design  he  was  strengthened  by  the  pope.  He 
returned  home  with  the  same  feelings,  and 
proceeded  immediately  to  work.  In  Septem- 
ber 1598,  appeared  his  decree,  commanding 
all  Lutheran  preachers  to  quit  Gratz  within 
fourteen  days.* 

Gratz  was  the  focus  of  protestant  doctrine 
and  strength.  No  effort  was  left  untried  to 
shake  the  archduke's  resolution,  neither  en- 
treaties, nor  warnings,  nor  even  threats ;  but 
th"e  duke  was,  to  use  the  expression  of  the 
historian  of  Carniola,  "  fixt  as  marble. "f  A 
similar  decree  was  promulgated  in  Carniola 
in  October,  and  in  December  in  Carinthia. 

And  now  the  estates  displayed  the  utmost 
intractability,  and  that  even  in  their  separate 
local  assemblies,  for  Ferdinand  no  longer  sanc- 
tioned a  general  assembly.  They  refused  to 
pay  their  subsidies,  and  the  soldiers  on  the 
frontiers  already  showed  symptoms  of  turbul- 
ence. But  the  archduke  declared  he  would 
rather  lose  all  he  had  derived  from  God's 
grace,  than  yield  a  single  step.  The  danger 
to  be  apprehended  from  the  Turks,  who  mean- 
while had  taken  Canischa,  and  were  daily 
advancing  and  showing  a  more  threatening 
aspect,  at  last  obliged  the  estates  to  vole  the 
supplies,  without  having  previously  been 
granted  any  concessions. 

After  this  there  was  no  longer  any  check 
on  the  archduke's  proceedings.  In  October 
1599,  the  protestant  church  in  Gratz  was  shut 
up,  and  the  evangelical  service  forbidden  on 
pain  of  corporal  or  capital  punishment.  A 
commission  was  formed  which  traversed  the 
country  with  an  armed  retinue.  Styria  was 
first  reformed,  then  Carinthia,  and  lastly  Car- 
niola. From  place  to  place  the  cry  resounded, 
"  The  reformation  is  coming."  The  churches 
were  pulled  down,  the  preachers  banished  or 
imprisoned,  the  inhabitants  compelled  either 
to  conform  to  the  catholic  faith  or  to  quit  the 
country.     There  were  many,  however,  as  for 


*  Khevenhiller:  Annales  Ferdinandei,  iv.  1718. 

t  Valvassor:  Ehre  des  Herzogthums  Krain,  Th.  2,  Buch 
7,  p.  464;  undoubtedly  the  most  valuable  account  of  this 
occurrence.  "  Such  a  petition,  mingled  with  warning,  fell 
upon  a  block  of  marble,  which  no  pen  of  theirs  could 
pierce  or  soften." 


278 


COUNTER  REEORMATION.     SECOND  PERIOD,  [a.  d.  1590-1617. 


instance  fifty  citizens  in  the  little  town  of  St. 
Veit,  who  preferred  exile  to  apostacy.*  The 
exiles  were  compelled  to  pay  the  tenth  penny, 
which  was  for  them  no  sliglit  burden. 

Such  was  the  extreme  rigour  of  the  pro- 
ceedings, in  return  for  which  their  author  had 
the  satisfaction  of  reckoning,  in  the  year  1603, 
upwards  of  40,000  communicants  more  than 
before. 

This  immediately  produced  ftirther  effects 
upon  all  the  Austrian  provinces. 

The  emperor  Rudolf  had  at  first  given  his 
advice  against  the  proceedings  of  his  young 
cousin,  but  when  these  proved  successful,  he 
himself  imitated  them.  From  1599  to  1601, 
we  find  a  reforming  commission  actively  em- 
ployed in  Upper  Austria,  and  from  1602  to 
1603  in  Lower  Austria.f  Preachers  and 
schoolmasters  who  had  grown  grey  in  the 
service  of  the  Gospel,  were  driven  out  from 
Linz  and  Steier :  the  blow  was  a  painful  one : 
"  Now,"  cried  the  rector  of  Steier,  "  in  the 
the  decrepitude  of  age  I  am  driven  into  beg- 
gary and  exile."|:  "  Ruin  daily  threatens  us," 
writes  one  of  those  who  remained  behind ; 
"  our  adversaries  lie  in  wait  for  us,  mock  us, 
and  thirst  for  our  blood.  "§ 

In  Bohemia  the  protestants  thought  them- 
selves better  protected  by  the  ancient  privi- 
leges of  the  Utraquists,  in  Hungary  by  the 
independence  and  power  of  the  estates.  But 
Rudolf  seemed  now  disposed  to  disregard  both 
alike.  He  had  .  been  persuaded  that  the  old 
Utraquists  had  ceased  to  exist,  and  that  the 
Lutherans  had  no  title  to  the  enjoyment  of 
those  privileges.  In  1602  he  promulgated  an 
edict  commanding  the  immediate  closing  of 
the  Moravian  brethren's  churches,  and  forbid- 
ding their  meetings.  ||  All  the  other  sects  felt 
that  the  case  was  their  own,  and  they  were 
not  left  in  doubt  as  to  what  they  might  expect.' 
Open  violence  was  already  exercised  in  Hun- 
gary. Basta  and  Belgioso,  who  commanded 
the  imperial  troops  in  that  country,  took  pos- 
session of  the  churches  of  Caschau  and  Clau- 
senburg ;  and  the  archbishop  of  Colocsa  endea- 
voured with  their  help  to  bring  back  the 
thirteen  towns  of  Zips  to  Catholicism.  In  reply 
to  the  complaints  of  the  Hungarians,  the  em- 
peror issued  the  following  resolution : — "  His 
majesty,  who  from  his  heart  acknowledges  the 
holy  Roman  faith,  wishes  also  to  propagate  it 
in  all  his  realms,  and  especially  in  the  Hun- 
garian :  and  hereby  confirms  all  the  decrees 
that  have  been  issued  in  favour  of  that  faith 


*  Hermann:  St.  Veit  in  the  Karnthnerischen  Zeit- 
schrifl,  V.  3.  p.  163. 

t  Raupach:  Evangel.  Oestreich,  i.  215. 

t  "  Jam  senio  squalens  trudor  in  exiliu^i."  "Valentin 
Pruenhuebers,  Annales  Slyrenses,  p.  326. 

§  Hofinarius  ail  Lyserum  :  Raupach,  iv.  151. 

II  Schmidt:  Neuere  Gesi-.hichte  der  Deutschen,iii  260, 
an  e,xtract  from  the  appendices  to  the  apology  for  the  Bo- 
hemians of  the  year  1618,  which  are  frequently  wanting  in 
the  later  editions. 


since  the  times  of  St.  Stephen,  the  apostle  of 
Hungary."* 

Thus,  in  spite  of  his  advanced  age,  the  wary 
emperor  had  thrown  aside  his  moderation ;  the 
whole  body  of  the  catholic  princes  pursued  the 
same  policy.  The  flood  of  Catholicism  spread 
its  inundations  as  far  as  their  power  extended ; 
moral  influence  and  force  combined  to  urge  it 
onwards,  and  the  constitution  of  the  empire 
presented  no  means  of  checking  its  progress. 
On  the  contrary,  the  efforts  of  Catholicism 
were  so  strong  and  so  bold,  that  at  this  mo- 
ment they  even  began  to  interfere  with  the 
affairs  of  the  empire,  and  to  put  in  peril  the 
still  existing  rights  of  the  protestant  party. f 

Changes  in  the  constitution  of  the  imperial 
tribunals,  which  afforded  both  opportunity  and 
means  to  this  end,  had  already  occurred, 
through  the  influence  in  some  degree  of  the 
papal  nuncios,  especially  of  cardinal  Madruzzi, 
who  was  the  first  to  turn  his  attention  to  the 
matter. 

The  Kammergericht  too  had  at  last,  towards 
the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  ac- 
quired a  more  catholic  complexion :  judgments 
had  been  pronounced  by  it,  that  accorded  with 
the  catholic  interpretation  of  the  peace  of 
Augsburg.  The  worsted  parties  had  adopted 
the  legal  remedy  of  suing  for  a  revision  of 
judgment ;  but  revisions  had  been  suspended 
as  well  as  visitations ;  business  accumulated 
and  was  left  untouched. J 

The  consequence  of  these  things  was,  that 
the  Aulic  council  rose  in  credit.  In  that  court 
there  was  at  least  a  hope  of  seeing  business 
terminated,  since  the  beaten  party  could  not 
have  recourse  to  a  legal  process  that  could 
never  be  executed.  But  the  Aulic  council 
was  not  only  still  more  decidedly  catholic  than 
the  Kammergericht,  but  it  was  also  entirely 

*  Art.  xxii.  Anno  1604.  In  Ribiny,  Memorabilia  Augus- 
tanae  Confessionis,  i.  321. 

t  Relatione  del  nuntio  Ferrero,  1606,  gives  a  summary 
of  the  results  :  "  Da  alcuni  anni  in  qua  si  e  convertito  alia 
nostra  santa  religione  una  grandissima  quanlili  d'anime, 
restorate  le  chiese,  rivocati  molti  religioni  di  regolari  alii 
loro  antichi  monasteri,  restituile  in  bona  parte  le  ceremo- 
nie  ecclesiastiche,  moderata  alquanto  la  licenza  degli 
ecclesiastici,  e  domesticato  il  nome  del  pontefice  Romano 
riconosciuto  per  capo  della  chiesa  universale."  [Within 
some  few  years  past  there  have  been  a  vast  number  of 
souls  converted  to  our  holy  religion,  churches  restored, 
many  monks  recalled  to  monasteries,  the  ceremonies  of 
the  church  re-established  to  a  considerable  extent,  the 
licentiousness  of  the  clergy  somewhat  abated,  and  the 
name  of  the  Roman  Pontitfbrought  home  to  men's  minds 
as  the  recognized  head  of  the  universal  church.] 

t  Missive  and  memorial  from  the  Reichskammergericht 
to  the  diet  of  1608,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Diet  at  Frankfort  on 
Main,  of  which  1  was  only  permitted  to  take  a  cursory 
view.  The  Kammergericht  declares  it  to  be  "  land-  und 
reichskiindig  in  wass  grosser  und  merklicher  Anzall  seit 
Ao.  86  die  Revisionen  deren  von  gedachtem  Kammer. 
gericht  ergangenen  und  aussgesprochenen  Urthell  sich 
gehaufl,  dergestalt  dass  derselben  nunmehr  in  die  Einhun- 
dert  allbereit  beim  kaiserlichen  Collegio  denuncirit  und 
deren  vielleicht  taglich  mehr  zu  gewarten."  [known  to 
the  country  and  the  empire  in  how  much  greater  and  more 
notable  number  the  revisions  of  the  judgments  passed  and 
pronounced  by  the  said  Kammergericht  had  accumulated 
since  the  year  86,  insomuch  that  a  hundred  of  them  were 
already  notified  to  the  Imperial  College,  and  more  were, 
perhaps,  daily  to  be  expected.] 


A.  D.  1590-1617.]      COUNTER  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 


279 


dependent  on  the  court.  "  The  Aulic  coun- 
cil," says  the  Florentine  minister  Alidosi, 
"  pronounces  no  definitive  judgment  till  it  has 
previously  communicated  it  to  the  emperor 
and  the  privy  council,  who  seldom  send  it  back 
w^ithout  some  alterations."* 

But  what  generally  effective  institutions 
were  there  in  the  empire  besides  the  judicial 
ones?  The  unity  of  the  nation  was  bound 
up  with  them.  But  they  too  were  now  under 
the  influence  of  Catholicism,  and  subservient 
to  the  convenience  of  the  court.  Complaints 
were  already  heard  from  various  quarters  of 
partial  judgments,  and  arbitary  executions, 
when  the  affair  of  Donauwerth  prominently 
displayed  the  danger  impending  over  the 
country  from  this  source. 

The  conduct  of  the  populace  in  interrupting 
and  insulting  a  catholic  abbot  in  a  protestant 
town,  who  wished  to  celebrate  his  processions 
with  more  publicity  and  solemnity  than  usual.f 
was  considered  by  the^Aulic  council  sufficient 
ground  for  visiting  the  town  with  a  harassing 
process,  with  mandates,  citations,  and  commis- 
sions, and  finally  placing  it  under  the  ban  of 
the  empire.  A  neighbouring  prince  of  rigid 
catholic  princples,  Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  was 
charged  with  the  execution  of  the  sentence. 
He  did  not  content  himself  with  taking  pos- 
session of  Donauwerth,  but  immediately  called 
thither  Jesuits,  permitted  no  other  religion 
than  the  catholic,  and  proceeded  in  the  usual 
course  of  counter-reformation. 

Maximilian  himself  regarded  this  matter 
in  its  true  light,  as  one  of  general  signifi- 
cance. He  wrote  to  the  pope  that  it  might 
be  looked  on  as  a  test  of  the  decline  of  the 
protestant  cause. 

He  was  deceived,  however,  if  he  thought 
that  the  protestants  would  submit  patiently. 
They  saw  clearly  what  they  had  to  expect  if 
things  went  on  in  the  same  course. 

The  Jesuits  already  made  bold  to  deny  the 
validity  of  the  peace  of  Augsburg,  asserting 
that  it  could  not  be  authentically  ratified 
without  the  consent  of  the  pope  ;  that  in  any 
case  it  could  only  have  been  binding  down  to 

*  Relatione  del  S"-  Rod.  Alidosi,  1607-1609.  "E  vero 
che  il  consiglio  aulico  a  questo  di  meno  che  tuttle  le  defi- 
nitioni  che  anno  virtu  di  definitiva,  non  le  pronuntia  se 
prima  non  dia  parte  a  S.  Mti-  o  in  sue  luogho  al  consiglio 
di  stalo,  il  quale  alle  volte  o  augmenta  o  loglie  o  mortera 
I'opiiiione  di  questo  consiglio,  e  cosl  fatto  si  rimanda  a 
dello  consiglio  lal  deliberatione  e  cosl  si  publica." 

+  The  report  "  respecting  the  Donawerth  execution"  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Diet  of  the  4lh  of  Feb.,  1608,  states,  in  com- 
mon with  the  other  reports  and  informations,  that  the  abbot 
had  "  allein  so  viel  herbracht  dass  er  mit  niedergelegten 
und  zusammengewickelten  Fahnen,  ohne  Gesang  und 
Klang,  und  zwar  allein  durch  einsonderes  Gasslein  beim 
Kloster  hinab  bis  ausser  der  Sladt  und  ihrem  Bezirk  gan- 
gen,  und  die  Fahnen  nicht  eher  aufrichten  und  fliegen 
Oder  singen  und  klingen  lassen,  or  sey  denn  ausser  deren 
von  Donawerth  Grund."  [AU  the  abbot  could  claim  by 
custom  was,  the  right  to  walk  with  banners  folded  and 
depressed,  without  singing  or  ringing,  only  through  a  spe- 
cial bye-lane  along  by  the  convent  beyond  the  town  and 
its  jurisdiction,  and  not  to  lift  or  unfurl  his  banners,  or  to 
sing  or  ring  till  he  should  be  out  of  Donawerth  ground.] 
The  abbot  now  broke  through  these  restrtctioQS. 


the  time  of  the  council  of  Trent,  and  was  to 
be  looked  on  as  a  kind  of  interim. 

Even  those  who  recognized  the  validity  of 
the  treaty,  were  yet  of  opinion  that  at  least 
all  the  property  confiscated  by  the  protestants 
since  its  ratification  must  be  restored.  They 
paid  no  regard  to  the  construction  put  upon 
it  by  protestants. 

What  now  if  these  views,  as  already  began 
to  be  the  case,  were  adopted  by  the  highest 
tribunal  of  the  empire,  and  judgments  pro- 
nounced and  executed  in  accordance  with 
them  1 

When  the  diet  assembled  in  Ratisbon  in 
the  year  1608,  the  protestants  would  proceed 
to  no  deliberative  measures  till  the  validity 
of  the  treaty  of  Augsburg  should  have  been 
absolutely  confirmed.*  Even  Saxony,  which 
on  other  occasions  always  inclined  to  the  em- 
peror's side,  now  required  the  abolition  of 
processes  of  the  Aulic  council,  in  so  far  as 
they  were  at  variance  with  ancient  usage, 
reforms  in  the  administration  of  justice,  and 
not  only  the  renewal  of  the  religious  peace 
as  concluded  in  Augsburg  in  1555,  but  also  a 
pragmatic  sanction,  whereby  the  Jesuits 
should  be  prohibited  from  writing  against  it. 

But  on  the  other  side,  the  catholics  were 
zealous  and  united.  The  bishop  of  Ratisbon 
had  previously  issued  a  circular  letter,  in 
which  he  admonished  his  brethren  in  the  faith 
to  inculcate  on  the  delegates  above  all  things 
unanimity  in  defence  of  the  catholic  religion, 
"  to  stand  together  firm  and  fast  as  a  wall ;" 
by  no  means  to  temporize ;  they  was  nothing 
at  present  to  be  feared,  since  they  had  staunch 
and  zealous  defenders  in  most  illustrious 
princely  houses.  Though  the  catholics  actu- 
ally showed  a  disposition  to  ratify  the  peace 
of  Augsburg,  still  it  was  with  the  addition  of 
the  clause,  "  that  whatever  was  done  in  con- 
travention to  the  same,  should  be  abolished, 
and  things  restored  as  before,"  a  clause  which 
contained  just  what  the  protestants  feared 
and  wished  to  avoid. 

This  disunion  on  the  main  question  made  it 
impossible  that  an  unanimous  resolution 
should  be  adopted  on  any  point,  or  that  the 
emperor  should  be  granted  the  aid  he  needed 
and  desired  against  the  Turks. 

Now  it  would  seem  that  this  had  made 
some  impression  on  the  emperor ;  that  a  re- 


*  Protocollum  in  Correspondensrath,  5th  April,  1608,  in 
the  acts  of  the  diet:  "Die  Hauplconsultation  jetziger 
Reichsversammlung  sey  bisher  darumben  eingestelt  ver- 
bliben,  das  die  Stend  evangelischer  Religionsfriden  zu 
confirmir  en  begert,  und  der  papistische  Theil  die  Clau- 
sulam  dem  Abschied  zu  inseriren  haben  wollen ;  das 
alle  Gliter  die  sinthero  a.  55  von  den  Evangel ischen 
Stenden  eingezogen  worden  restituirt  werden  sollen." 
[The  chief  consultation  of  the  present  imperial  assembly 
has  hitherto  stood  still,  because  the  estates  professingthe 
evangelical  religion  have  desired  to  confirm  the  peace  of 
Augsburg,  whilst  the  papal  party  have  deen  desirous  of 
inserting  in  the  edict  the  clause,  that  all  possessions 
which  had  been  laid  hold  on  by  the  evangelical  estates 
since  the  year  55  should  be  restored.] 


280 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD.       [a.  d.  1590-1617. 


solution  was  once  for  all  taken  at  court  to 
comply  without  subterfuge  with  the  desires 
of  the  protestants. 

Such  at  least  is  the  import  of  a  very  re- 
markable statement  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
diet  by  the  papal  envoy. 

The  emperor  had  not  attended  in  person, 
the  archduke  Ferdinand  supplied  his  place : 
neither  was  the  nuncio  in  Ratisbon,  but  he 
had  sent  thither  in  his  own  name  Fra  Felice 
Milensio,  an  Augustine  friar,  and  vicar-gen- 
eral of  his  order,  who  laboured  with  uncom- 
mon zeal  in  support  of  the  interests  of  Catho- 
licism. 

This  Fra  Milensio,  the  author  of  our  re- 
port, assures  us  that  the  emperor  had  actually 
determined  on  promulgating  an  edict  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  wishes  of  the  protestants. 
This  purpose  he  attributes  to  the  direct  influ- 
ence of  Satan  ;  the  suggestor  of  it  had  un- 
doubtedly been  one  of  the  emperor's  privy 
chamberlains,  of  whom  one  was  a  Jew  and 
the  other  a  heretic* 

Let  us  hear  from  himself  the  further  ac- 
count he  gives  of  the  matter.  "  Upon  re- 
ceiving intelligence  of  the  edict  that  had 
come  to  hand,"  he  says,  "and  which  was 
communicated  to  me  and  some  others,  I  went 
to  the  archduke  and  asked  him  was  such  a 
decree  arrived  1  The  archduke  replied  in  the 
affirmative.  And  does  your  imperial  high- 
ness intend  to  publish  it?  The  archduke 
answered  :  Such  are  the  commands  of  the 
imperial  privy  council :  the  reverend  father 
himself  sees  in  what  a  situation  we  are  placed. 
Upon  this  I  replied:!  Your  imperial  highness 
will  not  belie  the  piety  in  which  you  have 
been  educated,  the  piety  with  which  you  re- 
cently dared  in  defiance  of  so  many  dangers 
to  expel  all  heretics  without  exception  from 
your  territories.  I  cannot  believe  that  your 
highness  will  sanction  by  this  new  conces- 


*  Ragguaglio  della  dieta  imperiale  falla  in  Ratisbona, 
1608,  nella  quale  in  luogho  dell'  eccmo-  e  revmo-  Monsf 
Antonio  Gaelano  arcivescovo  di  Capua  nunlio  aposlolico, 
rimaslo  in  Praga  appresso  la  Mti-  Cesarea,  fu  residents  il 
padre  Felice  Milensio  maestro  Agostiniano  vicario  gene- 
rale  sopra  le  provincie  aquilonari.  "  E  cerlo  fu  machina- 
te dal  demonio  e  promosso  da  suoi  ministri,  di  quali  erano 
i  duecameriere  intimi  di  RodoUo,  heretico  I'uno,  Hebreo 
.  I'aliro,  e  quie  del  consiglio  ch'  eran  Hussiti  o  peggiori." 

f  "  Sovenga  le,  Ser-na-  Altezza,  di  quella  cattolica  pie- 
tci  con  la  quale  ella  da  que  nacque  fu  allevata,  e  per  la 
quale  pochi  anni  a  dietro  non  teniendo  pericolo  alcuno, 
anzi  a  riscliio  di  perdere  i  suoi  slati,  ne  bandi  tutti  gli  he- 
retic! con  ordini  che  fra  pochi  mesi  o  si  dichiarassero  cat- 
tolici  o  venduti  gli  stabili  sgombrassero  via  dal  paese :  so- 
vengale  che  nella  tavola  dipinla  della  chiesa  dei  padri 
Capuccini  in  Gratz  ella  sta  effigiata  con  la  lancia  impug- 
nala  come  un  altro  Michele  e  con  Luthero  sotto  i  piedi  in 
alto  di  passarli  la  gola  :  ed  ora  essendo  ella  qui  in  perso- 
na di  Cesare,  non  devo  credere  che  sia  per  sotiVire  se  per- 
dano  i  beni  dolali  della  chiesa  il  patrimonio  di  Christo,  e 
molto  meno  che  la  diabolica  selta  di  Luthero  sia  con 
questa  moderna  concessione  confirmata,  e  per  peggio 
quella  ancor  di  Calvino  giil  incorporata,  la  quale  non  ri- 
cevfi  mai  loUeranza  alcuna  imperiale.  Questo  e  pill  dis- 
si  el  ascoltO  il  piissinio  principe.  .  .  Priegola,  dissi,  asos- 
pender  questa  materia  fino  alia  resposta  del  somnio  pon- 
lefice:  e  cosl  fece,  differendo  i  decreti  degli  huomini  per 
non  offendere  i  decreli  di  Dio." 


sion  the  loss  of  the  church's  property,  and 
the  establishment  of  the  devilish  sect  of  Lu- 
ther, and  that  of  the  still  worse  Calvin,  which 
have  never  yet  enjoyed  legal  and  public  tole- 
ration in  the  empire.  The  pious  prince  lis- 
tened to  me.  But  what  is  to  be  done?  he 
said.  I  entreat  your  highness,  I  said,  to  lay 
this  matter  before  his  holiness  the  pope,  and 
to  take  no  step  before  receiving  his  answer. 
The  archduke  did  so,  having  more  regard  to 
the  commands  of  God  than  to  the  decrees  of 
men." 

If  all  this  actually  occurred,  we  see  what 
an  important  place  this  obscure  Augustine 
friar  occupies  in  the  history  of  Germany.  He 
postponed  at  the  critical  moment  the  publica- 
tion of  a  concession  which  would  perhaps 
have  satisfied  the  protestants.  In  its  place 
Ferdinand  put  forth  an  edict  of  interposition, 
which  left  the  chance  of  establishing  the  ob- 
jectionable clause  as  open  as  before.  At  a 
meeting  on  the  5th  of  April,  1608,  the  pro- 
testants agreed  in  determination  not  to  give 
way,  and  not  to  receive  the  edict.*  But  since 
the  other  party  too  did  not  yield,  and  as  no- 
thing was  to  be  obtained  from  the  emperor 
or  his  representative  which  could  allay  the 
fears  of  the  protestants,  they  resorted  to  the 
extreme  measure  of  quitting  the  diet.  For 
the  first  time  the  diet  separated  without  pass- 
ing any  decree,  much  less  voting  any  sup- 
plies :  it  was  the  moment  in  which  the  unity 
of  the  nation  was  virtually  destroyed. 

It  was  impossible  that  things  could  remain 
at  this  point.  The  protestants  severally  were 
too  weak  to  maintain  singly  the  position  they 
had  taken  up;  in  the  exigency  of  the  mo- 
ment, therefore,  they  now  carried  into  effect 
such  an  union  as  they  had  long  contemplated, 
discussed,  and  projected.  Immediately  after 
the  diet,  two  palatine  princes,  the  elector 
Frederick,  and  the  count  Palatine  of  Neu- 
burg,  two  Brandenburg  princes,  the  Mar- 
graves Joachim  and  Christian  Ernest,  the 
duke  of  Wiirtemburg  and  the  margrave  of 
Baden,  met  together  at  Ahausen,  and  con- 
cluded a  league  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Union.  They  pledged  themselves  to  stand 
by  each  other  in  every  way,  even  with  arms, 
especially  with  respect  to  the  grievances 
brought  forward  at  the  late  diet.  Thej  im- 
mediately put  themselves  into  a  state  of  mili- 
tary   organization,   and   each   member    took 


*  Vote  of  the  Palatinate  in  the  Correspondenzrath  : 
"  Dass  die  Confirmation  des  Religionsfriedens  keines- 
wees  einzugehn,  vvie  die  Interpositionsschrift  mil  sich 
bringe  :  dann  selbige  den  evangelischen  Stenden  undi- 
enlich,  weilen  der  Abschied  anno  66  eben  die  Clausulam 
habe  so  jetzt  dispulirt  werde."  [That  ihe  confirmation 
of  the  peace  of  Augsburg,  as  laid  down  in  the  edict  of  in- 
terposition, is  by  no  means  to  be  received  :  for  the  same 
is  of  no  servicelo  the  evangelical  estates,  since  the  decree 
of  the  year  66  contains  the  very  clause  that  is  now  con- 
tested.] It  was  nol  contained  in  the  decrees  of  1557  and 
1559.  The  edict  of  interposition  referred  only  to  1560. 
It  was  also  rejected  because  il  treated  the  emperor  as 
judge  in  matters  of  religion. 


A.  D.  1590-1617.]        COUNTER  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY. 


281 


upon  himself  to  engage  such  of  his  neighbours 
as  he  could  in  the  confederacy.  Their  pur- 
pose was,  since  the  existing  state  of  things  in 
the  empire  atforded  them  no  security,  to  look 
to  their  own  safety,  and  to  help  themselves. 

This  was  an  innovation  full  of  the  most 
wide-spreading  consequences,  the  more  so 
since  an  event  in  close  correspondence  with 
it  took  place  in  the  hereditary  dominions  of 
the  emperor. 

The  emperor  was  at  variance  with  his  bro- 
ther Matthias  on  many  grounds,  and  the  es- 
tates of  Austria,  oppressed  in  their  civil  and 
religious  freedom,  looked  upon  this  dissension 
as  affording  them  an  opportunity  of  maintain- 
ing both,  and  sided  with  the  archduke. 

In  the  year  1606,  the  archduke,  with  their 
concurrence,  concluded  a  peace  with  Hunga- 
ry without  consulting  the  emperor.  They 
alleged  in  excuse,  that  the  emperor  neglected 
public  affairs,  and  that  they  had  been  con- 
strained by  the  situation  of  things.  But  upon 
Rudolf's  refusing  to  ratify  the  peace,  they 
forthwith  rose  in  insurrection,  in  pursuance 
of  their  mutual  agreement.*  The  Hungarian 
and  Austrian  estates  first  entered  into  a  con- 
federacy for  mutual  aid  and  protection  ;  after- 
wards they  were  joined  by  the  Moravians, 
chiefly  through  the  interposition  of  a  member 
of  the  house  of  Lichtenstein,  and  all  pledged 
themselves  to  stake  life  and  fortune  in  the 
cause  of  the  archduke.  Thus  disposed,  they 
took  the  field  under  their  self-elected  captain 
on  May  1608,  on  the  very  day  the  diet  of  Ra- 
tisbon  broke  up.  Rudolf  was  forced  to  aban- 
don Hungary,  Austria,  and  Moravia  to  his 
brother. 

Now  it  followed  of  course  that  Matthias 
should  make  concessions  to  the  estates,  in  re- 
compense for  the  services  they  had  rendered 
him.  The  emperor  had  abstained  for  forty- 
eight  years,  from  naming  a  palatine  in  Hun- 
gary :  but  now  a  protestant  was  advanced  to 
that  dignity.  Religious  freedom  was  most 
solemly  secured  not  only  to  the  magnates, 
but  also  to  the  towns,  and  to  all  conditions  of 
men,  even  to  the  soldiers  on  the  frontiers.! 
The  Austrians  refrained  from  doing  homage 
till  they  were  granted  the  free  exercise  of 
their  religion  in  castles  and  villages,  as  well 
as  in  private  houses  of  the  towns. 

What  the  Austrians  and  the  Hungarians 


*  The  treaty  contained  the  clause :  "  Quodsi  propter 
vel  contra  tractationem  Viennensem  et  Turcicam  .  .  hos- 
lis  aut  turbator  aliquis  ingrueret,  turn  seienissimum  arch- 
iducem  el  omnes  status  et  ordines  regni  Hungarias  et 
archiducatus  superioris  et  inferioris  Ausliiaj  mutuis  auxi- 
liis  sibi  et  suppetiis  non  defutuios."  Keva  ap.  Schev- 
andtner-  Scriptt.  Rerum  Ung.  ii.  Kurz  :  Beitriige  zur 
Geschichte  des  Landea  Oestreich  ob  der  Ens  B  iv.  p.  21. 
[But  if,  on  account  of,  or  in  contravention  of,  the  Vien- 
nese and  Turkish  treaty,  any  enemy  or  disturber  should 
come  forward,  then  the  most  serene  archduke,  and  all  the 
estates  and  orders  of  the  kingdom  of  Hungary,  and  of  the 
archduchy  of  Upper  and  Lower  Austria,  will  stand  by 
each  other  with  aid  and  assistance.] 

+  The  article  is  given  by  Ribini,  v.  358. 

36 


gained  by  aggressive,  defensive  measures 
procured  for  the  Bohemians.  From  the  very 
first,  Rudolf  was  forced  to  consent  to  great 
concessions,  in  order,  in  some  degree,  to  make 
head  against  his  brother.  After  the  high  pri- 
vileges acquired  from  the  latter  by  Hungary 
and  Austria,  the  emperor,  on  his  part,  could 
not  deny  the  demands  of  the  Bohemians,  not- 
withstanding all  the  papal  nuncio  and  the 
Spanish  ambassador  could  urge  in  objection. 
He  bestowed  on  them  the  imperial  letter, 
which  not  only  renewed  the  old  concessions 
made  by  Maximilian  II.,  but  also  sanctioned 
the  establishment  of  a  special  magistracy  for 
their  protection. 

The  aspect  of  affairs  in  the  hereditary  do- 
minions of  the  imperial  house,  and  that  of  the 
rest  of  Germany,  now  suddenly  assumed  a 
marked  contrast.  The  Union  spread  widely 
in  Germany,  and  vigilantly  repulsed  every  ag- 
gression made  by  Catholicism.  In  the  Aus- 
trian provinces,  the  estates  had  wrought  out 
their  old  claims  into  the  shape  of  a  well  con- 
structed constitutional  power.  The  difference 
between  the  two  cases  was  not  inconsiderable. 
In  the  empire,  Catholicism  had  again  filled 
the  territories  of  the  catholic  princes ;  it  was 
not  till  it  proceeded  to  ulterior  measures,  not 
till  it  interfered  arbitrarily  in  matters  pertain- 
ing to  the  empire  at  large,  and  perilled  the 
existence  of  free  estates,  that  it  encountered 
resistance.  In  the  hereditary  dominions  it 
was  insuperably  opposed  by  the  strength  of 
protestant  land-holders,  even  within  the  range 
of  the  territorial  prerogatives  of  the  house  of 
Austria.  On  the  whole,  however,  one  com- 
mon feeling  actuated  both  divisions  of  the  op- 
position. Jn  Austria,  it  was  said,  very  signi- 
ficantly, that  one  sword  must  be  kept  in  the 
scabbard  by  another. 

For  the  other  party  too  immediately  put  it- 
self in  an  attitude  for  war.  On  the  11th  of 
July,  1609,  a  defensive  league  was  made  be- 
tween Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  and  seven  ec- 
clesiastical lords,  the  bishop  of  VViirtzburg, 
Constance,  Augsburg,  Passau,  and  Ratisbon, 
the  provost  of  Ellwagen  and  the  abbot  of 
Kempten,  by  which,  after  the  pattern  of  the 
ancient  treaty  of  Landsperg,*  the  duke  of  Ba- 
varia was  invested  with  extraordinary  powers. 
Ere  long,  the  three  spiritual  electors  joined 
the  league,  retaining,  however,  a  certain 
degree  of  independence.  The  archduke  Fer- 
dinand wished  to  be  admitted  a  member; 
Spain  declared  its  approval ;  and  the  pope 
promised  to  leave  nothing  undone  to  promote 
the  object  of  the  confederacy.  It  is  not  to  be 
doubted  that  the  pope,  chiefly  through  Span- 
ish influence,   became   gradually   more   and 


*  Maximilian  makes  mention  of  this  treaty  of  Lands- 
perg  in  an  instruction  to  his  ambassador  to  MainE:  see 
Wolf,  ii.  p.  470. 


282 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,     [a.  d.  1590-1617. 


more  strongly  engaged  in  the  interests  of  this 
league.* 

Thus,  two  hostile  parties  stood  forth  against 
each  other,  both  armed,  both  in  constant  dread 
of  being  surprised  and  attacked,  and  neither 
capable  of  bringing  matters  to  a  decisive  crisis 
It  necessarily  followed,  that  it  was  hence- 
forth impossible  to  overcome  any  difficulty  in 
Germany,  or  to  dispatch  any  afiair  relating  to 
the  common  weal. 

In  the  year  1611,  a  king  of  the  Romans 
should  have  been  elected :  the  electors  as- 
sembled to  no  purpose:  they  could  not  come 
to  an  agreement. 

Even  after  the  death  of  Rudolf  in  1612,  it 
was  long  before  a  new  election  could  be  ef- 
fected. The  three  temporal  electors  demanded 
the  establishment  by  the  elective  capitulation 
of  an  aulic  council  equably  constituted :  the 
three  spiritual  electors  opposed  this  demand. 
No  election  could  have  taken  place,  had  it 
not  been  that  Saxony,  which  in  all  these  mat- 
ters manifested  great  deference  to  the  house 
of  Austria,  went  over  to  the  catholic  side. 

But  what  could  not  be  carried  in  the  elect- 
oral council,  was  demanded  with  so  much  the 
more  impetuosity  by  the  union  of  princes  in 
the  diet  of  1613,  whilst  the  catholics  resisted 
them  with  equal  determination.  All  delibe- 
ration ceased ;  the  protestants  would  no  long- 
er submit  to  the  yoke  of  the  majority. 

In  Jiilich  and  Cleves,  where  in  spite  of  the 
vacillating  views  of  the  weak  government  of 
the  last  native  prince,  strong  measures  for  the 
re-establishment  of  Catholicism  had  been  at 
last  adopted  through  the  influence  of  his  wife, 
a  princess  of  the  house  of  Lorraine,  it  seemed 
for  a  while  inevitable  that  protestantism  should 
gain  the  upper  hand :  the  next  heirs  were 
both  protestants.  But  even  here  the  principle 
of  religious  disunion  prevailed.  One  of  the 
protestant  pretenders  went  over  to  Catholicism, 
and  upon  this  the  parties  divided.  As  they 
recognized  no  supreme  arbiter,  they  proceeded 
to  acts  of  violence  in  1614.  Aided,  the  one 
party  by  Spanish,  the  other  by  Netherlandish 
support,  they  each  seized  all  they  could  lay 
iheir  hands  on,  and  straightway  reformed,  af- 
ter their  own  way,  the  portions  that  had  fallen 
to  their  several  shares. 

Attempts  indeed  were  made  at  reconcila- 
tion.  An  electoral  diet  was  suggested  but 
the  elector  palatine  would  not  hear  of  it,  be- 
cause he  had  no  confidence  in  his  colleague  of 
Saxony  :  again  a  general  diet  of  composition 
was  proposed ;  but  the  catholic  estates  had 
innumerable  objections  to  make  to  this.  Others 
looked  to  the  emperor,  and  advised  him  to  sup- 
port his  authority,  and  his  dignity  by  an  im- 
posing muster  of  troops.  But  what  could  have 
been  expected  of  Matthias,  who  by  tlie  very 

*  The  documenls  on  this  subject  have  not  been  publish- 
ed :  for  the  present  we  may  not  rest  aalisfied  with  the  as- 
sertions of  the  Venetian  ambassador. 


origin  of  his  authority  belonged  to  both  parties, 
and  who,  crippled  by  the  clogs  he  had  imposed 
on  himself,  could  display  no  independent 
energy. 

The  pope  complained  loudly  of  him,  declared 
him  unfit  to  occupy  so  high  a  station  in  such 
times,  remonstrated  with  him  in  the  strongest 
language,  and  only  wondered  that  the  empe- 
ror took  it  as  he  did.  Subsequently  the  catho- 
lics were  not  so-dissatisfied  with  Matthias. 
Even  the  zealots  among  them  declared  that 
he  had  proved  more  serviceable  to  their  church 
than  they  could  ever  have  expected.  But  in 
the  affairs  of  the  empire  he  was  altogether 
impotent.  In  the  year  1617,  he  made  an  at- 
tempt to  dissolve  the  two  leagues ;  but  the 
Union  immediately  gathered  fresh  strength, 
and  the  League  was  re-constructed  with  in- 
creased vigour. 

Nunciature  in  Switzerland. 

A  conditionof  equilibrium,  such  as  had  long 
existed  in  Switzerland,  had  now  become  es- 
tablished upon  a  more  peaceful  basis. 

The  independence  of  the  several  portions  of 
the  Swiss  confederacy  had  long  been  pro- 
nounced: it  was  not  competent  to  the  general 
diets  to  entertain  any  mention  whatever  of  re- 
ligious matters.  In  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  the  catholics  had  quite 
abandoned  all  hope  of  mastering  the  protest- 
ants ;  the  latter  were  not  only  the  richer  and 
more  powerful  party,  but  they  had  also  among 
them  abler  and  more  practically  experienced 
men.* 

The  nuncios,  who  fixed  their  abode  in  Lu- 
cern,  were  under  no  illusion  on  this  point ;  it 
is  even  to  them  we  owe  the  delineation  of  this 
state  of  things.  Yet  notwithstanding  their 
sphere  of  operation  was  thus  limited,  they 
still  maintained  a  highly  important  position 
in  the  midst  of  the  catholics. 

Their  foremost  care  was  to  hold  the  bishops 
strictly  to  their  duty.f     The  bishops  of  Ger- 

*  tnformatione  mandaladel  Sr.  Card'.  d'Aquinoa  Monsr. 
Feliciano  vescovo  di  Folieno  per  il  paese  de'  Suizzeri  e 
Grisoni  (IntT.  Politl.  ix.)  adds  liliewise  :  "  Li  canloni  cat- 
tolici  sino  a  questi  tempi  sono  tenuli  piu  bellicosi  che  i 
cantoni  herelici,  ancora  che  quelli  siano  piu  potenti  di 
genti  al  doppio  e  di  denari :  ma  hoggi  li  caltolici  si  mos- 
trano  tanto  affetlionali  e  mutati  de  quelli  antichi  Suizzeri 
che  se  non  fosse  particolare  gratia  del  Signore,  huniana- 
menie  parlando,  poco  o  veruno  avvantaggio  haverebbero 
questi  sopra  gli  avversarii  heretici,  e  non  sarebbe  sicuro 
senza  ajuto  straniero  il  venira  rottura  con  essi,  oltre  che 
li  medesimi  prolestante  hanno  persone  piu  dotle,  pratti- 
che,  giudiciose  e  potenti  in  ogni  alTare."  [The  catholic 
cantons  have  continued  to  these  times  more  warlike  than 
the  heretic  Cuntons,  although  these  have  twice  the  popu- 
lation and  more  wealth :  but  now  a  days  the  catholics  are 
BO  changed  and  degenerated  from  the  character  of  the 
Swiss  of  old,  that  if  it  were  not  the  Lord's  peculiar  grace, 
humanly  speaking,  they  would  have  little  or  no  advantage 
over  their  enemies,  the  heretics;  nor  could  they  safely 
venture  upon  a  rupture  with  them  without  foreign  aid, 
considering,  moreover,  that  the  protestants  number  among 
them  persons  of  more  learning,  practical  experience, 
judgment,  and  ability  in  every  matter.] 

t  Relatione  della  nuntialura  de'   Suizzeri  :   "  L'esperi- 
enza  mi  ha  mostrato  che  per  far  frulto  nella  nuntiatura 


A.  D.  1590-1617.] 


NUNCIATURE  IN  SWITZERLAND. 


283 


man  race  were  fond  of  regarding  themselves 
as  princes:  the  nuncios  were  incessant  in 
their  representations  to  them  that  they  owed 
that  rank  only  to  their  special  calling-,  the 
high  responsibilities  of  which  tliey  constantly 
urged  upon  them.  We  find  indeed  a  very 
lively  spirit  animating  the  Swiss  church. 
Visitations  were  held,  synods  appointed,  con- 
vents reformed,  and  seminaries  established. 
The  nuncios  endeavoured  to  keep  up  a  good 
understanding  between  the  spiritual  and  sec- 
ular authority,  and  in  this  they  succeeded 
tolerably  well  by  gentleness  and  persuasion. 
They  were  enabled  to  prevent  the  importation 
of  protestant  books,  though  they  were  obliged 
to  resign  themselves  to  the  people's  retaining 
their  bibles  and  their  German  prayer  books. 
The  Jesuits  and  Capuchins  laboured  with 
great  success.  Confraternities  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  were  founded,  including  old  and  young ; 
preaching  and  the  confessional  were  zealously 
attended,  pilgrimages  to  miracle-working  im- 
ages were  again  in  vogue,  and  it  even  be- 
came necessary  at  times  to  mitigate  the  se- 
verities which  some  devotees  inflicted  on  them- 
selves.*  The  nuncios  were  unbounded  in 
their  praise  of  the  services  rendered  them. 

Conversions  of  course  were  effected.  The 
nuncios  took  up  the  converts,  supported  and 
recommended  them,  and  endeavoured  to  es- 
tablish funds  from  the  contributions  of  the 
faithful,  to  be  employed  under  the  direction 
of  prelates  for  the  benefit  of  their  proselytes. 
Occasionally  they  succeed  in  recovering  ju- 
risdictions that  had  been  lost,  and  then  the 
mass  was  renewed  with  all  speed.  In  this 
the  bishop  of  Basel  and  the  abbot  of  St.  Gall 
displayed  distinguished  zeal. 

All  these  efforts  of  the  nuncios  were  greatly 
furthered  by  the  circumstance,  that  the  king 
of  Spain  had  made  for  himself  a  party  in  catho- 
lic Switzerland.  The  adherents  of  Spain,  for 
instance,  the  Lusi  in  Unterwalden,  the  Amli 
in  Lucern,  the  Biihler  in  Schwyz,  and  so  forth, 
were  also  usually  the  most  devoted  of  all  to 


non  6  bene  che  i  nuntii  si  ingerischino  nelle>  cose  che 
possono  fare  i  vescovi  eche  speltanoagli  ordinarii,se  non 
in  sussidio  e  con  vera  necessity. :  perch6  metlendosi  mano 
ad  ogni  cosa  inditferentemente  non  solo  essi  vescovi  se 
sdegnano,  ma  si  oppongono  spesse  volti  e  rendono  vana 
ogni  fatica  del  minislro  apostolico,  ollre  che  C  contro  la 
mente  di  monsignore  e  delli  canoni  che  si  mella  mano 
nella  messe  aliena,  mandandoli  i  nunlii  per  ajutare  e 
non  per  dislniggere  I'autoriia.  degli  ordinarii."  [Report 
of  the  Swiss  nunciature:  Experience  has  shown  me  that 
to  obtain  useful  results  from  the  nunciature,  it  is  not  ad- 
visable that  the  nuncios  should  interfere  in  matters  which 
may  be  transacted  by  the  bishops,  and  which  belong  to 
the  ordinaries,  except  in  the  way  of  assistance,  and  in 
case  of  real  necessity;  for  the  consequence  of  their  put- 
ting their  hands  to  everything  inditTerently  is,  that  the 
bishops  take  offence,  and  often  oppose  and  frustrate  every 
effort  of  the  apostolic  minister;  besides  which  his  ex- 
cellency's sentiments  and  the  canons  are  against  med- 
dling with  another's  harvest,  the  nuncios  being  sent  to 
aid,  not  to  destroy,  the  authority  of  the  ordinaries. 1 

*  An  example  is  given  in  Liter*  AnnuseSoiietatis  Jesu, 
1596,  p.  187.  "  Blodus  tamen  rigidoilli  jeiunio  est  a  con- 
fesaario  adhibitus."  [Such  rigorous  fasiiiig  waa  modera- 
ted, however,  by  the  confessor.] 


the  Roman  see.  The  nuncios  failed  not  to 
foster  that  disposition  with  all  their  might. 
They  complied  with  every  conceivable  claim 
of  courtesy;  they  listened  patiently  to  the 
longest  and  most  wearying  discourses,  were 
no  niggardsof  titles,  and  professed  themselves 
intense  admirers  of  the  ancient  deeds  of  the 
nation,  and  of  the  wisdom  of  the  republican 
institutions.  They  found  it  particularly  neces- 
sary to  keep  their  friends  together  by  means  of 
regularly  recurring  entertainments;  they  even 
replied  to  every  invitation,  every  mark  of  re- 
spect made  to  them  with  a  present.  Presents 
were  here  found  peculiarly  efiBcacious :  he  who 
v/as  named  a  knight  of  the  golden  spur,  and  re- 
ceived in  addition  to  the  honour  a  gold  chain 
or  medal,  felt  himself  bound  to  them  forever. 
All  they  had  to  guard  against  was  promising 
more  than  they  could  perform ;  if  they  per- 
formed more  than  they  promised  so  much  the 
better.  It  was  necessary  that  their  domestic 
economy  should  always  be  well  ordered,  and 
allow  no  room  for  censure. 

Thus  it  happened  that  the  catholic  interests, 
even  in  Switzerland,  in  general  attained  a 
fair  state  of  prosperity  and  smooth  progress. 

There  was  only  one  point  where  the  dis- 
crepancies between  catholics  and  protestants, 
coinciding  in  one  and  the  same  district  with 
an  unsettled  condition  of  politics,  might  occa- 
sion danger  and  strife. 

In  the  Grisons  the  government  was  essen- 
tially protestant,  while  among  their  depend- 
encies the  Italian,  especially  Valtellina,  were 
unshakably  catholic. 

Hence  arose  interminable  bickerings.  The 
government  tolerated  no  foreign  priest  in  the 
valley  ;  and  had  even  forbidden  the  inhabitants 
to  send  their  children  abroad  to  a  foreign 
school ;  it  had  prohibited  the  bishop  of  Como, 
in  whose  diocese  Valtellina  lay,  from  dis- 
charging his  episcopal  functions  there.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  natives  beheld  with  great 
dissatisfaction  protestants  residing  in  their 
country,  and  that  too  as  lords  and  masters ; 
they  clung  with  secret  attachment  to  the 
Italians,  to  orthodox  Milan,  and  their  zeal  was 
constantly  kept  warm  by  a  succession  of  young 
theologians  from  the  Collegium  Helveticum, 
in  which  alone  six  places  were  reserved  for 
the  Valtelline.* 

Now  this  state  of  things  was  the  more  per- 
ilous, since  France,  Spain,  and  Venice,  were 
labouring  with  all  their  might,  each  to  estab- 
lish a  party  in  the  Grisons :  these  parties  not 
unfrequently  came  to  open  violence,  and  drove 
each  other  from  their  places.  In  the  year 
1607  the  Spanish  party  first,  the  Venetian 
immediately  afterwards,  seized  possession  of 
Coire.     The  former  broke  the   league,   the 


*  Relatione  della  nuntiatura;  "II  collegio  Elvetico  di 
Milano  6  di  gran  giovamenlo,  et  6  la  salute  in  parlicolare 
della  V;il  Telina,'che  quanti  preti  ha,  sono  soggetli  di 
dettocoUegio,  e  quasi  tutii  Uotioraii  in  theologia." 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,  [a.  d.  1590-1617, 


284 

latter  restored  it.  The  Spanish  party  had 
catholic,  the  Venetian  protestant  sympathies, 
and  in  accordance  with  these  the  whole  policy 
of  the  country  was  shaped.  The  main  ques- 
tion now  was  with  which  party  would  France 
side.  The  French  had  their  pensioners 
throughout  all  Switzerland,  not  only  in  the 
cathofic,  but  also  in  the  protestant  cantons, 
and  they  possessed  an  ancient  influence  in 
the  Orisons.  About  the  year  1612,  they  de- 
clared for  the  catholic  interest;  the  nuncio 
succeeded  in  gaining  their  friends  for  Rome  : 
the  Venetian  alliance  was  even  formally  dis- 
solved. 

These  party  feuds  would  merit  of  themselves 
but  little  attention,  but  they  acquired  a  higher 
importance  from  tlie  fact,  that  upon  them  de- 
pended the  opening  or  the  closing  of  the 
Orison  passes  for  the  one  or  the  other  of  the 
great  powers.  We  shall  see  that  their 
weight  affected  the  balance,  in  which  hung 
the  general  relations  of  European  politics  and 
religion. 

Regeneration  of  Catholicism  in  France. 

The  question  of  most  moment  at  this  junc- 
ture is,  what  was  the  general  position  assumed 
by  France  with  respect  to  religion  ? 

The  first  glance  shows  us  that  the  pro- 
testants  were  still  in  great  strength  in  that 
country. 

Henry  IV.  had  granted  them  the  edict  of 
Nantes,  whereby  not  only  were  they  confirm- 
ed in  the  possession  of  the  churches  actually 
in  their  hands,  but  they  had  also  conferred 
upon  them  a  share  in  the  public  educational 
institutions,  equality  with  the  catholics  as  re- 
garded the  composition  of  the  chambers  of 
parliament,  and  the  occupation  of  a  great 
number  of  fortified  places ;  and  in  general 
they  were  allowed  a  degree  of  independence, 
of  which  it  might  well  be  questioned,  whether 
it  was  consistent  v/ith  the  idea  of  a  state. 
About  the  year  1600,  there  were  reckoned 
seven  hundred  and  sixty  parishes  of  French 
protestants,  all  well  ordered :  four  thousand 
of  the  nobility  belonged  to  that  confession, 
and  it  was  computed  that  they  could  bring 
with  ease  twenty-five  thousand  men  into  the 
field,  and  possessed  about  two  hundred  forti- 
fied places :  a  power  capable  of  exacting 
respect,  and  not  to  be  assailed  with  impu- 
nity.* 

But  close  by  them  and  opposed  to  them, 
there  rose  at  the  same  moment  another 
power,  the  corporation  of  the  catholic  clergy 
of  France. 

The  great  possessions  of  the  French  clergy, 
gave  them  a  certain  degree  of  intrinsic  inde- 
pendence which  was  made  obvious  and  palpa- 


*  Badoer:  Relatione  di  Francia,  1605. 


ble  when  they  took  upon  themselves  a  part  of 
the  public  debt.* 

For  their  obligation  in  this  respect  was  not 
so  involuntary,  as  not  to  require  that  it  should 
from  time  to  time  be  renewed  with  the  forms 
of  a  freewill  act. 

Under  Henry  IV.,  the  meetings  which 
were  held  to  this  end,  acquired  a  more  regu- 
lar form.  They  were  to  be  renewed  every 
ten  years,  to  take  place  each  time  in  May 
when  the  days  are  long,  and  allow  of  the 
transaction  of  much  business.  Lesser  meet- 
ings were  to  be  held  every  two  years  to  pass 
accounts. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  these  meet- 
ings, especially  the  greater  ones,  should  con- 
fine themselves  to  their  mere  financial  objects. 
The  fulfilment  of  these  was  enough  to  give 
them  courage  for  wider  purposes.  In  the 
years  1595  and  1596,  they  resolved  to  renew 
the  provincial  councils,  to  withstand  the  inter- 
ference of  the  civil  jurisdiction  in  matters 
pertaining  to  spiritual  functions,  and  to  per- 
mit no  simony  ;  and  what  was  of  still  more 
moment,  the  king  after  some  wavering  gave 
his  sanction  to  these  determinations.!  It  was 
customary  for  the  clergy  to  make  general 
representations  in  relation  to  churches  and 
church  discipline.  The  king  could  not  pos- 
sibly withhold  his  attention  from  these,  and 
they  never  failed  to  produce  new  concessions. 
At  their  next  meeting  the  first  inquiry  entered 
into  by  the  clergy  was,  whether  their  sug- 
gestions had  been  carried  into  effect. 

Henry's  position  was  thus  very  peculiar, 
placed  as  he  was  between  two  corporations, 
both  possessed  of  a  certain  independence, 
both  holding  their  meetings  at  certain  stated 
times,  and  then  besetting  him  with  conflicting 
representations,  which  he  could  not  well  op- 
pose, whether  coming  from  the  one  side  or 
from  the  other. 

His  general  intention  undoubtedly  was,  to 
maintain  an  equilibrium  between  them  both, 
and  not  suffer  them  again  to  come  in  collision 
with  each  other ;  but  if  we  a^k  to  which  of 
the  two  he  was  the  more  inclined,  and  which 
of  them  he  more  actively  promoted,  the  an- 
swer  is,   manifestly   the   catholic  party,  al- 


*  In  the  M^moires  du  clerg6  de  France,  torn.  ix. — Re- 
cueil  des  conlrats  passes  par  le  cleig6  avec  les  rois — are 
to  be  found  the  documents  relating  to  this  matter  from  the 
year  15G1.  In  the  convocation  of  Poisy  in  that  year,  the 
clergy  took  upon  itself  to  pay  not  only  the  interest  but  the 
capital  of  a  considerable  portion  of  the  public  debt.  The 
payment  of  the  capital  did  not  lake  place,  but  the  obliga- 
tion to  pay  the  interest  remained.  The  debts  answered 
for  by  the  clergy  were  principally  those  contracted  by 
the  Hotel  de  Ville  of  Paris,  and  the  interest  accrued  to 
that  city  ;  a  fixed  rent  was  yearly  paid  it  by  the  clergy. 
We  perceive  why  Paris,  even  had  it  not  been  so  thoroughly 
catholic,  could  never  have  been  brought  to  consent  to  the 
ruin  of  the  clergy,  and  the  destruction  of  church  property 
which  was  mortgaged  to  itself 

t  Relation  des  principales  choses  qui  ont  est<5  resolues 
dans  I'assejnbl^e  generale  du  clerg6  tenue  &  Paris  les 
ann6es  1595  el  1596  envoy6e  k  toutea  les  dioceses.  M6ni- 
oires  du  clerg6,  torn,  viii.,  p.  6. 


A.  D.  1590-1617.]    REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLICISM  IN  FRANCE. 


though  his  own  rise  had  been  due  to  the  pro- 
testant. 

Henry's  gratitude  was  not  a  whit  stronger 
than  his  vindictiveness  :  he  was  more  bent  on 
gaining  new  friends,  than  on  rewarding  and 
favouring  his  old  ones. 

Had  not  the  protestants,  in  fact,  found  it 
necessary  to  extort  the  edict  of  Nantz  from 
him  ]  He  granted  it  to  them  only  at  the  mo- 
ment when  he  was  pressed  by  the  forces  of 
Spain,  and  when  the  protestants,  too,  had  put 
themselves  in  a  very  warlike  attitude.*  The 
use  they  made  of  their  immunities  corres- 
ponded with  the  mode  in  which  they  had  won 
them.  They  constituted  themselves  into  a 
republic,  over  which  the  king  had  but  little 
influence ;  and  from  time  to  time  they  even 
talked  of  seeking  for  themselves  some  foreign 
protector. 

The  clergy,  on  the  contrary,  attached 
themselves  to  the  king ;  they  asked  for  no  aid, 
but  bestowed  it ;  their  independence  could 
not  become  formidable,  since  the  king  held  in 
his  own  hand  the  nomination  to  vacancies. 
In  so  far  as  the  position  of  the  Huguenots  im- 
posed restrictions,  as  it  manifestly  did,  on  the 
royal  authority,  the  extension  of  the  latter 
was  clearly  identified  with  the  progress  of 
Catholicism. f 

As  early  as  the  year  1598,  the  king  de- 
clared to  the  clergy,  that  it  was  his  purpose 
to  make  the  catholic  church  once  more  as 
flourishing  as  it  had  been  in  the  preceding 
century  :  all  he  asked  of  them  was  patience 
and  confidence ;  Paris  had  not  been  built  in  a 
day-t 

The  rights  of  the  concordat  were  now  ex- 
ercised in  a  totally  different  manner  from  that 
of  former  times :  benefices  were  no  longer 
bestowed  on  women  and  children  ;  in  the  col- 
lation to  ecclesiastical  posts  the  king  looked 
narrowly  to  learning,  mental  disposition,  and 
exemplary  conduct. 

"  In  all  outward  things,"  says  a  Venetian, 
"  he  shows  himself  personally  devoted  to  the 
Roman  catholic  religion,  and  averse  to  her 
opponent." 

It  was  this  feeling  that  prompted  him  to 
recall  the  Jesuits.  He  thought  that  their 
zeal  would  surely  contribute  to  the  re-estab- 

*  This  appears  beyond  question  from  the  account  given 
by  Benoist,  Hisloire  de  I'^dit  de  Nantes,  i.  185. 

fNiccolo  Contarini :  "  II  re,  se  ben  andava  temporeggi- 
ando  con  le  parti,  e  li  suoi  ministri  e  consiglieri  fussero 
deir  una  e  I'altra  religione,  pur  sempre  piii  si  moslrava 
alienarsi  dagli  Ugonotti  e  desiderale  niinori :  la  ragione 
principal  era  perche  tenendo  essi  per  li  edilti  di  piace 
molte  piazze  nelle  loro  mani,  dellequali  bentrentaerano 
di  niolto  momento,  senza  di  queste  li  pareva  non  essere 
assolutamenle  re  del  suo  regno."  [Although  the  king 
temporized  with  the  parties,  and  though  his  ministers 
and  councillors  were  of  both  religions,  nevertheless  he 
seemed  constantly  to  become  more  alienated  from  the 
Huguenots,  and  to  wish  for  their  reduction :  the  principal 
reason  was,  that  the  edict  of  pacification  havihg  put  many 
places  into  their  hands,  of  which  fully  thirty  were  of 
much  moment,  the  king  seemed  to  himself  without  these 
not  to  be  absolutely  king  of  his  own  realm.] 

t  Memoires  du  clerg6,  torn.  xiv.  p.  259. 


285 

lishment  of  Catholicism,  and  thereby  to  the 
enlargement  likewise  of  the  royal  authority, 
in  the  light  in  which  he  now  contemplated 
it.* 

Yet  all  this  would  have  availed  but  little, 
had  not  the  internal  regeneration  of  the  catho- 
lic church  already  at  this  period  made  vast 
progress  in  France.  Within  the  first  twenty 
years  of  that  century  it  had  assumed  a  new 
form.  Let  us  cast  a  glance  at  this  change, 
especially  as  regards  the  renewal  of  monastic 
discipline,  which  was  its  most  characteristic 
feature. 

Great  zeal  was  displayed  in  the  reformation 
of  the  old  orders, — the  Dominicans,  Francis- 
cans, and  Benedictines. 

The  sisterhoods  vied  with  them  in  zeal. 
The  Feuillantines  practised  such  exaggerated 
penances,  that  it  is  said  fourteen  of  them  per- 
ished thereby  in  one  week;  the  pope  was 
obliged  to  admonish  them  to  mitigate  the 
austerity  of  their  discipline.!  Community  of 
goods,  silence  and  vigils,  were  again  intro- 
duced in  Port  Royal,  and  the  mystery  of  the 
eucharist  was  adored  there  day  and  nightj 
The  nuns  of  Calvary  observed  the  rules  of 
St.  Benedict  in  all  their  rigour  ;  by  incessant 
prayer  before  the  cross,  they  sought  to  make 
a  sort  of  expiation  for  the  outrages  offered  by 
the  protestants  to  the  tree  of  life.^ 

At  that  time  St.  Theresa  had,  in  a  some- 
what different  spirit,  reformed  the  order  of 
the  Carmelites  in  Spain.  She,  too,  enjoined 
the  strictest  seclusion ;  she  strove  to  resist 
even  the  visits  of  relations  at  the  grating, 
and  even  the  confessor  was  subject  to  inspec- 
tion. Still  she  did  not  regard  austerity  as  the 
aim  and  end  of  monastic  institutions.  She 
sought  to  elicit  a  condition  of  the  soul  attuned 
to  a  nearer  harmony  with  the  Divine  nature. 
She  now  found  that  no  seclusion  from  the 
world,  no  self-denial,  no  discipline  of  the 
mind,  was  sufficient  to  keep  the  votary  within 
the  needful  bonds,  unless  some  further  help 
was  added;  and  this  she  sought  in  work, 
plain  household  occupation  and  female  handi- 
work,— the  salt  that  preserves  the  soul  of 
woman  from  corruption,  the  guardian  that 
shuts  the  door  against  unprofitable  wandering 
thoughts.  But  this  work,  as  she  further  di- 
rected, was  not  to  be  costly  or  curious,  or  to 
be  set  for  an  appointed  time  ;  it  was  not  to  be 
of  a  kind  to  busy  the  mind.     Her  object  was 

*  "Per  abbassamento  del  quale  (del  partite  degli  Ugo- 
notti) s'imagint)  di  poter  dar  gran  colpo  col  richiamar  li 
Gesuiti,  pensando  anco  in  questa  nianiera  di  toglier  la 
radice  a  molte  congiure."  [He  thought  he  could  strike  a 
great  blow  towards  lowering  the  Huguenot  party  by  call- 
ing back  the  Jesuits,  and  that  he  would  hereby  also  eradi- 
cate many  conspiracies.]  He  made  answer  to  the  P^"'*" 
ments,  let  but  his  life  be  secured,  and  the  exile  of  the 
Jesuits  should  never  cease. 

t  Helyot :  Histoires  des  ordres  monastiques,  v.,  p.  41-4. 

t  Felibien  :  Histoire  de  Paris,  ii.  1339 :  a  work  generally 
valuable  as  regards  the  history  of  this  restoration,  and  in 
many  places  grounded  on  original  authorities. 

§  La  vie  du  veritable  pere  Josef,  p.  53.  73. 


286 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,    [a.  d.  1590-1617. 


to  promote  the  tranquillity  of  a  soul  conscious 
of  its  existence  in  God, — "  a  soul,"  as  she 
says,  "  that  ever  lives  as  though  it  stood  be- 
fore the  face  of  God,  that  knows  no  pain  but 
that  of  not  enjoying  his  presence."  She  de- 
sired to  produce  what  she  calls  the  prayer  of 
love,  "  in  which  the  soul  forgets  itself,  and 
hears  the  heavenly  Master's  voice."*  This 
was  an  enthusiasm  which,  in  her  at  least,  vv^as 
pure,  noble,  and  unaffected,  and  it  made  the 
greatest  impression  on  the  whole  catholic 
world.  It  was  very  soon  admitted  in  France, 
that  something  more  was  needful  than  mere 
penitential  practices.  Piere  Berulle  was  spe- 
cially deputed  to  visit  the  order  in  Spain,  and 
he  at  last  succeeded,  though  not  without  diffi- 
culty, in  propagating  it  in  France,  where  it 
very  soon  took  root,  and  bore  the  fairest 
fruit. 

The  monasteries  founded  by  Frangois  de 
Sales  were  also  of  this  milder  character.  In 
all  his  occupations  de  Sales  used  to  comport 
himself  vi^ith  cheerful  serenity  of  soul,  with- 
out painful  effort  or  hurry.  VVith  his  associ- 
ate. Mere  Chantal,  he  founded  the  order  of 
Visitation,  expressly  for  such  as  were  forbid- 
den, by  the  delicacy  of  their  bodily  constitu- 
tion, from  entering  the  more  austere  commu- 
nities. In  his  rules,  he  not  only  avoided  all 
direct  penance,  and  dispensed  them  from  per- 
formance of  severer  duties,  but  he  warned 
also  against  all  inward  aspirations.  "  We 
must,"  he  said,  "  place  ourselves  simply,  and 
without  overcurious  pondering,  in  the  sight  of 
God,  and  not  to  desire  to  enjoy  more  than  He 
is  pleased  to  vouchsafe ;  pride  readily  beguiles 
us  under  the  guise  of  religious  rapture  ;  our 
vvalk  must  be  only  in  the  common  path  of  the 
virtues."  For  this  reason  he  enjoined  upon 
his  nuns  the  care  of  the  sick  as  their  foremost 
duty.  The  sisters  were  always  to  go  abroad 
two  by  two,  a  superior  and  an  associate,  and 
visit  the  needy  sick  in  their  dwellings. 
Works  and  labours  of  love  are  our  best 
prayers,  was  the  maxim  of  Frangois  de  Sales.f 
His  order  exercised  a  beneficent  influence 
over  all  France. 

It  is  easy  to  perceive  in  this  course  of 
things  a  progress  from  austerity  to  modera- 
tion, from  extacy  to  calmness,  from  ascetical 
seclusion  to  the  fulfilment  of  social  duties. 

The  Ursuline  nuns,  whose  fourth  vow  it  is 
to  devote  themselves  to  the  instruction  of 
young  girls,— a  vow  they  fulfilled  with  admi- 
rable zeal, — had  already  been  received  in 
France. 


*  Diego  de  Yepes :  Vitadella  gloriosa  vergine  S.  Ter- 
esa di  Giesu,  fondatrice  de'  carmeliiani  Scalzi,  Roma, 
1623,  p.  303.  Constituzioni  principali,  §  3,  p.  208.  The 
Exclamaciones  o  medilaciones  de  S.  Teresa,  con  algunos 
otros  iraladillos,  Brusselas,  1682,  exhibit  an  enthusiasm 
almost  too  highly  pitched  for  our  taste. 

■f  E.  g.  in  Gallitia:  Leben  des  h.  Franz  von  Sales,  ii. 
285.  Rut  his  sentiments  are  most  clearly  and  most  pleas- 
ingly puuitrayed  in  his  own  works,  particularly  in  his 
Introduction  to  a  devotional  life. 


A  similar  spirit,  as  might  of  course  be  ex- 
pected, was  also  in  vigorous  activity  among 
the  religious  communities  for  men. 

Jean  Baptiste  Romillon,  who  till  his  26th 
year  had  borne  arms  against  Catholicism,  but 
who  then  became  a  convert  to  that  faith, 
founded,  in  conjunction  with  a  friend  of  simi- 
lar views,  the  order  of  the  Fathers  of  Chris- 
tian Doctrine,  which  established  a  new-mo- 
delled system  of  elementary  instruction  in 
France. 

We  have  already  made  mention  of  Berulle, 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  ecclesiastics  of 
France  in  those  times.  From  his  earliest 
youth  he  had  manifested  a  hearty  zeal  to  fit 
himself  for  the  service  of  the  church  :  to  that 
end  he  had  daily,  as  he  said,  kept  before  him 
"  the  truest  and  most  intimate  thought  of  his 
heart,"  which  was  "  to  strive  after  the  great- 
est perfection."  Perhaps  the  difficulty  he 
experienced  in  this  task  may  have  had  some 
share  in  impressing  him  with  the  paramount 
necessity  of  an  institution  for  the  education  of 
clergymen  with  an  immediate  view  to  the 
service  of  the  church.  He  took  Philip  Neri 
for  his  example,  and  like  him  he  established 
priests  of  the  oratory.  He  permitted  no  vows, 
and  only  imposed  simple  obligations :  he  had 
sufficient  largeness  of  mind  to  allow  that 
every  one  who  did  not  discover  in  himself  the 
requisite  cast  of  mind  should  be  at  liberty  to 
retire.  His  institution  had  great  success :  its 
mildness  attracted  pupils  even  of  higher  rank ; 
and  ere  long  Berulle  found  himself  at  the  head 
of  a  brilliant  body  of  able  and  docile  youth. 
Episcopal  seminaries  and  high  schools  were 
entrusted  to  him;  a  new  and  lively  spirit 
animated  the  clergy  formed  in  his  institution. 
It  gave  to  the  world  a  host  of  eminent  preach- 
ers ;  from  its  day  was  determined  the  charac- 
ter of  the  French  pulpit.* 

Can  we  in  this  place  omit  mentioning  the 
congregation  of  St.  Maur?  The  French 
Benedictines,  in  adhering  to  the  reformation 
of  that  order  effected  in  Lorraine,  added  to 
their  other  obligations  that  of  devoting  them- 
selves to  the  education  of  the  young  nobility 
and  to  the  pursuits  of  learning.  At  the  very 
commencement  of  this  change  appeared  among 
them  that  justly  famous  man,  Nicolas  Hugo 
Menard,  who  gave  their  studies  that  bent 
towards  ecclesiastical  antiquities,  to  which  we 
are  indebted  for  so  many  noble  works.f 

Mary  of  Medici  had  already  introduced  into 
France  the  Brothers  of  Mercy ;  an  order 
founded  by  that  indefatigable  minister  to  the 
sick,  Johannes  a  Deo,  a  Portuguese,  to  whom 
a  Spanish  bishop  had  given  that  by-name  in  a 
moment  of  admiration.  In  France  the  order 
adopted  still  stricter  rules,  but  its  success  was 
so  much  the  greater.     Within  a  short  space 

*  Tabaraud:  Histoire  de  Pierre  de  Berulle,  Paris,  1817. 
t  Filipe  le  Cerf:  Bibliolhequehisloriqueet  critique  des 
auleurs  de  le  congregation  de  S.  Maur,  p.  355. 


A.  D.  1617-1623.]    REGENERATION  OF  CATHOLICISM  IN  FRANCE. 


287 


of  time  we  find  thirty  hospitals  established 

by  it.* 

But  what  a  task  it  is  to  remodel  the  reli- 
gion of  a  whole  kingdom, — to  give  a  new 
direction  to  its  faith  and  doctrine !  In  the 
more  sequestered  regions,  among  the  rural 
population,  and  even  among  the  parish  priests, 
the  old  abuses  were  still  in  many  places  in 
full  operation.  At  last,  amidst  the  general 
religious  excitement,  appeared  likewise  the 
great  missionary  of  the  common  people,  Vin- 
cent de  Paul,  who  founded  the  congregation 
of  the  Mission,  the  members  of  which,  passing 
from  place  to  place,  served  to  spread  the 
devotional  spirit  into  the  remotest  corners  of 
the  land.  Vincent  was  himself  the  son  of  a 
peasant, — humble,  full  of  zeal  and  practical 
good  sense.f  To  him  also  is  due  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  order  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity, 
in  which  the  more  delicate  sex,  at  an  age 
when  its  hopes  might  naturally  be  fixed  on 
domestic  happiness  or  worldly  splendour,  de- 
votes itself  to  the  service  of  the  sick,  often  of 
the  reprobate,  without  being  permitted  to  give 
outwardly  more  than  a  passing  expression  to 
the  religious  feelings  that  prompt  to  all  this 
earnest  labour. 

Efforts  like  these  for  the  nurture  and  in- 
struction of  the  young,  the  teaching  of  the 
pulpit,  encouragement  of  sound  learning,  and 
the  exercise  of  benevolence,  have  happily 
been  ever  renewed  in  Christian  countries. 
No  where  can  they  succeed  without  the  union 
of  manifold  powers  with  religious  enthusiasm. 
Elsewhere,  their  cultivation  was  left  to  each 
successive  generation,  to  the  promptings  of 
present  necessity :  but  here  it  was  sought  to 
give  an  unalterable  basis  to  the  associations 
for  these  purposes,  an  established  form  to  the 
religious  impulses  directed  towards  them;  and 
this,  in  order  to  devote  them  all  to  the  service 
of  the  church,  and  insensibly  to  mould  the 
minds  of  future  generations  to  the  same  shape 
and  bent. 

The  most  important  results  were  soon 
manifested  in  France.  Even  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  IV.  the  protestants  felt  themselves 
crippled  and  endangered  by  the  searching 
and  extensive  activity  of  their  antagonists : 
for  a  while  they  ceased  to  make  any  progress, 
and  ere  long  they  began  to  experience  losses: 
already  under  Henry  IV.,  they  complain  that 
desertion  from  their  ranks  had  begun. 

And  yet  Henry  was  constrained  by  the  very 
nature  of  his  policy  to  deal  favourably  with 
them,  and  to  reject  the  suggestions  of  the 
pope,  such,  for  instance,  as  his  proposal,  that 
they  should  be  excluded  from  all  public  offices. 

*  Approbatio  coneregationis  fralrum  Johannis  Dei,  1572. 
Kal.  Jan.  (Bullar.  Cocquel.  iv.  Ill,  190.) 

+  Slolberg:  Leben  des  heiligen  Vincentius  von  Paulus. 
Munsler,  1818.  Honest  Stolberg,  however,  should  not 
have  looked  on  his  hero  in  the  light  of'einen  Mann 
durch  den  Franlcreich  erneuert  ward"  (p.  6.  p.  399)  [A 
man  by  whom  France  was  regenerated.] 


But  this  line  of  policy  was  abandoned  under 
Mary  of  Medici ;  a  much  closer  connexion 
was  formed  with  Spain,  and  a  decidedly  ca- 
tholic spirit  predominated  in  all  public  affaira 
domestic  and  foreign.  That  spirit  ruled  both 
at  court  and  in  the  assemblies  of  the  estates. 
The  first  two  estates  expressly  demanded  in 
the  year  1614,  not  only  the  publication  of  the 
system  of  Trent,  but  even  the  restoration  of 
church  property  in  Beam. 

It  was  highly  fortunate  for  the  preservation 
of  those  protestant  institutions  which  were 
likewise  fostered  with  a  lively  zeal,  that  the 
party  of  their  defenders  was  still  so  strong, 
and  its  attitude  so  martial.  When  the  govern- 
ment coalesced  with  the  adversaries  of  the 
protestants,  the  latter  found  support  and  help 
at  the  hands  of  powerful  malcontents,  of  whom 
there  never  has  been,  and  never  will  be  a  lack 
in  that  country.  Some  space  of  time  yet 
elapsed  before  their  enemies  could  directly 
assail  them. 


CHAPTER  II, 

GENERAL  WAR, — TRIUMPH  OF  CATHOLICISM. 

1617—1623. 

Breaking  out  of  war. 

However  various  may  have  been  the  cir- 
cumstances of  which  we  have  traced  the 
growth,  they  all  nevertheless  coincide  in  one 
grand  result.  On  all  sides  Catholicism  had 
made  powerful  strides ;  on  all  sides  too  it  had 
encountered  vigorous  resistance.  In  Poland 
it  was  unable  to  master  its  opponents,  because 
they  were  invincibly  backed  by  their  neigh- 
bours. In  Germany  a  close  knit  opposition 
had  thrown  itself  in  the  way  of  the  advancing 
creed  and  of  the  returning  priesthood.  The 
king  of  Spain  had  been  constrained  to  grant 
the  Netherlands  a  truce,  which  was  very 
nearly  tantamount  to  a  formal  recognition. 
The  French  Huguenots  were  provided  against 
every  attack  by  means  of  fortresses,  troops 
well  equipped  for  war,  and  pertinent  financial 
arrangements.  In  Switzerland  the  balance 
of  parties  had  long  been  established,  and 
even  regenerated  Catholicism  was  unable  to 
shake  it. 

Europe  has  parted  into  two  worlds,  at  every 
point  mutually  encompassed,  restricted,  re- 
pulsed and  assailed. 

If  we  institute  a  general  comparison  be- 
tween them,  we  are  struck  in  the  first  place, 
by  an  appearance  of  far  greater  unity  on  the 
catholic  side.  We  know  indeed,  that  it  was 
not  without  its  internal  animosities,  but  these 
now  for  the  first  time  mitigated.  Above  all, 
,there  subsisted  a  good,  nay  a  confidential 
understanding  between   France  and  Spain ; 


288 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.     SECOND  PERIOD,    [a.  d.  1617-1623. 


for  the  occasional  outbreak  of  the  old  ill-will 
of  Venice  or  Savoy  was  not  of  much  weight ; 
even  such  formidable  attempts  as  the  conspi- 
racy against  Venice  passed  off  without  any 
violent  shock.  Pope  Paul  V.,  after  the  severe 
lessons  taught  him  by  his  first  experience, 
remained  quiet  and  moderate ;  he  found  means 
to  uphold  peace  between  the  catholic  powers, 
and  from  time  to  time  he  gave  an  impulse  to 
the  common  policy.  The  protestants,  on  the 
contrary,  had  not  only  no  common  centre,  but 
since  the  death  of  Elizabeth  of  England,  and 
the  accession  of  James  I.,  who  observed  a 
rather  ambiguous  policy,  they  had  not  even  a 
leader.  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  stood  op- 
posed to  each  with  a  mutual  ill-will  that 
necessarily  led  to  opposite  political  measures. 
And  even  the  Calvinists  again  were  divided 
among  themselves;  episcopalians  and  puri- 
tans, Arminians  and  Gomarists,  assailed  each 
other  with  fierce  hatred.  In  the  assembly  of 
the  Huguenots  at  Saumar  in  1611  a  rupture 
occurred,  which  it  was  never  afterwards  pos- 
sible entirely  to  heal. 

Certainly  this  difference  is  not  to  be  ascribed 
to  a  less  vivacity  in  the  religious  movements 
on  the  catholic  side ;  the  very  contrary  is 
apparent.  The  fact  is  rather  to  be  imputed 
to  the  following  cause.  Catholicism  knew 
nothing  of  that  energy  of  exclusive  doctrine 
which  ruled  over  protestantism ;  there  were 
important  controversies  which  the  former  left 
undecided ;  enthusiasm,  mysticism,  and  that 
profounder  habit  of  feeling,  scarce  admitting 
of  being  shaped  into  the  more  palpable  form 
of  thought,  which  ever  arises  from  time  to 
time  as  the  necessary  product  of  religious 
tendencies,  had  been  adopted  by  Catholicism, 
reduced  to  rule,  and  made  serviceable  under 
the  forms  of  monastic  asceticism,  whilst  on 
the  contrary  they  were  rejected,  condemned, 
and  repudiated  by  protestantism.  For  this 
very  reason,  such  feelings  thus  left  to  them- 
selves among  the  protestants,  manifested 
themselves  in  the  shape  of  numerous  sects, 
and  struck  out  their  own  paths  with  partial 
views  but  in  uncontrolled  freedom. 

It  accords  with  these  facts,  that  literature 
in  general  had  assumed  much  more  shapeli- 
ness and  regularity  on  the  catholic  side.  It 
may  be  laid  down  that  the  modern  classic 
forms  were  first  established  in  Italy  under  the 
auspices  of  the  church :  in  Spain  an  approach 
was  made  to  them  as  far  as  was  permitted  by 
the  genius  of  the  nation ;  and  a  similar  pro- 
cess was  already  begun  in  France,  where  it 
afterwards  was  so  actively  developed,  and 
produced  such  brilliant  results.  Malherbe 
arose ;  he  who  first  voluntarily  submitted  to 
rules,  and  deliberately  rejected  all  license,* 

*  Respecting  Malherbe's  genius,  and  his  style  of  wri- 
ting, new  and  valuable  additions  to  tlie  poet's  biography 
have  been  made  by  Racan  in  the  M6moires  or  rather 
Historiettes  de  Tallemeni  des  Reaux,  published  by  Mon- 
inerqu6, 1834,  i.  p.  195. 


and  who  gave  new  cogency  to  the  monarchi- 
cal and  catholic  sentiments  that  inspired  him, 
by  the  epigrammatic  precision,  and  the  some- 
what prosaic  but  characteristically  French 
popularity  and  elegance  of  the  language  in 
which  he  expressed  them.  Among  the  Ger- 
man nations  this  classical  tendency  failed  to 
obtain  sway  in  those  days,  even  on  the  catho- 
lic side;  its  first  action  was  only  on  Latin 
poetry,  in  which,  however,  it  sometimes  look- 
ed like  parody,  and  that  even  in  the  works  of 
so  able  a  writer  as  Balde.  All  compositions 
in  the  vernacular  tongue  retained  the  simple 
expression  of  nature.  Now  there  was  still 
less  possibility  of  the  imitation  of  the  ancients 
gaining  ground  among  the  protestants  of  the 
German  stock.  Shakespeare  set  before  men's 
eyes  the  import  and  spirit  of  romantic  litera- 
ture in  imperishable  forms,  the  spontaneous 
productions  of  a  mind  to  which  history  and 
antiquity  were  but  as  handmaids.  From  the 
workshop  of  a  German  shoemaker*  issued 
poems  darkling,  shapeless,  and  unfathomable, 
but  with  irresistible  power  of  fascination, 
poems  marked  with  German  depth  of  feeling, 
and  a  religious  view  of  the  world  and  of  na- 
ture that  have  never  been  equalled, — sponta- 
neous offsprings  of  nature. 

I  will  not,  however,  attempt  to  poutray  the 
contrasts  of  these  two  opposite  intellectual 
worlds ;  in  order  to  their  full  comprehension, 
we  ought  to  have  devoted  more  attention  to 
the  protestant  side.  Let  it  be  allowed  me 
to  bring  forward  one  particular  that  had  an 
immediate  influence  in  determining  the  course 
of  events. 

The  monarchical  tendency  was  now  para- 
mount in  Catholicism.  Ideas  of  popular  rights, 
of  legitimate  opposition  to  the  sovereign,  of 
the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  and  of  the  law- 
fulness of  regicide,  such  as  had  been  vehe- 
mently maintained  thirty  years  before  even  by 
zealous  catholics,  were  no  longer  in  fashion. 
There  was  now  no  notable  contest  between  a 
catholic  population  and  a  protestant  prince  : 
even  James  I.  v/as  borne  with,  and  the  old 
theories  found  no  application.  It  followed 
from  this  that  the  religious  principle  became 
more  closely  linked  with  the  dynastical  one, 
and  the  union,  if  1  mistake  not,  was  further 
promoted  by  the  circumstance  that  there  was 
a  certain  personal  superiority  on  the  side  of 
the  catholic  princes  :  such  at  least  was  cer- 
tainly the  case  in  Germany.  In  that  country 
still  lived  the  aged  bishop  Julius  of  VViirz- 
burg,  the  first  who  had  there  attempted  a 
thorough  measure  of  counter-reformation ; 
elector  Schweikard  of  Mainz  filled  the  office 
of  arch-chancellor,  with  talents  quickened  by 
warm  and  hearty  interest  in  public  affairs, 
and  once  more  greatly  extended  its  credit  and 
efficacy  ;t  both  the   other  Rhenish    electors 

*  Hans  Sachs. 

i  Montorio;  Relatione  dlGermania,  1624:  "Dicostumi 


A.  D.  1617-1623.] 


BREAKING  OUT  OF  WAR. 


289 


were  resolute  active  men  ;  by  their  side  stood 
the  manly,  sagacious,  indefatigable  Maximilian 
of  Bavaria,  an  ableadministrator,  full  of  enlarg- 
ed and  grand  designs  of  policy,  and  archduke 
Ferdinand,  invincible  in  the  strength  of  the 
faith  he  clung  to  with  all  the  ardour  of  a  vig- 
orous soul.  Almost  all  these  men  had  been 
educated  by  Jesuits,  who  still  found  means  to 
stir  the  minds  of  their  pupils  to  great  impulses : 
they  were  reformers  too  in  their  way,  and  it 
was  they  who  had  laboriously,  and  by  force  of 
mind,  brought  about  the  existing  state  of  things. 
The  protestant  princes,  on  the  contrary, 
were  rather  inheritors  than  founders:  they 
were  already  the  third  or  fourth  generation. 
Only  in  some  few  among  them  was  seen,  I 
will  not  say  energy  and  strength  of  mind,  but 
ambition  and  restlessness. 

On  the  other  hand,  manifest  tendencies  to 
republicanism,  or  at  least  to  aristocratic  free- 
dom, appeared  among  the  protestants.  In 
many  places  in  France,  in  Poland,  and  in  all 
the  Austrian  dominions,  a  powerful  nobility  of 
protestant  persuasion  was  at  open  war  with 
the  government  authorities.  What  might  be 
gained  in  such  a  contest,  was  brilliantly  evi- 
denced by  the  republic  of  the  Netherlands, 
which  was  daily  increasing  in  prosperity. 
Unquestionably  the  thought  was  then  enter- 
tained in  Austria,  of  throwing  off  the  yoke  of 
the  reigning  house,  and  constituting  the  coun- 
try a  republic  on  the  model  of  Switzerland  or 
the  Low  Countries.  The  success  of  such  a 
project  promised  the  estates  of  the  German 
empire  the  only  chance  of  again  acquiring 
high  importance,  and  they  took  part  in  it  with 
vivacity.  The  internal  constitution  of  the 
Huguenot  body  was  already  republican,  and 
even  with  a  mixture  of  democracy.  This 
latter  spirit  was  also  arrayed  in  the  persons 
of  the  English  puritans  against  a  protestant 
king.  There  is  a  small  work  extant  of  an 
imperial  ambassador  at  the  court  of  Paris  in 
those  days,  in  which  the  attention  of  European 
potentates  is  earnestly  drawn  to  the  common 
danger  that  threatened  them  from  the  ad- 
vancement of  such  a  spirit.* 

The  catholic  world  was  at  this  period  unani- 
mous, classical,  monarciiical ;  the  protestant 
divided,  romantic,  republican. 

In  the  year  1617,  every  thing  was  ripe  for 
a  decided  conflict  between  the  two.  The 
catholic  party,  it  seems,  felt  its  own  superio- 


gravi,  molto  iniento  alle  cose  del  governo  cogi  spirituale 
come  temporale,  mollo  bene  affello  verso  il  servigio  di 
cotesta  Santa  sede,desideroso  del  progressodella  religione, 
uno  de'  prirai  prelali  della  Gennania."  [A  man  of  serious 
habits,  very  intent  on  the  affairs  of  government  both  spiri- 
tual and  temporal,  very  well  disposed  towards  the  service 
of  that  holy  see,  desirous  of  the  progress  of  religion,  one  of 
the  first  prelates  of  Germany.] 

*  Advis  sur  les  causes  des  mouvemenls  de  I'Europe, 
envoy6  aux  rois  et  princes  pour  la  conservation  de  leurs 
royaumes  et  principaut^s,  fail  par  Messer.  Al.  Cunr.  baron 
de  Fridembourg  et  present^  au  roy  trfis  chrestien  par  le 
comte  de  Furstemberg  ainbassadeur  de  I'empereur.  In- 
sened  in  the  Mercure  Francois,  torn.  ix.  p.  342. 

37 


rity  ;  it  is  not  to  be  disputed  that  it  was  the 
first  aggressor. 

On  the  15th  of  June,  1617,  there  was  issued 
in  France  an  edict,  long  demanded  by  the 
catholic  clergy,  but  which  the  court  had  al- 
ways refused  to  grant,  in  its  awe  of  the  power 
of  the  Huguenots,  and  the  high  consideration 
of  their  leaders,  whereby  the  church  property 
in  Beam  was  to  be  surrendered  back.  It  was 
obtained  from  Luines,  who,  though  the  protes- 
tants counted  on  him  at  first,*  had  yet  gra- 
dually attached  himself  to  the  Jesuit  or  papal 
party.  Relying  on  this  disposition  of  the  head 
of  the  government,  the  populace  had  already 
here  and  there  riotously  attacked  the  protes- 
tants, and  sometimes  at  the  summons  of  the 
tocsin.  The  parliament  also  took  part  against 
them. 

The  Polish  prince  Wladislaw  once  more 
took  up  arms,  in  the  confident  expectation  that 
he  should  now  make  himself  master  of  the 
Russian  throne.  It  was  thought  that  his  arma- 
ment was  made  with  a  view  also  against 
Sweden,  and  war  was  instantly  resumed  be- 
tween Poland  and  Sweden.f 

But  by  far  the  most  important  events  were 
ripening  in  the  hereditary  dominions  of  the 
house  of  Austria.  The  archdukes  had  come 
to  a  reconciliation  and  mutual  understanding. 
With  the  magnanimity  often  displayed  by  that 
house  in  moments  of  peril,  the  other  brother 
surrendered  in  favour  of  archduke  Ferdinand, 
the  pretensions  that  would  naturally  accrue 
to  them  on  the  death  of  the  emperor  Matthias, 
who  had  no  issue ;  and  he  was  shortly  after- 
wards actually  acknowledged  heir  to  the 
throne  in  Hungary  and  Bohemia.  This  was 
in  reality  but  an  adjustment  of  personal  claims ; 
still  it  was  pregnant  with  results  important  to 
the  general  interests. 

It  was  certainly  not  to  be  expected  from  a 
man  of  Ferdinand's  determined  zeal,  but  that 
he  should  forthwith  seek  to  establish  the  su- 
premacy of  his  own  faith  in  his  future  domin- 
ions, and  then  endeavour  to  bend  their  whole 
strength  towards  the  propagation  of  Catholi- 
cism. 

Here  was  a  common  danger,  threatening 
all  the  protestants  in  the  Austrian  dominions, 
in  Germany,  and  in  Europe. 

An   opposition  speedily  arose  out  of  this 


*  This  appears  among  other  proofs  from  a  letter  from 
Duplessis  Mornay,  Saumur,  April  26,  1617:  "Sur  ce  coup 
de  majority,"  as  he  calls  the  murder  of  the  mar^chal  tf' 
Ancre'.    La  vie  de  Du  Plessis,  p.  465. 

t  Hiiirn:  Esih-Lyf-und  Lettlandische  Geschichte,  p. 
418.  "  The  Swedes  knew  that  the  king  of  Poland  had  sent 
his  son  10  Russia  with  a  powerful  army,  to  the  end  that  he 
might  surprise  the  fortresses  which  the  Muscovites  had 
ceded  to  the  Swedes,  so  that  if  the  enterprize  were  suc- 
cessful he  might  himself  be  the  better  enabled  to  attack 
the  kingdom  of  Sweden :  for  he  had  been  promised  aid 
towards  the  reconqiiest  of  Sweden,  both  by  the  estates  in 
the  Polish  diet  and  by  the  liouse  oi"  Austria :  therefore  he 
had  bent  all  his  thoughts  on  this  matter  more  than  on  any 
thing  else." 


290 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,  [a.  d.  1617-1623. 


clanger,  immediately  affecting  its  cause.  The 
protestants,  who  set  themselves  in  array 
against  the  progress  of  Catholicism,  were  not 
only  provided  for  defence,  but  they  had  the 
courage  forthwith  to  change  their  tactics  into 
those  of  aggression. 

The  elements  of  European  protestantism 
were  concentrated  in  the  person  of  Frederick, 
the  elector  palatine.  His  consort  was  the 
daughter  of  the  king  of  England,  and  niece  of 
the  king  of  Denmark ;  prince  Maurice  of 
Orange  was  his  uncle  ;  the  duke  de  Bouillon, 
the  leader  of  the  less  peacefully  inclined  sec- 
tion of  the  French  Huguenots,  was  his  nearest 
relation.  He  himself  stood  at  the  head  of 
the  German  union.  He  was  a  grave  prince, 
who  had  sufficient  self-command  to  abstain 
from  the  bad  habits  then  prevalent  in  the 
German  courts,  and  who  made  it  much  more 
his  care  to  fulfil  his  duties  as  a  ruler,  and  dili- 
gently to  attend  the  sittings  of  his  privy  coun- 
cil :  he  was  of  a  somewhat  melancholy  dis- 
position, proud,  and  full  of  lofty  thoughts.*  In 
his  father's  time  there  were  tables  in  the  elec- 
toral dining  hall  for  councillors  and  nobles ; 
Frederick  caused  them  all  to  be  removed,  and 
ate  only  with  princes  and  persons  of  the 
highest  rank.  A  lively  feeling  of  a  great  poli- 
tical destiny  was  cherished  at  this  court,  which 
industriously  engaged  in  a  thousand  connex- 
ions tending  to  far-sought  views.  So  long  a 
time  had  elapsed  since  any  serious  war,  that 
no  clear  perception  was  entertained  of  what 
might  be  achieved,  of  what  the  future  might 
have  in  store  :  the  most  extravagant  projects 
were  indulged. 

Such  was  the  tone  and  temper  of  the  court 
of  Heidelberg,  when  the  Bohemians,  who,  im- 
pelled especially  by  the  threatened  danger  to 
protestantism,  had  broken  out  into  dissensions 
with  the  house  of  Austria,  that  every  day 
grew  more  violent  and  implacable,  resolved 
to  reject  Ferdinand,  although  he  already 
possessed  their  promise,  and  to  offer  their  crown 
to  the  elector  palatine. 

Frederick  pondered  for  a  moment.  It  was 
an  unexampled  thing,  that  a  German  prince 

*  Relatione  di  Germania,  1617:  "  Federico  V.  d'eti  di 
anni  20,  di  mezzana  slalura,  d'aspetlo  grave,  di  nalura 
malinconico,  di  carnaggione  buona,  uomo  di  alti  pensieri, 
e  rare  voile  si  rallegra,  e  coll'  appoggio  del  accasamento 
fallo  con  la  figliuola  del  re  d'Inghillerra  e  di  altri  parent! 
e  confederal!  aspirarebbe  a  cose  maggiori  se  segli  appre- 
Benlasse  occasione  a  proposilo :  onde  essendo  ben  conos- 
ciuio  suo  nalurale  per  il  colonello  di  Scomburg  gii  suo  ajo, 
seppe  cosi  ben  valersene,  accomodandosi  al  suo  umore, 
che  mentre  visse  fu  piu  d'ogni  altro  suo  confidenie." 
[Frederick  V.  is  about  iwenly  years  of  age,  of  middle  sta- 
ture, of  a  grave  countenance,  of  a  melancholy  disposition, 
of  good  constitution,  a  man  of  lofty  thoughts,  and  one  who 
rarely  indulges  in  gaiety.  Relying  on  the  support  afford- 
ed him  by  his  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  the  king  of 
England,  and  on  that  of  other  relations  and  confederates, 
'he  would  aspire  to  higher  things,  were  a  favourable  oppor- 
tunity presented  to  him.  His  disposition  being  well 
known  to  colonel  Schomburg,  formerly  his  tutor,  the  latter 
made  such  good  use  of  the  knowledge,  and  so  accommo- 
dated himself  to  Frederick's  humour,  that,  whilst  the 
colonel  lived,  he  was  more  in  his  confidence  than  any  one 
Isee.J 


should  attempt  to  wrest  from  another  the 
crown  that  devolved  on  him  by  legitimate  suc- 
cession !  But  all  his  friends, — Maurice,  who 
could  not  endure  the  truce  with  Spain ;  the 
duke  of  Bouillon;  Christian  von  Anhalt,  who 
had  reviewed  the  whole  mechanism  of  Euro- 
pean politics,  and  firmly  believed  that  no  one 
would  have  the  courage  and  the  power  to 
gainsay  the  event  when  once  accomplished, — 
these,  and  all  his  most  confidential  advisers, 
spurred  him  on.  The  immense  prospect  open- 
ed to  him,  his  ambition,  and  his  zeal  for  reli- 
gion, combined  with  these  counsels  to  urge 
his  resolution,  and  he  accepted  the  crown 
(Aug.  1619).  How  vast  must  have  been  the 
consequences,  had  he  been  able  to  retain  it! 
The  power  of  the  house  of  Austria  in  Eastern 
Europe  would  have  been  broken,  and  the  pro- 
gress of  Catholicism  barred  forever. 

And  already  strong  sympathies  awoke  on 
his  behalf  in  every  quarter.  In  France  a 
general  movement  took  place  among  the  Hu- 
guenots; the  Bearnese  opposed  the  royal 
commands;  the  assembly  of  Loudun  espoused 
their  cause  ;  nothing  would  have  been  more 
welcome  to  the  queen  mother  than  to  gain 
over  that  warlike  opposition  to  her  own  side  ; 
Rohan  had  already  joined  her,  and  promised 
to  bring  over  to  her  the  rest  of  his  co-religion- 
ists. In  the  ever  restless  Grisons,  too,  the 
Spanish  catholic  party  had  now  been  once 
more  put  down,  and  the  protestant  had  risen 
on  its  fall.  The  court  at  Davos  received  with 
pleasure  the  ambassador  of  the  new  king  of 
Bohemia,  and  promised  him  to  keep  the 
passes  of  the  Alps  forever  closed  against  the 
Spaniards.* 

It  is  well  worthy  of  remark,  that  these 
movements  were  likewise  accompanied  by 
the  display  of  republican  tendencies.  Not 
only  did  the  Bohemian  estates  maintain  a  nat- 
ural independence  towards  their  elected  king, 
but  attempts  were  made  to  follow  their  ex- 
ample in  all  the  hereditary  dominions  of  Aus- 
tria. The  estates  of  the  German  empire  con- 
ceived new  hopes,  and,  in  fact,  the  amplest 
supplies  of  money  Frederick  received  towards 
his  enterprise  came  to  him  from  that  quarter. 

But  precisely  for  these  reasons,  on  the 
double  motives  of  religion  and  policy,  the 
catholic  princes  also  now  bestirred  themselves 
more  than  ever. 

Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  and  Ferdinand,  who 
had  had  the  good  tbrtune  to  be  chosen  empe- 
ror at  this  period,  formed  the  strictest  league 
with  each  other  ;  the  king  of  Spain  armed  and 
prepared  to  afibrd  effectual  aid,  and  pope  Paul 
V.  consented  to  contribute  considerable  and 
very  welcome  subsidies. 

As  the  wind  sometimes  in  the  stormy  sea- 

*  Contemporaries  fell  the  connexion  of  these  events, 
which  in  subsequent  limes  was  no  longer  attended  to. 
Fiirstl.  Auhallische  Geh.  Canzlei  Fortsetzung,  p.  6". 


A.  D.  1617-1623.] 


GREGORY  XV. 


291 


sons  of  the  year  shifts  suddenly  round,  so  the 
current  of  fortune  and  success  now  all  at  once 
turned  back. 

The  catholics  succeeded  in  gaining"  over 
the  elector  of  Saxony,  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful protestant  princes,  but  who,  as  a  Lutheran, 
cordially  detested  the  movements  which  had 
been  set  on  foot  by  Calvinism. 

This  alone  sufficed  to  inspire  their  rising  in 
the  assured  hope  of  victory.  A  single  battle, 
that  of  the  Weiss  Berg,  fought  on  the  8th  of 
November,  1620,  put  an  end  to  the  power  of 
the  elector  palatine,  and  to  all  his  projects. 

For  even  the  Union  did  not  support  its  lead- 
er with  sufficient  energy.  It  may  very  possi- 
bly be,  that  the  republican  temper  we  have 
spoken  of  may  have  alarmed  the  confederate 
princes;  they  refused  to  open  the  Rhine  to 
the  Dutch,  fearing  the  analogies  which  their 
constitution  might  awaken  in  Germany.  The 
catholics  in  Upper  Germany  likewise  achieved 
an  instantaneous  victory.  The  Upper  Pala- 
tinate was  invaded  by  the  Bavarians,  the  Low- 
er by  the  Spaniards;  and  in  April,  1621,  the 
Union  was  dissolved.  All  who  bestirred  them- 
selves, or  took  up  arms  in  favour  of  Frederick, 
were  driven  out  of  the  country  or  utterly 
crushed.  In  a  moment,  immediately  after  the 
greatest  danger,  the  catholic  principle  was 
omnipotent  in  Upper  Germany,  and  in  the 
Austrian  provinces. 

Meanwhile  a  decisive  struggle  was  com- 
pleted in  France  likewise.  After  a  success- 
ful battle  fought  by  the  royal  forces,  against 
the  opposing  court  factions  and  the  party  of 
the  queen  mother,  with  whom  the  Huguenots 
were  certainly  in  close  correspondence,*  the 
papal  nuncio  insisted  that  the  happy  moment 
should  be  seized  for  an  enterprise  against 
protestantism  in  general.  He  would  hear  of 
no  postponement,  asserting  that  whatever  was 
once  postponed  in  France  was  forever  aban- 
doned ;t  and  he  forced  de  Liiines  and  the  king 
to  coincide  in  his  views.  The  old  factions  of 
the  Beaumonts  and  the  Grammonts,  that  had 
been  at  feud  for  centuries,  still  subsisted  in 
Beam,  and  gave  occasion  to  the  king  to  make 
continual  incursions  into  the  country,  disband 
its  forces,  annul  its  constitution,  and  restore 
the  ascendancy  of  the  catholic  church.  True, 
the  protestants  in  France  proper  made  a  show 
of  seconding  their  co-religionists,  but  they 
were  beaten  in  the  year  1621  in  every  quarter. 
About  this  time  Jacopo  Robustelli,  a  cap- 
tain of  the  Valtelline,  had  gathered  round  him 
the  catholic  exiles  from  the  country,  and  some 
banditti  from  the  JVIilanese  and  Venetian  ter- 
ritories, with  the  determination  of  putting  an 
end  to  the  domination  of  the  Grisons,  whose 


*  Even  Benoist  saya,  ii.  291,  "Les  reform^s  n'auroient 
attendu  que  les  premiers  succfes  pour  se  ranger  au  meme 

farli  (de  la  reine)."     [The  Huguenots  would  immediate- 
y,  upon  the  first  successes  oftlie  queen's  arms,  have  join- 
ed her  parly.] 
t  Siri :  Memorie  recondite,  v.  p.  148. 


protestant  tendencies  were  so  oppressive  to 
his  countrymen.  A  capuchin  friar  fired  a 
bloodthirsty  band  to  fanaticism ;  they  broke 
into  Tirano  on  the  night  of  the  19th  of  July, 
1620 ;  at  the  dawn  of  day  they  rang  the  bells, 
and  when  the  protestants  rushed  out  of  their 
houses  at  the  sound,  they  were  attacked,  over- 
powered, and  massacred.  The  fate  of  the 
Tirano  was  shared  by  the  whole  valley.  In 
vain  did  the  Grisons  sally  more  than  once 
from  the  heights  of  the  mountains  to  retrieve 
their  lost  dominion :  as  often  as  they  came 
they  were  beaten.  In  the  year  1621  the  Aus- 
trians  penetrated  from  the  Tyrol, the  Spaniards 
from  Milan,  into  the  very  heart  of  the  Grison 
confederacy.  "  The  bleak  mountain  was  filled 
with  murderous  yells,  and  fearfully  illumined 
by  the  flames  of  lonely  dwellings."  Posses- 
sion was  taken  of  the  passes,  and  of  the  entire 
country. 

These  grand  successes  awoke  all  the  hopes 
of  the  catholics. 

The  papal  court  represented  to  the  Spanish 
that  the  Netherlands  were  divided,  and  now 
without  allies;  there  could  not  be  a  more 
favourable  opportunity  for  making  war  upon 
those  ancient  rebels  to  Spain :  these  represen- 
tations produced  their  intended  effect.*  Peter 
Pectius,  chancellor  of  Brabant,  appeared  in 
the  Hague  on  the  25th  of  March,  1621,  and 
instead  of  proposing  the  renewal  of  the  truce, 
which  just  then  expired,  he  proposed  the  re- 
cognition of  the  legitimate  sovereign.!  The 
states  general  declared  this  suggestion  to  be 
unjust,  unexpected,  nay,  inhuman ; — hostilities 
broke  out  again.  Here,  too,  the  Spaniards 
had  the  advantage  in  the  first  instance.  They 
wrested  Juliers  from  the  Netherlands,  thus 
putting  a  grand  conclusion  to  their  operations 
on  the  Rhine.  They  were  masters  of  the  left 
bank  of  the  Rhine,  from  Emmerich  to  Stras- 
burg. 

These  numerous  concurring  victories  hap- 
pening at  once  in  so  many  various  quarters, 
and  brought  about  by  such  diversified  means, 
when  viewed  in  the  light  thrown  on  them  by 
the  general  course  of  European  affairs,  do 
really  constitute  but  a  single  fact.  Let  us 
now  contemplate  that  which  is  the  most  im- 
portant point  for  our  consideration,  namely, 
the  use  to  which  these  victories  were  applied. 

Gregory  XV. 

In  the  procession  held  to  celebrate  the  vic- 
tory of  Weiss  Berg,  PaulV.  had  an  apoplectic 
stroke,  which  was  shortly  after  followed  by 

*  Instnittione  a  Mre-  Sangro.  "  La  onde  S.  M'i-  non 
pu6  voltare  le  sue  forze  in  miglior  tempo  ovvero  opponu- 
nitCi." 

f  The  proposal  was  literally  for  an  union  "  sub  agnitione 
dominorum  principumque  legitimorum."  [Under  the 
cognizance  of  legitimate  lords  and  princes.]  The  de- 
mand and  the  reply  are  to  be  found  in  Leonis  abAilzema, 
HLsloria  Tractatuum  Pacis  Belgicse,  pp.  3.  4. 


292 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,   [a.  d.  1617-1623. 


another,  from  the  effects  of  which  he  died,  Jan. 
28,  1621. 

The  new  election  was  effected  on  the  whole 
after  the  manner  of  preceding  ones.  Paul  V. 
had  reigned  so  long,  that  he  had  seen  nearly 
the  whole  college  filled  anew;  accordingly, 
by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  cardinals  were 
attached  to  his  nephew,  cardinal  Borghese. 
After  some  hesitation,  the  latter  pitched  upon 
the  man  whom  all  his  adherents  united  in 
approving, — Alessandro  Ludovisio,  of  Bologna, 
who  was  forthwith  elected  on  the  9th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1621,  and  took  the  name  of  Gregory 
XV. 

He  was  a  little,  phlegmatic  man,  who  in 
earlier  years  had  acquired  a  reputation  for 
dexterous  negociation,  and  for  the  art  of  quiet- 
ly and  unobservedly  compassing  his  ends.* 
At  present,  however,  he  was  bent  with  years, 
weakly,  and  in  ill  health. 

What  was  to  be  expected  befitting  that  strife 
on  which  hung  the  destinies  of  the  world,  from 
a  pope  to  whom  people  often  feared  to  com- 
municate important  business,  lest  any  shock 
should  be  given  to  his  feeble  constitution  1\ 

But  by  the  side  of  this  tottering  old  man 
stood  a  vigorous  man  of  five-and-twenty,  his 
nephew  Ludovico  Ludovisio,  who  immediately 
possessed  himself  of  the  powers  of  the  papacy, 
and  displayed  talents  and  boldness  fully  ade- 
quate to  all  that  was  demanded  by  the  existing 
state  of  things. 

Ludovico  was  a  lover  of  pomp  and  splendour, 
and  was  not  negligent  in  securing  wealth, 
forming  advantageous  family  connections,  and 
favouring  and  prompting  his  friends  :  he  lived, 
and  let  live :  still  he  bore  a  watchful  eye  to 
tlie  great  interest  of  the  church :  even  his 
enemies  grant  him  the  possession  of  genuine 
talents  for  the  conduct  of  affairs,  a  sound  saga- 
city that  could  discover  a  satisfactory  issue  out 
of  the  most  embarrassing  perplexities,  and  all 
the  coolness  and  presence  of  mind  required  to 
d'escry  a  possible  contingency  through  the  dim 
haze  of  the  future,  and  to  shape  his  course 
accordingly.!     Had  he  not  been  crippled  by 

*  Relatione  di  iv.  ambascialori,  1631:  "  Di  pelo  che 
avvicinasseal  biontio.  Lanaturasuaesempreconosciuta 
piacida  et  flemnialica,  lontano  dall'  imbarraciarsi  in  rot- 
ture,  amicissimo  d'  andjtre  in  negolio  deslreggiando  et 
avanzando  li  proprj  fini." 

+  Rainier Zeno:  Relatione  di  Roma,  1623:  "Aggiugen- 
dosi  air  el4  cadenle  una  fiachissinia  complessiune  in  un 
corpiccivolo  stenualo  e  nial  atfetto." 

t  Rainier  Zeno:  "E  d'ingegno  vivacissimo:  I'hadimos- 
irato  nel  suo  governo  per  I'abondanza  dei  partili  clie  in 
ogni  grave  Iratlatione  gli  suggerivano  suoi  spiriti  nati  per 
coniandare,  i  quali  se  bene  in  mnlte  parti  aberravano  del'  I 
uopodclla  bona  politica,  nondimeno  I'inlrepidezza  con  I 
la  quale  si  niostrava  pronto  ad  abbracciare  ogni  ripi- i 
ego  appreso  da  lui  per  buuno,  poco  curandosi  di^consigli 
di  chi  gli  haveria  poluto  esser  maestro,  davano  a  credere 
che  la  sua  natura  sdegnava  una  pri  vata  conditione."  [He 
is  a  manof  most  lively  genius,  of  which  he  liasgiven  proof 
in  his  government  by  the  abundant  resources  furnished  ' 
him  in  every  difficult  occasion  of  business  by  the  powers 
of  a  mind  naturally  fitted  to  couuiiand  ;  and  although  those 
powers  have  in  many  instances  wandered  from  ih 


his  uncle's  infirmities,  which  forbade  him  to 
hope  for  any  long  duration  of  his  power,  no 
timid  suggestions  of  expediency  would  ever 
have  moved  him. 

It  was  a  very  important  circumstance  that 
the  nephew,  as  well  as  the  uncle,  was  filled 
with  the  idea  that  the  world's  weal  was  iden- 
tified with  the  outspread  of  Catholicism.  Car- 
dinal Ludovisio  had  been  educated  by  the 
Jesuits,  and  was  their  earnest  patron.  The 
church  of  St.  Ignatius  at  Rome  was  built  chiefly 
at  his  expense  :  he  laid  considerable  stress  on 
the  fact  that  he  was  protector  of  the  Capuchins, 
declaring  that  he  thought  this  the  most  im- 
portant patronage  he  enjoyed.  He  devoted 
himself  with  warm  predilection  to  the  most 
rigid  and  orthodox  forms  of  Romanistopinions.* 

To  form  a  general  conception  of  the  spirit 
of  the  new  administration,  we  need  but  call  to 
mind  that  it  was  Gregory  XV.  under  whose 
pontificate  the  Propaganda  was  founded,  and 
Ignatius  and  Xavier,  the  founders  of  the  Je- 
suits, were  canonized. 

The  origin  of  the  Propaganda  is  properly 
to  be  sought  in  an  edict  of  Gregory  XIII.,  by 
which  the  superintendence  of  missions  in  the 
east,  and  the  printing  of  the  catechism  in  the 
less  known  tongues,  was  committed  to  a  num- 
ber of  cardinals.f  Still  the  institution  was 
neither  firmly  established,  nor  provided  with 
the  requisite  means ;  nor  was  it  comprehensive 
in  its  purposes.  Now  there  flourished  in  those 
days  in  Rome  a  great  preacher,  named  Giro- 
lamo  da  Narni,  universally  venerated  for  a  life 
that  had  gained  him  the  reputation  of  a  saint; 
and  whose  discourses  from  the  pulpit  displayed 
a  richness  of  thought,  a  purity  of  expression, 
and  a  majesty  of  delivery  that  enchanted  all 
hearers.  Bellarmine  once  said,  in  coming  out 
from  hearing  a  sermon  by  him,  he  believed  he 
had  just  been  granted  one  of  St.  Augustine's 
three  wishes, — that  of  hearing  St.  Paul.  Car- 
dinal Ludovisio  was  likewise  one  of  his  pa- 
trons :  he  defrayed  the  expense  of  printing  his 
sermons.  This  Capuchin  now  conceived  the 
idea  of  extending  the  institution  in  question. | 
By  his  advice  a  congregation  was  established 
in  due  form,  which  was  to  hold  regular  sittings 
for  the  guidance  and  government  of  the  mis- 
sions in  all  parts  of  the  world  :  it  was  to  assem- 
ble at  least  once  every  month  in  presence  of 
the  pope.  Gregory  XV.  supplied  the  first 
funds ;  his  nephew  contributed  from  his  pri- 
vate resources ;  and  as  the  institution  was 


ests  of  sound   policy,  nevertheless  his  intrepidity  and 
promptness  in  seizing  on  every  remedy  he  judged  ser- 


viceable, regardless  of  councils  backed  by  whatever 
weight  of  authority,  gave  reason  to  believe  thai  his  nature 
disdained  a  private  condition.] 

*  Giunti :  Vita  e  fatti  di  Ludovico  Ludovisio,  MS. 

t  Cocquelines:  Praefatio  ad  Maffei  Annales  Gregorii 
XIII.  p.  5. 

t  Fr.  Hierothei  Epitome  Historica  reruni  Franciscana- 
rum,  etc.  p.  362.  Fra  Girolamo  had  incited  the  pope, 
"  publicis  suasionibus  et  consiliisprivatis,"  [to  public  ex- 
hortations and  private  councils.]  Compare  Cerri,  Etat 
inter- 1  present  de  Tdclise  Roraaine,  p.  289,  where  is  also  to  be 


nd  a  circumstantial  account  of  the  institution  and  of 
the  increase  of  its  wealth. 


A.  D.  1617-1623.]    BOHEMIA— HEREDITARY  DOMINIONS  OF  AUSTRIA. 


293 


adapted  to  meet  an  actual  want,  the  pressure 
of  which  was  just  then  felt,  its  prosperity  grew 
day  by  day  more  brilliant.  Who  is  there  that 
knows  not  what  the  Propaganda  has  done  for 
philological  learning  1  In  all  respects  indeed 
it  has  ever  striven,  and  perhaps  most  success- 
fully in  its  earliest  periods,  to  fulfil  its  calling 
upon  a  vast  and  noble  scale. 

The  canonization  of  the  two  Jesuits  coin- 
cided with  the  same  views.  "  At  the  time," 
says  the  bull,  "  when  new  worlds  had  been 
discovered,  and  when  Luther  had  stood  up  in 
the  old  to  assail  the  catholic  church,  the  soul 
of  Ignatius  Loyola  was  stirred  to  found  a  soci- 
ety, which  should  devote  itself  especially  to 
the  conversion  of  the  heathen  and  the  bringing 
back  of  the  heretics  to  the  fold.  But,  above 
all  its  members,  Francis  Xavier  proved  him- 
self worthy  to  be  the  apostle  of  the  newly  dis- 
covered nations.  Therefore  they  are  now 
both  of  them  received  into  the  list  of  the  saints : 
churches  and  altars,  on  which  men  shall  offer 
their  sacrifice  to  God,  shall  be  consecrated  to 
them."* 

In  the  spirit  that  breathes  in  this  document, 
the  new  administration  made  instant  arrange- 
ments for  following  up  the  triumphs  of  the 
catholic  arms  with  conversions,  and  justifying 
and  consolidating  their  conquests  by  the  re- 
storation of  religion.  "  We  must  bend  all  our 
thoughts,"  says  one  of  the  first  instructions 
issued  by  Gregory  XV.,  "towards  deriving 
the  utmost  possible  advantage  from  the  happy 
change  and  victorious  condition  of  the  affairs 
of  the  church."  A  purpose  most  brilliantly 
fulfilled. 


CHAPTER  III. 

GENERAL  OUTSPREAD  OF  CATHOLICISM. 

1.  Bohemia  and  the  hereditary  dominions  of 
Austria. 

The  attention  of  the  papal  power  was  first 
directed  to  the  rising  fortunes  of  Catholicism 
in  the  Austrian  provinces. 

Gregory  XV.,  whilst  granting  the  emperor 
double  the  subsidies  previously  paid  to  him,f 
and  promising  him  at  the  same  time  no  in- 
considerable extraordinary  present,  though, 
as  he  said,  he  had  hardly  left  himself  enough 
to  support  life,  urged  him  not  to  lose  a  mo- 
ment in  following  up  his  victory  with  the 
utmost  speed,  and  proceeding  therewith  in 
the  restoration  of  the  catholic  religion.  |     By 


that  restoration  alone  could  he  evince  his 
gratitude  to  the  God  of  Victory.  He  argues 
from  the  principle  that  rebellion  had  entailed 
upon  the  nations  the  necessity  of  more  rigor- 
ous control,  and  that  they  should  be  compelled 
by  force  to  abandon  their  godless  ways. 

The  nuncio  wliom  Gregory  XV.  sent  to  the 
emperor  was  Carlo  Caraffa,  well  known  to 
German  history.  From  the  two  reports  of 
his  that  have  been  preserved,  the  one  printed, 
the  other  in  manuscript,  we  may  confidently 
infer  what  measures  he  adopted  to  obtain  the 
ends  proposed  by  the  pope. 

His  first  care  in  Bohemia,  where  his  offi- 
cial duties  began,  was  to  remove  the  protest- 
ant  preachers  and  schoolmasters,  "  who  were 
guilty  of  treason  against  human  and  divine 
majesty." 

This  was  no  very  easy  task.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  imperial  government  at  Prague 
thought  it  still  too  hazardous ;  nor  did  they 
venture  upon  it  till  the  13th  of  December, 
1621,  when  Mansfield  had  been  driven  out  of 
the  Upper  Palatinate,  all  danger  from  with- 
out had  been  repelled,  and  a  couple  of  regi- 
ments, enrolled  at  the  request  of  the  nuncio, 
had  marched  into  Prague;  and  even  then  the 
two  Lutheran  preachers  were  spared  in  de- 
ference to  the  elector  of  Saxony.  The  nun- 
cio, representing  a  principle  that  knew  no 
respect  of  persons,  would  not  hear  of  this,  and 
complained  that  the  whole  people  clung  to 
those  men  ;  that  a  catholic  priest  had  nothing 
to  do,  and  could  not  procure  a  subsistence.* 
He  carried  his  point  at  last  in  October,  1622, 
and  the  Lutheran  preachers  were  banished. 
For  a  moment  the  fears  of  the  government 
counsellors  seemed  likely  to  be  justified  by 
the  event ;  the  elector  of  Saxony  issued  a 
threatening  letter,  and  assumed  a  hostile  atti- 
tude :  with  regard  to  the  most  important 
questions,  even  the  emperor  said  once  to  the 
nuncio  that  he  had  been  too  precipitate,  and 
that  he  would  have  done  better  to  wait  a 
more  favourable  opportunity.!  The  fit  means. 


*  Bullarium,  Cocquelines,  v.  131.  137. 

•|-  The  subsidy  was  raised  from  20,000  gulden  to  20,000 
scudi.  The  present  amounted  to  200,000  scudi.  He  would 
have  wished  that  regiments  had  been  supported  out  of  this 
money  under  papal  authority. 

t  Instruitione  al  vescovo  d'Aversa,  12  Apr.  1G21 ;  "  Non 
6  tempo  di  indugi  nfi  di  coperli  andamenti."  [It  is  no 
time  for  delays  or  for  covert  proceedings.]    They  thought 


at  Rome  that  Bucquoi  in  particular  was  far  too  slow. 
"  La  prestezza  apporlarebbe  11  remedio  di  tanti  mali,  se 
dal  come  de  Bucquoi  per  allro  valoroso  capilano  ella  si 
potesse  sperare."  [Prompt  proceedings  would  afford  a 
remedy  for  a  great  number  of  evils,  if  they  could  be  ex- 
pected of  count  Bucquoi,  valorous  captain  though  he  be.] 

*  Caraffa,  Kagguaglio,  MS. ;  "  Conaucevano  m  dispera- 
tione  i  parochi  catolici  per  vedersi  da  essi  (Luterani)  le- 
varsi  ogni  emolumenlo."  [The  catholic  parish  priests 
were  driven  to  desperation  by  seeing  themselves  deprived 
by  the  Lutherans  of  all  emolument.]  The  printed  Com- 
mentarii,  however,  contain  a  more  plausible  ground  of 
complaint:  "  Quamdiu  illi  haerebant,  tamdiu  adhucsper- 
abant  sectarii  S.  Majestatem  concessurumaliquandolibe- 
ram  facultatem."  (p.  130.)  [As  long  as  they  remained 
in  their  posts,  so  long  the  sectarians  thought  that  his  ma- 
jesty would  grant  toleration.] 

t  Caraffa,  Ragguaglio:  "Sua  M'a-  mi  si  dimo3tr6  con 
questo  di  qualche  pensiere,  ed  usci  a  dirmi  che  si  haveva 
havuto  troppo  prescia  e  che  saria  stato  meglio  cacciare 
quel  predicanti  in  allro  tempo  dopo  che  si  fosse  tenuto  il 
convento  in  Ratisbona.  Al  che  ioreplicai  che  Sua  Maesta. 
poleva  avere  piu  losto  errato  nella  tardanza  che  nella 
fretta  circa  quest6  fatto,  poich6  se  il  Sassone  fosse  venule 
al  convento,  di  che  non  ammettono  che  egli  avesse  avuta 


294 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.     SECOND  PERIOD,  [a.  d.  1617-1623. 


however,  to  hold  Ferdinand  stedfast  to  his 
purpose  were  known ;  the  old  bishop  of 
Wiirzhurg  represented  to  him  •'  that  danger 
would  never  appal  a  glorious  emperor ;  it  were 
better  for  him  in  any  case  to  fall  into  the 
power  of  men  than  into  the  hands  of  the  living 
God."  The  emperor  yielded.  The  nuncio 
had  the  triumph  of  seeing  the  elector  of  Sax- 
ony submit  at  last  to  the  removal  of  the 
preachers,  and  withdraw  his  opposition. 

The  way  was  now  smoothed.  Dominicans, 
Augustines,  and  Carmelites,  succeeded  to  the 
places  of  the  protestant  preachers,  for  as  yet 
there  was  a  sensible  dearth  of  secular  clergy, 
A  whole  colony  of  Franciscans  arrived  from 
Gnesen;  Jesuits  were  not  wanting;  when  a 
dispatch  arrived  from  the  Propaganda,  re- 
questing them  to  take  upon  themselves  the 
duties  of  parish  priests,  they  had  already  done 
so.* 

And  now  the  only  possible  question  re- 
maining was,  whether  the  national  Utraquist 
ritual  might  not  be  partially  at  least  retained, 
according  to  the  determination  of  the  council 
of  Basel.  The  government  council,  and  the 
governor  himself,  prince  Lichtenstein,  were 
for  it.-f  they  allowed  the  administration  of 
the  Lord's  Supper  to  take  place  once  more  in 
both  kinds  on  Holy  Thursday,  1622,  and  a 
feeling  already  began  to  find  voice  among 
the  people  against  their  being  despoiled  of 
that  ancient  hereditary  usage.  But  no  argu- 
ments could  bend  the  nuncio's  determination: 
he  adhered  inflexibly  to  the  views  of  the 
curia,  well  knowing  that  the  emperor  would 
in  the  end  sanction  the  course  he  took ;  and 
in  fact  he  succeeded  in  procuring  from  him  a 
declaration  that  his  temporal  government  had 
no  right  to  interfere  in  religious  matters. 
Hereupon  the  mass  was  performed  every- 
where exclusively  after  the  Roman  ritual,  in 
Latin,  with  aspersion  of  holy  water,  and  invo- 
cation of  the  saints  :  all  thought  of  the  cele- 
bration of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  both  kinds  was 
out  of  the  question  ;  the  boldest  upholders  of 
that  usage  were  cast  into  prison.  Finally, 
too,  the  symbal  of  Utraquism,  the  great  cup, 


mai  la  volonta,  si  sapeva  per  ognuno  che  haverebbe  dom- 
andato  a  Maesli,  che  a  sua  contemplazione  permettesse 
in  Praga  I'esercizio  Luterano  che  gii  vi  era."  [His  ma- 
jesty manifested  some  concern  at  this,  and  told  me  there 
had  been  too  much  haste  in  the  matter,  and  that  it  would 
have  been  better  to  expel  those  preachers  some  other 
I™'',  ^^^^''  l^e  convention  at  Ralisbon.  To  which  I  re- 
plied, that  possibly  his  majesty  had  rather  erred  in  the 
matter  in  the  way  of  tardiness  than  of  speed,  since,  if  the 
elector  of  Saxony  had  come  to  the  meeting,  of  which  they 
do  not  admit  that  he  ever  entertained  an  intention,  it  was 
notorious  that  he  would  have  demanded  of  his  majesty 
that  he  should  endure  the  exercise  of  Lutheranisin  in 
Prague  as  it  already  existed.] 

*  Cordara,  Historia  Societatis  Jesu,  torn.  vi.  lib.  vii. 
p.  38. 

t  According  to  the  received  notions,  e.  g.  in  Senkenberg, 
continuation  of  the  Reichshistorie  by  Haberlin,  v.  '25,  p. 
156,  note  k,  we  should  believe  the  contrary  of  Lichten- 
stein :  this,  however,  would  be  quite  erroneous,  as  appears 
from  Caraffa.  The  nuncio,  on  the  other  hand,  met  with 
support  from  Plateis. 


with  the  sword,  displayed  on  the  Thein 
church,  the  sight  of  which  kept  the  old  remi- 
niscences alive,  was  taken  down.  On  the 
10th  of  July,  which  day  had  always  been  kept 
as  a  holiday  sacred  to  the  memory  of  John 
Huss,  the  churches  were  carefully  closed. 

This  extreme  enforcement  of  Romish  dog- 
mas and  usages  was  now  backed  by  the  polit- 
ical measures  of  the  government.  Confisca- 
tions brought  a  considerable  part  of  the  land- 
ed property  of  the  country  into  catholic  hands; 
the  acquisition  of  real  estates  by  protestants 
was  rendered  next  to  impossible  ;*  the  coun- 
cils were  changed  in  all  the  royal  cities ;  no 
member  would  have  been  tolerated  in  them 
whose  Catholicism  was  liable  to  suspicion ; 
the  rebels  were  pardoned  as  soon  as  they  be- 
came converts ;  while  the  refractory,  those 
who  could  not  be  persuaded,  and  would  not 
hearken  to  ghostly  admonitions,  had  troops 
quartered  in  their  houses,  "  in  order,"  as  the 
nuncio  says,  in  express  terms,  "  that  vexation 
might  bring  them  to  their  senses."f 

The  effect  of  these  combined  efforts  of  force 
and  argument  surpassed  even  the  nuncio's 
expectations.  He  was  astonished  to  see  how 
numerously  the  churches  in  Prague  were  at- 
tended, there  being  present  on  many  Sunday 
mornings  from  two  to  three  thousand  persons ; 
and  how  decent,  devout,  and,  to  outward  ap- 
pearance, catholic  was  their  deportment.  He 
attributed  this  to  the  fact,  that  the  feelings 
and  reminiscences  of  Catholicism  had  never 
been  wholly  extinguished  in  Prague ;  as  was 
instanced  in  the  people  refusing  to  allow  the 
great  crucifix  on  the  bridge  to  be  removed 
even  by  the  wife  of  King  Frederick :  the  real 
cause  was,  doubtless,  that  protestant  convic- 
tion had  never  thoroughly  pervaded  the 
masses.  Conversions  proceeded  without  in- 
terruption :  the  Jesuits  alone  asserted  that  in 
the  year  1624  they  had  brought  back  sixteen 
thousand  souls  to  the  catholic  church. |  In 
Tabor,  where  protestantism  seemed  to  prevail 
exclusively,  fifty  families  conformed  to  the 
church  in  Easter,  1622,  and  all  the  remaining 
families  in  Easter,  1623.  In  course  of  time 
Bohemia  became  completely  catholic. 

The  like  events  happened  in  Moravia  as  in 
Bohemia ;  and  that  with  the  more  rapidity, 
since  cardinal  Dietrichstein,  being  at  once 
governor  of  the  country  and  bishop  of  01- 
miitz,  united  the  powers  of  the  spiritual  and 


*  Caraffa:  "Con  ordine  che  non  si  potessero  inserire 
nelle  tavole  del  regno,  il  che  apport6  indicible  giova- 
mento  alia  riforma  par  tutto  quel  tempo."  [With  a 
regulation  to  the  effect,  that  they  could  not  be  inscribed 
in  the  registers  of  the  realm,  a  measure  of  unspeakable 
advantage  in  furthering  the  reform  during  all  that  lime.] 

I  Acci6  il  Iravaglio  desse  loro  sense  ed  inielletto." 
This  is  also  repeated  in  the  printed  work :  "  Cognitunique 
fuit  solam  vexationem  posse  Bohemis  intellectum  prae- 
bere." 

t  Caraffa :  "  Messovi  un  sacerdote  catolico  di  molta  dot- 
trina,  e  poi  facendosi  missioni  ad  alcuni  padri  Gesuiti." 
[A  catholic  priest  of  much  learning  having  been  senlthi- 
tner,  and  afterwards  some  Jesuit  missionaries.] 


A.  D.  1617-1623.]      BOHEMIA— HEREDITARY  DOMINIONS  OF  AUSTRIA.      295 


the  secular  authority  to  the  end  in  view.  But 
a  peculiar  difficulty  presented  itself  here. 
The  nobility  would  not  submit  to  be  deprived 
of  the  Moravian  brethren,  whose  don^stic 
and  agricultural  services  were  invaluable, 
and  the  localities  occupied  by  whom  were  the 
most  thriving  in  the  country:*  speakers  were 
found  on  their  behalf  even  iu  the  emperor's 
privy  council.  Nevertheless,  here  too  the 
the  nuncio,  and  the  principle  of  which  he  was 
the  instrument,  were  victorious.  About  fif- 
teen thousand  were  expelled. 

The  young  count  Thurn  had  once  more  led 
the  protestant  arms  to  victory  in  the  Glatz 
country,  but  the  Poles  came  to  the  asistance 
of  the  imperialists;  the  country  was  over- 
powered, the  town  too  was  captured,  and  the 
catholic  worship  restored  with  the  usual  rig- 
our. Some  sixty  preachers  were  banished ; 
they  were  followed  by  no  small  number  of 
their  flock,  whose  property  was  confiscated  in 
consequence :  the  multitude  returned  to  Catho- 
licism.f 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  so  often 
repeated  and  so  often  abortive  attempts 
to  restore  catholism  in  Austria  proper 
were  at  last  renewed  with  decided  suc- 
cess.J     The    preachers   who   were    charged 

*  Ragiruaglio  di  Caraffa  :  "  Essendo  essi  lenuti  huomini 
d'induslria  e  d'inlegriti  venivano  impiegati  nella  cusio- 
dia  de'  terreni,  delle  casp,  delle  canline  e  de'  molino, 
oltre  che  lavorando  eccellenlemente  in  alcuni  meslieri 
erano  divenuli  ricchi  e  coniribuivano  gran  parte  del  loro 
guadagno  a'  signori  de'  liioghi  ne'  quali  habitavano,  seb- 
bene  da  qualche  tempo  indietro  havevano  cominciato  a 
corrompersi,  essendo  entralo  ira  di  loro  Tambizione  e 
I'avarizia  con  qualche  pane  di  lusso  per  comoditi  della 
vita.  Costoro  si  erano  sempre  andali  argumenladoin  Mo- 
ravia, perciocche  oltre  a  quelli  che  seducevano  nella  pro- 
vincia  e  ne'  luoghi  convicini  havevano  corrispondenza 
per  tutti  li  luoghi  della  Germania,  di  dove  ricorrevano  alia 
loro  fratellanza  luui  quelli  che  per  debito  o  poverty  dis- 
peravano  poiersi  soslenlare,  especialmente  venivaad  essi 
gran  numeri  di  poveri  Grisoni  e  di  Svevia  lasciandosi 
rapire  da  quel  nome  di  fratellanza  e  sicurtd.  di  havere 
sempre  del  pane,  che  in  casa  loro  diffidavano  potersi  col 
proprio  sudore  guadagnare :  onde  si  sono  avvanzati  alle 
volte  sino  al  numcro  di  centomila."  [Being  esteemed 
men  of  diligence  and  integrity,  they  were  employed  in 
the  care  of  lands,  houses,  cellars,  and  mills;  besides 
which,  being  excellent  workmen  in  some  trades,  ihe'y 
were  become  rich,  and  contributed  a  large  part  of  their 
gains  to  the  lords  of  the  soil  where  they  resided,  though  for 
some  time  past  they  have  begun  to  be  corrupted,  ambition 
and  avarice  having  crept  in  among  them,  with  some  de- 
gree of  luxury  in  their  habits  of  life.  Their  numbers 
have  been  constantly  on  the  increase  in  Moravia,  because, 
in  addition  to  those  whom  they  inveigled  in  the  province 
and  the  adjacent  parts,  they  kept  up  a  correspondence 
with  all  parts  of  Germany,  whence  there  flocked  to  their 
fraternity  all  those  who,  either  from  debt  or  poverty,  de- 
spaired of  maintaining  themselves;  and  especially  they 
received  a  great  number  of  poor  people  from  the  Grisons, 
and  from  Suabia,  who  suffered  themselves  to  be  caught 
by  the  name  of  brotherhood,  and  by  the  assurance  of 
always  having  a  sufficiency  of  bread,  which  they  despaired 
of  earning  al  home  by  their  own  e.verlions,  whence  their 
numbers  have  amounted  at  times  to  a  hundred  thousand.] 

t  Koglers  Chronik  von  Glatz :  i.  iii.  92. 

t  This  had  been  the  emperor's  first  thought,  even  be- 
fore the  battle  of  Prague,  when  Maximilian  first  entered 
theterritory  of  Upper  Austria:  he  urged  the  latter  to  depose 
the  preachers  instanter,  "  so  that  the  pipers  might  be  dis- 
missed and  a  stop  put  to  the  dance,"  His  letter  is  in 
Breier's  continuation  of  Wolf's  Maximilian,  iv.  414.  In 
the  year  1624  the  Jesuits  got  the  university  of  Vienna  com- 
pletely into  their  hands.  "  Imperator  societatem  acade- 
miae  intexuit  et  in  unum  quasi  corpus  conflavit,  data  illi 


with  rebellion  were  first  banished,  and  after- 
wards all  others :  provided  with  a  scanty  viat- 
icum, the  poor  men  slowly  ascended  the  Dan- 
ube, taunted  with  the  cry,  "  Where  now  is 
your  strong  tower]"*  The  emperor  roundly 
declared  to  the  estates  of  the  country  "  that 
he  wholly  and  decidedly  reserved  to  himself 
and  his  posterity  the  disposal  of  all  things  per- 
taining to  religion."  In  October,  1624,  ap- 
peared a  commission,  which  apppointed  an 
interval  for  the  inhabitants,  during  which 
they  were  to  make  up  their  minds  either  to 
profess  Catholicism  or  to  quit  the  country. 
The  nobility  alone  were  granted  .some  mo- 
mentary indulgence. 

It  was  not  possible  to  proceed  so  violently 
in  Hungary,  conquered  though  it  was;  but 
there  too  the  course  of  events,  the  favour  of 
the  government,  and,  above  all,  the  exertions 
of  archbishop  Pazmany,  brought  about  a 
change.  Pazmany  possessed  extraordinary 
skill  as  a  writer  in  his  mother  tongue.  His 
book,  called  "  Kalauz,"f  full  of  talent  and 
learning,  was  irresistible  among  his  country- 
men. He  was  also  endowed  with  the  power 
of  eloquence,  and  is  said  to  have  personally 
eflJected  the  conversion  of  fifty  families ;  among 
whom  we  find  the  names  of  Zrinyi,  Forgacz, 
Erdody,  Balassa,  Jakusith,  Homonay,  and 
Adam  Thurzo.  Count  Adam  Zrinyi  alone 
expelled  twenty  protestant  parish  clergymen, 
and  placed  catholic  priests  in  their  stead. 
Under  such  influences,  the  political  affairs  of 
the  kingdom  of  Hungary  likewise  took  a  new 
turn.  The  catholic  Austrian  party  had  a 
majority  in  the  diet  of  1625.  A  convert,  rec- 
ommended by  the  court,  an  Esterhazy,  was 
made  palatine. 

But  a  distinction  is  to  be  noticed  in  this 
case.  The  conversions  in  Hungary  were  far 
more  voluntary  than  in  the  other  provinces; 
the  magnates  surrendered  not  a  single  right 
in  consequence,  but  may  rather  be  considered 
to  have  gained  new  ones.  In  the  Austro-Bo- 
hemian  territories,  on  the  contrary,  the  entire 
independence,  energy,  and  power  of  the  es- 
tates, had  thrown  themselves  into  the  forms 
of  protestantism  ;  their  conversion  was,  if  not 
in  every  case,  yet  on  the  whole  compulsory : 
in  those  provinces  the  restoration  of  catholic- 
ism  was  accompanied  by  the  establishment  of 
the  government's  absolute  authority. 

amplissima  poteslate  docendi  literas  humaniores,linguam 
Latinam,  Graecam,  Hebraicam,  philosophiam  denique 
omnem  ac  theologiam."  Monitumad  statuta  acad.  Vin- 
dob.  recentiora.  "Kollar  Anal.  ii.  p.  282.  [The  emperor 
interwove  the  society  into  the  university,  and  incorporated 
them  as  it  were  into  one  body,  conferring  on  it  the  most 
ample  power  of  teaching  polite  letters,  the  Latin,  Greek, 
and  Hebrew  tongues,  the  whole  body  of  philosophy,  and 
theology.] 

*  "Woistnun  eure  feste  Burg'!"  In  allusion,  doubt- 
less, to  Luther's  noble  hymn,  beginning  with 

"  Ein'  feste  Burg  ist  unser  Gott." 

"  A  tower  of  strength  our  God  is  still."— [Translator.] 

t  Hodoegus,  Isgazs^gra  vez^rlo  Kalauz;  Presb.  1613, 
1623. 


296 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,    [a.  d.  1617-1623. 


II.  The  Empire.    Transfer  of  the  Electorate. 

We  know  how  much  greater  progress  had 
already  been  made  in  the  German  empire 
than  in  the  hereditary  dominions  of  Austria  ; 
notwithstanding  this,  the  new  events  had  an 
indescribable  effect  there. 

The  counter  reformation  at  once  acquired  a 
fresh  impetus  and  a  new  field  of  action. 

After  Maximilian  had  taken  possession  of 
the  Upper  Palatinate,  he  did  not  lose  much 
time  in  changing  the  religion  established 
there.  He  divided  the  country  into  twenty 
stations,  in  which  fifty  Jesuits  were  employed  : 
the  churches  were  forcibly  transferred  to  them, 
and  the  use  of  the  protestant  services  univer- 
sally forbidden.  The  more  the  probability 
increased  that  the  country  would  remain  per- 
manently annexed  to  Bavaria,  the  more  ready 
were  the  inhabitants  to  conform.* 

The  conquerors  looked  on  the  lower  Palati- 
nate as  their  own  property.  Maximilian  even 
made  a  present  of  the  Heidelberg  library  to 
the  pope ! 

Before  the  conquest  the  pope  had  solicited 
that  favour  of  the  duke  through  Montorio  the 
nuncio  in  Cologne,  and  the  duke  had  promised 
it  with  his  usual  alacrity.  Upon  the  first  in- 
telligence of  the  capture  of  Heidelberg,  Mon- 
torio enforced  his  claim.  He  had  been  told 
that  the  MSS.  in  particular  were  of  inesti- 
mable value,  and  he  sent  a  special  entreaty  to 
Tilly  to  protect  them  carefully  from  injury  in 
the  pillage. f  The  pope  then  sent  doctor  Leo- 
ne Allacci,  scriptor  of  the  Vatican,  to  Germa- 
ny to  take  possession  of  the  books.  Gregory 
XV.  regarded  this  matter  in  a  very  exalted 
point  of  view.  He  declared  it  one  of  the  most 
fortunate  events  of  his  pontificate,  which 
would  tend  to  the  honour  and  advantage  of 
the  holy  see,  the  church,  and  the  sciences :  it 
would  also  redound  to  the  glory  of  the  Bava- 
rian name,  that  so  precious  a  booty  should  be 
preserved  to  everlasting  memory  in  the  world's 
great  theatre,  Rome.]: 

The  duke  manifested  in  the  Palatinate  his 
usual  indefatigable  zeal  for  reform,  surpassing 
even  the  Spaniards,  who  were  yet  no  indiffer- 
ent catholics. 5  With  rapture  the  nuncio  be- 
held the  mass  celebrated,  and  conversions 
taking  place  in  Heidelberg,  "  whence  had  is- 
sued the  norma  of  the  Calvinists,  the  notori- 
ous catechism." 

Meanwhile  the  elector  Schweikard  reform- 


♦  Kropff,  Historia  societalis  Jesu  in  Germania  superior!, 
iv.  p.271. 

t  Relatione  di  Mr.  Montorio  ritornato  nuncio  di  Colo- 
nia,  1624.     Tlie  passage  is  in  the  Appendix,  No.  109. 

t  "  die  cosi  pretiosi  spoglio  e  cosl  nobil  trofeo  si  con- 
Bervi  a  perpetua  memoria  in  questo  tealro  del  mondo." 
Instruttione  al  dottore  Leon  Allatio  per  andare  in  Germa- 
nia per  la  liberia  del  Palatine.  We  will  examine  its 
authenticity  in  the  Appendix,  No.  101. 

§  Montorio:  "Benclie  nelle  terre  che  occupano  i  Spa- 
gnuoli  non  si  camini  con  quel  fervore  con  quale  si  camina 
in  quelle  che  occupa  il  S'.  D».  di  Baviera  alia  con versione 
de'  popoli." 


ed  the  Bergstrasse,  of  which  he  had  taken  pos- 
session, and  margrave  William,  Upper  Baden, 
which  had  been  adjudged  his  after  a  long 
litigation,  though  his  birth  was  scarcely  le- 
gitimate, not  to  say  of  due  nobility  through  both 
parents  :  he  had  previously  given  a  distinct 
pledge  to  Caraffa  that  he  would  pursue  that 
line  of  conduct  in  the  event  of  his  succeed- 
ing.* Even  in  countries  not  immediately 
affected  by  the  political  occurences  of  the  day, 
the  old  efforts  were  renewed  with  fresh  zeal, 
in  Bamberg,f  Fulda,  Eichsfeld,  in  Paderborn, 
where  two  catholics  had  successively  filled, 
the  episcopal  chair,  above  all  in  the  diocese  of 
Miinster,  where  Meppen,  Vechta,  Halteren, 
and  many  other  districts  were  made  catholic 
in  the  year  1624.  Archbishop  Ferdinand  es- 
tablished missions  in  nearly  all  the  towns,  and 
a  college  of  JesuitsJ  in  Coesfield  "  for  the  re- 
vival of  the  ancient  and  much  chilled  catholic 
religion."  We  meet  with  Jesuit  missionaries 
as  far  as  Halberstadt  and  Magdeburg,  and 
they  set  themselves  down  in  Altona  to  learn 
the  language,  and  then  to  advance  into  Den- 
mark and  Norway. 

We  see  with  what  vehemence  Catholicism 
gushed  from  Upper  into  Lower  Germany, 
from  south  to  north.  Meanwhile  an  attempt 
was  made  to  carry  a  new  position,  bearing 
upon  the  general  affairs  of  the  empire. 

Immediately  upon  the  conclusion  of  the 
League,  Ferdinand  II.  had  given  a  promise  to 
duke  Maximilian,  that  in  case  of  success  the 
electorate  should  be  transferred  to  him.  J 

It  cannot  be  a  question  what  was  the  chief 
consideration  that  actuated  the  catholic  party 
in  this  matter.  The  majority  of  votes  which 
that  party  possessed  in  the  council  of  princes, 
had  hitherto  been  counter-balanced  by  the 
equality  of  voices  possessed  by  the  protestants 
in  the  electoral  college ;  the  transfer  of  the 
electorate  would  for  ever  remove  that  check.  || 

*  Caraffa,  Germania  reslaurata,  p.  129. 

t  Johann  Georg  Fuchs,  of  Dornheim,  was  particularly 
active,  and  brought  baclt  to  Catholicism  twenty-three 
knights'  parishes.  Jiick :  Geschichte  von  Bamberg,  ii.  120. 

t  A  letter  from  one  of  his  assistants,  Joh.  Dr.ichter,  dean 
of  Diilmen,  is  conceived  in  very  curious  terms  :  "  Ungern 
hab  ich  I.  Ch.  D.  einen  grossen  Anzhall  der  hirnlosen 
Schaifen  iiberschreiben  willen,  und  michufdie  heulige 
Stunde  noch  lieberbearbeitet  noch  alle  mil  einander  rait 
swebender  Furcht  in  den  rechten  Schaifstall  hineinzuja- 
gen,  wie  dann  och  Balthasar  Bilderbeck  uud  Caspar  Karl 
mit  zwen  Fiissen  schon  hineingestiegen."  [I  liave  been 
loth  to  report  to  your  electoral  highness  a  great  multitude 
of  the  brainless  sheep,  and  I  have  rather  exerted  myself 
up  to  the  present  hour  to  drive  tlie  whole  flock  in  a  panic 
into  the  right  fold,  and  already  Balthasar  Bilderbeck  and 
Caspar  Karl  have  made  a  leap  and  gone  in.]  Compare 
generally  the  documents  given  by  Niesert,  Miinsterche 
tJrkundensamlung,  i.  p.  402. 

§  Letter  from  the  emperor  to  Baltazar  de  Zuniga,  15 
Oct.  1621,  printed  in  Sattler:  Wiirtemburg,  Geschichte 
vi.  p.  162.  . 

II  Instruttione  a  Mr.  Sacchetti,  nuntio  in  Spagno,  desig- 
nates the  restitution  of  the  Palatinate  as  an  "  irieparabile 
perdita  della  reputatione  di  questo  fatto  edellachiesa 
cattolica  se  il  papa  ci  avesse  condisceso,  con  indici- 
bit  danno  della  religione  cattolica  e  dell'  imperio: 
che  tanti  e  tanti  anni  hanno  bramato  senza  po- 
lerio  sapere,  non  che  ottenere,  il  quarto  ellettor 
catlolico  in  servilio  ancora  del  sangue  Austriaco." 
[Irreparable  loss  of  the  credit  of  that  achievement  and  of 


A.  D.  1617-1623.]  THE  EMPIRE.    TRANSFER  OF  THE  ELECTORATE. 


297 


A  close  friendship  had  long  subsisted  be- 
tween the  papal  court  and  Bavaria,  and  Greg- 
ory XV.  now  made  this  matter  his  own  per- 
sonal concern. 

He  caused  the  king  to  be  exhorted  by  the 
very  first  nuncio  he  sent  to  Spain,  to  contribute 
to  the  ruin  of  the  count  Palatine,  and  to  the 
transfer  of  the  electorate,  measures  which 
would  for  ever  secure  the  imperial  crown  to 
the  catholics.*  The  Spaniards  were  not  very 
easily  to  be  moved  to  that  course.  They  were 
engaged  in  the  most  in)portant  negociations 
with  the  king  of  England,  and  scrupled  to 
offend  him  in  the  person  of  his  son-in-law,  the 
count  palatine  Frederick,  to  whom  the  elect- 
orate belonged.  The  pope  grew  but  more 
zealous  in  the  cause  ;  he  was  not  content  to 
employ  the  nuncio  only,  but  in  the  year  1622, 
we  find  also  the  adroit  Capuchin  brother  Hya- 
cinth, who  possessed  the  special  confidence  of 
Maximilian,  engaged  in  a  special  mission  from 
the  pope  to  the  Spanish  court.f  It  was  with 
extreme  reluctance  the  Spaniards  ventured  to 
commit  themselves  more  explicitly  in  the  mat- 
ter:  all  that  could  at  last  be  obtained  from  the 
king,  was  a  declaration  that  he  would  rather 
see  the  electorate  in  the  house  of  Bavaria  than 
in  his  own.  This  was  sufficient  for  brother 
Hyacinth,  and  with  that  declaration  he  hasten- 
ed to  Vienna,  to  allay  whatever  scruples  the 
emperor  might  have  conceived  in  deference 
to  Spain.  'I'here  he  was  aided  by  the  wonted 
influence  of  the  nuncio  Caraffa,  and  even  by 
a  fresh  brief  from  the  pope  himself:  "  Behold," 
exclaimed  the  pope  to  the  emperor  in  that 
document,  "  the  gates  of  heaven  are  opened, 
the  heavenly  hosts  urge  thee  on  to  win  so 
great  an  honour ;  they  will  fight  for  thee  in 
thy  camp."  The  emperor  was  further  wrought 
upon  by  a  special  consideration  which  very 
strikingly  characterizes  the  man.  He  had 
long  pondered  the  transfer,  and  had  given  ex- 
pression to  that  purpose  in  a  letter  which  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  protestants,  and  was  pub- 
lished by  them.  The  emperor  felt  himself  as 
it  were  bound  by  this.  He  thought  it  essen- 
tial to  the  maintenance  of  his  imperial  dignity 
to  adhere  to  a  purpose  once  conceived  by  him, 
so  soon  as  its  existence  was  made  known.  In 
fine  he  made  up  his  mind  to  proceed  to  the 
transfer  at  the  next  diet.| 

The  only  question  was,  as  to  whether  the 
princes  of  the  eu)pire  would  consent.  Most 
depended  on  Schweikard  of  Mainz,  and  the 
nuncio  Montorio  at  least  assures  us  that  at 

the  catholic  church,  if  the  pope  had  condescended  to  it, 
to. the  inexpressible  injury  of  the  catholic  religion,  and  of 
the  empire  ;  for  many  and  many  a  year  they  have  longed, 
■without  being  able  to  devise  or  effect  it,  to  have  a  fourth 
catholic  elector  in  the  interest  of  the  house  of  Austria.] 

*  Inslriutione  a  Mons.  Sangro.  He  is  exhorted  "  di  in- 
fervorare  S.  Mti.  acciu  non  si  lasci  risorgere  il  Palatino 
e  si  metta  I'elettorato  in  persona  cattolica,  e  si  assicuri 
I'impero  eternamente  fra  caltolici." 

t  Khevenhiller,  ix.  p.  1766. 

i  Caraffa:  Germania  realaurata,  p.  120. 

39 


first  that  thoughtful  prince  was  averse  to  the 
measure ;  that  he  had  declared  to  the  empe- 
ror that  war  would  break  out  afresh,  and  rage 
more  fiercely  than  before  ;  that  moreover,  if  a 
change  was  by  all  means  to  take  place,  the 
count  Palatine  of  Neuberg  had  the  nearer 
right  to  the  electorate,  and  could  not  possibly 
be  passed  over.  The  nuncio  does  not  tell  us 
how  he  at  last  persuaded  the  prince.  His 
words  are :  "  In  four  or  five  days  I  passed  with 
him  at  Aschaffenburg  I  obtained  the  desired 
decision."  All  we  know  is,  that  earnest  sup- 
port was  promised  on  the  pope's  part,  should 
war  break  out  anew. 

But  the  resolution  of  the  elector  of  Mainz 
was  decisive  of  the  matter.  His  two  Rhenish 
colleagues  followed  his  opinion.  Though 
Brandenburg  and  Saxony  still  opposed  the 
measure  (the  opposition  of  Saxony  was  not 
overcome  till  a  later  period  by  the  archbishop 
of  Mainz,)*  though  the  Spanish  ambassador 
now  declared  directly  against  it,f  still  the 
emperor  steadily  persisted.  On  the  21st  of 
February,  1623,  he  transferred  the  electorate 
to  his  victorious  ally;  at  first  indeed  the  pos- 
session was  to  be  but  personal,  the  Palatine 
heirs  and  agnates  retaining  their  rights  for 
the  future. 

Even  upon  this  condition,  however,  an  im- 
mensity had  been  gained,  above  all  the  pre- 
ponderance in  the  supreme  council  of  the  em- 
pire, whose  assent  henceforth  gave  a  legal 
sanction  to  every  new  resolution  in  favour  of 
Catholicism. 

Maximilian  saw  clearly  how  much  he  was 
indebted  to  pope  Gregory  XV.  in  this  business. 
"  Your  holiness,"  he  writes  to  him,  "  has  not 
only  forwarded  this  matter,  but  absolutely  ac- 
complished it  by  your  admonitions,  your  au- 
thority, and  your  zealous  exertions.  It  must 
be  ascribed  wholly  and  solely  to  the  favour 
and  vigilance  of  your  holiness." 

"  Thy  letter,  O  son,"  replied  Gregory  XV., 
"  has  filled  our  breast  with  a  flood  of  delight, 
sweet  as  manna  from  heaven  :  at  last  may  the 
daughter  of  Sion  cast  from  her  head  the  ashes 
of  mourning,  and  clothe  herself  in  festive  gar- 
ments."]: 

*  Montorio  calls  Schweikard  "  unico  instigatore  a  far 
voltare  Sassonia  a  favore  dell'  imperatore  nella  transla- 
tions deir  elettorato."  [The  sole  instigator  of  the  elector 
of  Saxony's  change  of  sentiments  in  favour  of  the  empe- 
ror, with  regard  to  the  transfer  of  the  electorate.] 

f  Onate's  declaration,  and  the  violent  letter  of  Ludovi- 
sio  against  the  restoration  of  an  electorate  to  a  blasphemous 
Calvinist,  are  in  Khevenhiller,  x.  67,  68. 

JGiunti,  Vita  diLudovisioLudovisi,  gives  the  chief  cre- 
dit to  the  nephew.  "  Da.  S.  Sii  edal  C'e.  furonoscritle  mol- 
te  leltereanche  di  proprio  pugnopiene  d'ardoreet  efficacia 
per  disporre  Cesare,  et  in  ollre  fu  mandato  Mor.  Verospi  au- 
ditir  di  rota  e  dopoil  P.  F.  Giaciniodi  CasaleCapuccino." 
[His  holiness  and  the  cardinal  wrote  many  letters,  and 
with  their  own  hands  too,  full  of  earnest  and  cogent  argu- 
ments to  urge  the  emperor  on ;  and,  furthermore,  IVIons. 
Verospi,  auditor  di  rota,  was  sent  on  a  mission  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  after  him  father  Giancinlo  di  Casale,  a  Capu- 
chin.] By  these  persons  the  emperor  was  told,  "  che  il 
vicario  di  Christo  per  parte  del  S^e.  fin  cion  le  lacrime  lo 
pregava  e  acongiurava  e  le  ne  prometieva  felicity  e  sicu- 


298 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,    [a.  d.  1617-1623. 


3.  France. 

At  the  same  time  as  these  things  were  pass- 
ing- in  Germany,  the  great  tide  in  the  affairs 
of  France  set  in. 

Upon  inquiring  whence  chiefly  arose  the 
losses  of  protestantism  in  the  year  1621,  we 
shall  find  them  to  have  originated  in  the  dis- 
cord of  the  party,  and  the  apostacy  of  the  no- 
bles. It  is  very  possible  that  the  latter  was 
due  in  part  to  those  republican  tendencies 
which  were  founded  as  well  on  a  municipal 
as  a  theological  basis,  and  were  unfavourable 
to  the  influence  of  the  nobility.  The  nobles 
probably  thought  it  more  to  their  advantage 
to  attach  themselves  to  the  king  and  the  court, 
than  to  let  themselves  be  ruled  by  preachers 
and  burgomasters.  Be  it  as  it  may,  in  the 
year  1621,  the  governors  of  the  fortified  towns 
vied  with  each  other  in  giving  them  up :  each 
man  sought  only  to  bargain  for  an  advan- 
tageous post  for  himself.  This  was  repeated 
in  the  year  1622.  La  Force  and  Chatillon 
received  the  truncheons  of  marshal  on  desert- 
ing their  co-religionists:  the  aged  Lesdiguie- 
res  became  catholic,*  and  even  commanded 
a  division  against  the  protestants:  many 
others  were  led  away  by  these  examples.! 
Under  these  circumstances,  it  was  but  a  very 
unfavourable  peace  that  could  be  concluded 
in  1622,  nor  durst  the  Huguenots  flatter  them- 
selves with  the  hope  that  it  would  be  pre- 
served. Formerly,  when  the  protestants  were 
powerful,  the  king  had  many  times  exceeded 
and  broken  through  his  treaties  with  them  : 
was  it  likely  he  would  observe  them  now 
when  their  strength  was  lost!  The  stipula- 
tions of  the  treaty  were  set  at  nought  in 
every  particular  ;  the  exercise  of  the  protest- 
ant  religion  was  in  many  places  absolutely 
prevented ;  the  Huguenots  were  prohibited 
from  singing  their  psalms  in  the  streets  and 
m  the  shops;  their  rights  in  the  universities 
were  curtailed  ;|  Fort  Louys,  which  accord- 
ing to  promise  should  have  been  razed,  was 
kept  standing ;  an  attempt  was  made  to  get 
the  election  of  magistrates  in  the  protestant 
towns  into  the  royal  hands  ;^  by  an  edict  of 
the  17th  of  April,  1622,  a  commissioner  for 
the  convocations  of  the  protestants  was  ap- 
pointed, and  after  the  party  had  once  submit- 
ted to  such  violent  inroads  upon  their  ancient 
immunities,  the  government  interposed  in  their 
affairs  of  a  purely  ecclesiastical  nature :  the 

rezza  della  sua  salute."  [Thai  Christ's  vicar  besought 
and  conjured  him,  on  the  part  of  the  Saviour,  even  with 
tears,  and  promised  him,  in  consideration  of  obedience, 
felicity  and  assured  salvation.] 

*  M^moires  de  Deageant,  p.  190:  several  other  passages 
are  also  very  iniiiortanl  respecting  this  conversion. 

t  Liste  des  gentilshommes  de  la  religion  reduils  au  roi, 
in  Malingre,  Histoire  des  derniers  troubles  arrives  en 
P>ance,  p".  780.  Rohan  also  concluded  his  treaty  :  but 
unfortunately  the  particulars  of  it  given  in  the  Mercure 
de  France,  vii.  p.  845,  are  not  authentic. 

t  Benoist,  ii.  419. 

§  Rohan,  M^m.  i.  iii. 


Huguenots  were  hindered  by  the  commis- 
sioner from  accepting  the  decrees  of  the  synod 
of  Dort. 

Their  independence  was  gone;  they  were 
no  longer  capable  of  any  stedfast  resistance. 
Conversions  spread  widely  amongst  them  on 
all  sides. 

The  Capuchins  filled  Poitou  and  Languedoc 
with  missions;*  the  Jesuits  who  possessed 
new  establishments  in  Aix,  Lyon,  Pau,  and 
many  other  places,  made  the  greatest  pro- 
gress in  the  towns  and  throughout  the  coun- 
try ;  their  brotherhoods  of  the  Virgin  attracted 
universal  notice  and  approbation,  by  their  ex- 
ertions on  behalf  of  the  wounded  in  the  last 
war.f 

Some  Franciscans,  too,  distinguished  them- 
selves ;  such  as  father  Villele  of  Bourdeaux, 
of  whom  the  almost  fabulous  story  is  told,  that 
after  he  had  brought  over  the  whole  town  of 
Foix,  he  effected  likewise  the  conversion  of  a 
man  of  upwards  of  a  hundred  years  of  age,  the 
very  same  who  had  once  received  the  first 
protestant  preacher  from  Calvin's  hand,  and 
introduced  him  into  Foix.  The  protestant 
church  was  pulled  down,  and  the  triumphant 
fathers  had  the  banished  preacher  accompa- 
nied from  town  by  a  trumpeter.^ 

In  a  word,  the  work  of  conversion  made 
rapid  progress ;  high  and  low,  and  even  the 
learned,  I'ecanted :  the  latter  were  particu- 
larly moved  by  the  demonstration  that  the  an- 
cient church,  even  previously  to  the  council 
of  Nice,  had  invoked  the  saints,  prayed  for  the 
dead,  and  possessed  a  hierarchy,  and  many 
catholic  usages. 

There  have  come  down  to  us  reports  of 
some  bishops,  from  which  we  can  collect  the 
numerical  proportions  of  the  two  confessions, 
as  fixed  under  these  circumstances.  In  the 
diocese  of  Poitiers  half  the  inhabitants  of 
some  towns  were  protestants,  as  for  instance 
Lusignan  and  St.  Mairant ;  in  others  a  third, 
such  as  Chauvigney  and  Niort;  a  fourth  in 
Loudun;  in  Poitiers  itself  only  a  twentieth; 
and  a  far  lesser  proportion  still  in  the  country 
parts.  §  The  bishops  were  in  immediate  com- 
munication with  Rome  with  respect  to  the 
conversions,  sending  in  reports  and  mention- 
ing their  wishes :  the  nuncio  was  instructed 
to  lay  before  the  king,  and  to  back  with  his 
recommendation  whatever  they  should  com- 
municate to  him.  In  these  reports  they  often 
went  into  very  minute  particulars.  The  bishop 
of  Vienne,  for  instance,  finds  the  missionaries 
especially  obstructed  by  a  preacher  in  St. 
Marcellin,  whom  there  was  no  defeating ;  the 
nuncio  is  engaged  to  exert  himself  at  court 
for  his  removal.  He  is  called  on  to  support 
the  Bishop  of  St.  Malo,  who  complains  that 

*  Instruttione  all'  arcivescovo  di  Daniniata,  MS. 
t  Cordara:  Historia  societatis  Jesu,  vii.  95.  118. 
t  Relation  catholique  inserted    in  the  Mercure  Fran- 
gois,  viii.  489. 
§  Relatione  del  vescovo  di  Portiero,  1623,  MS. 


A.  D.  1617-1623.]  STATE  OF  CATHOLICISM  IN  ENGLAND. 


299 


catholic  worship  is  not  tolerated  in  a  castle  of 
his  diocese.  He  is  to  procure  for  the  bishop 
of  Xaintes  an  able  proselytizer,  who  is  point- 
ed out  to  him  by  name.  Sometimes  the  bisli- 
ops  are  called  on,  when  they  encounter  obsta- 
cles, to  state  more  explicitly  wjiat  can  be 
done,  so  that  the  nuncio  may  propose  it  to  the 
king.* 

The  period  was  marked  by  a  close  union  of 
all  spiritual  authorities  with  the  Propaganda, 
which,  as  we  have  said,  displayed  most  activity 
and  efficacy  in  its  early  years,  and  with  the 
pope;  by  zeal  and  lively  assiduity  in  follow- 
ing up  the  consequences  of  a  decisive  victory 
in  arms;  and  by  the  cordial  co-operation 
therein  of  the  court,  which  discerned  its  own 
great  political  interest  in  the  struggle.  It 
was  therefore  a  period  in  which  was  for- 
ever decided  the  downfall  of  protestantism  in 
France. 

4.   United  Netherlands. 

Now  these  advances  of  Catholicism  were 
not  confined  to  countries  where  the  govern- 
ment was  of  that  faith  ;  they  manifested  tliem- 
selves  at  the  same  moment  under  protestant 
rulers. 

We  are  astonished  when  we  read  in  Benti- 
voglio,  that  in  those  cities  of  the  Netherlands 
which  had  so  heroically  and  so  long  withstood 
the  king  of  Spain,  chiefly  in  behalf  of  their 
religion,  probably  the  greater  part  of  the  emi- 
nent families  had  gone  over  again  to  Catholi- 
cism ;f  but  it  is  still  more  startling  when  we 
find  a  very  minute  and  circumstantial  report 
of  the  year  1622,  detailing  the  increase  and 

.  *  Instrmtione  al  arcivescovo  di  Damiata: — one  example 
may  suffice.  "Dalla  relatione  del  vescovo  di  Candon  si 
cava  die  ha  il  dello  vescovo  la  lena  di  Neaco,  ove  sono 
molli  eretiii,  con  una  niissione  di  Gesuili,  li  quali  in 
danno  s'affaticano  se  con  I'autoriti  temporale  il  renonda 
qualche  buon  ordine  :  ed  ^lla  potr^  scrivereal  delto  ves- 
covo che  avvisi  cio  che  pu6  fare  SuaM'^.,  perche  nel la  re- 
latione non  lo  specifica.  Da  quelladel  vescovo  di  S.  Blalo 
s'intende  che  in  un  castello  e  villa  del  marchese  di  Moiis- 
saye  e  solo  lecito  di  predicare  a  Calvinisli:  per6  sarebbe 
bene  di  ricordare  alia  M'a.  del  re  che  levasse  i  predica- 
tori  acciocchS  i  missionarj  del  vescovo  potessero  far  frut- 
10 :  il  castello  e  villa  non  6  nominate  nella  relatione,  e 
pero  si  potrCl  scrivere  al  vescovo  per  saperlo.  II  vescovo 
di  Monpellier  avvisa  di  haver  carestia  d'operarj  e  che 
dagli  eretici  sonosentili  volontieri  i  padri  Cappucini,onde 
segli  potrebbe  procurare  una  missione  di  questi  padri." 
[It  appears  from  the  report  of  the  bishop  of  Candon,  that 
he  has  introduced  into  the  country  of  Neaco,  where  there 
are  many  heretics,  Jesuit  missionaries,  whose  labours  will 
be  all  fruitless  if  the  king  does  not  interpose  his  temporal 
authority:  you  may  write  to  the  said  bishop  and  desire 
him  to  state  what  his  majesty  can  do,  for  he  does  not  sjie- 
cify  it  in  his  report.  From  the  rpport  of  the  bisliop  of  .St. 
Malo,  it  appears,  that  in  a  castle  and  town  belonging  to 
the  marquis  of  Moussayp,the  Calvinisls  alone  are  allowed 
to  preach ;  wherefore  it  would  be  well  to  put  his  majesty 
in  mind  of  removing  the  preachers,  so  that  the  bishop's 
missionaries  might  have  opportunity  of  labouring  with  ef- 
fect. The  castle  and  city  are  not  named  in  the  report,  so 
the  bishop  may  be  written  to,  to  name  them.  The  bishop 
of  Montpellier  writes  that  he  lacks  labourers,  and  that 
the  heretics  listen  with  alacrity  to  the  Capuchins,  for 
which  reason  a  mission  of  those  fathers  might  be  furnished 
him.] 

+  Relatione  delle  provincie  ubbidienti,  parte  ii.  c.  II, 
in  which  the  state  of  religion  in  Holland  is  discussed. 


progress  of  Catholicism  under  such  unfavour- 
able circumstances.  It  was  in  the  year  1592 
the  first  Jesuit  arrived  in  the  Netherlands, 
and  in  1622  the  order  counted  there  twenty- 
two  members.  New  labourers  were  continu- 
ally pouring  in  from  the  colleges  of  Cologne 
and  Louvain  ;  in  the  year  1622  there  were 
two  hundred  and  twenty  secular  priests  em- 
ployed in  the  country,  but  their  numbers  were 
far  from  adequate  to  the  calls  made  on  them. 
According  to  the  above-mentioned  report,  the 
number  of  catholics  in  the  arch-diocese  of 
Utrecht  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand ;  in  the  diocese  of  Haarlem,  to  which 
Amsterdam  belonged,  to  one  hundred  thou- 
sand souls ;  Leu  warden  possessed  fifteen  thou- 
sand, Groningen  twenty  thousand,  Deventer 
sixty  thousand  catholics.  The  apostolic  vicar 
sent  at  that  time  from  the  see  of  Rome  to 
Deventer,  imparted  in  three  towns  and  a  few 
villages  in  that  diocese,  confirmation  to  twelve 
ihousand  persons.  The  numbers  in  this  report 
are  no  doubt  much  exaggerated ;  still  we  see 
that  this  pre-eminently  protestant  country  was 
yet  strongly  leavened  with  Catholicism.  Even 
those  bishoprics  which  Philip  II.  had  endeav- 
oured to  introduce  there  were  constantly  re- 
cognized by  the  catholics. f  It  was  probably 
this  state  of  things  that  inspired  the  Spaniards 
with  courage  to  renew  the  war  against  the 
Low  Countries. 

5.  State  of  Catholicism  in  England. 

Meanwhile  more  peaceful  prospects  had  un- 
folded themselves  in  England.  The  son  of 
Mary  Stuart  united  the  crowns  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, and  he  now  approximated  more  decidedly 
than  ever  to  the  catholic  powers. 

Previously  to  the  accession  of  James  I.  to 
the  English  throne,  Clement  VIII.  sent  him 
word  "that  he  prayed  for  him  as  the  son  of  so 
virtuous  a  mother;  that  he  wished  him  all 
temporal  and  spiritual  welfare,  and  trusted 
yet  to  see  him  a  catholic."  James's  advent  to 
the  throne  was  celebrated  in  Rome  with  so- 
lemn prayers  and  processions. 

James  could  not  have  ventured  to  make  any 
corre.spoiiding  return  to  these  advances,  even 
had  he  been  so  disposed  ;  but  he  allowed  Parry, 
his  ambassador  to  Paris,  to  enter  into  confi- 
dential relations  with  Bubalis,  the  nuncio  at 
the  same  court.  The  latter  produced  a  letter 
from  the  pope's  nephew,  Cardinal  Aldobrandi- 
ni;  wherein  the  latter  admonished  the  English 
catholics  to  obey  James  as  their  king  and  natu- 
ral lord,  and  even  to  pray  for  him.     This  was 

*  Compendium  status  in  quo  nunc  est  religio  catholica 
in  Hollandia  et  confederalis  Belgii  provinciis,  2  Dec. 
IG22:  "His  non  obstautibus— laus  Deo— quotidie  crescit 
catholicorum  numerus,  praesertim  accedente  dissensions 
hsreticorum  inter  se."  [Notwithstanding  these  things, 
thanks  be  to  God,  the  number  of  the  catholics  daily  in- 
creases, especially  since  the  lieretics  have  fallen  out 
among  themselves.] 


300 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD.       [a.  d.  1617-1623. 


met  on  Parry's  part  by  an  instruction  from 
James,  in  which  he  promised  to  let  the  peace- 
able catholics  live  without  molestation.* 

In  fact,  in  the  north  of  England  people  began 
again  openly  to  attend  mass :  the  puritans  com- 
plained that  within  a  short  period  fifty  thou- 
sand Englishmen  had  gone  over  to  Catholicism ; 
to  which  James  is  said  to  have  made  answer, 
that  "they  might  go  and  convert  an  equal 
number  of  Spaniards  and  Italians." 

These  successes  may  have  prompted  the 
catholics  to  strain  their  hopes  too  far.  But  as 
the  king  persisted  in  his  preference  for  the 
opposite  side,  as  the  old  acts  of  parliament 
were  renewed,  and  fresh  persecutions  were 
set  on  foot,  their  irritation  grew  proportion- 
ally intense,  till  at  last  it  found  fearful  expres- 
sion in  the  gunpowder  plot. 

After  that  event  there  was  no  possibility  of 
any  toleration  on  the  king's  part.  The  most 
seyere  laws  were  enacted  and  enforced :  domi- 
ciliary visits,  imprisonments,  and  fines,  were 
inflicted  ;  the  priests,  more  especially  the  Je- 
suits, were  persecuted  and  banished  ;  the  ut- 
most rigour  was  deemed  necessary  to  check 
such  enterprising  foes. 

But  in  private  interviews  the  king's  expres- 
sions were  very  moderate.  He  said  outright 
to  a  prince  of  the  house  of  Lorraine,  who  once 
visited  him  not  without  the  knowledge  of  Paul 
v.,  that  after  all  there  was  but  little  differ- 
ence between  the  two  confessions.  He  thought 
his  own  indeed  the  best ;  he  adopted  it  from 
conviction,  and  not  from  motives  of  policy : 
still  he  was  fond  of  hearing  other  opinions ; 
and  since  the  calling  of  a  council  was  beset 
by  insuperable  difficulties,  he  would  very 
gladly  see  a  convention  of  learned  men  estab- 
lished for  the  purpose  of  effecting  a  reconcili- 
ation. If  the  pope  would  advance  but  one 
step  to  meet  him,  he  would  himself  advance 
four.  He  too  acknowledged  the  authority  of 
the  holy  father.  Augustine  was  of  more 
■weight  with  him  than  Luther,  St.  Bernard 
than  Calvin ;  nay,  he  beheld  in  the  Roman 
church,  even  in  that  of  the  day,  the  true  church, 
the  mother  of  all  others  ;  only  she  needed  pu- 
rification. He  admitted  (though  indeed  he 
would  not  say  as  much  to  a  nuncio,  however 
he  might  go  so  far  in  confidence  to  a  friend 
and  a  cousin)  that  the  pope  was  the  head  of 
the  church,  the  supreme  bishop.f  It  was 
therefore  doing  him  great  wrong  to  regard 
him  as  a  heretic  or  schismatic  :  a  heretic  he 

*  Breve  relatione  tli  cjuanto  si  6  Irattalo  tra  S.  S'i-  ed  il 
re  d'InshiUerra.     (MS.  Kom.) 

•f  "Che  riconosce  la  chiesa  Romana,  etiandio  quella 
d'adesso,  per  la  vera  chiesa  e  niadre  di  luUc,  ma  ch'ella 
aveva  bisogna  d'esser  piircala,  e  di  piu  ch'egli  sapeva  die 
V.  S'*.  e  capo  di  essa  chiesa  e  primo  vescovo."  [That  he 
owns  the  church  of  Roine,  even  that  of  the  present  day, 
for  the  true  mother  church,  though  il  needed  purification, 
and  that  he  linows  your  holiness  is  head  of  that  church, 
and  first  bishop,]  expressions  aliogether  incapable  of  be- 
ing reconciled  with  the  principle  of  the  English  church, 
though  they  were  attributed  from  other  quarters  likewise 
to  that  prince.    (Relatione  di  Sr.  di  Breval  al  papa.) 


was  not,  for  he  believed  the  very  same  as  the 
pope  believed,  only  the  pope  admitted  some 
fow  articles  of  faith  more  than  he ;  neither 
was  he  a  schismatic,  for  he  held  the  pope  to 
be  the  head  of  the  church. 

Entertaining  such  views  as  these,  and  a 
corresponding  aversion  to  the  puritanical  side 
of  protestantism,  the  king  would  certainly  have 
much  more  gladly  come  to  a  peaceable  un- 
derstanding with  the  catholics  than  have  kept 
them  down  by  force,  and  at  his  own  incessant 
peril. 

They  were  still  numerous  and  powerflil  in 
England.  In  spite  of  great  defeats  and  losses, 
or  perhaps  exactly  in  consequence  of  these, 
Ireland  was  in  a  continual  state  of  ferment : 
it  was  of  serious  moment  to  the  king  to  put 
an  end  to  the  insubordination  of  that  country.* 

Now  it  must  be  observed  that  both  the 
English  and  the  Irish  catholics  were  attached 
to  Spain.  The  Spanish  ambassadors  in  Lon- 
don, dexterous,  shrewd,  and  sumptuous  men, 
had  gathered  round  them  an  extraordinary 
body  of  hangers  on :  their  chapels  were  al- 
ways full,  and  Passion-week  was  celebrated 
there  with  great  solemnity.  The  ambassa- 
dors, moreover,  often  opened  their  doors  to 
their  co-religionists :  they  were  looked  on,  as 
a  Venetian  says,  in  the  light  of  legates  from 
the  apostolic  see. 

I  do  not  apprehend  we  should  greatly  err 
in  conjecturing,  that  it  was  principally  this 
cause  that  suggested  to  king  James  the  thought 
of  marrying  his  heir  to  a  Spanish  princess. 
He  hoped  thereby  to  make  sure  of  the  catho- 
lics, and  conciliate  for  his  own  house  the  re- 
gard in  which  the  latter  held  that  of  Spain. 
Foreign  relations  contributed  a  fresh  motive: 
for  it  was  to  be  expected  that  the  house  of 
Austria,  when  so  nearly  related  to  him,  would 
be  more  favourable  to  his  son-in-law  the  elec- 
tor palatine. 

The  only  question  was,  whether  the  thing 
was  practicable.  The  diflference  in  point  of 
religion,  constituted  a  difficulty  of  a  nature  in 
those  days  really  very  hard  to  overcome. 

The  real  world,  and  the  common  place 
course  of  things  are  always  encompassed  by  a 
fantastic  element,  that  finds  its  expression  in 
poetry  and  romantic  narrations,  through  which 
it  readily  affects  the  minds  of  youth,  and  re- 
acts on  the  events  of  life.  The  negociations 
respecting  the  marriage  being  tediously  pro- 
tracted from  day  to  day,  and  from  month  to 
month,  the  prince  of  Wales,  in  concert  with 
his  confidant  and  companion  Buckingham, 
conceived  the  romantic  design  of  setting  out 

*  Relatione  di  D.  Lazzari,  1621.  He  founds  his  opinions 
on  the  timidity  of  the  king:  "havendo  io  tsperimentalo 
per  manifest!  segni  che  prevale  in  lui  ph\  il  timore  che 
I'ira."  [since  I  have  had  manifest  proof  that  fear  is  a  more 
cogent  passion  with  him  than  anger.]  Moreover  "  per  la 
pratica  che  ho  di  lui  (del  re)  lo  stimoindiflferente  in  qual- 
sivoglia  religione."  [From  the  practical  experience  I 
have  had  of  his  character,  I  believe  him  to  be  indifferent 
as  to  religion.] 


A.  D.  1617-1623.]       STATE  OF  CATHOLICISM  IN  ENGLAND. 


301 


in  person  to  fetch  his  bride.*  The  Spanish 
ambassador  Gondemar,  seems  not  to  have  been 
altogether  without  some  share  in  the  project. 
He  told  the  prince  that  his  presence  would 
put  an  end  to  all  difficulties. 

Great  was  the  surprise  of  Lord  Digby,  the 
English  ambassador  in  Madrid,  who  up  to  this 
lime  had  conducted  the  negociations  for  the 
marriage,  when  one  day  he  was  called  from 
his  room  to  meet  two  cavaliers  who  desired 
to  speak  with  him,  and  beheld  in  them  the  son 
and  the  favourite  of  his  sovereign. 

And  now  indeed,  the  removal  of  the  exist- 
ing religious  obstacles  was  set  about  in  good 
earnest. 

The  pope's  approval  was  a  necessary  con- 
dition, and  king  James  had  not  shrunk  from 
entering  upon  formal  negociations  with  Paul 
V.  on  the  subject.  But  that  pope  would  only 
give  his  consent  upon  the  stipulation  that  the 
king  would  grant  entire  religious  freedom  to 
his  catholic  subjects.  So  strong,  on  the  con- 
trary, was  the  impression  made  on  Gregory 
XV.,  by  the  very  significant  fact  of  the  prince's 
journey,  that  he  was  ready  to  accept  of  less 
weighty  concessions.  In  a  letter  to  the  prince 
he  expresses  his  hope,  that  "  the  antique  seed 
of  Christian  piety,  that  had  bloomed  so  fair  in 
English  kings,  would  yet  revive  in  him  :  in  no 
case  could  he,  intending  to  wed  a  catholic 
lady,  desire  to  oppress  the  catholic  church." 
The  prince  replied,  that  he  would  never  ex- 
ercise any  hostility  towards  the  Roman  church ; 
he  would  endeavour  to  bring  it  about,  that  "  in 
like  manner  as  we  all  acknowledge  one  triune 
God,  so  we  may  all  likewise  unite  in  one  faith 
and  one  church. "f  We  see  how  great  were 
the  mutual  advances  on  both  sides.  Olivarez 
averred  that  he  had  most  urgently  solicited 
the  pope  to  grant  the  dispensation,  and  that 
the  king  could  deny  the  prince  nothing  that 
lay  within  the  compass  of  his  kingdom.  J  The 
English  catholics  too  were  pressing  with  the 
pope,  representing  to  him  that  his  refusal  of 
the  dispensation  would  draw  down  fresh  per- 
secutions on  their  heads. 

Next  the  two  parties  agreed  upon  the  points 
to  which  the  king  was  to  pledge  himself. 

Not  only  were  the  infanta  and  her  suite  to 
be  allowed  the  exercise  of  their  own  religion 
in  a  chapel  at  court,  but  the  early  education 
of  the  princes  to  be  born  of  that  marriage  was 

*  Papers  relative  to  the  Spanish  match  in  the  Hard- 
■wicke  Papers,  i.  p.  399.  They  contain  a  correspondence 
between  James  I.  and  the  two  travellers,  that  excites  a 
very  strong  interest  in  the  persons  concerned.  The  fail- 
insjs  of  James  appear  at  least  those  of  a  very  kindly  na- 
tui-e.  His  first  begins :  "  My  sweet  boys  and  dear  venirous 
knights,  worthy  to  be  put  in  a  new  romanso." — "My 
eweet  boys,"  is  his  usual  mode  of  addressing  them,  theirs 
is  "  Dear  dad  and  gossip." 

t  Frequently  printed.  I  follow  the  copy  in  Clarendon 
and  in  the  Hardwicke  Papers,  said  to  be  taken  from  the 
original. 

t  In  the  first  impulse  of  his  joy  he  even  said,  according 
to  Buckingham's  narration,  (March  20)  "  tliat  if  the  pope 
would  not  give  a  dispensation  for  a  wife,  they  would  give 
the  infanta  to  thy  son  Baby  as  his  wench." 


to  be  in  her  hands :  no  penal  laws  were  to  be 
of  force  against  her  children,  or  to  affect  their 
right  of  succession  to  the  throne,  even  though 
they  should  remain  catholics.*  Furthermore 
the  king  promised  in  general,  "  not  to  inter- 
fere with  the  private  practice  of  the  catholic 
worship,  not  to  constrain  the  catholics  to  take 
any  oath  repugnant  to  their  faith,  and  to  pro- 
vide that  the  laws  against  the  catholics  should 
be  repealed  by  parliament." 

King  James  swore  to  these  articles  in  Au- 
gust 1623,  and  no  doubt  seemed  left  of  the 
completion  of  the  marriage. 

Festivities  were  held  in  Spain ;  the  court 
received  congratulations ;  formal  intimation 
was  given  to  the  ambassadors  ;  and  the  infan- 
ta's ladies  of  honour  and  her  father  confessor 
were  enjoined  not  to  let  fall  a  word  unfavoura- 
ble to  the  match. 

King  James  reminded  his  son,  that  he  should 
not  in  his  joy  at  these  happy  events  forget  his 
nephews,  who  were  despoiled  of  their  inheri- 
tance, nor  his  sister  bathed  in  tears.  The 
cause  of  the  palatine  was  warmly  taken  up. 
A  project  was  conceived  of  interweaving  the 
imperial  line  and  the  palatine  house  into  the 
new  alliance,  by  uniting  the  son  of  the  pro- 
scribed elector  in  marriage  with  the  daughter 
of  the  emperor :  and  to  avoid  giving  offence  to 
Bavaria,  the  establishment  of  an  eighth  elec- 
torate was  proposed.  The  emperor  forthwith 
opened  the  matter  to  Maximilian  of  Bavaria, 
who  showed  no  disinclination  to  it  on  his  part, 
and  only  required  that  he  should  be  left  in 
possession,  as  before,  of  the  palatine  electorate, 
and  that  the  eighth  electorate  proposed  to  be 
established,  should  be  conferred  on  the  pala- 
tine house.  This  made  no  important  differ- 
ence to  the  catholic  interests.  The  catholics 
were  to  enjoy  freedom  of  religion  in  the  re- 
stored palatinate  ;  and  they  would  still  retain 
a  majority  in  the  electoral  college.f 

Thus  the  power,  which  under  the  former 
reign  had  constituted  the  main  bulwark  of 
protestantism,  now  entered  into  the  most 
friendly  relations  with  ancient  foes,  to  which 
it  seemed  to  have  vowed  implacable  hatred, 
the  pope  and  Spain.  Already  the  catholics 
began  to  meet  with  totally  different  treat- 
ment in  England.  Domiciliary  visits  and 
persecution  ceased ;  certain  oaths  were  no 
longer  exacted  ;  catholic  chapels  were  reared, 
to  the  sore  annoyance  of  the  protestants  ;  and 
the  puritanical  zealots,  who  censured  the 
match,  were  punished.  King  James  doubted 
not  that  before  winter  set  in  he  should  em- 
brace his  son  and  his  young  bride,  and  his 


*  The  most  important  point  and  the  source  of  much 
mischief  The  article  runs  thus:  "Quod  leges  contra 
catholicos  Romanos  lat3e  vel  ferendae  in  Anglia  et  aliis 
regnis  regi  magnae  Britanniae  subjectis  non  attingent  lib- 
eros  ex  hoc  matrimoniooriundos,  et  libere  jure  succession- 
is  in  regnis  et  dominijs  magnae  Britannise  fruantur." 
(Mer.  Franc,  ix.  Appendice  ii.  18.) 

t  Khevenhiller,  x.  114. 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,    [a.  d.  1617-1623. 


favourite.     All  his  letters  breathe  a  heart-felt 
longing-  for  this  consummation. 

It  is  manifest  what  advantages  would  have 
sprung  from  the  execution  of  the  above  named 
articles:  but  the  marriage  itself  gave  reason 
to  expect  consequences  altogether  distinct,  the 
extent  of  which  could  not  have  been  foreseen. 
What  force  has  failed  to  secure,  namely,  an 
influence  over  the  administration  of  England, 
seemed  now  to  be  obtained  in  the  most  peace- 
fal  and  natural  course. 

6.  Missions. 

Arrived  at  this  point  in  our  review  of  the 
brilliant  progress  of  Catholicism  in  Europe, 
we  may  pause,  and  cast  our  eyes  towards 
those  distant  regions,  in  which  it  likewise 
made  vast  strides  through  the  force  of  kindred 
impulses. 

Religion  had  part  in  the  very  first  idea, 
which  prompted  the  discoveries  and  conquests 
of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese;  it  constantly 
accompanied  and  animated  them,  and  came 
forth  in  great  strength  in  the  newly  founded 
empires  both  of  the  East  and  of  the  West. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
we  find  the  stately  fabric  of  the  catholic 
church  in  South  America  fully  reared.  It 
included  five  archbishoprics,  twenty-seven 
bishoprics,  four  hundred  convents,  and  innu- 
merable parishes  and  doctrinas.*  Magnifi- 
cent cathedrals  had  risen,  the  most  gorgeous 
of  which  was  perhaps  that  of  Los  Angeles. 
The  Jesuits  taught  grammar  and  the  liberal 
arts,  and  a  theological  seminary  was  connect- 
ed with  their  college  of  San  Ildefonso.  All 
branches  of  theological  study  were  taught  in 
the  universities  of  Mexico  and  Lima.  The 
Americans  of  European  descent  were  observed 
to  be  distinguished  for  their  remarkable  acute- 
ness :  only  as  they  themselves  complained, 
they  were  too  remote  from  the  gracious 
countenance  of  royalty,  to  hope  to  be  reward- 
ed accorded  to  their  desert.  Meanwhile  the 
mendicant  orders  especially  had  begun  stea- 
dily to  propagate  Christianity  over  the  whole 
South  American  continent.  Conquest  had 
passed  into  missionary  effort,  and  missions 
were  the  parents  of  civilization.  The  monks 
and  friars  taught  conjointly  the  arts  of  sowing 
and  reaping,  planting  trees,  building  houses, 
reading  and  singing,  and  they  were  regarded 
with  proportionate  affection.  When  the  priest 
came  among  his  flock,  he  was  welcomed  with 
ringing  of  bells  and  music;  flowers  were 
strewed  in  his  path,  and  women  held  out  their 
children  to  him  and  besought  him  to  bless 
them.  The  Indians  manifested  a  great  liking 
for  the  externals  of  worship.  They  were 
never  weary  of  attending  mass,  singing  ves- 
pers, and  waiting  in  the  choir  for  the  perform- 


ance of  service.  They  had  talents  for  music, 
and  to  adorn  a  church  was  for  them  a  source 
of  guileless  delight.  They  seemed  indeed 
susceptible  in  a  very  high  degree  to  whatever 
could  impress  a  simple  and  infantile  fancy.* 
In  their  dreams  they  beheld  the  joys  of  Para- 
dise. To  the  sick  appeared  the  queen  of 
heaven  in  all  her  pomp,  surrounded  by  youth- 
ful attendants  who  ministered  to  and  refreshed 
the  fainting  sufferer.  Or  she  would  present 
herself  alone,  and  teach  her  worshipper  a  song 
of  her  crucified  Son,  "  whose  head  is  bent  like 
the  yellow  ear  of  corn." 

Such  were  the  particulars  of  Catholicism 
that  were  here  most  effective.  The  monks 
only  complain  that  the  bad  examples  set  by 
the  Spaniards,  and  their  tyranny,  corrupted 
the  natives,  and  were  an  obstacle  to  the  pro- 
gress of  conversion. 

The  work  of  proselytizing  went  on  nearly 
in  the  same  manner  in  the  East  Indies,  as  far 
as  the  sway  of  the  Spaniards  and  the  Portu- 
guese extended.  Goa  became  a  great  focus 
of  proselytism :  year  after  year  thousands 
were  converted.  As  early  as  1563,  there 
were  reckoned  three  hundred  thousand  new 
Christians  in  Goa,  in  the  mountains  of  Cochin, 
and  at  Cape  Comorin.f  But  the  general 
relations  of  foreigners  to  the  natives  were 
here  altogether  different  from  those  subsist- 
ing in  America.  Here  a  vast,  peculiar,  and 
unconquered  world  defied  the  force  alike  of 
arms  and  of  argument;  primeval  religions, 
the  ceremonials  of  which  captivated  both  soul 
and  sense,  and  were  intimately  associated 
with  the  manners  and  habits  of  thought  of  the 
inhabitants. 

It  was  the  natural  tendency  of  Catholicism 
to  overcome  even  such  a  world  as  this. 

This  was  the  fundamental  idea  on  which 
were  founded  the  whole  course  and  proceed- 
ings of  Francis  Xavier,  who  had  arrived  in 
the  East  Indies  as  early  as  1.542.  He  tra- 
versed India  in  its  whole  length  and  breadth. 
He  prayed  at  the  tomb  of  the  apostle  Thomas 
in  Maliapur ;  preached  from  a  tree  to  the  peo- 
ple of  Travancore,  taught  spiritual  songs  in 
the  Moluccas,  which  were  repeated  by  the 
boys  in  the  market-place,  and  by  the  fisher- 
men on  the  sea.  But  he  was  not  designed 
by  nature  to  complete  what  he  began ;  his 
motto  was  Amplius!  amplius !  his  zeal  for 
proselytizing  was  in  some  sort  identified  with 
a   kind   of  passion   for  travelling.     He   had 


*  Herrera,  Description  de  las  Indias,  p.  80. 


*  Compendio  y  descripcion  de  las  Indias  ocidentales, 
MS.  "  Tienen  miicha  caridad  con  los  necessilados  y  en 
particular  con  los  sacerdoles :  que  los  respetan  y  reveren- 
cien  como  minislros  de  Chrislos,  abracan  los  maa  tal 
suerte  las  cosas  de  nueslra  santa  fe,  que  solo  el  mal  exeni- 
plo  que  nos  demos  es  causa  que  no  aya  entre  ellos  gran- 
des  santos,  como  lo  experimenle  el  liempo  que  esluve  en 
aquellos  regnos."  The  Lilera  annuae  provincise  Para- 
guarioB  missae  a  Nicolao  Duran,  Anlv.  1630,  are  pariieu- 
iarly  interesting,  because  the  Jesuits  kept  the  Spaniards 
away  from  that  province. 

t  Maffei,  Commeniarius  de  rebus  Indicis,  p.  21. 


A.  D.  1542-1623.] 


MISSIONS. 


303 


already  reached  Japan,  and  was  about  to  seek 
the  focus  and  birth  place  of  the  opinions  and 
habits  he  fell  in  with  there,  when  he  died.* 

It  was  consonant  with  the  nature  of  man 
that  his  example,  and  the  difficulties  of  his 
undertaking-,  should  challenge  rather  than 
deter  imitation.  The  most  varied  activity 
prevailed  in  the  East  in  the  first  decades  of 
the  seventeenth  century. 

From  the  year  1606,  we  find  father  Nobili 
in  Madaura.  He  was  astonished  to  see  the 
small  progress  Christianity  had  made  in  such 
a  length  of  time,  and  believed  that  circum- 
stance was  attributable  solely  to  the  fact,  that 
the  Portuguese  had  addressed  themselves  to 
the  parias.  Christ  was  regarded  as  a  God  of 
the  parias.  He  adopted  a  totally  different 
course,  insisting  tliat  conversion,  to  be  effec- 
tual, must  begin  with  the  higher  castes.  He 
declared  on  his  arrival  that  he  was  of  the 
purest  race  of  nobility,  of  which  he  had  proofs 
by  him,  and  he  attached  himself  to  the  Brah- 
mins. He  assumed  their  dress  and  modes  of 
life,  submitted  to  their  penitential  practices, 
learned  Sanscrit,  and  entered  into  their  ideas.f 
There  was  an  opinion  among  them,  that  there 
had  formerly  existed  in  India  four  ways  of  truth 
of  which  one  had  been  lost.  Nobili  affirmed 
that  he  was  come  to  point  out  that  lost,  but 
most  direct  spiritual  way  to  immortality.  By 
the  year  1600,  he  had  already  gained  over 
seventy  Brahmins.  He  was  sedulous  to  avoid 
offending  their  prejudices,  and  tolerated  even 
their  distinctions  of  castes,  only  giving  them 
another  signification :  he  separated  the  castes 
from  each  other  in  the  churches,  and  ex- 
changed the  expressions  in  which  the  doc- 
trines of  Christianity  had  previously  been 
clothed,  for  others  more  elegant  and  of  more 
literary  dignity.  His  proceedings  were  in  all 
respects  so  judicious,  that  he  soon  saw  crowds 
of  converts  around  him.  Though  his  method 
caused  great  scandal,  still  it  seemed  the  only 
one  fitted  to  obtain  extensive  success,  Gre- 
gory XV.  pronounced  his  approval  of  it  in  the 
year  1621. 

The  attempts  made  about  this  time  at  the 
court  of  the  emperor  Akbar  are  no  less  worthy 
of  note. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  old  Mon- 
ghol  Khans,  the  conquerors  of  Asia,  had  long 
maintained  a  peculiarly  indifferent  position 
amongst  the  various  religions  that  divided  the 
world.  It  would  almost  seem  that  the  em- 
peror Akbar  held  similar  views.     On  sum- 


*  Maffei,  Historiarum  Indicarum  lib.  xiii.  el  xiv. 

t  Jiivencius,  Historiae  Societ.  Jesu,  pars  v.  lorn.  ii.  lib. 
xviii.  §  ix.  n.  49.  "  Biachmanum  insliluta  omnia  cjere- 
inoniasque  cognoscit;  linguani  vernaculani  diclam  vulgo 
Tamulicaiii,  quae  lalissime  pertinet,addiscit ;  addil  Bada- 
gicam,  qui  principum  el  aulse  sermo,  denique  Grandoni- 
cam  sive  Samutcradam,  quae  lingua  erudilorum  esl, 
caeteruui  lol  obsila  ditBcullalibiis,  nuUi  ut  Kuropaeo  bene 
cognita  fuisset  ad  earn  diem  atque  inter  ipsosmet  Indos 
plurimum  scire  videantur  qui  hanc  ulcunque  aorint  elsi 
aliud  nihil  noriat." 


moning  the  Jesuits  to  his  presence,  he  told 
them  that  "he  had  taken  pains  to  become 
acquainted  with  all  tlie  religions  on  earth ;  he 
now  wished  to  be  made  acquainted  with  the 
Christian  religion  with  the  help  of  the  fathers, 
whom  he  honoured  and  prized,"  Geronimo 
Xavier,  the  nephew  of  Francis,  was  the  first 
who  took  up  his  residence  permanently  at 
Akbar's  court  in  the  year  1595;  the  insurrec- 
tions of  the  Mahometans  contributed  to  make 
the  emperor  incline  to  the  Christians.  Christ- 
mas was  celebrated  in  tlie  most  solemn  man- 
ner at  Lahore  in  the  year  1599;  the  holy 
manger  was  exposed  to  view  for  twenty  suc- 
cessive days ;  numerous  proselytes  entered 
the  church  in  procession,  with  palms  in  their 
hands,  and  received  baptism.  The  emperor 
expressed  much  pleasure  on  reading  a  life  of 
Christ  composed  in  Persian,  and  he  had  an 
image  of  the  Virgin,  executed  after  the  model 
of  the  Madonna  del  popolo  in  Rome,  brought 
into  his  palace  to  show  to  his  women.  The 
Christians  indeed  drew  from  this  inferences 
larger  than  the  circumstances  warranted, 
still  they  did  really  accomplish  a  great  deal : 
after  Akbar's  death  in  1610,  three  princes  of 
the  blood  royal  solemnly  received  baptism. 
They  rode  on  white  elephants  to  the  church, 
where  they  were  received  by  father  Geronimo 
with  trumpets  sounding  and  drums  beating.* 
Gradually  Christianity  appeared  to  gain  some 
firmness  of  footing,  though  here  too  opinions 
and  dispositions  fluctuated  with  the  more  or 
less  friendly  political  understanding  subsist- 
ing with  the  Portuguese.  In  1621,  a  college 
was  established  in  Agra,  and  a  station  in 
Patna:  and  in  1624,  the  emperor  Jehangir 
gave  hopes  that  he  would  become  a  convert. 
At  the  same  period  the  Jesuits  had  already 
penetrated  into  China,  where  they  sought  to 
allure  the  skilful,  scientific,  studious  people 
of  that  empire  through  the  inventions  of  the 
west.  Ricci  obtained  his  first  success  by 
teaching  mathematics,  and  by  getting  by 
heart  and  reciting  striking  passages  from  the 
writings  of  Confucius.  A  present  he  made 
the  emperor  of  a  striking  clock,  gained  him 
admission  into  Pekin,  where  nothing  raised 
him  so  highly  in  the  favour  and  good  graces 
of  his  imperial  majesty  as  the  construction  of 
a  map,  that  far  surpassed  all  the  attempts 
which  had  ever  been  made  in  that  way  by  the 
native  artists.  It  was  characteristic  of  Ricci, 
that  on  receiving  an  order  from  the  emperor 
to  make  him  ten  such  maps  on  silk,  to  be 
hung  up  in  his  apartments,  he  took  the  oppor- 
tunity of  doing  something  for  the  promotion 
of  Christianity,  and  filled  the  vacant  places 
on  the  maps  with  Christian  symbols  and  texts. 
Such  was  the  general  spirit  of  his  teaching : 
he  began  usually  with  mathematics,  and  ended 
with  religion  ;  his  scientific  talents  procured 


♦  Juvencius,  1. 1.  n.  1—33. 


304 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.     SECOND  PERIOD,  [a.  d.  1542-1623. 


respect  for  his  religious  instruction.  Not 
only  were  his  immediate  pupils  gained  over, 
but  many  mandarins,  too,  whose  garb  he 
assumed,  joined  him :  a  society  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  was  formed  in  Pekin  as  early  as  the 
year  1605.  Ricci  died  in  1610,  worn  out  not 
only  by  excessive  labour,  but  chiefly  by  the 
numerous  visits,  the  long  dinners,  and  all  the 
other  exactions  of  Chinese  social  etiquette: 
but  after  his  death  others  observed  the  advice 
he  had  given,  "  to  go  to  work  without  parade 
or  noise,  and  in  such  stormy  seas  to  keep  close 
to  the  shore,"  and  they  followed  his  example 
as  regarded  science.  An  eclipse  of  the  moon 
occurred  in  1610 :  the  predictions  of  the  na- 
tive astronomers  and  of  the  Jesuits  differed 
by  a  whole  hour :  the  event  provmg  that  the 
latter  were  right,  added  greatly  to  their  cre- 
dit.* Not  only  were  they  charged,  in  con- 
junction with  some  mandarins,  their  pupils, 
with  the  reform  of  the  astronomical  tables,  but 
Christianity,  too,  was  promoted  by  their  suc- 
cess. In  1611,  the  first  church  was  conse- 
crated in  Nankin ;  in  1616,  there  were 
Christian  churches  in  five  provinces  of  the 
empire.  In  the  opposition  the  Jesuits  some- 
times encountered,  nothing  was  of  so  much 
service  to  them  as  the  fact  that  their  pupils 
had  written  books  which  met  with  the  appro- 
bation of  the  learned.  They  had  the  art  to 
elude  the  storms  that  threatened  them  ;  they 
complied,  too,  as  closely  as  possible,  with  the 
usages  of  the  country,  and  this  they  were 
empowered  to  do  in  several  points  by  the  pope 
in  the  year  1619.  The  consequence  was, 
that  not  a  year  passed  in  which  thousands 
were  not  converted ;  their  opponents  gradu- 
ally died  ofl";  in  1624,  Adam  tSchall  appeared, 
and  the  accurate  description  of  two  eclipses 
of  the  moon  which  happened  in  that  year,  and 
a  treatise  by  Lombardo  on  the  earthquake, 
added  fresh  lustre  to  their  reputation.f 

*  Juvency  has  devoted  the  whole  of  his  19th  book  to  the 
undertakings  in  China,  and  added  at  p.  561  a  treatise, 
Imperii  Sinici  recens  at  uberior  notitia,  which  is  still 
worth  reading. 

f  Relatione  della  Cina  dell'  anno  1621.  "  Lo  stato  pre- 
sents di  questa  chiesa  mi  pare  in  universale  molto  simile 
ad  una  nave  a  cui  e  li  venti  e  le  nuvole  minaccino  di 
coito  grave  borasca,  e  per  cio  li  marinari  ammainando  le 
vele  e  calando  le  antenne  fermino  il  corso,  estiano  aspet- 
lando  che  si  chiarisca  il  cielo  e  cessino  i  contrast!  de' 
venti :  ma  bene  spesso  avviene  che  tutto  il  male  si  risolve 
in  paura,  e  che  sgombrale  le  furie  de'  venti  svanisce  la 
lempesta  contenta  delle  sole  minaccie.  Cos!  appunto 
pare  che  sia  accaduto  alia  navedi  questa  chiesa.  Quattro 
anni  fa  se  le  levo  contro  una  gagliarda  borasca,  la  quale 
pareva  che  la  dovesse  sommergere  ad  un  tratlo ;  li  piloti 
accomodandosi  al  tempo  raccolsero  le  vele  delle  opere 
lore  e  si  rilirarono  alquanto;  ma  in  modo  che  polevano 
essere  trovati  da  chiunque  voleva  I'aiuto  loro  per  aspet- 
tare  donee  aspiret  dies  et  inclinentur  umbrae.  Sin  hora 
il  male  non  C  slate  di  altro  che  di  timore."  [The  present 
state  of  this  church  appears  to  me  on  the  whole  very  simi- 
lar to  that  of  a  ship  which  the  winds  and  the  clouds 
threaten  with  a  speedy  and  violent  tempest;  wherefore 
tlie  mariners,  shortening  sail  and  lowering  the  yards,  lie 
to,  and  wail  till  the  sky  clears  and  the  winds  cease  their 
conflicts  :  but  very  often  il  happens  that  the  whole  danger 
is  resolved  into  tear,  and  that  the  winds  having  spent 
their  fury,  the  tempest  vanishes,  content  with  mere 
threata.    This  is  precisely  what  seems  to  have  happened 


The  Jesuits  had  struck  into  a  different 
course  in  the  warlike  Japan,  incessantly  rent 
by  factions.  From  the  beginning  they  made 
themselves  partisans.  In  the  year  1554  they 
were  fortunate  enough  to  declare  for  the  par- 
ty that  proved  victorious ;  they  were  secure 
of  its  favour,  and  by  its  aid  they  made  extra- 
ordinary progress.  By  the  year  1579  they 
counted  there  300,000  Christians :  Father 
Valignano,  who  died  in  1606,  a  man  whose 
advice  Philip  II.  gladly  consulted  on  East  In- 
dian affairs,  founded  300  churches  and  thirty 
Jesuit  houses  in  Japan. 

But  this  very  connexion  of  the  Jesuits  with 
Mexico  and  Spain  provoked  the  jealousy  of 
the  native  Japanese  authorities  :  they  had  no 
longer  their  tbrmer  good  fortune  in  the  civil 
wars ;  the  party  they  had  adopted  was  de- 
feated, and  from  the  year  1612  it  was  sub- 
jected to  fearful  persecutions. 

But  they  made  a  very  bold  stand.  Their 
proselytes  invoked  the  death  of  martyrs : 
they  had  formed  a  martyr  society,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  encouraged  each  other  to  en- 
dure all  sufferings:  they  distinguished  those 
years  as  the  ^ra  Martyrum.  Violent  as 
waxed  the  persecution,  says  their  historian, 
yet  every  year  produced  new  converts.* 
They  will  have  it  that  from  1603  to  1622, 
exactly  239,339  Japanese  embraced  Christi- 
anity. 

In  all  these  countries  the  Jesuits  displayed 
a  character  equally  marked  with  pliant  con- 
formity to  circumstances,  and  stedfast  un- 
bending pertinacity.  They  made  progress  to 
an  extent  that  could  never  have  been  antici- 
pated, and  succeeded  in  vanquishing,  at  least 
in  part,  the  opposition  of  the  established  na- 
tional religions  of  the  East. 

Nor  did  they  neglect  to  take  measures  for 
the  union  of  the  oriental  Christians  with  the 
church  of  Rome. 

In  India  proper  they  had  fallen  in  with  that 
primitive  -Nestorian  community  which  is 
known  by  the  name  of  Christians  of  St.  Tho- 
mas ;  and  as  these  recognized  as  their  head 
and  as  shepherd  of  the  universal  church,  not 
the  pope  of  Rome,  of  whom  they  had  never 
heard,  but  the  patriarch  of  Babylon  (at  Mo- 

to  the  vessel  of  this  church.  Four  years  ago  a  sharp  gale 
arose  against  it,  which  seemed  likely  to  sink  it  at  a  guet: 
the  pilots,  obedient  to  the  weather,  furled  their  sails  and 
retired  a  space,  but  so  that  they  might  be  found  by  who- 
ever required  their  aid,  to  wait  till  day  should  break  and 
the  shadows  melt  away.  Up  to  the  present  lime  the 
whole  evil  has  amounted  to  no  more  than  alarm.] 

*  Lettere  annuo  del  Giappone  dell'  anno  1622,  furnish 
an  example :  "  I  gloriosi  campion!  che  morirono  quest' 
anno  furono  121 :  gli  adulti  che  per  opera  de'  padri  della 
compagnia  a  visla  di  cosi  crudele  perseculione  hanno  ri- 
cevuto  il  sanlo  bettesirao  arrivano  al  numero  di  2236,  sen- 
za  numerar  quelli  che  per  mezzo  d'  altri  religiosi  e  sacer- 
doti  Giapponesi  si  battezorno."  [The  glorious  cham- 
pions who  died  this  year  were  121 :  the  adults  who  re- 
ceived holy  baptism  at  the  hands  of  the  fathers  of  the 
company  in  the  face  of  such  cruel  persecution,  amounted 
to  the  number  of  2236,  without  counting  those  who  were 
baptized  through  the  instrumentality  of  other  Japanese 
monks  and  priests.] 


A.  D.  1542-1623.] 


MISSIONS. 


3a5 


sul,)  measures  were  speedily  taken  to  draw 
them  into  the  communion  of  the  Roman 
church.  Neither  force  nor  persuasion  were 
spared.  In  1601,  the  most  eminent  among 
them  seemed  won,  and  a  Jesuit  was  appoint- 
ed bishop  over  them.  The  Roman  ritual  was 
printed  in  Chaldaic :  the  errors  of  Nestorius 
were  anathematized  in  a  diocesan  council ;  a 
Jesuit  college  was  erected  in  Cranganor  ;  the 
new  installation  in  the  episcopal  see  took 
place  in  the  year  1624,  with  the  approbation 
of  the  most  obstinate  of  the  former  oppo- 
nents.* 

Of  course  the  political  superiority  of  the 
Portuguese  and  Spanish  power  conduced 
largely  to  these  results.  It  was  also  highly 
influential  in  Abyssinia  about  the  same  time. 

All  former  efforts  in  that  country  had  been 
ineffectual.  It  was  not  till  the  year  1608 
that  the  Portuguese  of  Fremona,  having  ren- 
dered essential  service  to  the  Abyssinians  in 
a  battle,  obtained  high  credit  for  themselves 
and  their  religion.  Just  then  Father  Paez 
arrived,  an  able  Jesuit,  who  preached  in  the 
language  of  the  country,  and  gained  access 
at  court.  The  victorious  sovereign  wished 
to  form  a  closer  connection  with  the  king  of 
Spain,  chiefly  with  a  view  to  that  monarch's 
support  against  his  foes  in  the  interior.  Paez 
represented  to  him  as  the  only  means  towards 
his  eflJecting  this,  the  necessity  of  his  abjur- 
ing his  scJiismatic  doctrines  and  conforcning 
to  the  Roman  church.  His  arguments  had 
the  more  weight,  inasmuch  as  the  Portuguese 
really  displayed  fidelity  and  courage  in  the 
intestine  commotions  of  the  country.  Dispu- 
tations were  appointed  ;  the  unlettered  monks 
were  easily  put  down ;  the  bravest  man  in 
the  kingdom,  Sela-Christos,  a  brother  of  the 
emperor  Sela  Segued  (Socinius,)  was  con- 
verted, and  his  example  was  followed  by 
countless  others  :  an  alliance  was  then  formed 
with  Paul  V.  and  Philip  III.  The  represen- 
tatives of  the  established  religion  naturally 
bestirred  themselves  at  this;  the  civil  wars 
of  Abyssinia,  like  those  of  Europe,  assumed  a 
religious  colour;  tlie  abuna  and  his  monks 
were  always  on  the  side  of  the  rebels,  Sela- 
Christos,  the  Portuguese,  and  the  converts, 
on  that  of  the  emperor.  Battles  were  fought 
year  after  year  ;  success  and  danger  alterna- 
ted ;  at  last  the  emperor  and  his  party  were 
victorious.  The  victory  was  shared  b}'  Ca- 
tholicism and  the  Jesuits.  In  the  year  1021, 
Seltan  Segued  decided  the  old  controversy 
respecting  the  two-fold  nature  of  Christ  ac- 
cording to  the  views  of  the  Roman  church: 
he  prohibited  the  offering  up  of  prayers  lor 
the  patriarch  of  Alexandria  ;  catholic  church- 
es and  chapels  were  erected  in  his  towns  and 
in  his  gardens.f     In  1622,  after  having  con- 


*  Cordara:  Historia  Societ.  Jesu,  vi.  ix.  p.  5.35. 
+  Juvenciiis,  p.  705.  Cordara,  vi.  p.  330.     Ludolf  calls 
the  emperor  Susneus. 

39 


fessed  to  Paez,  he  received  the  Eucharist  af- 
ter the  catholic  ritual.  The  court  of  Rome 
had  long  been  solicited  to  send  a  Latin  patri- 
arch to  Abyssinia  ;  but  it  hesitated  to  do  so 
as  long  as  the  emperor's  disposition  or  his 
power  was  doubtful ;  at  present  he  had  van- 
quished all  his  adversaries,  and  never  could 
he  display  more  good  will.  On  the  19th  of 
Dec.  Gregory  XV.  nominated  doctor  Alfonzo 
Mendez,  a  Portuguese,  of  the  society  of  Jesus, 
proposed  by  king  Philip,  to  be  patriarch  of 
yEthiopia.*  After  Mendez  had  at  last  ar- 
rived, the  emperor  solemnly  tendered  his  obe- 
dience to  the  pope  of  Rome. 

Meanwhile  attention  was  directed  also  to 
all  the  Greek  Christians  :  the  popes  sent  mis- 
sion after  mission  to  them.  The  Roman  pro- 
fessio  fidei  had  been  introduced  among  the 
Maronites  by  some  Jesuits.  In  1604,  we 
find  a  Nestorian  archimandrite  at  Rome, 
where  he  renounced  the  doctrine  of  Nestorius 
in  the  name  of  a  great  multitude  of  his  fol- 
lowers. A  Jesuit  mission  was  founded  in 
Constantinople,  where,  through  the  influence 
of  the  French  ambassador,  it  attained  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  stability  and  credit,  and  suc- 
ceeded among  other  things,  in  the  year  1621, 
in  procuring  the  removal,  at  least  for  a  while, 
of  the  patriarch  Cyrillus  Lucaris,  who  inclined 
to  protestantism. 

How  prodigious  was  this  world-wide  range 
of  activity  !  forcing  its  way  at  once  amidst 
the  Andes  and  the  Alps,  sending  out  its  scouts 
and  pioneers  to  Scandinavia  and  to  Thibet, 
and  insinuating  itself  into  the  favour  of  the 
governments  in  England  and  in  China ;  yet 
everywhere  on  this  immense  theatre  fresh, 
and  unbroken,  and  indefatigable :  the  im- 
pulse at  work  in  its  centre  animating,  and 
that  perhaps  with  more  intense  vivacity, 
every  labourer  on  the  outermost  bounds. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


CONFLICTING       POLITICAL     RELATIONS.  NEW 

VICTORIES  OP  CATHOLICISM. 

1623—1628. 

It  is  not  solely  resistance  from  without  that 
always,  or  perhaps  ever,  sets  bounds  to  the 
career  of  a  conquering  power :  in  general 
this  change  of  fortune  is  greatly  promoted, 
if  not  directly  provoked,  by  internal  dissen- 
sions. 

Had  Catholicism  remained  one  in  spirit, 
and  pursued  its  purpose  with  united  forces,  it 
can  hardly  be  conceived  how  northern  Ger- 
manic Europe,  entangled  for  the  most  part  as 
it  was  in  its  interests,  and  circumvented  by 


♦Sagripanli:    Discorso  della  religione  dell'    Etiopia, 
MS.  from  the  Atti  Consistoriali. 


306 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,    [a.  d.  1623-1628. 


its  policy,  could  long  have  been  disposed  to 
resist  it. 

But  was  it  not  natural,  that  at  this  stage  in 
the  progress  of  its  power,  Catholicism  should 
once  more  display  those  early  marked  discre- 
pancies, which,  though  superficially  conceal- 
ed, had  never  ceased  to  work  within  it ! 

The  peculiarity  in  the  progress  of  religion 
in  the  period  before  us  is,  that  it  was  every- 
where founded  on  political  and  military  supe- 
riority. Missions  marched  in  the  train  of 
war.  The  consequence  was,  that  with  them 
were  associated  the  greatest  political  changes, 
of  no  little  importance  in  themselves,  and 
which  could  not  fail  of  exciting  reactions, 
the  result  of  whicii  there  was  no  foreseeing. 

Of  all  these  changes  the  most  important 
undoubtedly  was,  that  the  German  line  of  the 
house  of  Austria,  which  hitiierto,  engrossed 
by  the  troubles  in  the  hereditary  dominions, 
had  taken  less  part  in  the  affairs  of  Europe  in 
general,  at  once  attained  to  the  independence, 
importance,  and  strength  of  a  great  European 
power.  The  elevation  of  German- Austria 
had  the  effect  of  making  Spain,  which  had  re- 
mained pacific  since  the  times  of  Philip  II., 
awake  with  fresh  martial  ardour  to  the  asser- 
tion of  its  former  pretensions  and  hopes.  The 
two  powers  had  already  come  into  direct  con- 
nexion, in  consequence  of  the  Grisons'  trans- 
actions :  the  Alpine  passes  on  the  Italian  side 
were  taken  possession  of  by  Spain,  those  on 
the  German  side  by  Austria.  On  those  lofty 
mountains  they  seemed  to  tender  each  other 
mutual  aid  for  enterprizes  directed  towards 
all  quarters  of  the  world. 

Certainly  this  position  of  things  involved 
on  the  one  hand  a  great  prospect  for  Catholi- 
cism, to  which  the  two  lines  had  devoted 
themselves  with  inviolable  attachment;  but, 
on  the  other  hand  likewise,  a  great  danger  of 
internal  discord.  How  much  jealousy  had 
the  Spanish  monarchy  under  Philip  II.  pro- 
voked !  But  the  combined  force  of  the  house 
was  now  uprisen  in  far  greater  vigour  and 
Bolidity,  through  the  increase  of  its  German 
resources.  The  old  antipathies  to  it  would 
of  necessity  be  aroused  in  a  still  higher  de- 
gree. 

This  was  first  manifested  in  Italy. 

The  small  Italian  states,  severally  incapa- 
ble of  standing  by  themselves,  were  above  all 
others  in  those  times  in  need  of  and  keenly 
sensitive  as  to  the  preservation  of  the  balance 
of  power.  To  find  themselves  hemmed  in, 
as  they  now  were,  on  both  sides,  and  appa- 
rently cut  off  from  all  foreign  aid  by  the  occu- 
pation of  the  Alpine  passes,  appeared  to  them 
pregnant  with  imminent  peril.  Without 
much  regarding  what  advantage  their  creed 
might  derive  from  the  combination  in  ques- 
tion, they  applied  to  France,  which  alone 
could  help  them,  in  order  to  its  annihilation. 
Louis  XIII.  was  alarmed  too,  lest  he  should 


lose  his  influence  in  Italy.  Immediately  after 
the  peace  of  1622,  before  he  had  yet  returned 
to  his  capital,  he  concluded  a  treaty  with  Sa- 
voy and  Venice,  by  virtue  of  which  their  unit- 
ed forces  should  compel  the  house  of  Austria 
to  surrender  the  passes  and  fortresses  of  the 
Grisons.* 

This  intention  contemplated  it  is  true  but 
a  single  point,  but  it  was  one  that  might  easi- 
ly lead  to  the  disturbance  of  the  whole  exist- 
ing state  of  things. 

Gregory  XV.  was  fully  aware  of  this,  of 
the  danger  to  the  peace  of  the  catholic  world, 
to  the  progress  of  the  interests  of  religion, 
and  thereby  to  the  revival  of  the  dignity  and 
importance  of  the  papal  see.  With  the  same 
zeal  with  which  he  promoted  missions  and  ef- 
forts for  conversion,  he  now,  in  his  lively 
perception  of  the  necessary  concatenation, 
laboured  to  prevent  the  outbreak  of  hostili- 
ties. 

The  reverence  felt  for  the  papal  see,  or  ra- 
ther the  feeling  of  the  unity  in  the  catholic 
world,  was  still  in  such  force,  that  both  Spain 
and  France  declared  they  would  leave  the 
decision  of  this  matter  to  the  pope.  Nay,  he 
was  himself  requested  to  take  those  fortresses 
which  excited  so  much  jealous  uneasiness 
into  his  own  hands  as  a  deposit,  pending  the 
fuller  adjustment  of  the  dispute,  and  to  garri- 
son them  with  his  own  troops.f 

Pope  Gregory  deliberated  for  a  moment 
whether  he  ought  to  take  this  active  and 
doubtless  expensive  part  in  foreign  transac- 
tions;  but  since  it  was  manifest  how  much 
depended  thereon,  as  regarded  the  peace  of 
the  catholic  world,  he  at  last  caused  a  couple 
of  companies  to  be  raised,  and  sent  them,  un- 
der the  command  of  his  brother  the  duke  of 
Fiano,  to  the  Grisons.  The  Spaniards  could 
have  wished  to  retain  at  least  Riva  and  Chia- 
venna ;  but  even  these  they  surrendered  to 
the  papal  troops. J  Archduke  Leopold  of  the 
Tyrol  also  consented  at  last  to  transfer  to 
them  those  districts  and  fortresses,  to  the  pos- 
session of  which  he  did  not  happen  to  have 
some  personal  claim. 

By  this  means  the  danger  seemed  really 
averted  that  had  most  excited  alarm  among 
the  Italian  states.  The  main  consideration 
now  was  to  provide  for  the  interests  of  Catho- 
licism in  the  subsequent  arrangements.  It 
was  proposed  that,  as  the  Valtelline  was  not 
again  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards, 
so  neither  should  it  be  suffered  to  revert  to 
the  Grisons,  since  that  would  be  so  likely  to 
interrupt  the  restoration  of  Catholicism  in  the 
valley.  It  was  to  be  annexed  to  the  three 
ancient  Rhcetian  leagues  as  a  fourth  indepen- 


*  Nani :   Storia  Veneta,  p.  255. 

t  Dispaccio,  Sillery,  Nov.  28,  1622.  Corsini,  13.  21 
Genu.  1623,  in  Siri,  Meraorie  reconditf,lom.  v.  p.  435.  442. 
Scriuura  dtl  deposito  della  Vallellina,  ib.  459. 

t  Siri  :  Memorie  recondite,  v.  519. 


A.  D.  1623-1628.]  NEW  VICTORIES  OF  CATHOLICISM. 


307 


dent  member,  with  equal  privilesjes.  From 
the  same  motives  the  pope  would  not  com- 
pletely sever  that  union  of  the  two  Austrian 
lines  which  seemed  so  necessary  to  the  pro- 
gress of  Catholicism  in  Germany.  The  passes 
throuj^h  Worms  and  the  Valtelline  were  to 
remain  open  to  the  Spaniards,  with  tiie  full 
understanding-  that  this  should  be  for  the  pur- 
pose of  marching  tlieir  troops  towards  Ger- 
many, but  not  from  thence  to  Italy.* 

Thus  far  had  things  proceeded ;  nothing 
indeed  had  been  actually  concluded,  but  every 
thing  was  ripe  thereto,  when  Gregory  XV. 
died,  July  8, 1628.  He  had  lived  long  enough 
to  enjoy  the  satisfaction  of  having  allayed 
these  formidable  dissensions,  and  of  seeing  the 
progress  of  the  church  maintained  uninterrup- 
tedly. A  new  combination  between  Spain  and 
France  for  an  attack  on  Rochelle  and  Holland 
had  even  come  under  consideration  in  the 
course  of  the  negotiations. 


But  after  Gregory's  death  these  schemes 
were  far  from  being  realized. 

In  the  first  place,  the  new  pope,  Urban 
VIII.,  was  not  yet  looked  up  to  with  that  con- 
fidence which  is  begotten  by  the  tried  and 
continual  exercise  of  thorough  impartiality  : 
again,  the  Italians  were  far  from  being  satis- 
fied with  the  terms  of  the  treaty  :  but  what  was 
most  important  of  all,  Vieuvilleand  Richelieu 
had  come  to  the  helm  in  France  ;  men  who 
plied  the  opposition  to  Spain,  not  at  the  solici- 
tation of  others,  as  their  predecessors  had  done, 
or  as  mere  auxiliaries,  but  of  their  own  spon- 
taneous impulse,  and  as  the  grand  object  of 
the  French  policy. 

There  was  perhaps  in  this  less  of  choice 
than  one  is  apt  to  suppose.  France,  too,  as 
well  as  the  Austro-Spanish  power,  was  ex- 
panding all  her  resources:  the  victory  over 
the  Huguenots  had  vastly  exalted  the  royal 
authority,  and  the  unity  and  national  feeling 
of  the  country  ;  and  as  her  claims  grew  with 
her  strength,  every  thing  conduced  to  urge 
her  upon  a  bolder  line  of  policy  than  she  had 
hitherto  pursued.  This  national  tendency 
called  forth  its  appropriate  organs ;  men  who 
were  able  and  willing  to  give  it  effect.  From 
the  first  Richelieu  was  resolved  to  make  head 
against  the  commanding  influence  which  the 
house  of  Austria  had  always  possessed,  and 
which  had  recently  become  more  vigorous  and 
lofty  than  ever,  and  to  wrestle  with  it  for  su- 
premacy in  Europe. 

This  was  a  resolution  that  imported  a  far 
more  perilous  rupture  in  the  catholic  world 
than  that  which  had  recently  been  healed.  The 
two  foremost  powers  would  necessarily  engage 
in  open  war  with  each  other.  All  thoughts 
of  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  the  Roman 
treaty  were  at  an  end,  and  Urban  VIII.  labour- 


ed in  vain  to  hold  the  French  to  the  conces- 
sions to  which  they  had  consented.  But  the 
French  were  not  content  with  a  mere  alliance 
with  the  catholic  opposition.  Though  a  car- 
dinal of  the  Roman  church,  Richelieu  did  not 
scruple  to  league  liimself  openly  with  the 
protestants. 

He  first  made  advances  to  the  English,  with 
a  view  of  preventing  the  Spanish  match,  from 
which  the  house  of  Austria  would  necessarily 
derive  so  great  an  accession  of  strength. 
Personal  circumstances  furthered  his  views  : 
the  impatience  of  James  I.,  who  longed  for 
the  return  of  his  son  and  his  favourite  with  the 
yearning  of  an  old  man  who  thought  his  death 
approaching,  and  a  misunderstanding  between 
the  two  prime  ministers,  Olivarez  and  Buck- 
ingham :  but  chiefly  the  result  was  deter- 
mined by  the  thing  itself.  The  aftairs  of  the 
Palatinate  presented  insurmountable  difficul- 
ties in  the  course  of  the  negociation  with 
Austria,  Spain,  Bavaria,  and  the  Palatinate.* 
An  alliance  with  France,  on  the  other  hand, 
seeing  the  new  direction  that  power  was  tak- 
ing, promised  a  speedy  solution  of  those  diffi- 
culties by  way  of  arms.  And  since  this  alli- 
ance not  only  secured  the  king  of  England  so 
considerable  a  dowry,  but  also  held  out  the 
prospect  of  reconciling  the  English  catholics 
with  the  throne,  he  preferred  marrying  his 
son  to  a  French  princess,  granting  her  the 
same  concessions,  as  regarded  religion,  that 
he  had  made  to  the  Spaniards. 

Preparations  were  accordingly  forthwith 
made  for  the  attack.  Richelieu  struck  out 
one  of  those  vast  and  comprehensive  plans, 
which  before  his  time  were  unknown  in  the 
policy  of  Europe,  though  so  peculiarly  appro- 
priate thereto.  It  was  his  purpose  at  once  to 
crush  the  Austro-Spanish  power  by  a  simul- 
taneous assault  upon  it  from  all  sides. 

He  himself  was  to  fall  on  Italy,  in  combina- 
tion with  Savoy  and  Venice.  Without  the 
least  deference  to  the  pope,  he  caused  the 
French  troops  to  advance  unexpectedly  into 
the  Grisons,  and  to  expel  the  papal  garrisons 
from  the  fortresses  there.f  He  had  renewed 
the  alliance  with  Holland  at  the  same  time  as 
that  with  England.  The  Hollanders  were  to 
assail  South  America,  the  English  the  coasts 
of  Spain.  The  Turks  were  set  in  motion 
through  the  instrumentality  of  King  James, 
and  threatened  an  inroad  into  Hungary.  But 
the  grand  blow  was  to  be  struck  in  Germany. 
The  king  of  Denmark,  who  had  been  long  in 


*  Art.  ix.  of  the  scheme  of  the  convention. 


*  From  a  letter  of  the  count  palatine's,  dated  Oct.  30,  it 
appears  lliat  nothing  but  force  could  have  induced  him  to 
accept  the  terms  proposed  to  him. 

t  Relatione  di  iv.ambasciatori,  16ij.  "  II  papasi  doleva 
che  mai  Beitune  gli  haveva parlato chiaro, e  che  dellesue 
parole  non  aveva  compreso  mai  che  si  djvessero  ponare  U 
arrai  della  lega  contra  li  suoi  presidii."  [The  pope  com- 
plained that  Belhune  had  never  spoken  plainly  to  him, 
and  that  he  had  never  understood  from  his  language 
that  the  arms  of  the  league  were  to  be  turned  against  bis 
garrisons.]    The  visual  policy  pursued  in  France. 


308 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,  [a.  d.  1623-1628. 


a  state  of  preparation,  was  resolved  at  last  to 
lead  the  forces  of  Denmark  and  Lower  Ger- 
many into  the  field  on  behalf  of  his  kindred 
of  the  Palatinate.  Not  only  did  England 
promise  him  aid,  but  Richelieu  too  engaged  to 
contribute  a  million  of  livres  towards  the 
expenses  of  the  war.*  Supported  by  both, 
Mansfeld  was  to  form  a  junction  with  the 
king,  and  to  march  upon  the  hereditary  domi- 
nions of  Austria. 

Here  then  were  the  two  foremost  catholic 
powers  arrayed  against  each  other  in  this  gen- 
eral assault. 

Unquestionably  this  must  have  directly 
tended  to  stay  the  progress  of  Catholicism. 
Though  the  French  league  was  one  of  a  poli- 
tical nature,  protestantism  must  have  beheld 
in  it,  by  reason  of  this  close  association  of  poli- 
tical and  ecclesiastical  interests,  a  great  source 
of  advantage  to  its  own  cause.  It  breathed 
again.  A  new  champion,  the  king  of  Den- 
mark, was  in  the  field  for  it  in  Germany,  with 
fresh  and  unimpaired  strength,  and  supported 
by  the  grand  combination  of  European  policy. 
His  triumph  would  have  undone  all  the  suc- 
cesses of  the  imperial  house  and  of  the  catho- 
lic restoration. 

But  it  is  the  attempt  that  makes  manifest 
the  difficulties  involved  in  any  undertaking. 
Brilliant  as  may  have  been  the  talents  of  Rich- 
elieu, he  had  yet  plunged  too  rashly  in  the 
enterprize  to  which  his  inclinations  prompted, 
and  to  which  he  looked  forward,  whether  in 
full  consciousness  or  in  dim  presentiment,  as 
the  aim  of  his  life.  His  project  generated 
danger  for  himself 

Not  only  did  the  German  protestants,  the 
adversaries  of  the  house  of  Austria,  take  heart, 
but  the  French  protestants  too,  Richelieu's 
own  enemies,  gathered  fresh  courage  under 
the  new  political  combination.  According  to 
their  own  statement,  they  hoped  in  the  worst 
case  to  be  reconciled  with  the  king,  tlirough 
the   instrumentality    of   his   present    allies.f 

*  Extract  from  Blainville's  instruction  in  Siri,  vi.  G2, 
ManstelJ  was  10  co-operate  with  him  "  nel  fondodi  Alenia- 
gna  [in  the  heart  of  Germany].  (Siri,  641.)  Relatione  di 
Caraffa:  "  (I  Francesi)  haniio  tutlavia  conlinuato  sine  al 
giorno  d'hoggi  a  tener  corrispondenza  con  li  nemici  di  S. 
M'a-  Ces-1-,  a  dar  loro  ajulo  in  gente  e  danari,  si  ben  con 
coperta,  quale  pero  nori  6  stala  tale  che  per  molle  letters 
intercelle  e  per  molii  altri  rincontri  non  si  siano  scoperli 
tulli  I'andamenti  e  corrispondenze:  onde  prima  e  doppo 
la  rotta  data  dal  Tilly  al  re  di  Danimarca  sempre  I'impe- 
ralore  nel  palatinalo  inferiore  e  nelli  conlorni  d'Alsatia  v' 
ha  tenuto  nervo  di  gente,  dubitando  che  da  quelle  parti 
polesse  venire  qualche  ruina."  [The  French  have  always 
continued  up  to  this  day  to  Iceep  up  a  correspondence  with 
the  enemies  of  his  imperial  majesty,  and  to  furnish  them 
aid  in  men  and  money  covertly,  yet  not  so  secretly  but 
that  all  their  manoeuvres  and  correspondence  have  been 
discovered  by  intercepted  letters  and  other  accidents.  F^or 
which  reason,  both  before  and  since  the  rout  of  the  king 
of  Denmark  by  Tilly,  the  emperor  has  always  kept  a 
strong  force  in  the  Lower  Palatinate  and  in  the  Alsace 
district,  apprehensive  that  some  mischief  might  occur  in 
that  quarter.] 

t  Memoires  de  Rohan,  p.  i.  p.  146.  "  Esp^rant  que  s'il 
■venoit  d.  bout,  les  allies  et  liguesavec  leioi  le  porteroient 
plus  facilement  it.  un  accommodement." 


Rohan  set  himself  in  motion  by  land,  Soubise 
by  sea.  In  May,  1625,  the  Huguenots  were 
in  arms  all  over  the  country. 

And  at  the  same  moment  enemies,  still  more 
formidable  perhaps,  arose  against  Richelieu 
amongst  the  other  party.  With  all  his  good 
will  to  France,  Urban  VIII.  had  too  much  pride 
easily  to  digest  such  an  afl^ront  as  the  ejection 
of  his  garrisons  from  the  Grisons.*  He  raised 
troops,  and  dispatched  them  to  the  Milanese, 
with  the  declared  intention  of  joining  with  the 
Spaniards  in  recovering  the  lost  fortresses.  It 
may  possibly  be  that  these  warlike  threats 
really  meant  but  little  :  but  so  much  the  more 
significant  was  the  religious  eftect  associated 
with  them.  The  complaints  of  the  papal 
nuncio,  that  the  most  Christian  king  was  lend- 
ing his  aid  to  heretic  princes,  found  an  echo 
in  France.  The  Jesuits  came  forward  with 
their  ultra-montane  doctrines,  and  Richelieu 
was  violently  assailed  by  the  strict  church 
party.  True,  he  found  support  in  the  Gallican 
principles,  and  protection  at  the  hands  of  the 
parliaments ;  but  notwithstanding  this,  he 
durst  not  long  remain  the  pope's  enemy.  The 
catholic  principle  was  too  intimately  bound  up 
with  the  restored  monarchy  :  who  could  war- 
rant Richelieu  against  the  impression  which 
the  admonitions  of  the  clergy  might  make  on 
his  sovereign  ? 

Thus  Richelieu  found  himself  assailed  even 
in  France,  and  that  by  the  two  opposite  par- 
ties at  once.  Whatever  he  might  contrive 
against  Spain,  this  was  not  a  position  to  be 
retained  :  he  must  hasten  to  escape  from  it. 
Now,  as  in  his  plan  of  attack  he  had  dis- 
played a  genius  for  immense  combinations  and 
bold  home-striking  projects,  so  now  he  exhi- 
bited that  treacherous  dexterity  in  making  his 
allies  his  mere  tools,  and  then  abandoning 
them,  which  was  all  his  life  peculiar  to  him. 

He  first  prevailed  on  his  new  confederates 
to  assist  him  against  Soubise.  He  had  him- 
self no  naval  force.  With  protestant  re- 
sources from  foreign  countries,  with  Dutch 
and  English  ships,  he  overcame  his  protestant 
foes  at  home  in  September,  1625.  He  em- 
ployed their  mediation  to  force  the  Huguenots 
to  an  unfavourable  peace;  they  not  doubting 
that  as  soon  as  he  had  got  rid  of  those  domes- 
tic foes,  he  would  renew  the  attack  to  which 
he  was  engaged  with  them. 

But  what  was  their  astonishment  when, 
instead  of  this,  the  news  of  the  peace  of  Mon- 
zon,  concluded  in  March,  1626,  between 
France  and  Spain,  was  suddenly  noised 
abroad.  A  papal  legate  had  proceeded  to 
both  courts  on  that  account.     It  is  true,  he 


+  Relatione  di  P.  Contarini :  "  S.  S'i'  (he  speaks  of  the 
time  immediately  after  the  news  was  received)  somma- 
mentedisgustata,  stimando  pocorispetlo  s'havesse  portato 
alle  sue  insegne,del  continue  egranden)ente  se  ne  quere- 
lava."  [His  holiness,  incensed  to  the  highest  degree  al 
the  little  respect  paid  to  his  flag,  complained  loudly  and 
continually.] 


A.  D.  1623-1628.] 


NEW  VICTORIES  OF  CATHOLICISM. 


309 


does  not  appear  to  have  had  much  influence 
in  fixing  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  but  at  all 
events  he  set  the  catholic  principle  in  motion. 
Whilst  Richelieu  employed  the  protestants  to 
his  own  ends,  under  a  show  of  the  strictest 
conlidence,  he  had  eng-aged  with  still  greater 
earnestness  in  negociations  with  Spain  for 
their  destruction.  On  the  subject  of  the  Val- 
telline  he  agreed  with  Olivarez,  that  it  should 
return  indeed  under  the  sway  of  the  Grisons, 
but  that  it  should  have  an  independent  voice 
in  the  election  of  its  own  functionaries,  and 
undiminished  freedom  in  the  exercise  of  ca- 
tholic worship.*  The  catholic  powers,  that 
had  seemed  on  the  point  of  engaging  in  a 
struggle  for  life  or  death,  in  one  more  moment 
stood  reunited. 

It  contributed  to  this  result,  that  angry  feel- 
ings had  arisen  between  the  French  and  the 
English  respecting  the  completion  of  the 
engagements  contracted  in  the  treaty  of  mar- 
riage. 

A  pause  naturally  ensued  to  all  enterprises 
hostile  to  Spain. 

The  Italian  princes,  however  reluctantly, 
were  forced  to  accommodate  themselves  to 
what  was  inevitable.  Savoy  concluded  a 
truce  with  Genoa.  Venice  thought  herself 
fortunate  in  not  having  yet  attacked  Milan, 
and  disbanded  her  forces.  It  was  asserted 
that  the  vacillating  conduct  of  the  French 
hindered  the  succour  of  Breda  in  the  year 
162.5,  so  that  to  them  was  ascribable  the  loss 
of  that  important  fortress  to  the  Spaniards. 
The  grand  and  decisive  stroke  of  ill  fortune 
occurred,  however,  in  Germany. 

The  forces  of  Lower  Germany  had  rallied 
round  the  king  of  Denmark,  under  the  pro- 
tection, as  it  was  thought,  of  the  general 
alliance  against  Spain.  Mansfeld  advanced 
towards  the  Elbe.  The  emperor  had  armed 
against  him  with  double  diligence,  knowing 
well  how  much  was  at  stake. 

When  the  two  armies  came  to  blows,  the 
alliance  no  longer  existed ;  the  French  subsi- 
dies were  not  paid :  the  English  succours 
arrived  far  too  slowly ;  and  the  imperial 
troops  were  much  more  practised  in  war. 
The  consequence  was,  that  the  king  of  Den- 
mark lost  the  battle  of  Luiter,  and  was  driven 
back  upon  his  own  territory,  and  that  Mans- 
feld was  driven  as  a  fugitive  into  the  Austrian 
provinces,  through  which  he  had  hoped  to 
march  as  a  victor  and  restorer. 

This  was  a  success  which  must  necessarily 
have  produced  eiiects  as  universal  as  its 
causes. 

First,  as  to  the  imperial  dominions.  We 
may  describe   them   in   a   word.     The   last 

*  Du  Mont,  V.  2,  4S~,  §  2.  "  Qu'ils  ne  puissent  avoir  ci 
apr6s  autre  religion  que  la  catholique  ...  §  3.  Qu'ils  puis- 
senl  61ire  par  election  entre  eux  leurs  juges,  gouverneurs 
et  auires  magistrals  luus  catholiques."  Then  follow  some 
lintitatioQs. 


movement  that  was  here  undertaken  for  pro- 
testantism, in  reliance  on  the  general  confe- 
deracy, was  suppressed.  The  nobility,  who 
had  hitherto  remained  free  from  personal 
molestation,  were  now  compelled  to  conform. 
The  emperor  declared,  on  St.  Ignatius's  day, 
1627,  that,  afler  the  course  of  six  months,  he 
would  no  longer  tolerate  in  his  hereditary 
kingdom  of  Bavaria  any  one,  even  though  of 
the  degree  of  lord  and  knight,  who  did  not 
agree  with  himself  and  the  apostolic  church 
in  the  only  true  faith.*  Similar  edicts  were 
issued  in  Upper  Austria,  in  Carinthia,  Car- 
niola,  and  Syria,  in  the  year  1628,  and,  after 
some  time,  in  Lower  Austria.  It  was  in  vain 
to  entreat  even  for  a  respite :  the  nuncio 
Caraffa  represented  that  the  request  was 
prompted  only  by  the  hope  of  a  general 
change  of  fortune.  From  that  time  forth 
those  countries  became  once  more  thoroughly 
catholic.  How  had  the  nobility  of  Austria 
opposed  the  archducal  house  eighty  years 
before  !  Now  the  sovereign  power,  orthodox, 
victorious,  and  unlimited,  towered  above  every 
resistance. 

And  still  more  extensive  were  the  effects 
of  the  new  victory  in  the  rest  of  Germany. 
Lower  Saxony  was  taken  possession  of;  the 
population  subject  to  the  immediate  sway  of 
the  emperor  readied  as  far  as  to  the  Cattegat; 
Brandenburg  and  Pomerania  were  invested  ; 
Mecklenburg  was  in  the  hands  of  the  impe- 
rial generals;  all  these  chief  seats  of  protes- 
tantism were  overruled   by  a  catholic  army. 

Proof  was  immediately  given  of  the  use  to 
which  it  was  purposed  to  apply  this  state  of 
things.  An  imperial  prince  was  nominated 
bishop  of  Halberstadt,  and  the  pope  then  in 
his  apostolic  authority  named  him  archbishop 
of  Magdeburg.  There  could  not  be  a  ques- 
tion but  that,  if  a  catholic  archducal  govern- 
ment established  itself  in  that  place,  it  would 
needs  insist  on  the  restoration  of  Catholicism 
throughout  the  whole  diocese,  with  the  same 
rigour  as  the  rest  of  the  ecclesiastical  princes. 

Meanwhile  the  counter  reformation  pro- 
ceeded with  new  zeal  in  Upper  Germany. 
It  is  worth  casting  a  look  at  the  list  of  decrees 
of  the  imperial  chancery  of  this  year,  given 
by  Carafia ;  what  a  multitude  of  admonitions, 
resolutions,  decisions,  recommendations,  all 
in  favour  of  Catholicism. f     The  young  count 


*  Caraffa:  Relatione,  MS.  "Havendo  il  S^-  Cardinale 
ed  io  iiiesso  in  consideratione  a  S.  M'a'  che  come  nou  si 
rifoniiassero  i  baroni  e  nobile  eretiei  si  poteva  poco  o 
nulla  sperare  della  conversione  delli  loro  sudditi,  e  per 
conseguenza  havriano  potulo  ancora  infettare  pian  piano 
gli  aliri,  piacque  a  S.  M'i-  di  aggiungere  al  S""  C'e'  ed 
agli  altri  comniissarj  autoriti  di  riformareauche  li  nobili." 
[The  cardinal  and  I  having  submitted  to  his  majesty's 
consideriiion  that  so  long  as  the  heretic  barons  and  nobles 
were  not  reformed,  little  or  nothing  could  be  expected 
from  the  conversion  of  their  subjects,  and  they  would  con- 
sequently  be  able  gradually  to  infect  the  rest,  his  majesty 
was  pleased  to  confer  on  the  cardinal  and  the  other  com- 
missioners authority  to  reform  the  nobles  likewise.] 

+  "  Brevis  enumeratio  aliquorum  negotioruni  quae.  .  .  . 
in  puncio  reforniationis  in  cancellaria  imperii  tractata 


810 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,    [a.  d.  1623-1628. 


of  Nassau-Siegen,  the  younger  count  palatine 
of  Neuburg,  and  the  grand  master  of  the  Teu- 
tonic order,  undertook  new  reformations;  in 
the  Upper  Palatinate  the  nobility  themselves 
were  now  forced  to  adopt  Catholicism. 

The  old  legal  processes  of  spiritual  lords 
against  temporal  estates,  respecting  confisca- 
ted church  property,  now  took  a  different 
course  from  that  of  former  times.  How  sorely 
tried  was  Wiirtemberg !  All  the  old  com- 
plainants, the  bishops  of  Constance  and  Augs- 
burg, the  abbots  of  Monchsreit  and  Kaiser- 
sheim  prosecuted  their  claims  against  the 
ducal  house,  the  very  existence  of  which  was 
endangered.*  The  bishops  everywhere  car- 
ried their  point  against  the  towns ;  the  bish- 
ops of  Eichstadt  against  Fiirnberg,  the  chapter 
against  the  town  of  Strasburg :  Schwabisch- 
Hall,  Memmingen,  Ulm,  Lindau,  and  several 
other  towns  were  compelled  to  restore  to  the 
catholics  the  churches  that  had  been  wrested 
from  them. 

If  the  letter  of  the  treaty  of  Augsburg  be- 
gan now  to  be  everywhere  insisted  on,  how 
important  became  a  more  general  application 
of  its  principles,  as  they  were  now  under- 
stood, f 

"  After  the  battle  of  Lutter,"  says  Caraffa, 
"  the  emperor  seemed  as  it  were  to  awake 
out  of  a  long  sleep;  liberated  from  a  great 
fear  that  had  hitherto  held  his  predecessors 
and  himself  enthralled,  he  conceived  the  de- 
sign of  bringing  back  all  Germany  to  the  form 
prescribed  by  the  peace  of  Augsburg." 

Besides  JVlagdeburg  and  Halberstadt,  Catho- 
licism had  been  re-established  in  Bremen, 
Verden,  Minden,  Camin,  Havelberg,  Schwe- 
rin,  and  almost  all  the  North  German  ecclesi- 
astical endowments.  This  had  always  been 
the  remote  aim  which  the  pope  and  the  Je- 
suits had  held  in  view  in  the  most  brilliant 
moments  of  their  success.  For  this  very 
reason,  however,  the  emperor  looked  cauti- 
ously on  the  matter.  He  doubted,  says 
Caraffa,  not  of  the  equity,  but  of  the  possibility 
■  of  executing  the  measure.  The  zeal  of  the 
Jesuits,  however,  particularly  of  his  confessor 
Lamormain,  the  favourable  opinion  of  the  four 
catholic  electors,  and  the  unwearied  perti- 
nacity of  the  papal  nuncio,  who  himself 
informs  us  that  it  cost  a  month's  labour  to 
carry  his  point,  at  last  overcame  all  scruples. 
As  early  as  August  1628,  the  edict  of  restitu- 
tion was  drawn  up  in  the  same  terms  in 
which   it    subsequently  appeared.];      Before 


publication  it  was  to  be  submitted  once  more 
to  the  consideration  of  the  catholic  electors. 

But  a  more  extensive  plan  was  connected 
herewith:  the  hope  was  indulged  of  concilia- 
ting the  good-will  of  the  Lutheran  princes. 
This  was  to  be  attempted,  not  by  theolo- 
gians, but  by  the  emperor,  or  some  catholic 
princes  of  the  empire.  It  was  intended  to 
argue  on  the  principle,  that  the  notions  enter- 
tained of  Catholicism  in  Germany  were  erro- 
neous, that  the  discrepancies  between  the 
unaltered  Augsburg  confession  and  the  genuine 
catholic  doctrine  were  but  trifling.  It  was 
thought  that  the  elector  of  Saxony  would  be 
gained  by  conceding  to  him  the  patronage  of 
the  three  great  chapters  in  his  dominions.* 
Not  a  doubt  was  entertained  of  the  possibility 
of  exciting  the  hatred  of  the  Lutherans  against 
Calvinism,  and  then  turning  that  feelmg  to 
the  advantage  of  the  complete  restoration  of 
Catholicism. 

This  design  was  warmly  embraced  in  Rome, 
and  worked  out  into  a  detailed  project.  Ur- 
ban VIII.  by  no  means  purposed  to  content 
himself  with  the  articles  of  the  treaty  of 
Augsburg,  which  no  pope  indeed  had  ever 
sanctioned.!  Nothing  less  would  satisfy  him 
than  a  full  restoration  of  all  church  property, 
and  an  entire  repudiation  of  all  protestants. 

But  in  this  moment  of  prosperty,  the  pope 
had  risen  to  a  design,  if  possible,  bolder  still, 
that  of  an  attack  on  England.  This  thought 
re-appeared  from  time  to  time  among  the 
great  schemes  of  Catholicism,  by  a  sort  of 
natural  necessity  as  it  were.  The  pope  now 
hoped  to  promote  its  success  by  means  of  the 
renewed  understanding  between  the  two 
crowns.]: 

He  first  represented  to  the  French  ambas- 


sunt  ab  anno  1G20  ad  annum  1629,"  in  the  appendix  to 
German ia  Sacra  Keslaurala,  p.  34. 

*  Saltier:  Gcschichie  von  Wiirtemberg  unter  den  Her- 
zogen,  Th.  vi.  p.  2-2ii. 

t  Senkenberg;  Fonsetzung  der  HSberlinschen  Reiclis- 
geschiclite,  Bd.  25,  p.  633. 

t  This  period  of  the  drawing  up  of  the  edict  is  made 
known  to  us  by  Caraffa,  Commcntar.  de  Germ.  Sacra  Re- 
Staurala,  p.  356.  He  stales  that  the  edict  was  drawn  up 
in  1628,  and  published  in  1629 ;  he  then  goes  on  to  say  : 
"  Annuit  ipse  Deus,  dum  post  paucosab  ipsa  deliberatione 


dies  Cssarem  insigni  victoria  remuneratus  est."  [God 
himself  expressed  his  approval,  by  rewarding  the  empe- 
ror wilh  a  signal  victory  a  few  days  after  the  deliberation 
of  the  matter.]  He  alludes  to  the  victory  of  Wolgasl, 
gained  on  the  22nd  of  August. 

*  As  early  as  162i  hopes  were  entertained  in  Rome  of 
the  conversion  of  this  prince.  Instrultione  a  Mon?i-  Ca- 
raffa. "  Venne  ancora  qualche  novella  della  sperata 
riunione  con  la  chiesa  catlolica  del  signor  duca  di  Sas- 
sonia,  ma  ella  svani  ben  presto:  con  tutto  ci6  il  vederlo 
non  infenso  a'  catlolici  e  nemicissimo  de'  Calvinisli  et 
amicissimo  del  Magontino  e  convenuto  nell'  elouorato  di 
Baviera  ci  fa  sperare  bene  :  laonde  non  sari  inutile  che 
S.  Sta-  lenga  proposito  col  detto  Magontino  di  queslo  desi- 
derate acquisto."  [Some  fuither  intelligence  was  received 
of  the  expected  reconciliation  of  the  duke  of  Saxony  to 
the  Catholic  church,  but  the  hope  soon  vanished.  Never- 
theless, the  fact  that  he  is  not  hostile  to  the  catholics,  but 
exceedingly  so  to  the  Calvinisls,  that  he  is  most  friendly 
to  the  elector  of  Mainz,  and  that  he  agreed  in  the  affair  of 
the  elector  of  Bavaria,  promises  well :  wherefore  it  will 
not  be  inexpedient  that  his  holiness  confer  with  the  elec- 
tor of  Blainz  respecting  this  desirable  acquisition.] 

t  "  A  cui,"  says  the  pope,  of  the  treaty  of  Passau,  in  a 
letter  to  the  emperor,  "  non  haveva  giammai  assenlito  la 
sede  apostolica." 

t  In  Siri's  Memorie,  vi.  257,  some  account,  though  very 
incomplete,  is  given  of  this  affair.  That,  too,  which  is 
contained  in  Richelieu's  Memoires,  xxiii-  283,  is  but  par- 
tial. The  statement  given  by  Nicoletti  is  much  more 
circumstantial  and  authentic,  and  we  have  made  use  of 
it  in  this  place. 


A.  D.  1623-1628.] 


NEW  VICTORIES  OF  CATHOLICISM. 


311 


sador,  how  insulting'  it  was  to  France  that 
England  utterly  disregarded  the  pledges  given 
in  the  contract  of  marriage.  Either  Louis 
XIII.  must  compel  the  English  to  observe 
their  pledges,  or  hurl  from  the  throne  a  prince, 
who  as  a  heretic  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  a 
violator  of  his  word  in  that  of  man,  was  un- 
worthy to  fill  it.* 

Next  he  turned  to  the  Spanish  ambassador 
Ofiate.  The  pope  argued,  that  as  a  good 
knight,  Philip  IV.  was  bound  to  succour  the 
queen  of  England,  so  near  a  relation  of  his 
own  (she  was  his  sister-in-law),  in  the  oppres- 
sion she  now  endured  on  behalf  of  her  religion. 

When  the  pope  saw  that  he  might  enter- 
tain hopes,  he  put  the  negociation  into  the 
hands  of  Spada,  the  nuncio  in  Paris. 

Among  the  influential  men  in  France,  none 
took  up  this  subject  with  more  warmth  than 
Cardinal  Berulle,  who  had  conducted  the  ne- 
gociations  for  the  marriage.  He  calculated 
how  the  English  vessels  might  be  seized  on 
the  coasts  of  France;  how  their  fleets  might 
even  ^  be  burned  in  their  own  harbours.  In 
Spain,  Olivarez  entered  on  their  scheme  with- 
out much  hesitation.  Former  instances  of 
perfidy  might  indeed  have  given  him  reason 
to  pause ;  and  another  high  functionary  of 
state,  Cardinal  Bedmar,  decided  against  the 
measure  on  this  ground:  but  the  conception 
was  too  grand,  too  vast,  to  be  rejected  by  Oli- 
varez, who  in  all  things  loved  the  dazzling 
and  the  magnificent. 

The  negociations  were  carried  on  with  the 
utmost  secrecy :  even  the  French  ambassador 
in  Rome,  to  whom  the  matter  was  first  open- 
ed, learned  nothing  of  its  further  progress. 

Richelieu  drew  up  the  draft  of  the  treaty; 
Olivarez  amended  it;  and  to  this  Richelieu 
assented:  it  was  ratified  on  the  20th  of  April, 
1627.  The  French  pledged  themselves  to 
begin  their  military  preparations  forthwith, 
and  to  set  their  harbours  in  a  posture  of  de- 
fence. The  Spaniards  were  ready  for  action 
that  same  year,  1627 ;  and  it  was  arranged 

*  T.'ie  pope  is  made  to  say  in  Nicoletli:  "Essere  il  re 
di  Francia  offeso  nello  slato,  pel  fomenlo  che  I'Inghillerra 
dava  agli  Ueonoui  ribelli :  nella  vila  rispetlo  agli  incita- 
menii  e  fellonia  di  Sciales,il  quale  haveva  indouo  il  duca 
di  Orleans  a  macchinare  coniro  S.  M'i',  per  lo  cui  deliuo 
fu  poscia  falto  morire :  nella  reputazione,  rjspello  a  lanli 
mancamenli  di  promesse:  e  finalmenle  nel  prnprio  san- 
gue,  rispelto  agli  strapazzi  fatli  alia  regina  sua  sorella: 
ma  quello  che  voleva  dir  lutto,  nel  anima,  insidiando 
I'Inslese  alia  salute  di  quella  della  regina  ed  insieine  a 
queila  del  christianissinio  stesso  e  di  luiti  coloro  che  pur 
troppo  hebbero  vogliadi  fare  quello  infelice  iiialrjinonio." 
[That,  the  king  of  France  was  oti'ended  in  his  slate, 
through  the  comfort  and  encouragement  given  by  England 
to  the  rebellious  Huguonois;  in  his  life,  through  the  insti- 
gations and  the  felony  of  Sciales,  who  had  induced  the 
duke  of  Orleans  to  plot  against  his  majesty,  for  which 
crime  he  was  afterwards  put  lo  death  ;  in  reputation,  in 
respect  to  so  many  breaches  of  promise;  and  tinally,  in 
his  own  blood,  by  reason  of  the  insults  heaped  on  the 
queen,  hissislor:  but  to  sum  up  all  offences  in  one,  he 
was  injured  in  his  soul,  since  the  English  plotted  against 
the  salvation  of  that  of  the  queen,  and  thereby  against  the 
soul's  salvation  of  the  most  Christian  king  himself,  and 
of  all  those  who  had  been  too  forward  in  effecting  that 
unhappy  marriage.] 


that  the  French  should  join  them  the  next 
spring  with  their  whole  force.* 

It  does  not  appear  very  clearly  from  our 
authorities  how  France  and  Spain  were  to  di- 
vide the  spoils  between  them:  thus  much 
only  is  to  be  collected,  that  the  pope's  inte- 
rests were  regarded  in  this  respect  likewise. 
Berulle  communicated  to  the  nuncio  in  the 
most  profound  confidence,  that  should  the  en- 
terprize  succeed,  Ireland  should  be  consigned 
to  the  papal  see,  and  might  then  be  governed 
by  the  pope,  through  the  medium  of  a  viceroy. 
The  nuncio  received  this  offer  with  extraor- 
dinary satisfaction  ;  only  he  recommended  his 
holiness  not  to  let  a  hint  of  it  escape  him,  lest 
it  should  appear  that  he  was  in  any  degree 
actuated  by  secular  views. 

Germany  and  Italy,  too,  were  brought 
within  the  scope  of  this  plan. 

There  still  appeared  a  possibility  of  putting' 
down  the  naval  supremacy  of  the  English  and 
Dutch  by  a  general  combination.  The  idea 
was  conceived  of  forming  an  armed  company; 
under  the  protection  of  which  a  direct  traffic 
should  be  carried  on  between  the  Baltic, 
Flanders,  the  French  coasts,  Spain,  and  Italy, 
without  any  participation  on  the  part  of  the 
two  great  naval  powers.  The  emperor  actu- 
ally made  proposals  with  this  view  to  the 
Hans  towns ; — the  infanta  in  Brussels  wished 
that  a  harbour  might  be  conceded  to  the 
Spaniards  on  the  Baltic.f  Negotiations  were 
entered  into  with  the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany, 
with  a  view  to  directing  the  Spanish  and  Por- 
tuguese trade  to  Leghorn.]: 

*  Lettere  del  nunzio,  Aprile  9,  162".  "  Torno  a  Parigi 
il  prefaio  corriere  di  Spagna  con  avvisi  che  il  re  caitolico 
contentavasi  di  muoversi  il  primo,  come  veniva  deside- 
rato  da  Frances),  purch6  da  quesli  si  concedessero  unita- 
mente  le  due  ofteitealtre  volte  allernativamente  proposte, 
cio6  che  il  chrislianisimo  si  obligasse  di  muoversi  nel 
mese  di  maggio  o  di  giugno  del  anno  sequente,  o  che  pre- 
senteraenie  accomodasse  I'arraala  cattolica  di  alcune 
galere  ed  altri  legni.  Porto  anche  ni;ova  il  medessimo 
corriere  che  il  come  duca  haveva  in  Ispagna  staccata  la 
pratica  e  data  ordine  che  se  ne  stacasse  una  simile  in 
Fiandra  col  re  d'  Inghilterra,  il  quale  offriva  al  caitolico 
suspensione  d'armi  per  tre  anni  o  altjo  piu  lunio  tempo, 
tanlo  al  nome  del  re  di  Danimarca  quanto  degli  Olandesi." 
[The  aforesaid  courier  from  Spain  returned  to  Paris  with 
advices,  that  the  catholic  king  was  content  to  make  the 
first  move,  as  had  been  requested  by  the  king  of  France, 
provided  the  French  would  concede  the  two  offers  pro- 
posed before  by  way  of  alternative;  i.  e.  that  the  most 
Christian  king  should  pledge  himself  lo  move  in  the  fol- 
lowing May  or  June,  and  that  he  should  at  present  furnish 
the  catholic  armament  with  some  galleys  and  other  ves- 
sels. The  said  courier  also  brought  news,  ihat  the  count 
duke  had  broken  off  intercourse  with  thekingof  Enuland, 
and  caused  the  same  lo  be  done  in  Flanders,  and  that  the 
king  of  England  offered  his  catholic  majesty  suspension 
of  arms  for  three  years,  or  other  longer  period,  both  in  the 
name  of  the  king  of  Denmark,  and  in  that  of  the  Hol- 
landers.] 

t  Pope  Urban  states  this  as  an  instruction  to  Ginetti,  in 
Siri,  Mercurio,  ii.  984. 

t  Scritiura  sopra  la  compagnia  militante,  MS.  in  the 
Archivio  Mediceo,  contains  a  discussion  concerning  the 
practicability  of  this  plan.  "  Si  propone  che  i  popoli 
delle  citta  ansealiche  entreranno  nella  compagnia  mili- 
tante per  fame  piacere  all'  imperatore  e  che  i  Toscani 
non  abbino  a  ricusare  come  chiamati  da  si  gran  mon- 
archi."  [It  is  conceived  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Hans 
Towns  would  enter  into  the  warlike  confederacy  to 
oblige  the  emperor,  and  that  the  Tuscans  could  not 


312 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.     SECOND  PERIOD.        [a.  d.  1623-1628. 


Things  indeed  were  not  carried  to  the  ex- 
tent proposed.  In  consequence  of  the  intri- 
cacy of  the  interests  concerned,  the  event 
took  a  very  different  course,  but  one  that 
finally  led  to  a  result  very  favourable  to  the 
cause  of  Catholicism. 

Whilst  plans  of  such  magnitude  w^ere  in 
contemplation  for  an  attack  on  England,  it  so 
befel  that  the  projectors  were  themselves  at- 
tacked by  that  country. 

In  July,  1627,  Buckingham  appeared  with  a 
stately  fleet  off  the  French  coast :  he  landed 
on  the  island  of  Rhe,  and  seized  it  as  far  as 
to  the  citadel  of  St.  Martin,  to  which  he  im- 
mediately laid  siege.  He  summoned  the 
Huguenots  to  make  a  new  stand  for  their 
privileges  and  their  religious  independence, 
which  assuredly  was  every  day  more  and  more 
endangered. 

The  English  historians  are  in  the  habit  of 
ascribing  this  expedition  to  a  singular  passion 
of  Buckingham's  for  queen  Anne  of  France. 
Be  the  fact  that  such  a  passion  existed  as  it 
may,  still  there  was  in  the  great  course  of 
circumstances  another,  and  assuredly  a  more 
substantial  reason  for  the  enterprise.  Was 
Buckingham  to  await  in  England  the  project- 
ed attack  on'  his  country]  Unquestionably  it 
was  more  expedient  to  anticipate  it,  and  to 
carry  the  war  into  France.*  A  more  auspi- 
cious moment  there  could  not  be.  Louis  XIII. 
was  dangerously  ill,  and  Richelieu  was  strug- 
gling with  powerful  factions.  After  some  de- 
liberation, the  Huguenots  actually  resumed 
their  arms,  and  their  warlike  leaders  appear- 
ed once  more  in  the  field. 

But  Buckingham  ought  to  have  carried  on 
the  war  with  more  vigour,  and  to  have  been 
better  supported.  King  Charles  I.  admits,  in 
all  his  letters,  that  this  was  not  sufficiently 
the  case.  As  matters  were  conducted,  the 
enemy  were  soon  no  match  for  cardinal  Rich- 
elieu, whose  genius  unfolded  its  resources 
with  double  energy  in  moments  of  difficulty, 
and  who  never  proved  himself  more  resolute, 
stedfast,  and  indefatigable,  than  now.  Buck- 
ingham saved  himself  by  retreat ;  and  his 
expedition,  which  might  have  been  in  the 
utmost  degree  perilous  to  the  French  govern- 


refuse  to  do  the  like  when  called  on  by  such  great  mo- 
narchs.] 

♦  It  may  be  asked,  had  not  Buckingham  learned  some- 
thing of  the  secret  design  in  question"?  It  is  at  least  very 
probable ;  for  how  seldom  is  a  secret  so  well  kept  that 
nothing  of  it  transpires.  At  any  rate  Zorzo  Zorzi,  the 
Venetian  ambassador,  who  arrived  in  France  about  the 
time  when  the  preliminaries  were  under  discussion, 
heard  of  them  immediately.  "  Si  ag<;iungeva  che  le  due 
corone  tenevano  insieme  machinalio'ni  e'trattali  di  assa- 
lire  con  pari  forze  e  disjjosilioni  I'iiola  d'lnghilterra."  [It 
was  added  that  the  two  crowns  plotted  and  conspired 
toi-'Plher  to  make  a  joint  and  e(iual  attack  on  tlie  island 
of  England.]  It  is  very  imlikcly  tlien  that  no  intelli- 
gence of  the  matter  had  reached  England.  The  Vene- 
tians were  in  very  close  correspondence  with  that  coun- 
try, and  had  even  incurred  suspicion  of  having  advised 
the  expedition  against  the  isle  of  Rh6.  (Rel.  di  Francia, 
1628.) 


ment,  had  no  other  result  than  that  the  whole 
strength  of  the  country  flung  itself,  with  re- 
newed impetuosity,  under  the  conduct  of  the 
cardinal,  upon  the  Huguenots. 

Rochelle  was  unquestionably  the  central 
point  of  the  Huguenot  strength.  Richelieu 
had  already  in  former  years  reflected  on  the 
possibility  of  capturing  that  stronghold,  at  the 
time  when  he  resided  in  his  bishopric  of  Lu- 
Qon,  in  the  neighbourhood.  He  now  felt 
himself  called  on  to  head  such  an  enterprize, 
and  he  resolved  to  accomplish  it,  cost  what  it 
might. 

Strange  to  tell,  nothing  so  much  furthered 
his  efforts,  as  the  fanaticism  of  the  English 
puritans. 

Buckingham  had  at  last  taken  up  arms 
again  to  relieve  Rochelle :  his  honour  was 
pledged  thereto,  his  position  in  England  and 
in  the  world,  depended  on  his  execution  of 
that  task,  and  undoubtedly  he  had  bent  to  it 
all  his  powers  and  resourses.  This  was  the 
moment  chosen  by  a  fanatic,  instigated  by  re- 
venge and  mistaken  religious  zeal,  to  assassi- 
nate Buckingham. 

In  grand  and  decisive  struggles,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  powerful  men  should  make  an  en- 
terprize their  own  personal  aftair.  The  siege 
of  Rochelle  was  like  a  duel  between  the  two 
ministers.  ]\ow  Richelieu  alone  survived. 
In  England  there  was  no  one  to  take  Buck- 
ingham's place,  or  cordially  to  vindicate  the 
honour  of  the  deceased.  The  English  fleet 
appeared  in  the  roads,  but  effected  nothing  of 
consequence.  It  is  said  that  Richelieu  was 
aware  that  this  would  be  the  case.  He  per- 
severed unswervingly,  and  Rochelle  surren- 
dered to  him  in  October,  1628. 

After  the  fall  of  the  principal  fortressos,  the 
neighbouring  ones  despaired  of  being  able  to 
hold  out :  their  only  care  was  to  obtain  tolera- 
rable  terms.* 

Thus  out  of  all  these  political  complexities, 
which  at  first  seemed  propitious  to  the  pro- 
testants,  there  ensued  after  all  in  the  last  re- 


*  Zorzo  Zorzi :  Relatione  di  Francia,  1629 :  "  L'acquisto 
di  Rocella  ultimato  sugli  occhi  dell'  armata  Inglese,  che 
professava  di  scioglere  I'assedio  et  introdurvi  il  soccorso, 
I'impresa  contro  Koano,  capo  et  animo  di  questa  fattione, 
i  progress!  contra  gli  Ugonolti  nella  Linguadocca  colla 
ricuperatione  di  benoOpiazze  hanno  sgomentato  i  cuori 
e  spozzato  la  foriuna  di  qeul  panito  che  perdute  le  forze 
interne  e  mancategli  le  intelligenze  straniere  si  6  intier- 
araenle  rimesso  alia  volanti  e  clemenza  del  re."  [The 
concjuest  of  Rochelle  achieved  before  the  eyes  of  the  En- 
glish forces,  which  professed  the  intention  of  relieving 
the  besieged  and  throwing  succour  into  the  tgvvn;  the 
enterprize  against  Rohan,  tlie  head  and  soul  of  the  fac- 
tion, the  successes  against  the  Huguenots  in  Languodoo, 
with  the  recovery  of  fully  fifty  fortresses,  have  disheart- 
ened the  party,  and  given  a  blow  to  their  fortunes;  so 
that,  deprived  of  their  home  resources,  and  disappointed 
of  aid  from  abroad,  they  have  cast  themselves  entirely 
upon  the  good  pleasure  and  the  clemency  of  the  king.] 
He  remarks  that  the  Spaniards,  though  late,  indeed,  did 
actually  arrive  witli  fourteen  ships  to  lake  part  in  the 
siege  of  Rochelle.  He  ascribes  their  accession  to  the 
"certezza  del  line"  [the  certainly  of  the  issue,]  and  to 
the  desire  "parliciparagli  onori"  [of  participating  in  the 
honour] 


A.  D.  1623-1628.] 


MANTUAN  SUCCESSION. 


313 


suit  decisive  victories  and  mighty  advances  on 
the  part  of  Catholicism.  North-eastern  Ger- 
many, and  south-western  France,  which  had 
held  out  so  long,  were  both  subdued.  All  that 
now  seemed  requisite  was  to  subject  the  con- 
quered foe  forever  by  laws  and  permanently 
effective  institutions. 

The  aid  which  Denmark  had  afforded  to  the 
Germans,  and  England  to  the  French,  had 
proved  rather  pernicious  than  advantageous  : 
it  had  first  provoked  the  superior  strength  of 
the  enemy;  and  these  powers  were  now  them- 
selves endangered  or  attacked.  The  imperial 
troops  penetrated  to  Jutland.  Fresh  negotia- 
tions between  France  and  Spain,  respecting  a 
combined  attack  on  England,  were  set  on  foot 
in  the  year  1628,  and  plied  with  the  utmost 
earnestness. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MANTUAN  WAR. — THIRTY  YEARs'  WAR. — REVO- 
LUTION IN  THE  STATE  OF  THINGS. 

At  the  first  glance  at  the  course  of  events, 
the  progress  of  a  system  of  movements  once 
begun  presents  an  aspect  of  unchangeable 
persistency. 

But  if  we  examine  more  narrowly,  we 
shall  not  unfrequently  see  that  the  funda- 
mental circumstance  on  which  the  whole 
group  depends  is  slight  and  feeble, — often 
little  more  than  personal  regard  or  aversion, 
which  it  would  not  be  very  difficult  to  shake. 

If  we  inquire  what  was  the  principal  agency 
that  produced  the  recent  vast  advantages  on 
the  side  of  Catholicism,  we  shall  find  it  was 
not  so  much  the  armies  of  Tilly  and  Wallen- 
stein,  or  the  military  superiority  of  Richelieu 
over  the  Huguenots,  as  the  renewed  and  ex- 
isting war  between  France  and  Spain,  with- 
out which  neither  the  two  former  nor  the  lat- 
ter would  have  been  able  to  effect  much. 

All  power  of  self-sustained  resistence  had 
passed  away  from  protestantism  by  the  year 
1628  ;  thenceforth  nothing  but  the  discord  of 
the  catholic  powers  encouraged  it  to  make  a 
stand  ;  their  reconciliation  was  its  ruin. 

But  who  could  fail  to  perceive  how  easily 
that  union  might  be  rent  asunder. 

Within  the  pale  of  Catholicism  two  opposite 
impulses  had  arisen  by  an  equal  necessity  ; 
the  one  i-eligious,  the  other  political. 

The  former  demanded  union,  propagation 
of  the  faitii,  and  disregard  of  all  other  con- 
siderations; the  latter  unceasingly  provoked 
the  strife  of  the  great  powers  lor  pre-emi- 
nence. 

It  could   scarcely   be    asserted    that    the 

course  of  events  had   as  yet  destroyed  the 

balance  of  power   in  Europe.     That  balance 

rested  in   those  days  on  the  antagonism  of 

40 


France  and  the  Austro-Spanish  power ;  and 
France,  as  well  as  the  latter,  had  vastly  aug- 
mented in  strength  in  the  course  of  these  oc- 
currences. 

But  political  action  is  prompted  and  go- 
verned no  less  by  anticipations  of  the  future 
tlian  by  the  pressure  of  present  evils.  The 
natural  course  of  things  seemed  now  to  lead 
inevitably  towards  a  state  of  universal  peril. 

The  outspread  of  Wallenstein's  troops  over 
the  northern  countries  of  Germany,  the  an- 
cient abodes  of  protestantism,  seemed  to 
countenance  the  possibility  of  again  raising 
the  imperial  authority,  which,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  moment  in  the  life  of  Charles 
v.,  had  for  centuries  been  a  mere  sha- 
dow, to  a  condition  of  true  power  and  es- 
sential importance.  Such  would  be  the  ine- 
vitable result  if  the  restoration  of  Catholicism 
proceeded  as  it  had  begun, 

France,  on  the  other  hand,  had  no  equiva- 
lent advantage  to  expect :  from  the  instant  it 
had  mastered  the  Huguenots,  there  remained 
for  it  no  other  object  to  be  won.  But  the 
Italians  had  the  greatest  cause  for  anxiety. 
To  them  the  renovation  of  a  mighty  imperial 
power,  asserting  so  many  claims  in  Italy,  and 
so  immediately  connected  with  the  detested 
power  of  the  Spaniards,  appeared  perilous, 
nay  intolerable. 

The  question  was  once  more,  whether  the 
catholic  efforts  should  be  prosecuted  without 
regard  to  these  considerations,  and  should 
again  overbear  every  thing  else,  or  whether 
political  motives  would  gain  the  upper  hand, 
and  put  a  stop  to  these  exertions. 

Whilst  the  current  of  catholic  restoration 
was  sweeping  in  full  force  over  France  and 
Germany,  a  movement  took  place  in  Italy 
which  was  destined  to  decide  the  question. 

Mantuan  Succession. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1627  died  Vincen- 
zo  II.,  duke  of  Mantua,  of  the  house  of  Gon- 
zoga,  without  issue.  His  next  of  kin  was  Carlo 
Conzaga,  due  de  Nevers. 

Simply  considered,  this  succession  present- 
ed no  difficulty :  no  doubt  could  prevail  as  to 
the  rights  of  the  next  of  kin.  But  it  involved 
a  political  change  of  great  importance. 

Charles  de  Nevers  was  born  in  France,  and 
was  necessarily  to  be  regarded  as  a  French- 
man :  it  was  thought  that  the  Spaniards  would 
not  endure  the  acquisition  of  power  by  a 
Frenchman  in  Upper  Italy,  which  they  had 
also  sought  with  peculiar  jealousy  to  keep 
free  from  all  French  influence. 

If,  after  the  lapse  of  so  long  a  time,  we  en- 
deavour to  search  the  matter  to  the  bottom, 
we  shall  find,  that  at  first  the  thought  of  ex- 
cluding Nevers  was  not  entertained  either  at 
the  Spanish  or  the  Austrian  court.  In  fact,  he 
was  related  to  the  house  of  Austria ;  the  em- 


312 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.     SECOND  PERIOD.        [a.  d.  1623-1628. 


Things  indeed  were  not  carried  to  the  ex- 
tent proposed.  In  consequence  of  the  intri- 
cacy of  the  interests  concerned,  the  event 
took  a  very  different  course,  but  one  that 
finally  led  to  a  result  very  favourable  to  the 
cause  of  Catholicism. 

Whilst  plans  of  such  magnitude  were  in 
contemplation  for  an  attack  on  England,  it  so 
befel  that  the  projectors  were  themselves  at- 
tacked by  that  country. 

In  July,  1627,  Buckingham  appeared  with  a 
stately  fleet  off  tlie  French  coast :  he  landed 
on  the  island  of  Rhe,  and  seized  it  as  far  as 
to  the  citadel  of  St.  Martin,  to  which  he  im- 
mediately laid  siege.  He  summoned  the 
Huguenots  to  make  a  new  stand  for  their 
privileges  and  their  religious  independence, 
which  assuredly  was  every  day  more  and  more 
endangered. 

The  English  historians  are  in  the  habit  of 
ascribing  this  expedition  to  a  singular  passion 
of  Buckingham's  for  queen  Anne  of  France. 
Be  the  fact  that  such  a  passion  existed  as  it 
may,  still  there  was  in  the  great  course  of 
circumstances  another,  and  assuredly  a  more 
substantial  reason  for  the  enterprise.  Was 
Buckingham  to  await  in  England  the  project- 
ed attack  on  his  country!  Unquestionably  it 
was  more  expedient  to  anticipate  it,  and  to 
carry  the  war  into  France.*  A  more  auspi- 
cious moment  there  could  not  be.  Louis  XIII. 
was  dangerously  ill,  and  Richelieu  was  strug- 
gling with  powerful  factions.  After  some  de- 
liberation, the  Huguenots  actually  resumed 
their  arms,  and  their  warlike  leaders  appear- 
ed once  more  in  the  field. 

But  Buckingham  ouglit  to  have  carried  on 
the  war  with  more  vigour,  and  to  have  been 
better  supported.  King  Charles  I.  admits,  in 
all  his  letters,  that  this  was  not  sufficiently 
the  case.  As  matters  were  conducted,  the 
enemy  were  soon  no  match  for  cardinal  Rich- 
elieu, whose  genius  unfolded  its  resources 
with  double  energy  in  moments  of  difficulty, 
and  who  never  proved  himself  more  resolute, 
stedfast,  and  indefatigable,  than  now.  Buck- 
ingham saved  himself  by  retreat ;  and  his 
expedition,  which  might  have  been  in  the 
utmost  degree  perilous  to  the  French  govern- 


refuse  to  do  ihe  like  when  called  on  by  such  great  mo- 
narchs.] 

♦  It  may  be  asked,  liad  not  Buckingham  learned  some- 
thing of  the  secret  desisn  in  question"?  it  is  at  least  very 
probable ;  for  how  seldom  is  a  secret  so  well  kept  that 
nothing  of  it  transpires.  At  any  rate  Zorzo  Zorzi,  the 
Venetian  ambassador,  who  arrived  in  France  about  the 
lime  when  the  preliminaries  were  under  discussion, 
heard  of  them  immediately.  "  Si  aggiungeva  che  le  due 
corona  tenevano  insieme  machinationi  e'trattali  di  assa- 
lire  con  pari  forze  e  disi)osiiioni  I'itola  d'Inghilterra."  [It 
was  added  that  the  two  crowns  plotted  and  conspired 
together  to  make  a  joint  and  equal  attack  on  the  island 
of  England.]  It  is  very  unlikely  then  that  no  intelli- 
gence of  the  matter  had  reached  England.  The  Vene- 
tians were  in  very  close  correspondence  with  that  coun- 
try, and  had  even  incurred  suspicion  of  having  advised 
the  expedition  against  the  isle  of  Kh6.  (Rel.  di  Francia, 
1628.) 


ment,  had  no  other  result  than  that  the  whole 
strength  of  the  country  flung  itself,  with  re- 
newed impetuosity,  under  the  conduct  of  the 
cardinal,  upon  the  Huguenots. 

Rochelle  was  unquestionably  the  central 
point  of  the  Huguenot  strength.  Richelieu 
had  already  in  former  years  reflected  on  the 
possibility  of  capturing  that  stronghold,  at  the 
time  when  he  resided  in  his  bishopric  of  Lu- 
Qon,  in  the  neighbourhood.  He  now  felt 
himself  called  on  to  head  such  an  enterprize, 
and  he  resolved  to  accomplish  it,  cost  what  it 
might. 

Strange  to  tell,  nothing  so  much  furthered 
his  efforts,  as  the  fanaticism  of  the  English 
puritans. 

Buckingham  had  at  last  taken  up  arms 
again  to  relieve  Rochelle :  his  honour  was 
pledged  thereto,  his  position  in  England  and 
in  the  world,  depended  on  his  execution  of 
that  task,  and  undoubtedly  he  had  bent  to  it 
all  his  powers  and  resourses.  This  was  the 
moment  chosen  by  a  fanatic,  instigated  by  re- 
venge and  mistaken  religious  zeal,  to  assassi- 
nate Buckingham. 

In  grand  and  decisive  struggles,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  powerful  men  should  make  an  en- 
terprize their  own  personal  afi'air.  The  siege 
of  Rochelle  was  like  a  duel  between  the  two 
ministers.  Now  Richelieu  alone  survived. 
In  England  there  was  no  one  to  take  Buck- 
ingham's place,  or  cordially  to  vindicate  the 
honour  of  the  deceased.  The  English  fleet 
appeared  in  the  roads,  but  effected  nothing  of 
consequence.  It  is  said  that  Richelieu  was 
aware  that  this  would  be  the  case.  He  per- 
severed unswervingly,  and  Rochelle  surren- 
dered to  him  in  October,  1628. 

After  the  fall  of  the  principal  fortresses,  the 
neighbouring  ones  despaired  of  being  able  to 
hold  out :  their  only  care  was  to  obtain  tolera- 
rable  terms.* 

Thus  out  of  all  these  political  complexities, 
which  at  first  seemed  propitious  to  the  pro- 
testants,  there  ensued  after  all  in  the  last  re- 


*  Zorzo  Zorzi :  Relatione  di  Francia,  1629 :  "  L'acquisto 
di  Rocella  ultimato  sugli  occhi  dell'  armata  Inglese,  che 
professava  di  scioglere  I'assedio  et  inlrodurvi  il  soccorso, 
I'impresa  contro  Roano,  capo  et  animo  di  questa  fattione, 
i  progress!  contra  gli  Ugonotti  nella  Linguadocca  coUa 
ricuperatione  di  ben  50  piazze  hanno  sgomentalo  i  cuorl 
e  spozzato  la  fonuna  di  qeul  paniio  che  perduie  le  forze 
interne  e  mancategli  le  intelligenze  straniere  si  6  intier- 
amente  rimesso  alia  volanti  e  cleuienza  del  re."  [The 
conquest  of  Rochelle  achieved  before  the  eyes  of  ilie  En- 
glish forces,  which  professed  the  intention  of  relieving 
the  besieged  and  throwing  succour  into  the  tgwn  ;  the 
enterprize  against  Rohan,  tlie  head  and  soul  oi  the  fac- 
tion, the  successes  against  the  Huguenots  in  Languodoc, 
with  the  recovery  of  fully  fifty  fortresses,  have  disheart- 
ened the  party,  and  given  a  blow  to  their  fortunes;  so 
that,  deprived  of  tiieir  home  resources,  and  disapjiointed 
of  aid  from  abroad,  they  have  cast  themselves  entirely 
upon  the  good  pleasure  and  the  clemency  of  the  king.] 
He  remarks  that  the  Spaniards,  though  late,  indeed,  did 
actually  arrive  witli  fourteen  ships  to  take  part  in  the 
siege  of  Rochelle.  He  ascribes  their  accession  to  the 
"certezza  del  fine"  [the  certainty  of  the  issue,]  and  to 
the  desire  "participaragli  onori"  [of  participating  in  the 
honour] 


X.  D.  1623-1628.] 


MANTUAN  SUCCESSION. 


313 


suit  decisive  victories  and  mighty  advances  on 
the  part  of  Catholicism.  North-eastern  Ger- 
many, and  south-western  France,  which  had 
held  out  so  long,  were  both  subdued.  All  that 
now  seemed  requisite  was  to  subject  the  con- 
quered foe  forever  by  laws  and  permanently 
effective  institutions. 

The  aid  which  Denmark  had  affiirded  to  the 
Germans,  and  England  to  the  French,  had 
proved  rather  pernicious  than  advantageous  : 
it  had  first  provoked  the  superior  strength  of 
the  enemy;  and  these  powers  were  now  them- 
selves endangered  or  attacked.  The  imperial 
troops  penetrated  to  Jutland.  Fresh  negotia- 
tions between  France  and  Spain,  respecting  a 
combined  attack  on  England,  were  set  on  foot 
in  the  year  1628,  and  plied  with  the  utmost 
earnestness. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MANTUAN  WAR. THIRTY  YEARs'  WAR. REVO- 
LUTION IN  THE  STATE  OF  THINGS. 

At  the  first  glance  at  the  course  of  events, 
the  progress  of  a  system  of  movements  once 
begun  presents  an  aspect  of  unchangeable 
persistency. 

But  if  we  examine  more  narrowly,  we 
shall  not  unfrequently  see  that  the  funda- 
mental circumstance  on  which  the  whole 
group  depends  is  slight  and  feeble, — often 
little  more  than  personal  regard  or  aversion, 
which  it  would  not  be  very  difficult  to  shake. 

If  we  inquire  what  was  the  principal  agency 
that  produced  the  recent  vast  advantages  on 
the  side  of  Catholicism,  we  shall  find  it  was 
not  so  much  the  armies  of  Tilly  and  Wallen- 
stein,  or  the  military  superiority  of  Richelieu 
over  the  Huguenots,  as  the  renewed  and  ex- 
isting war  between  France  and  Spain,  with- 
out which  neither  the  two  former  nor  the  lat- 
ter would  have  been  able  to  effect  much. 

All  power  of  self-sustained  resistence  had 
passed  away  from  protestantism  by  the  year 
1628  ;  thenceforth  nothing  but  the  discord  of 
the  catholic  powers  encouraged  it  to  make  a 
stand  ;  their  reconciliation  was  its  ruin. 

But  who  could  fail  to  perceive  how  easily 
that  union  might  be  rent  asunder. 

Within  the  pale  of  Catholicism  two  opposite 
impulses  had  arisen  by  an  equal  necessity ; 
the  one  religious,  the  other  political. 

The  former  demanded  union,  propagation 
of  the  faith,  and  disregard  of  all  other  con- 
siderations ;  the  latter  unceasingly  provoked 
the  strife  of  the  great  powers  lor  pre-emi- 
nence. 

It  could   scarcely   be    asserted    that    the 

course  of  events  had   as  yet  destroyed  the 

balance  of  power    in  Europe.     That  balance 

rested  in   those  days  on  the  antagonism  of 

40 


France  and  the  Austro-Spanish  power ;  and 
France,  as  well  as  the  latter,  had  vastly  aug- 
mented in  strength  in  the  course  of  these  oc- 
currences. 

But  political  action  is  prompted  and  go- 
verned no  less  by  anticipations  of  the  future 
tlian  by  the  pressure  of  present  evils.  The 
natural  course  of  things  seemed  now  to  lead 
inevitably  towards  a  state  of  universal  peril. 

The  outspread  of  Wallenstein's  troops  over 
the  northern  countries  of  Germany,  the  an- 
cient abodes  of  protestantism,  seemed  to 
countenance  the  possibility  of  again  raising 
the  imperial  authority,  which,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  moment  in  the  life  of  Charles 
v.,  had  for  centuries  been  a  mere  sha- 
dow, to  a  condition  of  true  power  and  es- 
sential importance.  Such  would  be  the  ine- 
vitable result  if  the  restoration  of  Catholicism 
proceeded  as  it  had  begun. 

France,  on  the  other  hand,  had  no  equiva- 
lent advantage  to  expect :  from  the  instant  it 
had  mastered  the  Huguenots,  there  remained 
for  it  no  other  object  to  be  won.  But  the 
Italians  had  the  greatest  cause  for  anxiety. 
To  them  the  renovation  of  a  mighty  imperial 
power,  asserting  so  many  claims  in  Italy,  and 
so  immediately  connected  with  the  detested 
power  of  the  Spaniards,  appeared  perilous, 
nay  intolerable. 

The  question  was  once  more,  whether  the 
catholic  efforts  should  be  prosecuted  without 
regard  to  these  considerations,  and  should 
again  overbear  every  thing  else,  or  whether 
political  motives  would  gain  the  upper  hand, 
and  put  a  stop  to  these  exertions. 

Whilst  the  current  of  catholic  restoration 
was  sweeping  in  full  force  over  France  and 
Germany,  a  movement  took  place  in  Italy 
which  was  destined  to  decide  the  question. 

Mantuan  Succession. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1627  died  Vincen- 
zo  II.,  duke  of  Mantua,  of  the  house  of  Gon- 
zoga,  without  issue.  His  next  of  kin  was  Carlo 
Conzaga,  due  de  Nevers. 

Simply  considered,  this  succession  present- 
ed no  difficulty:  no  doubt  could  prevail  as  to 
the  rights  of  the  next  of  kin.  But  it  involved 
a  political  change  of  great  importance. 

Charles  de  Nevers  was  born  in  France,  and 
was  necessarily  to  be  regarded  as  a  French- 
man :  it  was  thought  that  the  Spaniards  would 
not  endure  the  acquisition  of  power  by  a 
Frenchman  in  Upper  Italy,  which  they  had 
also  sought  with  peculiar  jealousy  to  keep 
free  from  all  French  influence. 

If,  after  the  lapse  of  so  long  a  time,  we  en* 
deavour  to  search  the  matter  to  the  bottom, 
we  shall  find,  that  at  first  the  thought  of  ex- 
cluding Nevers  was  not  entertained  either  at 
the  Spanish  or  the  Austrian  court.  In  fact,  he 
was  related  to  the  house  of  Austria ;  the  em- 


314 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,  [a.  d.  1623-1628. 


press  was  a  Mantuan  princess,  and  always 
strongly  in  his  favour.  "  At  first,"  says  Khe- 
venhiller,  who  was  employed  in  the  affairs  of 
Mantua,  "no  objection  was  entertained  to 
him  :  means  were  rather  sought  to  conciliate 
his  devotion  to  the  imperial  house."*  Oliva- 
rez,  too,  expressly  asserted  this ;  he  tells  us, 
that  when  news  were  received  of  the  danger- 
ous illness  of  don  Vincenzo,  it  was  resolved  to 
send  a  courier  to  the  duke  of  Nevers,  and 
offer  him  the  protection  of  Spain  in  taking 
peaceable  possession  of  Mantua  and  Montfer- 
rat.f  It  is  very  possible  that  conditions  would 
have  been  prescribed  to  him,  and  securities 
demanded;  but  of  his  rights  there  was  no 
thought  of  despoiling  him. 

The  mode  in  which  this  natural  course  of 
things  was  prevented  is  remarkable. 

Credit  was  not  given  to  the  Spaniards  in 
Italy  for  a  disposition  to  act  so  equitably.  No 
one  would  ever  believe  of  them,  frequent  as 
had  been  their  previous  assurances  of  good 
faith,  that  they  would  not  oppose  the  succes- 
sion of  Nevers.l  The  Spanish  rulers  in  Italy 
had  once  for  all  drawn  down  on  themselves 
the  suspicion  that  they  were  ready  to  grasp, 
even  by  unlawful  means,  at  the  possession  of 
unlimited  power.  Noone  would  be  persuaded 
that  they  would  not  now  endeavour  to  bestow 
the  duchy  on  some  member  of  the  house  of 
Gonozaga  more  devoted  to  their  own  interests. 

Let  us  confess,  however,  that  the  desire  of 
the  Italians  to  see  Mantua  ruled  by  a  prince 
naturally  connected  with  France,  and  inde- 
pendent of  the  Spaniards,  had  much  share  in 
engendering  that  opinion.  They  would  not 
believe  that  Spain  would  accede  to  anything 
which  they  themselves  so  longed  for  in  their 
antipathy  to  that  country.  They  even  com- 
municated their  own  belief  to  the  rightful  heir, 
so  that  he  deemed  it  expedient  to  take  posses- 
sion of  his  inheritance  with  all  speed,  and  in 
whatever  way  he  could. 

Like  as  it  occurs  in  the  animal  constitution, 
the  internal  disease  sought  only  an  occasion, 
an  injured  part,  to  break  out. 

Previously  to  the  decease  of  Vincenzo,  the 
young  Gonzago  Nevers,  duke  of  Rethel,  arri- 

*  Annales  Ferdinandei,  xi.  p.  30. 

+  Francesco  degli  Albizi,  negotiator  di  Monsr.  Cesare 
Monte:  "  S.  MtiV' says  Olivarez,  "in  sentire  la  grave 
indisposilione  del  duca  Vincenzo  ordinf)  che  si  dispiacci- 
asse  corriero  in  Francia  al  medesimo  Nevers  prometten- 
dogli  la  protellione  sua  accio  egli  potesse  pacificamenli 
otienere  il  possesso  di  Mantova  e  del  Monferrato ;  ma 
appenaconsegnati  eli  ordini,  si  era  con  altro  corrieri  ven- 
uto  d'ltaliaimesa  la  morte  di  Vincenzo,  il  matrimonio  di 
Retel  sfnza  participatione  del  re,"  etc. 

■f  "  N6  si  deve  dar  credonza,"  says  Mulla,  the  Vene- 
tian ambassador  in  Mannia  in  1G15,  "a  quello  che  si  6 
hisciato  intender  piu  volte  il  niarchese  di  Inoiosa,  gii 
governator  di  Milano,  che Spangolilnon  porterebbono quan- 
do  venisse  il  caso,  niai  altri  alio  stalo  di  Manloa  che  il  duca 
di  Nevers."  [No  credit  is  to  be  given  to  what  has  been 
frequently  staled  by  the  marchese  d'Inoiosa,  formerly 
governor  of  Milan,  that  should  the  opportunity  occur,  the 
Spaniards  would  never  place  any  other  than  the  duke  of 
Nevers  on  the  throne  of  Milan]— but  wliy  not  ■?  We  have 
only  the  fact ;  the  governor  asserts  it ;  the  Italians  do  not 
believe  it ;  still  it  is  so  beyond  doubt. 


ved  in  the  profoundest  secrecy  in  Mantua, 
where  every  thing  had  been  pre-arranged  by  . 
a  Mantuan  minister,  of  the  name  of  Striggio, 
who  belonged  to  the  anti-Spanish  party.  The 
old  duke  made  no  difficulty  of  recognizing  the 
rights  of  his  kinsman.  There  was  still  ex- 
isting a  female  descendant  of  the  direct  native 
line,  a  great  granddaughter  of  Philip  II., 
through  his  younger  daughter,  who  had  married 
into  the  house  of  Savoy,  and  it  seemed  to  be 
most  important  that  the  young  duke  should 
wed  her.  Casual  circumstances  delayed  the 
affair,  and  Vincenzo  was  already  dead,*  when 
one  night  the  lady  was  brought  from  the  con- 
vent where  she  had  been  educated  and  carried 
into  the  palace,  where  the  marriage  was  per- 
formed and  consummated  without  much  loss 
of  time.  Not  till  after  this  was  the  death  of 
the  late  duke  made  public,  and  Rethel  saluted 
as  sovereign  of  Mantua,  and  homage  tendered 
him.  A  Milanese  envoy  was  kept  at  a  dis- 
tance till  all  was  completed,  and  then,  not 
without  a  sort  of  mockery,  was  made  acquain- 
ted with  the  whole  transaction. 

Accounts  of  these  proceedings  arrived  in 
Madrid  and  Vienna  at  the  same  moment  as 
the  news  of  the  duke's  death. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  such  things  were 
peculiarly  of  a  nature  to  exasperate  such  great 
sovereigns  as  the  emperor  and  the  king  of 
Spain,  who  piqued  themselves  on  a  character 
of  sac  red  majesty.  So  near  a  relation  married 
without  their  consent, — nay,  without  their 
knowledge, — with  a  sort  of  violence !  An 
important  fief  taken  possession  of  without  the 
least  deference  for  the  liege  lord  ! 

The  measures  taken  by  the  two  courts  were 
nevertheless  different. 

Olivarez,  proud  as  a  Spaniard,  doubly  so  as 
minister  of  so  powerful  a  king,  always  full  of 
the  most  overweening  sense  of  his  own  im- 
portance, was  now  far  from  disposed  to  make 
any  advances  to  the  duke:  he  resolved  that, 
if  he  did  no  more,  he  would  at  least,  to  use  his 
own  expression,  mortify  him.f  Was  not  his 
conduct  openly  hostile]  After  such  a  proof 
of  his  inclination,  could  he  be  trusted  with  the 
important  city  of  Montferrat,  which  was  to  be 
regarded  as  an  outwork  of  Milan  ]  The  duke 
of  Guastala  made  pretensions  to  Mantua,  the 

*  Nani,  Storia  Veneta  1.  7,  p.  3-50,  Siri,  Memorie  recon- 
dite vi.  309,  state  this  fact,  the  last-mentioned  from  a  let- 
ter of  Sabran's  to  the  French  court. 

t  Nicoletti :  Vita  di  papa  Urbano,  from  a  despatch  of 
the  nuncio  Pamfilio:  '•  Dichiaravasi  il  conte  duca  che  per 
lo  nieno  voleva  niortificare  il  duca  di  Nevers  per  lo  poco 
rispetio  porlato  al  re  nella  conclusione  del  matrimonio 
senza  paiticiparlo;  ma  a  quel  segno  potesse  giungere  la 
niortificatione  non  poteva  il  nuntio  fame  congettura,  e 
tanlo  piu  che  le  ragioni  che  avevano  mosso  il  papa  a  con- 
cedere  la  dispensa,  erano  acerbamenie  impugnate  dal 
medesimo  conte  duca."  [The  count  duke  declared  that, 
at  the  least,  he  would  mortify  the  duke  of  Nevers  for  the 
little  respect  shown  the  king  in  concluding  the  marriage 
without  communicating  it  to  him:  but  in  what  particular 
this  mortification  was  to  be  inflicted  the  nuncio  could  not 
conjecture,  the  more  so  because  the  motives  that  had  in- 
duced the  pope  to  grant  the  dispensation  were  bitterly 
impugned  by  the  count  duke.] 


A.  D.  1623-1628.] 


URBAN  Vlir. 


315 


duke  of  Savoy  to  Montferrat ;  the  Spaniards 
now  entered  into  connexion  witii  both ;  arms 
were  appealed  to;  the  duke  of  Savoy  advanced 
on  Montferrat  from  one  side,  Don  Gonzalez, 
governor  of  Milan,  from  the  other.  The  French 
had  already  retreated  to  Casale.  Don  Gonza- 
lez hastened  to  besiege  it,  and  doubted  not 
that  he  would  speedily  reduce  it,  since  he 
counted  on  an  understanding  with  the  parties 
within  the  walls. 

The  emperor  was  not  so  precipitate.  He 
%vas  convinced  that  God  would  protect  him, 
because  he  trod  the  path  of  righteousness.  He 
disapproved  of  the  conduct  of  the  Spaniards, 
and  caused  formal  notice  of  his  disapprobation 
to  be  made  to  Don  Gonzalez.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  was  determined  to  exercise  his  right 
of  supreme  adjudication  in  the  most  unrestrict- 
ed manner,  and  pronounced  the  sequestration 
of  Mantua,  till  he  should  have  decided  to 
which  of  the  several  claimants  the  inheritance 
belonged.  As  the  new  duke  of  Mantua,  who 
was  now  arrived  in  person,  would  not  submit, 
the  most  severe  mandates  were  issued  against 
him.* 

Now,  however,  the  measures  of  the  two 
courts  differed  in  origin  and  in  spirit,  they  co- 
incided, after  all,  in  their  effects.  Nevers 
found  himself  threatened  no  less  by  the  legal 
claims  of  the  German  branch  of  the  house  of 
Austria,  than  by  the  violent  measures  of 
the  Spanish  branch ;  in  thinking  to  avoid 
the  danger,  he  had  drawn  it  down  on  his 
head. 

At  first  his  prospects  were  indeed  but  bad. 


*  The  views  of  the  imperial  court  may  be  collected 
from  the  report  of  Palotla,  June  10,  1628,  an  extract  from 
which  is  to  be  found  in  Nicoletti.  "  II  nunzioogni  di  piii 
accorgevasi  che  era  malissima  I'impressione  conlo  il  duca 
di  Nevers,  che  avresse  disprezzato  11  re  di  Spagno  e  raolto 
piu  I'imperatore  conchiudendo  matrimonio  senza  sua  par- 
ticipazione,  col  possesso  dello  slaio  senza  investitura, 
anzi  senza  indulto  imperiale;  che  fosse  nemico  della 
casa  d'Austria,  che  avesse  intelligenza  e  disegno  co'  Fran- 
cesi  di  dare  loro  mano  nell'  invasione  dello  stato  di  Mila- 
no :  e  che  non  di  meno  S.  M'i.  Ces^.  havesse  grandissima 
inclinalione  alia  pace,  e  con  questo  fine  havesse  fatlo  il 
decrelo  del  sequestro  per  levare  I'arrai  dalle  mani  di 
Spagnuoli  e  di  Savojardi  stanti  le  ragioni  che  pretende- 
vano  Guastalla,  Savoja,  Lorena  e  Spagn  i  negli  stali  di 
Manlova  e  Monferrato :  che  dapoi  il  duca  havesse  di  nu- 
ovo  olTeso  I'imperatore  col  disprezzo  de'  commissarj,  non 
dando  lore  la  mano  dritta  e  non  gli  ammettendo  in  Man- 
lova e  sopra  tutto  col  appellazione  e  protesta  che  I'im- 
peratore fosse  caduto  dalla  ragione  e  superiority  di  delti 
feudi."  [The  nuncio  was  daily  more  and  more  convinced 
that  the  impression  entertained  against  the  duke  of  Nev- 
ers was  very  bad,  because  he  had  treated  the  king  of 
Spain  with  contempt,  and  still  more  the  emperor,  in  con- 
cluding the  marriage  without  their  privity  and  consent, 
and  tailing  possession  of  the  stale  without  investiture  or 
any  imperial  indult;  because  he  was  an  enemy  of  the 
house  of  Austria,  and  was  leagued  and  confederate  with 
the  French  to  give  them  assistance  in  their  invasion  of 
the  state  of  Milan  ;  and  it  was  said,  notwithstanding  all 
this,  the  emperor  was  strongly  inclined  to  peace,  to  which 
end  he  had  issued  the  proclamation  of  sequestration,  to 
disarm  the  Spaniards  and  the  Savoyards  pending  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  pretensions  to  the  states  of  Mantua  and 
Montferrat  alleged  by  Guastalla,  Savoy,  Lorraine,  and 
Spain  ;  that  subsequently  the  duke  had  offended  the  em- 
peror afresh,  by  his  contempt  of  the  commissioners  in  not 
countenancing  them  or  admitting  them  into  Mantua,  and 
above  all,  by  his  appeal  and  protest  that  the  emperor  had 
lost  his  rights  and  his  superiority  over  the  said  fiefs.] 


It  is  true  some  Italian  states  regarded  his 
cause  as  identical  with  their  own ;  they 
neglected  nothing  that  could  confirm  him  in 
his  resolution  to  hold  out,  but  they  had  not 
strength  sufficient  to  afford  him  any  effectual 
succour. 

Richelieu,  too,  had  promised  that  he  would 
not  let  him  sink  if  he  could  only  maintain  his 
position  till  France  could  come  to  his  aid.  But 
the  question  was  when  might  that  be  ? 

The  circumstances  of  Mantua  had  reached 
a  very  perilous  pitch,  while  the  siege  of  Ro- 
chelle  was  yet  pending.  Before  its  fall  Riche- 
lieu could  not  move  a  step.  He  durst  not 
venture  to  engage  in  fresh  hostilities  against 
Spain,  so  long  as  there  was  a  chance  of  there- 
by occasioning  a  dangerous  rising  of  the  Hu- 
guenots. 

But  yet  another  consideration  was  forced 
upon  him  by  his  former  experience.  On  no 
account  durst  he  quarrel  with  the  devout, 
rigorously  catholic  party  in  his  native  country. 
He  durst  not  break  with  the  pope,  or  even 
venture  on  a  line  of  policy  that  might  be  dis- 
pleasing to  his  holiness. 

An  immensity  now  once  more  depended  on 
the  personal  disposition  of  the  pope.  His  posi- 
tion, the  nature  of  his  office,  called  on  him  to 
make  every  effort  for  the  maintenance  of  peace 
in  the  catholic  world.  As  an  Italian  sovereign, 
he  had  an  unquestionable  influence  over  his 
neighbours,  while  even  France,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  obliged  to  model  her  conduct  upon 
his.  Every  thing  depended  on  whether  he 
would  avert  the  outbreak  of  the  quarrel,  or  him- 
self take  a  part  in  it. 

In  the  former  political  conjunctures  Urban 
VIII.  had  found  the  bent  of  his  policy  deter- 
mined, its  path  marked  out.  On  this  occa- 
sion his  own  turn  of  mind  first  came  to  view 
more  completely,  and  at  the  same  time  with 
more  decisive  influence  on  the  affairs  of  the 
world. 

Urban    VIII. 

Among  the  foreigners  who  attained  to  a 
hio-h  degree  of  wealth  by  the  commerce  of 
Ancona,  which  was  in  considerable  vigour  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  the  Florentine  house 
of  Barberini  distinguished  itself  by  its  shrewd- 
ness and  success  in  business.  Maffeo,  a  scion 
of  the  house,  born  in  Florence  in  the  year 
1568,  was  taken,  after  the  early  death  of  his 
father,  to  Rome,  where  lived  an  uncle  of  his 
who  had  gained  a  certain  station  in  the  curia. 
Maffeo  also  entered  on  the  same  career,  in 
which  he  was  furthered  by  the  easy  circuni- 
stances  of  his  house,  while  he  likewise  mani- 
fested distinguished  talents.  At  every  step 
of  his  rise  his  colleagues  recognized  his  supe- 
riority. It  was  chiefly  through  a  nunciature 
in  France,  where  he  won  the  entire  regard 
of  the  French  court,  that  higher  prospects 


316 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD.       [a.  d.  1623-1628. 


opened  upon  him.  After  the  death  of  Gre- 
gory XV.,  the  French  party,  from  the  very 
first,  fixed  on  him  to  succeed  to  the  papal  see. 
The  character  of  the  conclave  on  that  occa- 
sion differed  from  former  ones,  from  the  fact 
that  the  last  pope  had  reigned  but  a  short 
time.  Though  he  had  named  a  considerable 
number  of  cardinals,  still  those  created  by  his 
predecessor  were  quite  as  numerous  :  the  last 
nephew  and  the  last  but  one  met  each  other 
in  tolerably  equal  strength  in  the  conclave. 
MafFeo  Barberini  is  said  to  have  secretly  inti- 
mated to  each  of  them  that  he  was  an  adver- 
sary of  the  other,  and  to  have  been  in  conse- 
quence supported  by  each  out  of  hostility 
to  his  rival.  But  doubtless  it  contributed 
still  more  to  his  election,  that  he  had  always 
proved  himself  the  champion  of  the  jurisdic- 
tional pretensions  of  the  Roman  curia,  and 
had  thereby  recommended  himself  to  the  ma- 
jority of  the  cardinals.  In  a  word,  helped 
forward  alike  by  his  own  merit,  and  by  others' 
support,  Maffeo  Barberini  carried  the  day, 
and  ascended  the  pontifical  throne  at  the  vi- 
gorous age  of  55. 

The  court  very  soon  discovered  a  marked 
difference  between  him  and  his  immediate 
predecessors.  Clement  VIII.  was  usually  to 
be  found  engaged  with  the  works  of  St.  Ber- 
nard, Paul  V.  with  those  of  Justinian  of  Ve- 
nice ;  while  on  the  study  table  of  the  new 
pope,  Urban  VIII.,  were  to  be  seen  the  last 
new  poems,  or  even  plans  of  fortifications. 

It  will  generally  be  found  that  the  period 
in  which  a  man's  character  assumes  its  decid- 
ed bent,  is  that  of  the  first  bloom  of  manhood, 
when  he  begins  to  take  an  independent  share 
in  public  business,  or  in  literature.  The 
youth  of  Paul  V.,  born  in  1552,  and  of  Gre- 
gory XV.,  born  in  1554,  belonged  loan  epoch 
in  which  the  principle  of  catliolic  restoration 
strode  onwards  in  the  full  unbroken  vigour  of 
its  march.  The  first  active  years  of  Urban 
VIII.,  born  1568,  coincided,  on  the  contrary, 
with  the  period  of  the  opposition  of  the  papal 
sovereignty  against  Spain,  and  of  the  re-es- 
tablishment of  Catholicism  in  France.  We 
find  that  his  inclinations  now  followed  the 
bent  thus  acquired. 

Urban  VIII.  regarded  himself  principally 
in  the  light  of  a  temporal  prince. 

He  entertained  the  opinion,  that  the  states 
of  the  church  required  to  be  secured  by  fort- 
resses, and  rendered  formidable  by  the  force 
of  its  own  arms.  The  marble  statues  of  his 
predecessors  being  shown  him,  he  said  he 
would  have  statues  of  iron  erected  to  himself. 
He  built  on  the  borders  of  the  Bolognese  Cas- 
telfranco,  which  has  received  the  name  of 
Fort  Urbano,  though  its  military  purpose  was 
so  little  apparent,  that  the  Bolognese  suspect- 
ed it  was  rather  designed  against  them,  than 
for  their  protection.  In  Rome  he  began  as 
early  as  the  year  1625  to  strengthen  the  cas- 


tle of  St.  Angelo  with  new  breastworks ;  and 
he  stored  it  without  delay  with  ammunition 
and  provisions,  just  as  though  war  were  im- 
mediately at  hand  ;  he  built  the  lofty  wall  on 
Monte  Cavallo,  which  encloses  the  papal  gar- 
den, regardless  of  the  destruction  thereby 
caused  of  some  noble  monuments  of  antiquity 
in  the  Colonna  gardens.  He  erected  a  man- 
ufactory for  arms  in  Tivoli  ;*  the  rooms  of  the 
Vatican  library  were  used  as  arsenals ;  sol- 
diers swarmed  in  Rome,  and  the  seat  of  the 
supreme  spiritual  authority  in  Christendom, 
the  peaceful  compass  of  the  eternal  city,  re- 
sounded to  the  din  of  arms.  A  free  port  was 
also  an  indispensable  requisite  to  a  well-con- 
stituted state,  accordingly  Civita  Vecchia 
was  at  great  cost  adapted  to  that  end.  But 
the  result  was  more  in  accordance  with  the 
situation  of  things  than  with  the  intentions  of 
the  pope.  The  Barbary  corsairs  sold  in  that 
very  harbour  the  booty  plundered  from  Chris- 
tian vessels.  And  this  was  the  issue  of  the 
labours  of  the  chief  pastor  of  Christendom. 

But  in  all  these  things  pope  Urban  acted 
with  unlimited  autocratic  power.  At  least, 
in  the  early  years  of  his  reign,  he  surpassed 
the  despotism  of  his  predecessors. 

If  it  was  proposed  to  him  to  call  the  college 
together,  to  aid  him  with  their  counsels,  his 
answer  was,  that  he  understood  more  than  all 
the  cardinals  put  together.  Consistories 
were  held  but  rarely,  and  even  then  few  had 
the  courage  to  speak  their  minds  freely.  The 
congregations  assembled  as  usual,  but  no 
questions  of   importance   were    laid    before 


♦  A  Conlarini:  Relatione  de  1635,  "  Quantoalle  armi, 
i  papi  n'  erano  per  1'  addielro  totalniente  sproveduti, 
perch6  confidavano  piu  nell'  obligarsi  i  principi  can  le 
gratie  che  nelle  difese  temporali.  Hora  si  6  niulalo  regis- 
tro  et  il  papa  presente  in  particolare  vi  sla  applicalissimo. 
A  Tivoli  egli  ha  condotto  un  lal  Ripa  Bresciano,  suddilo 
di  V.  Sena-  il  quale  poi  di  tempo  in  tempo  6  andato  svi- 
ando  niolli  operai  della  terra  di  Garden.  Quivi  costui  fa 
lavorare  gran  quantity  d'  arme,  prima  facendo  condurre 
il  ferrogrezzo  dal  Bresciano  et  hora  lavorandone  qualche 
ponione  ancora  di  certe  miniere  ritrovate  nell'  Unibria  ; 
di  che  tutto  diede  avviso  con  mie  letlere  a  sue  tempo,  che 
m' imaginopassassero  senza  reflessione.  Di  queste  armi 
ha  il  papasotto  la  libreria  del  Vaticano  accomodate  un' 
arsenale  dove  con  buon  ordine  stanno  riposti  moschetti, 
picche,  carabine  e  pistole  per  armare  trentamila  fanti  e 
cinquemila  cavdlli,oltre  buon  numero  che  dalla  medesi- 
mal'ucina  di  Tivoli  si  6  mandate  a  Ferrara  e  Castelfranco 
in  queste  ultime,  occorrenze."  [As  for  arms,  the  popes 
had  formerly  been  totally  unprovided  with  them,  because 
they  confided  more  in  binding  princes  to  them  by  favours, 
than  in  means  of  material  defence.  This  is  now  changed  , 
and  the  present  pope  is  most  intent  on  the  matter.  He 
has  engaged  at  Tivoli  a  certain  Ripa  of  Brescia,  a  subject 
of  your  serenity,  who  has  from  time  to  time  procured  nu- 
merous workmen  from  the  Gardon  country.  Ripa  manu- 
factures a  great  quantity  of  weapons,  to  which  end  he  al 
first  had  crude  iron  brought  from  the  neighbourhood  of 
Brescia,  but  at  present  he  also  works  up  some  portion  of 
certain  ores  found  in  Umbria  :  all  this  I  notified  in  my 
letters  in  due  time,  but  I  rather  think  they  were  passed 
over  without  consideration.  The  arms  then  manufactured 
have  been  stored  up  by  the  pope  in  an  arsenal  under  the 
Vatican  library,  in  which  are  arranged  in  good  order  rnus- 
kets,  pikes,  carbines,  and  pistols,  sufficient  for  thirty 
thousand  infantry  and  five  thousand  cavalry  ;  in  addition 
to  which  a  large  quantity  has  also  been  sent  from  the 
same  factory  at  Tivoli  to  Ferrara  and  Castelfranco  on  the 
late  occasions.] 


A.  D.  1623-1628.] 


URBAN  VIII. 


317 


them  ;  and  whatever  resolutions  they  passed 
were  but  little  regarded.*  Even  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  state,  Urban  formed  no 
regular  consulta,  as  his  predecessors  had 
done.  His  nephew,  Francesco  Uarberini, 
was  perfectly  right  in  refusing,  during  the 
first  ten  years  of  his  pontificate,  to  take  on 
himself  the  responsibility  of  any  measure 
that  had  been  adopted,  be  its  nature  what  it 
might. 

Foreign  ambassadors  were  unfortunate  in 
being  able  to  make  but  little  way  in  business 
with  the  pope.  At  the  audiences  he  himself 
spoke  more  than  any  one,f  harangued,  and 
continued  with  one  envoy  the  conversation 
he  had  begun  with  his  predecessor.  He  ex- 
pected to  be  listened  to,  admired,  and  accost- 
ed with  the  greatest  reverence,  even  when 
he  rejected  requests.  Other  popes  had  often 
given  refusals  to  suitors,  but  that  upon  some 
principle,  whether  of  religion  or  policy;  in 
Urban  this  appeared  attributable  to  caprice. 
No  one  could  ever  tell  whether  he  was  to  e.x- 
pect  a  Yes  or  a  No  of  him.  The  adroit  Vene- 
tians found  out  that  he  loved  contradiction, — 
that  he  leaned  by  an  almost  involuntary  instinct 
to  the  opposite  of  what  was  proposed  to  him  ; 
to  obtain  their  ends  they  adopted  the  expedi- 
ent of  starting  objections,  in  combating  which 
the  pope  of  his  own  accord  fell  into  designs 
to  which  no  possible  persuasion  could  have 
won  his  consent. 

Such  a  temper  as  this  may  exhibit  itself 
even  in  subordinate  stations,  and  was  in  those 
days  not  unfrequent  among  Italians  and  Span- 
iards. It  regards  a  public  station  in  the  light 
of  a  tribute  due  to  merit  and  personal  impor- 
tance ;  and  consequently,  in  the  discharge  of 
official  duties,  it   is  much  more  obedient  to 

*  Le  "  congregalioni  servono,"  says  Aluise  Conlarini, 
"per  coprire  lalvolla  qualche  errore."  [The  congrega- 
tions serve  occasionally  to  cloali  some  errors.] 

i  Pietro  Conlarini :  Relatione  di  1G27.  "  Abbonda  con 
grande  facondia  nelli  discorsi,  6  copioso  nelli  suoi  ragio- 
iiamenli  di  cose  varie,  argomenla  e  tralta  nelli  negolj  con 
tutie  la  ragione  che  inlende  e  sa,  a  segno  che  le  audienze 
si  rendono  altrettanlo  e  piii  lunglie  di  quelle  de'  preces- 
sori  suoi ;  e  nelli  congregalioni  dove  interviene  seque  pur 
il  medisimo  con  grande  disavantaggio  di  chi  tratla  seco, 
menire  togliendo  egli  la  maggior  parte  del  tempo  poco  ne 
lascia  agli  allri :  et  ho  udito  iio  dire  ad  un  cardie  che  an- 
dava  per  non  ricever  1'  audienza  ma  per  darla  al  papa, 
poich6  era  certo  che  la  S'i'  S.  piu  avrebbe  volulo  discor- 
rere  che  ascoltarlo  ;  e  molle  volte  6  accaduto  che  alcuni 
entrati  per  esporre  le  proprie  loro  islanze,  se  ne  sono  us- 
citi  senza  poter  de'  loro  interessi  dirle  cosa  alcuna." 
[He  harangues  with  great  fluency  und  eloquence,  copi- 
ously debates  a  variety  of  topics,  and  brings  all  the  argu- 
ments he  can  think  of  to  bear  on  the  discussion  of  busi- 
ness, in  proof  of  which,  the  audiences  last  as  long  again 
or  more  than  those  of  his  predecessors:  he  proceeds  after 
the  same  fashion  in  the  congregations,  to  the  great  disad- 
vantaee  of  all  who  have  to  do  with  him,  for  he  lakes  up 
the  greatest  part  of  the  time  and  leaves  little  to  oihers: 
indeed  I  have  heard  of  a  cardinal,  who  said  that  he  went 
not  to  receive  audience  of  the  pope,  but  to  give  him  audi- 
ence, because  he  knew  very  well  his  Holiness  would  be 
more  inclined  to  harangue  than  to  listen  to  him  ;  and  it 
has  repeatedly  happened,  to  persons  who  have  presented 
themselves  before  him  lo  urge  their  own  views,  that  after 
he  had  once  taken  up  the  discourse,  they  left  his  pre- 
sence without  being  able  to  put  in  a  word  upon  their  bu- 
siness.] 


these  personal  impulses  than  to  the  exigen- 
cies of  the  case :  somewhat  as  an  author, 
filled  with  a  sense  of  his  own  talents, 
does  not  so  much  contemplate  the  object  be- 
fore him,  as  give  free  scope  to  the  play  of  his 
fancy. 

Nay,  Urban  was  actually  one  of  this  class 
of  authors!  The  poems  of  his  that  have  sur- 
vived display  wit  and  suppleness ;  but  how 
strangely  are  sacred  subjects  handled  in 
them  !  The  songs  and  sayings  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments  are  forced  to  accommo- 
date themselves  to  the  Horatian  metres,  and 
the  song  of  praise  of  the  aged  Simeon  must 
figure  in  two  Sapphic  strophes  !  No  charac- 
teristic of  the  text  of  course  survives  such  a 
process :  the  matter  is  forced  to  bend  to  a 
form  discordant  with  it,  because  it  was  a  fa- 
vourite with  the  author. 

But  these  talents,  the  brilliancy  with  which 
they  surrounded  the  person  of  the  pope,  even 
the  robust  health  he  enjoyed,  only  exaggerat- 
ed the  feelings  of  self-importance  with  which 
his  lofty  station  inspired  him.* 

I  know  not  any  pope  in  whom  that  feeling 
existed  in  so  high  a  degree.  An  objection 
drawn  from  the  old  papal  constitutions  was 
once  set  before  him  :  he  replied  that  the  opin- 
ion pronounced  by  a  living  pope  was  worth 
more  than  the  maxims  of  a  hundred  dead 
ones. 

He  set  aside  the  resolution  that  had  been 
adopted  by  the  Roman  people,  never  again  tO' 
erect  a  statue  to  a  pope  in  his  lifetime,  say- 
ing, that "  such  a  resolution  could  be  of  no  force- 
with  regard  to  a  pope  such  as  he." 

Some  one  spoke  to  him  in  praise  of  th? 
conduct  of  one  of  his  nuncios  in  a  matter  cf' 
difficulty,  which  he  met  by  saying,  that  "  the 
nuncio  had  acted  upon  his  instructions." 

Such  a  man  was  Urban  VIII.;  so  filled 
with  the  idea  of  being  a  mighty  prince  ;  so 
attached  to  France,  both  through  his  former 
employments,  and  through  the  support  he  had. 
received  from  that  power ;  finally,  so  self- 
willed,  energetic,  and  full  of  himself; — such 
was  the  man  who  at  this  moment  was  put  in 
possession  of  the  highest  spiritual  authority  in 
catholic  Christendom. 

Upon  his  resolves,  on  the  attitude  he  as- 
sumed in  the  midst  of  the  catholic  powers, 
mightily  depended  the  progress  or  the  inter- 
ruption of  the  universal  restoration  which 
now  occupied  mankind. 

Now,  on  many  occasions,  the  pope  had  al- 


*  This  was  noticed  in  him  from  the  very  first.  Rela- 
tione de'  quattro  ambasciatori,  1624:  "Ama  le  proprie 
opinione  e  si  lascia  lusingare  dal  suo  genio ;  a  che  conse- 
guila  una  salda  tenaciia  del  proprj  pensieri:  •  •  .  6  sem- 
pre  iniento  a  quelle  cose  che  possono  ringrandire  il  con- 
cetto della  sua  persona."  [He  loves  his  own  opinions, 
and  is  vain  of  his  genius  :  the  consequence  of  which  is  a 
rigid  tenacity  of  his  own  notions  :  ...  he  is  always  in- 
tent on  whatever  can  enhance  the  thought  ol  his  personal 
importance.] 


318 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD,    [a.  d.  1623-1628. 


ready  seemed  to  give  proof  of  aversion  to  the 
Austro-Spanish  party.* 

As  early  as  in  the  year  1625,  cardinal  Bor- 
gia complained  of  his  stubborn  hardness  :  the 
king  could  not  obtain  the  least  concession 
from  him, — every  thing  was  denied  him. 

Cardinal  Borgia  asserted  that  Urban  VIII. 
did  not  willingly  terminate  the  affair  of  the 
Valtelline ;  the  king  had  offered  to  give  up 
the  contested  passes,  but  the  pope  had  never 
paid  any  attention  to  the  offer. 

Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  Urban  was  in 
part  to  blame,  that  the  connexion  between 
the  houses  of  Austria  and  Stuart  had  not  ta- 
ken place.  When  he  executed  the  dispensa- 
tion which  had  been  drawn  up  by  his  prede- 
cessor, he  added  to  the  old  conditions  the 
clause,  that  in  every  county  of  England  pub- 
lic churches  should  be  erected  for  the  catho- 
lics,— a  demand  that  could  never  be  acceded 
to  by  an  irritated  protestant  population  form- 
ing a  majority  of  the  nation,  and  which  the 
pope  himself  subsequently  abandoned  on  the 
occasion  of  the  French  marriage.  The  truth 
was,  he  seemed  to  view  with  ill-will  the  in- 
crease of  power  which  Spain  would  have  ac- 
quired by  an  alliance  with  England.  The 
nuncio  then  resident  in  Brussels  treated  in  the 
utmost  secresy  for  a  marriage  between  the 
electoral  prince  palatine  and  a  princess,  not 
of  Austria,  but  of  Bavaria.f 

The  pope,  too  was  not  less  essentially  im- 
plicated in  the  entangled  affair  of  the  Mantuan 
succession.  The  secret  marriage  of  the  young 
princess  with  Rethel,  on  which  every  thing 
turned,  could  not  have  taken  place  without  a 
papal  dispensation.  Pope  Urban  granted  it 
without  one  question  asked  of  the  bride's  near- 
est relations,  the  emperor,  and  the  king  of 
Spain ;  and  granted  it,  moreover,  precisely  at 
the  critical  moment. 

All  this  being  the  case,  there  was  no  mis- 
taking the  pope's  sentiments.  Like  all  the 
other  Italian  potentates,  there  was  nothing  he 
desired  so  much  as  to  see  an  independent 
prince  in  Mantua. 

Nor  did  he  wait  till  some  step  or  another 
should  have  been  taken  by  Richelieu.  Fail- 
ing in  all  his  applications  to  the  imperial  court, 
the  proceedings  of  which  were  more  and  more 
hostile,  and  seeing  that  the  siege  of  Casale 
was  still  persisted  in,  the  pope  himself  turned 
to  France. 

He  made  the  most  urgent  entreaties  "  that 
the  king  would  send  an  army  into  the  field, 
even  before  Rochelle  should  have  been  taken ; 

*  Marquemont  (Lettres,  in  Aubery :  M6moiresde  Rich- 
elieu, i.  p.  65)  remarks  this  from  the  very  first.  It  will 
not  be  difficult,  he  says,  to  deal  with  the  pope:  his  incli- 
nations are  for  the  king  and  for  France  ;  from  prudence, 
however,  he  will  endeavour  to  satisfy  the  other  sover- 
eigns. The  pope  became  immediately  aware  of  the  aver- 
sion of  the  Spaniards. 

+  The  nuncio's  emissary  was  a  Capuchin,  Francesco 
della  Rota.  Rusdorf,  Negotiations,  i.  205,  is  particularly 
circumstantial  on  the  subject  of  his  transactions. 


an  enterprise  in  the  cause  of  Mantua  was  as 
pleasing  to  God  as  the  beleaguering  even  of 
that  main  citadel  of  the  Huguenots;  let  but 
the  king  appear  in  Lyons  and  declare  for  the 
freedom  of  Italy,  and  the  pope  would  not  de- 
lay to  send  an  army  into  the  field  and  form  a 
junction  with  the  king."* 

Richelieu,  therefore  had  nothing  to  fear 
from  that  quarter  if  he  should  renew  the  oppo- 
sition against  Spain,  which  had  broken  down 
three  years  before.  But  he  wished  to  be  per- 
fectly sure  of  his  ground  ;  he  had  none  of  the 
pope's  precipitancy,  and  he  did  not  suffer  him- 
self to  be  disturbed  from  prosecuting  that  siege 
to  which  his  ambition  was  bound. 

But  he  only  appeared  the  more  determined 
when  Rochelle  had  fallen.  "  Monsignor,"  he 
said  to  the  papal  nuncio,  whom  he  immediately 
sent  for,  "  now  are  we  too  resolved  not  to  lose 
another  minute :  the  king  will  engage  with 
all  his  might  in  the  affairs  of  Italy."f 

Now  then  that  enmity  to  Spain  and  Austria, 
which  had  so  frequently  displayed  itself,  burst 
forth  more  vehemently  than  ever.  The  jeal- 
ousy of  Italy  once  more  aroused  the  ambition 
of  France.  The  state  of  things  appeared  so 
pressing,  that  Louis  XIII.  would  not  wait  till 
the  spring,  but  at  once  left  Paris  in  the  middle  of 
the  year  1629,  and  took  the  route  across  the 
Alps,  the  duke  of  Savoy,  who,  as  we  have 
showed  adhered  to  Spain,  in  vain  opposed  him  ; 
his  passes,  which  he  had  caused  to  be  barri- 
caded, were  carried  at  the  first  assault ;  Susa 
was  taken  and  he  was  compelled  to  come  to 
terms  in  the  month  of  March,  whilst  the  Span- 
iards were  constrained  to  raise  the  siege  of 
Casale.  J 

And  so  the  two  foremost  catholic  powers 
were  once  more  opposed  to  each  other  in  arms. 
Richelieu  resumed  his  boldest  designs  against 
the  Austro-Spanish  power. 

But  a  comparison  of  the  times  with  each 
other,  shows  that  his  footing  on  the  present 
occasion  was  far  more  substantial  and  tenable 
than  it  had  been  in  his  former  interference  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Grisons  and  of  the  Palatinate. 
Then  the  Huguenots  were  still  in  a  condition 
to  seize  the  opportunity,  and  perplex  him  by 
the  renewal  of  civil  war.  Even  now  they 
were  not  indeed  fully  subdued,  but  since  they 
had  lost  Rochelle  they  were  no  longer  capable 
of  giving  him  any  uneasiness ;  their  defeats 
and  losses  proceeded  without  interruption,  and 
they  were  incapable  of  making  so  much  as  a 
mere  diversion.  Besides,  it  was  perhaps  of 
still  more  moment  that  Richelieu  now  had  the 
pope  on  his  side.  In  his  former  undertaking, 
the  state  of  variance  with  the  Roman  policy 
in  which  he  became  involved  was  perilous 


*  Extract  from  Bethune's  despatches  of  the  23rd  Sept. 
and  8th  Oct.  1628,  in  Siri:  Meniorie,  vi.  p.  478. 

+  Dispaccio,  Bagni,  2  Nov.  1628. 

±  Recueil  de  diverses  relations  des  guerres  d'ltalie, 
1 629-31 .     Bourg  en  Bresse,  1 632. 


A.  D.  1629.]    THE  POWER  OF  THE  EMPEROR  FERDINAND  IN  1629. 


319 


even  to  his  position  in  France  :  his  present  one, 
on  the  contrary,  had  been  called  forth  by 
Rome  itself  in  the  interests  of  the  papal  sover- 
eignty. Richelieu  found  it  expedient  on  the 
whole  to  attach  himself  as  closely  as  possible 
to  the  papacy:  accordinfjly,  in  the  collisions 
between  the  Roman  and  the  Galilean  doctrines, 
he  now  adhered  to  the  former  and  repudiated 
the  latter. 

How  important  in  this  way,  became  the 
hostility  of  Urban  VIII.  to  the  house  of  Aus- 
tria ! 

With  the  development  of  religious  opin- 
ions, and  the  progress  of  the  catholic  restora- 
tion, were  associated  political  changes,  the 
principles  of  which  incessantly  gathered 
strength,  and  now  set  themselves  in  array 
against  that  of  the  church  itself. 

The  pope  entered  the  lists  against  those 
powers  who  made  the  restoration  of  Catholi- 
cism their  most  earnest  care. 

The  question  now  was,  what  position  those 
powers,  especially  the  emperor  Ferdinand,  in 
whose  hands  the  task  of  effecting  that  restora- 
tion chiefly  lay,  would  take  against  so  mighty 
and  so  formidable  an  opposition. 

The  power  of  the  emferor  Ferdinand  in  the 
year  1629. 

The  emperor  appeared  as  though  nothing 
were  the  matter. 

It  is  true  he  could  not  under  existing  cir- 
cumstances promise  himself  any  sort  of  favour 
from  the  pope.  In  the  most  trifling  things, 
as  for  instance,  in  the  affair  of  the  abbey  of 
St.  Maximian,  he  met  with  resistance,  and 
received  nothing  but  refusal :  so  it  was  like- 
wise in  the  most  pious  proposals,  as  when  he 
desired  to  have  St.  Stephen  and  St.  Winces- 
laus  admitted  into  the  Roman  calendar,  be- 
cause the  one  was  an  object  of  high  veneration 
in  Hungary,  the  other  in  Bohemia.  Notwith- 
standing all  this,  he  published  the  edict  of 
restoration  in  the  empire  on  the  6th  of  March, 
1629.  That  document  may  be  regarded  as 
the  final  sentence  in  the  suit  which  had  been 
pending  upwards  of  a  century.  The  evange- 
lists were  utterly  condemned,  the  catholics 
had  judgment  entirely  in  their  favour.  "No- 
thing more  remains  for  us  to  do,"  says  the 
emperor,  "  than  to  stand  by  the  injured  party, 
and  to  order  our  commissioners  to  demand  back 
from  their  wrongful  holders  all  archbishoprics, 
bishoprics,  prelacies,  convents,  and  other  eccle- 
siastical possessions  seized  since  the  treaty  of 
Passau."  Commissions  were  forthwith  insti- 
tuted, one  of  which  was  put  in  activity  in  each 
several  circle  of  the  empire,  and  the  most 
sweeping  and  indiscriminate  execution  of  the 
edict  began.  Now  was  not  this  enough  to 
propitiate  the  pope,  and  move  him  to  favour  and 
good  will  ■}  Pope  Urban  regarded  it  all  as  a 
bare  discharge  of  duty.  The  emperor  solicit- 
ed the  right  of  nominating,  at  least  for  the  first 


time,  to  the  ecclesiastical  posts  made  vacant 
by  the  operations  of  the  edict ;  the  pope  refus- 
ed this,  saying,  "that  he  durst  not  violate 
the  concordats,  which  were  observed  even 
in  France."*  This  mode  of  refusal  was  al- 
most a  mockery,  for  the  French  concordat 
actually  secured  to  the  king  the  privilege  de- 
manded by  the  emperor.  The  emperor  wish- 
ed to  be  allowed  to  convert  the  recovered 
convents  into  colleges,  especially  for  the  Je- 
suits: the  pope  replied,  that  the  convents 
must  be  delivered  up  directly  to  the  bishops. 

Meanwhile  the  emperor  held  on  his  course 
without  regarding  the  pope's  disfavour :  he 
looked  on  himself  as  the  great  champion  of 
the  catholic  church. 

He  brought  three  armies  at  once  into  the 
field.  The  first  lent  its  aid  to  the  Poles  against 
the  Swedes,  and  actually  restored  the  fortune 
of  their  arms  to  a  certain  extent.  But  this 
was  not  the  sole  object  aimed  at :  the  cam- 
paign was  likewise  designed  with  a  view  to 
bring  back  Prussia  to  the  empire  and  the 
Teutonic  order,  from  which  it  had  been 
wrested. t 

Another  army  marched  against  the  Nether- 
lands to  the  support  of  the  Spaniards.  It 
swept  the  plain  from  Utrecht  to  Amsterdam, 
and  it  was  only  a  chance  surprise  at  Wesel 
that  hindered  its  obtaining  the  most  impor- 
tant success. 

Meanwhile  a  third  host  assembled  at  Mem- 
mingan  and  Linden,  destined  for  Italy,  where 
it  was  to  decide  the  Mantuan  affair  with  the 
sword.  The  Swiss  could  not  be  prevailed  on 
by  fair  means  to  grant  a  passage  through  their 
country ;  they  were  therefore  compelled  by 
force,  and  in  a  moment  Luciensteig,  Coire, 
and  all  the  Grison  passes  as  far  as  the  lake  of 
Como  were  occupied,  and  the  army,  amount- 
ing to  thirty-five  thousand,  descended  the  val- 
leys of  the  Adda  and  the  Oglio.  The  duke 
of  Mantua  was  once  more  summoned  to  sub- 
mit. He  declared  that  he  was  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  king  of  France,  and  that  that 
monarch  alone  was  to  be  addressed  on  the 
subject  in  question.  While  the  Germans  now 
moved  upon  Mantua,  and  the  Spaniards  on 
Montferrat,  the  French  too  made  their  appear- 
ance a  second  time,  and  somf^  success  attend- 
ed their  arms;  they  took  Saluzzo,  and  Pine- 

*  Lettere  di  Segreteria  di  stato  al  nuntio  Palotta  li  2.3 
Aprile,  1629.  The  pope  dispatched  Pier  Luigi  Caraffa, 
his  nuncio  in  Cologne,  to  Lower  Saxony,  "con  tilolo  per 
la  restitutione  de'  beni  ecclesiastici,  e  delibero  di  dargli 
anche  le  facolli  a  parte  se  fosse  stale  bisogno  li  usarle, 
nelle  controversie  fraecclesiastici  edecclesiaslici"  [with 
powers  for  the  restitution  of  ecclesiastical  possessions,  and 
he  thought  also  of  giving  him  special  authority  to  decide, 
if  necessary,  in  disputes  between  clergy  and  clergy.] 

t  M^moires  et  negotiations  de  Rusdorf,  ii.724."  Comiti 
Negroinonl;ino(Schwarzenberg).  "  Vionnig  nupe]  Claris 
verbis  a  consiliariis  et  ministris  Caesaris  dictumfuit,  im- 
peratorem  scilicet  sibi  et  imperio  subjecturum  quicquid 
milite  suo  in  Borussia  occuparit  et  ceperit."  [It  was  re- 
cently declared  in  plain  terms  by  the  councillors  and 
ministers  of  the  emperor  at  Vienna,  that  the  emperor 
would  subject  to  himself  and  to  the  empire  whatever  hia 
arms  should  obtain  posaessioa  of  in  Prussia.] 


320 


COUNTER  REFORMATION,    SECOND  PERIOD.      [a.  d.  1629-30. 


rolo,  but  they  effected  nothing  as  regarded  the 
main  design,  nor  were  they  even  able  again  to 
force  the  duke  of  Savoy  to  bend  to  their  w^ish- 
es.  Tlie  Spaniards  began  to  besiege  Casale, 
and  the  Germans  Mantua,  after  a  short  sus- 
pension of  hostilities,*  and  had  a  decided  supe- 
riority. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  if  in  this  state 
of  things  reminiscences  of  the  ancient  supre- 
macy of  the  emperors  began  to  be  rife,  and  to 
find  a  tongue  in  Vienna. 

"The  Italians  shall  be  taught  that  there  is 
still  an  emperor :  they  shall  be  brought  to  a 
rigorous  account." 

Venice  had  especially  brought  down  on 
itself  the  hatred  of  the  house  of  Austria.  It 
was  judged  at  Vienna,  that  when  once  Mantua 
should  have  fallen,  the  terra  firma  of  Venice 
would  be  incapable  of  resisting.  In  a  couple 
of  months  it  would  infallibly  be  reduced,  and 
then  the  imperial  fiefs  might  be  reclaimed. 
The  Spanish  ambassador  went  still  further ; 
he  compared  the  Austro-Spanish  power  to  the 
Roman,  the  Venetian  to  the  Carthagenian: 
"  Aut  Roma,"  he  exclaimed,  "  aui  Carthago 
delenda  est." 

The  temporal  rights  of  the  empire  were 
likewise  called  to  mind  as  against  the  papacy. 

Ferdinand  II.  purposed  to  have  himself 
crowned,  and  demanded  that  the  pope  should 
come  and  meet  him  at  Bologna  or  at  Ferrara : 
the  pope  durst  neither  promise  nor  refuse,  and 
sought  to  evade  the  difficulty  by  a  mental  re- 
servation.! The  feudal  rights  of  the  empire 
over  Urbino  and  Montefeltro  came  under  dis- 
cussion, and  the  papal  nuncio  was  told  with- 
out more  ceremony,  that  Wallenstein  would 
make  further  inquiries  on  the  subject  when  he 
came  to  Italy.  This  in  fact  was  Wallenstein's 
intention.  He  had  formerly  been  averse  to 
the  Italian  war,  but  now  he  declared  that  he 
was  in  favour  of  it,  since  he  perceived  that  the 
pope  wished  in  concert  with  his  allies  to  put 
down  the  house  of  Austria.^     He  hinted  that 

*  The  eleventh  book  of  the  Istoria  di  Pietio  Giov.  Ca- 
priata,  investigates  the  particular  bearings  of  these  events. 

t  "Se  bene  Urbano  una  volta  uscl  coll'  aiiibasciatore 
Savelli,  che  bisognando  si  saria  trasferito  a  Bologna  o 
Ferrara,  non  imese  perO  dire  in  correspettivita  di  quello 
che  espresse  il  principe  di  Eckenberg."  [Though  Urban 
once  said  to  the  ambassador  Savelli,  that  if  need  were  he 
vi'ould  go  to  Bologna  or  Ferrara,  he  did  not  yet  mean  to 
say  so  in  the  sense  expressed  by  the  prince  of  Eckenberg.] 

t  What  was  the  general  opinion  entertained  of  the  pope 
in  Vienna  appears'frornalelterofPalotta,  August  10, 1628. 
"  E  state  qui  rappresantato  da'  maligni,  che  son  quelli  che 
vogliono  la  guerra,  che  lo  state  di  Milano  staingrandissi- 
mo  pericolo,  essendo  cosa  sicura  che  papa  Urbano  haven- 
do  vastissiaii  |)ensieri  sia  di  cativo  animo  verso  la  casa 
d'Austria;  che  percii)  si  habbia  da  lemere  di  S.  S'a-  non 
meno  che  di  Veneziani  e  di  Francesi,  havendo  gli  slati 
cosl  vicini  al  ducato  di  Milano  e  potendo  in  un  tralto  met- 
tare  potente  esercito  incampagna:  e  di  piu  gli  stessi  ma- 
ligni hanno  rappresenlato  per  cosa  gi-k  stabilila  che  S.  S'a- 
vuole  in  ogni  mode  far  fare  re  de'lloraani  il  re  di  Francia, 
ed  in  confirmazione  di  cio  hanno  allegato  che  essendo  la 
S'i-  S.  nunzio  di  Francia  dicessealla  regina  ches'egli  ar- 
rivava  ad  esser  papa,  voleva  procurare  di  fare  re  de'  Ko- 
mani  il  suo  figliuolo  il  quale  ancora  era  fanciullo."  [It 
has  been  represented  by  the  evil  disposed  here,  who  are 
those  tltat  desire  war,  that  the  stale  of  Milan  is  in  e.xtreme 


a  hundred  years  had  elapsed  since  Rome  had 
been  plundered,  and  that  it  must  now  be  far 
richer  than  it  had  been  in  those  days. 

Meanwhile  France  too  was  not  to  have  been 
spared.  The  emperor  thought  of  resuming  by 
force  of  arms  the  three  alienated  bishoprics, 
his  plan  being  to  procure  Cossacks  from  Po- 
land, and  send  them  against  France.  The 
quarrels  of  Louis  XIII.  with  his  brother  and 
his  mother,  seemed  to  offer  him  a  desirable 
opportunity. 

Thus  the  house  of  Austria  took  up  a  posi- 
tion, in  which  it  followed  up  its  efforts  against 
the  protestants  in  the  boldest  manner,  but  still 
strenuously  kept  down  and  curbed  the  catholic 
opposition,  and  even  the  pope  himself 


Negociations  with  Sweden, 
at  Ratisbon. 


Electoral  diet 


As  often  in  former  times  as  a  contingency 
of  this  kind  had  been  but  remotely  foreseen  or 
apprehended,  so  often  had  every  power  in  Eu- 
rope retaining  any  independence  combined.  It 
had  now  actually  taken  place,  and  the  catho- 
lic opposition  looked  round  for  aid  beyond  the 
pale  of  Catholicism,  no  longer  prompted  by 
mere  jealousy,  but  with  a  view  to  defence  and 
salvation.  But  to  whom  could  they  turn  ] 
England  had  her  hands  full  at  home,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  rupture  between  the  king  and 
the  parliament,  and  moreover  had  actually 
entered  on  fresh  negociations  with  Spain  :  the 
Netherlands  were  themselves  invested  by  the 
enemy  ;  the  German  protestants  were  either 
beaten  or  kept  in  awe  by  the  imperial  armies, 
and  the  king  of  Denmark  had  been  forced  to 
accept  a  disadvantageous  peace.  None  else 
remained  besides  the  king  of  Sweden. 

V\^hilst  the  protestants  had  been  defeated 
on  all  sides,  Gustavus  Adolphus  alone  had 
achieved  victories.  He  had  conquered  Riga, 
all  Livonia  as  far  as  Dunamiinde,  and  of  Li- 
thunia,  as  the  Poles  expressed  it,  "  as  much 
as  he  pleased."  Next  he  made  his  appearance 
in  Prussia  in  1626,  principally,  as  he  said,  to 
visit  the  clergy  in  tiie  bishopric  of  Ermeland. 
He  took  Frauenburgand  Braunsberg,  the  chief 
seats  of  restored  Catholicism  in  those  parts, 
and  afforded  new  and  strong  support  to  the 
oppressed  protestants  there.  All  eyes  were 
turned  upon  him.  "Above  all  other  men," 
Rusdorf  writes  in  the  year  1624,  '-do  1  prize 


peril,  it  being  known  for  certain  that  pope  Urban,  enter- 
taining most  vast  designs,  is  ill  disposed  to  the  house  of 
Austria,  and  that  therefore  there  is  no  less  to  be  feared 
from  his  Holiness  than  from  the  Venetians  and  the  French, 
he  having  possession  of  states  so  near  to  the  duchy  of  Mi- 
lan, and  being  in  a  condition  at  once  to  send  powerful 
armies  into  the  field.  Moreover,  the  said  evil  disposed 
persons  have  represented  as  a  thing  already  fixed,  that 
his  Holiness  is  bent  by  all  means  on  making  the  king  of 
France  king  of  the  Komans,  in  confirmation  of  which 
they  affirm,  that  when  his  Holiness  was  nuncio  in  France, 
he  told  the  queen  that  if  he  came  to  be  pope  he  would  en- 
deavour to  have  her  son,  who  was  then  a  boy,  made  king 
of  the  Romans.] 


A.  D.  1629-30.] 


NEGOTIATIONS  WITH  SWEDEN. 


321 


this  victorious  hero ;  I  revere  him  as  the  sole 
protector  of  our  cause,  and  as  the  terror  of  our 
common  foes  ;  my  prayers  wait  on  his  renown, 
which  is  elevated  above  the  reach  of  all 
envy."*  True,  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  sus- 
tained a  loss  in  the  battle  of  the  plain  of 
Stumm,  and  had  narrowly  escaped  being  taken 
prisoner;  but  the  chivalrous  valour  with 
which  he  cut  his  way  through  shed  fresh 
lustre  on  his  name,  and  he  kept  the  field  in 
spite  of  tliis  disadvantage. 

To  this  prince  the  French   turned  on  the 
present  emergency.     In  the  first  place,  they 
effected  a  truce  between  him  and  the  Poles ; 
and  it  is  very  possible  that  tiie  emperor's  Prus- 
sian views  contributed  to  make,  if  not  the 
king,  yet  the  nobles  at  least  of  Poland,  dispos- 
ed to  peace.f     Then  they  made  a  further  step 
towards  their  main  object,   namely,  enticing 
the  king  of  Sweden  into  Germany.     The  only 
caution  they  observed  in  this  matter,  was  to 
introduce  into  the  treaty  some  stipulations  in^ 
favour  of  Catholicism.     With  these  reserva- 
tions, they  declared  themselves  ready  to  aid 
the  king,  who  had  an  imposing  army  prepared 
to  take  the  field,  with  a  proportional  subsidy 
in  money.     After  some  hesitation,  king  Gus- 
tavus accepted  the  proposal.     He  avoided  all 
mention  of  religion  in  his  instructions,  and  put 
forth  as  the  aim  of  the  confederacy  merely  the 
restoration  of  the  German  estates  to  their  an- 
cient privileges,  the  removal  of  the  imperial 
troops,  and  the  security  of  the  seas  and   of 
commerce. I  A  treaty  was  drawn  up,  in  which 
the   king  promised   to   tolerate  the   catholic 
worship  wherever  he  found  it,  and  in  matters 
of  religion  to  abide  by  the  laws  of  the  empire 
(such  was  the  expression).     This  stipulation 
was  necessary  for  the  pope's  sake,  to  whom 
notice  was  immediately  given  of  the  treaty. 
The  ratification  was  obstructed  indeed  by  some 
formalities ;  still  the  measure  was  regarded 
as  definitive  as  early  as  the  summer  of  1630.^ 
The   papal   nuncio   in    France   asserts   that 
Venice  had  pledged  herself  to  pay  a  third  of 
the  subsidies.il     I  have  not  been  able  to  ascer. 

*  Rusdorf,  Memoires,  ii.  3.  "Ejus  gloriam  invidiae 
metas  elijctatam,  extelsam  infracli  animi  magnitudinem, 
et  virtutis  niagis  ac  magis  per  merita  enitescentis  et  assur- 
genlis  iavictuin  robur  cum  slupore  adoro  el  supplici  voto 
prosequor." 

t  Rusdorf,  1.1.  724.  "  Polonia  proceres,  si  unquam,  vel 
nunc  maxiiiip,  pacem  desiderabunt." 

t  "  Tenor  mandatorum  qua  S.  R.  Maj.  Sueciae  clemenier 
vult,  ut  consil^arius  ejus  ....  Dn.  Ciimerarius  observare 
debeat,  Upsaliae,  18  Dec.  1629."  Mosers  palriotisches 
Archiv.  b.  vi.  p.  133. 

§  Bagni,  IS,  Guigno  1G30.  He  gives  in  the  following 
form,  with  slight  variations, the  article,  which  is  also  lobe 
found  in  the  treaty  of  the  6ih  of  January,  1631 :  "  Si  rex 
aliquos  progressus  faciei,  in  caplis  aul  deditis  locis,  quan- 
tum ad  ea  quae  ad  religionem  apectanl,  observabii  leges 
imperii."  He  also  shows  how  this  article  was  understood. 
"  Le  quali  legge,"  he  adds,  "  dicevano  dovere  inlendersi 
delta  religione  cattolica  e  della  confessione  Augustana." 
[Which  laws,  he  says,  were  lo  be  understood  as  concern- 
ing the  catholic  religion  and  the  confession  of  Augsburg.] 
— So  that  Calvinism  was  to  be  excluded 


tain  what  grounds  there  are  for  this  assertion  : 
at  least,  it  was  consistent  with  the  situation 
of  things. 

But  could  hopes  be  fairly  entertained  that 
Gustavus  Adolphus  would  be  able,  single- 
handed,  to  break  the  might  of  the  imperial 
allied  armies,  and  to  conquer  them  in  the 
field  ?  It  appeared,  above  all  things,  desira- 
ble to  elicit  a  movement  in  Germany  itself, 
that  should  fall  in  with  and  second  his  enter- 
prize. 

Now  in  this  respect  the  piotestants  might 
safely  be  counted  on.  Whatever  might  be 
the  policy  urged  on  individual  princes  by  per- 
sonal motives  or  by  fear,  still  was  the  general 
mind  possessed  by  that  ferment  that  stirs 
the  very  depths  of  society,  and  rouses  the 
mightiest  storms.  I  will  mention  but  one 
thought  that  spread  widely  in  those  days. 
When  the  edict  of  restitution  began  to  be  en- 
forced here  and  there,  and  the  Jesuits  mani- 
fested a  disposition  to  disregard  altogether  the 
terms  of  the  peace  of  Augsburg,  the  protes- 
tants  intimated,  that  before  matters  should  be 
allowed  to  go  such  lengths,  utter  destruction 
should  befal  the  German  empire  and  nations, 
"  rather  would  they  fling  from  them  all  law 
and  all  usages  of  civil  society,  and  cast  back 
Germany  into  its  ancient  state  of  forest  wild- 
ness." 

But  on  the  catholic  side  discontent  and  dis- 
union appeared. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  commotion, 
excited  among  the  clergy  by  the  purpose  of 
the  Jesuits  to  possess  themselves  of  the  res- 
tored monastic  possessions.  The  Jesuits  are 
said  to  have  declared  that  there  were  no  longer 
any  Benedictines,  that  they  had  all  gone 
astray,  and  were  no  longer  qualified  to  resume 
their  lost  places.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
merits  of  the  Jesuits  were  disputed ;  their 
adversaries  would  not  admit  that  they  had 
eftected  conversions ;  what  appeared  to  be 
such  were  no  more,  they  said,  tlian  the  effect 
of  force.*     Even  before  the  ecclesiastical  pos- 

aggiunta  larepublica  di  Venelia,  la  quale  obligavasi  a  con- 
iribuire  per  la  terza  parte." 

*  The  vehement  controversial  writings,  attacks,  and 
replies,  which  appeared  on  this  subject,  do  not  enable  us 
to  get  at  the  truth  of  the  main  facts,  butlhey  make  known 
to  us  the  points  of  dispute.  "E  verissirao,"says  the  papal 
nuncio,  in  a  letter  in  cypher,  "  che  i  padri  Gesuiti  hanno 
procurato  e  procurano  col  favore  dell'  imperatore,  chenon 
put)  esser  maggiore,  di  non  solo  soprastare  agli  altri  reli- 
giosi,  ma  di  escluderli  dove  essi  v'  hanno  alcun  interesse 
o  politico  o  spiriiuale."  [It  is  most  true  that  the  Jesuits 
have  contrived  and  do  contrive,  through  the  favour  of  the 
emperor,  which  cannot  be  greater,  not  only  to  make  their 
own  order  superior  to  all  others,  but  to  exclude  the  latter 
where  they  have  any  political  or  spiritual  interest.]  I 
find,  however,  that  strongly  as  the  emperor  then  leaned  to 
the  Jesuits,  he  was  yet  disposed,  in  the  year  1629,  to  make 
an  unreserved  restitution  of  their  possessions  to  the  old 
orders.  PierLuigi  Caraffn,  nuncio  at  Cologne,  relates  this. 
But  at  this  juncture  the  Jesuits  had  already  carried  their 
point  at  Rome,  where,  in  July,  1629,  a  deci'ee  was  issued, 
"  che  alcuna  parte  (dei  beni  ricuperali)  potesse  converters! 
in  erezioni  di  seminarj,  di  scuole  e  di  coUegj  lanlo  de' 
padri  Gesuile,  quali  in  gran  parte  furono  motori  dell'  ediito 
di  Cesare,  come  di  allri  religiosi."  [that  some  part  of  the 


II  Bagni,  16Luglio,  1630.    "  Sopragiunsero,"  it  is  said  in  ' 

the  extract,  "  nuove  letters  del  Bagni  coll'  aviso  che  alia  1 , „ ^ ^ 

prefata  coafederalione  fra  il  re  di  Francia  e  lo  Suaco  erasi '  recovered  possessions  might  be  applied  to  the  erection  of 

4U 


322 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.     SECOND  PERIOD. 


[a.  d.  1630. 


sessions  were  yet  recovered,  they  excited  dis- 
cord and  wrangling-  between  the  orders,  with 
respect  to  their  several  claims  to  possess  them, 
and  between  the  emperor  and  the  pope,  res- 
pecting the  right  of  collation. 

But  to  these  ecclesiastical  misunderstand- 
ings were  added  temporal  ones,  of  far  more 
serious  and  extensive  nature.  The  imperial 
troops  were  an  intolerable  burthen  to  the 
country ;  their  marches  exhausted  the  resour- 
ces of  the  land  and  of  its  inhabitants ;  the 
soldier  maltreated  the  burgher  and  the  pea- 
sant, as  the  general  did  the  prince.  Wallen- 
stein  held  the  most  insolent  language.  Even 
the  emperor's  old  allies,  the  heads  of  the 
League,  particularly  Maximilian  of  Bavaria, 
were  dissatisfied  with  the  present,  and  uneasy 
about  the  future. 

Things  being  in  this  state,  it  befel  that 
Ferdinand,  with  a  view  to  the  election  of  his 
son  as  king  of  the  Romans,  assembled  the  ca- 
tholic electors  at  Ratisbon  in  the  summer  of 
1630.  The  opportunity  could  not  pass  away 
without  mention  of  all  other  public  affairs. 

The  emperor  saw  clearly  that  he  must  give 
way  somewhat.  His  intention  was  to  make 
concessions  in  German  affairs  :  he  showed  a 
disposition  to  suspend  the  edict  of  restitution, 
as  regarded  the  territories  of  Brandenburg  and 
electoral  Saxony,  to  come  to  an  arrangement 
respecting  the  Palatinate  and  Mecklenburg, 
and  even  to  effect  a  reconciliation  with  Swe- 
den ;  to  which  end  negociations  were  actually 
entered  on,  whilst  in  the  mean  time  he  should 
concentrate  all  his  strength  upon  Italy,  bring 
the  Mantuan  war  to  an  end,  and  constrain  the 
pope  to  recognize  his  ecclesiastical  claims.* 

He  was  fain  to  believe  that,  having  to  do 
with  German  princes,  he  should  obtain  most 
by  a  tone  of  concession  in  German  matters. 
But  the  situation  of  things  was  not  so  simple. 

The  spirit  of  the  Italico-French  opposition 


seminaries,  endowments,  schools,  and  colleges,  as  well  of 
the  Jesuits,  who  had  been  in  great  part  the  instigators  of 
the  emperor's  edict,  as  of  other  orders  of  the  clergy.]  The 
Jesuit  schools  would  thus  have  spread  over  all  North 
Germany. 

*  Dispaccio  Pallotla,  2  Ag.  16.30,  mentions  among  the 
points  that  were  to  be  discussed  :  "  1°.  Se  si  doveva  sos- 
pendere  o lirare  avanti  1 '  editto  della  ricuperatione  de'  beni 
ecclci- :  2°.  Se  havendosi  da  procedere  avanti  si  avesse  da 
sospendere  quanto  a  quelli  che  erano  neglistatidell'  elel- 
tori  di  Sassonia  e  di  Brandenburgo :  ed  inclinavasi  a  sos- 
penderlo:  3°.  Quanto  ai  beneficii  e  beni  ecclci-  che  si 
erano  ricuperati,  pretendevasi  che  alii  imperatori  spet- 
tase  la  nominazione  ...  6°.  Trattavasi  di  reslituire  il 
ducalo  di  Mechelburgh  agli  anlichi  padroni,  siccome  il 
palatinato  almeno  inferiore  al  palatino,  con  perpetuo  pre- 
giudittio  della  religione  cattolica,  come  era  seguito  con 
Danimarca."  [1.  Whether  the  edict  for  the  restitution  of 
ecclesiastical  possessions  should  be  suspended  or  put  in 
force.  2.  Whether,  in  case  it  was  to  be  enforced,  it  should 
be  suspended  as  far  as  regarded  those  in  the  states  of  the 
electors  of  Saxony  and  Brandenburgh:  and  opinions  in- 
clined toward^s  suspending  it.  3.  As  for  the  benefices  and 
other  ecclesiastical  cmoluiiienis  recovered,  it  was  main- 
tained that  the  nomination  to  them  belonged  to  the  empe- 
ror   6.  The  restitution  of  the  duchy  of  Mecklen- 

burgh  to  its  old  possessors  was  discussed,  as  well  as  that 
of  at  least  the  Lower  Palatinate  to  the  Palatine,  to  the  per- 
manent detriment  of  the  catholic  religion,  as  had  been 
the  case  in  Denmark.] 


had  crept  in  among  the  catholic  electors,  and 
its  leaders  sought  to  turn  the  discontent  of 
those  princes  to  the  furtherance  of  their  own 
ends. 

First  appeared  Rocci,  the  papal  nuncio  in 
Ratisbon.  He  had  every  cause  to  employ  all 
arts  that  could  impede  the  execution  of  the 
emperor's  Italian  and  anti-papal  schemes. 

The  pope  had  enjoined  him.,  above  all  things, 
to  enter  into  and  maintain  a  good  understand- 
ing with  the  elector  of  Bavaria ;  in  a  short 
time  he  announced  that  this  understanding 
was  kept  up  in  the  profoundest  secresy  :*  he 
produced  a  declaration  of  the  catholic  electors, 
that  in  all  ecclesiastical  matters  they  would 
continue  in  union  with  him,  and  that  they 
would  especially  uphold  the  jurisdiction  and 
the  dignity  of  the  papal  see. 

But,  to  give  matters  a  decisive  turn,  father 
Joseph,  Richelieu's  confidant,  came  to  the 
nuncio's  aid.  Never  was  the  consummate 
crafl  of  this  capuchin  more  active,  more  ef- 
fective, or  more  obvious  to  those  who  were 
privy  to  the  proceedings,  than  on  this  occa- 
sion. Monsieur  de  Leon,  his  colleague  in 
Ratisbon,  who  gave  his  name  to  the  embassy, 
said  that  father  Joseph  had  no  soul,  but  in  its 
stead  shallows  and  quicksands,  into  which 
whoever  dealt  with  him  was  sure  to  fall. 

Through  these  mediators  the  emperor's 
German  confederates  were  speedily  made  to 
coalesce  with  the  Italico-French  opposition  to 
him.  Nothing  was  done  towards  a  reconcili- 
ation of  the  empire  with  Sweden,  or  towards 
tranquillizing  the  protestants ;  never  would 
the  pope  have  consented  to  the  suspension  of 
the  edict  of  restitution.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  electors  insisted  on  the  restoration  of 
peace  in  Italy,  and  demanded  the  dismissal  of 
the  imperial  generalissimo,  who  comported 
himself  as  an  unlimited  dictator. 

And  so  mighty  was  this  influence,  so  adroit- 
ly was  it  pressed,  that  the  puissant  emperor, 
in  the  zenith  of  his  power,  gave  way  without 
resistance  or  condition. 

Whilst  these  negotiations  were  pending,  his 
troops  had  conquered  Mantua,  and  he  might 
regard  himself  as  lord  ,and  master  pf  Italy. 
At  this  moment  he  submitted  to  cede  Mantua 
to  the  duke  of  Nevers,  in  exchange  for  the 
unmeaning  formality  of  an  apology.  But  the 
other  demands  of  the  confederates  were  per- 
haps still  more  significant.  The  German 
princes,  France,  and  the  pope,  were  alike 
threatened  by  the  general,  to  whose  person 
was  bound  the  success  of  the  imperial  arms! 
It  is  no  wonder  that  they  hated  him,  and 
wished  to  get  rid  of  him.  The  emperor,  for 
peace  sake,  gave  him  up. 

At  the  moment  when  he  could  master  Italy 


*  Dispaccio  Rocci,  9  Sett.  1630.  "  E  questa  correspon- 
denza  riuscl  moltofruttuosa,  perchS  Baviera  di  buon  cuore 
oper6  che  in  quel  convento  non  si  tratto  delle  operationi 
sopra  meniovaie." 


A.  D.  1631.] 


SWEDISH  WAR.— POSITION  OF  THE  POPE, 


328 


he  let  it  it  slip  out  of  his  hands !  At  the  mo- 
ment when  the  most  formidable  and  warlike 
enemy  attacked  iiim  in  Germany,  he  dis- 
missed the  general  who  alone  could  have 
been  in  a  condition  to  defend  him !  Never 
did  policy  and  negociation  produce  more  vast 
results. 

Swedish  vmr. — Position  of  the  Pope. 

And  now  the  war  really  begun.  It  cannot 
be  denied  that  Gustavus  Adolphus  entered 
upon  it  under  favourable  auspices.  For  had 
not  the  imperial  army  been  raised  in  Wallen- 
stein's  name,  and  been  personally  devoted  and 
pledged  to  him  ?  The  emperor  even  dismiss- 
ed a  part  of  it,  and  subjected  the  contribu- 
tions levied  by  the  generals,  which  had  hith- 
erto been  discretional  with  themselves,  to  the 
control  of  the  circles  of  the  empire.*  Assur- 
edly the  emperor,  by  dismissing  his  general 
at  the  same  time  broke  up  his  army,  and  took 
from  it  its  moral  force.  Torquato  Conti,  an 
Italian,  who  had  previously  been  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  pope,  was  with  such  a  body  to 
make  head  against  the  emboldened  and  zeal- 
ous foe.  As  a  matter  of  course,  he  failed  out- 
right :  the  imperial  army  no  longer  was  what 
it  had  been  :  nothing  was  seen  in  it  but  inde- 
cision, vaccillation,  panic,  and  defeat.  Gus- 
tavus Adolphus  drove  it  utterly  out  of  the 
field,  and  took  up  a  strong  position  on  the 
lower  Oder. 

At  first  it  was  believed  in  Upper  Germany 
that  this  was  of  little  moment  to  the  rest 
of  the  empire;  and  Tilly  continued  with 
great  composure  to  pursue  his  operation  on 
the  Elbe.  When  at  last  he  took  Madgeburg, 
the  pope  regarded  it  as  a  great  victory,  and 
the  most  brilliant  hopes  were  founded  on  the 
event.  A  commissioner  was  actually  ap- 
pointed, at  Tilly's  suggestion,  "  to  arrange 
the  afluirs  of  the  archbishopric,  in  accordance 
with  the  laws  of  the  catholic  church." 

But  this  very  measure  was  the  cause  that  all 
the  protestant  princes  who  v/ere  yet  undecided 
now  attached  themselves  to  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus, and  on  Tilly's  endeavouring  to  prevent 
thera,  became  involved  in  a  hostility  with  the 
League,  which  put  an  end  to  all  further  dis- 
tinction between  leaguers  and  imperialists. 
The  battle  of  Leipsig  followed :  Tilly  was 
completely  routed,  and  the  protestant  forces 
poured  alike  over  tiie  countries  of  the  leaguers 
and  of  the  imperialists.  Wi'n-zburg  and  Bam- 
berg fell  into  the  king's  hands;  on  the  Rhine 
the  protestants  of  the  remote  north  met  the 
old  champions  of  Catholicism,  the  Spanish 
troops, — their  mingled  skulls  are  to  be  seen 
at  Oppenheim;    Mainz   was  conquered;    all 


*  Adlzreitler,  iii.  xv.  48.  "  Cesar  slatuit  ne  in  posierum 
slipendia  pro  tribunorum  arbiirio  seU  ex  circuloruiu  piae- 
scripta  moderatione  penderenlur." 


oppres.sed  princes  joined  the  king  ;  the  exiled 
palatine  appeared  in  his  camp. 

The  inevitable  result  of  an  enterprize  called 
forth  and  sanctioned  by  the  catholic  opposition, 
from  political  views,  was  an  advantage  to  pro- 
testantism. Tlie  party  that  had  been  over- 
powered and  oppressed,  found  itself  once  more 
suddenly  victorious.  It  is  true,  the  king  ex- 
tended his  protection  to  the  catholics  gener- 
ally, as  he  was  bound  to  do  by  the  terms  of 
his  engagement;  but  at  the  same  time  he  de- 
clared that  he  was  come  to  rescue  his  breth- 
ren in  faith  from  the  violence  done  to  their 
consciences.*  He  took  under  his  special  pro- 
tection the  evangelical  ministers  who  were 
subject  to  catholic  governments, — as,  for  in- 
stance, those  of  Erfurt;  he  also  everywhere 
proclaimed  the  Augsburg  confession ;  the  ex- 
iled parish  clergy  returned  to  the  palatinate, 
and  the  preaching  of  Lutheranism  once  more 
ranged  the  land  in  the  train  of  the  victorious 
army. 

Such  were  the  strange  perplexities  into 
which  fell  the  policy  of  Urban  VIII.  In  so 
far  as  the  king  attacked  and  overcome  the 
Austrian  power,  he  was  the  natural  ally  of 
the  pope.  This  was  at  once  made  apparent 
in  the  affairs  of  Italy.  Influenced  by  his 
losses  in  Germany,  the  emperor  consented,  in 
the  year  16-31,  to  still  more  unfavourable  con- 
ditions in  the  affair  of  INIantua,  than  he  had 
submitted  to  the  year  before  at  Ratisbon. 
Nay,  there  even  subsisted,  if  not  direct,  yet 
indirect  ties,  between  the  papal  see  and  the 
once  more  victorious  protestant  powers.  "  I 
speak  of  the  matter  from  good  authority," 
says  Aloys  Contarini,  who  was  first  at  the 
French,  and  afterwards  at  the  Roman  court ; 
"I  was  present  at  every  negociation:  the 
pope's  nuncios  always  seconded  Richelieu's 
undertakings,  both  when  they  concerned  his 
own  safety,  and  when  they  had  for  their  ob- 
ject to  unite  Bavaria  and  the  league  with 
France.  With  regard  to  his  alliance  with 
Holland,  and  with  the  protestant  powers  in 
general,  they  held  their  peace,  not  to  say 
they  sanctioned  it.  Other  popes  would  per- 
haps have  felt  some  compunctious  visitings  at 
this  :  Urban's  nimcios  acquired  by  such  means 
increased  consideration  and  personal  advan- 
tages."! 

Loud  and  bitter  were  the  emperor's  com- 
plaints. "  The  Roman  court  had  first  induced 
him  to  publish  the  edict  of  restoration,  and 
now  abandoned  him  in  the  war  that  ensued 
from  thence ;  the  pope  had  frustrated  the 
election  of  his  son  as  king  of  tiie  Romans ;  he 
encouraged  the  elector  of  Bavaria,  by  word 
and  deed,  to  pursue  a  separate  line  of  policy, 
and  to  ally  himself  with  France  ;  it  was  vani 


*  Letter  from  the  king  to  the  town  of  Schweinfurt  in 
Chemnitz :  Schwcdischer  Krieg,  Th.  i.  ]>.  231. 
I  Aluise  Contarini :  Relatione  Ui  Roma,  11535. 


324 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.     SECOND  PERIOD. 


[a.  d.  1631-5. 


to  solicit  of  Urban  such  aid  in  money  or  men 
as  other  popes  had  often  afforded  :  he  even 
refused  to  condemn  the  alliance  of  the  French 
with  the  heretics,  or  to  declare  the  existing 
war  a  war  of  religion."*  In  the  year  1632 
we  find  the  imperial  ambassadors  in  Rome 
urging,  above  all  things,  the  last-mentioned 
point.  The  pope's  declaration,  they  said, 
could  even  yet  produce  the  most  important 
effects ;  even  yet  it  was  not  altogether  im- 
possible to  repulse' the  king  of  Sweden:  he 
had  not  more  than  thirty  thousand  men. 

The  pope  replied,  with  frigid  erudition, 
"With  thirty  thousand  men  Alexander  con- 
quered the  world." 

He  persisted  in  it  that  it  was  no  war  of  re- 
ligion; it  related  only  to  affairs  of  state. 
Furthermore,  the  papal  treasury  was  exhaust- 
ed, he  could  do  nothing. 

The  members  of  the  curia  and  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Rome  were  amazed.  "  Amidst  the 
conflagration  of  catholic  churches  and  con- 
vents,"— so  they  expressed  themselves, — 
"  the  pope  stands  as  cold  and  as  rigid  as  ice. 
The  king  of  Sweden  has  more  zeal  for  his 
Lutheranism  than  the  holy  father  for  the  sole 
saving  faith." 

The  Spaniards  had  once  more  recourse  to 
a  protest.  Cardinal  Borgia  appeared  before 
Urban  VIII.  as  once  Olivarez  did  before  Six- 
tus  v.,  to  protest  solemnly  against  the  con- 
duct of  his  holiness.  The  scene  that  ensued 
was,  perhaps,  still  more  violent  than  that  on 
the  former  occasion.  Whilst  the  pope  burst 
into  a  boiling  i"age,  and  interrupted  the  am- 
bassador, the  cardinals  present  took  part  with 
the  one  side  or  the  other.  The  ambassador 
was  forced  to  content  himelf  with  delivering 
in  his  protest  in  writing.f  But  this  was  not 
enough  for  the  zealous  catholic  party  :  the 
thought  presently  arose,  particularly  at  the 
instigation  of  the  Ludovisio,  the  cardinal  ne- 
phew of  the  last  reign,  of  calling  a  council  in 
opposition  to  the  pope.} 


*  Aluise  Contarini:  "Gli  Aleraanni  si  pretendono  de- 
lusi  dal  papa,  perche  dopo  aver  egli  reiteratamente  per- 
suaso  1'  imperalore  di  ripetero  dalli  eretici  i  beni  ecclesi- 
aslici  d'  Alemagna  ch'  erano  in  loro  mani,  origine  di  lante 
guerre,  resislesse  S.  Sta-  poi  alle  reiterate  spedizioni  di 
card'i-  e  d'  auibri-  nelle  assistenze  di  danaro,  nel  mandar 
gente  e  bandiere  con  I'esempio  de'  precessori,  nel  piibli- 
car  la  guerradi  religionn,  nell'  impedirecoUescomuniche 
gli  appoggi  ai  medesimi  heretici  della  Francia:  anzi  nel 
niedesimo  tempo  ritardata  1'  elettione  del  re  de'  Romani, 
confermalo  il  duca  di  Baviera  con  la  lega  cattolica  all' 
unione  di  Francia,  assislendo  lo  medesimo  di  danari  e  di 
consiglio  per  sostenersi  in  corpo  separalo.  II  papa  si 
lagna  d'esser  tenuto  erclico  et  aniatore  di  buoni  progressi 
de'  proteslanli,  com  talvolla  in  effetto  non  li  ebbs  dis- 
cari." 

t  "Nelli  quale,"  says  cardinal  Cecchini,  in  his  autobi- 
ography, "concludeva  che  tutti  li  danni  che  per  le  pre- 
sent! turbolenze  erano  per  venire  alia  christianitii,  sariano 
stati  attribuiti  alia  negligenza  del  papa."  [In  which  it 
laid  it  down,  that  all  tlie  evils  which  should  come  upon 
Christendom  through  the  present  troubles,  would  be  attri- 
butable to  the  pope's  negligence.] 

t  Al.  Contarini  speaks  of  the  "  orecchio  che  si  prestava 
in  Spagna  alio  praliche  di  Ludovisio  per  un  concilio" 
[the  ear  that  was  lent  in  Spain  to  Ludovisio's  suggestions 
and  eflbns  for  a  council.] 


But  what  a  flame  would  this  have  kindled ! 
Events  already  took  a  turn  which  left  no 
doubt  as  to  their  nature,  and  which  would 
of  necessity  give  a  difierent  bent  to  the  papal 
policy. 

Urban  VIII.  flattered  himself  for  a  while 
that  the  king  would  conclude  a  treaty  of  neu- 
trality with  Bavaria,  and  replace  the  spiritual 
princes  in  their  dominions.  But  every  attempt 
at  a  reconciliation  of  interests  so  diametrically 
opposed  very  speedily  failed.  The  Swedish 
forces  poured  into  Bavaria;  Tilly  fell;  Mu- 
nich was  conquered ;  and  duke  Bernhard 
pressed  forward  towards  the  Tyrol. 

No  doubt  could  now  be  any  longer  enter- 
tained of  what  the  pope  and  Catholicism  had 
to  expect  from  the  Swedes.  How  utterly  was 
the  state  of  things  changed  in  a  moment! 
But  now  the  hope  had  been  cherished  of  win- 
ning back  to  Catholicism  the  dioceses  of 
Northern  Germany,  and  now  the  king  con- 
ceived the  plan  of  converting  the  South  Ger- 
man endowments  which  were  in  his  hands 
into  temporal  principalities.  He  already  be- 
gan to  talk  of  his  duchy  of  Franconia,  and 
seemed  disposed  to  fix  his  royal  court  at 
Augsburg. 

Two  years  before,  the  pope  had  reason  to 
dread  the  descent  of  the  Austrians  upon  Italy, 
and  had  been  threatened  with  an  attack  upon 
Rome.  Now  the  Swedes  appeared  on  the  con- 
fines of  Italy  :  with  the  name  of  a  king  of 
Sweden  and  Gothland,  borne  by  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  were  associated  reminiscences  that 
awoke  in  the  minds  of  either  party.* 

Restoration  of  the  balance  of  the  two  confes- 
sions. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  go  into  the  details 
of  the  strife  that  filled  Germany  for  sixteen 
years  longer.  Enough  if  we  have  remarked 
how  that  mighty  progress  of  Catholicism, 
which  was  in  the  act  of  forever  mastering 
Germany,  was  checked  in  its  career,  even  at 
the  moment  it  was  about  to  annihilate  pro- 
testantism at  its  source,  and  encountered  a 
victorious  re.sistance.  It  may  be  laid  down 
as  a  general  maxim,  that  Catholicism,  regard- 
ed as  an  unity,  was  not  capable  of  enduring 
its  own  victories.  The  head  of  the  church 
himself  thought  it  necessary,  for  political  rea- 
sons, to  set  himself  against  the  powers  that 
had  most  upheld  and  extended  his  spiritual 
authority.  Catholics,  in  concert  with  the 
pope,  called  forth  the  yet  uncrushed  powers 
of  protestantism,  and  prepared  its  path. 


*  Neverthelesa  Al.  Contarini  avers:  "L'opinione  vivo 
tuttavia  che  a  S.  Sii-  sia  dispiaciuta  la  morie  del  re  di 
Suezia  e  che  piu  gode  o  per  dir  meglio  manco  tema  i  pro. 
gressi  de'  protestanli  che  degli  Austriaci."  [that  the  opi- 
nion still  prevails  thathis  holiness  regrets  the  death  of  the 
king  of  Sweden,  and  that  he  is  better  pleased  with,  or 
rather  fears  less,  the  success  of  the  protestants  than  that 
of  the  Austrians,] 


A.  D.  1635-40.]  THE  BALANCE  OF  THE  TWO  CONFESSIONS. 


329 


Plans  of  such  magnitude  as  those  enter- 
tained by  Gustavus  Adolphus,  in  the  plenitude 
of  his  power,  could  not,  indeed,  be  carried  out 
after  the  untimely  death  of  that  sovereign  : 
and  for  this  reason,  that  the  triumphs  of  pro- 
testantism were  hy  no  means  to  be  ascribed 
to  its  own  intrinsic  power.  But  neither  was 
Catholicism  able  ever  more  to  overpower  pro- 
testantism, not  even  when  it  had  better  com- 
bined its  strength,  when  Bavaria  had  again 
joined  the  emperor,  and  Urban,  too,  once  more 
paid  subsidies. 

This  conviction  was  speedily  arrived  at,  at 
least  in  Germany.  In  fact,  the  peace  of 
Prague  was  founded  upon  it.  The  emperor 
suffered  his  edict  of  restitution  to  drop,  while 
the  elector  of  Saxony,  and  the  states  in  alli- 
ance with  him,  gave  up  the  idea  of  a  re-esta- 
blishment  of  protestantism  in  the  hereditary 
dominions  of  Austria. 

Pope  Urban,  it  is  true,  opposed  every  mea- 
sure at  variance  with  the  edict  of  restitution, 
and  in  the  emperor's  spiritual  council  he  had 
the  Jesuits  on  his  side,  especially  father  La- 
mormain,  who  was  frequently  lauded  as  "a 
worthy  father  confessor,  a  man  iniluenced  by 
no  worldly  consideration* ;"  but  the  majority 
were  against  him,  including  the  capuchins 
Quiroga  and  Valerian,  and  cardinals  Die- 
trichstein  and  Pazmany,  who  asserted  that, 
provided  the  catholic  religion  was  preserved 
in  its  purity  in  the  hereditary  Austrian  do- 
minions, freedom  of  conscience  might  be  al- 
lowed the  rest  of  the  empire.  The  peace  of 
Prague  was  proclaimed  in  Vienna  from  all  the 
pulpits :  the  capuchins  boasted  of  their  share 
in  that  "  honourable  and  holy"  work,  and  cele- 
brated it  with  special  solemnities :  hardly 
could  the  nuncio  hinder  Te  Deum  being 
sung.f 

*  Lettera  del  card'.  Barberino  al  nuntio  Baglione,  17 
Marzo,  1635  :  "  Essendo  azionc  de  generoso  Chrisliano  e  | 
degno  confessore  di  un  pio  iniperalore,  ci6  che  egli  ha  i 
fatlo  rimirando  piii  il  cielo  che  il  mondo." 

I  From  Baelioni's  correspondence,  as  extracted  in  the  | 
6th  vol.  of  Nicoletli,  e.  g.  April  14,  16;i3.  "Disse  un 
giorno  il  conte  di  Ognate  che  assolutamente  il  re  di 
Spagna  non  avrebbe  dalo  ajuto  alcuno  all'  imperatore  se 
non  in  caso  che  seguisse  la  pace  con  Sassonia:  di  che 
maravigllandosi  il  nunzio  disse  che  la  pieti  del  re  calto- 
lico  richiedeva  che  si  cumulassero  gli  ajuti  non  seguendo 
detta  pace,  laquale  doveva  piuttoslo  disturbarsi,  traltan- 
dosi  con  eretici,  ed  applicare  1'  animo  alia  pace  univer- 
sale coi  principi  caltolici.  FuUi  risposto  che  ciO  segui- 
rebbe  quando  la  guerra  si  fosse  fatla  per  la  salute  delle 
anime  e  non  per  la  ricuperazione  de'  beni  ecclesiastic), 
ed  il  padre  Quiroga  soggiunse  al  nunzio  che  1'  imperatore 
era  slato  gabbalo  da  quelli  che  1'  liavevano  persuaso  a  fare 
1'  edilto  della  ricuperazione  d'  beni  ecclesiastici,  volendo 
intendere  d'  Gesuiti,  e  che  tulto  erasi  fatlo  per  interesse 
proprio:  ma  avendo  il  nunzio  risposto  che  la  persuasione 
erastata  interposta  con  buona  inlenzione,  il  padre  Qui- 
roga si  accese  in  raaniera  che  proruppe  in  termini  esor- 
bilanti,  sicch6  al  nunzio  fu  diflicile  il  ripigliario,  perch6 
maggiormente  noneccedesse.  Ma  Ognate  passu  piu  oltre, 
dicendo  che  I'imperatore  non  poteva  in  conic  alcuno  riti- 
rarsi  dalla  pace  con  Sassonia  per  la  necessitil  in  cui  tro- 
vavasi,  non  potente  resistere  a  tanti  nemici,  e  che  non 
eraobbligalo  a  rimettervi  I'havere  de'  suoi  stall  heredi- 
tarj,  ma  solamente  quelli  dell'  imperio  che  erano  tenuis- 
simi,  e  che  non  conipliva  di  tirare  avanti  con  pericolo  di 
perdere  gli  uni  e  gli  allri."  [The  count  Onate  one  day  i 
said,  that  decidedly  the  king  of  Spain  would  not  have  I 


Whilst  Urban  VIII.,  though  practically  he 
contributed  so  much  to  the  frustation  of  the 
catholic  schemes,  still  in  theory  refused  to 
abandon  the  least  of  his  pretensions,  all  he 
etfected  was,  that  the  papacy  assumed  a  posi- 
tion apart  from  the  living  and  effective  inte- 
rests of  the  world.  Nothing  more  stongly 
demonstrated  this  than  the  instructions  he 
gave  Ginetti,  his  legate  in  Cologne,  on  the 
occasion  of  an  attempt  at  concluding  a  gene- 
ral peace  in  the  year  1636.  The  envoy's 
hands  were  tied  precisely  on  all  weighty 
points  on  which  the  negotiation  absolutely  and 
directly  depended.  One  of  the  most  urgent 
necessities,  for  example,  was  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  palatinate;  nevertheless,  the  legate 
was  enjoined  to  resist  the  restoration  of  the  pa- 
latinate to  an  uncatholic  prince.*  That  which 
had  early  appeared  as  unavoidable  in  Prague, 
the  granting  some  concessions  to  the  protest- 
ants  with  respect  to  ecclesiastical  possessions, 
became  subsequently  still  more  so ;  neverthe- 
less, the  legate  was  admonished  "  to  extraor- 
dinary zeal  not  to  yield  any  thing  in  respect 
to  ecclesiastical  possessions  that  might  turn 
out  to  the  advantage  of  the  protestants."  The 
pope  would  not  even  sanction  the  treaties  of 
peace  with  protestant  powers.  The  envoy 
was  not  to  give  his  support  to  any  design  of 
including  the  Hollanders  in  the  peace :  he 
was  to  stand  out  against  every  transfer  or 
surrender  to  Sweden, — the  only  thought  of 
the  kind  at  the  time  relating  to  one  sea- 
port :  "  the  Divine  mercy  would  soon  find 
means  to  remove  that  nation  out  of  Ger- 
many." 

The  Roman  see  could  no  longer  entertain 
any  reasonable  hope  of  mastering  the  protest- 
ants ;  it  was,  however,  of  vast  importance, 
that,  however  involuntary,  yet,  by  its  obsti- 
nate pertinacity  in  upholding  pretensions  that 
could  never  be  realized,  it  put  it  out  of  its 
power   to   exercise   any   essential   influence 


given  any  aid  to  the  emperor  except  on  condition  of 
peace  with  Saxony :  whereat  the  nuncio  marvelling  said, 
that  the  piety  of  the  catholic  king  demanded  that  such 
aid  should  be  afforded  in  abundance  witliout  regard  to 
that  peace,  which  the  king  would  have  done  better  to  in- 
terrupt, it  being  a  matter  that  concerned  heretics,  and  to 
apply  liis  mind  to  an  universal  peace  with  the  catholic 
sovereigns.  He  was  answered,  that  his  reasoning  would 
be  just  had  the  war  been  undertaken  for  the  weal  of  souls, 
and  not  for  the  recovery  of  ecclesiastical  properly  ;  and 
father  Quiroga  further  told  the  nuncio,  that  the  emperor 
had  been  imposed  upon  by  those  who  had  persuaded  him 
to  issue  the  edict  of  restitution,  meaning  thereby  the  Je- 
suits, and  that  everything  had  been  done  from  interested 
motives.  But  the  nuncio  replying  that  the  advice  had 
been  given  with  a  good  intention,  father  Quiroga  was  so 
excited  that  he  burst  out  into  very  intemperate  language, 
and  the  nuncio  had  great  difficulty  in  rebuking  his  vio- 
lence and  preventing  him  from  going  still  further.  But 
Onate  went  even  beyond  this,  saying,  that  the  emperor 
could  on  no  account  withdraw  from  the  peace  with 
Saxony,  by  reason  of  the  exigency  of  his  contlitiou,  being 
unable  to  resist  so  many  enemies;  and  that  he  was  not 
obliged  thereby  to  cede  the  rights  of  his  hereditary  domi- 
nions, but  only  those  of  the  empire,  which  were  very  in- 
considerable, and  not  worth  insisting  on  to  the  hazard  of 
the  whole.] 
*  Siri :  Mercurio,  ii.  p.  987. 


326 


COUNTER  REFORMATION.    SECOND  PERIOD.       [a.  d.  1635-45. 


over  the  relations  of  its  own  adherents  to  the 
protestants. 

Rome  continued,  indeed,  to  send  her  am- 
bassadors to  the  congress  assembled  for  the 
arrangement  of  a  peace.  Gmetti  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Machiavelli,  Rosetti,  and  Chigi. 
Ginetti,  it  was  said,  was  very  frugal,  and 
thereby  prejudiced  his  own  efficiency  ;  JMachi- 
avelli  was  thought  to  make  his  functions  sub- 
servient only  to  his  own  exaltation  in  rank ; 
Rosetti  was  unacceptable  to  the  French ; — 
such  are  the  explanations  offered  for  the  in- 
significance of  their  influence  ;*  but  the  truth 
is,  that  the  thing  itself,  tlie  position  the  pope 
had  taken  up,  rendered  any  effectual  interfe- 
rence on  the  part  of  his  nuncios  impossible. 
Chigi  was  able  and  popular ;  yet  he  accom- 
plished nothing-.  A  peace  was  concluded  be- 
fore his  eyes,  precisely  such  as  the  papal  see 
had  deprecated.  The  elector  palatine  and  all 
the  exiled  princes  were  restored.  So  far  from 
anything  like  a  confirmation  of  the  edict  of 
restitution  being  thought  of,  many  spiritual 
endowments  were  absolutely  secularized  and 
surrendered  to  the  protestants.  Spain  re- 
solved at  last  to  recognize  the  independence 
of  the  Hollanders,  those  rebels  to  pope  and 
king.  The  Swedes  retained  a  considerable 
part  of  the  empire.  The  curia  could  not  ap- 
prove of  even  the  emperor's  treaty  of  peace 
with  France,  since  it  contained  stipulations 
respecting  Metz,  Toul,  and  Verdun,  by  which 
it  conceived  its  own  rights  were  invaded. 
The  papacy  felt  itself  under  the  painful  ne- 
cessity of  protesting-,  determined  at  least  to 
utter  tlie  principles  it  had  been  unable  to  carry 
into  effect.  But  even  this  had  been  foreseen 
and  provided  for.  The  articles  of  the  West- 
phalian  treaty  touching  ecclesiastical  matters 
began  with  a  declaration,  that  no  heed  siiould 
be  given  to  any  one  who  should  gainsay  them, 
be  he  who  he  might,  whether  of  secular  or 
spiritual  station.f 

By  this  peace  a  termination  was  at  last  put 
to  the  grand  struggle  between  protestants  and 
catholics;  but  one  wholly  different  from  that 
which  had  been  attempted  in  the  edict  of  re- 
stitution. Catholicism  still  retained  vast  ac- 
quisitions, since  the  year  1624  was  taken  as 
the  standard,  to  the  condition  existing  in 
which  all  things  were  to  return.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  protestant  party  obtained  that 
parity  in  the  diet  which  was  so  indispensable 
for  it,  and  which  had  been  so  long  withheld. 
All  the  relations  of  the  empire  were  arranged 
in  accordance  with  that  principle. 

Manifestly  there  was  now  an  utter  end  to 
undertakings  such  as  had  formerly  been  at- 
tempted, and  with  success. 

On  the  contrary,  the  results  of  the  struggle 
in  Germany  reacted  on  the  adjoining  countries. 


*  Pallavicini :  Vita  di  papa  Alrssandro  VII.  MS. 
f  Oenabriickischen  Friedensschluss,  Art.  v.  §  1. 


Though  the  emperor  had  been  able  to  up- 
hold Catholicism  in  his  hereditary  dominion, 
still  he  was  compelled  to  make  concessions  to 
the  protestants  in  Hungary.  In  the  year  1645 
he  found  himself  constrained  to  give  them 
back  no  inconsiderable  nunfter  of  churches. 

After  the  leap  Sweden  had  made,  to  a  sta- 
tion of  universal  importance,  what  hope  re- 
mained for  Poland  that  it  should  ever  realize 
its  old  pretensions  respecting  that  kingdom  f 
Wladislav  IV.  even  eschewed  the  proselytiz- 
ing zeal  of  his  father,  and  was  a  jgracious  king 
to  his  dissident  subjects. 

Even  in  France  Richelieu  favoured  the 
Huguenots  after  they  had  been  despoiled  of 
their  political  independence.  But  he  ren- 
dered a  far  greater  service  to  the  principle  of 
protestantism,  by  continuing-  to  wage  with 
that  foremost  champion  of  Catholicism,  the 
Spanish  monarchy,  a  war  for  life  or  death, 
that  shook  its  very  foundations.  This  was  the 
only  discord  which  the  pope  might  have  al- 
layed without  a  scruple;  but  whilst  all  the 
others  were  actually  appeased,  this  continued 
to  rage,  and  incessantly  convulsed  the  bosom 
of  the  catholic  world. 

Up  to  the  peace  of  Westphalia,  the  Dutch 
had  taken  the  most  successful  part  in  the  war 
against  Spain.  It  was  the  golden  age  of  their 
power  and  their  wealth.  But  in  striving  after 
the  ascendency  in  the  east,  they  came  in  vio- 
lent collision  with  the  progress  of  catholic 
missions  in  those  regions. 

In  England  alone  Catholicism,  or  something 
analogous  to  its  outward  forms,  seemed  at 
times  likely  to  gain  footing.  We  find  ambas- 
sadors from  the  English  court  at  Rome,  and 
papal  agents  in  England.  The  queen,  who 
was  treated  at  Rome  with  a  sort  of  official 
recognition,*  exercised  an  influence  over  her 
husband  which  seemed  likely  inevitably  to 
extend  to  religion':  an  approximation  to  the 
usages  of  Catholicism  was  already  made  in 
many  ceremonies.  But  the  final  result  in  this 
case  was  the  very  opposite  to  what  was  ex- 
pect^. Charles  I.  in  his  heart  hardly  ever 
lapsed  from  protestant  doctrine ;  but  even 
those  slight  approaches  which  he  permitted 
himself  towards  the  catholic  ritual,  resulted 
in  his  ruin.  It  seemed  as  though  the  violent 
excitement,  which  had  produced  such  long, 
universal,  and  incessant  conflicts  in  the  pro- 


*  Nani :  Relatione  di  Roma,  1G40:  "Con  la  regina  d| 
Ineliilterra  passa  comniunicatione  de'  minislri  con  officii 
e  donativi  di  cortesia,  e  si  concede  a  quella  Mw.  noinina- 
tione  di  cardinal!  a  pare  decli  altri  re."  Spada:  Rela- 
tione della  nunziatura  di  Fiancia,  1641:  "II  Sr.  conle 
Rosselii,  residenie  in  quel  regno,  bene  corrisponde  nell' 
ossequio  gli  ordini  del  Sr.  Oardi.  Barberini  protetlore 
tulli  pieni  dell'  ardore  e  zelo  di  S.  Emza."  [Ministerial 
comnnmications  are  kept  up  with  the  queen  of  England, 
with  offices  and  gifts  of  courtesy,  and  her  ni:ijtsty  is  al- 
lowed the  privilege  of  nominating  cardinals  in  like  man- 
ner as  other  sovereigns.  .  .  .  Count  Rosetti,  resident  in 
that  kingdom,  duly  and  obsequiously  reciprocates  the  or- 
ders of  cardinal  Barberini,  the  protector,  all  filled  with 
the  ardour  and  zeal  of  his  eminence.] 


A.  D.  1635-45.]        THE  BALANCE  OF  THE  TWO  CONFESSIONS. 


327 


testant  world  at  large,  was  becoming  concen- 
trated in  the  puritans.  Ireland  in  vain  en- 
deavoured to  withdraw  from  their  sway,  and 
to  organize  herself  as  a  catholic  country  :  she 
was  subjected  to  but  the  severer  thraldom. 
The  aristocracy  and  commons  of  England  con- 
stituted a  power,  the  rise  of  which  marks  a 
revival  of  protestantism  throughout  all  Eu- 
rope. 

By  these  events,  bounds  were  forever  set  to 
Catholicism.  It  was  assigned  its  definite  limits, 
and  could  never  again  seriously  contemplate 
those  schemes  of  universal  conquest  it  had 
previously  entertained. 

Indeed,  the  intellectual  development  of 
Europe  had  taken  a  turn  that  rendered  this 
impossible. 

Impulses,  perilous  to  the  higher  principle 
of  unity,  had  become  predominant:  the  force 
of  the  religious  element  had  waned;  political 
considerations  swayed  the  world. 

For  it  was  not  by  their  own  arms  the  pro- 
testants  were  saved.  It  was,  above  all  things, 
a  rent  in  the  bosom  of  Catholicism,  that  en- 
abled them  to  recover  their  lost  ground.  In 
the  year  1631  we  find  the  two  great  catholic 
powers  in  league  with  the  protestants,  France 
openly  so,  and  Spain  at  least  in  secret.  It  is 
certain  tiiat  the  Spaniards  at  this  period  had 
established  an  understanding  with  the  French 
Huguenots. 

But  there  was  just  as  little  unanimity 
amongst  the  protestants.  It  was  not  alone 
that  the  Lutherans  and  the  catholics  attacked 
each  other, — that  was  an  old  occurrence  ;  but 
the  decided  Calvinists,  though  they  undoubt- 
edly had  a  common  interest  to  defend,  were 
marshalled  against  each  other  in  this  war. 
The  maritime  power  of  the  French  Hugue- 
nots was  only  broken  through  the  aid  which 
their  brethren  in  religion  and  ancient  allies 
were  induced  to  afford  the  crown  of  France. 

The  very  head  of  Catholicism,  the  pope  of 
Rome,  who  had  hitherto  led  the  attacks  against 
the  protestants,  at  last  put  aside  these  the 
highest  interests  of  the  spiritual  authority  ;  he 
took  part  against  the  power  that  had  most 
zealously  pursued  the  task  of  restoring  Catho- 
licism ;  his  conduct  was  shaped  solely  in  ac- 
cordance wilh  the  views  befitting  a  temporal 
prince.  He  returned  to  the  policy  that  had 
been  given  up  since  the  days  of  Paul  III.  We 
remember  that  protestantism,  in  the  first  half 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  had  owed  its  pros- 
perity to  nothing  so  much  as  to  the  political 
endeavours  of  the  popes.  These  it  was,  hu- 
manly speaking,  that  had  saved  and  upheld 
protestantism. 

Now  this  example  could  not  possibly  fail  of 
its  effect  on  the  other  powers.  German-Aus- 
tria, which  had  so  long  remained  unswerving- 
ly orthodo.x,  adopted  the  same  policy ;  the  atti- 
tude it  assumed  after  the  peace  of  Westphalia 


rested  on  its  intimate  connexion  with  North- 
ern Germany,  England,  and  Holland. 

Do  we  ask  what  were  the  more  profound 
causes  of  this  phenomenon  ;  I  think  we  should 
err  in  identifying  them  with  the  exhaustion 
and  decay  of  religious  impulses:  I  think  we 
must  take  a  different  view  of  the  import  and 
significance  of  the  fact. 

In  the  first  place,  the  great  spiritual  strug- 
gle had  wrought  its  effects  on  the  minds  of  men. 
In  former  times  Christianity  was  rather  an 
afluir  of  surrender  and  acquiescence,  of  sim- 
ple acceptance,  and  of  faith  untouched  by 
doubt;  now  it  was  become  a  thing  of  convic- 
tion, of  deliberate  adoption.  It  is  a  point  of 
much  moment  that  men  had  now  to  chose  be- 
tween the  various  confessions,  that  men  could 
repudiate,  dissent,  and  change.  The  individ- 
ual was  directly  appealed  to,  his  freedom  of 
judgment  was  invoked.  The  consequence 
was,  that  the  ideas  of  Christianity  more  deep- 
ly and  thoroughly  imbued  every  ramification 
of  life  and  thought. 

To  this  was  added  another  important  con- 
sideration. 

It  is  very  true  that  the  predominance  of 
inward  discrepancies  rent  the  unity  of  collect- 
ive Christianity;  but,  if  we  are  not  mistaken, 
it  accords  with  another  law  of  humanity  that 
this  very  circumstance  prepared  a  higher  and 
more  large  development. 

In  the  turmoil  of  the  universal  fray,  reli- 
gion was  diversely  seized  by  the  nations  in 
the  several  modifications  ofits  dogmatic  forms: 
the  chosen  body  of  dogmas  had  become  blend- 
ed with  the  feelings  of  nationalty,  becoming 
as  it  were  a  possession  of  the  community,  of 
the  state,  or  of  the  people.  Weapons  were 
wielded  in  its  defence ;  it  was  upheld  amid  a 
thousand  perils;  it  liad  wrought  itself  into 
the  very  flesli  and  blood  of  the  nation. 

Hence  the  states  arrayed  on  either  side  grew 
into  vast  ecclesiastico-political  bodies,  whose 
individuality  was  marked  on  the  catholic  side 
by  the  measure  of  their  devotion  to  the  Roman 
see,  and  by  their  toleration  or  exclusion  of 
non-catholics :  and  still  more  pointedly  de- 
fined on  the  side  of  the  protestants,  among 
whom,  the  departure  from  the  symbolical 
books  adopted  as  standards  of  doctrine,  the 
mingling  of  the  Lutheran  and  the  Calvinistic 
confessions,  and  the  more  or  less  near  approxi- 
mation to  the  episcopal  constitution,  gave  rise 
to  so  many  obvious  distinctions.  It  became 
the  first  question  respecting  each  country, 
what  was  the  dominant  religion  there  1  Chris- 
tianity appears  under  manifold  aspects.  How- 
ever great  may  be  the  discrepancies  between 
them,  the  votaries  of  no  one  form  can  deny 
the  rest  the  possession  of  the  fundamentals  of 
the  faith.  On  the  contrary,  these  various 
forms  are  guaranteed  by  compacts  and  treaties 
of  peace,  in  which  all  have  part,  and  which 
are,  as  it  were,  fundamental  laws  of  an  uni- 


328 


POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY,  [a.  d.  1670-98. 


versal  republic.  The  thought  can  never  again 
be  entertained  of  exalting  any  one  confession 
to  supreme  dominion.  The  sole  point  for  con- 
sideration is,  how  each  state,  each  people  may- 


be enabled  to  develope  its  energies  in  obedi- 
ence to  its  own  politico-religious  principles. 
On  this  depends  the  future  condition  of  the 
world. 


BOOK   THE    EIGHTH. 


THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  SEVENTEETH  CENTURY. 

LATER  EPOCHS. 


Introduction. 

After  the  attempt  of  the  popes  to  renew 
their  domination  over  the  world  had  reached 
so  far,  but  finally  miscarried,  a  general  change 
took  place  in  their  position,  and  in  the  kind 
of  interest  they  excite  in  us.  The  affairs  of 
their  principality,  its  administration,  and  its 
internal  progress,  once  more  command  our 
chief  attention. 

Like  the  traveller  who  descends  from  the 
lofty  mountain,  with  its  grand  and  ample  pros- 
pects, into  the  valley,  where  his  view  is  limi- 
ted and  tied  to  a  narrow  range,  so  we  now 
turn  from  contemplating  the  events  of  the 
world  at  large,  in  which  the  papacy  once  more 
played  so  important  a  part,  to  scrutinize  the 
more  particular  occurences  of  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal states. 

The  states  of  the  church  first  attained  their 
complete  development  in  the  times  of  Urban 
Vllt.  Let  us  begin  with  the  history  of  this 
circumstance. 

The  escheat  of   Urbino. 

The  duchy  of  Urbino  comprised  seven  towns 
and  about  three  hundred  castles:  it  had  a 
productive  sea-coast,  well  situated  for  com- 
merce, and  a  healthy  and  cheerful  mountain 
district,  formed  by  the  Apennines. 

The  dukes  of  Urbino,  like  those  of  Ferrara, 
won  renown,  sometimes  by  deeds  of  arms, 
sometimes  by  literary  endeavours,  sometimes 
by  the  munificence  and  splendour  of  their 
court.*  Guidobaldo  II.  had  in  the  year  1570 
established  four  court  households,  including, 
besides  his  own,  separate  establishments  for 
his  consort,  for  the  prince,  and  for  the  princess : 
they  were  all  brilliant,  eagerly  frequented  by 
the  native  nobility,  and  open  to  those  of  other 
lands.f     Every  foreigner  enjoyed  the  hospi- 

*  Bernardo  Tasso  has  addres.sed  a  splendid  panegyric 
to  them  in  llie  47tli  book  of  the  Amadigi: 

"  Vedete  i  qualtro  a  cui  il  vecchio  Apennino 
Ornerel,  il  pello  suo  di  fiori  e  d'erba  .  .  ." 
+  Relatione  di  Lazzaro  Mocenigoritornatoda  Guidobal- 
do d'  Urbino,  1570.  "  Vuole  alloggiar  luui  li  personnaggi 
che  passano  per  il  suo  slalo,  il  numero  de'  (juali  alia  fine 
dell'  anno  si  trova  esser  grandissinw."  [It  is  his  pleasure 
to  lodge  all  the  personages  who  pass  through  hiaierri- 


tality  of  the  palace  after  the  fashion  of  the  old 
times.  The  revenues  of  the  country  would 
not  indeed  have  been  adequate  to  supply  an 
expenditure,  amounting  as  they  did,  even 
when  the  corn  trade  prospered  in  Sinigaglia, 
to  no  more  than  some  hundred  thousand  scudi. 
But  the  sovereigns  were  always,  at  least  nom- 
inally, in  the  service  of  some  foreign  potentate ; 
whilst  the  fortunate  position  of  the  country, 
in  the  midst  of  Italy,  caused  the  neighbouring 
states  to  vie  in  securing  its  good  by  marks  of 
favour  and  grants  of  money. 

It  was  a  remark  made  in  the  country,  that 
the  prince  brought  in  more  than  he  cost. 

Attempts  indeed  were  made  here,  as  every 
where  elese,  to  increase  the  imposts ;  but  they 
were  attended  with  so  much  difficulty,  espe- 
cially in  Urbino  itself,  that  partly  from  good 
feeling,  partly  from  necessity,  the  govern- 
ment contented  itself  with  its  customary  rev- 
enue. The  privileges,  too,  and  the  statutes 
of  the  country  remained  unimpaired.  San 
Marino  preserved  its  inoffensive  freedom  un- 
der the  protection  of  the  ducal  house.*  Whilst 
throughout  all  the  rest  of  Italy  the  princely 
authority  became  more  unrestricted  and  des- 
potic, here  it  remained  confined  within  its 
ancient  limits. 

Hence  the  inhabitants  clung  with  the  clo- 
sest attachment  to  their  dynasty;  to  which 
they  were  the  more  devoted,  since  an  union 
with  the  states  of  the  church  would  undoubted- 
ly prove  the  demolition  of  all  the  traditional 
relations  of  the  country,  and  the  downfal  of 
its  ancient  liberties. 

The  lineal  continuation  of  the  ducal  family 
was  therefore  an  object  of  intense  interest  to 
the  subjects  of  the  house. 

Francesco  Maria,  the  prince  of  Urbino,  re- 
sided for  a  while  at  the  court  of  Philip  Il.f 


tory,  the  number  of  whom  is  found  by  the  end'  of  the  year 
to  be  very  great.] 

*  "  Ha  humor  d'  esser  republica."  [It  has  a  fancy  for 
being  a  republic]  a  Discorso  a  N.  S.  Urbano  VIII.  sopra 
lo  stato  d'  Urbino,  says  of  San  Marino.  On  being  trans- 
ferred to  the  church,  it  acquired  an  increase  of  privileges. 

fin  the  Amadigi   he  is  very  prettily  described  in  boy- 


hood ,  as 


"  Quel  piccolo  fanciul,  che  gli  occhi  alzando 
Par  che  si  speeclii  nel  avo  e  nel  padre 
E  I'alla  gloria  lor  quasi  pensando." 


A.  D.  1570-98.] 


THE  ESCHEAT  OF  URBINO. 


329 


There  he  formed,  it  is  said,  a  very  serious  at- 
tachment to  a  Spanish  lady,  and  thought  of 
wedding  her.  But  his  fiither  Guidobaklo  set 
his  face  decidedly  ag-ainst  the  match,  being 
resolved  to  receive  into  his  house  none  but  a 
daughter-in-law  of  equal  rank.  He  compelled 
his  son  to  return  home,  and  to  give  his  hand  to 
the  Princess  Lucrezia  d'Este,  of  the  house 
of  Ferrara. 

It  would  have  seemed  that  they  were  well 
suited  tor  each  other ;  the  prince,  agile  and 
strong,  accomplished  in  the  use  of  arms,  and  not 
without  learning,  especially  of  a  military  kind  ; 
the  princess,  gifted  with  talent,  and  full  of 
majesty  and  grace.  The  hope  was  fondly  en- 
couraged that  the  match  would  secure  the 
perpetuation  of  the  ducal  line ;  the  towns  of 
the  duchy  vied  in  receiving  the  married  pair 
with  triumphal  arches  and  fair  presents. 

But  the  misfortune  was,  that  the  prince  was 
but  twenty-five,  whilst  the  princess  numbered 
nearly  forty  years.  Francesco's  father  had 
overlooked  this  circumstance  in  his  eager- 
ness, by  so  exalted,  brilliant,  and  likewise 
wealthy  a  match,  to  gloss  over  the  rejection 
of  the  Spanish  lady,  which  was  regarded  in 
no  favourable  light  at  the  court  of  Philip  II. 
But  the  marriage  turned  out  worse  than  he 
could  well  have  imagined.  After  Guidobal- 
do's  death,  Lucrezia  was  forced  to  return  to 
Ferrara,  and  all  hope  of  posterity  was  at  an 
end.* 

We  have  already  noticed  the  decisive  in- 
fluence Lucrezia  d'Este  had  on  the  fate  and 
the  extinction  of  the  duchy  of  Ferrara  :  we 
now  find  her  most  unhappily  implicated  in  the 
affairs  of  Urbino.  From  the  moment  Ferrara 
was  taken,  the  escheat  of  Urbino  seemed  cer- 
tain; the  more  so  since  there  were  here  no 
agnates  who  could  pretend  to  the  succession. 

But  the  aspect  of  things  changed  once  more. 
Lucrezia  died  in  February,  1598,  and  Fran- 
cesco Maria  was  free  to  take  another  bride. 

The  country  was  in  ectasy  when  it  came  to 
be  known  that  their  good  lord,  whose  whole 
reign  had  been  one  of  gentleness  and  tranquil- 
ity, and  who  was  universally  loved,  had  hopes, 
though  already  advanced  in  years,  that  his 


[That  little  lad,  who  with  uplifted  eyes 
IVIirrors  him  in  his  grandsire  and  his  sire, 
Pond'ring  their  lofty  glory  in  his  heart.] 
Mocenigo  describes  him  at  the   period  of  his  marriage. 
"  Giostra  leggiadramente,  studia  et  6   intelligente  delle 
matematiche  e  delle  fortificationi:  tanto  gagliardi  souo  i 
suoi  esercitii — come  giuocare  alia  balla,  andare  alia  cac- 
cia  a  pledi  per  habituarsi  all'  incomodo  della  giierra — e 
cosi  continui,  che  molti  dubilano  che  gli  abbino  col  tempo 
a  nuocere."     [He  jousts  beautifully,  studies  and   is  profi- 
cient in  mathematics  and  foitification  ;  so  vehement  are 
his  exercises— such  as  playing  at  ball,  hunting  on  foot  to 
inure  himself  to  thehardsiiipsof  war— and  so  continually, 
that  many  fear  they  will  be  injurious  to  him.] 

*  Matthio  Zane,  Relatione  del  duca  d'  Urbino  1574, 
finds  Lucrezia  already  a  "  Signora  di  bellazza  raanco  che 
mediocre,  ma  si  tien  ben  acconcia:  .  .  .  si  dispera  quasi 
di  poter  veder  da  questo  matrimonio  figliuoli."  [a  lady 
of  less  than  ordinary  beauiy,  but  she  sets  herself  oft"  to 
advantage  .  .  .  almost  all  liope  of  oftspring  from  this 
marriage  is  at  an  end.] 

42 


line  would  not  end  with  him.  Vows  were 
universally  offered  for  the  safe  delivery  of  the 
new  duchess  ;  and  when  her  time  approached, 
the  nobles  of  the  land  assembled,  with  the 
magistrates  of  the  towns  in  Pesaro,  where 
the  princess  resided,  and  during  her  labour 
the  piazza  before  the  palace  and  the  neigh- 
bouring streets  were  thronged  with  people. 
At  last  the  duke  appeared  at  the  window. 
"  God,"  he  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  "  God  has 
given  us  a  boy."  Indescribable  was  the  ex- 
ultation with  which  the  news  was  received. 
The  towns  built  churches,  and  founded  pioua 
endowments  in  fulfilment  of  their  vows.* 

But  how  treacherous  are  the  hopes  that  are 
built  on  men  !  The  prince  was  well  brought 
up,  and  displayed  at  least  literary  talent ;  the 
old  duke  had  the  pleasure  to  marry  him  to  a 
princess  of  Tuscany.  Upon  this  he  himself 
withdrew  to  the  retirement  of  Castelduante, 
and  resigned  the  functions  of  government  to 
his  son. 

But  no  sooner  was  the  prince  his  own  mas- 
ter, and  master  of  the  country,  than  he  was 
seized  with  the  intoxication  of  power.  At 
this  period  the  taste  for  theatrical  amusements 
had  just  become  predominant  in  Italy :  the 
young  prince  was  the  more  strongly  seized 
with  it,  in  consequence  of  his  having  con- 
ceived a  passion  for  an  actress.  By  day  his 
pleasure  was,  like  Nero's,  to  play  the  chario- 
teer ;  in  the  evening  he  used  to  appear  on  the 
stage,  and  he  indulged  in  a  thousand  other 
licentious  acts.  The  honest  citizens  looked 
sorrowfully  in  each  other's  faces.  They  knew 
not  whether  to  grieve  or  to  rejoice,  when  one 
morning,  after  a  night  of  wild  debauchery, 
the  young  prince  was  found  dead  in  his  bed. 

The  aged  Francesco  Maria  had  now  to  re- 
sume the  reins  of  government :  full  of  deep 
grief  that  he  was  the  last  of  the  line  of  Rovere, 
ihat  his  house  was  utterly  at  an  end,  his  mind 
racked  at  having  to  bear  the  burthen  of  public 
affairs  against  his  will,  and  to  endure  the  bit- 
ter insults  and  injuries  of  the  Roman  see.f 

At  first  he  dreaded  that  the  Barberini 
would  possess  themselves  of  the  daughter  left 
by  his  son,  an  infant  of  a  year  old.  Forever 
to  frustrate  their  suit,  he  betrothed  her  to  a 
prince  of  Tuscany,  and  removed  her  immedi- 
ately to  the  adjacent  state. 

But  another  unhappy  circumstance  imme- 
diately arose. 

As  the  emperor  put  forward  claims  to  cer- 
tain portions  of  the  territory  of  Urbino,  Urban 
VIII.,  for  his  own  security,  demanded  a  decla- 
ration from  the  duke  that  he  held  all  he 
possessed   as   a   fief  from    the   Roman  see. 

*  La  devoluzione'a  S.  Chiesa  degli  stati  di  Francesco 
Maria  II.,  della  Rovere,  ultimo  duca  d'  Urbino,  descritta 
dair  illoio.  s.  Antonio  Donati  nobile  Venetiano.  (luff. 
Politl.  it  has  also  been  printed. 

i  P.  Contarini :  "  Trovandosl  il  duca  per  gli  anni  e  per 
I'indisposiiione  gii  cadenle  prosternaio  e  avvililo  d' 
animo." 


330     POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY,    [a.  d.1585-1643. 


Francesco  Maria  long  demurred  ;  such  a  de- 
claration was  revolting  to  his  conscience  ;  at 
last,  however,  he  made  it;  "but  from  that 
moment,"  says  our  authority,  "  he  was  never 
cheerful  again ;  he  felt  his  soul  weighed  down 
by  the  act?' 

He  was  soon  after  obliged  to  consent  that 
the  commandants  of  his  fortresses  should 
swear  allegiance  to  the  pope.  At  last — it 
was  in  fact  the  best  thing  he  could  do — he 
resigned  the  government  of  the  country  abso- 
lutely into  the  hands  of  the  pope's  plenipoten- 
tiaries. 

Weary  of  life,  enfeebled  by  age,  broken 
down  by  sorrow,  after  seeing  all  his  confiden- 
tial friends  die  around  him,  the  duke  found 
his  only  consolation  in  the  practices  of  devo- 
tion.    He  died  in  the  year  1631. 

Taddeo  Barberini  instantly  hastened  to  take 
possession  of  the  country.  The  allodial  inhe- 
ritance passed  to  Florence.  The  territory  of 
Urbino  was  subjected  to  the  same  system  as 
that  on  which  the  other  dominions  of  the 
papacy  were  governed  ;  and  we  very  soon 
find  there  all  the  complaints  which  the  govern- 
ment of  priests  used  every  where  to  excite.* 

We  now  come  to  speak  of  this  administra- 
tion in  general ;  and  first  of  that  most  impor- 
tant point,  on  which  all  others  depend,  its 
finances. 

Increase  of  the  debts  of  the   ecclesiastical 
states. 

If  Sixtus  V.  limited  the  public  expenditure, 
and  collected  a  treasure,  still  he  at  the  same 
time  increased  the  revenue  and  the  taxes,  and 
founded  a  great  mass  of  debt  upon  them. 

To  set  bounds  to  expenditure,  and  to  amass 
money,  were  not  things  to  the  taste  of  every 
one.  The  wants,  too,  of  the  church  and  of 
the  state  grew  more  urgent  from  year  to  year. 
Sometimes  recourse  was  had  to  the  reserved 
treasure,  but  the  application  of  that  fund  was 
fettered  by  so  many  conditions,  that  this  could 
only  occur  in  rare  cases.  Strange  to  say,  it 
was  much  easier  to  raise  loans  than  to  use  the 
ready  money  actually  in  hand.  The  popes 
pursued  the  former  practice  in  the  most  pre- 
cipitate and  inconsiderate  manner. 

It  is  very  well  worth  observing  the  ratio  of 
the  revenue  to  the  total  of  debt  and  interest 
in  the  several  years,  for  which  we  possess 
authentic  estimates. 

In  the  year  1587  the  revenue  amounted  to 
1,358,456  scndi,  the  debts  to  six  and  a  half 
millions  scudi.    About  one  half  of  the  revenue, 


*  In  the  year  1635,  Alcuise  Contarini  finds  the  inhabi- 
tants very  much  discontented  :  "  Quei  sudditi  s'aggravano 
molto  della  mutatione,  chiamando  liraniuco  ll  governo 
de'  nreli  i  quali  altro  interesse  che  d'  arnchusi  e  d'  avan- 
zarsi  noA  vi  lengono."  [These  subjects  complain  greatly 
of  the  change,  calling  the  government  of  the  priests  ty- 
rannical, and  declaring  that  they  have  no  other  object  in 
view  but  that  of  enriching  and  advancing  themselves,] 


715,913  scudi,  was  assigned  to  pay  the  inte- 
rest. 

In  the  year  1592  the  revenue  had  risen  to 
1,585,520  scudi,  the  debts  to  12,242,620. 
The  increase  of  the  debt  was  already  much 
greater  than  that  of  the  revenue.  1,088,600 
scudi,  that  is  about  two-thirds  of  the  income 
of  the  state,  were  appropriated  to  the  interest 
of  the  debt,  in  the  shape  of  places,  and  luoghi 
di  monte.* 

This  state  of  things  was  in  itself  sufBciently 
inconvenient  to  cause  extreme  anxiety.  The 
government  would  have  been  glad  to  have 
recourse  once  to  a  diminution  of  the  rate  of 
interest,  and  it  was  proposed  that  a  million 
should  be  drawn  out  from  the  castle  to  pay  off 
those  who  would  not  accede  to  a  reduction  of 
the  interest.  A  considerable  augmentation 
of  the  net  income  would  have  been  effected 
by  this  measure.  The  bull  of  Si.xtus  V., 
however,  and  the  precautions  against  the 
squandering  of  the  reserved  fund,  prevented 
arrangements  of  this  kind,  and  there  was  no- 
thing for  it  but  to  pursue  the  old  course. 

It  may  perhaps  be  supposed  that  the  acqui- 
sition of  so  wealthy  a  territory  as  Ferrara 
would  have  afforded  peculiar  relief  to  the  em- 
barrassments of  the  government ;  but  this  was 
not  the  case. 

Already,  in  the  year  1599,  the  interest  of 
the  debt  swallowed  up  nearly  three-fourths  of 
the  gross  revenue. 

But  in  the  year  1605,  at  the  accession  of 
Paul  v.,  there  remained  but  70,000  scudi  of 
the  whole  sums  accruing  to  the  treasury, 
unappropriated  to  the  payment  of  interest.f 
Cardinal  de  Perron  affirms,  that  the  pope's 
regular  income  would  not  have  sufficed  him 
for  half  a  year,  though  the  expenditure  of  his 
palace  was  very  moderate. 

Hence  it  became  so  much  the  more  impos- 
sible to  avoid  heaping  debt  on  debt.  We 
learn  from  authentic  accounts  how  systemati- 
cally Paul  V.  had  recourse  to  this  expedient, 
in  November,  1607,  twice  in  January,  1608, 
in  March,  June,  and  July,  1608,  twice  in 
September  of  the  same  year,  and  so  on  through 
every  year  of  his  reign.  His  loans  were  not 
large  apparently;  petty  wants  were  met  aa 
they  arose,  by  the  establishment  of  luoghi  di 
monte,  in  greater  or  smaller  number.  These 
were  founded  sometimes  on  the  tolls  of  An- 


*  Circumstantial  account  of  the  papal  finances  in  the 
first  year  of  Clement  VIII.,  without  any  particular  title. 
Bibliol.  Barb.  N"-  1639,  on  eighty  leaves. 

f  Per  sollevare  la  camera  aposlolica.  Discorso  di  M. 
Malvasia,  1606.  "Gli  interessi  che  hoggi  paga  la  sede 
apostolico  assorbono  quasi  tutte  1'  entrate,  di  maniera  che 
si  Vive  in  continua  angustia  e  difficoUa  di  provedere  alle 
spese  ordinarie  e  necessarie,  e  venendo  occasione  di 
qualche  spesa  straordinaria  non  ci  6  dove  voltarsi."  [The 
interests  now  paid  by  the  apostolic  see  absorb  almost  all 
its  revenues,  so  that  the  condition  of  the  government  is 
that  of  continual  embarrassment  and  diffii  ully  in  provid- 
ing for  ordinary  and  necessary  expenses,  and  when  any 
extraordinary  occasion  of  expenditure  occurs,  it  knows 
not  which  way  to  turn  ] 


A.  D.  1585-1643.] 


FOUNDATION  OF  NEW  FAMILIES. 


331 


cona,  sometimes  on  the  dogana  of  Rome,  or  of 
a  province,  now  on  an  augmentation  in  the 
price  of  salt,  and  now  on  the  proceeds  of  the 
post.  But  they  gradually  increased  to  a  very 
great  extent.  Paul  V.  alone  incurred  two 
millions  of  debt  by  way  of  luoghi  di  monte.* 

This,  however,  would  have  been  impracti- 
cable had  not  that  pope  been  aided  by  a 
circumstance  of  a  special  nature. 

Power  always  attracts  money.  So  long  as 
the  Spanish  monarchy  pursued  its  thriving 
career,  and  its  influence  swayed  the  world, 
the  Genoese,  then  the  richest  monied  capital- 
ists, invested  their  funds  in  the  royal  loans ; 
nor  were  they  deterred  from  doing  so  by  some 
arbitrary  reductions  and  exactions  of  Philip 
II.  But  gradually,  when  the  great  movement 
abated,  and  war  and  its  demands  ceased,  they 
called  in  their  capital.  They  turned  to  Rome, 
which  had  meanwhile  assumed  so  powerful  a 
position,  and  the  treasures  of  Europe  once 
more  flowed  into  that  city.  The  Roman 
luoghi  di  monte  were  in  extraordinary  re- 
quest. As  they  afforded  considerable  inte- 
rest, and  offered  satisfactory  security,  their 
price  sometimes  rose  to  150  per  cent.  The 
pope  was  sure  to  find  purchasers  in  abundance 
for  as  many  of  them  as  he  chose  to  establish. 

Hence  it  came  to  pass  that  the  debts  of  the 
state  unceasingly  increased.  In  the  begin- 
ning of  the  reign  of  Clement  VIII.  they 
amounted  to  eighteen  millions.  The  system 
of  the  Roman  court  obliged  the  revenue  too 
to  rise  in  the  same  proportion ;  it  was  cal- 
culated in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  at 
1,818,104  scudi,  96  baj.f  I  cannot  ascertain 
exactly  how  much  of  this  sum  was  expended 
in  the  payment  of  interest,  but  it  must  have 
been  considerably  the  largest  part.  If  we 
examine  the  several  items  of  the  computa-, 
tions,  we  shall  perceive  that  the  demands 
often  exceed  the  income.  In  the  year  1592 
the  doganaof  Rome  yielded  162,450  scudi,  in 
the  year  162-5,  209,000  scudi;  but  in  the  for- 
mer, 16,956  scudi  had  passed  into  the  coffers 
of  the  treasury;  in  the  latter,  the  outgoings 
exceeded  the  income  about  13,260  scudi. 
The  salara  di  Roma  had  in  that  period  risen 
from  27,654  to  40,000  scudi;  but  in  1592 
there  had  been  a  surplus  of  7482  scudi,  while 
in  1625  there  was  a  deficit  of  2321  scudi,  98 
baj. 

It  is  obvious  how  little  could  be  effected  in 
such  a  case  by  any  strictness  of  household 
economy. 

How  strongly  too  does  this  remark  apply  to 
a  government  like  that  of  Urban  VIII.,  who 
was  so  often  led  by  his  political  jealousy  to 
engage  in  armaments  and  works  of  fortifica- 
tion. 


*  Nota  de'  luoghi  di  monte  eretti  in  tempo  del  pontifi- 
cato  della  felice  memoria  di  Paolo  V.  1606-1618. 

+  Entrata  el  usciia  della  sede  aposlolica  del  tempo  di 
Urbane  VIII. 


Urbino  indeed  was  added  to  the  possessions 
of  the  church;  but  it  contributed  little  to  the 
wealth  of  the  government,  especially  at  first. 
After  the  loss  of  the  ajlodial  lands,  the  reve- 
nue of  the  territory  amounted  to  but  40,000 
scudi.  On  the  other  hand,  considerable  ex- 
penses had  attended  the  act  of  taking  posses- 
sion, important  concessions  being  made  to  the 
heirs.* 

But  the  year  1635  had  augmented  the 
public  debt  to  thirty  millions  of  scudi.  To 
procure  the  necessary  funds  for  meeting  the 
interest  thereon,  he  had  already  either  created 
or  increased  ten  different  taxes.  But  even 
this  was  far  from  effecting  hi.s  purpose.  Cir- 
cumstances occurred  which  obliged  him  to  go 
still  further ;  but  these  we  shall  be  in  a  better 
condition  to  understand  when  we  shall  have 
considered  another  series  of  events. 

Foundation  of  new  families. 

If  we  inquire  what  became  of  all  these 
revenues,  and  on  what  they  were  expended, 
it  will  appear  undeniable  that  they  were  for 
the  most  part  made  serviceable  to  the  general 
efforts  in  the  catholic  cause. 

Armies,  such  as  Gregory  XIV.  sent  into 
France,  and  which  his  successors  had  to  main- 
tain for  a  considerable  time,  the  active  parti- 
cipation of  Clement  VIII.  in  the  Turkish  war, 
subsidies  like  those  which  were  so  often 
granted  under  Paul  V.  to  the  League  and  to 
the  house  of  Austria,  which  Gregory  XV. 
doubled,  and  which  Urban  VIII.  transferred, 
at  least  in  part,  to  Maximilian  of  Bavaria, 
must  have  cost  the  Roman  see  enormous 
sums. 

The  necessities,  too,  of  the  ecclesiastical 
states  often  made  extraordinary  outlays  re- 
quisite ; — the  conquest  of  Ferrara  under  Cle- 
ment VIII.,  Paul  V.'s  projects  against  Venice, 
and  all  the  warlike  proceedings  of  Urban  VIII. 

To  these  sources  of  expense  were  added  the 
splendid  erections,  whether  for  the  beautify- 
ing of  the  city  or  for  the  defence  of  the 
country,  in  which  each  new  pope  vied  with 
the  memory  of  his  predecessor. 

But  there  grew  up  one  more  institution 
which  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  accumu- 
lation of  this  mass  of  debt,  and  one  which  re- 
ally benefited  neither  Christendom,  nor  the 
state,  nor  the  city,  but  solely  the  families  of 
the  popes. 

The  custom  had  become  general  (and  it 
was  one  which  naturally  consisted  with  the 
relative  position  of  the  priesthood  to  a  very 
extensive  organization  of  family  interests,) 
that  the  surplus  of  the  ecclesiastical  revenues 
should  devolve  on  the  relations  of  the  several 
incumbents. 


*  Remark  of  Francesco  Barberini  to  the  nuncio  in 
Vienna,  when  the  emperor  founded  claims  on  that  acqui- 
.'jition. 


332  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY.    [\.  d.  1585-1643. 


The  popes  of  those  days  were  prevented  by 
the  bulls  of  their  predecessors  from  granting 
principalities  in  fee  to  their  connexions,  as 
had  been  attempted  in  former  times  :  but  they 
did  not  therefore  forego  the  general  practice 
of  the  ecclesiastical  body,  but  only  made  it  so 
much  the  more  their  care  to  secure  the  here- 
ditary dignity  of  their  kindred  by  wealth  and 
stable  possessions. 

In  doing  this  they  did  not  neglect  to  pro- 
vide themselves  with  arguments  for  their  jus- 
tification. They  set  out  from  the  principle 
that  they  were  not  bound  by  any  vow  to  po- 
verty ;  and  as  they  decided  that  they  might 
fairly  regard  the  surplus  proceeds  of  the  spi- 
ritual office  as  their  own  property,  they  judg- 
ed that  they  had  a  right  to  bestovv^  the  same 
on  their  relations. 

But  far  more  potent  than  such  considera- 
tions as  these  were  the  feelings  of  family  and 
of  blood,  and  the  natural  inclination  of  men  to 
leave  some  lasting  endowment  after  their 
death. 

The  first  who  struck  out  the  form  to  which 
subsequent  popes  adhered  was  Sixtus  V. 

He  raised  one  of  his  grand-nephews  to  the 
rank  of  cardinal,  intrusted  him  with  a  share 
in  public  business,  and  assigned  him  an  eccle- 
siastical income  of  100,000  scudi.  The  other 
he  married  to  a  Sommaglia,  and  made  him 
marquis  of  Mentana ;  to  which  estates  were 
afterwards  added  the  principality  of  Venafro 
and  the  county  of  Celano  in  Naples.  The 
house  of  Peretti  long  maintained  itself  in  high 
consideration;  we  repeatedly  encounter  mem- 
bers of  it  in  the  college  of  cardinals. 

But  the  Aldobrandini  were  far  more  power- 
ful.* We  have  seen  the  influence  possessed 
by  Pietro  Aldobrandino  during  his  uncle's 
reign.  As  early  as  the  year  1599  he  had  as 
much  as  60,000  scudi  of  ecclesiastical  in- 
come, and  we  may  guess  how  greatly  this 
must  have  subsequently  increased.  The  in- 
heritance of  Lucrezia  d'Este  helped  him 
greatly;  he  purchased  land,  and  we  find  that 
he  invested  money  in  the  bank  of  Venice. 
But  whatever  wealth  he  might  accumulate 
was  all  destined  to  pass  at  last  to  the  family 
of  his  sister  and  her  husband,  Giovanni  Fran- 
cesco Aldobrandini,  who  held  the  offices  of 
castellan  of  St.  Angelo,  governor  of  the  Bor- 
go,  captain  of  the  guard,  and  general  of  the 
church.  He  too  had  as  early  as  1599,  60,000 
scudi  income,  and  he  frequently  received 
sums  of  ready  money  from  the  pope.  I  find 
an  account,  according  to  which  Clement 
VIII.  bestowed  on  his  kinsmen  in  the  thirteen 


*  NicoU)  Contarini :  Storia  Veneta  :  "  Clemente  VIII. 
nel  conferir  li  beneficii  ecclesiastici  alii  nepoti  non  heb- 
be  alcun  lennine,  el  andi)  eliandio  di  gran  lunga  supe- 
riore  a  Sisto  V.  sua  precessore,  clie  spalanco  quesla  por- 
ta." [Clemnni,  VIII.  set  no  bounds  to  his  bestowal  of  ec- 
clasiastical  bpnefices  on  his  nephews,  and  in  this  he  even 
vastly  outdid  Sixius  V.  his  predecessor,  wlio  opened  the 
door  to  the  practice.] 


years  of  his  reign  upwards  of  a  million  in 
hard  cash.  This  wealth  was  increased  by 
the  judicious  management  of  Giovan-Frances- 
co.  He  bought  the  property  of  Ridolfo  Pio, 
which  brought  in  to  its  original  owner  no 
more  than  3000  scudi  yearly,  and  made  it 
yield  him  12,000.  The  marriage  of  his 
daughter  Margareta  with  Rainuccio  Farnese 
was  not  effected  without  a  great  outlay  :  she 
brought  her  husband  a  dowry  of  400,000  scu- 
di, besides  other  advantages  ;*  although  sub- 
sequently the  connexion  between  the  families, 
as  we  have  seen,  did  not  prove  as  cordial  as 
had  been  expected. 

The  example  of  the  Aldobi-andini  was  fol- 
lowed, and  almost  outdone  in  recklessness,  by 
the  Borghesi. 

The  influence  possessed  by  cardinal  Scipi- 
one  Cafarelli  Borghese  over  Paul  V.  was  fully 
equal  to  that  of  Pietro  Aldobrandino  over  Cle- 
ment VHI.,  and  he  even  surpassed  him  in 
the  wealth  he  accumulated.  Already  in  the 
year  1612  the  income  of  his  benefices  was 
estimated  at  150,000  scudi.  He  strove  by 
kindness  and  courteous  affability  to  appease 
the  envy  which  so  much  power  and  riches  in- 
evitably provoked  ;  but  we  must  not  wonder 
if  in  this  he  did  not  fully  succeed. 

The  temporal  offices  were  conferred  on 
Marc  Antonio  Borghese,  on  whom  the  pope 
moreover  bestowed  the  principality  of  Salmo- 
na  in  Naples,  with  palaces  in  Rome,  and  the 
most  beautiful  villas  in  the  neighbourhood. 
He  loaded  his  nephews  with  presents,  of 
which  we  have  a  detailed  list  extending 
through  his  whole  reign  up  to  the  year  1620. 
They  comprised  jewels,  silver  vessels,  splen- 
did furniture,  taken  directly  from  the  stores 
of  the  palace  and  sent  to  the  nephews;  car- 
riages, and  even  muskets  and  falconets;  but 
the  main  thing  is  always  hard  money.  It 
appears  that  they  received,  up  to  the  year 
1620,  in  all,  689,727  scudi  31  baj.  in  cash, 
24,600  scudi  in  luoghi  di  monte,  taken  at  their 
nominal  value,  and  in  places  estimated  at  the 
price  it  would  have  cost  to  purchase  them, 
268,176  scudi ;  making  on  the  whole,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  Aldobrandini,  pretty  nearly  a 
million.! 

The  Borghesi,  too,  neglected  not  to  invest 
their  wealth  in  real  estates.  They  purchased 
nearly  eighty  estates  in  the  campagna  of 
Rome,  the  Roman  nobility  being  readily  in- 
duced to  part  with  their  ancient  hereditary 
possessions  on  consideration  of  the  tempting 


*  "  II  papa  monstvando  dolors  di  esser  condotto  da  ne- 
poti da  fiir  cosi  contro  la  propria  conscienza,  non  poteva 
tamo  nasconder  nel  cupo  del  cviore  che  non  dironipesse 
la  soprabondanza  dell'  allegrezza."  [The  pope,  though 
making  a  show  of  grief  at  being  led  by  his  nephews  lo 
act  so  contrary  to  liis  own  conscience,  could  not  yet  so 
conceal  his  joy  at  the  bottom  of  his  heart,  that  its  excess 
should  not  break  out.] 

t  Nota  di  danari,  officii  e  mobili  donati  da  papa  Paolo 
V.  aeuoi  parent!  e  concessioni  fattegli.  MS. 


A.  D.  1621-1639.J 


FOUNDATION  OF  NEW  FAMILIES. 


833 


price  paid  them,  and  the  high  rate  of  interest 
they  obtained  by  investing  the  purchase-mo- 
ney in  liioghi  di  monte.  They  also  establish- 
ed themselves  in  many  other  districts  of  the 
ecclesiastical  states,  which  the  pope  facilitat- 
ed by  granting  them  peculiar  privileges. 
Sometimes  they  were  allowed  the  right  of 
restoring  exiles,  of  holding  markets,  or  of 
having  their  vassals  endowed  with  certain 
immunities;  they  were  exempted  from  du- 
ties, and  they  even  obtained  a  bull,  by  virtue 
of  which  their  possessions  were  never  to  be 
confiscated. 

The  Borghesi  were  the  most  powerful  and 
wealthy  family  that  had  yet  risen  in  Rome. 

Now  this  system  of  nepotism  was  brought 
into  such  vogue  by  these  precedents,  that 
even  a  short  reign  afforded  means  for  accu- 
mulating a  brilliant  fortune.* 

Undoubtedly  cardinal  Ludovico  Ludovisio, 
the  nephew  of  Gregory  XV.,  ruled  still  more 
absolutely  than  any  of  his  predecessors.  It 
was  his  good  fortune  that,  during  his  adminis- 
tration, the  two  most  important  offices  of  the 
curia, — the  vice-chancellorship  and  the  cham- 
berlainship — became  vacant  and  fell  to  his 
lot.  He  acquired  upwards  of  200,000  scudi 
of  ecclesiastical  income.  The  temporal  power, 
the  generalship  of  the  church,  and  several 
other  proritable  posts,  devolved  on  the  pope's 
brother,  Don  Orazio,  a  senator  of  Bologna. 
As  the  pope  gave  little  promise  of  a  long  life, 
his  family  made  so  much  the  more  speed  to 
enrich  themselves.  They  acquired  in  a  short 
time  luoghi  di  monte  to  the  amount  of  800,000 
scudi.  The  duchy  of  Fiano  was  purchased 
for  them  from  the  Sforza,  and  the  principality 
of  Zagarolo  from  the  Farnesi.  The  young 
Niccolo  Ludovisio  could  already  aspire  to  the 
most  brilliant  and  wealthy  matrimonial  alli- 
ances. By  a  first  marriage  he  brought  Ve- 
nosa  into  his  house,  and  Piombino  by  a  sec- 
ond. The  favour  of  the  king  of  Spain  further 
contributed,  in  a  special  manner,  to  his  pros- 
perity. 

Emulating  these  splendid  examples,  the 
Barberini  now  entered  on  the  same  career. 
By  the  side  of  Urban  VIII.  stood  his  elder- 
brother,  Don  Carlo,  as  general  of  the  church ; 
a  grave,  practised  man  of  business,  of  few 
words;  one  who  did  not  suffer  himself  to  be 
dazzled  by  the  dawn  of  his  fortunes,  or  se-» 
duced  into  empty  arrogance ;  and  yet,  who 
never  lost  sight  of  his  grand  object  of  found- 

*  Pietro  Coularini :  Relatione  di  1627.  "Quelle  che 
possede  la  casa  PereUa,  Aldobrandina,  Borghese  e  Ludo- 
visia,  li  loio  principati,  le  grossissime  rendite.  lante  emi- 
nemissiine  fabrjche,  superlDJssime  supelletili,  con  estra- 
ordinarii  ornamenti  e  delizii,  non  solo  superano  le  condi- 
tioni  di  signori  e  principi  privali,  ma  s' ugiiagliano  e  3' 
avanzano  a  quelle  del  inedesimi  re."  [The  possessions 
of  the  houses  of  the  Peretii,  Aldobrandini,  Borghesi,  and 
Ludovisi,  their  principalities,  Iheir  great  revenues,  their 
numerous  splendid  fabrics,  sumptuous  furniture,  with 
extraordinary  ornaments  and  luxuries  of  all  kinds,  sur- 
pass not  only  the  fortunes  of  lords  and  private  princes,  but 
equal  or  exceed  those  of  kings  themselves.] 


ing  a  great  family.*  "  He  knows,"  says  the 
report  of  1625,  "that  the  possession  of  money 
distinguishes  a  man  from  the  multitude,  and 
does  not  deem  it  seemly,  that  he  who  has 
once  been  on  the  footing  of  a  pope's  relation, 
should  after  his  death  appear  in  straitened  cir- 
cumstances." Don  Carlo  had  three  sons, 
Francesco,  Antonio,  and  Taddeo,  who  now 
necessarily  rose  to  high  consideration.  The 
first  two  entered  the  service  of  the  church. 
Francesco,  whose  modesty  and  kindness  won 
universal  confidence,  and  who  also  had  the 
skill  to  accommodate  his  uncle's  humours,  ob- 
tained the  leading  influence  in  the  govern- 
ment, from  which,  although  on  the  whole  he 
acted  with  moderation,  considerable  wealth 
could  not  fail  to  accrue  spontaneously  to  him 
in  so  long  a  course  of  years.  His  income 
amounted,  in  the  year  1625,  to  40,000  scudi, 
and  already  in  1627  to  nearly  100,000  scu- 
di.f  It  was  not  entirely  with  his  consent  that 
Antonio  was  likewise  made  cardinal,  and  his 
advancement  w^as  coupled  with  the  express 
condition,  that  he  should  have  no  share  in  the 
government.  Antonio  was  aspiring,  stubborn 
and  proud,  though  weak  in  body.  In  order 
that  he  might  not  be  eclipsed  in  every  respect 
by  his  brother,  he  strained  hard  to  possess 
himself  of  a  multitude  of  places  with  great 
revenues,  which  as  early  as  the  year  1635 
amounted  to  100,000  scudi.  He  engrossed  to 
his  single  share  six  commanderies  of  Malta, 
whicii  could  not  be  very  agreeable  to  the 
knights  of  that  order.  He  accepted  presents, 
too ;  but  he  also  bestowed  many,  being  sys- 
tematically liberal,  with  a  view  to  make  him- 
self adherents  among  the  Roman  nobility. 
Don  Taddeo,  the  second  of  the  brothers,  was 
the  one  selected  to  found  a  family  by  the  ac- 
quisition of  hereditary  possessions.  To  his 
share  fell  the  dignities  of  the  secular  nephew, 
and  he  became,  after  his  father's  death,  gene- 
ral of  the  church,  castellan  of  St.  Angelo,  and 
governor  of  the  Borgo.  By  the  year  1635, 
he  was  master  of  so  many  possessions,  that 
he,  too,  enjoyed  an  income  of  100,000  scudi,f 

*  Relatione  de'  quattro  ambasciatori,  1625.  "  Nellasua 
casa  6  buon  economo  et  ha  mira  di  far  danari,  assai  sapen- 
doe^li  moUobene  che  I'oro  accresce  la  reputatione  agli 
uomini,  anzi  1'  oro  eli  inalza  e  gli  distingue  vantaggiosa- 
mente  nel  cospello  del  mondo."  [He  is  a  good  economist 
in  his  household,  and  aims  at  making  money,  knowing 
very  well  that  gold  increases  men's  reputations,  so  does 
it  exalt  and  advantageously  distinguish  them  in  the  eyes 
of  men.]  .         .     ,  j 

f  Pietro  Contarini,  1627.  "  E  di  oUimi  virtuosi  e  lode- 
voli  costumi,  di  soave  natura,  e  con  esempio  unico  non 
vuole  ricever  donativi  o  presente  alcuno.  Sara  nondi- 
meno  vivendo  il  ponlefice  al  pare  d'  ogni  altro  cardinale 
grande  e  ricco.  Hor  deve  haver  inlorno  80,000  scudi  a 
entrala  di  beneficii  ecclci-,  e  con  li  goveini  e  legationi 
che  tiene  deve  avvicinarsi  a  100m-  scudi."  [He  is  a  man 
of  excellent,  virtuous,  and  laudable  habits,  ot  a  genue 
disposition,  and  srts  the  rare  example  ot  retusing  an  oo- 
natives  and  presents  whatever.  Nevertheless,  it  IM  pope 
lives,  he  will  be  equal  in  wealth  and  splendour  to  any 
among  the  cardinals,  (fcc]  -.aina 

t  That  is  to  say,  such  was  the  yearly  income  arising 
from  his  landed  properly  :  "  Per  li  novi  acquisti,  s*y^i"- 
Contarini,  "  di  Palestrina,  Monterolondo  a  Valmonioae, 


334 


POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY,    [a.  d.  1639-40- 


and  he  was  constantly  receiving  additions  to 
his  property.  Don  Taddeo  lived  in  great  re- 
tirement, and  his  household  economy  was 
exemplary.  Ere  long  the  united  yearly  in- 
comes of  the  three  brothers  w^as  computed  at 
half  a  million  of  scudi.  The  most  important 
offices  belonged  to  them :  Antonio  had  the 
chamberlainship,  Francesco  the  vice-chancel- 
lorship, and  Taddeo  the  prefecture,  which 
had  become  vacant  by  the  death  of  the  duke 
ofUrbino.  It  was  commonly  computed  that, 
during  his  pontificate,  the  incredible  sum  of 
one  hundred  and  five  millions  of  scudi  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  Barberini  family.* 
"  The  palaces,"  continues  the  author  of  this 
account,  "  for  instance,  that  at  Quattro  Fon- 
tane,  a  regal  work,  the  vineyards,  pictures, 
statues,  wrought  gold  and  silver,  and  the 
jewels,  that  came  into  their  possession,  are 
of  greater  value  than  can  be  believed  or  ex- 
pressed." The  pope  himself,  however,  seems 
at  times  to  have  felt  scruples  about  the  be- 
stowal of  such  vast  wealth  on  his  family;  in 
the  year  1640  he  formally  appointed  a  com- 
mission to  examine  into  the  legality  of  the 
means  by  which  it  was  acquired.!  In  the 
first  place  the  commission  laid  down  the  prin- 
ciple, that  with  the  popedom  was  conjoined 
a  temporal  sovereignty,  out  of  the  surplus  re- 
•venue  or  savings  of  which,  the  pope  might 
make  donations  to  his  kindred.  Next,  the 
commission  estimated  the  circumstances  of 
the  said  sovereignty,  to  determine  to  what 
extent  the  pope  might  safely  extend  his  libe- 
rality. After  full  calculation,  they  were  of 
opinion  that  the  pope  miglit  with  a  safe  con- 
science found  a  majorat  of  80,000  scudi  net 
income,  and,  besides  this,  an  inheritance  for 
the  second  son;  and  that  dowries  of  the 
daughters  of  the  house  might  amount  to 
180,000  scudi.  Vitelleschi,  too,  the  general 
of  the  Jesuits, — for  the  order  must  needs 
have  a  hand  in  every  thing, — was  asked  his 
opinion ;  he  declared  these  decisions  mode- 
rate, and  gave  them  his  approval. 

In  this  manner  new  families  continued  to 
rise  to  hereditary  power  in  each  successive 
pontificate ;  they  ascended  immediately  into 
the  rank  of  the  high  aristocracy  of  the  land,  a 
place  in  which  was  willingly  conceded  to  them. 

It  was  not  to  be  supposed  that  they  should 

fatto  venders  e  forza  dai  Colonnesi  e  Sforzeschi  per  pa- 
gare  i  debiii  loro."  [From  his  new  acquisitions  ot  Pales- 
irina,  Monierolondo,  and  Valmontone,  which  the  Colon- 
na  and  the  Sforza  lam i lies  had  been  compelled  to  sell  to 
pay  their  debts.]  The  post  of  general  of  the  church 
brought  in  20,000  scudi. 

*  Conclave  di  Innocenza  X.  "  Si  contano  caduti  nello 
Barberina,  come  risulta  da  sincera  notitia  di  panite  dis- 
linte  105  milioni  di  contanti."  The  sum  is  so  incredible 
that  it  miaht  well  be  looked  on  as  an  error  of  the  tran- 
scriber. But  it  exactly  corresponds  in  several  MSS., 
anion? others  in  the  Foscarini  in  Vienna  and  in  my  own. 

+  Niccolini  treats  of  this  subject.  I  have  also  seen  a 
special  treatise:  "Motivi  a  far  liecidere  quid  possit  papa 
donare,  al  7  di  Luglio,  1640,"  by  a  member  of  the  com- 
mission. 


escape  collisions.  The  conflicts  between  pre- 
decessors and  successors,  which  had  formerly 
been  carried  on  by  the  factions  of  the  conclave, 
were  now  waged  between  the  nepotist  fami- 
lies. The  family  that  had  recently  risen  to 
power  clung  jealously  to  its  supremacy  of 
rank,  and  usually  exercised  hostility,  nay, 
persecution,  towards  that  which  had  immedi- 
ately preceded  it.  Great  as  was  the  share 
the  Aldobrandini  had  had  in  the  elevation  of 
Paul  v.,  yet  were  they  thrust  aside  by  the 
connexions  of  that  pope,  treated  with  enmity, 
and  visited  with  costly  and  hazardous  law- 
suits :*  they  called  him  "  the  great  ungrate- 
ful." The  nephews  of  Paul  V.  found  just  as 
little  favour  at  the  hands  of  the  Ludovisi ;  and 
cardinal  Ludovisio  himself  was  obliged  to  quit 
Rome  immediately  after  the  entry  into  power 
of  the  Barberini. 

For  the  Barberini  made  a  very  ambitious 
use  of  the  authority  which  the  deputed  power 
of  the  pope  gave  them  over  the  native  nobility 
and  the  Italian  princes.  Urban  VIII.  bestowed 
on  his  secular  nephew  the  dignity  of  a  prefetto 
di  Roma  expressly  because  honorary  rights 
were  attached  to  that  office,  which  it  seemed 
certain  would  secure  to  his  house  a  perpetual 
precedence  over  all  others  in  the  country. 

But  this  was  productive  at  last  of  a  move- 
ment, which  though  not  of  much  consequence 
to  the  world  at  large,  yet  marks  an  important 
epoch  as  regards  the  position  of  the  papacy, 
both  within  its  own  dominions  and  in  relation 
to  all  Italy. 

War  of  Castro. 

The  highest  rank  among  the  non-regnant 
papal  families  was  always  maintained  by  the 
Farnesi,  since  they  had  not  only  secured  to 
themselves  great  possessions  in  the  country, 
as  the  others  had  done,  but  likewise  no  incon- 
siderable principalities  ;  and  it  was  at  all  times 
a  difficult  task  for  the  ruling  nephew  to  keep 
this  house  in  allegiance  and  due  subordination. 
When  duke  Odoardo  Farnese  came  to  Rome 
in  1639,  all  possible  honours  were  paid  him.f 
•The  pope  assigned  him  lodgings,  and  noble- 
men to  wait  on  him,  and  he  lent  him  aid  in 
money  matters.  The  Barberini  feasted  him, 
and  made  him  presents  of  pictures  and  horses. 
But  with  all  their  courtesies  they  could  not 
win  him  to  them.  Odoardo  Farnese,  a  prince 
of  talent,  spirit,  and  self-reliance,  cherished 
in  a  high  degree  the  ambition  of  those  times, 


*  For  an  example  of  this  in  the  Vila  del  C'-  Cecchini, 
see  Appendix  No.  121. 

+  Deone:  Diario  di  Roma,  torn.  i.  "E  fatale  a  sigri- 
Barberini  di  non  trovare  corrispondenzane'beneficati  da 
loro.  II  duca  di  Parma  fu  da  loro  alloggialo,  accarezzato, 
servito  di  genlil'  huomini  e  carozze,  beneficalo  con  la  re- 
dultione  del  iiionte  Farnese,  con  utile  di  grossasomma  del 
duca  e  danno  grandissimo  di  molti  poveri  particulari,cor- 
leggiato  8  paitoggialo  da  ambi  li  fratelli  cardH-  per  spatio 
di  piu  settiiuane,  e  regalato  di  cavalli,  quadri  e  altre  ga- 
lanierie,  e  si  parti  da  Koraasenza  pur  salularli." 


A  D.  1639-40.] 


WAR  OF  CASTRO. 


335 


which  delighted  in  the  jealous  observance  of 
slight  distinctions.  He  was  not  to  be  induced 
to  pay  due  respeat  to  Taddeo's  dignity  as  pre- 
fect, and  to  concede  to  him  the  rank  appropri- 
ate to  his  otHce.  Even  when  he  visited  the 
pope,  he  displayed  in  an  offensive  manner 
his  thorougli  sense  of  the  pre-eminence  of 
his  own  house,  and  even  of  his  personal 
superiority.  Misunderstandings  arose,  which 
were  the  less  easy  to  remove,  since  they 
sprang  from  indelible  personal  impres- 
sions. 

It  now  became  a  weighty  question,  how  the 
duke    should   be  escorted   on   his  departure.  | 
Odoardo  demanded  the  same  treatment  as  had  j 
been  sltown  to  the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany;  i 
he  required  that  the  ruling  nephew,  cardinal  , 
Francesco  Barberini,  should  escort  him  in  per- 
son.    The  latter  would  only  do  so  on  condition 
that  the  duke  should   first  pay  hirn  a  formal  | 
leave-taking  visit  in  the  Vatican,  which  Odo- 
ardo did  not  think  himself  called  on  to  do.    To 
this  cause  of  disagreement  were  added  some  \ 
difficulties  thrown  in  the  way  of  his  money  ! 
transactions,  so  that  his  doubly  offended  self- 
love  was  violently  exasperated.     After  taking 
leave  of  the  pope  in  a  few  words, — and  even 
those  few  containing  complaints  of  the  ne- ; 
phew, — he  quitted  the  palace  and   the   city 
without  having  even  saluted  cardinal  Fran- 
cesco.    He  hoped  thereby  to  have  mortified 
him  to  the  heart.*  | 

But  the  Barberini,  possessed  of  absolute  ' 
authority  in  the  country,  had  the  means  of 
taking  a  still  keener  vengeance.  j 

The  financial  system  adopted  in  the  state 
found  likewise  acceptance  and  imitation  among  ; 
all  the  princely  houses  that  constituted  its 
aristocracy:  they  Jiad  all  tbunded  nionti,  and 
assigned  to  their  creditors  the  proceeds  of 
their  property,  just  as  the  popes  had  assigned 
the  treasury  dues  :  their  luoghi  di  monte  passed 
from  hand  to  hand  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
papal  ones.  These  monti,  however  would 
hardly  have  obtained  credit  had  they  not  been 
placed  underthesupervisionof  the  supreme  au- 
thority :  it  was  only  with  the  special  approval 
of  the  pope  that  they  could  be  either  tbunded 
or  modified.  It  constituted  part  of  the  prero- 
gatives of  the  reigning  house,  that  it  could  by 
means  of  this  supervision  exert  an  important 
control  over  the  domestic  affairs  of  all  the  oth- 
ers. Reductions  of  the  rate  of  interest  on  the 
monti  were  of  ordinary  occurrence  ;  they  de- 

*  Among  the  numerous  controversial  writings  on  this 
subject  which  are  extant  in  manuscript,  the  following  ap- 
pears to  me  very  dispassionate  an<l  trustworthy:  Risposta 
in  forma  di  lettera  al  libro  di  duca  di  Parma,  in  the  45th 
vol.  of  the  Information! :  "  II  due  i  Odoardo  fu  dal  papa  e 
ringrazioUo,  soggiunse  di  non  si  poter  lodare  del  Sr-  C'e- 
Barberino.  Dal  papa  gli  fu  brevemente  risposto  che  con- 
osceva  1'  afFetto  di  S.  Emza-  verso  di  lui..  Licenliatosi  da 
S.  Beat°e'  sonza  far  motoal  S--  cardinale  se  n'andoal  suo 
palazzo,  dovendo  se  voleva  esscr  accompagnato  da  S. 
Eni^a-  rimanere  nelle  slanze  del  Vaticano  e  licentiarsi 
parimente  da  S.  Emza-  come  6  usanza  de'  principi.  La 
maltina  finalmente  parti  senza  far  aliro." 


pended  on  the  good  pleasure  and  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  reigning  family. 

Now  the  Farnesi  were  loaded  with  consid- 
erable debts.  The  monte  Farnese  Vecchio 
owed  its  origin  to  the  necessities  and  the  ex- 
penses of  Alessandro  Farnese  in  the  cam- 
paigns of  the  Flanders.  A  new  one  iiad  been 
founded;  indults  of  the  popes  had  increased 
the  mass,  and  new  luoghi  had  been  established 
with  lower  rates  of  interest,  whilst  the  old 
were  not  abolished,  and  the  various  operations 
were  conducted  by  different  commercial  hous- 
es, all  jealous  of  each  other;  every  thing  had 
become  involved  in  confusion.* 

To  this  was  now  added,  that  the  Barberini 
had  had  recourse  to  some  measures  which  en- 
tailed great  injury  on  the  duke. 

The  two  monti  Farnesi  were  charged  upon 
the  revenues  of  Castro  and  Ronciglione.  The 
Siri,  farmers  of  the  taxes  of  Castro,  paid  the 
duke  94,000  scudi,  with  which  it  was  just 
possible  to  pay  the  interest  of  the  monti.  But 
it  was  in  consequence  of  some  grants  made  to 
his  hotise  by  Paul  V.  that  the  proceeds  were 
so  high.  To  this  end  Paul  V.  turned  the 
great  road  from  Sutri  to  Ronciglione,  and 
granted  that  district  a  greater  freedom  in  ex- 
porting corn  than  was  possessed  by  the  rest 
of  the  provinces.  The  Barberini  now  resolved 
to  withdraw  these  privileges.  They  turned 
back  the  road  to  Sutri,  and  then  published  a 
prohibition  against  the  export  of  corn  in  Mon- 
talto  di  Maremma,  where  the  grain  from  Cas- 
tro was  usually  shipped.f 

Their  intention  was  instantly  fulfilled.  The 
Siri,  who  had  already  been  irritated  against 
the  duke  in  consequence  of  the  financial  oper- 
ations between  them,  and  who  now  were 
backed  by  the  palace, — besides  which,  it  is 
said  they  were  specially  instigated  by  some 
prelates  who  had  a  secret  share  in  their  busi- 
ness,— refused  to  abide  by  their  contract,  and 
ceased  to  pay  the  interests  of  the  monte  Far- 


*  Deone,  t.  i.  "  Fu  ultimamente  1'  uno  et  1'  altro  stato, 
cio6  Castro  e  Ronciglione,  affitlato  per  94"i-  scudi  1'  anno 
a  gli  Siri.  Sopra  questa  entrata  6  fonduta  la  dote  dell' 
uno  e  dell  altro  monte  Farnese,  vecchio  cio6  e  nuovo.  11 
vecchio  fu  fatto  dal  duca  Alessandro  di  54'i>'  scudi  1'  anno, 
denari  tutti  spesi  in  Fiandra:  al  quale  il  presente  duca 
Odoardo  aggiunse  somma  per  300"i.  scudi  in  sorte  princi- 
pale  a  ragione  di  4^  per  cento:  e  di  piii  impose  alcuni 
censi :  di  niodo  che  poco  o  nulla  rimane  per  lui,  si  che  se 
li  leva  la  tratla  del  grana,  non  ci  sari  il  pago  per  li  credi- 
tori  (Jel  monte,  non  che  de'  censuarii."  [Finally  both 
states,  that  is,  Castro  and  Ronciglione,  were  farmed  out 
for  94,000  scudi  annually  to  the  Siri.  On  this  revenue 
were  founded  the  two  monti  Farnesi,  the  old  and  the  new. 
The  old  one  paying  54  000  scudi  a  year,  was  founded  by 
dulve  Alessandro,  tlie  capital  of  which  was  wholly  spent 
in  Flanders:  to  this  debt  duke  Odoardo  added  a  capital 
sum  of  300,000  scudi,  paying  4J-  per  cent :  he  also  granted 
some  mortgages  :  the  consequence  is,  thai  should  the  corn 
trade  be  taken  away  from  those  states,  no  means  will  be 
left  of  paying  the  creditors  of  the  monte  or  the  mortgagees.] 

t  They  relied  on  the  words  {if  the  bull  of  Paul  III  ,  by 
which  was  granted  them  only,  "facultas  frumenla  ad 
qusecunque  etiam  prsefatse  Romanae  ecclesiae  e  nobis  im- 
mediate vel  mediate  subjecta  conducendi."  [tlie  privi- 
lege of  exporting  corn  to  all  pansirnmediately  or  mediate- 
ly subject  to  the  Roujan  cliurch.]— general  freedom  of  ex- 
poitation  had  however  grown  up  in 'the  course  of  lime. 


336 


POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY,    [a.  d.  1642-44. 


nese.  The  montists,  whose  income  suddenly 
failed,  insisted  on  their  rights,  and  applied  to 
the  papal  government.  The  duke,  seeing 
himself  so  intentionally  prejudiced,  scorned  to 
make  any  arrangements  to  satisfy  them.  But 
the  complaints  of  the  montists  were  so  vehe- 
ment, urgent,  and  general,  that  the  pope 
thought  himself  justitied  in  taking  the  mort- 
gaged property  into  his  own  possession,  in  or- 
der to  help  so  many  Roman  citizens  to  the 
money  due  to  them.  With  this  view  he  sent 
a  small  force  to  Castro.  The  affair  was  not 
effected  without  some  resistance.  "  We  have 
been  compelled,"  he  exclaims  in  unusuaUn- 
dignation  in  his  monitorium,  "  to  fire  four 
great  gun  shots,  by  which  one  of  the  enemy 
has  been  slain."*  On  the  i:^th  of  October, 
1641,  he  took  possession  of  Castro ;  and  he 
was  resolved  not  even  to  stop  here.  Excom- 
munication was  pronounced  in  January,  1642, 
against  the  duke,  who  would  not  allow  the 
revenues  to  be  touched  ;  he  was  declared  di- 
vested of  all  his  fiefs,  and  troops  were  marched 
into  the  field  to  wrest  from  him  Parma  and 
Piacenza.  The  pope  would  not  hear  of  a  pa- 
cification, declaring  that  between  the  lord  and 
his  vassal,  no  such  proceeding  could  find  place ; 
he  would  humble  the  duke;  he  had  money, 
courage,  and  soldiers ;  God  and  the  world 
were  on  his  side. 

The  affair  hence  acquired  a  more  general 
importance.     The  Italian  states  had  long  been 
jealous  of  the  repeated  extensions  of  the  states 
of  the  church.     They  would  not  endure  that 
Parma  should  be  merged  in  them,  like  Urbino 
and  Ferrara.     The  Estes  had  not  yet  given  up 
their  claims  to  the  latter,  nor  the  Medici  cer- 
tain pretensions  they  made   to  the  former: 
they  were  all  offended  by  the  arrogance  of 
Don  Taddeo ;  the  Venetians  doubly  so,  because 
Urban  VIII.  had  shortly  before  had  an  inscrip- 
tion obliterated  in  the  Sala  Regia,  in  which 
they  were  extolled  for  their  fabulous  defence  j 
of  Alexander  III. ;  an  act  which  they  regarded  { 
as  a  great  insult.f     To  these  particular  causes 
of  animosity  were   added   considerations   ofi 
more   general   politics.     The  ascendancy  of. 
the  French  now  excited  uneasiness  among; 
the  Italians,  as  that  of  the  Spaniards  had  for- ; 
merly  done.     In  every  direction  the  Spanish  | 
monarchy  sustained  the  greatest  losses.     The  , 
Italians   dreaded    lest   a   general    revohition 
might  be  the  consequence  even  among  them- 
selves, if  Urban  VIII.,  whom  they  regarded  | 
as  the  decided  ally  of  the  French,  should  be- ; 
come  still  more   powerful.      Upon  all  these  I 
grounds  they  resolved  to  oppose  him.     Their  [ 

*  This  took  place  at  a  bridge.  "Dictus  dominis  Mar- 
chio  ex  quo  milites  niimero  40  circiler,  qui  in  eisdem 
ponte  el  vallo  ad  pusnandum  apposili  fueninl,  amicabili- 
ler  ex  eis  recedere  recusabant,  imnio  hoslililer  pontificio 
exercilui  se  opponebani,  fuil  coaclus  pro  illorutn  expug- , 
nalione  quatuor  maenoiuin  loriiienioruni  ictus  explodere,  i 
quorum  formidine  lioslos  perterrili,  fugam  latidom  arri- 
puerunl,  in  qua  unus  ipsorum  interteclus  remansit." 

■f  This  subject  is  touched  on  in  the  Appendix  No.  117. 


troops  formed  a  junction  in  the  territory  of 
Modena.  The  Barberini  were  obliged  to  give 
up  the  attempt  to  march  through  that  region, 
and  the  papal  troops  opposed  to  the  confede- 
rates took  up  their  quarters  round  Ferrara. 

There  was  in  some  sort  re-enacted  here  that 
conflict  between  the  French  and  Spanish  fn- 
terests  which  kept  Europe  at  large  in  commo- 
tion. But  how  much  weaker  were  the  mo- 
tives, the  forces,  and  the  efforts  that  were 
here  engaged  in  this  petty  strife. 

An  expedition  undertaken  of  his  own  auth- 
ority by  the  duke  of  Parma,  who  now  saw 
himself,  without  much  exertion  on  his  own 
part,  protected  and  yet  not  fettered,  strikingly 
displays  the  singularity  of  the  existihg  posi- 
tion of  the  parties. 

Odoardo  made  an  incursion  into  the  states 
of  the  church  without  artillery  or  infantry, 
with  only  three  thousand  cavalry.  He  was 
not  checked  either  by  the  fort  of  Urbino, 
which  had  cost  such  large  sums,  nor  by  the 
assembled  militia,  which  had  never  seen  an 
armed  foe  in  the  field.  The  Bolognese  shut 
themselves  up  within  their  walls,  and  the 
duke  marched  through  the  land  without  ever 
getting  sight  even  of  the  papal  troops.  Imola 
opened  its  gates  to  him :  he  made  the  papal 
commandant  a  visit,  and  admonished  the  town 
to  be  true  to  the  papal  see  ;  for  he  declared 
that  it  was  not  against  Rome,  not  by  any 
means  against  Urban  VIII.,  but  only  against 
his  nephews,  he  had  taken  up  arms:  he 
marched,  he  said,  under  the  banner  of  the 
gonfaloniere  of  the  church,  on  which  were 
beheld  the  semblances  of  St.  Peter  and  St 
Paul ;  he  demanded  to  pass  through  in  the 
name  of  the  church.  The  gates  of  Faenza 
had  been  barricaded ;  but  when  the  governor 
caught  sight  of  the  foe,  he  let  himself  down 
from  the  walls  by  a  rope,  in  order  to  have  a 
personal  conversation  with  the  duke  ;  the  re- 
sult of  the  interview  was  that  the  gates  were 
opened.  The  same  things  look  place  in  Forli. 
The  inhabitants  of  all  these  towns  looked  qui- 
etly out  of  their  v/indows  upon  the  enemy  as 
they  marched  through.  The  duke  crossed  the 
mountains  to  Tuscany,  and  then  entered  the 
ecclesiastical  slates  again  from  Arezzo.  Cas- 
tiglione  di  Lago  and  (^itta  del  Pieve  opened 
their  gates  to  him  :  he  hastened  onwards  un- 
checked, and  filled  the  land  with  the  terror 
of  his  name.*  Rome,  above  all,  was  in  con- 
sternation :  the  pope  dreaded  the  fate  of  Cle- 
ment VII.  He  endeavoured  to  arm  his  Ro- 
mans. But  it  was  necessary  to  impose  a  new 
tax,  contributions  had  to  be  levied  from  house 
to  house,  whereat  there  arose  no  slight  com- 
plaints, before  a  small  body  of  horse  could  be 
equipped.  Had  the  duke  of  Parma  presented 
himself  at  that  moment,  there  is  no  doubt  but 
that  a  couple  of  cardinals  would  have  been 

*  For  a  circumstantial  account  of  this  enterprize,  see 
Siri's  Mercurio,  lorn.  ii.  p.  1289. 


A.  D.  1642-44.] 


WAR  OF  CASTRO. 


337 


despatched  to  meet  him  at  the  Ponte  Molle, 
and  that  all  his  demands  would  have  been 
complied  with. 

Bat  he  was  no  warrior.  Heaven  knows 
what  considerations,  what  apprehensions,  may 
have  held  him  back.  He  suffered  himself  to 
be  seduced  into  neg'otiations,  from  which  he 
could  expect  nothing.  The  pope  breathed 
again.  With  a  zeal  quickened  by  danger,  he 
fortified  .Rome,*  and  sent  a  fresh  army  into 
the  field,  which  quickly  drove  the  duke, 
whose  forces  did  not  even  hold  together,  out 
of  the  states  of  the  church.  As  there  was 
now  nothing  more  to  fear,  Urban  again  im- 
posed the  harshest  conditions:  the  ambassa- 
dors of  the  sovereigns  quitted  Rome ;  and 
even  the  inhabitants  of  unwarlike  Italy  be- 
stirred themselves  once  more  to  try  the  force 
of  their  native  weapons. 

The  confederates  made  their  first  attack  on 
the  country  of  Ferrara  in  May,  1643.  The 
duke  of  Parma  took  two  fortresses,  Bondeno 
and  Stellata.  The  Venetians  and  the  Mode- 
nese  joined  forces,  and  penetrated  further  into 
the  heart  of  the  country.  But  the  pope,  too, 
as  we  have  said,  had  meanwhile  rallied  all 
his  forces;  he  had  gotten  together  thirty  thou- 
sand infantry  and  six  thousand  cavalry.  The 
Venetians  feared  to  encounter  so  imposing  an 
army,  and  fell  back ;  and  presently  we  find 
the  papal  troops  advancing  into  the  territory 
of  Modena,  and  on  Polesme  di  Rovigo.f 

The  grand  duke  of  Tuscany  next  made  an 
ineffectual  attempt  on  Perugia  :  the  pope's 
troops  made  irregular  incursions  even  into  the 
Tuscan  territory. 

What  a  singular  aspect  do  these  move- 
ments present!  On  both  sides  so  utterly  in- 
effective and  nerveless,  when  compared  with 
the  contemporaneous  struggles  in  Germany, 
with  the  march  of  the  Swedish  arms  from  the 
Baltic  to  the  vicinity  of  Vienna,  from  Mora- 
via to  Jutland.  And  yet  the  conflict  was  not 
purely  Italian :  foreigners  served  on  both 
sides  :  Germans  constituted  a  majority  in  the 
army  of  the  confederates,  Frenchmen  in  that 
of  the  pope. 

The  consequence,  however,  of  the  Italian 


*  Deone  :  "  Si  seguilano  le  fortificationi  non  solo  di  Bor- 
go  ma  del  rinianenie  delle  mura  di  Roma,  alle  quali  son 
deputati  Ire  cardinali,  Pallolia,  Gabrieli  el  Orsino,  che 
giornalmente  cavalcano  de  una  porta  all'allra:  e  si  lag- 
liano  tutte  le  vigne  chesono  appresso  le  mura  per  la  pane 
di  dentro  di  Roma,  cio6  fanno  strada  ira  le  mura  e  le  vigne 
e  giardini  con  danno  grandissimo  de'  padroni  di  esso  :  e 
cosi  verri  ancho  locco  il  bellissimo  giardino  de'  Medici,  e 
perderi  la  parlicella  che  haveva  nelle  mura  di  Roma." 
[The  fortification  not  only  of  the  Bor^^o  is  proceeding, 
but  also  that  of  the  unfinished  part  of  the  walls  of  Rojne  : 
the  business  is  entrusted  to  the  three  cardinals,  Pallotta, 
Gabrieli,  and  Orsino,  who  ride  daily  from  one  gale  to  the 
other.  All  the  vineyards  near  the  walls  on  the  city 
side  are  removed  :  that  is,  they  are  making  a  road  be- 
tween the  walls  and  the  vineyards  and  gardens,  to  the 
great  injury  of  the  proprietors  of  the  latter.  Thus  the 
very  beautiful  garden  of  the  Medici  will  suffer,  and  will 
lose  the  small  portion  contained  within  the  walls  of 
Rome.] 

f  Frizzi:  Memorie  per  la  storia  di  Ferrara,  v.  p.  100. 

43 


war,  no  less  than  of  that  waged  in  Germany, 
was,  that  the  country  was  exhausted,  and  the 
papal  treasury  plunged  into  extreme  embar- 
rassment.* 

Urban  VIII.  tried  many  an  expedient  to 
procure  the  money  of  which  he  stood  in  need. 
As  early  as  September,  1642,  the  bull  of  Si'x- 
tus  V.  underwent  a  fresh  discussion,  the  re- 
sult of  which  was  a  resolution  to  draw  50,000 
scudi  from  the  castle.f  Of  course  that  sum 
could  not  avail  much,  and  the  practice  was 
begun  of  borrowing  from  them  what  was  left 
of  the  reserved  fund ;  that  is  to  say,  it  was 
positively  resolved  to  pay  back  at  a  future 
time  the  money  that  should  be  drawn  from 
it.  We  have  already  seen  recourse  had  to 
personal  taxation ;  the  expedient  was  fre- 
quently repeated  :  the  pope  made  known  to 
the  conservatori  what  sums  he  needed,  where- 
upon the  inhabitants,  foreigners  even  not  ex- 
cepted, had  their  quota  imposed  on  them. 
But  the  chief  source  of  income  was  still  the 
duties.  At  first  they  were  little  felt,  being, 
for  instance,  levied  on  such  things  as  coarse 
ground  corn  for  fowls ;  but  these  were  soon 
followed  by  others  more  oppressive  upon  the 
most  indispensable  necessaries  of  life,  fire- 
wood, salt,  bread,  and  wine.|  They  now 
reached  their  second  great  pitch,  rising  in 
1644  to  2,200,000  scudi.  We  are  prepared 
to  understand  that  all  the  money  raised  by  an 
augmentation  or  new  creation  of  duties  was 
immediately  funded,  and  new  montes  founded 
upon  it,  and  sold.  Cardinal  Cesi,  the  former 
treasurer,  calculated  that  in  this  way  new  debts 
were  contracted  to  the  amount  of  7,200,000 
scudi,  though  there  were  still  60,000  scudi 
in  the  treasury.     The  whole  expense  of  the 


*  Riccius:  Rerum  Italicarum  sui  temporis  narrationes, 
Marr.  xix.  p.  590:  "  Ingens  opinioneque  niajus  bellura 
exarsit,  sed  primo  impetu  validum,  mox  senescens,  pos- 
tremo  neutrius  partis  fructu,  imomilitum  rapinis  indigenis 
exitiale:  irritis  conatibus  prorsus  inane  in  mutua  siudia 
olficiaque  abiit."  [The  war  raged  violently  and  beyond 
expeciation,  but  beginning  impetuously  it  languished  by 
and  by,  and  finally  proved  of  no  advantage  to  either  pany, 
or  rather  highly  pernicious  from  the  rapineof  the  soldiery. 
The  end  was,  that  after  fruitless  efforts  the  contest  died 
away,  without  one  result  gained,  in  mutual  compliments 
and  concessions.] 

t  Deone,  20Sptt.  1G42.  "  Havendo  il  papa  fatto  studiare 
da  legisti  e  theologi  di  potere  conforme  labolladi  Sisto  V. 
cessare  denari  dal  tesoro  del  castel  Sam'  Angelo,  il  lune- 
di  2-2  del  mese  il  papa  lenne  consisloro  per  il  medesimo 
affare  ...  Fu  resoluto  di  cessare  500m.  scudi  d'oro,  a 
lOQm.  per  volte,  e  non  prima  che  sia  spesi  quelli  che  al 
presente  sono  ancora  in  essere  della  camera." 

t  Deone,  29  Nov.  1642.  "  Si  sono  imposte  .3  nuove  ga- 
belle,  una  sopra  il  sale  sopra  1'  altre,  la  2a-  sopra  lalegna, 
la  3i'  sojpra  la  dogana,  la  quale  in  tutte  le  mercanlie  che 
vengono  per  terra  riscuote  7  per  cento,  per  acqua  10  per 
cento.  Si  6  cresciulo  uno  per  cento  d'  awantaggio,  e  si 
aspeltano  altre  Ire  gabelle  per  le  necessity  correnti,  una 
sopra  le  case,  1'  altra  sopra  li  censi,  la  lerza  sopra  li  cas- 
ali,  cio6  poderi  nelle  campagna."  [Three  new  duties 
have  been  imposed,  one  on  sail  in  addition  to  those  alrea- 
dy existing,  a  second  on  wood,  the  third  on  the  customs, 
which  exact  7  per  cent,  on  all  merchandize  carried  by 
land  an,  10  per  cent,  on  those  by  water:  this  is  raised 
one  per  cent,  more,  and  under  the  present  exigencies 
three  new  duties  are  expected,  one  on  houses,  one  on 
mortgages,  and  another  on  li  casali,  that  is  to  say,  on 
estates  in  the  country.] 


POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY.        [a.  d.  1644. 


war  was  reported  to  the  Venetian  ambassa- 
dor in  the  year  1645  at  more  than  twelve 
millions.* 

Every  moment  brought  more  sensibly  home 
to  men's  minds  the  serious  consequences  like- 
ly to  result  from  such  a  system,  which  would 
gradually  exhaust  every  resource  of  the  state. 
The  war  too  did  not  always  proceed  as  could 
be  wished.  In  a  skirmish  at  Lagoscuro,  on 
the  17th  of  March,  1644,  Cardinal  Antonio 
owed  his  escape  from  behig  taken  prisoner 
only  to  the  speed  of  his  horse.f  As  the  pope 
daily  felt  his  infirmities  grow  upon  him,  he 
was  constrained  to  think  of  peace. 

The  French  undertook  to  act  as  mediators. 
The  Spaniards  had  so  little  influence  at  the 
papal  court,  and  had  moreover  lost  so  much 
of  their  authority  elsewhere,  that  on  this  oc- 
casion they  were  wholly  excluded. 

The  pope  had  formerly  often  said  he  well 
knew  the  purpose  of  the  Venetians  was  to 
harass  and  vex  him  to  death,  but  they  should 
not  succeed  ;  he  well  knew  how  to  make 
head  against  them :  but  now  he  was  compelled 
to  accede  to  all  their  demands,  to  revoke  the 
ban  pronounced  against  the  duke  of  Parma, 
and  to  reinstate  him  in  Castro.  Never  could 
he  have  anticipated  being  reduced  to  such  an 
extremity  :  he  felt  it  most  poignantly. 

Another  trouble  beset  him.  He  was  as- 
sailed with  fresh  doubts  that  he  had  unduly 
favoured  his  nephews,  and  that  this  would  lie 
heavy  on  his  conscience  when  he  stood  in  the 
presence  of  God.  He  once  more  called  to- 
gether some  divines,  in  whom  he  placed  pe- 
culiar confidence — among  them  cardinal  Lugo 
and  father  Lupis,  a  Jesuit,  to  hold  a  consulta- 
tion in  his  presence.  The  answer  was,  that 
since  the  nephews  of  his  holiness  had  found 
so  many  enemies,  it  was  just,  nay  even  neces- 
sary, for  the  honour  of  the  apostolic  see,  to 
leave  them  the  means  of  maintaining  after 
the  decease  of  the  pope  an  undiminished  rank 
and  consequence  in  defiance  of  their  foes.  J 

Amidst  such  harassing  doubts  as  these,  and 
with  the  bitter  feelings  produced  by  an  abor- 
tive enterprize,  the  pope  felt  his  death  ap- 
proaching. His  physician  has  affirmed,  that 
at  the  moment  when  he  had  to  sign  the  treaty 
of  peace  of  Castro,  he  fainted,  overcome  by 
anguish  :  this  was  the  beginning  of  the  illness 
of  which  he  died.  He  prayed  to  Heaven  to 
avenge  him  on  the  godless  princes  who  had 
forced  him  to  war,  and  expired  on  the  29th  of 
July,  1644. 

Hardly  had  the  papal  see  retreated  from  its 
central  position  in  the  affairs  of  Europe,  when 
it  endured  a  defeat  in  those  of  Italy,  and  even 


*  Relatione  d'  iv.  ambasciatori :  "  L'erario  si  trova  noli- 
bilmente  esausto,  essendoci  stato  affermato  da  piii  C"'  aver 
epesi  i  Barberini  nella  guerra  passale  sopra  12  milioni 
d'oro." 

t  Mani :  Sioria  Veneta,  lib.  xii.  s.  470. 

i  Nicoletti :  Vita  di  papa  Urbano,  torn.  viii. 


in  its  own  domestic  affairs,  such  as  for  many  a 
day  had  not  befallen  it. 

Pope  Clement  VIII.  had  likewise  fallen  out 
with  the  Farnesi,  and  had  been  constrained  to 
pardon  them  at  last.  But  he  did  so  only  be- 
cause he  required  the  aid  of  the  other  Italian 
princes  to  revenge  himself  on  the  Spaniards. 
Now,  however,  the  state  of  things  was  far 
different.  Urban  VIII.  had  attacked  the  duke 
of  Parma  with  all  his  might:  the  united 
forces  of  Italy  had  exhausted  his  own,  and 
forced  him  to  a  disadvantageous  peace.  It 
could  not  be  denied  that  the  papacy  was  once 
more  decidedly  worsted. 

Innocent  X. 

The  effect  of  this  state  of  things  was  forth- 
with manifested  in  the  new  conclave.*  The 
nephews  of  Urban  VIII.  introduced  eight-and- 
forty  cardinals,  their  uncle's  creatures  :  never 
had  there  been  so  strong  a  faction.  Notwith- 
standing this,  they  soon  perceived  that  they 
could  not  carry  the  election  of  their  favourite, 
Sacchetti :  the  scrutinies  every  day  turned 
out  more  and  more  against  him.  To  bar  at 
least  the  accession  of  a  decided  adversary  to 
the  tiara.  Cardinal  Francesco  at  last  decided 
to  support  Cardinal  Pamfili,  who  at  any  rate 
was  a  creature  of  Urban  VIII.,  though  he 
leaned  strongly  to  the  Spanish  party,  and 
though  the  French  court  had  expressly  except- 
ed against  him.  Cardinal  Pamfili  was  elected 
on  the  16th  of  September,  1644.  He  took  the 
name  ofilnnocent  X.,  in  memory  it  is  supposed 
of  Innocent  VIII.,  under  whom  his  house  had 
come  to  Rome. 

His  accession  at  once  changed  the  policy  of 
the  Roman  court. 

The  confederate  princes,  particularly  the 
Medici,  to  whom  the  pope  was  chiefly  indeb- 
ted for  his  elevation,  now  acquired  influence 
over  that  authority  against  which  they  had 
just  been  arrayed  in  arms :  the  obliterated 
inscriptions  relating  to  the  Venetians  were 
restored  ;f  and  the  first  promotions  fell  almost 


*  The  old  violence  and  disorder  of  an  interregnum  were 
once  more  seen.  J.  Nicii  Erylhrsei  Epist.  Ixviil.  ad  Tyrr- 
henum,  iii.  noa  Aug.  1644.  "Civilas  sine  jure  est,  sine 
dignitaie  respublica.  Tantus  in  urbe  armatorum  Hume- 
rus cernitur  quantum  me  alias  vidi.sse  non  memini.  Nulla 
domus  est  paulo  locupletiorqua;  non  militurn  iiiullorum 
praesidio  munialur:  ac  si  in  unum  omnes  cogerenlur, 
magnus  ex  eis  exercilus  confici  posset.  Summa  in  urbe 
armorum  impunilas,  summa  licentia:  passim  caedes  ho- 
minum  fiunt:  nil  ita  frequenter  auditurquam,  hie  vel  ills 
notus  homo  est  interfeclus."  [The  stale  is  without  law, 
the  coramonweallh  without  dignity.  The  number  of 
armed  men  visible  in  the  city,  surpasses  any  thing  I  re- 
member to  have  elsewhere  seen.  There  is  not  a  house 
possessing  some  riches  that  is  not  defended  by  a  numerous 
garrison  of  soldiers,  enough  if  they  were  all  collected  to- 
gether to  form  an  army.  Armed  violence  and  license 
are  at  their  utmost  pitch  in  the  city;  assassinations 
abound ;  and  nothing  is  more  common  than  to  hear  it 
said,  such  or  such  a  man  of  note  has  been  killed.] 

t  Relatione  de'  iv.  ambasciatori,  1645.  "  II  presente 
pontefice  nel  bel  principio  del  suo  governo  ha  con  publi- 
che  dimostralioni  registrate  in  marmi  detestato  le  opinion! 
del  preceasore,  rendendo  il  lustro  alle  glorie  degli  ante- 


A.  D.  1644-46.] 


INNOCENT  X. 


339 


exclusively  to  the  lot  of  the  friends  of  Spain. 
The  whole  Spanish  party  revived  again,  and 
once  more  equipoised  that  of  the  French,  at 
least  in  Rome. 

The  Barberini  were  the  first  to  feel  this 
revolution  in  affairs.  It  is  impossible  at  the 
present  day  to  determine  clearly  how  much  of 
what  was  laid  to  their  charge  was  well  found- 
ed. They  were  said  to  have  allowed  justice 
to  be  violated,  to  have  seized  on  benefices  not 
properly  belonging  to  them,  and,  above  all,  to 
have  embezzled  the  public  money.  The  pope 
resolved  to  call  the  nephews  of  his  predeces- 
sor to  account  for  their  administration  of  the 
public  funds  during  the  war  of  Castro.* 

At  first  the  Barberiiii  thought  they  could 
secure  themselves  through  the  protection  of 
France.  As  Mazarine  had  obtained  his  pro- 
motion in  their  house,  and  through  their  pat- 
ronage, he  did  not  fail  to  support  them  now. 
They  affixed  the  French  arms  to  their  dwel- 
lings, and  put  themselves  formally  under  the 
protection  of  France.  But  Pope  Innocent 
declared  that  he  sat  in  the  chair  he  occupied 
to  administer  justice,  and  that  he  could  not 
desist  from  doing  so,  though  Bourbon  stood 
before  the  gates. 

Upon  this,  Antonio,  who  was  in  most  dan- 
ger, first  took  flight  in  October,  1645 ;  and 
some  months  later,  Francesco  and  Taddeo, 
with  his  children,  also  withdrew. 

The  pope  caused  their  palaces  to  be  seized, 
their  offices  to  be  given  away,  and  their  luoghi 
di  moute  to  be  sequestered.  The  Roman  peo- 
ple applauded  all  he  did.  They  held  a  meeting 
in  the  capital  on  the  20th  of  February,  1646. 
It  was  the  most  brilliant  within  the  memory 
of  man  ;  so  many  nobles  of  illustrious  rank  and 
title  took  part  in  it.  A  resolution  was  passed 
to  solicit  the  pope  to  repeal  at  least  that  most 
oppressive  of  the  duties  imposed  by  Urban 
VIII.,  the  tax  on  flour.  This  wasopposed  by  the 
adherents  of  the  Barberini,  in  their  apprehen- 
sion lest  if  the  tax  were  taken  off"  their  fortunes 
would  be  made  to  pay  the  debts  founded  upon 
it.  Donna  Anna  Colonna,  the  wife  of  Taddeo 
Barberini,  presented  a  memorial,  in  which  she 
called  to  mind  the  services  rendered  by  Urban 
VIII.  to  the  city,  and  his  zeal  for  the  admin- 
istration of  justice,  and  pronounced  it  unseemly 
to  appeal  against  the  lawful  taxes  imposed  by 
so  meritorious  a  pope.     The  resolution   was 

nali  di  VV.  EE."  [The  present  pope,  in  the  noble  com- 
mencement of  his  pontificate,  has  by  demonstrations  regis- 
tered in  murble  abjured  the  opinions  of  liis  predecessor, 
restoring  their  lustre  to  the  glories  of  your  excellencies' 
ancestors.]  We  see  in  what  a  high  tone  they  took  the 
matter  up. 

*  Relatione  delle  cose  correnli,  2o  Maegio,  1646.  MS. 
Chigi.  "  I  Barberini,  come  affatto  esclusi  del  matrimonio 
del  novello  poniefice,  comincioronoa  machinar  vastitd.  di 
pensieri  stimali  da  loro  nobili.  II  papa  conlinuo  ad  invi- 
gilare  con  ogni  accuratezza  che  la  discanierata  camera 
fusse  da  loro  soiisfatta."  [The  Barberini,  seeing  them- 
selves wholly  divorced  by  the  new  pope,  began  to  devise 
a  multitude  of  plans  of  great  merit  in  their  own  eyes.  The 
pope  continued  to  watch  very  sharply  that  the  untrea- 
suried  treasury  should  be  satisfied  by  them.] 


passed  notwithstanding.  Innocent  X.  proceed- 
ed to  act  on  it  without  delay.  The  deficit 
which  would  be  occasioned  thereby  was  to  be 
made  good,  as  had  been  justly  anticipated,  out 
of  the  fortune  of  Don  Taddeo.* 

Whilst  the  family  of  the  late  pope  was  thus 
violently  assailed  and  persecuted,  the  question 
remained  to  be  asked, — now  the  most  impor- 
tant question  in  every  pontificate, — how  would 
the  new  family  arrange  its  measures  ?  It  is 
an  important  point  in  the  history  of  the  papacy 
in  general,  that  that  this  did  not  take  place  on 
the  present  exactly  as  on  former  occasions; 
although  the  scandal  given  by  the  court  was 
now  actually  aggravated. 

Pope  Innocent  was  under  obligations  to  his 
sister-in-law.  Donna  Olimpia  Maidalchina  di 
Viterbo,  particularly  because  she  had  brought 
a  considerable  fortune  to  the  house  of  Pamfili. 
He  esteemed  it  a  high  merit  in  her  that  she 
had  chosen  not  to  marry  again  after  the  death 
of  her  husband,  his  brother.f  He  had  himself 
derived  advantages  from  this.  He  had  long 
committed  the  economical  affairs  of  his  family 
to  her  guidance  :  no  wonder,  then,  if  she  now 
obtained  influence  over  the  administration  of 
the  papacy. 

She  very  quickly  rose  to  distinguished  con- 
sequence. She  was  the  first  whom  ambassa- 
dors visited  on  their  arrival ;  cardinals  had  her 
picture  placed  in  their  apartments,  as  people 
hangup  the  portraitof  their  sovereign ;  foreign 
courts  sought  to  conciliate  her  favour  by  pre- 
sents. As  the  same  course  was  pursued  by 
all  who  had  any  thing  to  solicit  of  the  curia, — 
some  having  even  gone  so  far  as  to  assert  that 
she  exacted  a  monthly  commission  for  all  the 
small  places  which  she  was  the  instrument  of 
procuring, — wealth  of  course  poured  in  upon 
her.  She  soon  formed  a  grand  establishment, 
gave  festivals  and  comedies,  travelled,  and 
purchased  estates.  Her  daughters  married 
into  the  most  distinguished  and  wealthy  fami- 
lies ;  one  of  them  wedded  a  Ludovisi,  the  other 
a  Giustiniani.  For  her  son,  Don  Camillo,  who 
had  but  little  capacity,  she  thought  it  at  first 
more  advisable  that  he  should  become  an 
ecclesiastic,  and  assume  at  least  in  appearance 
the  position  of  cardinal-nephew  ;l  but  when 
an  opportunity  offered  for  him  too  to  make  a 


*  For  the  passage  from  the  Diario  Deone,  see  Appendix 
No.  122. 

+  Bussi:  Storia  di  Viterbo,  p.  331.  At  first  she  bore  a 
good  reputation.  "  Donna  Olimpia,"  say  the  Venetian  am- 
bassadors of  164.5,  "6  dama  di  gran  pruJenza  e  valore, 
conosce  il  posto  in  cui  si  trova  di  cognata  del  pontefice, 
gode  1'  estiiiia  e  I'afFettione  della  S'i'  S.  ha  seco  molta  au- 
toriti."  [Donna  Olimpia  is  a  lady  of  great  prudence  and 
worth,  she  knows  her  place  as  the  pope's  relation,  she 
enjoys  the  esteem  and  affection  of  his  holiness,  and  has 
great  influence  with  him.] 

t  This  excited  from  the  very  first  the  surprise  of  every- 
body. "  lo  stimo,"  says  Deone,  19  Nov.  1644,  "chesia 
opera  della  S"-  Donna  Olimpia,  che  ha  voluto  vedere  il 
figlio  cardinale  e  desidera  piii  tosto  genero  che  nora."  [I 
am  of  opinion  that  it  is  Signora  Olimpia's  doin?,  and  that 
it  was  her  choice  that  her  son  should  be  a  cardinal,  wish 
ing  rather  to  have  a  son-in-law  than  a  daughler-in-law.] 


340       POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY,    [a.  d.  1644-55 


brilliant  matrimonial  connexion, — the  richest 
heiress  in  Rome,  Donna  Olimpia  Aldobran- 
dini,  having  recently  lost  her  husband, — he 
recounced  the  church  and  contracted  this 
marriage. 

Don  Camillo  was  now  as  happy  as  it  was 
possible  for  him  to  be.  His  bride  was  not 
only  rich,  but  also  still  in  her  bloom,  and 
full  of  grace  and  talent :  she  supplied  his 
deficiencies  by  her  own  rare  qualities. 
But  she  too  wished  to  rule.  There  never 
was  one  moment's  peace  between  the  mo- 
ther-in-law and  the  daughter-in-law.  The 
pope's  palace  rang  with  the  bickerings  of  two 
women.  The  new  married  pair  were  obliged 
at  first  to  depart ;  but  they  did  not  endure  this 
long :  they  returned  against  the  pope's  will, 
and  the  discord  now  became  obvious  to  every 
one.  Donna  Olimpia  Maidalchina,  for  instance, 
appeared  once  during  the  carnival  with  a 
magnificent  equipage  in  the  Corso ;  her  son 
and  daughter-in-law  were  standing  at  a  win- 
dow, and  as  soon  as  they  caught  sight  of  her 
carriage  they  turned  away.  Every  one  re- 
marked it:  it  was  the  talk  of  all  Rome.*  The 
several  parties  strove  to  get  hold  of  the  rivals. 

Unfortunately  pope  Innocent  was  of  a  cha- 
racter and  disposition  more  calculated  to  exas- 
perate than  to  allay  dissensions  of  this  kind. 

Personally  he  was  a  man  of  by  no  means 
common  qualities.  In  his  earlier  career,  in 
the  rota,  as  nuncio  and  as  cardinal,  he  had 
proved  active,  irreproachable,  and  upright,  and 
this  reputation  he  still  maintained.  His  exer- 
tions were  regarded  as  the  more  remarkable, 
since  he  was  already  seventy-two  years  old 
when  he  was  elected.  "  Labour,"  it  was  said, 
"does  not  weary  him  ;  he  is  as  fresh  after  it 
as  before  it ;  he  takes  pleasure  in  speaking  to 
people,  and  he  lets  every  one  say  out  what  he 
has  to  say."  Instead  of  the  haughty  reserve 
of  Urban  VIII.,  he  displayed  atlability  and 
cheerful  good  humour.  He  was  particularly 
anxious  to  preserve  peace  and  good  order  in 
Rome.  It  was  his  ambition  to  maintain  the 
security  of  property,  to  ensure  the  safely  of 
the  person  by  day  and  night,  and  to  suffer  no 
ill-usage  of  the  low  by  the  high,  or  of  the  weak 
by  the  strong.f  He  obliged  the  barons  to  pay 
their  debts.  As  the  duke  of  Parma  still  refus- 
ed to  satisfy  his  creditors,  and  the  pope  could 
not  show  himself  in  Rome  without  being  ac- 
costed with  cries  beseeching  him  to  see  justice 

*  Diario  Deone.  On  another  occasion  he  relates  as  fol- 
lows :— "  Mercordi  la  tarda  (Aug.  1648,)  la  Sra-  Olimpia  con 
ambedue  le  figliuole  con  niolta  comitivapasso  per  longo  il 
corso:  ogn'uno  credeva  che  ella  andasse  a  visitare  la 
nuora,  ma  pass6  avanti  la  casa  senza  guardarla.  [On 
Wednesday  evening,  Aug.  1648,  Signora  Olimpia  went 
through  the  corso  with  her  two  daughters  and  a  numerous 
suite:  every  one  thought  she  was  going  to  visit  her  daugh- 
ter- in-law,  but  she  passed  before  the  house  without  looking 
towards  it.] 

I  Relatione  di  Contarini,  1648.  "Rimirasolamente  con 
applicatione  alia  quiete  dello  stale  ecclesiasiico  e  partico- 
larmente  di  Koma,  accio  godp  ciascheduno  delle  proprie 
facoltie  della  libertiidfl  pralicare  la  nolle  e  non  rimanga 
I'inferiore  liranneggialo  dal  superiore." 


done  to  the  montists;  and  as,  moreover,  the 
bishop  of  Castro  was  murdered  at  the  instiga- 
tion, as  it  was  supposed,  of  the  ducal  govern- 
ment, it  was  resolved  at  last  to  take  decisive 
steps  in  the  matter.  The  estates  of  the  Far- 
nesi  were  again  put  up  to  sale :  soldiers  and 
sbirri  were  sent  to  Castro  to  lake  possession  of 
it  in  the  name  of  the  montists.*  The  duke 
again  resisted,  and  made  attempts  to  penetrate 
into  the  states  of  the  church.  But  on  this 
occasion  he  met  with  no  aid.  Innocent  X.  was 
not,  like  Urban,  feared  by  the  Italian  princes  : 
he  was  rather  their  ally.  Castro  was  taken 
and  razed  to  the  ground  :  the  duke  was  forced 
to  yield  the  country  to  the  administration  of 
the  papal  camera,  which  on  its  part  undertook 
to  satisfy  his  creditors'  claims  ;  the  duke  even 
assented  to  the  arrangement,  that  he  should 
absolutely  lose  his  title  to  the  land  if  he  did 
not  redeem  the  monti  Farnesi  within  eight 
years.  The  capital  amounted  to  1,700,000 
scudi,  the  accumulated  interest  to  400,000 
scudi.  The  duke  did  not  appear  capable  of 
raising  so  large  a  sum,  so  that  the  agreement 
— which,  however,  was  brought  about  by 
Spanish  mediation — was  tantamount  from  the 
first  to  an  enforced,  and  all  but  admitted,  re- 
nunciation. 

In  all  these  transactions  Innocent  appears 
vigorous,  prudent,  and  determined ;  but  he 
laboured  under  one  defect  which  made  it  hard 
to  deal  with  him,  and  which  even  embittered 
his  life  :  he  reposed  unswerving  confidence  in 
no  one  ;  with  him  favour  and  displeasure  alter- 
nated according  to  the  impression  of  the  mo- 
ment. 

This  was  experienced  among  others  by  the 
datary  Cecchini.  After  having  long  stood 
well  in  the  pope's  good  graces,  he  found  him- 
self suddenly  an  object  of  suspicion,  assailed, 
reproached,  and  supplanted  by  his  deputy, — 
that  same  Mascambruno  who  was  afterwards 
convicted  of  the  most  extraordinary  forgeries.f 

But  still  more  painful  perplexities  arose  in 
the  papal  family,  already  vexed  enough  with 
dissension. 

After  the  marriage  of  Don  Camillo  Pamfili, 
Innocent  X.  had  no  longer  a  nephew  in  the 
church, — a  description  of  person  hitherto  long 
deemed  requisite  to  a  papal  court.  He  once 
felt  his  heart  moved    to   peculiar   affection, 

*  Diario  Deone;  16  Giugno,  1649.  "11  papa  in  questo 
negotio  sta  poslo  totalmente,  e  mi  disse:  Non  possiamo 
andare  per  le  strade  di  Roma,  che  non  si  venga  gridato 
dietro,  che  facciamo  pagare  il  duca  di  Parma.  Sono  setiB 
anni  che  non  paga,  e  di'  ()uesla  entrata  devon  viver  molti 
luoghi  pii  e  vedove  e  pupilli.  [The  pope  is  positively  re- 
solved in  this  matter,  and  said  to  me:  We  cannot  pass 
through  the  streets  of  Rome,  without  being  accosted  with 
cries  beseeching  us  to  make  the  duke  of  Parma  pay  his 
debts.  He  has  not  paid  these  seven  years,  and  on  tlie 
income  withheld  depend  many  luoghi  pii,  widows,  and 
minors.]  We  see  that  the  pope's  motives  were  not  to  be 
despised. 

+  Vita  del  Cl-  Cecchini  scritta  dalui  medesimo.  "Scrit- 
Itira  contro  Monsr-  Mascambruno,  con  la  quale  s'  intende 
ches'  intruisca  il  processo  che  contro  il  medesimo  si  va 
fabricando :"  and  the  still  more  circumstantial  stalemenl, 
Pro  R.  P.  D.  Mascambruno,  MS. 


A.  D.  1644-55.] 


INNOCENT  X. 


341 


when  Don  Camillo  Astelli,  a  distinguished 
relation  of  his  house,  was  presented  to  him ; 
and  he  made  up  his  mind  to  raise  the  young 
man  to  the  rank  of  cardinal-nephew.  He 
received  him  into  his  household,  assigned  him 
apartments  in  the  palace,  and  gave  him  a 
share  in  public  business.  He  caused  this 
elevation  to  be  proclaimed  by  public  festivi- 
ties and  by  salvos  from  tlie  castle. 

Yet  nothing  else  resulted  from  it  but  new 
jarrings. 

The  rest  of  the  pope's  relations  thouglit 
themselves  slighted  :  even  the  cardinals  pre- 
viously nominated  by  Innocent  took  offence 
at  the  preference  bestowed  on  a  new  comer;* 
but  no  one  was  so  much  displeased  as  Donna 
Olimpia  Maidalchina.  She  had  sounded  the 
praises  of  young  Astelli ;  she  had  proposed  his 
being  made  cardinal ;  but  she  had  never 
dreamed  of  his  attaining  such  high  favour. 

In  the  first  place  she  herself  was  sent 
away.  The  secular  nephew  and  his  wife, 
who,  as  a  contemporary  expresses  himself, 
"  was  as  far  above  ordinary  women  as  he  was 
below  ordinary  men,"  entered  the  palace. 

But  the  secular  nephew  and  the  adoptive 
ecclesiastical  nephew  did  not  long  agree.  Old 
Donna  Olimpia  was  again  sent  for  to  establish 
order  in  the  house. 

She  speedily  recovered  her  wonted  autho- 
rity.! 

In  a  chamber  in  the  villa  Pamfili  stand  the 
busts  of  the  pope  and  his  sister-in-law.  Who- 
ever compares  them  together,  the  lineaments 
of  the  female,  which  breathe  resolution  and 
talent,  with  the  inexpressive  countenance  of 
the  pope,  will  feel  convinced  that  it  was  not 
only  possible,  but  even  unavoidable,  that  he 
should  be  ruled  by  her. 

But  after  she  had  been  re-admitted  into  the 
palace,  she  too  would  not  endure  that  the 
advantages  belonging  to  the  position  of  a 
pope's  nephew  should  be  shared  by  any  other 
house  than  her  own.  As  Astelli  did  not  par- 
ticipate his  power  with  her  in  the  way  she 
wished,  she  never  rested  till  he  lost  the  pope's 
favour,  was  pulled  down  from  his  high  station, 

*  Diario,  Deone,  10  Sett.  1650.  "  Discorre  la  corte  che 
il  papa  ha  perduto  il  beneticio  conferilo  a  tulle  le  sue 
creature,  che  si  tengono  oll'esi,  che  papa  habbia  preferito 
un  giovane  senza  esperienza  a  tutti  loro,  tra  quali  son 
huoinini  di  iriolto  valore,  segno  che  tutti  1' ha  perdiffi- 
denli  overo  ineiti  alia  carica."  [Il  is  the  talk  of  the  court 
that  the  pope  has  lost  his  labour  in  the  benefits  he  has 
conferred  on  all  his  creatures,  who  are  offended  that  the 
pope  has  preferred  a  youth  without  experience  to  them 
all,  among  whom  are  men  of  much  worth  :  they  look  on 
this  as  a  proof  that  he  considers  them  not  trustworthy,  or 
not  qualified  for  otRce.]  The  subject  is  also  largely  dis- 
cussed in  a  work,  Osservationi  sopra  la  futura  eletlione, 
1652.  "  lo  credo  che  sia  solamente  un  caprice io  che  al 
improvise  gli  venne  .  .  .  conoscendo  appena  Mods'"  Ca- 
millo Aslaili."  [It  is  my  belief  il  is  only  a  caprice  that 
has  suddenly  seized  him  .  .  .  hardly  knowing  Monsignor 
Camillo  Astelli.] 

+  Pallavicino:  Vita  di  papa  Alessandro  VII.  "Lascal- 
tra  vecchia  passu  con  breve  mezzo  dal  estremo  della  dis- 
gralia  all'  estremo  della  gratia."  [The  crafty  old  woman 
passed  with  brief  interval  from  the  extremity  of  disgrace 
lo  the  extremity  of  favour.] 


and  driven  from  the  palace,  and  she  herself 
ruled  there  without  a  rival.  On  the  other 
hand,  conciliated  by  presents,  she  entered  into 
close  alliance  with  the  Barberini,  who  had 
now  returned. 

How  sorely  must  the  poor  old  pope  have 
been  tormented  by  all  these  changes  of  favour 
and  disfavour,  these  incessant  quarrels  of  those 
by  whom  he  was  most  immediately  and  inti- 
mately surrounded !  Even  a  formally  pro- 
nounced rupture  cannot  undo  the  inward 
yearnings  of  the  heart :  it  only  makes  them 
sources  of  restlessness  and  pain,  instead  of 
producing,  as  they  ought,  gladness  and  com- 
fort. Besides  this,  the  old  man  felt  after  all 
that  he  was  but  the  tool  of  a  woman's  lust  of 
power  and  pelf;  it  revolted  him,  and  he  would 
gladly  have  shaken  off  the  yoke,  but  he  had 
not  the  resolution :  in  fact  too,  he  knew  not 
how  to  do  without  her.  His  pontificate, 
which  glided  away  without  any  notable  mis- 
chances, deserves  in  other  respects  to  be 
numbered  among  the  fortunate  ones :  but  its 
reputation  has  suffered  from  these  disorders 
in  the  family  and  in  the  palace.  They  made 
Innocent  X.  still  more  than  he  was  by  nature, 
capricious,  fickle,  self-willed,  and  a  burthen 
to  himself.*  Even  in  the  last  days  of  his  life 
we  find  him  busied  in  despoiling  and  inflicting 
fresh  banishment  on  his  other  relations.  In 
this  miserable  state  of  mind  he  died  Jan.  5, 
1655. 

Three  days  the  corpse  lay,  without  a  thought 
bestowed  on  its  interment  by  any  of  those  be- 
longing to  him,  on  whom,  according  to  the 
usages  of  the  court,  the  duty  devolved.  Donna 
Olimpia  said  .she  was  a  poor  widow,  that  the 
matter  was  beyond  all  her  means :  no  one 
else  thought  himself  bound  by  any  obligation 
to  the  deceased.  A  canon  who  had  formerly 
been  in  the  pope's  service,  but  who  had  long 
been  dismissed,  at  last  spent  half  a  scudi,  and 
caused  the  last  honours  to  be  paid  to  the  dead 
man. 

But  let  us  not  suppose  that  those  domestic 
jars  produced  no  more  than  personal  conse- 
quences. 

It  is  manifest  that  the  system  of  ruling  by 
nephews,  which  had  in  previous  pontificates 
exercised  so  entire  an  authority  in  the  state, 
and  so  potent  an  influence  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Church,  after  deceiving  such  a  severe  shock 
in  the  last  years  of  Urban  VIII.,  had  in  this 
reign  given  no  manifestation  of  its  existence, 
and  was  indeed  approaching  its  downfall. 

*  Pallavicini:  "Fra  preliosa  arredi  oggetto  felente  e 
stomachevole  .  .  .  proruppe  a  varie  dimostralioni  quasi 
di  smanie.  .  .  .  Assai  temuto,  niente  amato,  non  senza 
qualche  gloria  e  feliciia  ne'  successi  esterni,  ma  inglorioso 
e  miserabile  per  le  continue  o  tragedie  o  comedie  domes- 
liche."  [A  fetid  and  loathsome  object  in  the  midst  of 
splendid  furniture  ...  he  burst  out  into  various  indica- 
tions of  almost  frenzy.  .  .  .  Feared  a  good  deal,  loved  not 
al  all,  not  without  glory  and  prosperity  in  outward  events, 
but  inglorious  and" miserable  by  reason  of  his  perpetual 
domestic  traigedies  or  comedies.] 


842         POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY,    [a.  d.  1655-6. 


Alexander  VII.  and  Clement  IX. 

The  new  conclave  immediately  presented 
an  unwonted  spectacle. 

Hitherto  the  nephews  had  appeared,  escort- 
ed by  numerous  trains  of  devoted  creatures, 
to  sway  the  new  election.  Innocent  X.  left 
behind  no  nephew  who  could  keep  together 
the  votes  of  the  cardinals,  or  unite  them  into 
a  faction.  They  were  not  indebted  for  their 
promotion  to  Astelli,  who  had  been  but  a 
short  while  at  the  helm,  and  had  exercised  no 
commanding  influence,  nor  could  they  feel 
themselves  in  any  way  bound  to  him.  For 
the  first  time  for  many  centuries  the  new 
cardinals  entered  the  conclave  perfectly  free 
and  unfettered.  It  was  proposed  to  them 
voluntarily  to  unite  under  one  head,  to  which 
they  are  said  to  have  answered,  that  every 
one  of  them  had  a  head  and  feet  of  his  o.wn. 
They  were  for  the  most  part  distinguished  men, 
of  independent  ways  of  thinking:  they  held 
indeed  together,  (they  were  designated  by  the 
name  of  the  squadrone  volante,*)  but  they 
were  resolved  for  once  to  follow  not  the  beck 
of  a  pope's  nephew,  but  their  own  convictions 
and  judgment. 

Beside  the  very  death-bed  of  Innocent  X., 
one  of  them,  carc^nal  Ottobuono,  cried  out, 
*'  We  must  look  out  for  an  upright  man."  "  If 
you  want  an  unright  man,"  rejoined  Azzolino, 
another  of  them,  "  there  he  stands,"  pointing 
to  Chigi.f  Not  only  had  Chigi  gained  for 
himself  in  general  the  reputation  of  an  able 
and  well  intentioned  man,  but  he  had  also 
particularly  distinguished  himself  as  an  oppo- 
nent of  the  abuses  prevailing  in  the  existing 
form  of  government,  which  indeed  had  never 
been  more  crying  than  in  those  days.  But 
though  he  had  friends,  he  had  also  powerful 
adversaries,  especially  in  the  French.  When 
Mazarin,  driven  from  France  by  the  troubles 
of  the  Fronde,  travelled  to  the  frontiers  of 
Germany,  to  procure  armed  aid  towards  reco- 
vering his  lost  authority,  he  had  not  received 
from  Chigi,  who  was  the  nuncio  at  Cologne, 
the  assistance  on  which  he  thought  he  had 
reason  to  count :  from  that  time  forth  he  bore 
him  a  personal  ill-will.  Hence  the  election 
was  not  effected  without  great  labour :  the 
contest  was  again  very  prolonged ;  but  at  last 
the  now  members  of  the  college,  the  squad- 
ronists,  carried  their  point.  Fabio  Chigi  was 
elected  on  the  7th  of  April,  1655,  and  took 
the  name  of  Alexander  VII. 

An  obligation  was  imposed  on  the  new  pope 
by  the  very  principle  that  had  led  to  hia  elec- 


*  Pallavicini  mentions  the  following  members  of  the 
confederacy:  Imperiale,  Omodei,  Borromei,  Odescalco, 
Pio,  Aquaviva,  Ottobuono,  Albizi,  Gualtieri,  and  Azzolino. 
The  name  of  Squadrone  was  started  by  the  Spanish  am- 
bassador. 

+  "  Se  vogliamo  un  uomo  da  bene,  quegli  6  desso,  et 
addit6  C'  Chigi,  che  era  indi  lonlano  alquanto  nella  me- 
desima  camera."    (Pallavicini.) 


tion,  to  adopt  a  different  system  of  govern- 
ment from  that  pursued  by  his  more  recent 
predecessors  :  he  seemed  to  resolve  on  doing 
so. 

For  a  considerable  time  he  did  not  allow 
his  nephews  to  come  to  Rome,  and  he  boasted 
that  he  did  not  put  a  single  penny  in  their 
pockets.  His  confessor,  Pallavicini,  who  was 
engaged  in  writing  the  history  of  the  council 
of  Trent,  hastened  to  insert  in  his  work  a 
passage,  in  which  he  extols  Alexander  VII., 
and  promises  him  immortal  renown,  particu- 
larly on  account  of  his  forbearance  with 
regard  to  those  of  his  own  blood.* 

But  it  is  never  an  easy  thing  to  break  ^ 
through  a  custom  once  established ;  it  could 
never  indeed  have  become  prevalent  had  it 
not  something  commendable,  something  natu- 
ral to  give  it  credit:  at  every  court  there  are 
persons  who  put  forward  this  better  aspect  of 
a  custom,  and  who  endeavour  to  hold  fast  by 
usage,  even  though  its  abuses  stare  them  in 
the  face. 

By  degrees  one  person  afler  another  repre- 
sented to  Alexander  VII.  that  it  was  not 
becoming  that  the  relations  of  a  pope  should 
remain  simple  citizens  of  some  town,  nor 
indeed  was  it  even  possible ;  the  people  of 
Sienna  would  not  refrain  from  paying  princely 
honours  to  his  house ;  in  this  way  he  might 
easily  involve  the  Roman  see  in  misunder- 
standings with  Tuscany.  Others  not  only 
corroborated  this,  but  added  moreover,  that 
the  pope  would  set  a  still  better  example  if  he 
a^^ually  received  his  nephews,  but  managed 
tcWieep  them  within  bounds,  than  if  he  kept 
them  entirely  at  a  distance.  But  the  greatest 
impression  undoubtedly  was  made  by  Oliva 
the  rector  of  the  Jesuit  college,  who  declared 
outright  that  the  pope  indulged  a  sin  if  he  did 
not  call  his  nephews  to  him  :  foreign  ambas- 
sadors would  never  place  so  much  reliance  in 
a  mere  minister  as  in  a  blood  relation  of  the 
pope's;  the  holy  father  would  be  so  much  the 

*  "Populus,"  he  says  in  his  Latin  biography  of  Alexan- 
der VII.,  "  qui  prae  multis  vectigalibus  humeris  sibi  ferra 
videbatur  recentiores  pontificias  domos  tot  opibus  onustas, 
huic  Alexandri  Smi-  magnanimitati  mirifice  plaudebal; 
.  .  .  inexplicabili  detrimento  erat  et  sacro  imperio  dislri- 
bulione  minus  sequa  beneficiorum  el  perpetuis  populi 
oneribus."  [The  people,  which  by  reason  of  the  many 
taxes  imposed  on  it,  seemed  to  carry  on  its  shoulders  the 
new  papal  families  laden  with  so  much  wealth,  wonder- 
fully applauded  this  magnanimity  of  Alexander;  .  .  . 
immense  injury  had  been  done  to  the  holy  see  through 
the  unfair  distribution  of  benefices,  and  to  the  people  by 
the  perpetual  burthens  imposed  on  them.]  Relatione  de' 
iv.  ambascialori,  1655.  "E  contiuenza  sin  ora  eroica 
quella  di  che  S.  S'i'  si  mostra  armata,  escludendo  dall' 
adito  di  Roma  il  fratello,  i  nepoti,  e  qualunque  si  pregia 
di  congionlione  di  sangue  seco :  et  6  tanto  piu  da  ammi- 
rarsi  questa  parsinionia  d'  aflfetti  verso  i  suoi  congiunti, 
quanto  che  non  6  distillala  nella  mente  dalle  persuasione, 
ma  6  volontaria  e  natavi  per  propria  elettione."  [His 
holiness's  moderation  continues  heroic,  in  forbidding  ac- 
cess to  Rome  to  his  brother,  his  nephews,  and  all  who 
boast  relationship  with  him  :  and  we  have  the  more  rea- 
son to  admire  this  thriftiness  of  affection  towards  his 
kindred,  since  it  has  not  been  instilled  into  him  by  the 
arguments  of  others,  but  is  the  voluntary  and  native 
growth  of  his  own  free  will.] 


A.  D.  1656-57.] 


ALEXANDER  VII.  AND  CLEMENT  IX. 


343 


worse  supplied  with  information,  and  so  much 
the  loss  enabled  to  discharge  the  duties  of  his 
office.* 

It  hardly  needed  so  many  arguments  to 
move  the  pope  to  what  he  was  of  himself  well 
enough  inclined  to.  On  the  24th  of  April, 
1656,  he  proposed  the  question  to  the  consis- 
tory, whether  it  seemed  good  to  his  brethren 
the  cardinals,  that  he  should  employ  his  rela- 
tions in  the  service  of  the  holy  see.  No  one 
ventured  to  speak  in  the  negative,  and  shortly 
afterwards  the  relations  arrived. f  The  pope's 
brother,  Don  Marco,  had  the  secular  offices 
assigned  to  him,  the  inspection  of  the  annona, 
and  the  administration  of  justice  in  the  Borgo: 
his  sun  Flavio  became  cardinal  padrone,  and 
had  in  a  short  time  100,000  scudi  of  ecclesi- 
astical revenue.  Another  brotherof  the  pope's, 
whom  he  particularly  loved,  was  already 
dead  ;  his  son  Agostino  was  selected  to  found 
the  family,  and  was  endowed  by  degrees  with 
the  fairest  possessions,  the  incomparable  Aric- 
cia,  the  principality  of  Farnese,  the  palace  in 
the  Piazza  Colonna,  and  numerous  luoghi  di 
monte,  and  he  was  married  to  a  Borghese.| 
Nay,  the  pope's  favour  extended  even  to  more 
remote  connexions  of  the  family,  for  instance 
to  the  commendatore  Bichi,  who  appears 
occasionally  in  the  Candian  war,  and  indeed 
to  the  Siennese  in  general. 

Thus  everything  seemed  to  have  returned 
to  the  old  course.  This  nevertheless  was  not 
the  case. 

Flavio  Chigi  was  far  from  possessing  such 
authority  as  Pietro  Aldobrandino,  or  Scipione 
Cafarelli,  or  Francesco  Barberino ;  nor  did  he 
aim  at  it ;  sway  had  no  charms  for  him ;  he 
rather  envied  his  cousin  Agostino  the  layman, 
to  whose  share  the  real  enjoyment  of  high 
station  seemed  to  fall  without  much  pains  or 
labour  on  his  part. 

Indeed  Alexander  VII.  himself  no  longer 
ruled  with  anything  like  the  despotic  power 
of  his  predecessors. 

Under  Urban  VIII.  there  had  been  institu- 


♦  Scritture  politiche,  etc.  "Un  giorna  Oliva  presa 
occasione  di  dire  al  padre  Luti,  [Father  Luli  had  been 
brought  up  with  the  pope,  frequently  visited  him,  and 
was  desirous  that  the  nephews  should  be  called  to  Rome] 
che  il  papa  era  in  oblige  sotto  peccato  mortale  di  chla- 
niare  a  Roma  i  suoi  nepoti."  He  then  gave  his  reasons 
as  above. 

t  Pallavicini :  "In  quel  primi  giorni  i  partiali  d'  Ales- 
sandro  non  potean  coniparir  in  publico  senza  soggiacere  a 
mordaci  scherni."  [In  those  early  days  the  friends  of 
Alexander  could  not  appear  in  public  without  being  ex- 
posed 10  caustic  raillery.] 

t  Vitadi  Alessandro  VII.  I6G6.  "  II  principato  Farnese, 
che  vale  IflOm-  scudi,  la  Riccia,  che  costa  altretlanto,  il 
palazzo  in  piazza  Colonna,  che  finite  arriveri  ad  altri 
lOOm-  scudi,  formano  bellissimi  slabili  per  Don  Augustine, 
et  aggiuntosi  i  luoghi  di  monte  et  altri  officii  cemprali 
farannogli  slabili  di  una  sola  testa  piii  di  mezzo  milione 
senza  le  annue  rendiie  di  ijm-  scueli  che  gode  il  commen- 
dator  Bichi,  e  senza  ben  100m-  e  piu  scudi  d'  entrata  che 
ogni  anni  enlrano  nella  borsa  del  C'-  Chigi."  These  are 
01  course  such  calculations  as  might  have  been  made  in 
the  talk  of  the  day,  and  to  which  no  great  value  can  be 
attached. 


ted  a  congregatione  di  stato,  in  which  the 
weightiest  matters  of  state  were  to  be  discus- 
sed and  determined,  but  its  functions  were 
really  of  little  moment.  It  became  much  more 
important  under  Innocent  X.  Pancirolo,  the 
secretary  of  that  congregation,  the  first  dis- 
tinguished man  who  filled  the  post,  and  who 
laid  the  foundation  of  its  subsequent  high 
credit,  retained  to  his  death  a  very  great  share 
in  the  administration  of  Innocent  X.,  and  to 
him  it  is  especially  ascribed  that  no  nepotism 
prevailed  in  that  reign.  Chigi  himself  long 
filled  the  same  office.  It  now  devolved  on 
Rospigliosi,  who  had  already  the  whole  range 
of  tbreign  affairs  in  his  hands.  Associated 
with  him  was  cardinal  Corrado  of  Ferrara, 
who  had  great  weight  in  matters  of  ecclesias- 
tical immunity.  Monsignore  Fugnano  had 
the  control  of  monastic  orders,  and  Pallavicini 
decided  theological  questions.  The  congrega- 
tions, which  had  been  insignificant  under  for- 
mer popes,  again  rose  to  consequence  and  dis- 
charged special  functions.  Already  some 
were  heard  to  maintain,  that  the  absolute 
right  of  deciding  by  his  own  personal  authori- 
ty belonged  to  the  pope  only  in  spiritual  mat- 
ters; while  in  all  secular  matters,  such  as 
declaring  war,  concluding  peace,  alienating 
a  territory,  or  imposing  a  tax,  he  was  bound 
to  consult  the  cardinals.*  In  fact  Alexander 
VII.  took  but  little  active  part  in  state  admin- 
istration. He  used  to  go  for  two  months  into 
the  country  to  Castelgandolfo,  and  on  these 
occasions  business  was  sedulously  avoided  : 
when  he  was  in  Rome  the  afternoons  were 
devoted  to  literature ;  authors  presented  them- 
selves and  read  their  works  before  him,  the 
pope  delighting  in  suggesting  emendations. 
Even  in  the  early  part  of  the  day  it  was  diffi- 
cult to  obtain  an  audience  of  him  on  matters 
of  actual  business.  "  I  was  forty-two  months," 
says  Giacomo  Quirini,  "  in  the  service  of  pope 
Alexander,  and  I  perceived  that  he  had  but 
the  name  of  a  pope,  not  the  real  power.  Of 
those  qualities  which  he  displayed  when  car- 
dinal, vivacity  of  intellect,  talent  for  discrimi- 
nation, resolution  in  trying  cases,  and  facility 
in  expressing  himself,  not  a  trace  remained  : 
business  was  put  aside ;  his  only  thought  was, 
how  he  might  pass  his  life  in  unruffled  tran- 
quillity."! 

Sometimes  Alexander  himself  was  conscious 
of  this,  and  felt  it  with  displeasure.  When  his 
projects  failed,  he  laid  the  blame  upon  the  in- 
terested motives  of  the  cardinals.  He  was 
heard  to  speak  to  that  effect  even  in  his  de- 
lirium shortly  before  his  death. 

But  as  this  state  of  things  was  the  natural 


*  Giac.  Quirini.  "  I  cardinal!,  particolannente  CL  Al- 
bicci,  pretendevano  che  il  papa  potesse  disporre  d'indul- 
genze,  .  .  .  ma  per  pace  e  guerra,  alienatione  di  stall, 
impositione  di  gabelle  dovrebbe  ricorrere  ai  cardinali. 

t  "  Datosi  quel  capo  alia  quieta  dell'  animo,  al  solo  pen- 
siere  di  vivere,  e  con  severe  diviete  ripudialo  il  negotio." 


344 


POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


[1667. 


result  of  circumstances,  it  continued  as  be- 
fore. 

Those  cardinals  of  the  squadrone  who  had 
contributed  most  to  the  election  of  Alexander 
VII.,  and  who  had  maintained  a  high  import- 
ance throug'hout  his  whole  reign,  had  likewise 
the  casting  voice  in  the  conclave  that  ensued 
upon  his  death.  The  only  difference  was,  that 
on  this  occasion  they  were  on  better  terms  with 
France.  On  the  20th  of  June  1667,  Rospi- 
gliosi,  hitherto  secretary  of  state,  was  raised 
to  the  papal  throne  under  the  name  of  Cle- 
ment IX.* 

All  voices  united  in  declaring  that  he  was 
the  best  and  kindest  man  that  could  be  found 
in  that  day.  True,  his  activity  was  not  equal 
to  his  good  intentions.  He  was  compared  to 
a  tree  perfect  in  branch  and  foliage,  adorned 
perhaps  with  blossoms,  but  bearing  no  fruit : 
he  possessed  however,  in  a  high  degree,  all 
those  moral  virtues  which  consist  in  a  freedom 
from  faults, — purity  of  manners,  modesty  and 
moderation.  He  was  the  first  pope  who  actu- 
ally observed  moderation  in  promoting  his 
kinsmen.  They  were  not  absolutely  repuls- 
ed from  court,  they  obtained  the  usual  posts, 
and  even  founded  new  families  :  but  this  hap- 
pened only  in  consequence  of  an  opportunity 
occurring  to  marry  a  young  Rospigliosi  to  a 
rich  heiress,  a  Pallavicina  of  Genoa.  The 
favours  they  received  at  their  uncle's  hand 
were  but  very  moderate  ;  they  did  not  appro- 
priate the  public  wealth  to  themselves,  even 
though  luoghi  de  monte  were  bestowed  on 
them,  nor  did  they  partition  out  among  them 
the  business  and  the  authority  of  the  state. 

Here  was  indeed  a  vast  alteration. 

Hitherto  on  every  accession  of  a  pope  the 
public  functionaries  were  either  wholly  or  for 
the  most  part  changed  :  the  character  and 
proceedings  of  the  court  were  based  on  this 
system.  Clement  IX.  was  the  first  who  abol- 
ished it :  he  was  averse  to  giving  any  one 
pain  ;  with  the  exception  of  a  few  of  the  high- 
er places,  he  confirmed  all  functionaries  in 
their  posts  as  he  found  them.f     In  those  he 


*Quirini:  "  Dalle  pratiche  di  volanti,  ch'  in  vero  eb- 
bero  il  merito  della  presenie  eleuione,  successe  cheChi- 
gi  con  mal  regolato  consiglio,  e  fuori  di  tempo  el  ordine, 
si  dichiai'u  in  sala  regia  nell'  enirare  in  capella  alio 
scrulino,  the  acconsenliva  all  nomina  di  Rospigliosi  .  .  . 
Ouoboni  inanzi  dell  adoratione  fu  dichiaralo  prodatario, 
Azzolini  segretario  distato."  [Il  was  broughl  aboul  by 
the  practices  of  the  squadionisis,  who  had  really  all  the 
credit  of  this  election,  that  Chigi  imprudently  and  inop- 
portunely declared  in  sala  regia  on  entering  the  chapel 
to  VOIP,  thai  he  consented  to  The  nomination  of  Rospigli- 
osi. Otloboni  was  declared  prodatario  before  the  adoration, 
and  Azzolini  secretary  of  stale.] 

f  Grimani:  Relatione.  "  I  suoi  corteggiani  sono  mal 
sodisfalti,  per  non  haver  volsuto  rimuovere  alcuno  de' 
ministri  el  officiali  di  quelli  dell' antecedente  pontefice, 
come  sempre  costumarono  di  far  gli  altri  pontefici."  He 
was  blamed  for  this,  because  il  would  leave  his  nephews 
without  due  support.  "  Quelli  che  havevano  ricevute  le 
cariche  di  Alessandro  VII.,  bench6  non  rimossi  da  Cle- 
mente,  conseveranno  I'obligatione  agli  eredi  di  Alessan- 
dro." [Those  who  have  received  their  offices  from  Alex- 
ander VII.,  though  not  removed  by  Clement,  will  retain 
their  obligation  lo  the  heirs  of  Alexander.] 


caused  to  be  vacated,  he  placed  cardinals, 
such  as  Ottobuono  and  Azzolino,  members  of 
the  squadrone  who  had  been  leaders  in  the 
last  election,  and  who,  independently  of  this, 
were  men  of  weight.  He  was  far  from  copy- 
ing the  proceedings  of  so  many  former  popes, 
in  persecuting  the  nephews  of  his  predecessor. 
The  recommendations  of  Flavio  Chigi  had  not 
much  less  weight  with  him  than  with  Alex- 
ander :  favours  continued  to  be  bestowed 
through  his  hand  ;  all  things  remained  as  they 
had  been. 

How  grievously  did  this  pope's  countrymen, 
the  Pistojese,  find  themselves  deceived.  They 
had  calculated  on  favours  like  those  but  re- 
cently bestowed  on  so  many  Siennese  ;  every 
man  of  them  in  Rome,  it  is  said,  had  already 
assumed  airs  of  consequence,  and  begun  to 
swear  on  his  honour  as  a  nobleman.  How 
bitter  was  their  surprise  when  they  found 
that  the  places  on  which  they  counted,  were 
not  even  vacated,  not  to  say  bestowed  on  them. 

But  Clement  IX.  did  not  fail  of  the  munifi- 
cence with  which  the  popes  were  accustomed 
to  mark  their  elevation  to  the  throne  :  he  even 
went  unusual  lengths  in  this  respect,  bestow- 
ing upwards  of  600,000  scudi  in  presents  in 
the  first  month  of  his  reign.  But  this  bounty 
devolved  neither  on  his  countrymen  nor  even 
on  his  nephews,  to  whom  indeed  representa- 
tions were  made  as  to  this  neglect  of  their 
interests,!  but  it  was  shared  among  the  car- 
dinals and  the  leading  members  of  the  curia 
in  general.  People  pretended  to  say  that 
certain  stipulations  made  with  the  conclave 
were  at  the  bottom  of  the  matter,  but  no  clear 
trace  of  anything  of  the  kind  is  discoverable. 

This  conduct  is  much  rather  to  be  looked  on 
as  in  accordance  with  the  general  modification 
of  opinion  which  had  taken  place  during  this 
epoch  throughout  all  Europe. 

There  never  was  a  period  more  favourable 
to  the  aristocracy  than  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century;  in  which  throughout  the 
whole  range  of  the  Spanish  monarchy,  the 
power  of  the  state,  which  former  kings  had 
withdrawn  from  the  higher  nobility,  again  fell 
into  their  hands ;  in  which  the  English  con- 
stitution moulded  itself  amidst  the  most  peril- 
ous struggles  into  the  aristocratic  form  which 
it  wears  to  this  day  ;  in  which  the  French  par- 
liaments persuaded  themselves  they  could 
play  a  similar  part  to  that  of  the  English  parlia- 
ment ;  in  which,  in  all  the  German  territories 
the  nobility  acquired  a  decided  ascendancy, 
with  the  exception  of  one  or  two,  where  reso- 
lute princes  beat  down  all  efforts  for  indepen- 
dence ;  in  which  the  states  of  Sweden  strove 


*  Considerandogli  che  con  tanta  profusione  d'oro  e  d'ar- 
genle  una  lunga  catena  per  la  poverli  della  loro  casa  la- 
voravano."  [The  thought  occurring  to  them,  that  with 
such  a  profusion  of  gold  and  silver  they  were  fabri- 
cating a  long  chain  for  the  poverty  of  their  house.]  Qui- 
rini. 


ELEMENTS  OF  THE  ROMAN  POPULATION. 


345 


to  impose  intolerable  restraints  on  the  sove- 
reign authority,  and  the  Polish  nobility  achiev- 
ed complete  independence.  So  also  it  came  to 
pass  in  Rome.  A  numerous,  wealthy,  and 
powerful  aristocracy  surrounded  the  papal 
throne;  the  families  already  established  cur- 
tailed the  growth  of  the  new  ones ;  from  the 
absolute  will  and  straightforward  boldness  of 
monarchy  the  spiritual  authority  lapsed  into 
the  deliberation,  the  quietude,  and  the  phleg- 
matic slowness  characteristic  of  an  aristocratic 
constitution. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  court  as- 
sumed an  altered  aspect.  A  remarkable  pause 
occurred  to  that  immigration  of  foreigners,  who 
used  to  seek  their  fortunes  there,  and  to  the 
incessant  flux  and  reflu.\  of  new  successful 
adventurers.  A  fixed  population  had  grown 
up,  whose  numbers  continued  to  increase  in 
much  less  rapid  ratio.  Let  us  cast  a  glance 
over  its  composition. 

Elements  of  the  Roman  population. 

Let  us  begin  with  the  highest  classes  of 
whom  we  have  just  been  speaking. 

Among  them  flourished  the  time-honoured 
stocks  of  the  Savelli,  Conti,  Orsini,  Collona, 
and  Gaetani.  The  Savelli  still  possessed  their 
ancient  jurisdiction  of  the  Corte  Savella,  with 
the  privilege  of  every  year  delivering  one. 
criminal  from  the  punishment  of  death  ;*  ac- 
cording to  immemorial  custom,  the  ladies  of 
this  family  never  left  their  palaces,  or  if  at  all, 
only  in  carriages  carefully  closed  on  all  sides. 
The  Conti  preserved  in  their  halls  the  por- 
traits of  the  popes  who  had  sprung  from  their 
house.  The  Gaetani  dwelt  with  no  little  pride 
on  the  memory  of  Bonifacius  VIIL,  aflirming 
— and  people  were  inclined  to  concede  the 
fact — that  the  spirit  of  that  pope  rested  upon 
them.  The  Colonna  and  the  Orsini  boasted 
that  for  eight  centuries,  no  peace  had  been 
concluded  among  ihe  sovereigns  of  Christen- 
dom in  which  they  had  not  been  included  by 
name.f  But  however  powerful  they  might 
have  been  in  former  times,  they  had  owed 
their  importance  to  their  connexion  with  the 
curia  and  the  popes.  Though  the  Orsini  were 
masters  of  the  fairest  possessions,  which  ought 
to  have  brought  them  in  80,000  scudi,  they 
had  been  greatly  reduced  by  an  inconsiderate 
liberality,  and  stood  in  need  of  the  aid  of  ec- 
clesiastical oEBces.  The  contestabile,  Don 
Filippo  Colonna,  had  but  just  succeeded  in  re- 
establishing his  pecuniary  circumstances, 
through  the  permission  granted  him  by  Urban 
VIIL  to  reduce  the  rate  of  interest  on  his 
debts,  and  by  the  ecclesiastical  benefices  to 
which  that  pope  advanced  his  four  sons.| 

*  Discorso  del  dominio  temporals  e  spiriluale  del  sommo 
ponipfice,  1664. 

t  Descriitione  delle  famiglie  nobili  Komane:  MS.  in 
the  library  of  St.  Mark,  vi.  237  &  284. 

t  Alraaden :  Relatione  di  Koma.     "  II  primogenito  6 

44 


For  it  was  long  an  established  custom,  that 
the  rising  families  should  enter  into  close  re- 
lations with  those  ancient  princely  houses. 

There  existed  for  a  long  while  under  Inno- 
cent two  great  clans,  or  factions.  The  Orsini, 
Cesarini,  Borghesi,  Aldobrandini,  Ludovisi, 
and  Giustiniani,  were  connected  with  the 
Pamfili;  opposed  to  them  were  the  Colon- 
nesi  and  the  Barberini.  The  reconciliation 
of  Donna  Olimpia  with  the  Barberini  made 
the  union  general;  it  embraced  all  the  fami- 
lies of  note. 

Even  in  this  class  we  now  remark  a  change. 
Formerly  the  reigning  family  had  always 
played  the  leading  part,  and  thrown  their  pre- 
decessors into  the  shade  by  the  acquisition  of 
great  wealth.  This  had  now  ceased  to  be 
practicable :  in  the  first  place,  because  the 
old  families  had,  either  through  mutual  inter- 
marriages or  by  sound  economy,  become  too 
rich  for  this ;  secondly,  because  the  resources 
of  the  papacy  had  become  gradually  exhausted. 
The  Chigi  could  no  longer  pretend  to  surpass 
their  predecessors ;  the  Rospigliosi  were  far 
from  having  any  such  desire,  being  quite  con- 
tent if  they  could  succeed  in  obtaining  a  foot- 
ing among  them. 

Every  society  is  sure  to  be  represented,  to 
mirror  itself,  if  we  may  use  the  expression,  in 
some  intellectual  phenomenon, — some  custom, 
or  peculiarity  of  manners :  the  most  peculiar 
phenomenon  of  this  Roman  society  and  its  in- 
tercourse was  the  ceremonial  of  the  court. 
Never,  on  the  whole,  has  there  been  an  epoch 
in  which  ceremony  was  more  rigorously  in- 
sisted on  than  in  those  days.  This  was  in 
general  keeping  with  the  aristocratic  tenden- 
cies of  the  age :  the  fact  that  it  was  more  par- 
ticularly observable  at  Rome,  may  have  arisen 
from  the  pre-eminence  claimed  by  that  court 
over  all  others,  which  it  sought  to  express  in 
certain  externals,*  and  from  the  contests  for 
precedency  that  had  been  waged  there  from 
remote  times  by  the  ambassadors  of  Spain  and 
France.  Hence  tliere  were  innumerable  dis- 
putes about  rank ;  between  the  ambassadors 
and  the  higher  functionaries,  such,  for  in- 
stance, as  the  governatore ;  between  the  car- 
dinals who  had  places  in  the  rota  and  those 
who  had  not ;  between  a  vast  number  of  other 
bodies  of  public  officers  ;  and  between  the  va- 
rious families,  such  as  the  Orsini  and  the  Co- 
lonna. Pope  Sixtus  V.  in  vain  decided  that 
the  eldest  of  either  house  should  always  have 
the  precedence  ;  if  this  chanced  to  be  a  Co- 


Don  Fedencoprincipe  di  Botero  ;  il  secondo  Don  Girolamo 
cardinal e,  cuore  del  padre  emeritamentepcressersignore 
di  tutta  bonta  ;  il  terzo  Don  Carlo,  il  quale  dopo  diversi 
soldi  di  Fiandra  e  di  Germania  si  fece  monaco  ed  abate 
Casinense:  il  quarto  Don  Marc  Antonio,  accasato  in  Sicilia: 
il  quinto  Don  Prospero  coramendatore  di  S.  Giovannii:  il 
sesto  Don  Pietro  abbate  secolare,  stroppio  della  persona, 
ma  allrettanto  fatica  d'ingegno." 

*  Complaints  of  these  attempts  were  made  among  others 
by  the  French  ambassador  Bethune,  Feb.  23, 1G27.  See 
Siri,  Meraorie  rec.  vi.  p.  262. 


846 


THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


lonna,  the  Orsiiii  did  not  make  their  appear- 
ance :  if  it  were  an  Orsini,  the  Colonna  stayed 
away.     But  even  to  these  illustrious  families 
the  Conti  and  the   Savelli  gave   way  with 
great  reluctance,   and  only  under  incessant 
protestations.     The  distinctions  of  rank  were 
most  minutely  defined.     The  relations  of  the 
pope,  for  instance,  had  both  wings  of  the  door 
thrown  open  for  them  as  they  entered  the 
papal  apartments :  other  barons  or  cardinals 
were  obliged  to  content  themselves  with  the 
opening  of  one  wing.     A  singular  fashion  of 
displaying  respect  was  introduced  :  one  who 
was  driving  in  his  carriage  would  stop  when 
he  met  the  equipage  of  a  person  superior  to 
him  in  rank,  or  of  a  patron.     It  is  said  that 
marchese  Mattel  was  the  first  who  paid  this 
compliment  to  cardinal  Alessandro  Farnese, 
and  upon  that  occasion  the  cardinal  also  drew 
up,   and   they    interchanged   a   few   words.* 
Others  soon  followed  the  example.     Ambas- 
sadors received  this  mark  of  respect  from  their 
countrymen :  it  became  an  universal  usage, 
an  universal  duty,  nothwithstanding  its  ex- 
treme inconvenience.     Trifles  are  precisely 
what  vanity  clings  to  with  most  pertinacity ; 
they  excused  a  man  for  exacting  them  to  the 
uttermost  from  his  dependants  or  equals. 
Let  us  go  a  step  lower  in  the  scale. 
In  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century 
they  counted  in  Rome  about  fifty  noble  families, 
three  hundred  years  old ;  five-and-thirty,  two 
hundred  ;  sixteen,  one  hundred.     None  were 
considered  of  higher  antiquity,  and  they  were 
generally  referred   to  a   mean  and   obscure 
origin.f     A  large  proportion  of  them  had  ori- 
ginally settled   in    the   campagna.      Unfor- 
tunately, however,  at  the  period  when  luoghi 
di  monti  bore  high  interest,  the  majority  of 
them  were  induced  to  sell  their  estates  to  the 
families  founded  by  the  pope's  nephews,  and 
to  invest  the  proceeds  in  papal  monti.     At 
first  this  seemed  to  afibrd  them  no  trifling  ad- 
vantage.    The  nepotes   paid  very  liberally, 
often  beyond  the  value  of  their  purchase,  while 
the  interest  drawn  without  any  personal  exer- 
tions from  the  luoghi  di  monte,  amounted  to 
more  than  the  net  profit  which  the  most  care- 
ful husbandry  could  have  extracted  from  the 
cultivation  of  the  land.     But  the  vendors  soon 
found  out  that  they  had  exchanged  real  estates 
for  fluctuating  capital.     Alexander  VII.  was 
driven  to  reductions  of  the  monti,  by  which  a 


*  I  have  seen  a  special  treatise  on  this  subject  in  the 
Barberini  library:  Circa  il  fermar  le  caruzze  per  compli- 
nienlo  e  come  s'  introdiisse  in  use. 

I  Almaden  :  "  La  maggior  parte  delle  famiglie  oggi  sli- 
male  a  Roma  nobili  vengono  da  basso  principo,  como  da- 
notaro,  speziale,  che  sarebbe  da  supportare,  ma  dell'  arte 
puzzolente  della  concia  di  corame.  lo  bench6  sappia 
particolarmenie  I'origine,  non  pero  lo  scrivo  per  non  of- 
fendere  alcuno."  [The  greater  part  of  the  families  now 
deemed  noble  in  Rome  sprang  from  base  beginnings, 
such  as  notaries  and  apothecaries,  wpU  enough  in  their 
way,  though  slinking  like  tan  pits.  Though  I  am  parti- 
cularly acquainted  with  the  origin  of  the  several  families, 
still,  to  avoid  giving  offence,  1  will  not  mention  it.] 


shock  was  given  to  credit,  and  the  value  of 
the  luoghi  was  greatly  depressed.  There  was 
not  a  family  that  did  not  lose  by  the  event. 

But  numerous  new  families  arose  by  the 
side  of  the  old  ones.     The  cardinals  and  pre- 
lates of  the  curia  proceeded  in  exact  imita- 
tion of  the  popes,  each  according  to  the  mea- 
sure of  his  fortune.     They,  too,  failed  not  to 
employ  the  surplus  of  their  ecclesiastical  re- 
venues in  enriching  their  kinsmen,  and  found- 
ing families.    Others  rose  to  eminence  through 
judicial  appointments.     No  few  owed  their 
elevation    to  their   employment   as   money- 
changers in  connexion  with  the  dataria.     In 
the  time  we  are  treating  of,  there  were  reck- 
oned fifteen  Florentine,  eleven  Genoese,  nine 
Portuguese,  and  four  French  families,  who  in 
this  way  had  risen  to  more  or  less  distinction, 
according  to  their  good  fortune,  or  their  ta- 
lents :  some  there  were  among  them  whose 
reputation  no  longer  depended  on  the  affairs 
of  the  day,  money-kings,  such  as,  under  Ur- 
ban VIII.,   the  Guicciardini   and  the  Doni, 
with  whom  Giustiniani,  Primi,  and  Pallavi- 
cini  associated  themselves.*     And  even  with- 
out business  of  this  kind  families  of  note  were 
constantly  resorting  to  Rome,  not  only  from 
Urbino,   Rieti,   and   Bologna,   but  also  from 
Parma  and  Florence.     The  establishment  of 
the  monti,  and  the  saleable  offices,  were  strong 
allurements.     For    a   long   while   luoghi   di 
monte  were  a  kind  of  property  in  much  de- 
mand, especially  the  vacabili,  which  were  a 
sort  of  life-annuity,  and  therefore  yielded  an 
interest  of  ten  and  a  half  per  cent. :  but  which 
were  not  only  transferred  from  more  aged  to 
younger  members  of  a  family,  but  even  where 
this  had  been  neglected,  passed  absolutely  in 
the  way  of  inheritance, — a  practice  which  the 
curia  made  no  difficulty  of  furthering.     The 
same  was  the  case  with  the  saleable  offices. 
They  ought  to  have  reverted  to  the  camera 
on  the  death  of  the  holder,  and  for  this  reason 
the  salaries  paid  on  them  bore  so  high  a  pro- 
portion to  the  capital  originally  paid  in  ;  they 
were,  in  fact,  purely  and  simply  rent-charges, 
since  the  holder  was  bound  to  no  official  du- 
ties :  and  even  these  offices  could  be  trans- 
mitted without  much  difficulty.     Many  a  one 
of  them  was   not  vacant  for  a  century  to- 
gether. 

The  union  of  the  public  functionaries,  and 
of  the  montists,  in  colleges,  gave  them  a  sort 
of  corporate  character ;  and  although  gradual 
infringements  were  made  on  their  rights,  still 
they  always  maintained  an  independent  posi- 
tion. They  found  their  advantage  in  the 
aristocratic  principle  blended  with  the  system 


*  Almaden:  "Non  passano  ancora  la  seconda  genera- 
tione  di  cittadinanza  Romana,  .  .  .  son  venule  da  Fio- 
renza  e  Genova  coll'  occasione  del  danaro  .  .  .  molte 
volte  mojono  nelle  fascie."  [Their  Roman  citizenship 
is  not  older  yet  than  the  second  generation  .  .  .  they  came 
hither  from  Florence  and  Genoa  on  money  matters  .  .  . 
they  often  die  in  swaddling  clothes.] 


EDIFICES  ERECTED  BY  THE  POPES. 


347 


of  credit  and  public  debt.     Strangers,  indeed, 
found  them  at  times  very  overbearing. 

The  lower  classes  grew  continually  in  num- 
bers and  solidity,  grouped  round  the  many  fa- 
milies established,  or  rising,  and  daily  increas- 
ing in  stability,  into  whose  hands  passed  the 
bulk  of  the  church  revenues. 

Lists  of  the  Roman  population  have  come 
down  to  us,  which  exhibit,  on  a  comparison 
of  various  years,  a  very  remarkable  result  re- 
specting its  growth  and  formation.  It  cannot 
be  said,  on  the  whole,  that  its  advance  was 
very  rapid.  In  the  year  1600  we  find  the 
number  of  inhabitants  about  110,000,  and  fifty- 
six  years  afterwards,  somewhat  above  120,000, 
no  extraordinary  increase.  But  another  cir- 
cumstance particularly  merits  our  attention. 
Formerly  the  population  of  Rome  had  been 
very  fluctuating;  its  numbers  sank  under 
Paul  IV.  from  80,000  to  50,000,  and  rose 
again,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  decenniums,  to 
more  than  100,000.  The  reason  of  this  was 
that  the  court  was  made  up  for  the  most  part 
of  unmarried  men,  who  had  no  permanent 
abode  there.  Now,  on  the  contrary,  the  popu- 
lation consisted  chiefly  of  resident  families. 
This  began  towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  but  it  was  carried  to  its  greatest 
height  in  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth. 
Rome  numbered  in  the 
year  1600,  109,729  inhabit's,  20,019  families, 


1614,  115,643 

—  1619,  106,0.50 

—  1628,  115,374 

—  1644,  110,608 

—  1653,  118,882 
1656,  120,596 


21,422 

24,380 
24,429 
27,279 
29,081 
30,103 


We  perceive  that  the  number  of  inhabit- 
ants occasionally  diminishes,  while  that  of  the 
families  constantly  augments:  it  rose  up- 
wards of  10,000  in  the  course  of  these  fifty- 
six  years,  which  is  the  more  remarkable,  since 
the  increase  in  the  number  of  inhabitants  dur- 
ing that  period  is  exactly  the  same.  The 
multitude  of  single  men  passing  to  and  fro 
declined,  whilst  the  mass  of  the  population 
became  stationary.  The  proportion  has  con- 
tinued the  same  up  to  the  present  time,  with 
the  exception  of  slight  modifications  resulting 
from  maladies,  and  from  the  natural  tendency 
of  population  to  repair  its  own  losses. 

After  the  return  of  the  popes  from  Avignon 
and  the  cessation  of  the  schism,  the  city, 
vi^hich  had  seemed  hastening  to  the  condition 
of  a  mere  village,  grew  up  round  the  curia. 
But  it  was  only  after  the  papal  families  had 
risen  to  power  and  opulence,  when  all  fears 
of  intestine  disorders  and  foreign  foes  had 
passed  away,  and  the  rent-charges  derived 
from  the  income  of  the  church  or  of  the  state 


*  The  tables  from  which  these  numbers  are  extracted 
exist  in  manuscript  in  the  Barberini  library.  A  later  one 
from  1702  to  1816,  is  given  in  Canoellieri,  Del  taraniismo 
di  Roma,  p.  73. 


afforded  the  means  of  enjoying  life  without 
labour,  that  a  numerous  resident  population 
grew  up  in  Rome,  [ts  prosperity  and  its 
wealth  were  always  dependent,  whether  in 
respect  to  direct  donations,  or  of  the  indirect 
advantages,  on  the  importance  of  the  church 
and  the  court.  All  were  indeed  upstarts,  like 
the  papal  families  themselves. 

Hitherto  the  families  already  established  in 
Rome  had  continually  received  accessions  to 
their  numbers  in  the  persons  of  new  settlers 
who  flocked  thither,  particularly  from  the  na- 
tive town  of  each  successive  pope :  but  the 
aspect  now  assumed  by  the  court  put  an  end 
to  this.  The  capital  itself  had  assumed  its 
character  and  constitution  under  the  influence 
of  that  vast  agency  in  the  affairs  of  the  world, 
which  the  Roman  see  had  acquired  through 
the  general  restoration  of  Catholicism  ;  it  was 
in  the  course  of  that  great  evolution,  that 
those  Roman  families  arose  which  flourish  to 
til  is  day  :  from  the  moment  the  spiritual  do- 
minion ceased  to  spread,  the  population  like- 
wise desisted  from  its  growth.  It  was  alto- 
gether a  creation  of  that  epoch. 

Nay,  the  modern  city  itself,  such  as  it  still 
captivates  the  attention  of  travellers,  belongs 
for  the  most  part  to  the  same  period  of  the 
catholic  restoration.  Let  us  advert  briefly  to 
its  history. 

Edifices  erected  by  the  Popes. 

We  have  noticed  the  magnificence  of  the 
architectural  schemes  projected  and  executed 
by  Sixtus,  and  have  inquired  into  the  views, 
with  regard  to  religion  and  the  church,  by 
which  they  were  prompted. 

Clement  VII.  imitated  him  in  this  respect. 
Some  of  the  most  beautiful  chapels  in  the 
churches  of  San  Giovanni  and  San  Pietro  owe 
their  erection  to  him  :  he  laid  the  foundation 
of  the  new  palace  of  the  Vatican  :  the  pope 
and  his  secretary  of  state  reside  at  this  day  in 
the  apartments  built  by  Clement. 

But  it  was,  above  all,  Paul  V.  who  made  it  his 
ambition  to  rival  the  Franciscan.  "  Through- 
out the  whole  city,"  says  a  contemporaneous 
life  of  him,  "  he  has  levelled  hills,  opened  long 
vistas  where  before  there  were  crooks  and 
corners,  laid  out  great  squares,  and  rendered 
them  still  more  stately  with  new  buildings : 
he  has  constructed  water- works,  that  throw 
out  no  mere  jets  from  pipes,  but  that  gush  in 
streams.  The  variety  of  the  gardens  he  has 
planned,  vies  with  the  splendour  of  his  pal- 
aces. The  whole  interiors  of  his  private  cha- 
pels glisten  with  silver  and  gold;  they  are 
not  so  much  adorned  as  filled  with  jewels. 
The  public  chapels  tower  like  basilicse,  the 
basilicaj  like  temples,  the  temples  like  moun- 
tains of  marble."* 


*  Vila  Paulj  V.  compendiose  scripta.    MS.  Barb. 


348 


POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


It  is  not,  we  perceive,  tlie  beauty  and  the 
symmetry,  but  the  splendour  and  colossal 
mag-nitude  of  his  works  that  excite  our  author's 
praise ;  and  such  indeed  were  their  chief  cha- 
racteristics. 

In  the  church  of  S.  Maria  Mag-giore,  he 
erected  opposite  to  the  Sistine  chapel  one  far 
more  gorgeous,  constructed  entirely  of  the 
most  costly  marble. 

He  brought  the  water  that  bears  his  name, 
the  Aqua  Paolina,  to  the  Janiculus,  from  a 
distance  of  five  and  thirty  miles,  a  much  longer 
course  than  that  run  by  the  Aqua  Felice. 
Opposite  the  fountain  and  the  Moses  of  Sixtus 
V.  but  at  a  distance  from  them,  it  bursts  forth 
with  five  times  the  force,  in  four  copious 
branches.  Who  is  there  knows  not  that  hill 
of  ancient  renown,  the  site  of  Porsenna's  at- 
tack, now  clothed  all  over  with  vineyards, 
orchards,  and  ruins'?  from  its  height  the  eye 
wanders  over  the  city  and  the  surrounding 
country,  to  the  distant  mountains  wrapped  in 
their  transparent  veil  wrought  out  of  the  many- 
coloured  mists  of  evening.  The  solitude  is 
sublimely  enlivened  by  the  noise  of  the  gush- 
ing waters.  What  distinguishes  Rome  from 
all  other  cities,  is  the  profusion  of  its  waters, 
and  the  multitude  of  its  fountains.  The  Aqua 
Paolina  contributes  the  largest  share  towards 
this  charming  feature.  It  fills  the  incompar- 
able fountains  of  the  Piazza  S.  Pietro,  it  is  con- 
ducted under  the  Ponte  Sisto  into  the  city 
proper,  and  it  feeds  the  fountains  in  the  Far- 
nese  palace,  and  many  others. 

As  Sixtus  V.  reared  ihe  cupola  of  St.  Pe- 
ter's, Paul  V.  undertook  the  general  comple- 
tion of  the  edifice.*  This  he  accomplished 
on  the  largest  scale,  in  accordance  with  the 
taste  of  his  age.  In  these  days  we  should,  no 
doubt,  prefer  seeing  the  original  plan  of  Bra- 
mante  and  Michael  Angelo  fully  carried  out; 
but  the  work  of  Paul  V.  entirely  satisfied  the 
tastes  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  cen- 
turies. It  is  true  the  dimensions  are  enormous : 
who  can  admire  that  facade  ?  Still  an  air  of 
cheerfulness,  convenience,  and  grandeur  per- 
vades the  whole  fabric.  The  colossal  propor- 
tions of  the  buildings,  the  piazza,  the  obelisk, 
and  the  entire  range  of  objects  around,  pro- 
duce that  impression  of  the  gigantic  which 
was  intended,  and  which  forces  itself  irresist- 
ably  on  the  beholder. 

Short  as  was  the  reign  of  the  Ludovisi,  they 
yet  left  behind  them  imperishable  memorials 
in  the  church  of  S.  Ignatio,  and  in  their  villa 
in  the  city.  Niccolo  Ludovisio  once  possessed 
six  palaces,  all  of  which  he  repaired  or  beau- 
tified.  

*  MagnificentiaPauli  V.,  scu  piiblicaeutilitatisetsplen- 
doris  opera  a  Paulo  vel  in  urbe  vel  alibi  insliluta.  MS. 
Unius  Pauli  jussu  impensisque  instrucia  ejus  lempli  pars 
cum  reliquis  ab  omnibus  retro  ponlificibus  exstruciis  par- 
libus  meiito  conferri  potest."  [That  part  of  the  temple 
erected  at  Paul's  sole  order  and  expense,  may  justly  be 
compared  with  the  parts  constructed  by  all  the  popes  that 
preceded  him.] 


We  find  reminiscences  of  Urban  VIII.  not 
only  in  numerous  churches,  such  as  S.  Bibi- 
ana,  S.  Quirico,  S.  Sebastiano  on  the  Palatine, 
but  also,  more  in  accordance  with  his  tastes, 
in  palaces,  and  fortifications.  After  he  had 
surrounded  St.  Angelo  with  ditches  and  ram- 
parts, and  thoroughly  fortified  it,  as  he  boasts 
on  his  coins,  he  constructed  the  wall  round 
the  Vatican  and  the  Belvidere  garden,  as  far 
as  the  Porta  Cavalleggieri,  according  to  the 
plan  of  the  accomplished  architect,  cardinal 
Maculano.  At  the  last  named  point,  it  met 
with  other  defensive  works,  which  were  in- 
tended to  embrace  the  Lungara,  Trastevere, 
and  the  Janiculus,  and  to  reach  as  far  as  the 
priory  on  the  Aventine :  Porta  Portuense  was 
principally  erected  by  Urban  VIII.  It  was 
not  till  he  had  thus  fenced  himself  in  that  he 
felt  secure.  He  carefully  restored  the  bridge 
that  leads  from  the  papal  residence  to  the 
castle.* 

Pope  Innocent  X.  was  a  zealous  architect, 
and  left  marks  of  his  taste  on  the  Capitol,  the 
two  sides  of  which  he  endeavoured  to  harmon- 
ize, in  the  Lateran  church,  (where  he  deserves 
the  credit  of  having  dealt  with  more  regard 
to  ancient  forms  than  was  usual  in  his  times) 
and,  above  all,  in  the  Piazza  Navona.  It  was 
noticed,  that  when  he  crossed  the  Piazza  S. 
Pietro,  he  never  took  his  eyes  oft' the  fountain 
which  Paul  V.  had  erected  there.f  He  would 
gladly  have  vied  with  that  pope,  and  adorned 
his  favourite  piazza  with  one  still  more  beau- 
tiful. Bernini  exerted  all  the  powers  of  his 
art  to  that  end.  An  obelisk  was  brought  from 
Caracalla's  circus,  and  on  it  were  fixed  the 
arms  of  the  house  of  Pamfili.  Houses  were 
pulled  down  to  give  the  piazza  a  new  form  ; 
the  church  of  S.  Agnete  was  rebuilt  from  the 
foundations,  and  near  it  was  constructed  the 
palazzo  Pamfili,  richly  adorned  with  statues, 
pictures,  and  costly  internal  decorations.  The 
vigna  which  his  family  possessed  beyond  the 
Vatican,  he  transformed  into  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  villas,  comprising  within  it  every 
thing  that  can  render  a  country  life  delightful. 

Tlie  modern  taste  for  regularity  comes  forth 
in  the  works  of  Alexander  VII.  Many  were 
the  houses  he  pulled  down  to  obtain  straight 
streets :  the  palazzo  Salviati  was  doomed  to 
fall  to  form  the  Piazza  del  Collegio  Romano; 
and  the  Piazza  Colonna,  where  stood  the  pal- 
ace of  his  family,  was  transformed  by  him. 
He  restored  the  Sapienza  and  the  Propaganda. 
But  his  most  illustrious  monument  is  unques- 
tionably the  colonnades  with  which  he  sur- 


*  Cancellieri  copied  into  his  work,  Del  tarantismo  di 
Roma,  p.  55,  the  passages  which  belong  here  from  the 
Diario  of  Giacinto  Gigli,  which  wasunfortiniat'--ly  purloin- 
ed from  me  at  Kome,— the  greatest  loss  my  collection  has 
sustained. 

f  Diario,  Deone ;  4  Luslio,  1648.  He  remarks,  however, 
"  La  quale  (la  fontana  di^  papa  Paolo— there  was  then  only- 
one)  difficilmente  potra  superare  n6  in  bellezza  nfi  in 
quantity  d'  acque."  [He  will  not  find  it  easy  to  surpass 
Paul's  fountain,  either  for  beauty  or  quantity  of  water.  J 


EDIFICES  ERECTED  BY  THE  POPES. 


349 


rounded  the  upper  portion  of  the  Piazza  S. 
Pietro,  a  colossal  work  of  twelve  hundred  and 
eighty-four  columns,  and  eighty-eight  pilas- 
ters. Whatever  may  have  been  urged  against 
it,  both  then  and  subsequently,*  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  it  is  in  keeping  with  the  pervading 
idea  of  the  building  it  adjoins,  and  that  it  con- 
tributes to  the  mingled  sense  of  the  immensity 
and  of  cheerfulness  which  is  called  up  by  the 
whole  place. 

Such  was  the  gradual  growth  of  the  city, 
which  has  since  been  the  object  of  so  many  a 
traveller's  pilgrimage.  Treasuries  of  art  of 
every  description  accumulated  in  it  as  it  rose. 
Extensive  libraries  were  collected ;  not  only 
the  Vatican,  the  Augustine,  and  Dominican 
monasteries,  and  the  houses  of  the  fathers  of 
the  oratory,  but  likewise  the  palaces  too,  were 
furnished  with  them :  men  vied  with  each  other 
in  amassing  printed  books,  and  gathered  to- 
gether rare  MSS.  It  was  not  that  science 
was  pursued  with  very  great  assiduity  ;  men 
studied  indeed,  but  leisurely,  and  less  with 
the  desire  of  novel  discovei-ies,  than  with  a 
view  to  acquire  and  reproduce  what  was  al- 
ready known.  Out  of  all  those  academies 
that  sprang  up  year  by  year,  here  and  there 
one  devoted  itself  to  some  branch  of  natural 
science,  such  as  botany  for  instance,  though 
not  with  any  marked  success;!  but  all  the 
rest,  the  Good-humoured,]:  the  Orderly,  the 
Maidenlike,  the  Fantastics,  the  Uniform,  or 
whatever  other  strange  names  they  bore,  em- 
ployed themselves  with  poetry  and  rhetoric, 
or  with  exercises  of  intellectual  skill,  which 
remained  confined  to  a  narrow  range  of 
thought,  and  yet  wasted  the  abilities  of  many 
a  promising  mind.  Nor  were  books  the  only 
objects  in  request  to  adorn  the  palaces  of 
Rome :  works  of  art  of  ancient  and  recent 
times,  antiquities  of  various  kinds,  statues, 
relievos,  and  inscriptions,  were  likewise  con- 
sidered indispensable.  In  the  times  we  are 
considering,  the  dwellings  of  the  Cesi,  the 
Giustiniani,  the  Strozzi,  and  the  Massimi,  and 

*  Sagredo.  "  I  colonnati  che  si  vanno  intorno  alia  pi- 
azza origendo,  di  quatro  ordini  di  questi  restar  cinla  doven- 
do,  tuui  in  forma  ovala;  quali  formeranno  tre  portici 
coperti  con  tre  magnifici  ingressi,  e  sopra  da  un  corridore 
che  sari  d'  altro  ordine  di  picciole  colonne  e  di  statue 
adornalo ;  il  papa  prelende  che  sevir  debbano  per  ricevere 
della  pioggia  e  del  sole  alle  corrozze."  [The  colonnades 
now  in  the  course  of  erection  round  the  place,  which  is 
to  be  encircled  by  four  orders  of  them,  are  all  of  them  of 
an  oval  form,  and  will  constitute  three  covered  porticos 
with  three  magnificent  entrances ;  and  over  them  will  be 
a  corridore  with  another  order  of  small  columns  and  adorn- 
ed with  statues.  The  pope's  intention  is,  that  they  shall 
shelter  carriages  from  the  sun  and  rain.]  The  expenses 
amounted  already  to  900,000  scudi,  which  were  drawn 
from  the  funds  of  Fabriea  di  S.  Pietro. 

•f  I  allude  to  the  Lincei  founded  in  1603,  by  Federigo 
Cesi,  which  accom])li3hed  indeed  little  more  than  the 
Italian  Version  of  the  Natural  History  of  Mexico  by  Fer- 
nandez. Tiraboschi :  Storia  della  Letteratura  Italiana, 
viii.  p.  195. 

t  Die  Gutgelaunten,— for  so  we  must  translate  Umoristi, 
according  to  llie  accounts  given  by  Erythoeus,  which  are 
extremely  well  put  together  in  Fischer's  Vita  Eryihraei, 
p.  4.  41. 


the  gardens  of  the  Mattel,  were  the  most  fa- 
mous in  this  respect ;  besides  which,  collec- 
tions like  that  of  Kircher  at  the  Jesuits'  col- 
lege excited  no  less  admiration  among  con- 
temporaries. It  was  more,  however,  curiosity 
and  antiquarian  pedantry  that  prompted  to 
the  formation  of  these  collections,  than  sus- 
ceptibility to  the  beauty  of  form  or  profound 
understanding  of  art.  It  is  remarkable,  that 
at  the  bottom  the  men  of  those  days  still 
thought  on  the  subject  as  Sixtus  V.  had  done. 
They  were  very  far  as  yet  from  bestowing  on 
the  remains  of  antiquity  that  attention  and 
guardian  care  which  they  have  met  with  in 
later  times.  What  could  be  expected  of  an 
age  in  which  we  find  one  of  the  privileges  of 
the  Borghese  to  have  been,  that  they  were 
not  to  incur  punishment  for  any  kind  of  demo- 
lition. It  is  hardly  credible  what  things  were 
permitted  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
Thermae  of  Constantino  for  example,  had  tol- 
erably survived  the  vicissitudes  of  so  many 
ages,  and  assuredly  gratitude  to  their  erector, 
who  had  done  so  much  for  the  dominion  of  the 
Christian  church,  should  have  proved  their 
safeguard ;  nevertheless  they  were  demolished 
to  the  foundation  under  Paul  V.,  and  convert- 
ed, in  accordance  with  the  taste  of  the  day, 
into  a  palace  and  gardens,  which  were  after- 
wards exchanged  for  the  Villa  Mondragone  in 
Frascati.  Even  the  Temple  of  Peace,  at  that 
time  in  tolerable  preservation,  found  no  favour 
at  the  hands  of  Paul  V.  He  conceived  the 
strange  idea  of  erecting  a  colossal  cast  iron 
statue  to  the  Virgin  and  Child,  and  to  elevate 
it  to  such  a  height,  that  the  whole  city  might 
be  overlooked  by  its  protectress.  Now  a  col- 
umn of  unusual  length  was  requisite  for  that 
purpose ;  and  such  an  one  he  found  at  last  in 
the  Temple  of  Peace.  Without  troubling 
himself  to  reflect,  that  in  its  place  it  was  in 
keeping  with  the  general  structure,  and  that 
when  isolated  it  would  rather  look  odd  and 
startling  than  beautiful  and  appropriate,  he 
carried  it  off,  and  placed  on  it  that  colossus 
which  we  now  behold. 

Admitting  even  that  all  is  not  true  which 
has  been  laid  to  the  charge  of  the  Barberini, 
it  cannot  yet  be  denied  that  on  the  whole  they 
proceeded  in  this  self-same  style.  Under  Ur- 
ban VIII.  the  intention  was  actually  revived 
of  demolishing  that  sole  surviving  and  incom- 
parable monument  of  the  republican  times, 
the  monument  of  Coecilia  Metella,  in  order  to 
employ  the  travertine  of  which  it  was  built 
on  the  Fontana  di  Trevi.  The  project  was 
suggested  by  Bernini,  the  most  renowned 
statuary  and  architect  of  the  day,  and  the 
pope  gave  him  a  brief  sanctioning  its  execu- 
tion. The  work  of  destruction  was  actually 
begun,  when  the  Roman  people,  who  loved 
their  antiquities,  became  acquainted  with  the 
matter  and  resisted  it  by  force.    For  the  sec- 


350 


POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY.  [1644. 


ond  time  it  rescued  this,  its  oldest  relic,  from 
the  spoiler's  hand  :  the  workmen  were  obliged 
to  desist  to  avoid  a  tumult.* 

Now  all  these  acts  of  destruction  were  part 
and  parcel  of  the  general  spirit  of  the  age. 
The  epoch  of  the  restoration  had  its  own  pecu- 
liar ideas  and  impulses,  which  strove  for  sole 
dominion  even  in  art  and  literature,  and  could 
neither  understand  nor  appreciate  any  thing 
foreign  to  their  own  nature,  but  were  resolved 
on  demolishing  if  they  could  not  subdue  it. 

Notwithstanding  this,  Rome  was  still  the 
metropolis  of  civilization,  unrivalled  in  its 
erudite  zeal  for  collecting,  and  in  the  practice 
of  art  after  the  fashion  sanctioned  by  the  taste 
of  the  age  :  it  was  still  creative  in  the  depart- 
ment of  music ;  the  concerted  style  of  the 
cantata  arose  then  by  the  side  of  the  church 
style,  and  enraptured  all  travellers.  "  A  man 
must  be  by  nature  perverted,"  exclaims  Spon, 
who  visited  Rome  in  1674,  "  who  does  not 
find  himself  satisfied  in  some  branch  or  anoth- 
er."t  He  goes  through  all  these  branches, 
the  libraries  in  which  the  rarest  books  may 
be  studied;  the  concerts  in  the  churches  and 
palaces,  where  the  finest  voices  are  daily  to 
be  heard ;  the  multitude  of  the  collections  of 
statuary  and  painting,  ancient  and  modern ; 
the  many  noble  fabrics  of  all  times,  whole 
villas  covered  with  bas-reliefs  and  inscriptions, 
of  which  he  singly  copied  upwards  of  a  thou- 
sand ;  the  presence  of  so  many  foreigners  of 
all  na.tions  and  tongues  ;  the  enjoyment  of  na- 
ture in  the  enchanting  gardens ;  and  he  adds, 
that  any  one  who  loves  devotion  will  find  in 
churches,  relics  and  processions  enough  to 
engage  his  whole  life. 

Undoubtedly  other  places  displayed  nobler 
intellectual  movements;  but  the  complete- 
ness and  rounded  fulness  of  the  Roman  world, 
the  abundance  of  wealth,  and  the  tranquil  en- 
joyment, heightened  by  security  and  content, 
which  the  faithful  derived  from  the  uninter- 
rupted contemplation  of  the  objects  of  their 
veneration,  exerted  a  mighty  charm,  some- 
times appealing  to  one  feeling,  sometimes  to 
another,  and  at  times  to  all  alike. 

Let  us  consider  the  force  of  this  charm  in 
its  most  striking  example,  one  too  which  had 
a  lively  reaction  on  the  court  of  Rome. 

Digression  concerning  queen  Christina  of 
Sweden. 

We  have  often  had  occasion  to  turn  our  at- 
tention to  Sweden. 

In  that  same  country  where  Lutheranism 
had  first  revolutionized  the  whole  political 
constitution,  where  the  anti-reformation  in  so 
unusual  a  manner  found  representatives  and 
adversaries  in  the  highest  personages,  and 
from  whence  went  forth  the  power  that  chief- 

*  Deone  relates  this  at  full  length. 

f  Spon  et  Wheler :  Voyage  d'llalie  et  de  Grfice,  i.  p.  39. 


ly  decided  the  great  struggle  that  engaged 
the  world,  in  that  country  Catholicism,  under 
the  new  aspect  it  had  assumed,  now  made 
the  most  unexpected  conquest,  gaining  over 
to  itself  the  daughter  of  the  great  protestant 
champion,  queen  Christina  of  Sweden.  How 
this  took  place  is  a  matter  well  worthy  of 
consideration,  both  intrinsically,  and  as  re- 
gards our  subject. 

Let  us  begin  by  investigating  the  position 
occupied  by  the  young  queen  in  her  native 
dominions. 

After  the  death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the 
question  was  for  a  moment  agitated  in  Swe- 
den, (just  as  it  had  been  in  Austria  in  1619, 
in  Portugal  in  1640,  and  in  many  other  places 
at  that  time,)  whether  the  country  should  not 
throw  off  the  royal  yoke,  and  constitute  itself 
a  republic* 

The  proposal  indeed  was  rejected  ;  homage 
was  paid  to  the  daughter  of  the  deceased 
king ;  but  the  circumstance  that  she  was  a 
child  but  six  years  old,  and  that  there  was  no 
one  of  royal  blood  capable  of  grasping  the 
reins  of  government,  threw  the  powers  of  the 
state  into  the  hands  of  a  few.  The  anti-mo- 
narchical tendencies  of  the  times  found  cor- 
dial acceptance  in  Sweden ;  the  conduct  of 
the  long  parliament  in  England  aroused  such 
feelings,  and  still  more  so  the  movements  of 
the  Fronde,,  inasmuch  as  they  were  more  de- 
cidedly aristocratic.  "  I  see  plainly,"  Chris- 
tina herself  once  said  in  the  senate,  "  that 
people  here  wish  that  Sweden  may  become 
an  elective  monarchy  or  an  aristocracy."! 

But  the  young  sovereign  had  no  inclination 
to  suffer  the  decay  of  the  royal  authority  ;  she 
strove  to  be  queen  in  the  full  sense  of  the 
word.  From  the  moment  she  entered  on  the 
functions  of  government,  in  the  year  1644, 
she  devoted  herself  to  public  business  with 
admirable  zeal.  She  never  neglected  a  sit- 
ting of  the  senate  :  we  hear  of  her  sufl^ering 
from  fever,  and  having  recourse  to  blood-let- 
ting, yet  attending  the  sittings  notwithstand- 
ing. She  was  careful  to  prepare  herself  be- 
forehand, reading  through  state-papers  many 
sheets  in  length,  and  making  herself  mistress 
of  their  contents:  in  the  evening  before  retir- 
ing to  rest,  and  in  the  morning  on  waking, 

*  La  vie  de  la  riene  Christine  faite  par  elle  mfeme  in 
Arckenholtz,  M^moirea  pour  servir  ii  I'histoire  de  Chris- 
line,  torn.  iii.p.41  :  "  On  m'  a  voulu  persuader  qu'on  niit 
en  deliberation  en  certaines  assemblees  paniculi6res  s'il 
falloit  se  mettre  en  liberie  n'ayant  qu'un  enfant  en  Idle, 
dont  il  6toit  ais6  de  se  d^faire,  et  de  s'^riger  en  r6pub- 
lique."    Compare  the  note  by  Arckenhollz. 

t  A  remarkable  proof  of  this  aristocratic  tendency  is 
the  judgment  passed  on  the  constitution  by  the  greater 
part  of  the  estates  and  "good  patriots"  of  the  year  1644, 
that  has  recently  been  published.  See  Geijer,  Schwe- 
dische  Geschichte,  iii.  357.  None  of  the  five  high  offices 
of  state  were  to  be  filled  u])  in  any  other  way  than  by  the 
nomination  of  three  candidates  by  the  states,  one  of  whom 
should  be  elected.  None  but  one  of  three  proposed  by 
the  house  of  Knights  itself  should  be  elected  Grand  Mar- 
shal.  A  Consistorium  politico-ecclesiasticum  was  de- 
manded, with  a  president  and  assessors  freely  chosen  by 
the  estates,  &c. 


A.  D.  1644-54.] 


QUEEN  CHRISTINA  OF  SWEDEN. 


351 


she  pondered  over  the  points  of  difficulty.* 
She  had  the  art  of  stating  questions  for  dis- 
cussion with  great  dexterity,  never  letting  it 
appear  to  which  side  lier  own  sentiments  in- 
clined. After  hearing  the  opinions  of  the 
members,  she  used  to  pronounce  her  own, 
which  was  always  found  substantially  based, 
and  was  usually  adopted.  Foreign  ambassa- 
dors were  astonished  at  the  personal  influ- 
ence she  contrived  to  acquire  in  the  senate,t 
though  she  herself  was  never  satisfied  with 
it.  She  had  a  considerable  share  in  an  event 
of  such  universal  importance  as  the  peace  of 
Westphalia.  The  officers  of  the  army,  and 
even  one  of  her  ambassadors  to  the  congress, 
were  averse  to  the  measure  ;  and  there  were 
also  in  Sweden  persons  who  disapproved  of 
the  concessions  made  to  the  catholics,  parti 
cularly  those  of  the  hereditary  dominions  of 
Austria.  But  Christina  did  not  choose  to  ap- 
peal incessantly  to  fortune ;  Sweden  had 
never  been  so  glorious,  or  so  powerful ;  her 
pride  was  gratified  in  confirming  that  condi- 
tion of  her  kingdom,  and  restoring  peace  to 
Christendom. 

She  not  only  repressed  the  ambition  of  the 
aristocracy  with  all  her  might,  but  left  them 
no  hope  of  obtaining  in  future  the  power  they 
coveted.  Young  as  she  was,  she  very  soon 
brought  forward  a  proposal  for  tlie  nomination 
of  her  cousin,  the  count  palatine  Charles  Gus- 
tavus,  as  her  successor.  She  asserts  that  the 
prince  had  never  ventured  to  hope  for  such  a 
measure ;  that  she  carried  it  through  single- 
handed  against  the  will  of  the  senate,  which 
had  objected  even  to  take  it  into  considera- 
tion, and  against  the  will  of  the  estates, 
which  assented  to  it  only  in  deference  to  her  ; 
in  short,  it  was  wholly  her  own  suggestion, 
and  she  realized  it  in  spite  of  all  difficulties. 
The  succession  was  irrevocably  settled. J 

It  is  doubly  remarkable,  that,  with  all  this 


*  Paolo  Casati  al  papa  Alessandro  VII.  sopra  la  regina 
di  Suecia,  MS.  "  Ella  m'  ha  piu  d'  una  volta  assicurato 
di  non  aver  portalo  avanli  alcun  negotio  grave  a  cui  non 
avesse  quasi  due  anni  prima  pensato,  e  che  molte  hore 
delld  rnalina,  dopo  clie  s'  era  svegliata  da  quel  poco  son- 
no  clie  era  solita  di  prendere,  impiegava  nel  considerare 
i  negolii  e  conseguenze  loro  benchfi  lonlane."  [Slie  has 
more  than  oiice  assured  me  that  she  never  carried  out  any 
great  measure  to  which  she  had  not  previously  given 
nearly  two  years  thought,  and  that  she  was  in  the  habit  of 
employing  many  hours  in  tlte  morning,  on  waking  from 
the  short  sleep  she  was  used  to  take,  in  considering  mat- 
ters of  slate  and  their  consequences  however  remote.] 

t  Memoires  de  cequi  est  passe  en  Suede  tirez  des  de- 
pesches  de  Mr- Chanut,  i.  p.  24.5.  (1648  F6vr.)  "  II  est 
incroyable  comment  elle  est  puissante  dans  son  conseil, 
car  elle  ajoute  t  la  quality  dareine  la  grace,  le  credit,  les 
bienfails  et  la  force  de  persuader."  [It  is  incredible 
what  power  she  possesses  with  her  council,  for  she  com- 
bines with  the  dignity  of  queen,  grace,  credit,  benefi- 
cence, and  persuasive  force.]  In  a  copy  of  these  Me- 
moires which  appeared  in  167.5,  there  have  been  found 
marginal  notes  in  the  queen's  handwriting.  These  in- 
deed express  more  the  dissatisfaction  of  a  later  period, 
than  accurate  recollections  of  the  first  years  of  her  reign  ; 
but  at  any  rate  we  must  lake  them  as  modifying  Chanut's 
assertions. 

t  R6gne  de  Christine  jusqu'  t.  sa  resignation,  in  Arck 
enholtz,  ill.  162,  Notes. 


zeal  for  business,  she  devoted  herself  at  the 
same  time  to  study,  with  an  ardour  amount- 
ing almost  to  a  passion.  Even  in  her  child- 
ish years  nothing  had  more  delighted  her 
than  her  lessons.  This  might  have  been 
attributable  to  her  residing  with  her  mother, 
who  surrendered  herself  wholly  to  grief  for 
the  loss  of  her  husband :  the  child  used  daily 
to  long  impatiently  for  the  moment  when  she 
should  escape  from  the  gloomy  chambers  of 
mourning.  But  she  possessed  extraordinary 
natural  talents  too,  especially  for  languages ; 
she  relates  that  she  learned  most  of  them 
without  a  teacher,*  which  was  the  more  re- 
markable, as  in  some  of  them  she  really  at- 
tained to  the  proficiency  of  a  native.  As  she 
grew  up,  she  became  continually  more  fasci- 
nated by  the  charms  of  literature.  It  was  the 
epoch  in  which  learning  gradually  emanci- 
pated itself  from  the  fetters  of  theological 
controversy,  and  universally  acknowledged 
reputations  towered  above  the  strife  of  par- 
ties. It  was  her  ambition  to  have  men  of 
celebrity  about  her,  and  to  avail  herself  of 
their  instruction. 

First  came  a  few  German  philologists  and 
hitorians,  such  as  P'reinsheim,  at  whose  soli- 
citation she  remitted  his  native  town  of 
Ulm  the  chief  part  of  the  war  contributions 
imposed  on  it.f  Next  followed  Nether- 
ianders:  Isaac  Vossius  brought  into  vogue 
the  study  of  Greek;  Christina  soon  made 
acquaintance  with  the  best  authors  of  anti- 
quity, and  even  the  fathers  of  the  church  did 
not  remain  unknown  to  her.  Nicolaus  Hein- 
sius  boasts  it  as  iiis  first  good  fortune,  that  he 
was  born  in  the  queen's  time  :  as  the  second, 
that  he  became  known  to  her ;  for  the  third 
and  best,  he  wishes  posterity  to  learn,  that  he 
was  not  wholly  displeasing  to  her.  She  em- 
ployed him  chiefly  to  procure  her  costly  MSS. 
antl  rare  books  from  Italy,  which  he  did  con- 
scientiously, and  with  success.  The  Italians 
began  to  complain  that  ships  were  freighted 
with  the  spoils  of  their  libraries,  that  the  ap- 
pliances of  learning  were  carried  off  from 
them  to  the  extremity  of  the  north. |  In  1650 
Salmasius  made  his  appearance  :  the  queen 
had  sent  to  him  to  say,  that  if  he  would  not 
come  to  her,  she  would  be  forced  to  go  to  him. 
He  resided  a  year  in  her  palace.  Lastly,  Des 
Cartes  was  also  induced  to  visit  her.     Every 

*  La  vie  de  Christine  4ct.  p.  e.  m.  p.  53 ;  "  Je  savois  Hi 
I'age  de  quatorze  ans  toutes  les  langues,  toutes  les  sci- 
ences et  lous  les  exercises  dont  on  vouloit  m'inslruire. 
Mais  depuis  j'en  ai  appris  bien  d'autres  sans  le  secours 
d'aucun  maitre:  et  il  est  certain  que  je  n'en  eus  jamais 
pour  apprendre  la  langue  AUemande,  la  Frangoise,  I'lta- 
lienne,  ni  I'Espaguole."  [I  knew  at  the  age  of  fourteen 
all  the  languages,  all  the  sciences,  and  all  the  accom- 
plishments they  chose  to  teach  me.  But  since  then  I  have 
learned  many  others  without  the  help  of  any  master,  and 
it  is  certain  that  I  never  had  one  to  learn  the  German, 
French,  Italian,  and  Spanish  languages.] 

t  Harangue  pan6gyrique  de  Freinshemius  ii  Christine 
1647,  in  Arckenholiz,  second  appendix,  p.  104. 

t  Compare  Grauert :  Konigin  Christina  und  ihr  Hof,  p. 
I  379. 407. 


352          POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY.       [  v.  d.  1644-54. 


morning  at  five  o'clock  he  had  the  honour  to 
see  her  in  her  library.  It  is  asserted  that,  to 
his  amazement,  he  found  she  had  succeeded 
in  deducing  his  own  ideas  from  Plato.  It  is 
certain  that  in  her  conferences  with  the 
learned,  as  in  her  discussions  with  the  senate 
she  displayed  a  most  felicitous  memory,  and 
a  rapid  apprehension  and  penetration.  "  Her 
genius  is  in  the  highest  degree  extraordi- 
nary," exclaimed  JNaudoeus  in  amazement. 
"  She  has  seen  every  thing,  read  every  thing, 
and  knows  every  thing."* 

A  wonderful  production  she  was  of  nature 
and  fortune  :  a  young  lady  free  from  all  per- 
sonal vanity ;  she  never  sought  to  conceal 
from  herself  that  she  had  one  shoulder  higher 
than  the  other.  She  was  told  that  her  great- 
est beauty  consisted  in  luxuriant  hair,  yet  she 
did  not  even  devote  the  most  ordinary  atten- 
tion upon  it ;  she  was  wholly  a  stranger  to  all 
the  petty  cares  of  life :  never  troubled  her- 
self about  her  table,  never  complained  of  any 
food  set  before  her,  and  drank  nothing  but 
water.  She  never  could  understand  any 
womanly  work :  on  the  other  hand,  she  de- 
lio-hted  to  be  told,  that  at  her  birth  she  had 
been  mistaken  for  a  boy  ;  that  in  her  earliest 
childhood,  instead  of  being  terrified  at  the 
discharge  of  artillery,  she  clapped  her  hands, 
and  proved  herself  a  genuine  soldiers  child. 
She  sat  her  horse  with  great  boldness:  no 
sooner  had  she  set  one  foot  in  the  saddle,  than 
she  would  start  off  at  speed ;  in  hunting  she 
would  bring  down  the  game  at  the  first  shot. 
She  studied  Tacitus  and  Plato,  and  some- 
times understood  those  authors  better  than 
philologists  by  profession.  Young  as  she  was, 
she  was  capable  of  conceiving  independent 
and  just  opinions,  and  of  triumphantly  main- 
taining them  among  senators  grown  grey  in 
worldly  experience.  She  plunged  into  busi- 
ness with  the  quick  spirit  of  innate  acuteness; 
above  all  things,  she  was  penetrated  with  a 
sense  of  the  high  importance  conferred  on  her 
by  her  descent,  and  by  the  necessity  of  ruling 
by  herself.  She  never  referred  an  ambassa- 
dor to  her  minister;  she  would  never  suffer  a 
subject  of  her's  to  wear  a  foreign  order  ;^  she 
would  not,  she  said,  have  a  member  of  her 
flock  marked  by  another's  hand.  She  knew 
how  to  assume  a  countenance  that  struck 
generals  mute  before  whom  Germany  had 
quailed :  had  a  new  war  broken  out,  she  would 
undoubtedly  have  placed  herself  at  the  head  of 
her  troops. 

Such  tastes  as  these,  and  so  imperious  a 
disposition,  made  the  thought  of  marrying — of 
giving  a  man  rights  over  her  person — intole- 

*  Naud6  a  Gassendi,  19  Oct.  1652.  "  La  reine  de  la 
quelle  je  puis  dire  sans  flallerie  qu'ello  lienl  mieux  sa 
parlie  fes  conferences  qu'elle  lieni  assez  souvenl  avec 
MessiPurs  Bochart,  Bourdelol,  du  Fresno  el  moi,  qu'an- 
cum  de  la  compaL'nie,  el  si  je  vous  dis  que  son  esprit  est 
tout  a  fait  extraordinaire  je  he  mentirai  point  car  elle  a 
lout  vu,  elle  a  tout  lus,  elle  sail  loul. 


rable  to  her.  Whatever  obligation  she  might 
be  under  to  her  kingdom  to  contract  such  an 
engagement,  she  thought  herself  sufficiently 
absolved  from  it  by  the  settlement  of  the  suc- 
cession. After  her  coronation,  she  declared 
she  would  rather  die  than  marry.* 

But  could  such  a  position  as  hers  be  main- 
tained ]  There  was  something  forced  and 
laboured  in  it ;  it  wanted  the  equilibrium  of 
health,  the  security  of  a  natural  and  self- 
satisfied  state  of  existence.  It  was  not  love 
of  business  that  plunged  her  into  it  so  impe- 
tuously :  ambition  and  the  pride  of  the  sove- 
reign impelled  her,  but  she  found  no  pleasure 
in  it.  Neither  Avas  she  fond  of  her  native 
land,  its  pleasures  or  its  habits,  its  religion, 
or  its  political  constitution ;  nor  yet  of  its  past 
history,  with  which  she  had  no  sympathy. 
The  ceremonies  of  state,  the  long  harangues 
to  which  she  was  obliged  to  listen,  every  offi- 
cial duty  in  which  she  was  called  on  to  engage 
personally,  was  absolutely  hateful  to  her ;  the 
range  of  education  and  learning  to  which  her 
countrymen  were  content  to  confine  them- 
selves, was  contemptible  in  her  eyes.  Had 
she  not  occupied  the  throne  of  Sweden  from 
her  childhood,  it  would  perhaps  have  appeared 
an  object  of  desire  to  her ;  but  having  been  a 
queen  from  the  earliest  moment  her  memory 
could  recal,  all  the  longings  that  shape  men's 
future  destinies  had  in  her  taken  a  bent  that 
averted  her  from  her  native  land.  Fancy, 
and  love  of  all  that  was  unusual,  began  to 
obtain  mastery  over  her :  she  knew  no  pru- 
dential considerations,  nor  ever  thought  of 
opposing  to  the  chance  impulses  of  the  mo- 
ment the  superior  force  of  that  moral  symme- 
try that  became  her  position.  True,  she  was 
highminded,  courageous,  full  of  elasticity  and 
energy,  magnanimous;  but  unbridled,  impe- 
tuous, elaborately  unfeminine,  by  no  means 
amiable,  unfilial  even,  and  that  not  to  her 
mother  alone ;  she  spared  not  even  the  sacred 
memory  of  her  father  for  the  sake  of  a  caustic 
retort:  it  would  seem  at  times  as  though  she 
knew  not  what  she  said.f  Exalted  as  was 
her  station,  such  conduct  could  not  fail  to 
produce  its  natural  results,  and  to  make  her 
proportionally  incapable  of  feeling  contented, 
attached  to  her  home,  or  happy. 

This  spirit  of  discontent  fastened  above  all 
on  matters  of  religion,  and  the  following  were 
the  results. 

The  queen  dwelt  with  peculiar  pleasure  on 
the  memory  of  her  instructor,  doctor  Johann 
Matthise,   whose    simple,   pure,   and   gentle 

*  "  Jeme  serois,"  she  says  in  her  autobiography,  p.  57, 
"sans  doute  marine  si  je  n'eusse  reconnueen  moi  la  force 
de  me  passer  dos  plaisirs  de  I'amour."  [I  should  no 
doubt  have  married,  had  I  not  felt  myself  capable  of  fore- 
coing  the  pleasures  of  love.]  And  we  may  the  more  rea- 
dily believeherassertion,since  this  work  is  a  sort  of  con- 
fession. 

t  No  other  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  her  conversa- 
tion with  her  mother,  given  in  Chanut,  iii.  365.  May, 
1654. 


A.  D.  1644-54.] 


QUEEN  CHRISTINA  OF  SWEDEN. 


353 


spirit  had  gained  her  affection  from  the  first, 
and  who  was  her  earliest  confidant  even  in 
all  the  little  affairs  of  ciiildhood.*  Immedi- 
ately after  it  had  become  obvious  that  none  of 
the  existing  chnrch  parties  would  be  able  to 
overpower  the  rest,  an  inclination  to  unite 
them  arose  here  and  there  m  some  right- 
thinking  minds.  Matthias  was  one  of  those 
who  cherished  this  desire,  and  he  published  a 
book  in  which  he  discussed  the  question  of  an 
union  between  the  two  protestant  churches. 
The  queen  shared  his  sentiments,  and  con- 
ceived the  design  of  founding  a  theological 
academy,  which  was  to  undertake  the  recon- 
ciliation of  the  two  confessions.  But  the 
unbridled  zeal  of  inflexible  Lutherans  was 
immediately  let  loose  against  the  project.  A 
superintendent  of  Calmar  made  an  indignant 
attack  on  Matthias's  book,  and  the  estates  took 
part  against  him.  The  bishops  admonished 
the  council  of  state  to  watch  over  the  national 
religion,  and  the  grand  chancellor  appeared 
before  the  queen  with  representations  that 
forced  tears  of  vexation  from  her  eyes.f 

It  is  probable  she  now  thought  she  could 
clearly  perceive  that  it  was  no  pure  zeal 
which  stirred  her  Lutheran  subjects.  She 
was  of  opinion  that  an  attempt  was  made  to 
delude  her  by  the  idea  of  God  that  was  set 
before  her,  with  a  view  only  to  bend  her  to 
the  purposes  of  the  party.  The  representa- 
tions made  to  her  of  God  struck  her  as  unwor- 
thy of  that  great  Being.J 

The  prolix  sermons,  which  had  always  been 
wearying  to  her,  and  to  which  she  had  been 
compelled  by  the  ordinances  of  the  kingdom 
to  listen,  now  became  intolerable  to  her.  She 
often  manifested  her  impatience,  shifting  her 
chair,  and  playing  with  her  lap-dog;  the  in- 
exorable preachers  only  strove  to  keep  her 
the  longer. 

She  was  presently  confirmed,  by  the  arrival 
of  foreigners  of  learning,  in  the  temper  pro- 
duced by  these  annoyances,  which  had  excited 
in  her  an  inward  aversion  to  the  established 
religion  of  the  country.  Some  of  these  stran- 
gers were  catholics ;  others,  for  instance 
Isaac  Vossius,  gave  reason  to  suspect  them  of 
infidelity ;  Bourdelot,  who  had  the  most  influ- 
ence with  her,  since  he  had  ably  and  success- 
fully treated  her  for  a  dangerous  illness, — the 

*  "  Trfis  capable,"  she  says  in  her  Autobiography,  p.  51, 
"de  bien  insiruire  un  enfant  tel  que  j'^tois,  ayant  une 
honn6lete,  une  discretion  el  une  douceur  qui  le  faisoienl 
aimer  et  estiiner."  [A  very  tit  and  able  instructor  for  a 
child  such  as  I  was,  his  integrity,  discretion,  and  gentle- 
ness being  such  as  made  him  loved  and  resijeciod.] 

f  Letter  from  Axel  Oxenstierna,  2  May,  1647,  in  Arck- 
enholz,  iv.  App.  n.  21,  and  particularly  one  from  count 
Brahe,  Arcken.  iv.  p.  229. — Matthise's  work  is  the  "  Idea 
boni  ordinis  in  ecclesia  Christi." 

t  "  Je  crus,"  she  says,  in  a  note  given  by  Goldenblad, 
"  que  les  homines  vous  faisoient  parler  t  leur  mode  el 
qu'ils  me  vouloient  tromper  et  me  faire  peur  pour  me 
gouverner  Ji  la  leur."  Arckenholtz,  tom.  iii.  p.  209.  [I 
believed  that  men  represented  you  speaking  in  their  own 
style,  and  that  they  wished  to  deceive  and  to  frighten  me, 
that  ihey  might  govern  me  in  their  own  way.] 

45 


very  man  for  courts,  full  of  information  and 
talent  for  conversation,  and  totally  divested 
of  pedantry, — ^jested  at  every  thing,  the  poly- 
histors  and  the  national  crcjeds,  and  was  held 
a  downright  antisupernaturalist. 

The  young  queen  gradually  fell  into  incu- 
rable doubts.  It  seemed  to  her  that  all  posi- 
tive religions  were  inventions  of  men,  that 
every  argument  was  of  equal  force  against 
them  all  indiscriminately,  and  that  it  was  in 
the  end  a  matter  of  indifference  which  of  them 
an  individual  embraced. 

With  all  this,  however,  she  never  went  the 
length  of  absolute  irreligion;  some  convictions 
she  still  retained,  that  were  not  to  be  shaken  : 
in  her  royal  solitude  of  a  throne,  she  could 
not  forego  the  idea  of  God,  nay  she  even 
thought  she  was  placed  one  step  nearer  to 
Him.  "  Thou  knowest,"  she  cried,  "  how 
often  in  language  unknown  to  common  souls, 
I  have  implored  thy  grace  to  enlighten  me, 
and  vowed  to  thee  to  obey  thee,  though  it 
should  be  at  the  sacrifice  of  life  and  happi- 
ness." She  connected  this  with  her  other 
peculiar  notions:  "I  renounce,"  she  said,  "all 
other  love,  and  devote  myself  to  this." 

But  could  it  be  that  God  had  left  man  with- 
out the  knowledge  of  the  true  religion "]  She 
was  particularly  struck  by  an  expression  of 
Cicero's,  that  the  true  religion  could  be  but 
one,  and  tiiat  all  others  must  be  false.* 

The  question  was,  which  was  this  one] 

Let  us  not  think  to  ask  what  were  her  ar- 
guments and  proofs.  She  often  declared  that 
she  discovered  no  essential  error  of  doctrine 
in  protestantism.  But  as  her  disinclination 
for  that  creed  sprang  from  an  original  feeling 
whicii  was  now  not  to  be  overcome,  and 
which  circumstances  but  made  more  intense, 
so  did  she  rush  towards  Catholicism  with  an 
equally  inexplicable  inclination  and  entire 
sympathy. 

She  was  nine  years  old  when  she  first 
received  any  precise  account  of  the  catholic 
church,  and  it  was  told  her  among  other 
things,  tliat  in  that  communion  the  unmarried 
state  was  considered  honourable.  "  O  !"  she 
cried,  "  how  fine  that  is !  That  is  the  religion 
ibr  me." 

This  was  gravely  rebuked  ;  but  she  only 
persisted  the  more  obstinately  in  her  deter- 
mination. 

Other  impressions  of  a  congenial  nature 
were  associated  with  this.  "If  one  is  catho- 
lic," she  says,  "one  has  the  comfort  of  believ- 
ing what  so  many  noble  souls  have  believed 
for  sixteen  centuries,  of  belonging  to  a  religion 
ratified  by  millions  of  miracles,  and  millions 
of  martyrs;  one,"  she  adds,  "which,  lastly, 
has  produced  so  many  illustrious  virgins,  who 
have  triumphed  over  the  weaknesses  of  their 
sex,  and  consecrated  themselves  to  God." 


*  Pallavicini  Vita  Alexandri  VII.   For  the  passage,  see 
Appendix  No.  130. 


354 


POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY,    [a.  d.  1644-54. 


The  constitution  of  Sweden  is  based  on 
protestantism :  on  it  repose  the  fame,  the 
power  of  that  country,  and  the  position  it 
occupies  amidst  the  nations  of  Europe.  But 
on  Christina  protestantism  was  imposed  by 
necessity:  disgusted  by  a  thousand  accidental 
circumstances,  untouched  by  its  spirit,  she 
asserted  her  own  free  will,  and  broke  loose 
from  its  bondage :  the  opposite  system,  of 
which  she  had  but  a  glimmering  preconcep- 
tion, attracted  her  ;  that  the  pope  was  invested 
with  infallible  authority,  appeared  to  her  an 
institution  in  accordance  with  the  goodness  of 
God  ;  day  by  day  she  clung  more  decidedly  to 
this  idea :  it  would  seem  as  though  she  thus 
felt  the  cravings  of  her  womenly  nature  satis- 
fied, as  though  faith  sprung  up  in  her  heart, 
and  took  the  place  in  others  occupied  by  love, 
that  love  which  is  born  of  unconscious  instinct, 
which  is  condemned  by  the  world  and  must 
be  concealed,  but  which  therefore  only  strikes 
the  deeper  root,  and  which  makes  the  che- 
rished bliss  of  a  woman's  heart,  who  is  pre- 
pared to  sacrifice  all  for  it. 

It  is  at  least  certain,  that  Christina,  in  her 
desire  of  approximating  to  the  court  of  Rome, 
had  recourse  to  that  mystery  and  craft  which 
are  commonly  displayed  only  in  the  concerns 
of  passion  or  of  ambition  ;  she  engaged,  as  it 
were,  in  an  intrigue  to  become  a  catholic.  In 
this  she  showed  herself  wholly  a  woman. 

The  first  to  whom  she  made  known  her 
inclination  was  a  Jesuit,  Antonio  Macedo, 
father  confessor  to  the  Portuguese  ambassa- 
dor, Pinto  Pereira.*  Pereira  spoke  nothing 
but  Portuguese,  and  brought  with  him  his 
confessor  to  act  as  interpreter.  The  queen 
took  a  strange  pleasure,  in  the  audiences  she 
gave  the  ambassador,  in  discussing  with  his 
interpreter,  not  state  affairs,  as  the  ambassador 
sujjposed,  but  religious  controversies,  and  in 
confiding  to  him,  in  presence  of  a  third  party, 
who  did  not  understand  a  word  of  what  was 
passing,  her  most  secret  thoughts  and  specu- 
lations.f 

Macedo  suddenly  disappeared  from  Stock- 
holm. The  queen  affected  to  have  him  sought 
for  and  followed;  but,  in  reality,  she  had 
herself  sent  him  to  Rome  tomakeknown  her 
intention  to  the  general  of  the  Jesuits,  and 
request  him  to  send  her  a  couple  of  members 
of  his  order. 

In  February  1652  they  arrived  in  Stockholm. 
They  were  two  young  men,  who  represented 

*  A  certain  Gottfried  Fraiiken  has  sometimes  been  re- 
presented 10  have  been  the  author  of  her  conversion. 
According  to  the  account  of  the  matter  given  by  Arckeii- 
holtz,  i.  4(;5,lhefirstthoughlufsendingKrankentoStock- 
holij;  arose  on  the  return  of  Salmasius  from  thence,  which 
took  place  in  IGal.  Now  Macedo  had  been  there  as  early 
a.-  ISoO:  his  claims  are  indisputable. 

t  Pallavicini:  "Arctius  idcirco  sermones  et  colloquia 
miscuit,  non  tunc  solum  quum  ad  earn  Macedus  ab  legato 
niittebatur,  sed  etiam  ipso  przesente,  qui  nihil  intelligens 
animadvertebat  tamen  longiores  esse  inter  eos  sermones 
quain  res  ferrenl  ab  se  imerpreli  propositce  et  sibi  ab  inier- 
preie  relaiae." 


themselves  to  be  noblemen  on  their  travels 
from  Italy,  upon  which  they  were  invited  to 
the  royal  table.  She  instantly  surmised  what 
they  were,  and  as  they  went  immediately 
before  her  into  the  dining-room,  she  said  in  a 
whisper  to  one  of  them,  perhaps  he  had  letters 
for  her.  He  answered  in  the  affirmative 
without  turning,  upon  which  she  hurriedly 
enjoined  him  to  silence,  and  immediately  after 
dinner  sent  her  most  confidential  servant, 
Johann  Holm,  to  conduct  them  to  the  palace 
next  morning  with  the  utmost  secresy.* 

In  the  royal  palace  of  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
ambassadors  from  Rome  met  his  daughter,  to 
treat  with  her  of  her  conversion  to  the  Roman 
church.  The  peculiar  charm  the  transaction 
had  for  Christina,  was  that  no  one  had  the 
least  suspicion  of  it. 

The  two  Jesuits  proposed  at  first,  to  observe 
the  rules  of  the  catechism ;  but  they  soon 
perceived  that  in  this  case  they  could  not  be 
applied.  The  queen  proposed  to  them  ques- 
tions altogether  different  from  those  adverted 
to  in  that  document ; — whether  there  was  any 
ultimate  distinction  between  good  and  evil, 
or  whether  all  depended  on  the  utility  or 
mischief  of  an  action ;  how  the  doubts  were 
to  be  set  at  rest  which  might  be  suggested 
against  the  belief  in  a  Providence  ;  whether 
the  soul  of  man  is  really  immortal ;  whether 
it  were  not  most  expedient  to  conform  exter- 
nally to  the  established  religion  of  one's  coun- 
try, and  inwardly  to  live  in  accordance  with 
the  laws  of  reason.  The  Jesuits  do  not  in- 
form us  how  they  replied  to  these  questions : 
they  tell  us,  that  during  the  parley,  thoughts 
occurred  to  them  which  had  never  crossed 
their  minds  before,  and  which  they  immedi- 
ately forgot  again ;  that  the  Holy  Ghost  acted 
directly  on  the  queen's  mind.  In  fact,  she 
was  already  possessed  by  a  decided  bias  that 
supplied  whatever  was  wanting  to  each  argu- 
ment, and  to  conviction  itself.  The  most  fre- 
quent stress  was  laid  on  the  prime  maxim, 
that  the  world  cannot  be  left  destitute  of  the 
true  religion,  and  then  the  assertion  was  sub- 
joined, that  of  all  existing  religions,  the  catho- 
lic is  the  most  reasonable.  "  Our  grand  effort," 
say  the  Jesuits,  "  was  to  prove  that  the  points 
of  our  holy  faith  are  above  reason,  but  by  no 
means  contrary  to  it."  The  principal  diffi- 
culty concerned  the  invocation  of  saints,  and 
the  adoration  of  images  and  relics.  "  But  her 
majesty,"  they  continue,  "conceived  with 
great  penetration  the  whole  force  of  the  argu- 
ments we  set  before  her ;  otherwise  we  should 
have  needed  a  great  length  of  time."  She 
also  talked  with  them  of  the  difficulty  there 
would  be,  should  she  resolve  on  conforming 
to  the  church  of  Rome,  in  putting  her  design 
into  effect.  These  difficulties  seemed  at  times 
insurmountable,  and  one  day  the  queen  told 

*  Relatione  di  Paolo  Casali  al  papa  Alessandro  VII. 
For  an  extract,  see  Appendix,  No.  131. 


A.  D.  1652-54.] 


QUEEN  CHRISTINA  OF  SWEDEN. 


355 


the  Jesuits  when  she  received  them,  that  they 
had  better  return  home,  that  the  project  was 
impracticable,  and  that  she  could  hardly  ever 
become  a  catholic  in  her  heart.  The  good  fath- 
ers were  amazed  ;  they  urged  every  argument 
to  fix  her  to  her  purpose,  set  before  her  God  and 
eternity,  and  pronounced  her  doubts  to  be 
suggestions  of  Satan.  It  was  highly  charac- 
acteristic  of  her,  that  she  was  more  decided 
at  this  very  moment  than  at  any  previous  in- 
terview, "  What  would  you  say,"  she  ejac- 
ulated suddenly,  "  if  I  were  nearer  to  becom- 
ing catholic  than  you  imagine  ]"  "  I  cannot 
describe  the  emotions  we  felt,"  says  the  Je- 
suit narrator,"  "  we  were  like  men  raised  from 
the  dead."  The  queen  asked  if  the  pope 
could  not  give  her  a  dispensation  to  receive 
the  sacrament  once  every  year,  according  to 
the  Lutheran  ritual.  "  VVe  answered  no ; 
then,  said  she,  there  is  no  help  for  it,  I  must 
abdicate." 

In  truth  her  thoughts  daily  tended  more  and 
more  towards  that  step. 

The  affairs  of  the  country  did  not  always 
proceed  as  could  be  wished.  Contrasted  with 
the  powerful  aristocracy  which  was  closely 
knit  together,  the  queen,  with  her  retinue 
and  adherents  gathered  from  so  many  foreign 
lands,  with  the  heir  to  the  throne  whom  she 
had  forced  on  the  country,  and  count  Magnus 
de  la  Gardie  whom  she  honoured  with  her 
confidence,  but  whom  tlie  Swedish  nobility 
would  never  acknowledge  as  their  equal  in 
birth,  constituted  a  party  that  was  regarded 
almost  as  foreign.  Her  unbounded  liberality 
had  exhausted  the  finances,  and  the  moment 
was  seen  approaching  when  every  resource 
would  be  dried  up.  Already  in  October,  1651, 
she  had  announced  to  the  estates  her  intention 
of  resigning.  This  was  at  the  moment  when 
she  sent  Antonio  Macedo  to  Rome.  She, 
however,  suffered  herself  to  be  dissuaded  for 
the  time  from  her  design.  The  chancellor  of 
the  realm  entreated  her  not  to  be  determined 
by  the  financial  difficulties  of  the  country  ;  due 
care  should  be  taken  that  the  splendour  of  the 
crown  should  not  be  impaired.*  She  saw 
plainly  too,  that  her  conduct  would  not  wear 
that  heroic  aspect  in  the  world's  eye  she  at 
first  supposed.  When  prince  Frederick  of 
Hesse  shortly  afterwards  meditated  a  similar 
step,  she  exhorted  him  expressly  against  it; 
not  exactly  on  religious  grounds ;  she  only 
reminded  him  that  those  who  change  their 
religion  are  hated  by  the  party  they  abandon, 
and  despised  by  that  to  which  they  go  over.f 
But  by  degrees  these  considerations  ceased  to 
influence  herself      It  was  in  vain  she  endea- 


voured by  frequent  nominations  to  make  a 
party  in  her  favour  in  the  council  of  state, 
which  she  increased  from  twenty-eight  mem- 
bers to  thirty-nine :  the  credit  and  consequence 
of  the  house  of  Oxenstierna,  wliich  had  been 
for  a  while  obscured,  acquired  fresh  lustre  by 
means  of  family  connexions,  by  the  force  of 
habit,  and  by  a  talent  that  seemed  as  it  were 
hereditary  in  the  race.  In  many  important 
affairs,  as  for  instance,  in  the  adjustment  of 
matters  with  Brandenburg,  the  queen  was  left 
in  the  minority.  Count  Magnus  de  la  Gardie 
too  lost  her  favour.  Money  began  to  be  sen- 
sibly scarce,  and  there  was  often  not  sufficient 
for  the  daily  necessities  of  the  royal  house- 
hold.* Were  it  not  really  better  that  she 
should  live  abroad  after  the  fashion  of  her  own 
heart  upon  a  stipulated  yearly  income,  without 
being  subjected  to  the  endless  interference  of 
fanatic  preachers,  who  saw  in  all  her  ways 
and  doings  nothing  but  romantic  singularity 
and  apostacy  from  the  faith  and  the  manners 
of  the  country  !  Business  was  already  be- 
come irksome  to  her,  and  she  felt  unhappy 
when  she  saw  her  secretaries  approach  her. 
Already  the  only  intercourse  she  took  pleasure 
in  was  that  of  the  Spanish  ambassador  Don 
Antonio  Pimentel,  who  took  part  in  all  her 
social  pleasures  and  amusements,  and  in  the 
meetings  of  the  order  of  the  amaranth,  which 
she  founded,  and  the  memljers  of  which  were 
obliged  to  pledge  themselves  to  a  kind  of  ce- 
libacy. Don  Antonio  was  privy  to  her  catho- 
lic intentions,  and  communicated  them  to  his 
sovereign,  who  offered  the  queen  an  abode  in 
his  dominions,  and  promised  to  prepare  the 
pope  for  her  conversion.!  Meanwhile  pre- 
liminaries had  been  arranged  in  Italy  by  the 
Jesuits,  who  by  this  time  had  returned  thither. 
She  was  now  no  longer  to  be  dissuaded  by 
any  arguments  from  her  purpose.  Her  letter 
to  the  French  ambassador  Chanut,  proves  how 
little  she  counted  on  approval :  at  the  same 
time  she  affirms  that  this  gave  her  no  concern. 
tShe  should  be  happy,  strong  in  herself,  with- 
out fear  before  God  and  man,  and  behold  from 
the  harbour  the  sufferings  of  those,  who  were 
still  tossed  on  the  stormy  waves  of  life.  Her 
only  care  was  to  secure  her  pension  in  such  a 
manner,  that  she  could  never  again  be  depriv- 
ed of  it. 


*  Pufendorf,  rerum  Suecicarum  lib.  23,  p.  447. 

+  LeUre  de  Christine  au  prince  Frederic  Landgrave  de 
Hesse,  in  Arckenlioliz,  i.  p.  218.  "Pouvez-vous  ignorer 
combien  ceux  qui  changent  sont  ha'is  de  ceux  df  s  senli- 
niens  desquels  ils  s'^loigne nl,  el  ne  saurez-vous  pas  par 
tanl  d'illnstres  exemples  qu'ils  sont  mepris6s  de  ct-ux 
aupr6s  desquels  ils  se  rangent]" 


*  Motivi  onde  si  crede  la  reginadi  Suezia  averpresala 
resolulione  di  rinnnciare  la  corona,  in  Arckenholtz,  ii. 
App.  No.  47,  probably  by  Raymond  Montecuculi. 

+  Pallavicini,  Vita  Alexandri  VII.  "  Aiilae  Hispanicae 
adminislri,cum  priinuni  rem  proposuit  Malines  (who  had 
been  sent  thither),  omnino  voluissent  ab  regini  regnum 
retineri,  ob  emolumenta  quae  tum  in  religionem  luiii  in 
regem  catholicum  redundassent;  sed  cogniio  id  fieri  non 
posse  nisi  Isesa  religione,  placuit  regi  patronum  esse  lacti 
tam  gf  nerosi."  [The  ministers  of  the  Spanish  court, 
wheii^ihe  affair  was  first  piojiosed  to  the  king  by  Malines, 
would  by  all  means  have  had  the  queen  rinain  her  crown, 
on  account  of  the  advantages  which  would  thent,e  accrue 
both  to  religion  and  to  his  catholic  majesty  ;  but  when  it 
was  known  that  this  could  not  be  done  without  detriment 
to  religion,  the  king  was  pleased  to  become  the  patron  of 
so  higli-souled  an  act.] 


356 


POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY,     [a.  d.  1654. 


On  the  24th  of  June,  1654,  the  ceremony 
of  abdication  took  place.  However  numerous 
the  causes  of  complaint  the  queen's  adminis- 
tration had  given,  yet  high  and  low  were 
deeply  affected  by  this  renunciation  of  her 
native  kingdom  by  the  last  scion  of  the  stock 
of  Gustavus  Vasa.  Old  count  Brahe  refused 
to  take  from  her  the  crown  he  had  placed  on 
her  head  three  years  before  :*  he  held  the  tie 
between  sovereign  and  subject  to  be  indisso- 
luble, and  deemed  such  a  proceeding  unlaw- 
ful.! '-fhe  queen  was  obliged  herself  to  take 
the  crown  from  her  head ;  it  was  only  from 
her  hand  he  would  receive  it.  Stripped  of 
the  insignia  of  royalty,  and  in  a  plain  white 
dress,  the  queen  now  received  the  parting 
homage  of  her  estates.  After  the  rest  appear- 
ed tiie  speaker  of  the  peasantry,  "a  plain 
country  fellow  in  his  clouted  shoon  and  all 
other  habits  answerable."  He  knelt  down 
before  the  queen,  "took  her  by  the  hand  and 
shaked  it  heartily,  and  kissed  it  two  or  three 
times;  then  turning  his  back  to  her  he  pulled 
out  of  his  pocket  a  foul  handkerchief,  and 
wiped  the  tears  from  his  eyes,  and  in  the  same 
posture  as  he  came  up  he  returned  back  to 
his  place  again."| 

Meanwhile  all  her  thoughts  and  schemes 
were  directed  to  foreign  lands :  she  would  not 
remain  one  moment  in  a  country  in  which 
she  had  resigned^  the  sovereign  authority  to 
other  hands.  She  had  already  sent  off"  her 
valuables:  while  the  fleet  was  getting  ready 
that  was  to  convey  her  to  Wismar,  she  seized 
the  first  favourable  opportunity  to  escape  in 
disguise  with  a  few  trusty  attendants  from  the 
irksome  supervision  exercised  over  her  by  her 
late  subjects,  and  to  betake  herself  to  Ham- 
burg. 

She  now  began  her  travels  through  Europe. 
On  arriving  in  Brussels  she  secretly  con- 
formed to  Catholicism,  and  afterwards  publicly 
in  Insbruck :  attracted  by  the  promise  of  the 
pope's  benediction  she  hastened  to  Italy,  where 
she  laid  down  her  crown  and  sceptre  at  the 
shrine  of  our  lady  of  Loretio.  The  Venetian 
ambassadors  were  astonished  at  the  sumptuous 
preparations  made  for  her  reception  in  all  the 
towns  of  the  ecclesiastical  states.  Pope  Al- 
exander, whose  ambition  was  gratified  by  the 
occurrence  of  so  brilliant  a  conversion  during 
his  pontificate,  exhausted  the  apostolic  coffers 
to  celebrate  the  event  with  due  solemnity. 
Christina  entered  Home,  not  as  a  penitent  but 
in  triumph.  §     During  the  first  years  of  her  pri- 

*  She  had  assuineil  ihe  reigns  of  govpinment  in  1544: 
her  coronation  look  place  some  years  later. 

t  "  It  was  opposed  to  God,  to  the  common  1  w  of  nations, 
and  to  the  oath  by  which  she  was  bound  to  the  realm  of 
Sweden  and  to  her  subjects — he  could  be  no  honest  man 
who  gave  her  majesty  such  advice."  Life  of  count  Peter 
Brahe,  i^  SchliJzer's  Schwedischer  Bio'^'raphie,  ii.  p.  409. 

f  Whitelocke's  Journal,  ii   p.  1(30. 

§  Relatione  de' Iv.  ariibasciatori :  "  II  sospetloche  prese 
papa  Innocenlio  che  il  ricevimento  dovesse  coslarli  caro 
ritardo  il  suo  arrivo  in  Koiria:  e  contenioquel  biion  ponte- 
fice  del  risparmio  del  danaro  lascio  la  gloria  entiera  al 


vate  life  we  oflen  find  her  travelling;  we  meet 
her  in  Germany,  twice  in  France,  and  even 
in  Sweden.     She  did  not  always  remain  so 
much  aloof  from  political  struggles  as  she  had 
at  first  intended.     She  once  exerted  herself 
in  down'right  earnestness  and  not  without  some 
prospect  of  success,  to  obtain  the  crown  of 
Poland,  which  she  might  at  least  have  been 
able  to  wear  as  a  catholic.     Another  time  she 
incurred  suspicion  of  designing  to  attack  Na- 
ples in  the  interests  of  France.    The  necessity 
of  seeing  after  her  pension,  the  payment  of 
which  was  often  in  arrear,  seldom  left  her 
entire  repose.     Her  pretensions,  though  not 
wearing  a  crown,  to  exercise  the  independent 
prerogatives  of  a  crowned  head,  especially  in 
the  way  she  herself  understood  them,  were 
twice  attended  with  very  serious  consequences. 
Who  can  excuse  the  cruel  sentence  she  pro- 
nounced at  Fontainebleau  in  her  own  cause 
on  Monaldeschi,  a  member  of  her  household, 
and  which  she  caused  to  be  executed  by  his 
accusers  and  enemies  ?    She  granted  him  only 
an  hour  to  prepare  for  death.*     She  regarded 
as  high  treason  the  breach  of  faith,  of  which 
the  victim  was  said  to  have  been  guilty  to- 
wards her ;  and  she  deemed  it  beneath  her 
dignity  to  summon  him  before  any  tribunal 
whatever.     "  To  own  no  power  above  one," 
she  exclaimed,  "  is  worth  more  than  to  rule 
over  the  whole  earth."     She  even  despised 
public  opinion.     Monaldeschi's  execution  ex- 
cited universal  abhorrence  in  Rome,  where 
the  wranglings  of  her  household  v/ere  better 
known  than  to  herself;  yet  nevertheless  she 
hastened  back  thither.     Where  else  indeed 
could   she   have   lived   but   in   Rome]      She 
would  have-been  involved  in  incessant  colli- 
sion with  any  secular  power,  with  pretensions 
of  a  similar  character  to  her  own.     She  often 
quarrelled  bitterly  even  with  the  popes,  with 
Alexander  himself,  whose  name  she  had  added 
to  hers  on  conforming  to  the  church. 

Gradually,  however,  her  temper  grew  mild- 
er, her  habits  more  tranquil ;  she  forced  herself 
to  observe  some  considerations  of  propriety, 
and  recognized  the  necessities  incident  to  her 
abode  in  a  city  where,  after  all,  the  ecclesias- 
tical rule  allowed  ample  scope  to  aristocratical 
privileges  and  personal  independence.  She 
took  more  part  in  the  splendour,  the  business, 
and  the  life  of  the  curia :  habituated  herself  to 


suo  successore  d'  accomplire  a  qiiesla  memoranda  fun- 
tione.  Intorno  a  ci6  ritrovammo  al  nostro  giongere  in 
Eoiria  occupate  le  niaggiori  application!  della  corte,  et  al 
riiorno  ci  si  fece  vedere  tutto  lo  stato  della  chiesa  invollo 
in  facende  et  a  gara  1'  una  cilli  dell'  altra  chi  sapeva  fare 
maggiore  ostentatione  di  pomposi  accoglimenti."  [Pope 
Innocent's  surmise,  that  the  reception  would  cost  hini 
dear,  retarded  her  arrival  in  Rome  ;  and  that  worthy  pon- 
tiff, content  with  saving  his  money,  left  to  his  successor 
the  sole  glory  of  discharging  that  memoiable  luiiction. 
On  arriving  in  Rome  we  found  the  court  engrossed  witli 
preparations  for  this  affair,  and  on  our  return  we  beheld 
the  whole  ecclesiasiical  si  te  engaged  in  making  arrange- 
ments, and  every  city  vieing  with  the  rest,  which  should 
make  the  grandest  show  of  welcome.] 
*  Pallavicini.    See  Appendix  No.  130. 


A.  D.  1654-89.] 


QUEEN  CHRISTINA  OF  SWEDEN. 


357 


the  tone  of  Roman  society,  and  gradually 
made  herself  fully  at  home.  She  now  increas- 
ed the  collections  she  had  brought  from  Swe- 
den, at  so  much  cost,  and  with  such  taste  and 
success,  that  she  surpassed  liie  native  families, 
and  elevated  the  pursuit  from  merely  minister- 
ing to  curiosity,  to  a  higher  importance  with 
regard  to  learning  and  art.  Men  like  Span- 
heim  and  Havercamp  have  thought  it  worth 
their  while  to  illustrate  her  coins  and  medals, 
and  Sante  Bartolo  devoted  his  practised  hand 
to  her  engraved  gems.  Tlie  Correggios  of  her 
collection  have  always  been  the  brightest  or- 
naments of  the  galleries  into  which  time  and 
chance  may  have  carried  them.  The  MSS. 
of  her  library  have  contributed  in  no  small  de- 
gree to  uphold  the  fame  of  the  Vatican,  in 
which  they  were  included  at  a  late  period. 
Acquisitions  and  possessions  of  this  kind  fill 
up  the  hours  of  every  day  life  with  harmless 
enjoyment.  She  also  took  a  lively  interest  in 
the  pursuits  of  science.  It  is  highly  to  her 
honour,  that  she  supported  with  all  her  power 
the  exiled  Borelli,  who  was  reduced  in  his  old 
age  to  give  instruction,  and  that  she  had  print- 
ed, at  her  own  cost,  his  celebrated  and  still 
unsurpassed  work  on  the  mechanics  of  animal 
motions,  which  has  had  such  an  influence  on 
the  progress  of  physiology.  Nay,  I  think  we 
may  even  venture  to  assert,  that  she  herself, 
after  her  mind  had  been  improved  and  matur- 
ed, exerted  a  strong  and  enduring  influence 
on  her  age,  and  especially  on  Italian  litera- 
ture. It  is  well  known  what  extravagant 
turgid ity,  tar-fetched  conceits,  and  vapid  tri- 
fling, prevailed  in  the  Italian  poetry  and  rhe- 
toric of  those  days.  Queen  Christina  had  too 
much  taste  and  intellect  to  be  caught  by  this 
fashion  ;  it  was  her  aversion.  In  the  year 
1680  she  founded  an  academy  in  her  house 
for  political  and  literary  discussion,  one  of  the 
most  prominent  statutes  of  which  was,  that 
the  members  should  abstain  from  the  modern 
inflated  and  metaphor-crammed  style  and  fol- 
low only  the  dictates  of  sound  sense  and  the 
models  of  the  Augustan  and  Medicean  ages.* 
The  impression  made  on  us  is  singular,  when 
we  light  on  the  labours  of  this  academy  in  the 
Albini  library  in  Rome  :  essays  by  Italian  ab- 
bati  corrected  by  the  hand  of  a  northern 
queen;  but  this  strange  association  is  not 
without  its  significancy.  From  Christina's 
academy  issued  men  like  Alessandro  Guidi, 

*  Constituzioni  dell'  academia  reale,  in  Arckenholtz, 
iv.  p.  28.  §  28.  "  In  qupsl'  academia  si  studj  la  purjti  la 
gravilii  e  la  maeslil  delta  lineua  Toscana  ;  s'  imilino  per 
quanlo  si  puo  i  maestri  delta  vera  eloquenza  de'  se- 
coli  d'  Augiislo  8  di  Leone  X  .  .  .  e  per6  si  dia  bando 
alio  stile  nioderno  uirgido  et  ampoUoso,  ai  traslali,  meia- 
fore,  figure  etc."  Another  paragraph  (II)  prohibits  all 
eulogy  of  the  queen, — a  very  necessary  provision.  There 
is  a  description  of  this  academy  in  the  fourth  vol.  of  Nico- 
letli's  life  of  Urban  VIII.,  the  chief  point  in  which  is,  that 
its  most  distinguished  members,  Ang^lo  della  Noce, 
Guiseppe  Suarez,  Giovanni  Francesco  Albani  (afterwards 
pope),  Steflfano  (jradi,  Ottavio  Falconieri,  and  Steftano 
Pignatelli,  had  all  been  domesticated  with  cardinal  Fran- 
cesco Barberini. 


who  had  formerly  adopted  the  usual  style  of 
the  day,  but  who,  after  he  had  come  in  con- 
tact with  the  queen,  resolutely  renounced  it, 
and  leagued  himself  with  a  few  friends,  in 
order,  if  possible,  to  abolish-  it  altogether. 
The  Arcadia,  an  academy  to  which  has  been 
ascribed  the  merit  of  accomplishing  this  good 
work,  arose  out  of  queen  Christina's  associa- 
tion. On  the  whole,  it  is  not  to  be  denied, 
that,  amidst  the  multitude  of  influences  with 
which  she  was  surrounded,  the  queen  pre- 
served a  noble  independence  of  mind.  She 
had  no  mind  to  exhibit  that  ostentatious  piety 
which  the  world  or  themselves  are  wont  to 
exact  of  converts.  Catholic  as  she  was,  and 
frequently  as  she  reiterated  her  conviction  of 
the  pope's  infallibility,  and  of  the  necessity  of 
believing  whatever  was  enjoined  by  him  and 
by  the  church,  still  she  entertainecl  a  cordial 
hatred  of  bigots,  and  abhorred  the  direction 
of  confessors,  who  then  tyrannized  over  the 
whole  course  of  life.  She  would  not  be  with- 
held from  enjoying  carnivals,  concerts,  and 
comedies,  and  all  the  other  amusements  of 
Rome  ;  above  all,  the  internal  movement  of 
an  intellectual  and  animated  society.  She 
owned  she  loved  satire  ;  Pasquin  was  her  de- 
light. She  was  always  mixed  up  in  the  in- 
trigues of  the  court,  the  quarrels  of  the  papal 
houses,  and  the  factions  of  the  cardinals.  She 
adhered  to  the  squadronists,  the  head  of  which 
party  was  her  friend  Azzolini,  a  man  whom 
others  besides  herself  regarded  as  the  most 
gifted  member  of  the  curia,  but  whom  she  for 
her  part  looked  upon  as  a  god-like,  incompa- 
rable man,  the  only  one  she  thought  superior 
to  the  venerable  chancellor  Axel  Oxenstierna. 
She  wished  to  erect  a  monument  to  him  in 
her  memoirs.  Unfortunately  but  a  small  part 
of  them  has  been  made  public;  but  this  dis- 
plays an  earnestness,  a  truth  in  her  dealings 
with  herself,  a  freedom  and  firmness  of  mind, 
before  which  calumny  is  dumb.  Not  less  re- 
markable, are  the  apophthegms  and  scattered 
thoughts,  the  productions  of  her  leisure  hours, 
which  have  come  down  to  us.*  They  be- 
speak much  knowledge  of  the  world,  an  in- 
sight into  the  play  of  the  passions  attainable 
only  through  experience,  and  observations 
upon  them  of  the  subtlest  kind,  yet  withal  a 
decided  bent  towards  the  essential  ;  a  lively 
conviction  of  the  power  of  self-direction,  and 
of  the  nobility  of  the  mind;  a  just  apprecia- 
tion of  earthly  things,  which  are  estimated 
neither  too  meanly  nor  too  highly;  and  a 
mental  constitution  that  seeks  only  to  satisfy 
God  and  itself.  The  great  intellectual  move- 
ment that  manifested  itself  towards  the  close 
of  the  seventeenth  century  in  every  branch 
of  human  activity,  and  opened  a  new  era, 

*  We  have  Iheni  edited  in  two  forms,  varying  some- 
what from  each  other.  Ouvrage  de  loisir  de  Christine 
reine  de  Suede,  in  the  appendix  to  the  second,  and  Sen- 
timens  et  diis  ni^morabiles  de  Christine,  in  the  appen- 
dix to  the  fourth  volume  of  Arkenholtz. 


358 


POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


wrought  also  in  the  person  of  this  princess. 
Hence  a  residence  in  the  centre  of  European 
civilization,  and  the  leisure  of  private  life, 
were,  if  not  absolutely  necessary  to  her  for 
the  completion  of  that  mental  development, 
yet  unquestionably  highly  advantageous. 
Passionate  was  her  love  for  all  that  the  life  of 
that  great  city  presented  to  her:  she  thought 
it  impossible  to  live,  if  she  did  not  breathe 
the  atmosphere  of  Rome. 

Administration  of  Church  and  State. 

There  was  hardly,  besides  the  court  of 
Rome,  another  spot  in  the  then  world  that 
could  exhibit  so  much  social  refinement,  such 
manifold  efforts  in  literature  and  art,  so  much 
racy,  intellectual  enjoyment,  and,  in  fine,  an 
existence  so  filled  with  interests  that  capti- 
vated the  feelings  and  engaged  all  the  pow- 
ers of  the  mind.  The  yoke  of  government 
was  little  felt :  power  and  splendour  were  in 
reality  shared  among  them  by  the  ruling  fa- 
milies. Nor  could  the  cliurch  any  longer 
enforce  its  claims  in  their  full  rigour:  the 
temper  of  the  times  imposed  upon  them  no 
inconsiderable  check.  This  was  rather  an 
age  of  enjoyment,  a  lusty  harmonious  revel 
of  time-won  personal  advantages  and  intellec- 
tual impulses. 

The  question  now  was,  how  church  and 
state  were  to  be  governed'  under  these  cir- 
cumstances of  the  tunes. 

For  undoubtedly  the  court — or  rather  the 
prelacy,  which  properly  included  only  the 
really  efficient  members  of  the  curia — had 
the  administration  of  both  in  its  own  hands. 

The  institution  of  the  prelacy  had  grown 
to  its  modern  form  as  early  as  the  pontificate 
of  Alexander  VII.  To  become  referendario 
di  segnatura,  a  step  on  which  all  future  pro- 
motion depended,  it  was  required  that  the 
candidate  should  be  a  doctor  juris,  that  he 
should  have  studied  three  years  with  an  ad- 
vocate, have  reached  a  certain  age,  possess  a 
certain  fortune,  and  furtliermore,  that  his  cha- 
racter should  be  irreproachable.  The  age 
had  originally  been  fixed  at  twenty-five  years, 
the  fortune  at  an  income  of  1000  scudi. 
Alexander  made  the  somewhat  aristocratic 
change,  by  which  twenty-one  years  were 
held  sufficient  in  point  of  age,  but  the  income 
required  was  raised  to  1500  scudi.  The  can- 
didate who  could  prove  his  possession  of  these 
requisites,  was  invested  by  the  prefetto  di 
segnatura,  and  appointed  to  plead  two  causes 
before  the  assembled  segnatura.*  In  this 
way  he  took  possession  of  his  office,  and  was 
thereby  qualified  for  every  other.  From  the 
governorship  of  a  town  or  a  district,  he  rose 
to  a  nunciature,  or  a  vice-legation,  or  he  ob- 

*  Discorso  del  dominio  temporale  e  spirituale  del  S. 
Pontefice  Romano,  1664.  MS. 


tainad  a  place  in  the  rota,  or  in  the  congre- 
gations;  then  followed  the  cardinal's  hat, 
and  the  rank  of  legate.  On  the  appearance 
of  the  legate  in  a  town,  certain  honorary  pri- 
vileges of  the  bishop  were  suspended  :  the  le- 
gate bestowed  the  benediction  on  the  people 
in  like  manner  as  the  pope.  The  members 
of  the  curia  passed  incessantly  to  and  fro  be- 
tween spiritual  and  secular  offices.  Let  us 
first  advert  to  the  latter,  to  the  administra- 
tion of  the  state. 

Every  thing  depended  on  the  wants  of  go- 
vernment, on  the  demands  made  on  the  sub- 
ject, on  the  state  of  the  finances. 

We  have  seen  to  what  a  ruinous  pitch  the 
system  of  debt  had  risen  under  Urban,  chiefly 
through  the  war  of  Castro ;  but  even  then 
loans  were  successfully  effected,  and  the  luo- 
ghi  di  monte  maintained  a  high  price  :  the 
popes  pursued  the  beaten  path  without  reflec- 
tion or  hesitation. 

In  1644,  Innocent  X.  found  the  number  of 
luoghi  di  monte  182,1031,  and  left  it  264,129i 
in  1655,  so  that  the  capital  represented  by 
them  had  risen  from  eighteen  to  twenty-six 
millions.  Though  with  this  sum  he  had  dis- 
charged debts  of  another  kind,  and  paid  off 
other  loans,  there  was  still  a  serious  augmen- 
tation of  the  public  debt,  which  was  reckoned 
at  his  decease  at  forty-eight  millions  of  scudi. 
He  had  been  fortunate  enough  to  derive  a 
surplus  revenue  from  the  taxes  imposed  by 
Urban  VIII.,  on  which  he  founded  the  new 
monti.  On  Alexander's  accession  an  aug- 
mentation of  the  taxes  was  palpably  imprac- 
ticable :  loans  had  become  so  habitual,  that 
it  was  in  a  measure  impossible  to  dispense 
with  them.  Alexander  resolved  to  seek  a 
new  source  of  profit  in  the  reduction  of  the 
rate  of  interest. 

The  monti  vacabile,  which  paid  ten  and  a 
half  per  cent.,  stood  at  one  hundred  and  fifly  : 
he  determined  to  pay  them  ofiT.  Though  he 
did  so  at  the  current  price,  still  he  had  a 
great  profit  on  the  transaction,  since  the  ca- 
mera raised  money  in  general  at  four  per 
cent. ;  and  hence,  though  it  should  pay  with 
borrowed  money,  it  would  for  the  future  have 
to  disburse,  instead  of  ten  and  a  half,  only 
six  per  cent,  interest. 

Upon  this,  pope  Alexander  bethought  him 
of  reducing  all  the  non  vacabili  which  bore 
more  than  four  per  cent,  to  that  rate  of  inte- 
rest.*    But  as  in  this  operation  he  took  no 


♦  Pallavicini:  Vitadi  Alessandro  VII.  "  Perciocche  in 
nessiin  allro  paese  d'  Italia  la  rendita  del  danaro  avease 
tanto  pingue  e  tanto  sicura,  pian  piano  Piasuccedulo  che 
quei  luoglii  del  primitivo  lor  prezzo  di  100  fussero  cresci- 
uli  nella  piazza  al  valor  di  116.  Hor  la  camera  valendo- 
si  del  suo  dirilto,  come  avrebbe  potuto  qualsivoplia  priva- 
10,  rendeva  il  prezzo  originario  di  100  non  permittendo  la 
vastiii  della  somma  (he  calculates  26  millions)  n6  per- 
suadendo  laqualit^de'  padroni,  in  gran  parte  ricchi  e  fo- 
reslieri,  che  ad  aggravi  de'  pover),alle  cui  spalle  slanno 
lulti  i  publici  pesi,  il  pontefice  usasse  piii  la  liberalitii 
usato  da  liu  nell'  esiiniione  de'  monti  vacabili."    [Be- 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 


359 


account  of  the  market  price,  which  was  one 
hundred  and  sixteen  per  cent,  but  paid  the 
holders  the  bare  nominal  value  to  which  he 
was  pledged,  of  one  hundred  to  the  luogo,  he 
was  here  too  a  very  considerable  gainer. 
The  amount  of  all  these  interests  was  defray- 
ed, as  we  have  seen,  by  the  taxes,  and  it  is 
possible  that  the  first  intention  may  have 
been  to  remit  the  most  oppressive  of  these ; 
but  the  old  system  of  economy  being  persisted 
in,  this  turned  out  to  be  impracticable.  A 
reduction  of  the  price  of  salt  was  very  soon 
followed  by  an  augmentation  of  the  tax  on 
flour :  the  whole  profit  realized  in  the  finan- 
cial operations  above-mentioned  was  swallow- 
ed up  by  the  administration,  or  by  nepotism. 
If  the  savings  effected  by  the  reductions  be 
summed  up,  it  will  be  seen  that  they  must 
have  amounted  to  about  140,000  scudi,  the 
employment  of  which,  by  way  of  interest  on 
new  loans,  would  signify  an  augmentation  of 
the  debt  by  about  three  millions. 

Clement  IX.,  too,  had  no  other  device  for 
carrying  on  the  administration  besides  that 
of  new  loans.  But  he  soon  found  himself 
brought  to  such  a  pass,  that  he  was  forced  at 
last  to  lay  hands  on  the  proceeds  of  the  data- 
ria,  which  hitherto  had  always  been  spared, 
being,  in  fact,  the  fund  appropriated  to  the 
support  of  the  papal  court.  He  founded  upon 
it  13,200  new  luoghi  di  monte.  In  the  year 
1670  the  papal  debts  may  have  amounted  to 
some  fifty-two  million  scudi. 

The  result  of  all  this  was,  in  the  first  place, 
that  with  the  best  inclinations  it  was  not  pos- 
sible to  effect  more  than  imperceptible  and 
transient  diminutions  of  the  burthens  that  so 
sorely  pressed  a  country  destitute  both  of  ma- 
nufactures and  commerce. 

Another  complaint  was,  that  foreigners 
were  among  the  shareholders  in  the  monti, 
and  enjoyed  the  interest  yielded  by  them 
without  contributing  anything  to  the  taxes. 
It  was  estimated  that  600,000  scudi  were  an- 
nually sent  to  Genoa.  The  country  thus  be- 
came the  debtor  of  the  foreigner,  a  circum- 
stance which  could  by  no  means  be  favoura- 
ble to  the  free  development  of  its  powers. 

Another  effect  that  wrought  still  more 
deeply  was  observable. 

How  could  it  fail  to  be  that  the  holders  of 
the  annuities,  the  monied  men,  should  obtain 
great  influence  over  the  state  and  its  adminis- 
tration '! 

The  great  commercial  houses  acquired  a 

ause  no  other  country  in  Italy  afiforded  such  ample  and 
well-secured  return  for  money,  it  gradually  came  to  pass 
that  these  luoghi  rose  from  their  original  price  of  100  the 
luoghoto  116.  At  present  the  treasury,  availing  itself  of  its 
rights,  as  any  private  person  might  liave  done,  returned 
the  original  price  of  100,  the  magnitude  of  tlie  sum  not 
permitting  the  pope,  nor  the  ranic  of  the  proprietors,  a 
jarge  proportion  of  whom  were  rich  and  foreigners,  induc- 
ing him,  to  exercise  his  usual  liberality  in  the  extinction 
of  the  monte  vacabili,  to  tlie  increased  suffering  of  Iho 
poor,  on  whose  shoulders  rest  all  the  public  burdens.] 


direct  participation  in  public  bu.siness.  With 
the  tesoriere  was  always  associated  a  commer- 
cial house,  which  received  and  paid  out  all 
moneys  :  the  coffers  of  the  state  were  in  point 
of  fact  always  in  the  hands  of  traders;  and 
these  were  also  farmers  of  the  revenue,  and 
treasurers  in  the  provinces.  Numerous  offices 
were  saleable,  and  these  they  had  the  means 
of  making  their  own.  Then  again,  no  incon- 
siderable pecuniary  means  were  requisite 
towards  obtaining  promotion  in  the  curia. 
About  the  year  106.^,  we  find  the  most  impor- 
tant places  in  the  administration,  filled  by  Flo- 
rentines and  Genoese.  So  mercantile  a  spirit 
pervaded  the  court,  that  by  and  by  promotion 
depended  far  less  on  desert  than  on  money. 
"  A  merchant  with  his  purse  in  his  hand,"  ex- 
claimed Grimani,  "in  the  end  has  always  the 
preference.  The  court  is  becoming  filled  with 
mercenaries,  whose  only  desire  js  gain,  who 
look  on  themselves  only  as  traffickers,  not  as 
statesmen,  and  who  have  not  a  thought  that  is 
not  low  and  sordid."* 

Now  this  was  the  more  serious,  forasmuch 
as  there  was  no  longer  any  independence  in 
the  country.  Bologna  alone  displayed  at  times 
a  sturdy  resistance,  so  that  they  even  thought 
once  in  Rome  of  building  a  citadel  there. 
Other  communities  indeed  stood  out  now  and 
then  against  the  government :  the  inhabitants 
of  Fermo  once  refused  to  permit  grain,  of 
which  they  thought  they  themselves  stood  in 
need,  to  be  carried  out  of  their  country  :t  the 
people  of  Perugia  refused  to  pay  arrears  of 
taxes  :  but  the  commissioners  general  of  the 
papal  court  easily  put  down  these  movements, 
and  then  enforced  so  much  the  more  rigid  sub- 
ordination :  by  degrees  the  administration  of 
the  property  of  the  communes  was  subjected 
to  the  disposal  of  the  court. 

The  institution  of  the  annona  affords  a  re- 
markable instance  of  the  course  of  this  admin- 
istration. 

The  principle  of  discouraging  the  export  of 
the  necessaries  of  life  being  universally  acted 
on  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  popes  too  took 
measures  to  that  end,  especially  with  a  view- 
to  prevent  the  rise  of  the  price  of  bread.  But 
the  prefetto  dell'  annona,  to  whom  was  com- 
mitted this  branch  of  the  executive,  possessed 
originally  but  very  limited  powers.  These 
were  first  enlarged  by  Gregory  XIII.  The 
corn  gathered  was  not  to  be  carried  out  of  the 
country  without  the  permission  of  the  prefetto, 

*  Antonio  Grimani.  "Per  la  vendita  della  maggior 
parte  degli  officii  piu  considerabili  si  viene  a  riempire  la 
corte  d'  uomini  mercenarj  e  uiejcanti,  restanti  indietio 
quelli  che  potrebbero  posseder  tali  officii  per  meriio  e  per 
virtu  ;  male  veramente  notabile  che  smacca  il  crediio  con- 
cepito  della  grandezza  della  corte  Komana,  non  avendo 
detti  mercenarj  d'  officii  invollo  1'  animo  che  in  cose  me- 
caniche  e  basse  e  piii  tosto  mercantile  che  politiche." 

t  Memoriale  presentato  alia  Sti-  di  N.  Sre-  papa  Inno- 
centio  dalli  deputati  della  cilti  di  Fermo  per  il  tumulto 
ivi  seguito  alii  G  di  Luglio,  1648,  MS.  See  Bisaccioni, 
Historia  della  guerre  civili,  p.  271,  in  which  Fermo  ap- 
pears by  the  sideof  England, France, Poland, andNaples. 


360 


POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


nor  even  from  one  district  in  it  to  another. 
This  permission  was  only  to  be  obtained  in 
case  grain  was  below  a  certain  price  on  the 
1st  of  March.  Clement  VIII.  fixed  this  price 
at  six,  Paul  V.  at  five  and  a  half  scudi  the 
rubbio.  A  special  tariff  was  fixed  for  bread 
according  to  the  varying  price  of  corn.* 

By  and  by  it  was  found  that  the  wants  of 
Rome  increased  from  year  to  year.  The 
number  of  the  inhabitants  augmented,  whilst 
agriculture  declined  in  the  Campagna.  The 
decay  of  the  Campagna  took  place  chiefly  in 
the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
was  attributable,  if  I  mistake  not,  to  two 
causes:  first,  to  the  alienation  of  the  small 
estates  to  the  great  farmers;  for  the  soil  of 
that  country  demands  the  most  careful  culti- 
vation, such  as  is  usually  bestowed  only  by 
small  proprietors,  whose  whole  incomes  are 
involved  in  the  employment :  secondly,  to  the 
increasing  deterioration  of  the  atmosphere. 
Gregory  XIH.  had  exerted  himself  to  extend 
the  cultivation  of  grain,  Sixtus  V.,  to  destroy 
the  lurking  places  of  the  banditti,  and  so  the 
former  had  cleared  the  low  lands  near  the  sea 
of  their  trees  and  underwood,  and  the  latter 
had  stripped  the  hills  of  their  forests.f  Neither 
the  one  nor  the  other  can  have  been  advanta- 
geous :  the  aria  cattiva  spread,  and  conduced 
to  the  depopulation  of  the  Campagna,  the  pro- 
duce of  which  diminished  from  year  to  year. 

This  disproportion  between  the  demand  and 
supply,  occasioned  Urban  Vill.  to  render  the 
system  of  inspection  more  strict,  and  to  aug- 
ment the  powers  of  the  prefetto.  By  one  of 
his  first  constitutions  he  prohibited  outright  the 
exportation  of  corn,  cattle,  or  oil,  whether  out 
of  the  state  or  from  one  district  in  it  to  ano- 
ther, and  empowered  the  prefetto  to  fix  the 
price  of  corn  at  Campofiore  according  to  the 
yield  of  each  harvest,  and  prescribe  to  the 
bakers  the  weight  of  bread  in  proportion. 

This  rendered  the  prefetto  all  powerful,  and 
he  failed  not  to  turn  the  privileges  conferred 
on  him  to  account  for  himself  and  his  friends. 
He  had  actually  the  monopoly  of  corn,  oil, 
meat,  and  all  the  prime  necessaries  of  life  in 
his  hands.  It  cannot  be  said  that  the  cheap- 
ness of  these  articles  was  much  improved  in 
consequence ;  favoured  parties  were  even 
permitted  to  export,  and  little  other  result  was 
experienced  from  the  new  measures,  than  the 
vexations  imposed  on  purchase  and  sale.  It 
was  forthwith  remarked  that  agriculture  still 
more  sensibly  declined. | 

*  A  long  lisl  of  papal  edicts  on  the  subject  is  to  be  found 
in  a  work  of  Nicola  Maria  Nicolai,  Memorie,  vol.  ii.  Leggi 
et  osservationi  sulle  campagna  e  suU'  annone  di  Roma, 
1803. 

t  Relatione  dello  stalo  di  Roma  presente,  or  Almaden. 
See  Appendix  No.  123. 

t  Pietro  Contarini,  1627:  "II  pontefice  avendo  levato  le 
tratte  concesse  a  diversi  da  suoi  precessori  .  .  .  hora  ven- 
dendole  ne  cava  bonna  souinia  di  danaro :  non  vole  i  prezzi 
troppo  vili  n6  grano  forestiere  :  1'  arte  del  campo  vienead 
abbandonarsi  per  il  poco  o  nitin  guadagno  che  ne  trag- 
gono."    [The  pope  having  resumed  the  tracts  granted  to 


Now  began  those  complaints  of  the  general 
decay  of  the  States  of  the  Church  which  have 
never  since  ceased.  "  On  our  journeys  from 
one  place  to  another,"  say  the  Venetian  ambas- 
sadors in  1621,  in  whose  reports  I  find  the  first 
mention  of  them,  "  we  noticed  great  poverty 
among  the  peasants  and  common  people,  and 
small  signs  of  thriving,  not  to  say  very  strai- 
tened circumstances  among  all  the  other 
classes.  This  is  the  fruit  of  the  system  (^ 
government,  and  more  especially  of  the  scant- 
iness of  commerce.  Bologna  and  Ferrara 
derive  a  certain  degree  of  splendour  from  their 
palaces  and  their  nobility  ;  Ancona  has  some 
trade  with  Ragusa  and  Turkey  :  but  all  the 
other  towns  are  sunk  very  low."  About  the 
year  1650,  the  opinion  universally  prevailed 
that  an  ecclesiastical  government  was  fatal  to 
its  subjects.*  The  inhabitants  already  began 
to  complain  bitterly.  "  The  taxes  imposed  by 
the  Barberini,"  exclaims  a  contemporary  bio- 
grapher, "  have  exhausted  the  country  ;  the 
rapacity  of  Donna  Olimpia,  the  court :  the 
virtues  of  Alexander  VII.  gave  hope  of  an 
amelioration ;  but  all  Sienna  has  poured  in 
upon  the  iStates  of  the  Church,  to  suck  them 
utterly  dry."f  Yet  still  the  exactions  made 
on  the  country  never  abated. 

A  cardinal  once  compared  the  country  under 
such  a  system  of  administration,  to  a  jaded 
horse  that  is  goaded  to  fresh  exertion,  and  sets 
off  anew  till  it  falls  exhausted.  That  moment 
of  utter  exhaustion  seemed  now  arrived. 

There  had  arisen  the  worst  spirit  that  can 
animate  a  body  of  public  functionaries  :  every 
man  looked  on  the  commonwealth  chiefly  as 
subservient  to  his  own  advantage,  often  but  as 
an  object  for  the  indulgence  of  his  rapacity. 

How  frightfully  did  corruption  stalk  through 
the  land  ! 

At  the  court  of  Innocent  X.,  Donna  Olimpia 
procured  places  for  aspirants,  bargaining  with 
them  for  a  monthly  testification  of  their  grati- 
tude. Would  we  could  say  she  was  alone  in 
this  practice.  But  Donna  dementia,  the 
sister-in-law  of  the  datario  Cecchini,  followed 
the  same  course.  Christmas  was  particularly 
the  great  harvest  time  of  presents. 

The  refusal  of  Don  Camillo  on  one  occasion 


various  persons  by  his  predecessors now  gained  a 

considerable  sum  of  money  by  selling  them  :  he  does  not 
wish  for  loo  low  prices  or  foreign  grain:  agriculture  is  fall- 
ing into  disuse  from  the  little  or  no  profit  it  yields.] 

*  Diario,  Deone,  tom.  iv.  1649,21  Ag.  "E  dovere  di 
favorir  lachiesa:  pero  veggiamo  che  tutto  quel lo  che  passa 
a  lei  6  in  prejudicio  dei  publico,  come  che  le  lerre  sue 
subito  sono  dishabilate  e  le  possessioni  nial  coltivate,  si 
vede  in  Ferrara,  in  Urbino,  inNepe,  inNeltuno  et  in  lutte 
le  piazze  che  sono  passate  nel  domlnio  dellachiesa."  [It 
is  right  to  favour  the  church  :  still  we  spe  that  all  that  falls 
into  Its  hands  is  prejudicial  to  the  public,  and  the  sudden 
depopulation  of  its  finds,  and  their  bad  state  of  cultiva- 
tion, are  manifest  in  Ferrara,  Urbino,  Nepe,  Netluno,  and 
all  those  places  which  have  fallen  under  the  rule  of  the 
church.] 

t  Vita  di  Alpssandro  VII.  "  Spolpatoe  quasi  in  teschio 
ridotto  dalle  gabelle  Barberine  lo  slato  ecclesiastico  e 
smunta  la  corte  dall'  ingordigia  di  Olimpia  confidavano 
generoso  ristoro  della  bomi  d' Alessandro." 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 


361 


to  share  with  Donna  Olimpia,  as  he  had  given 
her  reason  to  expect,  excited  her  violent  indig- 
nation, and  was  the  primary  cause  of  his 
downfall.  What  forgeries  was  Mascambruno 
induced  by  bribes  to  commit !  He  subjoined 
false  summaries  to  the  decrees  which  he  laid 
before  the  pope  ;  and  as  the  latter  read  nothing 
but  the  summaries,  he  signed  things  of  which 
he  had  no  conception,  and  which  covered  the 
Roman  court  with  infamy.*  Nothing  can  be 
more  painful  than  to  read  that  the  brother  of 
Alexander  VII.,  Don  Mario,  owed  his  wealth 
among  other  things  to  his  having  in  his  hands 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Borgo. 

For  unhappily  this  foul  plague  had  tainted 
even  the  administration  of  justice. 

A  catalogue  has  come  down  to  us  of  the 
abuses  in  the  court  of  the  rota,  delivered  to 
pope  Alexander,  by  a  man  who  had  for  twenty- 
eight  years  practised  in  it  as  an  advocate.t 
He  reckons  that  there  was  not  one  auditor  di 
rota  who  did  not  receive  500  scudi  in  presents 
every  Christmas.  Those  who  could  not  gain 
access  to  the  auditors  in  person,  still  contrived 
to  reach  their  relations,  assistants,  or  servants. 

But  no  less  pernicious  were  the  effects 
wrought  by  the  recommendation  of  the  court 
or  of  the  great.  There  were  even  instances 
of  the  judge  apologizing  to  the  parties  them- 
selves for  the  unjust  judgments  he  pronounced 
against  them,  declaring  that  justice  was  con- 
strained by  force. 

What  a  system  of  jurisdiction  was  this ! 
The  vacations  lasted  four  months;  during  all 
the  rest  of  the  year  business  was  carried  on  in 
a  desultory,  fitful,  and  fretting  manner ;  judg- 
ment was  inordinately  procrastinated,  and  yet 
finally  displayed  every  mark  of  precipitation. 
Appeals  would  have  been  all  in  vain.  The 
cause  no  doubt  would  thereby  be  transferred 
to  the  arbitration  of  other  members;  but  what 
more  remote  would  they  be  than  their  brethren 
from  the  same  corrupting  influences }  In 
addition  to  this,  their  judgment  was  even 
biassed  by  the  decision  previously  given. 

These  evils  beginning  from  the  supreme 
tribunal,  diffused  themselves  through  all  the 
the  others,  and  affected  the  course  of  justice 
and  of  government  in  the  provinces.^ 

In  a  paper  which  has  been  preserved  to  our 
times,  cardinal  Sacchetti  represented  in  the 
most  urgent  manner  to  pope  Alexander,  the 

*  Pallavicini  endeavours  to  palliate  this  on  the  ground 
that  the  transactions  of  the  dataria  were  written  "  di  carat- 
tere  francese  come  6  restato  in  uso  della  dataria  dapoi  che 
lasediafu  in  Avignone,"  [in  French  characters,  as  had 
been  the  practice  in  the  dataria  since  the  residence  of  the 
popes  in  Avignon,]  and  which  the  pope  did  not  like  to 
read. 

f  Disordini  che  occorrono  nel  supremo  tribunale  della 
rota  nella  corte  Roniana  e  gli  ordini  con  I  quali  si  poirebbe 
riformare,  scrittura  falta  da  \\n  avvocalo  da  presentarsi  alia 
Sta-  di  N.  Sre-  Alessaiidro  VII.  MS.  Rangone  in  Vienna, 
No.  2.3. 

t  Disordini  "  Con  le  male  decisioni  di  ciueslo  tribunale 
supremo  (della  rota)  si  corrompe  la  giustitia  a  tutti  gli  altri 
minori,  almeno  dello  stalo  ecclesiastico,  vedendosi  da  giu- 
dici  dare  sentenze  con  decisioni  si  fatte." 

46 


oppression  of  the  poor,  who  had  none  to  help 
them,  by  the  powerful ;  the  perversion  of  jus- 
tice through  the  intrigues  of  cardinals,  princes, 
and  retainers  of  the  palace  :  the  procrastina- 
tion for  years  and  tens  of  years  of  causes  that 
might  be  dispatched  in  two  days ;  the  tyranny 
practised  against  those  who  ventured  to  appeal 
from  an  inferior  functionary  to  a  superior  ;  the 
impoundings  and  executions  employed  in 
exacting  the  taxes;  cruel  expedients,  the  only 
use  of  which  was  to  make  the  sovereign  hated, 
and  his  servants  wealthy  :  "  Sufferings,  most 
holy  father,"  he  exclaims,  •'  worse  than  those 
of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt.  People,  not  con- 
quered by  the  sword,  but  which  have  become 
subject  to  the  Roman  see,  either  through  the 
donations  of  princes,  or  of  their  own  free  ac- 
cord, are  more  inhumanly  treated  than  the 
slaves  in  Syria  or  in  Africa.  Who  can  behold 
this  without  tears!"* 

Such  was  already  the  condition  of  the  states 
of  the  church  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century. 

Now  was  it  to  be  expected  that  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  church  should  remain  free  from 
abuses  of  this  kind  1 

It  was,  equally  with  the  administration  of 
the  state,  dependent  on  the  court,  and  its 
course  was  shaped  by  the  spirit  of  the   latter. 

No  doubt  restrictions  were  imposed  on  the 
curia  with  regard  to  ecclesiastical  affairs.  In 
France  the  crown  possessed  prerogatives  of 
the  highest  importance ;  in  Germany  the 
chapters  maintained  their  independence.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  curia  had  free  scope  in 
Italy  and  Spain,  and  in  those  countries  it 
recklessly  insisted  on  its  lucrative  rights. 

The  Roman  court  possessed  the  right  of 
nomination  to  all  the  inferior  ecelesiastical 
posts  and  benefices  in  Spain,  and  to  all  with- 
out exception  in  Italy.  It  is  almost  incredible 
what  sums  flowed  into  the  dataria  from  Spain 
from  installations,  spolia,  and  the  incomes  of 
vacant  benefices.  The  curia,  however,  re- 
garded as  a  whole,  derived,  perhaps,  still 
greater  advantages  from  its  relations  to  Italy; 
the  richest  bishoprics  and  abbeys,  a  multitude 
of  priories,  commanderies,  and  other  bene- 
fices, went  immediately  to  enrich  its  members. 

Well  had  it  been  if  this  were  all  1 
Buton  these  rights,  in  themselves  sufficiently 
objectionable,   were   superinduced   the   most 
pernicious  abuses.     I  will  mention  but  one  of 

*  Lettredu  cardinal  Sacchetti  6crite  peu  avant  sa  mort 
au  pape  Alexandre  VII.  en  1663,  copie  tir^e  des  Manu- 
scriiti  della  regina  di  Suezia  in  Arckenholtz,  M6moires, 
tom.  iv.  App.  No.  xxxii. :  a  very  instructive  document, 
which  is  corroborated  by  many  others,  as  for  instance  a 
Scrittura  sopra  il  governo  di  Koma,  of  the  same  period, 
(Bibl.  All.)  "  I  popoli,  non  avendo  piii  argento  ne  rame, 
n6  biancherie  n6  matarezze,  per  sodisfare  alia  indiscre- 
lionede'  commissarj,  converrS,  che  si  venderanno  schiavi 
per  pagare  i  pesi  camerali."  [The  people  having  no 
longer  silver  or  copper,  or  linen  or  bedding,  to  satisfy  the 
rutiiless  commissioners,  nothing  remains  but  that  they  sell 
themselves  for  slaves  to  pay  the  exactions  of  the  camera.] 


362 


THE  POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


them,  but  that  indeed  the  worst.  The  practice 
crept  in,  and  obtained  full  vogue  in  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  of  encumbering 
all  benefices  conferred,  with  pensions  in  fa- 
vour of  some  member  or  another  of  the  curia. 

In  Spain  this  was  expressly  prohibited  :  in 
that  country  none  but  natives  could  hold  bene- 
fices, nor  could  pensions  be  conferred  on  any 
others.  But  contrivances  were  found  at  Rome 
for  evading  this  regulation.  Pensions  were 
nominally  assigned  to  native  or  naturalized 
Spaniards,  who  bound  themselves  by  a  civil 
contract  to  pay  a  stipulated  sum  yearly  to 
some  Roman  commercial  house  on  account  of 
the  actual  receivers  of  the  pensions.  There  was 
no  need  in  Italy  of  adopting  this  subterfuge: 
the  bishoprics  there  were  often  encumbered  to 
an  intolerable  degree.  Monsignor  de  Angelis, 
bishop  of  Urbino,  complained  in  the  year  1663, 
that  his  whole  net  income  from  that  rich  see 
amounted  to  no  more  than  60  scudi  yearly, 
and  that  he  had  already  tendered  his  resigna- 
tion, which  the  court  refused  to  accept.  For 
years  together  no  one  would  accept  the  sees 
ofAnconaand  Pesaro,  subject  to  the  heavy 
conditions  imposed  on  them.  In  the  year 
1667,  twenty-eight  bishops  and  archbishops 
were  counted  in  Naples,  who  were  deprived 
of  their  sees,  because  they  did  not  pay  the 
pensions  to  which  they  were  liable.  This 
monstrous  abuse  passed  down  from  the  bishop- 
rics to  the  parishes.  The  incumbent  of  the 
richest  parish  often  derived  from  it  only  a 
scanty  means  of  subsistence,  while  the  poor 
country  priests  often  found  their  casual  fees 
burthened  with  charges.*  Some  revolted 
against  this  and  threw  up  their  livings;  but 
new  candidates  always  presented  themselves 
sooner  or  later ;  nay,  even  vied  with  each 
other  in  bidding  higher  pensions  to  the  curia. 

Judge  what  must  have  been  the  character 
of  men  concerned  in  these  foul  transactions, 
which  could   have  no  other  result  than  the 


*  The  malicious  Bc^ssadonasays :  "  Bisogna  conch iudere 
cheosni  beneficio  capace  di  pensione  riinanga  caricalo 
oome  r  asino  di  Apuipjo,  che  non  potpndo  piii  sosienere 
il  peso  meditava  di  getlarsi  in  lerra  qiiando  il  veder  caduto 
il  compagno  eiosio  de'  vetiurini  scoiiicalohebbe  per  bene 
euppoitare  1'  insopponabil  soma."  [In  fine,  every  bene- 
fice must  remain  charged  like  the  ass  of  Apxileius,  which, 
unable  longer  lo  bear  up  its  burden  was  thinking  oi" 
fitretching  itself  oh  the  ground,  when  seeing  its  fallen 
oonirade instantly  flayed  by  the  drivers,  il  thought  it  best 
to  support  jts  insuppoitable  load.]  All  contemporary 
writers  agree  in  thc-irdnatription  oftheevil.  The  practice 
>yas  revived  of  makihgchurctiesover  to  others,  with  a  reser- 
vation of  a  part  of  the  proceeds.  Deone,  Diario,  7  Genn.  1645, 
after  speaking  of  the  archbishopric  of  Bolosna  transferred 
by  cardinal  Colonna  to  Albregati,  proceeds"  to  say:  ''Con 
questo  esempio  si  6  aprrta  la  poita  d'  ammettere  le  ris- 
egne;  e  cosl  slamanasi  6  publicalalarisegnadellachiesa 
di  Bavenna  fatta  dal  cardinal  Capponi  nella  persona  di 
mongr,  Tungianni  suo  nijjote  con  riseivadi  pensione  a 
suo  favore  e  dopo  la  morie  sua  d'una  buona  parte  al  cardi. 
Pamfilio."  [This  example  has  opened  the  door  to  the 
practice  of  transfers:  thus  there  has  been  published  this 
morning  the  transfer  of  the  church  of  Ravenna,  made  by 
cardinal  Capponi  to  his  nephew  monsignorTugianni,  with 
the  reservation  lo  himselfof  a  pension,  and  of  a  consider, 
ble  interest  for  cardinal  Pamfilio  after  his  own  death.] 


corruption  of  the  parochial  clergy,  and  the 
neglect  of  the  common  people. 

The  protestant  church  did  far  better  in  at 
once  abolishing  all  superfluities,  and  establish- 
ing the  authority  of  law  and  order. 

It  is  very  true  that  the  wealth  of  the  catho- 
lic church,  and  the  worldly  rank  conferred  by 
ecclesiastical  dignity,  had  the  effect  of  attract- 
ing the  higher  aristocracy.  Pope  Alexander 
even  made  it  a  maxim  to  select  men  of  good 
birth,  by  preference,  for  promotion,  upon  the 
strange  principle,  that  as  earthly  princes  like 
to  see  aroimd  them  servants  of  illustrious  de- 
scent, so  it  must  be  pleasing  to  God  that  his 
service  should  be  discharged  by  persons  of  ex- 
alted station.  But  this  was,  assuredly,  not 
the  way  in  which  the  church  had  risen  in 
early  times,  nor  yet  that  in  which  it  had  been 
restored  in  later  days.  The  convents  and 
congregations  which  had  contributed  so  much 
to  the  revival  of  Catholicism,  were  now  suf- 
fered to  fall  into  contempt.  The  nepotes 
liked  none  who  were  bound  by  monastic  obli- 
gations, if  it  were  only  because  such  persons 
could  not  incessantly  pay  them  court.  The 
secular  clergy  were  now  the  successful  com- 
petitors for  place,  however  inferior  they  might 
be  to  the  regular  in  merit  or  learning.  "  It 
seems  to  be  held  for  certain,"  says  Grimani, 
"that  the  episcopal  office  or  the  purple  would 
be  disgraced,  if  bestowed  on  a  member  of  a 
monastic  order."  He  thinks  he  can  perceive 
that  monks  no  longer  like  to  show  themselves 
at  court,  since  they  meet  there  with  nothing 
but  mockery  and  insult.  It  was  already  be- 
come apparent,  thatnone  but  persons  of  humble 
birth  were  disposed  to  enter  the  convents. 
"Even  a  bankrupt  shopkeeper,"  he  exclaims, 
"  thinks  himself  too  good  to  assume  the 
hood."* 

Whilst  the  convents  thus  actually  declined 
in  intrinsic  importance,  it  is  no  wonder  if 
people  already  began  to  look  on  them  as 
superfluous.  It  is  a  memorable  fact,  that  this 
opinion  first  unfolded  itself  in  Rome,  and  that 
there  it  was  first  thought  necessary  to  put  re- 
strictions on  monasticism.  In  the  year  1649, 
Innocent  X.  prohibited  by  bull  all  new  ad- 
missions into  any  regular  order,  till  the  in- 
comes of  the  several  convents  were  computed, 
and  the  number  of  persons  they  were  capable 
of  containing  was  determined.!     Still  more 

♦  Grimani  adds  :  "  Si  toglie  ad  ognunoaffatola  vogliadi 
studiare  e  la  curadi  difendere  la  religione.  Deteriorandosi 
il  numero  de'  religiosi  dotti  e  esemplari,  potrebbg  in  breve 
sotfiirne  non  poco  delrimento  la  corte  :  onde  al  mio  cre- 
dere farebbono  bene  i  pontefici  di  procurar  di  rimeltere  i 
regolari  nel  primoposto  di  slima  partecipandoli  di  ((uando 
in  quando  cariche  .  .  .  e  cosi  nelle  religioni  vi  entrereb- 
bero  huomini  eminent!. "  [All  wish  for  study  and  care 
for  the  defence  of  religion  are  smothered.  The  court  may 
soon  suffer  not  a  little  from  the  diminution  in  the  number 
of  learned  and  exemplary  men  :  wherefore,  in  my  opinion, 
the  popes  would  do  well  to  endeavour  to  restore  the  regu- 
lar clergy  to  their  former  credit,  by  bestowing  employ- 
iiienis  on  them  from  time  to  time  ...  in  this  way  supe- 
rior men  would  be  induced  to  enter  the  orders.] 

t  Our  journal   describes  the   impression   made  by  the 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 


363 


important  was  a  bull  of  the  15lh  of  October, 
1652,  wherein  the  pope  complained  that  there 
were  so  many  small  convents,  in  which  the 
offices  could  not  be  duly  performed,  either  by 
day  or  nio^ht,  nor  spiritual  exercises  practised, 
nor  monastic  seclusion  observed, — mere  asy- 
lums for  licentiousness  and  crime  :  theirnum- 
ber  was  now  increased  beyond  all  measure. 
He  suppressed  them  all  at  one  blow ;  for  the 
tares,  he  said,  must  be  separated  from  the 
wheat.*  The  thought  soon  suggested  itself, 
and  that  too  first  of  all  in  Rome,  of  alleviating 
the  financial  difficulties  even  of  foreign  states 
by  confiscations,  not  of  convents  alone,  but  of 
whole  institutions.  When  Alexander  VII. 
shortly  after  his  accession,  was  solicited  by 
the  Venetians  to  support  them  in  the  war  of 
Candia  against  the  Turks,  he  proposed  to  them 
of  his  own  accord,  the  suppression  of  some 
orders  in  their  country.  The  Venetians  were 
rather  averse  to  this,  since  these  orders  af- 
forded provision  for  poor  nobili :  but  the  pope 
accomplished  his  design.  The  existence  of 
those  convents,  he  said,  was  rather  a  cause  of 
offence  than  of  edification  to  the  faithful ;  he 
would  do  like  the  gardener  who  cuts  away 
useless  branches  from  the  vine,  to  make  it 
more  fruitful.f 

It  could  not  be  pretended  that  any  very 
shining  talents  were  conspicuous  among  those 
who  wer.e  selected  for  promotion.  Complaints 
of  the  dearth  of  distinguished  men  were  uni- 
versal in  the  seventeenth  century.]:  Men  of 
talent  were  in  many  cases  excluded  from  the 
prelacy,  because  their  poverty  prevented  their 
complying  with  the  conditions  required  for 
admission  :5  but  besides  this,  promotion  was 
too  absolutely  dependent  on  the  favour  of  the 
nepotes,  which  was  only  to  be  attained  by  a 
fawning  suppleness  that  could  not  be  propiti- 
ous to  tiie  growth  of  high  mental  endowments. 

constitution  on  the  1st  of  January  1650.  "  Non  entrando 
quella  ragione  ne'  cappucini  et  allri  i-iforinati  che  non 
possedono  enlrata,  lemono  che  la  prohibitionp  sia  perpet- 
uii,  e  cost  cred'  io,  fin  a  tamo  che  il  nuniero  de'  regolari 
ho2£;i  eccessivo  sia  ridotlo  a  numero  competente  e  la  re- 
publica  da  loro  non  venga  oppressa."  [This  condition 
not  subsisting  among  the  Capuchins  and  other  reformed 
orders  which  do  not  possess  revenues,  they  are  afraid  that 
the  prohibition  will  be  perpetual,  and  I  tliink  so  too,  till 
the  now  excessive  numbers  of  the  regular  clergy  be  re 
duced  to  a  fit  standard,  so  that  the  conmionweallh  be  no 
longer  overburdened  with  them.] 

*  Constitulio  super  extinctione  el  suppressione  parvor- 
um  conventuum,  eorumque  reductione  ad  statum  secular- 
em,  et  bonorum  applicatinne,  et  prohibitione  erigendi 
nova  loca  regulario  in  Italia  el  insulisadjacelibus.  Idibus 
Oct.  1652. 

t  Relatione  de'  iv.  ambasciatori  1656.  See  Appendix, 
No.  129. 

+  Grimani.  "  Tolti  1'  economia  esteriore  ogni  altra 
cosa  si  deteriora;  .  .  .  d'  huomini  di  valore  eftettiva- 
mente  scarseggia  al  presente  la  corte  al  maggior  segno." 

§  Relatione  di  Roma  sotto  Clemente  IX.  "  Poitando  lo 
stile  che  le  cariche  si  transferiscono  solamente  a'  prelati 
e  che  la  prelalura  si  concede  solo  a  quelli  che  hanno  en- 
lrata sufficienle  per  mantenere  il  decoro,  ne  siegue  pero 
che  la  masgior  parte  di  soggetti  capaci  ne  resta  esclusa." 
[It  being  the  established  usage  that  higli  offices  are  en- 
trusted only  to  prelates,  and  those  only  being  admitted  to 
the  rank  oi^  prelates  who  have  sufficient  income  to  keep 
up  a  becoming  appearance,  the  result  is  that  the  majority 
of  able  men  are  excluded.] 


This  bad  its  effect  on  the  whole  body  of  the 
clergy. 

It  is  certainly  a  striking  fact,  that  the  age 
presented  scarcely  a  single  Italian  author  of 
originality  in  the  most  important  branches  of 
theology  ;  neither  in  the  exposition  of  Scrip- 
ture, in  which  nothing  was  done  besides  re- 
peating the  works  of  the  16th  century;  nor 
in  morals,  though  these  were  elsewhere  cul- 
tivated with  great  assiduily  ;  nor  in  dogmatic 
theology.  Foreigners  alone  figured  in  the 
congregations  that  debated  the  question  of  the 
means  of  grace;  and  in  the  later  controversies 
concerning  freewill  and  faith,  Italians  took 
little  part.  No  distinguished  preacher  ap- 
peared even  in  Rome  after  Girolamoda  Narni. 
The  fact  is  remarked  with  astonishment  in 
the  diary  already  quoted,  extending  from  1640 
to  1650,  and  composed  by  a  very  strict  catho- 
lic. "With  the  carnival,"  it  states,  "com- 
edies cease  in  theatres  and  houses,  and  begin 
in  the  pulpits  of  our  churches.  The  sacred 
office  of  the  preacher  is  made  subservient  to 
the  passion  for  applause,  or  to  flattery.  Mela- 
physics  are  propounded,  of  which  the  speaker 
understands  little,  and  his  hearers  nothing  at 
all.  Instead  of  admonishing  and  censuring, 
the  preacher  deals  in  encomiums  with  a  view 
to  his  own  advancement.  The  selection  too 
of  a  preacher  no  longer  depends  on  merit,  but 
on  connexion  and  favour." 

In  fine,  that  mighty  inward  impulse  which 
had  formerly  swayed  court,  church,  and  state, 
and  given  their  strict  religious  character,  was 
now  extinct;  the  tendency  towards  restora- 
tion and  conquest  had  passed  away ;  other 
springs  were  now  in  action,  which  urged  only 
towards  the  acquisition  of  power  and  enjoy- 
ment, and  once  more  obtruded  a  worldly 
character  upon  spiritual  afl^airs. 

The  question  naturally  presents  itself,  what 
under  these  circumstances  was  the  course 
adopted  by  that  society  which  was  so  peculiar- 
ly founded  on  the  principles  of  the  restoration, 
namely,  the  order  of  Jesuits! 

The  Jesuits  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century. 

The  most  prominent  change  in  the  internal 
constitution  of  the  society  of  Jesu.s,  consisted 
in  the  advancement  of  the  professed  members 
to  the  possession  of  power. 

At  first  the  professed  members  who  took 
the  four  vows  were  but  few.  Removed  from 
the  colleges,  and  subsisting  solely  on  alms,  they 
had  confined  themselves  to  the  exercise  of 
spiritual  authority.  The  places  which  re- 
quired the  active  talents  of  men  of  tiie  world, 
— such  as  those  of  rectors,  provincials,  and 
college  offices  in  general, — fell  to  the  lot  of 
the  coadjutors.  But  this  was  now  altered. 
The  proiessed  members  themselves  attained 
to  the  administrative  posts;  they  had  part  in 


364 


POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


the  revenues  of  the  colleges,  and  they  became 
rectors  and  provincials.* 

The  first  result  of  this  was  the  gradual 
cooling  of  that  fervent  spirit  of  personal  de- 
votion which  had  been  peculiarly  fostered  in 
the  isolation  of  the  houses  of  the  professed. 
Even  upon  the  admission  of  members  it  was 
no  longer  possible  to  look  narrowly  into  their 
fitness  for  ascetic  vocations.  Vitelleschi  in 
particular  admitted  many  who  were  nowise 
thus  qualified.  All  strove  after  the  highest 
station,  because  it  conferred  at  once  spiritual 
consideration  and  temporal  power.  The  union 
of  these  was  in  every  respect  prejudicial. 
Coadjutors  and  professed  had  formerly  acted 
as  a  check  on  each  other  ;  but  now  practical 
importance  and  spiritual  pretensions  were 
united  in  the  same  individuals.  The  shal- 
lowest among  them  had  a  high  conceit  of 
their  own  abilities,  because  no  one  ventured 
to  gainsay  them.  In  possession  of  exclusive 
power,  they  began  to  enjoy  at  their  ease  the 
wealth,  which  the  colleges  had  acquired  in 
the  course  of  time,  and  to  bend  their  thoughts 
only  on  increasing  it.  They  abandoned  to 
the  younger  members  the  real  discharge  of 
duty,  both  in  the  schools  and  in  the  churches.f 
They  even  assumed  a  very  independent  posi- 
tion with  regard  to  the  general.  I 

The  magnitude  of  the  change  is  particu- 
larly manifested  in  the  character  and  for- 
tunes of  the  generals, — in  the  sort  of  men 
who  were  chosen  for  heads  of  the  society, 
and  in  the  manner  in  which  they  were  dealt 
•with. 

How  different  was  Muteo  Vitelleschi  from 
his  absolute,  crafty,  indomitable  predecessor, 
Aquaviva !  Vitelleschi  was  by  nature  gentle, 
indulgent,  and  conciliatory:  his  acquaint- 
ances called  him  the  angel  of  peace ;  and  on 
his  death -bed  he  derived  comfort  from  the 
assurance  that  he  had  never  injured  any  man. 
These  admirable  qualities  of  his  amiable  dis- 
position were  far,  however,  from  suflicing  for 
the  government  of  so  widely  diffused,  active, 
and  powerful  an  order.  He  was  unable  to 
enforce  strict  discipline  even  in  the  article  of 
dress,  not  to  speak  of  his  resisting  the  de- 
mands of  resolute  ambition.  It  was  under 
his  administration,  from  1615  to  1645,  that  the 
change  noticed  above  took  place. 

His  example  was  followed  by  his  more  im- 
mediate followers.  VincenzoCarafl'a  (1645-9), 
a  man  who  even  rejected  all  personal  attend- 


*  In  a  collection  of  Scritture  poliiiche,  morali  e  satiriche 
sopra  la  massinie,  insliluti  e  governo  della  compagnia  Ui 
Gesu  (MS.  Rom.)  there  is  a  circumstantial  essay  of  "nearly 
4(X)  leaves  :  "  Discorso  sopra  la  religione  de'  paUri  Gesuili 
e  loro  modo  di  governare," — written  between  1681  and 
1G86,  evidently  by  a  man  fully  initiated,  from  which  the 
statements  in  the  text  are  chiefly  derived. 

t  Discorso.      "  Molli  compariscan",  pochi  opcrano:    i 

goveri  non  si  visilano,  i  terreni  non  si  coltivano  .  .  . 
scludendo  quei  pochi,  d'ordinariogiovani,  chealtendono 
at  insegnare  nelld  scuole,  lutli  gli  aIlri,o  chesonoconfes- 
sori  o  procurator!  o  reltori  o  ininistri,  appena  hanno  occu- 
paiionedi  rilievo." 


ance,  and  was  full  of  humility  and  piety,* 
but  who  could  effect  nothing  either  by  his 
example  or  his  admonitions :  Piccolomini 
(1649-51),  who  renounced  the  disposition  to 
vigorous  and  decisive  measures  that  was 
natural  to  him,  and  only  pondered  how  he 
might  give  satisfaction  to  his  brethren  of  the 
order. 

For  by  this  time  it  wa%  no  longer  advisable 
to  attempt  any  change  in  the  society.  Ales- 
sandro  Gottofredi  (from  January  to  March, 
1651)  would  fain  have  done  this,  and  strove 
at  least  to  set  bounds  to  the  aspiring  ambi- 
tion of  the  members;  but  the  two  months  of 
his  tenure  of  office  were  enough  to  make  him 
universally  hated  in  the  order  ;  his  death  was 
liailed  as  a  release  from  tyranny.  Still  greater 
was  the  aversion  which  the  next  general, 
Goswin  Nickel,  drew  down  on  himself.  He 
could  not  be  charged  with  contemplating  any 
very  sweeping  measures  of  reform :  he  left 
things  on  the  whole  to  go  on  as  they  were ; 
only  he  was  used  to  adhere  obstinately  to 
opinions  once  adopted,  and  his  demeanour 
was  rude,  discourteous,  and  repulsive ;  but 
this  was  enough  to  wound  the  self-love  of 
powerful  members  of  the  order  so  deeply  and 
so  keenly,  that  the  general  congregation  of 
1661  proceeded  to  measures  against  him,  the 
possibility  of  which  the  monarchical  nature  of 
the  Jesuit  institution  would  not  have  led  us  to 
anticipate. 

They  first  begged  permission  of  pope  Alex- 
ander VII.  to  associate  with  their  general  a 
vicar  with  the  right  of  succession.  The  per- 
mission was  readily  obtained,  the  court  even 
pointing  out  a  candidate  lor  the  proposed 
office, — that  same  Oliva  who  had  first  advised 
the  calling  of  the  pope's  nephews  to  court, 
and  the  order  was  complaisant  enough  to 
elect  that  favourite  of  the  palace.  The  only 
question  now  was,  in  what  mode  the  power  of 
the  general  might  be  tranferred  from  his 
hands  to  the  vicar's.  The  order  could  not 
prevail  on  themselves  to  pronounce  the  word 
deposition.  To  get  at  the  thing,  and  yet 
evade  the  word,  the  question  was  proposed, 
whether  the  vicar  should  have  a  cumulative 
power,  i.  e.,  jointly  with  the  general  or  a 
privative  power,  i.  e.,  without  hiin  1  The  con- 

*  Diario,  Deone,  12  Giiigno,  1649.  i'  Marled!  mattina 
mori  generale  de'  Gesuiti :  fu  di  poche  lettere,  ma  di  san- 
tit&.  di  vita  non  ordinaria:  quanto  alia  sua  persona,  egli 
non  ha  mai  voluto  carozza  al  suo  servigio,  n^  esser  differ- 
enlialo  da  qualsivoglia  minimoira  di  loro  nel  traltar  del 
vitto  o  veslito:  quanto  agli  allri,  voleva  che  i  padri  Gesu- 
ili fossero  e  vivessero  da  religiosi,  lasciando  i  trailali  poli- 
lici  e  '1  frequentare  le  corti,  nel  die  havendo  trovatodiffi- 
colii  impossi  bile  gli  hanno  cagionaloilsedio  del  la  morle." 
[On  Tuesday  morning  died  the  general  of  the  Jesuits.  He 
was  a  man  of  little  learning,  but  of  no  common  sanctity 
of  life  :  as  for  his  own  person,  he  would  never  have  a  car- 
riasre  for  his  use,  nor  be  treated  in  any  respect  differently 
as  to  food  or  raiment  from  the  humblest  of  the  brethren  ; 
as  for  the  others,  he  wished  that  the  Jesuit  fathers  should 
truly  lead  the  lives  of  religious  men,  ceasing  to  meddleiu 
politics  and  to  frequent  courts;  the  insurmountable  diffi- 
culties he  en(  ouniered  in  trying  to  effect  this,  were  the 
primary  cause  of  his  death.] 


THE  JESUITS. 


365 


gregation  of  course  decided  for  the  privative, 
and,  in  consequence  of  this  decision,  declared 
expressly  that  the  general  had  forfeited  all 
his  authority,  which  w^as  to  be  entirely  trans- 
ferred to  the  vicar.* 

Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  the  society,  the 
principle  of  which  was  unconditional  obe- 
dience, itself  deposed  its  chief,  and  that 
without  anj"^  real  transgression  on  his  part. 
It  is  manifest  how  much  this  act  established 
in  this  order  too  the  predominance  of  aristo- 
cratical  tendencies. 

Oliva  was  a  man  who  loved  outward  repose, 
good  living  and  political  intrigue.  He  had  a 
villa  not  far  from  Albano,  where  he  cultivated 
the  rarest  foreign  plants ;  even  when  he  was 
in  the  city,  he  used  to  retire  from  time  to 
time  to  the  noviciate  house  of  Santo  Andrea, 
where  he  gave  audiences  to  no  one  ;  his  table 
was  furnished  with  none  but  the  choicest 
meats;  he  never  went  abroad  on  foot;  in  his 
dwelling  comfort  was  carried  to  an  excessive 
degree  of  refinement;  he  enjoyed  his  posi- 
tion and  his  power ; — assuredly  such  a  man 
was  not  fitted  to  revive  the  ancient  spirit  of 
the  order. 

In  fact,  it  daily  departed  more  and  more 
from  the  principles  on  which  it  had  been 
founded. 

Had  it  not  been  pledged,  above  all  things, 
to  defend  the  interests  of  the  Roman  see,  and 
been  founded  for  that  special  purpose  !  But 
to  such  a  pitch  had  it  now  carried  its  con- 
nexion with  France,  and  with  the  house  of 
Bourbon,  that  in  the  competition  gradually 
arising  between  the  Roman  and  the  French 
interests,  it  almost  invariably  sided  with  the 
latter.f  Occasionally  Jesuit  works  were  con- 
demned by  the  inquisition  at  Rome,  because 
they  too  vehemently  defended  the  rights  of 
the  crown.  The  heads  of  the  French  Jesuits 
avoided  intercourse  with  the  papal  nuncio,  to 
avoid  incurring  the  suspicion  of  entertaining 
ultramontane  opinions.  ■  Nor  could  the  Roman 
see  boast  of  the  obedience  of  the  order  in  other 
respects  in  those  days :  in  the  missions  espe- 
cially, the  pope's  enactments  were  almost 
always  treated  with  contempt. 

Another  fundamental  principle  of  the  order 
was,  that  they  should  renounce  all  worldly 
ties,  and  devote  themselves  solely  to  spiritual 
duties.     How  rigidly  had  it  been  insisted  on 


*  Detailed  account  in  a  contemporary  Discorso.  "  Ve- 
nendo  noi,"  the  author  says  at  the  conclusion,  "in  tal 
tempo  a  Kona  ed  andando  a  fargli  riverenza  (to  Nickel) 
.  .  .  conchiuse  con  dire  queste  parole:  lo  mi  irovo  qui 
abandouaio  e  non  posso  piu  niente."  [On  arriving  in 
Rome  at  that  lime,  and  going  to  pay  our  respects  to  him 
...  he  ended  by  saying  these  words :  "I  am  left  here 
alone,  and  h:tve  not  the  least  power  left."] 

t  Relatione  della  nuntialura  di  monsr-  Scotti  nunzio 
alia  Mta-  del  re  Xmo-  1639-1641.  "  I  Gesuiti,  che  dov- 
rebbero  esserecomealtre  volte  defensor!  della  santasede, 
piudegli  altri  la  pongono  in  compromesso. — Professano 
totale  ritiralezza  (dalla  nuntiatura)  dubbiosi  semprenell' 
accostarai  al  nuniio  di  non  perdere  appresso  ministri 
regj." 


in  past  times,  that  every  one  on  entering  the 
order  should  abandon  all  his  possessions ! 
First,  the  act  was  postponed  for  a  while,  and 
then  it  was  performed  but  conditionally,  be- 
cause the  member  was  liable  after  all  to  ex- 
pulsion ;  at  last  the  custom  became  establish- 
ed, for  the  member  to  make  over  his  property 
to  the  society  itself, — always,  however,  with 
a  clear  understanding,  that  it  should  fall  to 
the  share  of  the  college  into  which  he  himself 
entered,  in  such  wise  that  he  often  retained 
the  management  of  it  in  his  own  hands,  only 
under  another  title.*  The  members  of  the 
colleges  had  often  more  leisure  than  their 
relations  who  were  engaged  in  active  life, 
whose  business  therefore  they  managed,  col- 
lected their  money,  and  carried  on  their  law- 
suits.f 

But  the  mercantile  spirit  seized  the  col- 
leges too  in  their  corporate  capacity.  They 
wished  to  secure  their  prosperity,  and  as  large 
donations  ceased  to  be  made  to  them,  they  en- 
deavoured to  make  up  for  them  by  means  of 
trade.  The  Jesuits  admitted  no  marked  dif- 
ference between  tilling  the  ground,  as  the 
earliest  monks  had  done,  and  carrying  on 
business  in  the  way  they  themselves  pursued. 
The  collegio  Romano  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  cloth  at  Macerata,  at  first  only  for 
its  own  use,  then  for  that  of  all  the  colleges 
in  the  province,  and  finally  for  the  public; 
their  agents  attended  the  fairs.  The  close 
connexion  between  the  several  colleges  gave 
rise  to  a  money-changing  traffic.  The  Por- 
tuguese ambassador  at  Rome  was  directed  to 
draw  upon  the  Jesuits  of  his  own  country. 
Their  transactions  in  the  colonies  were  par- 
ticularly prosperous:  the  commercial  con- 
nexions of  the  order  spread  like  a  net  over 
the  two  continents,  having  its  centre  in  Lis- 
bon. 

This  was  a  spirit  which,  when  once  evoked, 
necessarily  affected  the  entire  internal  econo- 
my of  the  order. 

It  still  held  fast  to  the  principle  of  giving 
gratuitous  instruction.  Presents  however 
were  accepted  on  the  admission  of  pupils, 
and  on  certain  festival  occasions,  occurring 
twice  at  least  yearly,]:  wealthy  pupils  were 

*.  Vincentii  Carrafae  epislola  de  mediis  conservandi  pri- 
maevum  spiritum  societatis :  "  Definitis  pro  arbitrio  dantis 
domibus  sive  coUegiis  in  quibus  aul  sedem  sibi  fixtunis 
est  aut  jam  animo  fixerit  .  .  .  anxie  agunt  ut  quae  socie- 
tati  reliquerunl  ipsimet  per  se  administrent." 

t  Epistola  Goswini  Nickel  de  amore  et  studio  perfectas 
paupertatis:  "Illud  inlolerabile,  si  et  lites  inferant  et  ad 
tribunalia  confligantet  violentaspecuniarum  repetitiones 
faciant,  aut  palam  negotiantur  ad  quaeslum,  .  .  .  specie 
quidem  prime  aspeclu  etiam  honesta,  caritate,  in  consan- 
guinpos,  decepti." 

$  Discorso;  "Perlo  menol' anno  due  volte  cio6  al  natale 
e  nel  giorno  della  propria  festa  si  fanno  le  loro  offerte  ov- 
vero  mancie,  le  quale  ascendono  a  somma  considerabile. 
— 11  danaro  poi  di  queste  otferte  o  che  venga  impiegato  in 
argemi,  quadri  o  tappezzerie,  calici  o  altri  addobbi  some- 
glianti  tutto  ridonda  in  utility  de'  collegi  medesiini. 
Avegna  che  i  rettori  locali  se  ne  servono  indiiferente- 
mente,  dal  che  ne  derivano  infinite  oflfensioni,  p0i.o  o 
nulla  slimano  i  lamenii  de'  propri  scolari."    [At  least 


366 


POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


welcomerl  by  preference.  Now  the  conse- 
quence of  this  was,  that  these  youths  felt  a 
proportionate  consciousness  of  independence, 
and  would  no  longer  submit  to  the  strictness 
of  the  ancient  discipline.  A  Jesuit  who  raised 
his  stick  aarainst  a  pupil  was  stabbed  by  him 
with  a  poinard;  a  young-  man  in  Gubbio,  who 
was  treated  too  harshly  by  the  father  prefetto, 
killed  him.  Even  in  Rome  the  commotions 
in  the  colleo^e  were  the  incessant  theme  of 
conversation  in  the  city  and  the  palace.  The 
teachers  were  once  actually  imprisoned  a 
whole  day  by  their  pupils;  and  finally,  it 
was  found  necessary  to  comply  with  their  de- 
mand, and  actually  to  dismiss  the  rector. 
These  may  be  resfarded  as  symptoms  of  a 
general  conflict  between  the  old  order  of 
thinofs  and  the  new  tendencies.  In  the  end 
the  latter  prevailed.  The  Jesuits  were  no 
lono-er  able  to  maintain  the  influence  with 
which,  in  earlier  days,  they  had  swayed  the 
minds  of  men. 

On  the  whole,  it  was  no  longer  their  aim 
to  subjugate  the  world,  or  to  imbue  it  with 
the  spirit  of  religion;  rather  had  their  own 
spirit  stooped  to  the  world's  ways ;  their  only 
endeavour  was  to  make  themselves  indispen- 
sable to  mankind,  effect  it  how  they  might. 

Not  only  were  the  rules  of  the  institution, 
but  even  its  religious  and  moral  doctrines, 
modified  with  this  view.  They  gave  a  turn 
forever  memorable  to  the  oftice  of  confession, 
that  office  through  which  they  exercised  so 
direct  an  influence  over  the  innermost  springs 
of  individual  conduct. 

We  possess  unquestionable  documents  bear- 
ing on  this  point.  The  Jesuits  have  laid 
down,  in  numerous  elaborate  works,  the  prin- 
ciples they  themselves  observed  in  the  con- 
fessional, and  which  they  commended  to 
others.  These  are,  in  general,  the  very  same 
with  which  they  have  been  so  often  re- 
proached. Let  us  endeavour  to  comprehend 
at  least  the  main  principles  on  which  they 
built  their  general  system  of  the  confessional. 
In  confession  everything  will  infallibly  de- 
pend on  the  particular  view  taken  of  trans- 
gression and  sin. 

Sin  they  define  to  be  a  voluntary  departure 
from  God's  commands.* 

And  wherein,  we  may  further  inquire,  con- 
sists this  freedom  of  volition?  Their  answer 
is,  in  thorough  understanding  of  the  misdeed, 
and  perfect  consent  of  the  will.f 

twice  a  year,  thai  is  on  birthdays  and  patron  saints'  days, 
they  malie  their  offRrin^s,  which  amount  to  aconsiderable 
sum. — The  mon^y  of  these  otTerinss,  or  that  which  is  ex- 
pended in  plate,  pictures,  tapestry,  chalices,  and  other 
rich  furniture  of  the  kind,  is  all  applied  to  ihe  use  of  the 
same  college.  The  local  rectors  make  use  of  it  indis- 
criminately, which  gives  rise  to  endless  offence,  but 
they  care  lillle  or  nothing  for  the  complaints  of  their 

pupils.] 

*  Definition  by  Fr.  Toledo:   "  Voluntarius  recessus  a 

reaula  divina  "' 


This  principle  they  embraced,  with  the  am- 
bition of  propounding  something  novel,  and 
with  the  anxious  desire  to  accommodate  them- 
selves to  the  common  practices  of  life.  With 
scholastic  subtlety,  and  with  a  comprehensive 
view  of  the  various  occurring  cases,  they 
worked  it  out  to  the  most  revolting  deduc- 
tions. 

According  to  their  doctrine,  it  is  enough 
only  not  to  will  tlie  commission  of  sin  as  such: 
the  sinner  has  the  more  reason  to  hope  for 
pardon  the  less  he  thought  of  God  in  the  per- 
petration of  his  evil  deed,  and  the  more  vio- 
lent was  the  passion  by  which  he  felt  himself 
impelled  :  custom,  and  even  bad  example,  in- 
asmuch as  they  restrict  the  freedom  of  the 
will,  avail  in  excuse.  What  a  narrowing  is 
this  of  the  range  of  transgression !  Surely 
no  one  loves  sin  for  its  own  sake.  But,  be- 
sides this,  they  admit  other  grounds  of  excuse 
of  a  different  kind.  Duelling,  for  instance,  is 
by  all  means  forbidden  by  the  church  :  never- 
theless the  Jesuits  are  of  opinion,  that  if  any 
one  incur  the  risk  of  being  deemed  a  coward, 
or  of  losing  a  place,  or  the  favour  of  his  sove- 
reign, by  avoiding  a  duel,  in  that  case  he  is 
not  to  be  condemned  if  he  fight.*  To  take  a 
false  oath  were  in  itself  a  grievous  sin :  but, 
say  the  Jesuits,  he  only  swears  outwardly, 
without  inwardly  intending  it,  is  not  bound  by 
his  oath ;  for  he  does  not  swear,  but  jests.f 

These  doctrines  are  laid  down  in  books  that 
expressly  profess  to  be  moderate.  Now  that 
their  day  is  past,  who  would  seek  to  explore 
the  further  perversions  of  ingenuity  to  the  an- 
nihilation of  all  morality,  in  which  the  pro- 
pounders  of  these  doctrines  vied,  with  literary 
emulation,  in  outdoing  each  other.  But  it 
cannot  be  denied,  that  the  most  repulsive 
tenets  of  individual  doctors  were  rendered 
very  dangerous  through  another  principle  of 
the  Jesuits,  namely,  their  doctrine  of  proba- 
bility. They  maintained  that,  in  certain  cases, 
a  man  might  act  upon  an  opinion,  of  the  truth 
of  which  he  was  not  convinced,  provided  it 
was  vindicated  by  an  author  of  credit. J;  They 
not  only  held  it  allowable  to  follow  the  most 


+  Busembaum,  Medulla  theologiae  moralis,  lib.  v.  c.  ii. 
dub.  iii.  expresses  himself  thus ;  "  Tria  requirunlur  ad    opinio  alicujus  gravis  autoris.' 


peccatum  mortale  (quod  gratiam  et  amicitiam  cum  Deo 
solvit,)  quorum  si  unum  desit,  fit  veniale  (quod  ob  suani 
levitatem  gratiam  el  amicitiam  non  toUit:)  1.  ex  parte 
intellectus,  plena  advertentia  et  deliberatio;  2.  ex  parte 
volunlalis,  perfeclus  consensus;  3.  gravitas  materise." 
[Three  things  are  requisite  to  mortal  sin  (which  cuts  off 
grace  and  friendship  with  God,)  whereof  if  one  be  want- 
ing the  sin  becomes  venial,  (which  by  reason  of  its  light- 
ness does  not  take  away  grace  and  friendship:)  1.  on 
the  part  of  the  intellect,  lull  perception  and  deliberation; 
2.  on  the  part  of  the  will,  perfect  consent;  3.  gravity  of 
the  thing  itself] 

*"Privanilus  alioqui,  ob  suspicionem  ignavise,  digni- 
tate,  officio  vel  favore  principis."  Busembaum,  lib.  iii. 
tract,  iv.  cap.  i.  dub.  v.  art.  i.  n.  6. 

i  "  Qui  exterius  tanlum  juravit  sine  animo  jurandi, 
non  obligatur  nisi  forte  ratione  scandali.  cum  non  jurave- 
rit  sed  luseril."    (lib.  iii.  tract,  ii.  cap.  ii.  dub.  iv.  n.  8.) 

t  Era.  Si.:  Aphorismi  Confpssariorum  s.  v.  dubium, 
"  Potest  quia  facere  quod  probabili  ratione  vel  auctoritate 
putallicere,  eliamsi  opposilimi  tuliussit:  sufficil  autem 


THE  JANSENISTS. 


367 


indulgent  teachers,  but  they  even  counselled  1  adopted  the  stricter  doctrines  that  had  never 


it.  Scruples  of  conscience  were  to  be  de- 
spised ;  naj',  the  true  way  to  get  rid  of  them, 
was  to  follow  the  easiest  opinions,  even  though 
tlieir  soundness  was  not  very  certain.*  How 
strongly  did  all  this  tend  to  convert  the  most 
inward  and  secret  promptings  of  conscience 
into  mere  outward  deed.  In  the  manuals  of 
the  Jesuits  all  possible  contingencies  of  life 
are  treated  of,  nearly  in  the  same  way  as  is 
usual  in  the  systems  of  civil  law,  and  exam- 
ined with  regard  to  their  degree  of  veniality  : 
one  needs  but  to  open  one  of  these  books,  and 
regulate  himself  in  accordance  with  what  he 
finds  there,  without  any  conviction  of  his  own 
mind,  to  be  sure  of  absolution  from  God  and 
the  church.  A  slight  turn  of  the  thoughts 
unburthened  from  all  guilt.  With  some  sort 
of  decency,  the  Jesuits  themselves  occasion- 
ally marvelled  how  easy  the  yoke  of  Christ 
was  rendered  by  their  doctrines. 

The  Jansenists. 

All  life  must  have  been  extinct  in  the  cath- 


indced  been  lost  in  Loiivain,  and  conceived  a 
vehement  dislike  to  the  Jesuits.  Du  Verger 
was  a  man  of  family  and  fortune :  he  took  his 
friend  with  him  to  Bayonne.  There  they 
plunged  deeply  and  unceasingly  into  repeated 
study  of  the  works  of  St.  Augustine,  and  im- 
bibed for  that  father's  doctrines  of  grace  and 
free  will  an  enthusiasm  that  shaped  the  whole 
subsequent  tenor  of  their  lives.* 

Jansenius,  who  became  professor  in  Louvain 
and  bishop  of  Ypres,  adopted  rather  the  theo- 
retical course,  du  Verger,  who  was  appointed 
to  the  abbey  of  St.  Cyran,  rather  the  practi- 
cal and  ascetic,  with  a  view  towards  reviving 
those  doctrines  in  their  full  force. 

The  book,  entitled  Augustinus,  in  which 
Jansenius  elaborately  and  systematically  un- 
folded his  convictions,  is  highly  deserving  of 
note,  not  only  for  the  bold  front  with  which  it 
met  the  Jesuits,  on  the  ground  of  their  dog- 
matic and  moral  tendencies,  but  also  for  the 
mode  of  its  opposition,  which  consisted  in  its 
working  out  anew  into  living  thoughts,  the 
traditionary  formulae  of  grace,  sin,  and  for- 


olic  church,  if  no  opposition  had  been  evoked  I  giveness. 
in  it  on  the  instant  against  such  pernicious]  Jansenius  sets  out  from  the  principle  of  the 
doctrines,  and  all  the  causes  and  consequences  nonfreedom  of  the  human  will ;  laying  it  down 
in  the  state  of  society  connected  therewith.  that  it  is  tied  and  enthralled  by  the  lusts  after 
Most  of  the  orders  were  already  ill-disposed  earthly  things;  that  it  cannot  of  its  own 
to  the  Jesuits;  the  Dominicans  on  account  of  strength    raise    itself  out  of  that  condition; 


their  dissent  from  the  views  of  Thomas  Aqui- 
nas ;  the  Capuchins  and  Franciscans,  on  ac- 
count of  the  exclusive  power  they  arrogated 
to  themselves  in  the  missions  to  further  Asia  : 
at  times  they  were  opposed  by  the  bishops, 
whose  authority  they  narrowed ;  at  times  by 
the  parish  clergy,  on  whose  functions  they  en- 
croached ;  in  the  universities  too,  at  least  in 
those  of  France  and  the  Netherlands,  adver- 
saries often  rose  up  against  them.  But  all 
these  desultory  efforts  were  not  equivalent  to 
that  effective  resistance  which  could  only 
flow  from  more  profound  convictions,  embraced 
with  a  fresh  and  lively  spirit. 

For,  after  all,  the  moral  doctrines  of  the 
Jesuits  were  in  close  keeping  with  their  dog- 
matic notions.  In  the  former,  as  well  as  in 
the  latter,  they  gave  great  scope  to  the  free- 
dom of  the  will. 

This  was  the  very  point  upon  which  was 
directed  the  greatest  resistance  the  Jesuits 
ever  encountered.  It  arose  in  the  following 
manner. 

During  the  years  when  the  catholic  theolo- 
gical world  was  intensely  occupied  with  the 
controversy  on  the  means  of  grace,  two  young 
men  were  studying  at  Louvain,  Cornelius 
Janse,  a  Hollander,  and  Jean  du  Verger,  from 
Gascony,     who,    with    kindred    convictions, 


that  it  needs  the  aid  of  grace,  of  grace  which 
is  not  so  much  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  as  the 
liberation  of  the  soul  from  the  bonds  of  lust.f 

And  here  his  distinctive  views  presented 
themselves.  He  attributes  the  influx  of  grace 
to  the  higher  and  purer  pleasure  which  the 
soul  derives  from  heavenly  things.  The  ef- 
fectual grace  of  the  Saviour  is  nothing  else, 
he  says,  than  a  spiritual  delight,  by  which  the 
will  is  moved  to  will  and  to  do  what  God  has 
decreed :  it  is  the  involuntary  impulse  im- 
pressed by  God  upon  the  will,  by  which  man 
is  made  to  take  pleasure  in  good,  and  to  strive 
after  ii.\  He  insists,  again  and  again,  that 
good  must  be  done,  not  from  fear  of  punish- 
ment, but  from  love  for  righteousness. 

From  this  point  he  next  proceeds  to  the 
higher  question.  What  is  this  righteousness? 

He  answers,  God  himself. 


*  Busembaum,  lib.  i.  c.  iii.  "  Remedia  conscientiae 
scrupulosas  sunt,  1.  scrupulos  contemnere,  4.  assuefacere 
se  ad  sequendas  sentenlias  mitiores  et  minus  etiam 
cenas." 


*  Synopsis  vitae  Jansenii,  prefixed  to  the  Augustinus: 
"  In  Cantabriain  rteinde  raigravit,  ubi  erudiiissimorum 
viroruni  consueiudine  et  fainiliari  studioium  coininunione 
in  SS.  Patrum  et  praesertim  Augustini  intelligentia  mag- 
nos  progressus  fecisse,  saepe  testalus  est."  [He  then  re- 
moved to  Gascony,  where  in  the  society  and  familiar  stu- 
dious intercourse  of  very  learned  men,  he  has  frequently 
testified  that  he  made  great  progress  in  understanding  the 
holy  fathers,  especially  Augustine.] 

+  Corn.  Jansenii  Augustinus,  torn,  iii.lib.  i.  c.  ii.  "Libe- 
ratio  voluntatis  non  est  peccati  remissio,  sed  relaxatio 
qutedam  deleciabilis  vinculi  concupiscentialis,  cui  in- 
nexus  servit  animus  quoad  per  gratiam  infusa  ctelestiali 
dulcedine  ad  suprema  diligenda  transferatur."  This  is 
likewise  Pascal's  view  of  "this  doctrine.  "Dieu  change 
le  cneur  de  I'homme  par  une  duoceur  celeste  qu'il  y  r6- 
pand."    Les  Provinciales,  1.  xviii.  torn.  iii.  p.  413. 

X  Tom.  iii.  lib.  iv.  c.  i. 


368 


POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


We  must  not  think  of  God  as  a  corporeal 
being,  nor  under  any  material  similitude,  not 
even  that  of  light.  We  must  contemplate 
Him  and  love  Him  as  the  eternal  truth,  the 
fountain  of  all  truth  and  wisdom,  as  righteous- 
ness, not  in  its  acceptatitm  as  a  quality  of  the 
soul,  but  as  it  comes  before  it  as  an  idea,  as  a 
supreme  inviolable  rule.  The  rules  for  our 
conduct  flow  from  the  eternal  law ;  they  are 
a  reflection  of  its  light :  he  who  loves  righ- 
teousness loves  God  himself* 

Man  does  not  become  good  by  bending  his 
soul  upon  this  good  or  that,  but  by  fixing  his 
eyes  upon  tlie  unchangeable,  indivisible,  su- 
preme good,  which  is  truth,  which  is  God 
Himself     Virtue  is  the  love  of  God. 

And  in  this  very  love  consists  the  liberation 
of  the  will :  its  ineffable  sweetness  extin- 
guishes the  pleasures  of  our  lusts ;  there  arises 
a  voluntary  and  blissful  necessity  of  not  sin- 
ning, but  of  leading  a  good  life,t  the  true  free 
will,  that  is,  a  will  freed  from  evil  and  filled 
with  good. 

It  is  a  characteristic  of  this  work,  deserving 
of  admiration,  with  what  a  high  degree  of 
philosophic  clearness  the  development  of  its 
dogmatic  principles  is  followed  out,  even 
amidst  the  polemical  zeal  of  a  hostile  discus- 
sion :  its  fundamental  ideas  are  at  once  moral 
and  religious,  speculative  and  practical ;  it 
opposes  to  the  outward  self-accommodating 
precepts  of  the  Jesuit  doctrines,  strict  require- 
ments of  the  inward  man,  the  ideal  of  a  sys- 
tem of  action  springing  from  the  love  of  God. 

Now  whilst  Jansenius  was  engaged  upon 
the  completion  of  this  work,  his  friend  was 
already  occupied  with  the  endeavour  to  show 
forth  in  his  own  life,  and  practically  to  difliise 
among  those  about  him,  the  ideas  on  which  it 
was  founded. 

St.  Cyran,  for  so  du  Verger  was  now  called, 
had  made  him  a  learned  ascetic  hermitage  in 
the  midst  of  Paris.  Unweared  in  his  study 
of  the  sacred  scriptures,  and  of  the  fathers  of 
the  church,  he  strove  to  penetrate  himself 
with  their  spirit.  The  peculiarity  of  the  doc- 
trine in  which  he  agreed  with  Jansenius, 
would  of  necessity  lead  him  at  once  to  the 
sacrament  of  penance.  The  penitential  ordi- 
nances of  the  church  were  not  sufficient  for 
him :  he  was  often  heard  to  say,  that  the 
church  had  been  purer  at  its  commencement, 
as  are  streams  nearer  tlieir  source  ;  that  many 
a  gospel  truth  was  now  obscure.J  His  de- 
mands, on  the  other  hand,  were  extremely 


*  Tom.  iii.  lib.  v.  c.  iii.  "Rpgulae  vivendi  et  quasi 
lumina  virluluin  immutabilia  et  sempilerna  non  sum 
aliud  quam  lex  aelerna,  quae  in  ipsa  Dei  aelerna  verilate 
splenilel,  quam  proinde  drligendo  non  aliud  dillgil  nisi 
ipsura  Deum  seu  veritalern  el  jusliliam  ejus  incommula- 
bilera,  a  qua  promanat  el  ex  cujus  refulgenlia  lucis  fulget 
quicquid  velul  justum  el  recluiii  approbanius." 

+  Tom.  iii.  lib.  vii.  c.  ix.  "  Voluntas  felix,  immulabilis 
el  necessaria  non  peccandl  recteque  vivendi." 

t  Extracts  from  his  trial  in  Ruechlin  :  Geschichle  von 
Ponroyal,  i.  p.  151. 


rigorous.  To  humble  oneself,  to  endure,  to 
depend  on  God,  utterly  to  renounce  the 
world,*  and  to  devote  oneself  and  all  one's 
acts  and  aims  to  the  love  of  God,  that  alone 
appeared  to  him  Christianity.  So  profound 
was  his  apprehension  of  the  necessity  of  in- 
ward conversion,  that  according  to  his  doc- 
trine, grace  must  precede  penance.  "  If  God 
wills  to  rescue  a  soul,  he  begins  from  with- 
in : — is  the  heart  once  changed,  then  and  not 
till  then  is  true  repentance  felt,  and  all  the 
rest  follows:  absolution  can  but  betoken  the 
first  beam  of  grace  :  as  a  physician  has  but  to 
follow  the  movements  and  inward  workings 
of  nature,  so  the  physician  of  souls  must  fol- 
low the  workings  of  grace."  He  often  re- 
peats, that  he  had  himself  traversed  the  entire 
road  from  temptation  and  sin,  to  contrition, 
prayer,  and  exaltation.  He  communicated 
his  feelings  to  but  few,  and  always  without 
many  words,  in  a  manner  expressive  of  tran- 
quillity :  but  as  his  whole  soul  was  filled  with 
what  he  uttered,  as  he  always  waited  a  fit 
season  and  frame  of  mind  both  in  himself  and 
in  those  he  addressed,  the  impression  he  made 
was  irresistible ;  his  hearers  involuntarily 
felt  themselves  transformed  ;  tears  burst  from 
their  eyes  before  they  suspected  itf  Very 
speedily  some  distinguished  men  attached 
themselves  to  him  as  decided  proselytes :  Ar- 
nauld  d'Andilly,  who  was  in  close  connexion 
with  cardinal  Richelieu  and  Anne  of  Austria, 
and  was  employed  in  the  most  important  af- 
fairs ;  his  nephew,  Le  Maitre,  who  was  ad- 
mired in  those  days  as  the  first  orator  in  par- 
liament, and  who  had  the  most  brilliant  ca- 
reer open  to  him,  but  now  actually  retired  to 
a  hermitage  near  Paris;  Angelique  Arnauld, 
to  whom  we  have  already  alluded,  and  her 
nuns  of  Portroyal,  attached  themselves  to 
St.  Cyran  with  all  the  unbounded  affection 
which  pious  women  are  wont  to  feel  for  their 
prophet. 

Jansenius  died  before  he  saw  his  book  in 
print;  St.  Cyran  was  cast  into  prison,  imme- 
diately after  he  had  effected  his  first  conver- 
sions, by  Richelieu,  who  had  a  natural  anti- 
pathy to  efforts  of  such  a  character  and  such 
efficacy  :  but  these  mischances  did  not  hinder 
the  progress  of  their  doctrines. 

The  work  of  Jansenius  gradually  produced 
a  general  and  profound  impression,  both  from 
its  intrinsic  merit,  and  from  its  polemical 
boldness.|     St.  Cyran  continued  his   career 


♦  "  S'humilier,  souffrir  et  d^pendre  de  Dieu  est  touts  la 
vie  Chr6tienne." 

t  M^moires  pour  servir  ii  I'histoire  de  Portroyal,  par 
Mr-  Fontaine,  i  p.  225.  Racine:  Hist,  de  Portroyal,  p. 
134. 

t  Gerberon :  Histoire  du  Jans6nisme,  63.  "  Leg  th^o- 
logiens  de  Paris  s'appliquerent  lellemenl  i  l'6tudede 
I'Auguslin  d'Ipres,  ou  il  reconnoissoient  celui  d'Hippone, 
.  .  .  qu'on  commensoit  a  n'entendre  plus  parmi  ceslh^- 
ologiens  que  les  noms  de  Jansenius  el  de  S.  Auguslin." 
[Tlie  theologians  of  Paris  applied  themselves  to  such  a 
degree  to  the  study  of  the  Augustine  of  Ypres,  in  whom 


THE  JANSENISTS. 


369 


of  conversion  even  from  within  his  prison 
walls.  His  unmerited  sufferings,  which  he 
bore  with  great  resignation,  exalted  him  in 
the  public  eye  :  when  he  was  set  at  liberty 
after  the  death  of  Richelieu,  he  was  regarded 
as  a  saint,  as  a  John  the  Baptist.  He  died 
indeed  a  few  months  after,  ((Jet.  11,  1643,) 
but  he  had  established  a  school  which  saw 
their  gospel  in  his  own  and  in  his  friends' 
doctrines:  "  his  disciples,"  says  one  of  them- 
selves, "  went  forth  like  young  eagles  under 
his  wings;  inheritors  of  his  virtue  and  his 
piety,  they  transmitted  to  others  what  tiiey 
had  received  from  him.  Elijah  left  behind 
him  Elisha  to  prosecute  his  work." 

If  we  seek  to  define  the  general  relation  in 
which  the  Jansenists  stood  to  the  dominant 
church  party,  it  strikes  us  as  manifestly  ana 
logons  to  that  of  protestantism.     They  insist 


Pelagian  notions  for  Augustin^an.  Luther's 
mind  had  been  aroused  by  St.  Augustine,  but 
he  had  immediately  and  unconditionally  fall- 
en back  on  the  primary  source  of  knowledge, 
the  scriptures,  the  word  of  God  :  in  contrast 
with  him,  Catholicism  had  held  fast  by  the 
entire  system  accumulated  in  the  course  of 
centuries  ;  the  Jansenists  sought  to  assert  the 
creed  of  St.  Augustine  as  that  which  had  first 
comprised  the  earlier  system,  and  laid  the 
basis  for  the  latter.  Protestantism  repudi- 
ates tradition,  Catholicism  clings  to  it,  Jansen- 
ism seeks  to  purify  it,  to  re-establish  it  in  its 
primitive  form,  expecting  thereby  to  regene- 
rate life  and  doctrine. 

Already  there  was  gathered  together  round 
Le  Maitre,  in  the  hermitage  of  Portroyal  des 
Champs,  to  which  he  had  retired,  an  assem- 
blage of  persons  of  no  mean  consideration, 


ed  with  the  like  zeal  on  purification  of  life,   who  held  the  principles  we  have  described. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  society  was  ori- 
ginally somewhat  limited,  consisting  chiefly 
of  members  and  friends  of  the  Arnauld  family. 
Le  Maitre  drew  afler  him  his  four  brothers; 
their  mother,  who  had  instilled  their  spiritual 
feelings  into  their  minds,  was  an  Arnauld : 
St.  Cyran's  oldest  friend,  to  whom  he  be- 
queathed his  heart,  was  Arnauld  d'Andilly, 
and  he  too  at  last  joined  the  society  ;  the  first 
important  work  on  its  behalf,  was  the  pro- 
duction of  the  brother  of  d'Andilly,  Antoine 
Arnauld.  These  first  members  were  follow- 
ed by  a  great  number  of  friends  and  relations. 
The  convent  too  of  Portroyal  in  Paris  was  al- 
most exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  family. 
D'Andilly  relates  that  his  mother,  who  at  last 
joined,  was  accompanied  by  twelve  daughters 
and  granddaughters.*  We  may  mention  in 
passing,  that  it  was  the  elder  Antoine  Ar- 
nauld, from  whom  all  the  others  we  have 
mentioned  were  descended,  by  whose  brilliant 
plaidoyer  in  the  year  1594,  the  banishment 
of  the  Jesuits  from  Paris  was  chiefly  decided. 
The  aversion  to  the  order  seemed,  as  it  were, 
hereditary  in  the  family. 

But  this  narrow  circle  of  friends  was  very 
rapidly  and  vastly  extended. 

In  the  first  place  many  joined  it,  attracted 
by  no  other  kinship  than  that  of  sentiment. 
An  influential  preacher  of  Paris,  Singliu,  an 
adherent  of  St.  Cyran,  was  particularly  ac- 
tive in  the  cause.  It  was  Singlin's  strange 
peculiarity,  that  in  common  life  lie  expressed 
himself  but  with  difficulty,  but  as  soon  as  he_ 
mounted  the  pulpit,  an  overpowering  flow  of 
eloquence  burst  from  his  lips.f  He  sent 
those  who  adhered  most  zealously  to  him  to 
Portroyal,  where  they  were  gladly  wel- 
comed. They  were  young  clergymen  and 
scholars,  substantial  merchants,  men  of  the 
best  families,  physicians  already  of  considera- 


and  strove  no  less  eagerly  to  give  a  new  as- 
pect to  doctrine,  by  removing  from  it  the  in- 
terpolations of  the  schoolmen.  But  this  is  by 
no  means  sufficient,  in  my  opinion,  to  warrant 
us  in  looking  on  them  as  a  kind  of  uncon- 
scious protestants.  The  grand  distinguishing 
point,  historically  considered,  consists  in  this, 
that  they  willingly  assented  to  a  principle  to 
which,  from  the  very  first,  the  protestants  re- 
fused to  be  reconciled ;  they  held  fast  by 
those  most  eminent  fathers  of  the  Latin 
church,  who  had  been  abandoned  in  Germany 
as  early  as  15*23 — St.  Ambrose,  St.  Augus- 
tine, St.  Gregory,  and  added  to  them,  some 
Greek  fathers  besides,  above  all  St.  Chrysos- 
tom :  in  the  works  of  these  fathers  they  be- 
lieved they  possessed  a  pure  and  unvitiated 
tradition,  from  which  St.  Bernard  in  his  day 
had  never  departed,  but  which  after  that 
"  last  of  the  fathers"  had  become  obscured  by 
the  intrusion  of  the  Aristotelic  doctrines. 
We  find  them  therefore  far  remote  from  that 
energetic  zeal  with  which  the  protestants 
reverted  directly  to  the  doctrines  of  Holy 
Writ:  their  perceptive  powers  were  satisfied 
with  the  first  formations,  which  served  for  the 
basis  of  the  latter  system.  They  abide  by 
the  principle  that  the  visible  church,  in  spite 
of  temporary  darkness  and  deformity,  is  yet 
one  in  spirit,  nay  one  in  body  with  Christ,  in- 
fallible, and  imperishable  :  they  adhere  most 
earnestly  to  the  episcopal  hierarchy ;  they 
live  in  the  faith  that  St.  Augustine  had  been 
inspired  of  God  to  communicate  to  the  world 
in  all  its  bearings  that  doctrine  of  grace  which 
is  the  essence  of  the  new  covenant;  in  him, 
to  their  minds.  Christian  theology  received 
its  completion  ;  they  wish  to  grasp  this  at  the 
very  root,  to  understand  it  in  its  very  core, 
for  many  had  been  the  instances  of  mistaking 


they  recognized  him  of  Hippo  .  .  .  that  by  and  by  no- 
thing was  heard  among  ihem   but  the  names  of  Jansenius 
and  St.  Augustine.] 
47 


*  M6moires  d'Arnauld  d'Andilly,  i.  p.  341. 
t  IV16moires  de  Fontaine,  ii.  p.  283. 


372 


POPES  ABOUT  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


superadded  a  question  touching  the  limits  of 
the  papal  authority  :  in  their  undeniable  oppo- 
sition to  the  Roman  see,  the  Jansenists  still 
knew  how  to  maintain  the  character  of  good 
catholics. 

This  party  was  no  longer  to  be  put  down. 
Attempts  were  occasionally  made  to  that  end 
on  the  part  of  the  crown  :  formularies  were 
issued  in  accordance  with  the  bull  of  condem- 
nation, which  were  to  be  subscribed  by  all 
ecclesiastics,  and  even  by  schoolmasters  and 
nuns.  The  Jansenists  made  no  difficulty  of 
condemning  the  five  propositions,  which,  as 
we  have  mentioned,  admitted  of  a  heterodox 
interpretation  ;  they  only  refused  to  acknow- 
ledge, by  an  unconditional  subscription,  that 
they  were  contained  in  Jansenius,  that  they 
were  the  doctrines  of  their  master.  Such  was 
the  effect  of  their  stedfastness,  that  their  num- 
bers and  their  credit  rose  day  by  day  ;  ere 
long  there  were  even  among  the  bishops  nume- 
rous champions  of  their  opinions.* 

Torestore  peace,  at  least  outwardly,  Clement 
IX.  was  constrained,  in  the  year  1668,  to  de- 
clare himself  content  with  such  a  mode  of 
subscription  as  even  a  Jansenist  could  comply 
with.  He  was  satisfied  with  a  general  con- 
demnation of  the  five  propositions,  without 
insisting  that  they  had  actually  been  put  forth 
by  Jansenius.f  Now  this  in  reality  implied 
an  essential  concession  on  the  part  of  the 
court  of  Rome  :  not  only  did  it  allow  its  claim 
to  decide  on  matters  of  fact  to  fall  to  the 
ground,  but  it  even  acquiesced  in  seeing  its 


*  Letter  from  nineteen  bishops  to  the  pope,  Dec.  1, 1GG7. 
"Novuin  et  inauditum  apud  nos  nonnuUi  dogma  procude- 
nint,  ecclesiae  nempe  decretisquibusquolidiana  necreve- 
lata  divinitus  facta deciduntur,certam  elinfallibilem  con- 
stare  verilatem."  [Some  persons  have  set  up  a  new  and 
unprecedented  doctrine  among  us,  to  wit,  that  decrees  de- 
ciding on  every  day  matters  of  fact,  not  matters  of  divine 
revelation,  are  marked  by  certain  and  infallible  truth.] 
This  is,  in  fact,  the  recognized  solution  of  the  question  of 
"droit"  and  "fait." 

t  The  last  formulary  of  Alexander  VIT.  (15th  Feb.  16G.5,) 
runs  thus;  "  Je  rejette  et  condamne  sinc6rement  les  cinq 
propositions  exiraitesdulivre  de  Cornelius  Jansenius  inti- 
tule Augustinus,  et  dans  le  sens  du  meme  auteur,  comme 
le  saint  si6ge  aposlolique  les  a  condamn6es  par  les  susdi- 
tes  constitutions."  [I  reject  and  condemn  sincerely  the 
five  propositions  extracted  from  the  book  of  Cornelius  Jan- 
senius, entitled  'Augustinus,'  and  in  1  he  sense  of  the  same 
author,  as  the  holy  apostolic  see  has  condemned  them  by 
the  aforesaid  constitutions.]  On  the  other  hand,  there  is 
the  II  ore  circumstantial  declaration  of  peace:  "  Vous 
devez  vousobligericondemnersinc6rement,pleinemenl, 
sans  aucune  reserve  ni  exception  lous  lessens  que  I'eglise 
et  le  pape  out  condamnds  et  coudamnent  dans  les  cinq 
propositions."  [You  are  to  hold  yourself  bound  to  con- 
demn sincerely,  fully,  and  without  any  reserve  or  excep- 
tion, all  the  senses  which  the  church  and  the  pope  have 
condemned  and  do  condemn  in  the  five  propositions.]  A 
second  article  follows:  "  U^clarons  que  ce  seroil  faire 
injure  i.  I'eglise  de  couiprendreenire  les  sens  condanm^s 
dans  ces  propositions  la  doctrine  de  St.  Augustine  el  de 
St.  Thomas,  touchant  la  grace  efficace  par  ellem^nie  n6- 
cessaire  a.  loutes  Its  actions  de  la  pi6t6  Chr6tieane  et  la 
predestination  gratuite  des  eius."  [We  declare  that  it 
would  be  an  insult  to  the  church,  to  include  within  the 
meanings  condemned  in  these  propositions,  the  doctiine  of 
St.  Auirus  ine  and  of  St.  Thomas,  touching  grace  efficaci- 
ous of  Itself,  and  necessary  to  all  the  actions  of  Christian 
piety,  and  touching  the  gratuitous  predestination  of  the 
elect.] 


sentence  of  condemnation  pronounced   upon 
Jansenius  remain  null  and  void. 

From  that  period  the  party  of  St.  Cyran  and 
Jansenius  rose  more  and  more  in  strength  and 
importance,  tolerated  by  the  curia,  on  a 
friendly  footing  with  the  royal  court  (the  well 
known  minister  Pompone  was  a  son  of  Andilly), 
and  encouraged  by  some  of  the  nobles.  Its 
literary  activity  now  wrought  its  full  efi'ect 
upon  the  nation.  But,  simultaneously  with 
the  rise  of  the  society,  there  had  grown  up  a 
lively  opposition  to  the  Roman  see ;  the  Jan- 
senists well  knew,  that,  had  matters  gone  as 
the  curia  intended,  they  could  never  have  sub- 
sisted as  a  party. 

Relation  of  the  Roman  see  to  the  temporal 
power. 

By  this  time  there  had  likewise  arisen  in 
another  quarter  an  opposition,  to  say  the  least 
of  it,  not  less  dangerous  than  that  of  the  Jan- 
senists, and  one  that  constantly  increased  in 
vehemence,  and  spread  more  Vvidely. 

The  Roman  see  began,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  to  assert  its  jurisdictional  preroga- 
tives, I  know  not  whether  with  more  vivacity 
and  effect,  but  certainly  with  more  system  and 
unbending  rigour.  Urban  VIII.,  who  owed 
his  elevation  in  part  to  the  distinction  he  had 
acquired  as  a  zealous  champion  of  these 
claims,*  established  a  special  Congregation  of 
Immunities.  He  entrusted  to  a  few  cardinals 
— who,  as  usual  with  their  class,  were  in  cor- 
respondence with  the  powers  of  Europe,  and 
who,  as  young  prelates,  would  hope  to  be  pro- 
moted according  to  the  zeal  with  v\hich  they 
discharged  the  duty — the  task  of  keeping  a 
watchful  eye  upon  all  the  encroachments  of 
sovereigns  upon  the  jurisdiction  of  the  church. 
From  that  time  the  vigilance  exercised  was 
much  keener  and  more  regular,  and  the  ad- 
monitions more  urgent;  official  zeal  and  per- 
sonal interest  co-operated  ;  the  public  spirit  of 
the  court  regarded  it  as  a  proof  of  piety,  to 
watch  jealously  over  every  item  of  those  an- 
cient hereditary  rights.f 

*  Relatione  de' iv  ainbasciatori,  1625.  "  Professa  sopra 
tutte  le  cose  haver  I'animo  inflessibile  e  che  la  sua  inde- 
pendenza  non  ammetta  alcuna  ragione  degl'  interessi  de' 
principi.  Ma  quello  in  che  preme  con  insistenza  et  a  che 
tende  I'impiego  di  lutto  il  suo  spirito  6  di  conservare  e  di 
accrescer  la  giurisditlione  ecclesiaslica.  Questo  mede- 
sinio  concetto  fu  sempre  sostenuto  dal  pontefice  nella  sua 
minor  fortuna,  e  ci6  6  stato  anchegrandissimacausa  della 
sua  esaltatione."  [He  i)rofess(  s  above  all  things,  inflexi- 
ble determination  and  independence,  not  to  be  swayed  by 
any  consideration  of  ihe  inleresis  of  sovereigns.  But  what 
he  most  urgently  insists  on,  and  what  he  bends  all  the 
power  of  his  mind  to,  is  the  conservation  and  the  augmen- 
tation of  the  ecclesiastical  Jurisdiction.  This  samelhought 
was  always  cherished  by  the  pope  when  in  lower  station, 
and  it  likewise  proved  in  a  very  great  measure  the  cause 
of  his  elevation.] 

t  Joh.  Bapt.  de  Luca  S.  R.  E.  Cardinalis :  Relatio  curiae 
Romanae,  1G83.  Disc.  xvii.  p.  109.  "  Etiam  apud  bonos  et 
zelantes  ecclesiaslicos  remanet  quaestio,  an  hujus  congre- 
gationis  erectio  ecclesiasticae  immunitati  et  jurisdiction! 
proficua  vel  praejudicialis  fuerit,  potissime  quia  bonus 
quidem  sad  forte  indiscretus  vel  asper  zelus  aliquorum, 


RELATION  OF  THE  ROMAN  SEE  TO  THE  TEMPORAL  POWER.        373 


But  was  it  likely  that  the  states  would  wil- 
lingly submit  to  this  more  strict  supervision? 
The  feeling  of  religious  union,  that  had  been 
kindled  in  the  conflict  with  protestantism, 
was  grown  cold  ;  every  effort  of  the  nations 
was  bent  towards  tlie  attainment  of  internal 
strength  and  political  compactness;  the  court 
of  Ronie  found  itself  involved  in  rancorous 
disputes  with  all  the  catholic  states. 

Even  the  Spaniards  at  times  made  attempts 
to  restrict  the  influential  interfei'ence  of  Rome, 
as  for  instance  in  Naples,  where  they  desired 
to  introduce  some  civil  assessors  to  the  tribu- 
nal of  the  inquisition.  The  court  of  Rome 
rather  hesitated  about  admitting  the  emperor's 
claim  to  the  patriarchate  of  Aquileia,  for  fear 
he  should  use  it  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring 
a  greater  degree  of  ecclesiastical  indepen- 
dence. The  estates  of  the  German  empire 
sought  in  the  election  capitulations  of  16.5-1 
and  1658  to  limit  the  jurisdiction  of  the  nun- 
cios and  of  the  curia  by  stricter  provisions. 
Venice  was  incessantly  in  commotion  con- 
cerning the  influence  of  the  court  of  Rome 
over  the  nomination  to  spiritual  appointments 
in  the  country,  the  pensions  and  the  arrogant 
pretensions  of  the  nepotes:  sometimes  Genoa, 
sometimes  Savoy  found  occasion  to  recal  their 
ambassadors  from  Rome  :  but  the  most  vehe- 
ment opposition  to  Rome,  was  that  which  it 
encountered  from  the  French  church,  as  might 
have  been  expected  from  the  principle  on 
which  the  restoration  of  the  latter  had  been 
eftected.*  There  was  no  end  to  the  cry  of 
grievances  set  up  by  the  nuncios,  particularly 
as  regarded  the  restrictions  imposed  on  the 
spiritual  jurisdiction  :  before  they  took  a  single 
step,  appeals  were  lodged  against  them  ;  ques- 
tions of  marriage  were  taken  out  of  their  hands 
under  the  pretence  that  there  was  abduction 
in  the  given  case ;  they  were  excluded  from 
interference  in  criminal  trials;  clergymen 
were  sometimes  executed  without  having  been 
previously  degraded  ;  the  king,  of  his  own  sole 
authority,  issued  edicts  touching  heresy  and 
simony  ;  the  tentlis  to  the  crown  had  gradually 
become  a  permanent  tax.  The  more  appre- 
hensive retainers  of  the  curia  looked  on  these 
usurpations  as  harbingers  of  schism. 

qui  circa  initia  earn  regebant,  aliqua  produxil  inconveni- 
enlia  prsejuilicialia,  aique  asppritatis  vel  nimiuni  exactae 
et  exorbilanlis  defensionis  opinionem  impressil  apud  secu- 
lares."  [Il  remains  a  question  even  among  good  and  zeal- 
ous ecclesiastics,  whether  the  establishment  of  this  congre- 
gation has  been  advantageous  or  prejudicial  to  ecclesias- 
tical privilege  and  jurisdiction,  especially  because  the 
honest  but  perhaps  indiscreet  or  harsh  zeal  of  some  persons 
who  had  the  direction  of  it  in  the  beginning,  produced  some 
hurtful  inconveniences,  and  conveyed  to  the  minds  of  the 
laity  an  impression  of  harshness,  or  of  too  rigorous  and  ex- 
orbitant an  assertion  of  right.]  A  very  important  confes- 
aion  to  be  .made  by  a  cardinal. 

*  Relatione  dcUa  niintialura  di  Francladi  Monsr-  Scot- 
ti,  IGll,  3  Aprile.  He  has  a  distinct  section,  Del  impedl- 
menti  dell  i  nuntiarura  ordinaria:  "  Li  gludici  regj  si  pu6 
dire  che  levino  lutta  la  giurisdittione  occl"-  in  Francia 
alii  prelati."  [It  is  a  fict  that  the  royal  judges  take  the 
entire  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  in  France  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  prelates.] 


The  mutual  bearing  of  the  parties  resulting 
from  these  disputes,  was  necessarily  connected 
with  other  circumstinces  besides,  especially 
with  the  political  altitude  assumed  by  the  court 
of  Rome. 

Out  of  deference  to  Spain,  neither  Innocent 
nor  Alexander  ventured  to  recognize  Portu- 
gal, which  had  separated  from  that  monarchy, 
nor  to  grant  canonical  institution  to  the  bishops 
nominated  there.  Almost  the  whole  legiti- 
mate episcopacy  of  Portugal  died  out;  church 
property  was  in  great  part  assigned  to  the 
officers  of  the  army  ;  king,  clergy,  and  laity, 
lost  the  habit  of  their  former  submissiveness 
to  Rome. 

But  independently  of  this,  the  popes  after 
Urban  VIII.  again  inclined  to  the  side  of  Spain 
and  Austria. 

This  need  not  excite  surprise,  since  the  su- 
perior strength  of  France  so  soon  put  on  a 
character  formidable  to  the  general  freedom 
of  Europe.  In  addition  to  this,  these  same 
popes  had  owed  their  elevation  to  Spanish  in- 
fluence, and  both  were  personal  enemies  of 
Mazarin.*  In  Alexander  this  enmity  display- 
ed itself  with  ever  increasing  force  :  he  could 
not  forgive  the  cardinal  that  he  had  allied 
himself  with  Cromwell,  and  long  prevented 
peace  with  Spain  from  personal  motives. 

Now  the  consequence  of  this  was,  that  the 
opposition  to  the  Roman  see  became  more 
and  more  inveterate  in  France,  and  broke  out 
from  time  to  time  into  violent  explosions. 
Severely  was  Alexander  made  to  experience 
this  ! 

A  dispute  which  arose  in  Rome  between  the 
suite  of  the  French  ambassador  de  Crequy  and 
the  Corsican  city  guard,  in  which  de  Crequy 
was  at  last  personally  insulted,  gave  the  king 
an  opportunity  of  interfering  in  the  quarrels 
of  the  Roman  see  with  the  houses  of  Este  and 
Farnese,  and  finalfy  of  absolutely  marching 
troops  into  Italy.  The  unfortunate  pope  en- 
deavoured to  save  himself  by  means  of  a  secret 
protest:  but  he  was  obliged  in  the  face  of  the 
world,  to  concede  all  the  king's  demands  in 
the  treaty  of  Pisa.  The  fondness  of  the  popes 
for  inscriptions  in  their  honour  is  well  known  ; 
not  a  stone,  it  is  said,  did  they  suffer  to  be  set 
in  a  wall  without  their  cyphers.  Alexander 
was  compelled  to  endure  the  erection  of  a 
pyramid  in  one  of  the  most  frequented  squares 
of  his  capital,  the  inscription  on  which  was  to 
perpetuate  his  humiliation. 


*  Deone,  Oltobre,  1644 :  "  Si  sa  veramente  che  1'  esclu- 
sione  di  Panfilio  fatta  da  cardinali  Frances!  nel  conclave 
non  era  volonti  regia,  n6  instanza  del  C'-  Antonio,  ma 
opera  del  C'  Mazzarini  emulo  e  poco  ben  affetto  al  C'- 
Panziroli,  il  quale  prevedea  che  doveva  aver  gran  pane 
in  questo  pontfficato."  [It  is  known  for  certain  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  Panfilio,  effected  by  the  French  cardinals 
in  the  conclave,  was  not  in  pursuance  of  the  royal  will, 
nor  at  the  instance  of  cardinal  Antonio,  but  was  the  work 
of  cardinal  Mazarin,  the  rival  and  enemy  of  cardinal 
Panzirolo,  whohe  foresaw  was  likely  to  play  an  important 
part  in  that  pontificate.]    As  was  actually  ih  e  case. 


J74 


POPES  IN  THE  LATTER  PART  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


This  act  alone  was  sure  greatly  to  degrade 
the  dignity  of  the  papacy. 

But  furthermore,  that  dignity  had  already 
begun  to  decline  from  about  the  year  1660. 
The  papal  see  had  originated  the  peace  of 
Vervins,  and  by  its  negotiations  furthered  it 
and  brought  it  to  a  conclusion :  it  had  been 
present  by  its  ambassadors  at  the  arrangement 
of  the  peace  of  Westphalia,  but  even  then  it 
had  felt  constrained  to  protest  against  the 
stipulations  agreed  on :  lastly,  it  did  not  even 
ostensibly  take  any  part  in  the  peace  of  the 
Pyrenees ;  the  contracting  parties  avoided 
admitting  its  envoys  to  the  conference ;  scarce- 
ly was  it  thought  of  in  the  transaction.*  How 
soon  afterwards  followed  treaties  of  peace,  in 
which  papal  fiefs  were  disposed  of  without  so 
much  as  consulting  the  pope  ! 

Transition  to  the  later  epochs  of  the  papacy. 

It  is  by  all  means  a  most  remarkable  fact, 
and  one  that  affords  us  an  insight  into  the  gen- 
eral course  of  human  affairs,  that  at  the  mo- 
ment the  papacy  broke  down  in  the  execution 
of  its  plans  for  the  renovation  of  its  universal 
supremacy,  it  began  likewise  to  fall  into  inter- 
nal decay. 

Everything  pertaining  to  it  had  undergone 
a  fundamental  repair  during  the  period  of  pro- 
gress and  restoration.  The  doctrines  of  the 
church  had  been  renovated,  its  privileges  more 
strongly  centralized,  alliances  had  been  form- 
ed with  sovereigns,  fresh  life  had  been  infused 
into  the  old  orders,  and  new  ones  had  been 
founded,  the  force  of  the  ecclesiastical  states 
had  been  firmly  compacted,  and  converted  into 
an  instrument  of  church  policy,  the  curia  had 
been  reformed  morally  and  intellectually,  and 
everything  brought  to  bear  on  the  one  object 
of  the  restoration  of  the  papal  aiithority  and 
of  the  catholic  faith. 

This,  as  we  have  seen,  was  not  a  new  cre- 
ation; it  was  a  reanimation  through  the  might 
of  new  ideas,  which,  abolishing  some  abuses, 
did  but  carry  along  with  a  fresh  impulse  the 
already  existing  elements  of  social  life. 

Now  undoubtedly  a  renovation  of  this  sort 
is  more  exposed  to  the  decay  of  the  vivifying 
principle  than  is  a  radically  new  creation. 

The  first  check  which  the  catholic  restora- 
tion encountered  befel  it  in  France.  The  pa- 
pal authority  could  not  force  its  way  upon  the 
beaten  path  ;  it  was  doomed  to  see  the  growth 
and  elevation  of  a  church,  catholic  indeed, 
but  not  moulded  under  the  influences  it  in- 
tended, and  to  be  reduced  to  enter  on  a  com- 
promise with  that  church. 

There  followed  other  occurrences  tending 

*  Galeazzo  Gualdo  Priorato  dfilla  pace  conclusa  fra  )e 
due  corone,  1664,  has  at  p.  120,  "  Osservaiioni  sopra  le 
cause  per  le  quale  si  conclude  la  pace  senza  intervemo 
del  papa."  We  learn  hence  that  the  bad  feeling  between 
the  pope  and  Mazaria  in  those  limes  was  mailer  of  noto- 
riety. 


to  the  same  end : — violent  internal  dissensions 
arose,  controversies  upon  the  most  important 
points  of  faith,  and  upon  the  relation  of  the 
spiritual  to  the  temporal  authority  ;  nepotism 
unfolded  itself  in  the  curia  in  a  perilous  man- 
ner ;  the  financial  resources,  instead  of  being 
wholly  directed  to  their  legitimate  purpose, 
were  rendered  mainly  subservient  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  single  families. 

But  Rome  had  still  a  grand  and  universal 
object,  towards  which  it  strode  onwards  with 
extraordinary  good  fortune.  In  this  high  en- 
deavour all  contradictions  were  reconciled, 
the  conflicts  concerning  doctrine  and  the  tem- 
poral pretensions  of  the  church  were  assuaged, 
the  discords  of  the  sovereign  powers  healed, 
the  progress  of  the  common  enterprises  sus- 
tained :  the  curia  was  the  centre  and  the  bea- 
con of  the  catholic  world  ;  the  work  of  conver- 
sion sped  on  the  grandest  scale. 

Yet  we  have  seen  how  it  came  to  pass,  that 
the  desired  end  was  not  reached,  but  that  the 
aspiring  church  was,  through  dissensions  with- 
in and  resistance  without,  flung  back  upon 
itself. 

Thenceforth  all  the  affairs  of  the  state,  and 
the  whole  internal  condition  of  the  papal  do- 
minions likewise  assumed  another  aspect. 

Devotedness  is  a  feeling  inseparable  from 
the  spirit  of  conquest  and  acquisition  that  aims 
at  a  great  purpo.se  ;  it  is  incompatible  with  a 
narrow  selfishness.  The  curia  Vv^as  now  pos- 
sessed by  the  spirit  of  worldly  enjoyment  and 
of  lucre.  A  society  of  annuitants  sprung  up, 
which  thought  itself  fully  entitled  to  the  reve- 
nues of  the  state,  and  the  proceeds  of  the 
ecclesiastical  administration.  Whilst  they 
fatally  abused  their  usurped  rights,  they  still 
clung  to  it  with  the  same  zeal  as  though  it 
were  bound  up  with  the  very  essence  of  the 
faith. 

This  it  was  that  provoked  implacable  resist- 
ance from  opposite  quarters. 

A  doctrine  came  forth,  which,  originating 
from  a  new  view  of  the  profounder  principles 
of  religion,  was  condemned  and  persecuted  by 
the  Roman  court,  but  could  never  be  put 
down.  The  several  states  assumed  a  more 
independent  position  ;  they  emancipated  them- 
selves from  their  subservience  to  the  papal 
policy ;  they  challenged  for  themselves  a  right 
of  absolute  control  over  their  own  internal 
aflairs,  that  continually  narrowed  the  influ- 
ence of  the  curia  even  in  ecclesiastical  mat- 
ters. 

On  these  two  grand  points  hang  all  the 
subsequent  history  of  the  papacy. 

Epochs  followed,  in  which,  so  far  from  mani- 
festing any  spontaneous  activity,  it  rather 
seem.s,  while  assailed  now  on  this  side  and' 
now  on  that,  to  have  been  every  moment  oc- 
cupied with  the  sole  thought  how  it  might 
best  defend  itself. 

The  attention  of  mankind  is  usually  attract- 


LOUIS  XIV.  AND  INNOCENT  XI. 


375 


ed  by  energy  and  power,  and  it  is  only  by  I 
following^  out  the  efScient  cause  that  the  event 
can  be  understood ;  nor  does  it  come  within 
the  design  of  this  worii  to  describe  the  later 
epochs  of  the  papacy.  Nevertheless  they  pre- 
sent an  exceedingly  remarkable  spectacle  ; 
and  as  we  began  with  a  review  of  the  earlier 
ages,  so  we  can  hardly  close  the  subject  with- 
out making  an  attempt,  though  but  a  brief  one, 
to  survey  the  papacy  likewise  in  its  more  re- 
cent stage. 

The  first  thing  that  presents  itself  to  our 
notice  is  the  attack  on  the  part  of  the  states. 
It  was  most  intimately  connected  with  the 
division  of  the  catholic  world  into  two  hostile 
portions,  the  Austrian  and  the  French  party, 
which  the  pope  was  no  longer  in  a  condition 
to  master  or  to  appease.  The  political  atti- 
tude assumed  by  Rome,  determined  the  mea- 
sure of  ecclesiastical  devotedness  which  it 
encountered.  We  have  already  seen  the 
manner  in  which  this  state  of  things  began: 
let  us  now  observe  its  further  progress. 

Louis  XIV.  and  Innocent  XL 

However  staunch  a  catholic  was  Louis 
XIV.,  it  yet  seemed  intolerable  to  him  that 
the  Roman  see  should  pursue  an  independent 
policy,  nay,  one  that  often  ran  counter  to  his 
own. 

Clement  X.  (1670  to  1676.)  and  his  nephew 
Pauluzzi  Altieri,  inclined  to  the  side  of  the 
Spaniards,*  as  had  Innocent  and  Alexander, 
and  if  not  Clement  IX.,  at  least  his  court  and 
adherents.  Louis  XIV.  revenged  himself  lor 
this  by  incessant  inroads  upon  the  spiritual 
power. 

He  arbitrarily  confiscated  church  property, 
oppressed  various  monastic  orders,  claimed 
the  privilege  of  burthening  the  church  livings 
with  military  pensions;  he  sought  to  extend 
to  provinces  in  which  it  had  never  been  in 
force,  the  right  which  had  become  so  cele- 
brated under  the  name  of  regale,  of  appro- 
priating the  revenues  of  vacant  bishoprics, 
and  filling  up  the  benefices  dependent  upon 
them ;  he  inflicted  the  most  severe  wound  on 
the  Roman  annuitants,  by  subjecting  the 
remission  of  moneys  to  the  court  of  Rome  to 
a  crippling  supervision. f 


♦  Morosini:  Relatione  di  Francia,  1671.  "  Conosciula 
naturale  pariialiii  del  card''  Altieri  per  la  corona  cattoli 
ca  rende  alia  Xma-  sospelta  ogni  sua  atlione.  II  pontpfice 
presented  considerato  come  un  imasine  del  dominio  che 
risiede  veramenie  nell'  arbiirio  del  nipoie."  [The  known 
partiality  of  cardinal  Altieri  for  the  catholic  crown  ren- 
ders every  action  of  his  suspicious  to  the  most  Christian 
kins;.  The  present  pope  is  considered  but  an  effisy  of  the 
power  of  the  see,  which  really  resides  in  the  will  of  his 
nephew.] 

t  Instruttione  per  Mons"-  Arcivegcovo  di  Patrasso,  1G74. 
"  Questo  fatto  arrivato  alia  corte  sicome  eccitC)  lo  stupore 
e  lo  scandolo  universale,  cosi  pervenulo  alia  notitia  di  N. 
Sre-  mosse  un  estremo  cordoglio  nrdl'animodi  S.  Beatne-" 
[On  this  fact  becoming  known  to  the  court,  it  excited 
universal  amazement  and  scandal,  and  when  it  came  to 


He  continued  the  same  course  during  the 
pontificate  of  Innocent  XI.,  who  on  the  whole 
pursued  the  same  system  of  policy,  but  from 
him  Louis  encountered  resistance. 

Innocent  XL,  of  the  house  of  Odescalchi  of 
Como,  had  arrived  in  Rome  in  his  twenty-fifth 
year,  with  sword  and  pistol,  to  settle  himself 
in  some  secular  employment,  perhaps  in  the 
military  service  of  Naples.  The  advice  of  a 
cardinal,  who  penetrated  better  into  his  cha- 
racter than  he  himself  had  done,  induced  him 
to  enter  on  tlie  career  of  the  curia.  This  he 
did  with  so  much  devotedness  and  zeal,  gra- 
dually winning  for  himself  such  a  reputation 
for  ability  and  good  intentions,  that  during 
the  conclave  the  people  shouted  his  name 
under  the  porticoes  of  St.  Peter,  and  public 
opinion  was  gratified,  when  he  came  forth 
from  that  church  decked  with  the  tiara  (Sept. 
21,  1676). 

He  was  a  man  who  would  summon  his  ser- 
vants to  attend  him,  provided  always  they 
were  quite  at  leisure  ;  one,  of  whom  his  con- 
fessor averred  that  he  had  never  discovered 
anything  in  him  which  could  sever  the  soul 
from  God  ;  a  gentle  and  placid  being,  whom 
yet  the  same  conscientiousness  that  ruled  his 
private  life,  now  also  impelled  to  fulfil  the 
obligations  of  his  office  without  fear  or  truck- 
ling. 

How  vigorously  did  he  grapple  with  the 
existing  abuses,  particularly  those  in  the 
financial  department.  The  out-goings  had 
risen  to  2,578,106  scudi,  91  baj. ;  the  incom- 
ings, dataria  and  spolia  included,  amounted  to 
but  2,408,.500  scudi,  71  baj. ;  so  huge  a  deficit, 
170,000  scudi  yearly,  threatened  a  public 
bankruptcy.*  To  Innocent  XI.  is  undoubt- 
edly due  the  merit  of  having  prevented  mat- 
ters reaching  that  extreme.  He  forbore  alto- 
gether from  the  practice  of  nepotism.  He 
declared  that  he  loved  his  nephew  Don  Livio, 
whose  modesty  deserved  his  love,  but  for  that 
very  reason  he  would  not  have  him  in  the 
palace.  He  absolutely  confiscated  all  the 
offices  and  revenues  which  before  his  time  had 
been  the  perquisite  of  the  pope's  nephews. 
He  did  the  same  with  many  other  places,  the 
existence  of  which  was  more  burthensome  to 
the  state.  He  abolished  innumerable  abuses 
and  exemptions ;  and  when  the  state  of  the 
market  at  last  made  it  practicable,  he  did  not 
hesitate  still  further  to  reduce  the  interest  on 
the  monti  from  four  to  three  per  centf     In  a 


the  ears  of  our  lord  the  pope,  it  caused  his  holiness  extreme 
affliction.] 

*  Slato  della  camera  nel  presente  ponteficato  di  Inno- 
cenzo  XI.  MS.  (Bibl.  Alb.) 

t  In  a  MS.  of  763  pages  of  the  year  174.3,  "  Erettione  et 
aggionte  de'  monti  camerali,"  are  to  be  found  the  decrees 
and  briefs  concerning  this  matter.  In  a  brief  of  the  year 
1684  to  the  treasurer  Negroni,  Innocent  first  declares  hia 
intention  "  d'  andar  liberando  la  camera  del  fnitto  di  4  p. 
c.  .  .  che  in  questi  tempi  6  troppo  rigoroso."  [to  relieve 
the  camera  of  the  burthen  of  interest  at  4  per  cent. — too 
oppressive  in  these  times.] 


376     POPES  IN  THE  LATTER  PART  OF  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


few  years  he  actually  succeeded  in  raising 
the  public  income  to  no  insignificant  excess 
above  the  expenditure. 

With  the  same  resolute  spirit,  this  pope 
now  withstood  the  attacks  of  Louis  XIV. 

Two  Jansenist  bishops,  who  opposed  the 
extension  of  the  regale  before  mentioned, 
were  harassed  and  persecuted  by  the  court  on 
that  account;  the  bishop  of  Pamiers  was  re- 
duced for  a  while  to  subsist  on  charity.  They 
appealed  to  the  pope,  and  Innocent  did  not 
delay  to  espouse  their  cause.* 

Once,  twice,  he  admonished  the  king  not 
to  give  ear  to  flatterers,  not  to  lay  hands  on 
the  liberties  of  the  church  ;  and  bade  him  be- 
ware, lest  he  should  cause  the  fountains  of 
Divine  grace  to  dry  up  for  his  kingdom. 
Receiving  no  answer,  he  repeated  his  admoni- 
tions a  third  time,  but  now  he  added  that  he 
would  not  content  himself  with  mere  admo- 
nitions, but  would  employ  every  instrument 
of  that  power  which  God  had  put  into  his 
hands.  No  danger,  no  storm  should  appal 
him;  his  glory  was  in  the  cross  of  Christ.f 

It  had  always  been  a  maxim  of  the  French 
court  to  use  the  papal  power  as  a  check  upon 
its  clergy,  and  to  employ  the  latter  to  restrict 
the  influence  of  the  former.  But  never  did  a 
sovereign  hold  his  clergy  in  more  perfect 
command  than  did  Louis  XIV.  The  addresses 
they  presented  to  him  on  ceremonial  occa- 
sions breathe  a  spirit  of  submissiveness  that 
has  never  been  equalled.  "  We  hardly  ven- 
ture," they  say,  "  to  make  requests,  for  fear 
of  setting  a  limit  to  your  majesty's  zeal  for 
the  church.  The  unhappy  privilege  of  sta- 
ting grievances,  is  now  transformed  into  the 
delightful  necessity  of  praising  our  benefac- 
tor."f  The  prince  of  Conde  gave  it  as  his 
opinion,  that  if  the  king  were  of  a  mind  to 
pass  over  to  the  protestant  church,  the  clergy 
would  follow  him  with  all  speed. 

At  any  rate  the  clergy  stood  by  their  king 
against  the  pope  without  scruple  !  year  after 
year  they  put  forth  more  decided  declarations 
in  favour  of  the  royal  authority.  At  last 
ensued  the  convocation  of  1682.  "It  was 
summoned  and  dissolved,"  says  a  Venetian 
ambassador,  "  at  the  convenience  of  the  king's 
minister's,  and  guided  by  their  suggestions."^ 
The  four  articles  it  drew  up  have  ever  since 
been  regarded  as  the  manifesto  of  the  Galilean 
liberties.     The  first  three  reiterated  princi- 

*  Racine:  Hisloire  EecWsiaslique,  x.  p.  328. 

t  Brief  of  ihe  27th  Dec.  1679. 

i  Remonirance  du  clere6  de  France  (assemble  a  St. 
Germain  en  Laye  en  1'  ann6e,  1680)  faile  au  roi  le  10  juil- 
let  par  rill"«-  el  r^vwi^'  J  Bapi.  Adheimar  de  Blonleil  de 
Grienan.     M6m.  du  clerg6,  lorn.  xiv.  p.  787. 

ftoscarini:  Relatione  di  Francia,  1681.  "Con  non 
dissimile  dipendenza  segue  1'  ordine  ecclco-  le  massiine 
e  1'  inieresse  della  corte,  come  1'  ha  fallo  conoscere  1'  as- 
sembleasopra  le  vertonze  della  regalia,  uuiia,  diretla  e 
disciolta  secondo  le  convenienze  ed  ispiralioni  del  minis- 
tero  politico,  Provenendo  della  mano  del  re  1'  esallatioiie 
e  forluna  de' soggelii  che  lo  coiupongono,  dominati  sem- 
pre  da  nuove  pretensione  e  speranze,  si  grorgono  piu  atlac- 
cati  alia  compiacenze  del  monarca  che  gli  siessi  secolari." 


pies  asserted  before, — the  independence  of 
the  secular  power  as  regarded  the  spiritual, 
the  superiority  of  councils  over  the  pope, 
and  the  inviolability  of  the  Galilean  usages. 
But  the  fourth  is  particularly  remarkable, 
since  it  limits  even  the  spiritual  authority  of 
the  pope.  "  Even  in  questions  of  faith  the 
pope's  decision  is  not  incapable  of  amendment, 
so  long  as  it  has  not  received  the  assent  of 
the  church."  We  see  that  the  two  national 
authorities  supported  each  other.  The  king 
was  emancipated  from  the  interference  of  the 
pope's  temporal  power,  the  clergy  from  the 
unconditional  authority  of  his  spiritual  power. 
It  was  the  opinion  of  contemporaries,  that 
though  France  was  still  within  the  pale  of  the 
catholic  church,  yet  its  foot  was  on  the  thresh- 
hold  to  depart  from  out  it.  The  king  exalted 
the  propositions  above  mentioned  into  a  sort 
of  articles  of  faith,  or  symbolical  book.  The 
teaching  in  all  schools  was  to  be  in  con- 
formity therewith  ;  no  one  was  to  obtain  a 
degree  in  the  faculties  of  law  or  theology 
who  did  not  swear  to  those  propositions. 

But  the  pope  too  had  his  weapon.  The 
king  advanced  to  episcopal  offices  the  authors 
of  the  declaration,  and  the  members  of  the 
convocation,  in  preference  to  all  other  candi- 
dates. Innocent  refused  to  grant  them  spiri- 
tual institution.  They  might  enjoy  the  reve- 
nues of  their  sees,  but  they  received  no 
ordinations,  and  could  not  exercise  one  spi- 
ritual function  of  episcopacy. 

The  quarrel  became  more  complicated  from 
the  fact,  that  at  this  juncture  Louis  XIV., 
chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  evincing  his  perfect 
orthodoxy,  proceeded  to  his  cruel  extirpation 
of  the  Huguenots.  He  thought  thereby  to 
render  a  great  service  to  the  catholic  church. 
It  has  also  been  alleged  that  pope  Innocent 
was  privy  and  consenting  to  the  design  :* 
but  in  reality  this  was  not  the  case.  The 
Roman  court  would  now  have  nothing  to  do 
with  a  conversion  effected  by  armed  apostles  : 
"Christ  had  not  employed  that  method  ;  men 
should  be  led  but  not  dragged  into  the  tem- 
ple."t 

Still  fresh  dissensions  constantly  arose. 
The  French  ambassador  entered  Rome  in  the 
year  1687,  with  so  strong  a  retinue,  not  less 
than  a  couple  of  squadrons  of  cavalry,  that  it 
would  not  have  been  easy  to  dispute  his  claim 
to  the  right  of  asylum,  to  which  the  ambassa- 
dors in  those  days   pretended,  not  only  for 

*  Bonamici,  Vita  Innocentii  in  Lebrat:  Magazin  viii. 
p.  98,  and  Lebrel's  note  "Also  ist  es  nicht  zu  widerspre- 
chen,"  &c. 

tVenier:  Relatione  di  Francia,  1689.  "Nell'  opera 
tentata  nella  conversion  degli  Ugonotli  dlspiacque  al  re, 
non  ripoitar  dal  pontefice  lode  che  sperava,  riceve  il  papa 
in  mala  parte  che  fosse  intrapresa  senza  sua  panicipa- 
tione  et  eseguila  con  i  noti  rigori,  .  .  .  publicando  che  non 
fosse  propria  fare  niisssioni  d'  apostoli  arinati,  e  che  questo 
motodo  nuovo  non  fosse  il  niigliore,  giiiche  Uhrislo  non  se 
n'  era  servito  per  convertire  il  mondo:  in  oltre  parve  ini- 
poiluno  il  tempo  di  guadagnar  gli  eretici  all'  ora  che 
erano  piu  boUenti  le  coutroversie  col  papa." 


LOUIS  XIV.  AND  INNOCENT  XI. 


377 


their  palaces,  but  likewise  for  the  neighboiir- 
ing  streets,  althouirh  the  pope  had  solemnly 
repealed  the  privilege.  Willi  armed  force  he 
braved  the  pope  in  his  own  capital.  "They 
come  with  horses,  and  with  chariots,"  said 
Innocent,  •'  but  we  will  walk  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord."  He  pronounced  the  censure  of 
the  church  upon  the  ambassador;  the  church 
of  San  Luigi,  at  which  that  functionary  had 
been  present  at  a  solemn  high  mass,  was  laid 
under  an  interdict.* 

Upon  this  the  king  had  recourse  on  his  part 
to  the  most  extreme  steps.  He  appealed  to 
a  general  council,  caused  Avignon  to  be  taken 
possession  of,  and  the  nuncio  to  be  shut  up  in 
St.  Olon.  It  was  thought  he  had  in  view  to 
create  archbishop  Harlai,  who  had  sanctioned, 
if  not  prompted  all  these  steps,  patriarch  of 
France. 

To  such  a  length  had  matters  gone :  the 
French  ambassador  excommunicated  in  Rome, 
the  papal  nuncio  in  France  forcibly  detained  ; 
thirty-five  French  bishops  without  canonical 
institution ;  a  papal  territory  seized  by  the 
king  :  here  was  schism  in  fact  already  broken 
out.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  Innocent  XL 
did  not  yield  a  foot. 

If  we  ask  on  what  he  relied  in  this  trying 
emergency,  it  was  not  on  any  effect  of  his 
censure  in  France,  not  on  the  might  of  his 
apostolic  dignity  ;  but  it  was  above  all  things 
on  that  general  resistance  which  had  been 
aroused  by  the  enterprises  of  Louis  XIV. 
which  threatened  the  freedom  of  Europe  in 
its  very  being :  in  this  the  pope  likewise 
joined. 

He  aided  Austria  in  its  Turkish  war  to  the 
utmost  of  his  ability  :f  the  prosperous  issue  of 
that  undertaking  placed  the  vviiole  party,  and 
the  pope  with  it,  in  a  new  position. 

It  can  hardly  indeed  be  proved  that  Inno- 
cent, as  it  has  been  alleged,  was  in  direct 
alliance  with  William  III.,  and  was  person- 
ally cognizant  of  his  designs  upon  England. | 
But  we  may  with  unhesitating  coniidence 
assert  that  his  ministers  were  privy  to  them. 


♦  "  Legatio  marcliionis  Lavartlini  Romam  ejusque  cum 
Romano  pomifice  dissiilium,  1G97."  A  refutation  of  La- 
vaiJin,  which  Investigates  this  atfair  with  much  dispas- 
sionate judgment:  it  belongs  to  the  series  of  excellent 
political  papers  which  werecalled  forth  in  Germany,  the_ 
Netlierlands,  Spain,  and  Italy,  by  the  assumptions  of 
Louis  XIV. 

t  Relaliene  di  Roma  di  Giov.  Lando,  1689.  The  sub- 
sidies are  here  computed  at  two  millions  of  scudi. 

$  This  assertion  is  made  in  the  M6moires  sur  le  r6gne 
de  Frederic  i.  roi  de  Priisse,  par  lecomte  de  Dohna,  p.  78. 
It  is  slated  that  the  letters  passed  through  queen  Chris- 
tina's hands  to  his  father,  "qui  les  fesoit  passer  par  le 
comt6  de  Lippe,  d'oii  un  certain  Paget  les  portoit  k  la 
Haye"  [who  forwarded  ihern  through  the  county  of  Lippe, 
whence  one  Paget  carried  them  to  the  Hague].  In  spile 
of  these  details,  we  nuist  doubt  the  fact,  when  we  consi- 
der, that  during  all  this  period  queen  OhrisUna  was  at 
variance  with  the  pope.  Her  position  with  regard  to  the 
pope,  as  set  forth  ni  her  correspondence,  makes  me  think 
it  impossible  that  the  pope,  who  once  said  of  her  with  a 
shrug,  "e  una  donda,"  [she  is  a  woman,]  would  have 
trusted  her  with  such  a  secret.  There  may,  for  all  that, 
have  been  secret  despatches  from  Rome. 

48 


The  pope  was  only  told  that  the  prince  of 
Orange  was  to  have  the  command  on  the 
lihine,  and  to  defend  the  rigiits  of  the  empire, 
and  of  the  church  against  Louis  XIV,;  to  this 
object  he  promised  considerable  subsidies. 
But  his  secretary  of  state,  count  Cassoni,  had 
by  the  end  of  the  year  16S7,  positive  intelli- 
gence that  the  plan  of  the  English  malcontents 
was  to  dethrone  king  James,  and  to  transfer 
the  crown  to  the  princess  of  Orange.  The 
count  was  ill-served  :  the  French  had  got  hold 
of  a  traitor  in  his  household.  It  was  from  the 
papers  which  that  man  had  an  opportunity  of 
inspecting  in  his  master's  most  secret  cabinet, 
that  the  courts  of  France  and  England  de- 
rived their  first  knowledge  of  those  plans. 
Strange  complication !  It  was  at  the  court 
of  Rome  that  the  threads  of  a  machination 
were  destined  to  meet,  which  had  for  its  aim 
and  its  result,  to  liberate  protestantism  in  the 
West  of  Europe  from  the  last  great  danger 
that  threatened  it,  and  to  secure  the  English 
throne  for  ever  to  that  creed.*  Even,  as  we 
said  before,  though  Innocent  XI.  knew  noth- 
ing of  this  whole  scheme,  still  it  is  undeni- 
able that  he  adhered  to  an  opposition  based 
for  the  most  part  on  protestant  resources,  and 
urged  by  protestant  impulses.  His  resistance 
to  the  candidate  for  the  archbishopric  of  Co- 
logne favoured  by  France,  was  in  the  interest 
of  that  opposition,  and  was  the  main  incentive 
to  the  outbreak  of  war. 

A  war,  however,  which,  as  regarded  France, 
turned  out  very  favourable  to  the  papal  prin- 
ciple. If  the  pope  by  his  policy  promoted 
protestantism,  the  protestants  in  their  turn, 
whilst  maintaining  the  European  balance 
against  "  the  exorbitant  power"  of  France, 
were  thereby  co-operating  to  compel  that 
power  to  assent  to  the  spiritual  pretensions  of 
the  papacy. 

It  is  true  Innocent  XL  did  not  live  to  wit- 
ness that  consummation  ;  but  the  very  first 
ambassador  who  appeared  in  Rome  after  his 
death  (August  10,  16S9,)  abandoned  the  claim 
to  the  right  of  asylum;  the  king's  bearing 
was  changed;  he  restored  Avignon,  and  be- 
gan to  negotiate. 

This  was  the  more  necessary,  inasmuch  as 
the  new  pope,  Alexander  VIII.,  however 
widely  he  departed  in  other  respects  from  the 
strict  example  of  his  predecessor,  in  this  point 


*  Little  notice  has  been  taken,  (though  it  is  decisive 
upon  the  subject),  of  the  Lettre  ecrile  par  le  C''  d'Etr^ps, 
ainbassadeur  exlraord.  de  Louis  XIV.  k  M.  de  Louvois,  IS 
Dec.  11)87.  Giuvres  de  Louis  XIV.  torn.  vi.  p.  497.  It 
shows  how  early  James  II.  was  informed  of  the  projects 
on  fool.  Young  lord  Norfolk,  who  was  incognito  in  Ronie, 
instantly  dispatched  a  courier  to  him.  Mackintosh  (His- 
tory of  the  Revolution,  ii.  157)  is  of  opinion  that  James 
was  convinced  by  ihe  first  week  in  May,  1688,  of  the 
prince's  designs  upon  England.  But,  as  early  as  the  10th 
orlllhofMarch,  he  had  said  to  the  papal  nuncio,  "  il 
principe  aver  in  principal  mira  1'  Inghilteira"  [that  the 
prince's  chief  aim  was  England].  (Leltera  di  Monsieur 
d'Adda,  ibid.  p.  346.)  His  misfortune  was  that  he  did  not 
conade  in  himself. 


878 


THE  POPES  SUBSEQUENTLY  TO  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


at  least  adhered  firmly  to  Innocent's  princi- 
ples. Alexander  proclaimed  anew  the  reso- 
lutions of  1682*  to  be  invalid  and  void,  null 
and  of  no  effect,  not  binding,  even  though 
backed  by  theforceofan  oalh  ;  declaring  that, 
day  and  night,  he  thought  on  them  with  a 
heart  full  of  bitterness,  and  lifted  up  his  eyes 
with  tears  and  sobs. 

After  the  early  death  of  Alexander  VIII. 
the  French  strained  every  effort  to  procure 
the  election  of  a  pope  of  pacific  temper  and 
disposed  to  a  reconciliation  ;f  such  an  one 
they  obtamed  in  the  person  of  Antonio  Pigna- 
telli,— Innocent  XII.  (July  12,  1691.) 

But  this  pope,  too,  was  little  disposed  in 
any  respect  to  compromise  the  dignity  of  the 
Roman  see  ;  and  just  as  little  had  he  any  ur- 
gent motive  for  so  doing,  since  the  allied 
arms  plied  Louis  XIV.,  with  such  formidable 
energy. 

Negotiations  were  carried  on  for  two  years. 
Innocent  more  than  once  rejected  the  formuliB 
proposed  to  him  by  the  French  clergy.  At 
last  they  were  forced  to  declare,  that  all  that 
had  been  discussed  and  determined  in  the  as- 
sembly, should  be  looked  on  as  not  discussed 
and  not  determined  :  "  prostrate  at  the  feet 
of  your  holiness  we  profess  our  unspeakable 
sorrow  for  the  same."|  It  was  not  till  this 
absolute  recantation  that  Innocent  granted 
them  canonical  institution. 

Peace  was  restored  only  on  these  conditions. 


*  "In  diclis  comiliis  anni  1682,  tam  circa  extensionem 
juris  regalise  quani  circa  declaralionem  de  proteslate  ec- 
clesiastica  aclorum  ac  eliam  omnium  el  singulorum  man- 
datorum,  arrestomm,  confirmalionum,  declarationum, 
epislolarum,  ediclorum,  decretorum  quavis  auclorilate 
sive  ecclesiastica  sive  etiani  laicali  editorum,  necnon  ali- 
orum  quomodolibet  pisjudicialuiu  prsefatorum  in  regno 
supradicioquandocunque  et  a  quibusvis  et  ex  quacunque 
causa  el  quovis  modo  factorum  et  gesiorum  ac  inde  secu- 
torum  quoiumcunque  lenores.  4lhAug.  16S0."  Cocquel. 
ix.  p.  33. 

t  Domenico  Contarini :  Relatione  di  Roma,  1696  :  "  Te- 
nendosi  questa  volia  da  Francesi  bisogno  d'  un  papa  fa- 
cile e  d'  anirao  assai  rlmesso,  e  clie  poiesse  facilraenie 
esser  indotlo  a  modificare  la  bolla  falta  nell'  agonia  di 
Alessand'.o  VIII.  sopra  le  proposilioni  dell'  assembleadel 
clero  del  anno  168i,  diedero  mano  alia  elellione  di  esso." 

J  It  has,  indeed,  been  asserted,  and  Petitol  among 
others  (Notice  sur  Portioyal,  p.  240)  is  of  opinion,  that 
this  letter  was  an  invention  of  the  Jansenists,  "  pour  r6- 
pandre  du  ridicule  et  de  I'odieux  sur  les  nouveaux  ^v6- 
ques;  [to  cast  ridicule  and  odium  on  the  new  bishops;] 
but,  in  the  first  place,  no  other  formula  was  ever  produced 
by  the  opposite  parly;  secondly,  the  above  has  always 
been  acknowledged,  at  least  indirectly,  by  the  Roman 
writers,  as,  for  instance,  by  Novaes,  Storia  de'  Pontefici, 
torn.  xi.  p.  117  ;  lastly,  it  was  at  the  very  time  universally 
regarded,  and  even  at  court,  as  indisputably  genuine. 
Domenico  Con  anni  says,  "  Poco  dopo  fu  preso  per  mano 
da  Francesi  il  negolio  delle  chiese  di  Francia  proponendo 
diverse  formule  di  dichiarazione,  .  .  .  materia  venlildta 

fier  il  corso  di  due  anni  e  conclusa  ed  aggiustata  con  quella 
etlera  scrittada  vescovi  al  papa  che  si  e  difusa  in  ogni 
parte."  [Shortly  afterwards  the  French  took  in  hand  the 
affair  of  the  churches  of  their  country,  and  proposed 
various  forms  of  declaration,  .  .  .  the  atfair  was  under 
discussion  for  the  space  of  two  years,  and  was  concluded 
and  adjusted  by  means  of  that  letter  from  tlie  bishops  to 
the  pope,  which  has  been  made  jiublic  in  all  quarters.] 
Now  this  is  the  very  formula  in  question.  None  other 
has  ever  been  made  known.  Daunou  too,  (Essai  histo- 
rique  sur  la  puissance  lemporelle  des  papes,  ii.  p.  196,) 
gives  this  letter  as  authentic. 


J^ouis  XIV.  wrote  to  the  pope  that  he  re- 
tailed his  orders  respecting  the  observance  of 
he  four  articles.  Thus  do  we  see  that  the 
Roman  see  once  more  stood  fast  upon  its  pre- 
rogatives, in  opposition  to  the  most  powerful 
of  monarchs. 

But  was  it  not  in  itself  a  grievous  disad- 
vantage, that  assertions  so  decidedly  hostile 
had  enjoyed  a  validity  legally  authorized  by 
the  government?  They  had  been  proclaimed 
with  noisy  ostentation,  as  though  they  had 
been  decrees  of  the  empire ;  their  retraction 
was  made  privately,  in  the  quietest  way, 
in  the  form  of  letters,  and  that  only  on  the 
part  of  individuals  who  were  particularly  in 
need  of  the  favour  of  the  court  of  Rome.  Louis 
XIV.  permitted  this;  but  we  must  not  believe 
that  he  recalled  the  four  articles,  though  the 
matter  was  sometimes  looked  on  in  that  light 
in  Rome.  At  a  much  later  period  he  would 
not  endure  that  the  Roman  court  should  re- 
fuse institution  to  the  adherents  of  the  four 
articles.  He  declared  that  he  had  only  re- 
voked the  obligation  of  teaching  them ;  but 
it  was  just  as  little  reasonable  that  any  one 
should  be  prohibited  from  acknowledging 
them.*  There  is  also  another  observation  we 
have  to  make.  It  was  by  no  means  by  its 
own  strength  the  Roman  court  had  maintain- 
ed its  ground,  but  only  in  consequence  of  a 
great  political  combination,  only  by  reason 
of  the  fact  that  France  had  been  forced  gene- 
rally to  retreat  within  narrower  limits.  What 
then  would  be  the  result  should  this  state  of 
things  change, — should  it  come  to  pass  that 
there  was  no  longer  any  one  to  protect  the 
see  of  Rome  against  the  aggressive  party'! 

The  Spanish  succession. 

The  extinction  of  the  Spanish  line  of  the 


*  The  king's  words,  in  his  letter  to  Innocent  XII.,  Ver- 
sailles, loth  Sept.  1693,  are:  "J'ai  donn6  les  ordres  n6- 
cessaires  afin  cite  les  choses  contenues  dans  mon  6dil  du 
22  Mars,  1682,  louchant  la  declaration  faite  par  le  clerg6 
de  France  (i  quoi  les  conjonctures  pass6es  m'avoyent 
oblig^)  ne  soyent  pas  observ^es."  [I  have  given  the 
necessary  orders,  to  the  end  that  the  matters  contained  in 
my  edict  of  the  22nd  March,  1682,  touching  the  declara- 
tion made  by  the  clergy  of  France,  (to  which  past  con- 
junctures had  compelled  me,)  be  not  observed.]  In  a  let- 
ter of  the  7th  of  July,  1713,  madeknowit  to  us  by  Anaud, 
(Historie  du  Pape  Pie  Vll.  1836,  torn.  ii.  p.  16,)  it  is  said: 
"  On  lui  (au  Pape  C16ment  XI.)  a  suppos6,  contre  la  v6ril6, 
que  j'ai  contrevenu  i  I'engageraent  pris  pas  la  lettre  que 
j'ecrivis  d.  son  pr6d6cesseur,  car  je  n'ai  oblig6  personne 
i  soutenir  contre  sa  propre  opinion  les  propositions  du 
clerg6  de  France  ;  mais  il  n'est  pas  juste  que  j'emp^che 
mes  sujets  de  dire  et  de  soutenir  leurs  sentiments  sur  une 
mati^re  qu'il  est  libra  de  soutenir  de  part  et  d'autre:" 
[It  has  been  insinuated  to  him,  contrary  to  the  truth,  that 
I  have  contravened  the  engagement  entered  into  by  the 
letter  I  wrote  to  his  predecessor,  for  I  have  not  obliged 
any  one  to  maintain,  contrary  to  his  own  opinion,  the  pro- 
positions of  the  clergy  of  France;  but  it  is  not  just  thai 
I  should  hinder  my  subjects  from  expressing  and  main- 
taining their  senlimenis  on  an  open  question.]  Wo  see 
that  even  in  his  latter  years,  Louis  XIV.  was  not  quite  so 
devoted  a  Romanist  as  is  commonly  supposed.  He  says 
decidedly,  "Je  ne  puis  admettre  aucun  expedient."  [I 
cannot  admit  any  compromise.] 


THE  SPANISH  SUCCESSION. 


379 


house  of  Austria  was  an  event  of  the  greatest 
importance  for  the  papacJ^ 

On  the  antagonism  in  which  the  Spanish 
monarchy  stood  with  regard  to  Franco,  which 
determined  the  general  character  of  European 
politics,  rested  also  in  the  last  result  the  free- 
dom and  independence  of  the  papal  see  :  for 
a  century  and  a  half  the  principles  of  the 
Spaniards  had  kept  the  ecclesiastical  states 
at  peace.  Whatever  might  be  the  upshot,  it 
was  in  any  case  perilous,  that  a  state  of 
things  with  which  every  habit  of  existence 
was  bound  up,  should  be  put  in  jeopardy. 

But  it  was  still  more  perilous  that  a  dispute 
prevailed  concerning  the  succession  to  the 
crown,  threatening  to  create  a  general  war, — 
a  war  which  in  that  case  would  be  chiefly 
fought  out  in  Italy.  The  pope  himself  could 
hardly  avoid  the  necessity  of  adopting  one 
party  or  another,  even  though  he  could  not 
flatter  himself  with  the  prospect  of  contributing 
any  thing  essential  to  the  triumph  of  the 
cause  he  should  espouse. 

I  find  it  stated,*  that  Innocent  XII.,  who 
was  now  reconciled  to  France,  had  counselled 
Charles  H.  of  Spain  to  declare  the  French 
prince  his  heir,  and  that  this  advice  of  the  holy 
father  had  been  the  chief  among  the  causes 
that  conduced  to  the  drawing  up  of  that  will 
on  which  so  much  depended. 

At  any  rate  the  Roman  see  abandoned  the 
anti-French  policy  which  it  had  pursued  al- 
most uninterruptedly  since  the  times  of 
Urban  VIII. :  it  may  possibly  have  regarded 
it  as  the  more  trifling  change,  and  the  lesser 
evil,  if  the  whole  monarchy  devolved  without 
partition  on  a  prince  of  a  house  which  then 
showed  itself  so  pre-eminently  catholic.  Cle- 
mentXI.,  Gianfranc  Albani,  elected  November 
16,  1700,  publicly  lauded  the  resolution  of 
Louis  XIV.  to  accept  the  inheritance.  He 
addressed  a  letter  of  congratulation  to  Philip 
v.,  and  granted  him  subsidies  raised  upon  ec- 
clesiastical property,  just  as  if  no  doubt  sub- 
sisted as  to  his  rights.t  Clement  XI.  might 
be  looked  on  as  a  perfect  and  genuine  repre- 


*  Morosini :  Relatione  di  Roma,  1707.  "  Se  il  papa  ab- 
bia  avulo  mano  o  participatione  nel  lestamenlo  di  Carlo 
II.,  io  non  ardiru  d'  asserirlo  ;  n6  6  facile  di  peneirare  il 
vera  con  sicurezza.  Bensl  addurro  solo  due  laiii.  L'uno 
che  qupslo  arcano,  non  si  sa  con  verili,  fu  espuslo  in  un 
manifesto  uscito  alle  stampe  in  Roaia  ne'  prinii  niesi  del 
niio  ingresso  all'  anibasciata,  all'  ora  che  dall'  uno  el'  al- 
tro  panito  si  tratlava  la  guerra  non  menu  con  1'  armi  che 
con  le  carte.  L'allrociie  il  papa  non  s'  astenne  di  far 
publici  eloga  al  Christmo.  d'essersi  ritiralo  dal  partaggio, 
ricevendo  la  monarchia  intiera  per  il  nepole.''  [I  will 
not  pretend  to  affirm  whether  or  not  the  pope  had  hand  or 
pan  in  the  will  uf  Charles  II.,  nor  is  il  easy  to  arrive  with 
certainly  at  the  truth.  I  will  cite,  however,  but  two  facts. 
The  one  is  that  this  secret  was  published,  whether  with 
truth  or  not  is  not  If  nown,  in  a  manifesto  which  issued  from 
the  Roman  press  in  the  first  months  of  my  embassy,  at  the 
time  when  war  was  actually  waged  between  tlie  two 
parties.  The  other  fact  is,  that  the  pope  did  not  abstain 
from  publicly  eulogizing  the  most  Christian  king,  because 
he  had  discountenanced  the  partition  of  Spain,  and  ac- 
cepted the  monarchy  entire  for  his  npphew.] 

tBuder:  Leben  und  Thaten  Clemens  XI.  torn.  i.  p. 
148. 


sentative  of  the  Roman  court,  which  he  had 
never  quitted ;  affability,   literary  talent,  and 
an  irreproachable  life,  had  won  him  universal 
popularity.*     He  had  contrived  greatly  to  in- 
gratiate himself  with    the   three    last  popes, 
difl'erent   as  they  were  in  character,  and   to 
render   himself  indispensable   to  them.     He 
won  his  way  upwards   by  tried,  practical,  yet 
never  formidable,  talents.     If,  as  he  once  said, 
he  had  been  able  to  give  good  advice  as  car- 
dinal, but  as  pope  knew  not  how  to  serve  him- 
self, this  may  be  taken  as  an   indication  that 
he   felt  himself  better  qualified  to  seize  and 
carry  out  a  given  impulse,  than  to  conceive 
an  original  resolution  and  to  carry  it  into  ef- 
fect.    In  taking  up,  for  instance,  the  jurisdic- 
tional question  with   renewed   vigour    imme- 
diately on  his  accession,  he  only  followed  the 
bent  of  public  opinion  and  the  interests  of  the 
curia.     In  like  manner  he  was  a  believer  in 
the  fortune  and  might  of  the  great  king.     He 
did  not  doubt  that  Louis  XIV.   would   be  tri- 
umphant in  the  end.     The  Venetian  ambassa- 
dor avers,  that  he  could  not  conceal  his  joy 
and  satisfaction  at  the  progress  made  by  the 
French  arms  in  relation  to  the  German  and 
Italian  enterprize  against  Vienna  in  the  year 
170;^,  which  promised  to  be  final  and  decisive. 
But  the  fortune  of  war  changed  at  that  mo- 
ment.    The  king's  German  and  English  an- 
tagonists, with  whom  Innocent  XI.  had  con- 
nected himself,  but  from  whom  Clement  XI. 
had    gradually   estranged    himself,   achieved 
unprecedented  victories:  the  imperial  troops, 
in  conjunction  with  those  of  Prussia,  poured 
down   on    Italy;  they  were    not  disposed  to 
show  forbearance   to  a   pope  whose  conduct 
was  so  ainbiguous  ;  the  old  pretensions  of  the 
imperial  power,  which   had  not  been  thought 
of  since  the  days  of  Charles  V.,  awoke  again. 
We  will  not  enter  upon  all  the  bitter  ani- 
mosities in    which  Clement  XI.  became  in- 
volved.!    At  last    the   imperialists   assigned 
him  a  term  within  which  he  was  to  accept 
their  proposals  for  peace,  among  which  the 
most   important  was,  the   recognition  of  the 
Austrian  claimant  to  the  Spanish  throne.     In 
vain  the  pope  looked   round   for  help.     He 
waited   till  the   appointed   day,  January   15, 
1709,  after  the  lapse  of  which,  should  he  come 


*Erizzo:  Relatione  di  Roma,  1702.  "  Infatti  pareva 
euli  la  delizia  di  Roma,  e  non  eravi  ministro  regie  n6 
natione  che  non  credesse  tutto  suo  il  cardinale  Albani. 
Tanto  bene,"  he  adds,  "sapeva  fingere  alTelti  e  variare 
linguaggio  con  tutti.  [In  fact,  he  appeared  the  darling  of 
Rome,  and  there  was  not  a  royal  minister  or  nation  that 
was  not  certain  of  engrossing  all  cardinal  Albani's  good- 
will. So  well  did  heknow  how  to  assume  the  appearance 
of  sympathy,  and  to  adapt  his  language  to  every  one.] 

■f  For  instance,  those  respecting  the  troops  quartered  in 
Parma  and  Piacenza,  where  the  clergy  were  compelled 
to  furnish  contributions  of  war.  "Accord  avec  les  d6- 
put^s  du  due  et  de  la  ville  de  Plaisance,  11  d6c.  1706.  art. 
ix.  que  pour  soulager  I'^tat  tous  les  particuliers,  quoique 
tres  privil^gi^s,  contribueroient  i.  la  susdite  somme." 
This  the  pope  would  not  submit  to.  The  imperial  claims 
were  thereupon  re-asserled  with  increased  vehemence. 
Contred^claralion  de  I'empereur,  in  Lamberty,  v.  85. 


380 


THE  POPES  SUBSEQUENTLY  TO  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


to  no  decision,  the  imperialists  had  threatened 
to  overrun  his  capital  and  his  dominious.  It 
was  not  till  the  last  hour  of  that  day,  eleven 
o'clock,  p.  M.,  that  he  gave  his  signature. 
He  had  formerly  congratulated  Philip  V. :  he 
now  found  himself  compelled  to  acknowledge 
his  rival  Charles  III.,  as  the  catholic  king.* 

This  event  not  only  gave  a  severe  blow  to 
the  authority  of  the  papal  see  as  umpire,  but 
even  despoiled  it  of  its  freedom  and  independ- 
ence. I'he  French  ambassador  left  Rome, 
declaring  it  was  no  longer  the  seat  of  the 
church.f 

The  whole  aspect  of  European  affairs  was 
changed.  It  was,  after  all,  protestant  Eng- 
land that  had  finally  decided  the  destiny  of 
the  Spanish  and  catholic  monarchy;  what 
further  influence  could  the  pope  exercise  over 
the  movements  of  general  policy? 

By  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  Sicily  and  Sar- 
dinia,— countries  which  he  regarded  as  his 
own  fief, — were  consigned  to  new  sovereigns 
without  his  being  so  much  as  consulted. J 
The  convenience  of  the  great  powers  super- 
seded the  infallible  decision  of  the  chief  pastor 
of  the  church. 

Nay,  a  peculiar  misfortune  befel  the  papal 
see  in  this  crisis. 

It  had  always  been  one  of  the  foremost 
aims  of  its  policy  to  possess  influence  over  the 
Italian  states,  to  assert  as  far  as  possible  an 
indirect  sovereignty  over  them. 

But  now,  not  only  had  German  Austria, 
while  almost  at  open  war  with  the  pope,  made 
good  its  footing  in  Italy,  but  the  duke  of 
Savoy  too  had  attained  to  royal  power,  and  a 
great  augmentation  of  his  possessions,  in  defi- 
ance of  the  pope's  opposition. 

And  so  it  went  on  in  other  instances. 

In  order  to  appease  the  dispute  between  the 
houses  of  Bourbon  and  Austria,  the  allied 
powers  acceded  to  the  wi.sh  of  the  queen  of 
Spain,  that  they  should  grant  Parma  and 
Piacenza  to  one  of  her  sons.  For  two  centu- 
ries the  feudal  suzerainty  of  the  popes  over 
that  duchy  had  never  been  questioned ;  the 
dukes  had  received  it  as  a  fief,  and  paid  tri- 
bute :  but  now  that  this  right  assumed  a  new 
importance,  now  that  it  was  foreseen  that  the 
male  line  of  the  house  of  Farnese  would  soon 
become  extinct,  it  was  no  longer  respected. 
The  emperor  assigned  the  country  as  a  fief  to 
an  infant  of  Spain.  Notliing  remained  for  the 
pope  but  to  put  forth  protests  which  no  one 
heeded.  5 

The  peace  between  the  two  houses  was, 
however,  but  momentary.     In  the  year  1733, 

*  The  conditions,  which  were  at  first  kept  secret,  were 
made  known  by  a  letter  from  the  Austrian  ambassador  to 
the  Duke  of  Marlboroush.    Lambeny,  v.  24-2. 

t  Lettre  du  mar^chal  Thesse  au  pape,  12  juillet,  1709. 

t  For  proofs  of  the  ambisruous  conduct  of  the  duke  of 
Savoy,  see  Lafitau,  Vie  de  (/lemenl  XI.  loin.  ii.  p.  78. 

%  "  Protestatio  nomine  sedis  aposloliise  emissa  in  con- 
vemu  Catneracensi,  in  Roussei :  Supplement  au  corps 
diplomat.  Ue  Dumont,  iii.  ii.  p.  173. 


the  Bourbons  revived  their  pretensions  to  Na- 
ples, which  was  in  the  hands  of  Austria;  and 
the  Spanish  ambassador  offered  palfrey  and 
tribute  to  the  pope.  Clement  XH.  would  now 
have  been  glad  to  leave  matters  as  they  stood ; 
he  nominated  a  commission  of  cardinals,  which 
decided  in  favour  of  the  imperial  claims.  But 
on  this  occasion  too  the  fortune  of  war  was 
contrary  to  the  judgment  of  the  pope :  the 
Spanish  arms  were  victorious.  Ere  long  Cle- 
ment was  forced  to  grant  investiture  of  Na- 
ples and  Sicily  to  that  same  infant  whom  he 
had  beheld  with  such  mortification  take  pos- 
sessions of  Parma. 

The  final  result  of  all  these  straggles  was 
truly  not  very  difl^erent  from  what  the  Roman 
court  had  originally  contemplated;  the  house 
of  Bourbon  spread  over  Spain  and  a  great 
part  of  Italy :  but  under  what  widely  differ- 
ent circumstances  had  all  this  taken  place 
from  those  anticipated  in  the  first  instance  ! 

Sentence  in  the  great  strife  had  been  pro- 
nounced by  England ;  it  was  in  open  contra- 
diction to  the  papal  see  that  the  Bourbons  had 
forced  their  way  into  Italy;  that  separation 
of  the  provinces  which  it  was  sought  to  avoid, 
had  taken  place,  and  filled  Italy  and  the  states 
of  the  church  unceasingly  with  hostile  arms. 
The  temporal  authority  of  the  papal  see  was 
thereby  annihilated  even  in  its  immediate 
neighbourhood. 

Hence  would  necessarily  ensue  a  great  re- 
action upon  the  controversies  touching  the 
ecclesiastical  rights  of  Rome,  which  were  so 
intimately  connected  with  the  course  of  poli- 
tical events. 

How  severely  had  Clement  XL  already  been 
made  to  feel  this! 

More  than  once  his  nuncio  was  sent  out  of 
Naples:  in  Sicily  the  clergy  in  the  interests 
of  Rome  were  once  seized  in  a  body,  and 
transported  to  the  ecclesiastical  states;*  an 
intention  was  displayed  in  all  the  Italian 
states,  of  admitting  none  but  natives  to  eccle- 
siastical dignities;!  in  Spain  too  the  nuncia- 
ture was  closed,!  and  Clement  XI.  at  one 
time  thought  it  would  be  necessary  to  cite 
Alberoni  tlie  prime  minister  of  Spain  before 
the  inquisition. 

Year  after  year  these  differences  became 
more  serious.  The  court  of  Rome  possessed 
not  the  force  and  inward  energy  requisite  to 
hold  together  those  who  owned  its  faith. 

"  I  cannot  deny,"  says  the  Venetian  ambas- 
sador Mocenigo,  1737,  "  there  is  something 
unnatural   in  seeing  all  the  catholic  govern- 


571. 


Buder,  Leben  and  Thaten  Clemens  XL  torn.  iii.  p. 

f  We  learn  from  Lorenzo  Tiepolo,  Relatione  di  Roma, 
1712,  that  the  imoerialists  in  Naples  as  well  as  in  Milan, 
had  it  in  view  "che  Ii  beneficii  ecclesiastici  siano  sola- 
nienle  dati  a  national!,  colpo  di  non  picciolo  danna  alia 
tone  di  Roiiia  se  si  effectuasse." 

t  Saa  Felipe,  Contributions  to  the  history  of  Spain,  iii. 
214. 


THE  SPANISH  SUCCESSION. 


381 


ments  engaged  in  such  violent  altercations 
with  the  Roman  court,  that  no  means  of  re- 
conciliation can  be  thought  of,  but  such  as 
wouk!  be  fatal  to  the  vitality  of  that  court. 
Whether  it  proceed,  as  i?o  many  suppose,  from 
the  difi'usiun  of  more  enlightened  views,  or  from 
the  disposition  to  tyrannize  over  the  weak, 
certain  it  is  that  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  are 
making  rapid  progress  towards  stripping  the 
Roman  see  of  all  its  temporal  rights.*" 

In  those  days  a  man  needed  but  to  open  his 
eyes  and  behold  what  was  passing  round  him 
in  Rome,  to  be  convinced  that  every  thing 
was  in  jfopardy  unless  peace  was  concluded. 

The  memory  of  Benedict  X.  (Prospero  Lam- 
bertina,  1740 — 1758,)  is  blessed,  because  he  re- 
solved on  making  the  indispensable  concessions. 

It  is  well  known  how  little  Benedict  XIV. 
suffered  himself  to  be  dazzled  or  made  over- 
weening by  the  imposing  greatness  of  his 
dignity.  lie  did  not  forego  his  good-humour- 
ed jocularity  or  his  Bolognese  wit  because 
he  was  pope.  He  would  get  up  from  busi- 
ness, join  his  courtiers,  utter  some  fancy  that 
had  crossed  his  mind  while  at  work,  and  then 
go  back  to  his  desk.f  His  mind  was  ever 
lixed  on  essentials.  He  cast  a  bold  and  com- 
prehensive glance  over  the  relations  of  the 
papa!  see  to  the  European  powers,  and  dis- 
cerned what  it  was  possible  to  hold,  what  ne- 
cessary to  surrender.  He  was  too  sound  a 
canonist  and  likewise  too  thoroughly  a  pope 
to  suffer  himself  to  be  carried  too  far  in  the 
latter  course. 

The  most  extraordinary  act  of  his  pontifi- 
cate, was  the  concordat  which  he  concluded 
in  the  year  1753  with  Spain.  He  brought 
himself  to  renounce  the  right  of  collation  to 
the  smaller  benefices  in  that  country,  which 
the  curia  still  retained,  though  it  was  now  ve- 
hemently contested.  But  was  the  court  to  be 
deprived,  without  any  compensation,  of  the 
large  sums  it  had  hitherto  drawn  from  that 
source  !  Was  the  papal  authority  once  for 
all  to  abandon  its  influence  over  individuals'! 
Benedict  hit  upon  the  following  expedient  to 
escape  from  these  difficulties;  fifty-two  of  the 
benefices  in  question  were  specially  reserved 
for  the  pope's  nomination,  "  that  he  might 
therewith  reward  those  Spanish  ecclesiastics 
who  should  earn  a  claim  to  them  by  their  vir- 
tue, purity,  learning,  or  services  to  the  Roman 
see.J;"     The  pecuniary  value  of  the  loss  sus- 

*  Aluise  Mocenigo  IV.  Relatione  di  Roma,  16  April, 
1737.    (Appendix,  No.  162.) 

t  Relnuone  di  F.  Venier  di  Roma,  1714:  "Ascesso  il 
papa  al  uoiio  di  S.  Pieiro,  non  Beppe  cambiare  I'indole 
sua.  Egli  era  di  temperariienlo  aff'abile,  insieme  vivace, 
e  vi  restj:  spargeva  fin  da  prelalo  li  suoi  discorsi  con 
giocosi  sdli,  ed  ancor  li  conserva:  dolalo  di  cuore  aperlo 
e  sincero  trascurO  sempre  ogn' una  di  quelle  arli  die  si 
chiamano  romanesche." 

t  "  Accio  non  meno  S.  S'i.  che  i  suoi  successor!  abbiano 
il  modo  di  provedere  e  premiare  quegli  ecclesiaslici  che 
per  prubita  e  per  illibatezza  de'cosuinii  o  per  iiisigne  lel- 
leraiura  or  per  servizi  prestili  alia  S.  sede  se  ne  rende- 
ranno  meiilevoli."  (VVords  of  the  Concordat,  quoted  in 
the  Report  of  the  English  Committee,  1816,  p.  317.) 


tained  by  the  curia,  was  computed,  and  found 
to  amount  to  34,300  scudi  yearly.  The  king 
engaged  to  pay  down  a  sum  of  1,143,330 
scudi,  the  interest  of  which  at  three  percent, 
would  be  equal  to  the  above  amount  of  loss. 
Gold,  the  universal  rectifier,  proved  its  con- 
ciliatory power  even  in  ecclesiastical  affairs. 

With  most  of  the  other  courts  too  Benedict 
XIV.  concluded  treaties  containing  conces- 
sions. The  right  of  patronage  already  pos- 
sessed by  the  king  of  Portugal  was  extended, 
and  the  title  of  Most  Faithful  was  conferred 
upon  him,  in  addition  to  the  other  spiritual 
honours  and  privileges  he  had  acquired.  The 
Sardinian  court,  doubly  displeased  because 
the  concessions  it  had  obtained  in  auspicious 
moments  had  been  revoked  under  the  last 
pontificate,  was  appeased  by  the  instructions 
tantamount  to  concordats  of  the  years  1741 
and  1750.*  In  Naples,  where,  under  the  pa- 
tronage of  the  imperial  government,  and  par- 
ticularly by  the  exertions  of  Gaetano  Argento, 
a  school  of  law  had  been  established,  which 
made  it  its  chief  study  to  contest  the  jurisdic- 
tional rights  of  the  church,  and  which  vehe- 
mently combated  the  pretensions  of  the  pope,f 
Benedict  XIV.  permitted  the  rights  of  the 
nunciature  to  be  curtailed  in  no  small  degree, 
and  the  clergy  compelled  to  contribute  their 
share  to  the  public  charges.  To  the  imperial 
court  he  conceded  that  diminution  of  the  num- 
ber of  appointed  holidays,  which  made  so  great 
a  noise  at  the  time,  for  whereas  the  pope  had 
simply  granted  permission  to  work  on  those 
days,  the  imperial  court  did  not  scruple  to  em- 
ploy force  and  make  it  compulsory. 

Thus  the  catholic  courts  became  once  more 
reconciled  to  their  ecclesiastical  head  ;  once 
more  peace  was  restored. 

But  could  it  be  fairly  supposed  that  every- 
thing was  fully  and  finally  settled  ]  Could  it 
be  hoped  that  the  strife  between  church  and 
state,  which  seems  almost  identified  with  an 
inward  necessity  of  Catholicism,  could  have 
been  set  at  rest  by  such  slight  compromises'? 
These  could  give  content  but  for  the  moment 
that  had  called  them  forth.  Already  the  up- 
heaved deep  was  giving  token  of  other  and 
far  more  violent  storms. 

Altered  state  of  Europe.    Internal  ferments. 
Suppression  oj  the  order  of  Jesuits. 

The  greatest  change  had  taken  place,  not 
only  in  Italy  and  the  south  of  Europe,  but  in 
the  entire  condition  of  the  political  world. 

Where  were  now  the  days  in  which  the 
papacy  might  entertain  the  hope,  and  not 
without  reason,  of  once  more  subjecting  Eu- 
rope and  the  world  to  its  sway  1 

*  Risposta  alls  nolizie  dimandaie  intorno  alia  giuris- 
dittione  ecclesiaslica  nello  stato  di  S.  M'a.  Turino,  5 
Marzo,  1816.    Ibid.  p.  250. 

t  Giannoae :  Storia  di  Napoli,  vi.  387. 


382 


THE  POPES  SUBSEQUENTLY  TO  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


Amoncr  the  five  great  powers,  that  as  early 
as  the  eighteenth  century  determined  the 
policy  of  Europe,  there  were  three  anticath- 
olic.  We  mentioned  the  attempts  made  by 
the  popes  in  earlier  times,  to  master  Russia 
and  Prussia  through  Poland,  and  England 
through  France  and  Spain.  Those  same  three 
nations  were  now  among  the  great  ruling 
powers  of  the  world,  nay,  we  may  fearlessly 
assert  that  they  had  the  preponderance  over 
the  catholic  section  of  Europe. 

It  was  not  sim.ply  that  one  dogmatic  system 
had  triumphed  over  another,  that  the  protest- 
ant  had  put  down  the  catholic  theology  ;  the 
conflict  was  no  longer  waged  on  this  field  : 
but  the  change  had  been  brought  about  by  those 
internal  national  evolutions,  the  main  features 
of  which  we  have  already  noticed  :  the  anti- 
catholic  states  displayed  a  general  superiority 
over  the  catholic  ;  the  monarchical  and  united 
spirit  of  tlie  Russians  had  triumphed  over  the 
discordant  and  factious  aristocracy  of  Poland; 
the  industry,  the  practical  sense,  and  the 
nautical  skill  of  the  English,  over  the  indo- 
lence of  the  Spaniards,  and  the  vacillating 
policy  of  the  French,  ever  contingent  upon 
the  accidental  changes  in  their  domestic  af- 
fairs ;  the  energetic  organization  and  military 
discipline  of  Prussia,  over  the  principles  of  a 
federative  monarchy,  such  as  was  then  exhi- 
bited in  Austria. 

But  though  this  superiority  was  in  no  re- 
spect the  result  of  religion,  still  it  could  not 
but  react  on  church  affairs. 

In  the  first  place  because  religious  parties 
rose  with  the  rise  of  states.  Russia,  for  in- 
stance, arbitrarily  established  Greek  bishops 
in  the  united  provinces  of  Poland  ;*  the  ele- 
vation of  Prussia  gradually  revived  among 
the  Germans  a  sense  of  independence  and 
strength,  such  as  they  had  long  ceased  to 
feel ;  the  more  decided  became  the  naval 
supremacy  of  protestant  England,  the  more 
were  the  catholic  missions  cast  into  the  shade, 
and  stinted  of  that  efficacy  which  they  had 
once  derived  from  the  force  of  political  influ- 
ence. 

Nor  was  this  all.  So  late  as  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  Eng- 
land was  bound  to  the  policy  of  France,  Rus- 
sia virtually  severed  from  the  rest  of  Europe, 
and  the  power  of  the  house  of  Brandenburg 
but  in  its  infancy,  the  catholic  powers,  France, 
Spain,  Austria,  and  Poland,  divided  even  as 
they  were,  had  ruled  the  European  world. 
The  conviction  how  vastly  all  this  was 
changed  must,  I  think  have  gradually  forced 
its  way  into  the  minds  of  the  catholic  powers, 
and  obliterated  the  proud  consciousness  of  a 
politico-religious  vitality,  unrestricted  by  any 
superior  force.  The  pope  was  now  aware 
that  he  no  longer  stood  at  the  liead  of  the 
powers  that  swayed  the  world. 

*  Kulhi^re:  Hisloire  de  I'anarchie  de  Pologne,  i.  181. 


But  lastly,  would  not  the  thought  arise, 
whence  came  this  change  1  Every  defeat, 
every  check,  will  call  forth  on  the  part  of  the 
vanquished,  if  they  do  not  despair,  an  inter- 
nal revolution,  an  imitation  and  a  rivalry  of 
the  triumphant  foe.  The  strictly  monarchi- 
cal, military,  and  commercial  tendencies  of 
the  anti-catholic  nations  now  insinuated  them- 
selves into  the  catholic  states.  As  it  is  now 
plain  and  unquestionable  that  the  inferiority 
into  which  they  had  fallen  was  connected 
with  their  ecclesiastical  constitution,  the 
movement  of  the  public  mind  was  first  di- 
rected to  that  point. 

But  here  it  came  in  contact  with  other 
mighty  ferments,  which  had  meanwhile  seized 
on  faith  and  opinion  within  the  pale  of  Catho- 
licism. 

The  Jansenist  controversies,  of  which  we 
have  noticed  the  commencement,  were  re- 
newed from  the  beinning  of  the  eighteenth 
century  with  redoubled  vehemence.  They 
began  from  the  highest  places.  The  confes- 
sor of  the  king  of  France,  who  was  usually  a 
Jesuit,  and  the  archbishop  of  Paris,  were  wont 
to  exercise  paramount  influence  in  the  supreme 
spiritual  council  of  the  nation.  From  that 
assembly  la  Chaise  and  Harlai  had  in  strict 
unanimity  directed  the  measures  of  the 
crown  against  the  papacy.  Their  successors, 
le  Tellier  and  Noailles,  were  not  on  so  good 
an  understanding  with  each  other.  Slight 
diversities  of  opinion  may  have  been  the  first 
occasion  of  their  dis-union ; — the  stricter 
adherence  of  the  one  to  the  Jesuit  or  Molinist 
notions,  and  the  tolerant  leaning  of  the  other 
towards  those  of  the  Jansenists; — gradually, 
however,  a  total  rupture  ensued  between 
them,  and  the  rent  spread  from  the  king's 
cabinet  throughout  the  whole  body  of  the  na- 
tion. The  confessor  succeeded  not  only  in 
maintaining  himself  in  power,  and  gaining 
over  the  king,  but  even  in  inducing  the  pope 
to  have  recourse  to  the  bull  Unigenitus,  con- 
demning the  Jansenist  doctrines  of  sin,  grace, 
justification  and  the  church,  even  in  their 
more  mitigated  form,  in  some  instances  ver- 
batim as  their  partizans  professed  to  find  them 
in  St.  Augustine,  and  in  far  wider  extension 
than  in  the  five  propositions  before  mentioned.* 
This  was  the  final  decision  of  the  whole  con- 
trovery  agitated  by  Molina;  after  such  length- 

*  The  M^moires  secrets  sur  la  buUe  Unigenitus,  i.  p. 
123,  pourtray  the  first  impression  it  produced.  "Les  uns 
publioienl  qu'on  y  altaquoit  de  front  les  premiers  princi- 
pes  de  la  foi  et  de  la  morale ;  les  aulres  qu'on  y  condam- 
noit  les  sentiments  el  les  expressions  des  saints  pftres; 
d'autres  qu'on  y  enlevoit  a  la  charity  sa  preeminence  et 
sa  force ;  d'autres  qu'on  leur  arrachoit  des  mains  le  pain 
celeste  des  ^critures  ;— les  noiiveaux  r^unis  a.  I'^glise  se 
disoient  tromp6s,"  &c.  &c.  [Some  gave  it  out  that  the 
bull  contained  an  open  attack  on  the  first  principles  of 
faith  and  morals;  others  that  it  condemned  the  senti- 
ments and  expressions  of  the  holy  fathers  ;  others  that  it 
aimed  at  divesting  charity  of  its  pre-eminence  and  its 
force  ;  others  that  it  tore  the  heavenly  bread  of  the  Scrip- 
tures from  their  hands;— the  lately  reconciled  with  the 
church  declared  themselves  deceived,  &c.  &c.] 


ALTERED  STATE  OF  EUROPE. 


ened  hesitation,  the  Roman  see  at  last  unam- 
biguously sided  with  the  Jesuits.  It  thereby 
succeeded  in  gaining  to  its  side  that  powerful 
order,  which  thenceforth  most  vigorously  de- 
fended the  ultramontane  doctrines  and  the 
pretensions  of  the  papal  autiiority,  a  thing, 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  it  had  by  no  means 
invariably  done  before.  The  see  of  Rome 
succeeded  likewise  in  maintaining  a  good 
understanding  with  the  French  government, 
which  had  indeed  provoked  this  decision  ;  ere 
long  preferment  was  bestowed  exclusively  on 
those  who  submitted  to  the  bull.  But  the  most 
serious  opposition  likewise  started  up  from 
the  other  side ;  on  the  part  of  the  learned, 
who  adhered  to  St.  Augustine,  on  that  of  the 
orders,  who  clung  to  Thomas  Aquinas,  on  that 
of  the  parliaments,  which  beheld  in  every  act 
of  the  Roman  Court  a  fresh  attack  upon  the 
Gallican  rights.  The  Jansenists  now  at 
length  stood  forth  as  earnest  champions  of 
those  liberties ;  with  more  and  more  boldness 
they  propounded  doctrines  concerning  the 
church,  at  variance  with  those  of  Rome;  nay, 
they  even  proceeded  to  work  out  their  princi- 
ples under  the  protection  of  a  protestant  gov- 
ernment ;  an  archiepiscopal  church  arose  at 
Utrecht,  catholic  in  its  general  tenour,  but 
maintaining  a  complete  independence  of 
Rome,  and  which  waged  incessant  war 
against  the  ultramontane  principles  of  the 
the  Jesuits.  It  would  be  well  worth  while 
to  investigate  the  development,  propagation, 
and  influence  of  these  opinions  throughout 
Europe.  In  France  the  Jansenists  were  ha- 
rassed, persecuted,  and  excluded  from  office  ; 
but,  as  commonly  happens,  this  did  not  hurt 
their  cause  in  the  main ;  during  the  persecu- 
tions with  which  they  were  visited,  a  large 
part  of  the  public  declared  in  their  favour. 
Well  would  it  have  been  for  them  had  they 
not  by  their  superstitious  extravagance  brought 
discredit  even  on  their  sound  doctrines.  But 
at  any  rate  their  life  and  doctrine  were  in 
close  keeping  with  a  pure  morality,  and  a 
profounder  faith,  and  this  everywhere  told  in 
their  favour.  We  mark  their  tracks  in  Vien- 
na and  Brussels,  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  and 
throughout  all  Italy.  Their  doctrines  over- 
spread all  Christendom,  sometimes  openly, 
oftener  in  secret. 

Undoubtedly  this  schism  in  the  clergy  was 
one  of  the  causes  that  prepared  the  way  for 
the  progress  of  still  more  dangerous  opinions. 
It  is  an  ever  memorable  phenomenon,  what 
an  influence  the  efforts  of  Louis  XIV.  in  reli- 
gious matters  had  upon  the  French  mind,  nay, 
on  that  of  Europe  in  general.  He  had  strained 
despotism  to  the  utmost,  he  had  violated  divine 
and  human  laws,  in  order  to  root  out  protest- 
antism, and  annihilate  in  France  even  the 
shadow  of  dissent;  he  had  made  it  his  whole 
endeavour  to  give  his  kingdom  a  perfectly 
orthodox  catholic  complexion.     But  no  sooner 


were  his  eyes  closed  than  his  whole  system 
was  dashed  down.  The  pent  up  spirit  rushed 
forth  with  irrepressible  impetuosity. 

Disgust  at  the  conduct  of  Louis  XIV.  was 
the  immediate  parent  of  opinions  at  open  war 
with  Catholicism,  nay,  with  all  positive  reli- 
gions whatever.  From  year  to  year  these 
opinions  gained  inward  strength  and  outward 
diffusion.  The  kingdoms  of  Southern  Europe 
were  based  on  the  most  intimate  union  of 
church  and  state.  In  those  very  kingdoms 
there  arose  a  cast  of  thought,  which  developed 
antipathy  to  the  church  and  to  religion,  into 
a  system  affecting  all  notions  of  God  and  his 
world,  all  political  and  social  principles,  all 
sciences, — a  literature  of  opposition,  which 
took  captive  the  minds  of  men,  and  bound 
them  in  indissoluble  bonds. 

It  is  manifest  how  little  accordance  there 
was  between  these  tendencies :  the  reforming 
principle  was  in  its  nature  monarchical,  which 
cannot  be  said  of  the  philosophical,  which  very 
soon  set  itself  no  less  against  the  state  than 
against  the  church ;  the  Jansenist  principle 
clung  to  convictions  that  were  indifl^erent  if 
not  hateful  to  both  the  others :  yet  after  all, 
they  all  three  co-operated  to  the  one  end. 
They  promoted  that  spirit  of  innovation,  which 
spreads  the  more  contagiously  the  less  it  has 
a  definite  aim,  and  the  more  it  lays  claim  to 
the  whole  future,  and  which  daily  imbibes 
fresh  strength  from  the  abuses  in  the  existing 
order  of  things.  This  spirit  now  invaded  the 
catholic  church.  It  generally  originated, 
consciously  or  unconsciously,  from  what  has 
been  called  the  philosophy  of  the  eighteenth 
century  ;  the  Jansenist  theories  gave  it  an 
ecclesiastical  form  and  bearing ;  its  activity 
was  prompted  by  the  wants  of  states,  and  by 
the  events  of  the  moment.  In  every  country 
and  at  every  court  two  parties  arose,  of  which 
the  one  waged  war  on  the  curia  and  the  estab- 
lished constitution  and  doctrine,  the  other 
strove  to  uphold  things  as  they  were,  and  to 
maintain  the  prerogatives  of  the  universal 
church. 

The  latter  was  particularly  represented  by 
the  Jesuits,  whose  order  appeared  as  the  main 
bulward  of  the  ultramontane  principles:  upon 
it  therefore  was  the  violence  of  the  storm  first 
directed. 

Suppression  of  the  order  of  the  Jesuits. 

The  Jesuits  were  still  very  powerful  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  chiefly,  as  in  former  times, 
because  they  were  confessors  of  the  great  and 
of  princes,  and  the  education  of  youth  was 
under  their  guidance ;  their  enterprizes, 
whether  pertaining  to  religion,  though  these 
were  not  plied  with  the  same  energy  as  of 
old,  or  to  commerce,  still  embraced  the  whole 
world.  They  now  adhered  unswervingly  to 
the  doctrines  of  ecclesiastical  orthodoxy  and 


384  THE  POPES  SUBSEQUENTLY  TO  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


subordination :  whatever  was  at  variance 
with  these,  whether  actual  unbelief,  Jansen- 
ist  notions,  or  reforming  tendencies,  all  alike 
fell  with  them  under  the  same  condemnation. 

The  first  attack  made  on  them  was  in  the 
domain  of  thought  and  literature.  It  cannot 
be  denied  that  they  opposed  to  the  multitude 
and  vigour  of  their  assailants  rather  a  stubborn 
tenacity  to  doctrines  once  adopted,  indirect 
influence  over  the  great  and  anathematizing 
zeal,  than  the  genuine  weapons  of  intellectual 
warfare.  It  is  almost  incomprehensible  that 
neither  ihey  themselves  nor  any  of  their  col- 
leagues in  faith,  produced  a  single  original  and 
effective  book  in  defence  of  their  cause, 
whilst  the  works  of  their  antagonists  inun- 
dated the  world,  and  fixed  the  character  of 
public  opinion. 

But  after  they  had  been  once  defeated  in 
the  field  of  doctrine,  of  science,  and  of  intel- 
lect, it  was  impossible  for  them  long  to  main- 
tain their  hold  of  power. 

In  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
during  the  struggle  of  these  two  tendencies, 
reforming  ministers  came  to  the  helm  in  al- 
most all  the  catholic  states ;  in  France,  Choi- 
seul,*  in  Spain  Wall  and  Squillace,  in  Naples 
Tanucci,  in  Portugal  Carvalho ;  all  of  them 
men  who  had  made  it  the  great  aim  of  their 
lives  to  bring  down  the  ascendancy  of  the 
church  and  its  principles.  In  them  the  eccle- 
siastical opposition  obtained  representatives 
and  power ;  their  personal  position  was  found- 
ed upon  it ;  open  warfare  was  the  more  una- 
voidable, since  the  Jesuits  obstructed  them  by 
personal  counteraction,  and  by  their  influence 
in  the  highest  circles. 

The  first  thought  did  not  go  the  length  of 
contemplating  the  extinction  of  the  order ;  it 
was  intended  at  first  only  to  exclude  them 
from  courts,  and  to  strip  them  of  their  credit, 
and  if  possible  of  their  wealth.  It  was  thought 
that  the  aid  even  of  the  Roman  court  could 
be  obtained  to  that  end.  Even  there  the 
schism  that  rent  the  catholic  world  had  in  a 
measure  presented  itself;  there  was  a  more 
rigid  and  a  milder  party;  Benedict  XIV.,  who 
represented  the  latter,  had  long  been  dissatis- 
fied with  the  Jesuits :  he  had  often  loudly 
condemned  their  conduct  in  the  missions.f 

After  Carvalho,  amidst  all  the  turbulence  of 
faction  in  the  Portuguese  court,  and  in  defi- 
ance of  the  Jesuits,  who  sought  his  downfall, 
had  finally  proved  lord  and  master  of  the 
powers  of  state,  and  even  of  the  royal  will,  he 

*  In  the  appendix  to  the  Memoirs  of  Mad.  du  Hausset, 
there  is  a  treatis<^,  Ue  la  desi  ruction  des  Jesuiies  en 
France,  in  wliich  Clioiseursdislilie  to  the  Jesuits  is  traced 
10  the  circumstance,  that  the  general  of  the  order  had 
once  given  him  to  understand  in  Rome,  that  he  was  ac- 
nuainled  with  what  had  been  spoken  at  a  supper  in  Paris. 
But  this  is  a  tale  that  has  been  repeated  in  numerous 
forms,  and  which  can  scarcely  be  thought  of  much 
weiglil.    The  causes  lay  so  newhat  deeper. 

t  When  he  was  yet  only  bishop  Lamberiini.  Memoires 
du  pfere  Norbert,  ii.  20. 


urged  the  pope  to  a  reform  of  the  order.*  He 
put  forward,  as  might  be  expected,  that  point 
in  their  case  which  was  most  obnoxious  to  cen- 
sure, namely,  the  mercantile  spirit  of  the 
society,  by  which,  moreover,  he  was  greatly 
inconvenienced  in  his  commercial  projects. 
The  pope  did  not  hesitate  to  entertain  the  pro- 
posal. At  Carvalho's  suggestion  he  entrusted 
a  friend  of  that  minister's — cardinal  Saldanha, 
a  Portuguese — with  the  visitation  of  the  order. 
A  decree  was  soon  issued  by  that  visiter, 
strongly  reprobating  the  traffic  of  the  Jesuits, 
and  empowering  the  royal  officers  to  confiscate 
all  commercial  effects  belonging  to  those  eccle- 
siastics. 

A  similar  attack  had  also  been  by  this  time 
made  on  the  society  in  France.  The  bank- 
ruptcy of  a  commercial  house  in  Martinique 
connected  with  father  Lavalette,  which 
brought  in  its  train  a  great  number  of  other 
failures,  occasioned  the  sufferers  to  appeal  to 
the  tribunals,  which  took  the  matter  up  very 
warmly.f 

Had  Benedict  XIV.  lived  longer,  it  is  very 
probable  that  he  would  not  have  gone  so  far  as 
to  abolish  the  order,  but  that  he  would  have 
gradually  subjected  it  to  a  thorough  and  radi- 
cal reform. 

But  Benedict  died  just  at  this  crisis.  A 
man  of  opposite  disposition,  Clement  XIII., 
came  forth  from  the  conclave,  as  pope,  July  6, 
1758. 

Clement  was  pure  in  soul  and  in  purpose ; 
he  prayed  much  and  fervently ;  his  highest 
ambition  was  to  obtain  canonization.  At  the 
same  time  he  cherished  the  belief,  that  all  the 
pretensions  of  the  papacy  were  sacred  and 
inviolable ;  he  complained  bitterly  that  some 
of  them  had  been  allowed  to  drop ;  he  was  re- 
solved to  make  no  concessions  ; — nay,  he  was 
fully  possessed  with  the  conviction,  that,  by 
stedfast  pertinacity,  every  thing  might  yet  be 
retrieved,  and  the  tarnished  lustre  of  Rome 
once  more  restored.  J  He  beheld  in  the  Jesuits 
the  most  faithful  champions  of  the  papal  see 
and  of  religion  ;  he  approved  of  them  as  they 
were,  and  thought  they  needed  no  reform.  In 
all  this  he  was  confirmed  by  those  about  him, 
who  shared  in  his  devotions. 

But  as  matters  now  stood,  his  determination 
could  have  no  other  effect  than  that  of  exas- 
perating the  rancour  of  the  assailants,  and 
exposing  the  Roman  see  to  share  their  attacks 
in  common  with  the  Jesuits. 

In  Portugal  the  Jesuits  were  implicated, 
whether  justly  or  not  there  is  no  clearly  ascer- 
taining, in  the  judicial  proceedings  arising  out 


*  A  Jesuit  view  of  this  strife  of  factions  is  very  vividly 
given  in  a  history  of  the  Jesuits  in  Portugal,  translated  by 
Murr  from  an  llalian  manuscript. 

t  Vie  priv6e  de  Louis  XV.  iv.  p.  88. 

i  Collection  of  the  most  remarkable  works  relating  to 
the  suppression  of  the  Jesuits,  1773,  i.  p.  211.  How  strongly 
public  opinion  was  against  it,  may  be  seen  in  Winkel- 
mann'8  letters. 


SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  ORDER  OF  JESUITS. 


385 


of  an  attempt  on  the  king's  life.*  Blow  follow- 
ed blow;  and  at  last  they  were  banished  with 
merciless  violence,  and  actually  transported  to 
the  coasts  of  the  Ecclesiastical  States. 

Meanwhile,  in  France,  the  above-mentioned 
trial  had  placed  them  within  the  gripe  of  the 
parliaments,  by  which  they  had  all  along  been 
detested.  Their  business  was  debated  with 
great  noise  and  ostentation  ;  and  at  last  the 
entire  body  of  the  society  was  condemned  to 
make  good  Lavalette's  engagements.  Nor 
was  this  all.  The  unlimited  authority  of  the 
general  of  the  order,  which  was  incompatible 
with  the  laws  of  the  realm,  was  objected  anew 
to  the  Jesuits  as  a  crime,  and  was  made  a 
ground  for  questioning  the  legality  of  their 
existence  in  general. 

Louis  XV,  would  fain  have  saved  the  order. 
It  was  with  no  view  to  its  destruction,  but  to 
protect  it  as  far  as  possible,  and  only  because 
he  was  forced  to  it  by  the  public  voice,  tiie 
sentences  of  the  tribunals,  and  the  majority  of 
his  council,  that  he  proposed  to  the  general  to 
nominate  a  vicar  in  France.f 

Had  there  been  a  man  like  Aquaviva  at  the 
head  of  the  order,  undoubtedly  some  expedi- 
ent, some  conciliatory  course,  would  have  been 
devised  even  at  this  moment.  But  the  society 
had  now  the  most  inflexible  of  men  for  its 
chief,  Lorenzo  Ricci,  who  felt  nothing  but  the 
injustice  that  befel  it.  He  replied,  that  so 
essential  an  alteration  of  the  constitution  was 
not  within  his  power.  Application  was  made 
to  the  pope  ;  Clement  XIII.  made  answer,  that 
this  constitution  had  been  too  fully  sanctioned 
by  the  holy  council  of  Trent,  and  by  so  many 
decrees  of  his  predecessors,  to  allow  of  his 
changing  it.f  They  rejected  every  modifica- 
tion. Ricci's  whole  mind  was  expressed  in 
the  words, — "  Sint  ut  sunt,  aut  non  siiit." 

The  result  was,  that  they  ceased  to  be.  On 
the  6th  of  August,  1762,  the  parliament  of 
Paris  pronounced  the  suppression  of  the  Je- 
suits in  France.  It  is  true  the  pope  in  consis- 
tory declared  this  decree  null  and  void;^  but 

*  In  the  sentence  pronounced  on  the  12th  of.  January, 
1759,  the  chief  stress  was  laid  on  certain  "  legal  presump- 
tions" against  "the  corrupt  members  of  the  society  of 
Jesus."  The  principal  of  these  are,  their  ambition  to  get 
possession  of  the  reins  of  government,  (§  2.5,)  their  arro- 
gance before  the  treasonable  act,  their  downcast  bearing 
after  its  failure  (§  26) ;  lastly,  and  certainly  a  far  graver 
charge,  their  close  connection  with  the  chief  culprit, 
Mascarenhas,  with  whom  they  had  formerly  quarrelled. 
Father  Costa  was  alleged  to  have  said,  that  in  committing 
regicide,  "a  man  would  not  be  guilty  even  of  a  venial 
siH."  (§4.)  But,  on  the  other  hanil,  it  has  been  remarked, 
that  the  confessions  on  which  these  charges  were  founded, 
had  been  extorted  by  the  rack,  and  that  the  documents 
belonging  to  the  trial  are,  on  the  whole,  full  of  marks  of 
precipitation  and  of  informalities.  The  sentence  can 
certainly  never  be  justified  in  a  judicial  point  of  view. 
Compare  Von  Olfers,  on  the  attempt  to  assassinate  the 
king  of  Portugal,  Sept.  3,  l~o8.    Berlin,  1789. 

t  Letter  from  Praslen,  16  Jan.  1762,  in  Flassan :  Histoire 
de  la  diplo  natie  francaise.  vi.  498.  The  whole  statement 
is  very  instructive. 

t  Narrativeof  the  Jesuits  in  Wolf,  Geschichte  derjesui- 
ten,  iii.  365.  This  book  is  only  useful  as  regards  the  sup- 
pression of  the  order. 

§  "  Protesiatein  ipsam  Jesu  Christi  in  terris  vicario  ejus 

49 


matters  were  already  gone  so  far,  that  he  did 
not  venture  to  publish  the  allocution  in  which 
his  sentence  was  delivered. 

The  movement  now  spread  irresistibly 
through  the  countries  under  the  Bourbon  sway. 
Charles  III.  of  Spain  was  persuaded  that  it 
was  a  scheme  of  the  Jesuits  to  raise  his  brother 
Don  Luis  to  the  throne  in  his  stead.*  Upon 
this  he  took  all  necessary  measures  with  that 
determined  taciturnity  which  distinguished 
his  whole  character,  and  had  the  houses  of  the 
Jesuits  throughout  Spain  all  closed  on  the 
same  day.  The  example  was  followed  with- 
out delay  in  Naples  and  Parma. 

All  in  vain  did  the  pope  admonish,  beseech, 
and  conjure.  At  last  he  made  one  more  ex- 
periment. When  the  duke  of  Parma  went 
the  length  of  prohibiting  all  recourse  to  the 
Roman  tribunals,  and  all  bestowal  of  the  bene- 
fices in  the  duchy  on  others  than  natives,  the 
pope  nerved  himself  to  issue  a  monitorium, 
pronouncing  the  censure  of  the  church  upon 
his  feudatory,  the  duke  ;t  thus  once  more  ven- 
turing on  retaliation.  But  the  worst  conse- 
quences ensued  :  the  duke  replied  in  a  manner 
the  mightiest  sovereigns  in  former  centuries 
would  not  have  dared  to  attempt,  and  all  the 
Bourbons  made  common  cause  with  him. 
Avignon,  Benevento,  and  Pontecorvo  were 
seized  by  them. 

The  hostility  of  the  Bourbon  courts,  thus 
roused,  did  not  end  here :  from  persecuting  the 
Jesuits,  they  proceeded  directly  to  attack  the 
papal  see. 

To  whom  could  the  pope  turn "!  All  the 
Italian  states,  Genoa,  Modena,  and  Venice, 
took  part  against  him.  He  cast  his  eyes  once 
more  on  Austria,  and  wrote  to  the  empress, 
Maria  Theresa,  that  she  was  his  only  consola- 
tion on  earth ;  he  besought  her  that  she  would 
not  suffer  his  old  age  to  be  the  victim  of  vio- 
lence. 

The  empress  returned  him  the  answer  that 
had  once  been  given  by  Urban  VIII.  to  the 
emperor  Ferdinand,  that  the  affair  was  one  of 
state  policy,  not  of  religion,  and  that  she 
should  do  amiss  to  interfere  in  it. 

The  spirit»of  Clement  XIII.  was  broken.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  year  1769,  the  ambassa- 

unicetributam  sibi  temerearroganleslotiussocietatiscom- 
pagem  in  Gallico  regno  dissolvant,"  &c.  Daunou  gives 
this  document. 

*  Letter  from  the  French  ambassador  quoted  in  Lebrel's 
History  of  the  bull  In  Coena  Domini,  iv.  205,  from  the 
Italian  work  Delle  cagionidell' espulsionede' Gesuiti.  A 
Relatione  al  conte  di  Permian,  1767,  7  Apr.  (MS.  in  the 
Brera)  affirms  that  the  Jesuits  had  some  presentiment  of 
their  fate.  "  Non  fu  senza  forte  motivoche  poco  prima  di 
detta  espulsione  diinandarono  al  re  la  confirmo  de'  loro 
privilegi  e  del  loro  instiluto,  il  che  solamenle  in  oggi  si  6 
sapulo."  [It  was  not  without  strong  motives,  that  shortly 
before  the  said  expulsion,  they  peUtioned  the  king  for  a 
confirmation  of  their  privileges  and  of  their  in  tilution,  a 
fact  which  did  not  come  out  till  the  present  times.]  They 
had  concealed  their  money  and  their  papers.  Charles  III. 
however  considered  the  advantage  gained  by  the  crown 
so  great,  that  after  the  success  of  the  measure,  he  cried  out, 
that  he  had  conquered  a  new  world. 

t  Bona :  Sloria  d'  Italia,  torn.  xiv.  p.  147. 


386 


THE  POPES  SUBSEQUENTLY  TO  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


dors  of  the  Bourbon  courts  came  forward  one 
after  the  other, — first  the  Neapolitan,  then 
the  Spanish,  and  lastly  the  French, — with 
demands  for  the  irrevocable  suppression  of  the 
whole  order*  On  the  3rd  of  Feb.  the  pope 
called  a  consistory,  in  which  he  seemed  dispos- 
ed at  least  to  take  the  matter  into  consideration. 
But  he  was  not  destined  to  undergo  such  deep 
humiliation,  being  seized  on  the  evening  before 
the  meeting  with  convulsions,  which  carried 
him  off! 

The  attitude  assumed  by  the  courts  was  too 
threatening,  their  influence  too  mighty,  to  fail 
of  carrying  all  before  them  in  the  conclave 
that  ensued,  and  conferring  the  triple  crown 
on  such  a  man  as  they  needed. 

Of  all  the  cardinals,  Lorenzo  Ganganelli 
was,  without  doubt,  the  mildest  and  most 
moderate.  In  his  youth  one  of  his  teachers 
said  of  him,  it  was  no  wonder  if  he  loved 
music,  since  every  thing  in  his  own  nature 
was  harmony. f  He  grew  up  in  the  same 
temper,  in  innocent  intercourse  with  his  fami- 
liars, retirement  from  the  world,  and  solitary 
study  that  led  him  deeper  and  deeper  into  the 
mysteries  of  true  theology.  In  like  manner 
as  he  turned  from  Aristotle  to  Plato,  who 
better  satisfied  his  soul,  so  did  he  quit  the 
schoolmen  for  the  fathers  of  the  church,  and 
these  for  the  holy  scriptures,  which  he  em- 
braced witli  the  fervour  of  a  soul  convinced  of 
the  revelation  of  the  Word,  and  from  which 
he  imbibed  that  calm  and  pure  enthusiasm 
which  sees  God  in  all  things,  and  devotes  itself 
to  the  service  of  its  neighbour.  His  religion 
was  not  zeal,  persecution,  lust  of  sway,  po- 
lemical violence,  but  peace,  lowliness,  and  in- 
ward understanding.  IVom  his  heart  he 
abhorred  the  incessant  wrangling  of  the  papal 
see  with  the  catholic  governments,  which 
shook  the  foundations  of  the  church.  His 
moderation  was  not  weakness,  nor  the  off"- 
spring  of  necessity,  but  spontaneous  and  cor- 
dial. 

Out  of  the  bosom  of  religion  arose  a  tone  of 
thought,  which  however  different  in  its  origin 


*  Continuazione  degli  annali  d'  Italia  di  Muralori,  xiv. 
I,p.l97. 

f  Anf'dilotli  rigiiardanli  lafaniigliae  I'oppredi  Clemente 
XIV.  in  iheLetiere  pd  allreOpere  di  Ganganelli ;  Firenze, 
1829.  As  rpgarils  these  works  and  letters  tliemselves,  they 
may  possibly  be  interpolated  ;  but,  in  the  main,  I  believe 
Ihem  to  be  genuine:  1st,  because  the  defence  of  them  in 
Ringraliarnento  deU'  ediiore  all'  autor  dell'  Anno  Litera- 
rio,  is  on  the  whole  natural  and  satisfactory,  though  an 
unjustifiable  use  had  been  made  of  them  before  their  pub- 
lication; 2ndly,  because  trustworthy  persons,  e.  g.  car- 
dinal Bernis,  aver  that  they  had  seeii  the  originals;  the 
real  collector  was  the  Florentine  man  of  letters,  Lauri ; 
accordingto  a  letter  of  the  Abb^  Bellegarde  in  Potter's  Vie 
de  Ricci,  i.  p.  328,  those  who  jjossessed  the  originals  and 
granted  the  copies  confirmed  their  authenticity:  3rdly, 
because  they  bear  the  stamp  of  originality,  of  a  peculiar 
turn  of  thought,  unvarying  under  all  circumstances  of  life, 
such  as  no  falsifier  couUl  have  invented.  There  is  indivi- 
dual life  in  them.  Least  of  all  can  tliese  letters  have  been 
the  production  of  Caracciolo.  One  needs  but  reiid  his  Vie 
de  Cleihent  XIV.  tn  be  assured  how  far  are  all  his  remariis 
below  the  the  level  of  those  of  Clement  XIV.  All  that  is 
good  in  this  work  is  but  a  reflection  of  Ganganelli 's  spirit. 


from  the  worldly  tendencies  of  courts,  yet  in 
other  respects  coalesced  with  them. 

Ganganelli's  election  was  effected  chiefly 
by  the  Bourbons,  and  more  immediately  upon 
the  proposal  of  the  Spanish  and  French  car- 
dinals.    He  took  the  name  of  Clement  XIV. 

The  Roman  curia,  as  already  mentioned, 
was  broken  like  the  other  courts  into  two  par- 
ties ;  the  Zelanti,  who  strove  to  uphold  all 
ancient  privileges,  and  the  party  of  the  crown- 
ed heads,  the  Regalisti,  who  thought  the  wel- 
fare of  the  church  best  promoted  by  a  wise 
spirit  of  concession :  this  party  now  rose  to 
power  in  the  person  of  Ganganelli,  and  the 
same  change  took  place  in  Rome  which  had 
already  occurred  in  all  the  sovereign  courts. 

Ganganelli  began  with  prohibiting  the  read- 
ing of  the  bull,  In  Coena  Domini ;  he  also 
enlarged  the  concessions  which  Benedict  XIV. 
had  made  to  the  king  of  Sardinia,  and  which 
his  successors  had  refused  to  recognize :  on 
the  very  day  of  his  accession  he  declared  that 
he  would  send  a  nuncio  to  Portugal ;  he  sus- 
pended the  monitorium  against  Parma  ;  and 
then  he  applied  himself  most  earnestly  to  the 
affair  of  the  Jesuits.  A  commission  of  car- 
dinals was  appointed,  the  archives  of  the  pro- 
paganda searched  through,  and  the  arguments 
on  either  side  deliberately  weighted.  Clement 
XIV.  was  unfavourably  predisposed  with  re- 
gard to  the  order.  He  belonged  to  that  of 
the  Franciscans,  which  had  always  been  at 
war  with  the  Jesuits,  particularly  in  the  mis- 
sions:  he  was  an  adherent  of  the  Augustinian 
and  Thorn ist  theology,  so  utterly  at  variance 
with  that  of  the  society ;  nor  was  he  altoge- 
tiier  free  from  Jansenist  notions.  Then  there 
were  the  numerous  charges  against  the  Je- 
suits, which  could  not  be  argued  away,  and, 
above  all,  the  impossibility  of  restoring  peace 
to  the  church  in  any  other  way.  His  sentence 
was  pronounced  on  the  21st  of  July,  1773. 
"  Inspired  by  the  Divine  Spirit,  as  we  trust, 
urged  by  the  duty  of  restoring  concord  to  the 
church,  convinced  that  the  society  of  Jesus 
can  no  longer  effect  those  purposes  for  which 
it  was  founded,  and  moved  by  other  motives  of 
prudence  and  wise  government,  which  we 
keep  locked  in  our  own  breast,  we  abolish  and 
annul  the  society  of  Jesus,  its  offices,  houses, 
and  institutions."* 

This  was  a  step  of  immense  importance. 

In  the  first  place,  as  regarded  the  relation 
of  the  catholic  church  to  the  protestants.  It 
was  to  combat  the  latter  tiiat  the  society  had 
been  originally  founded  and  constituted  in  all 
its  parts  (its  theology  even  was  principally 
.shaped  in  opposition  to  that  of  Calvin),  and 
this  was  tiie  character  which  the  Jesuits  had 
renewed  and  confirmed  for  themselves  at  the 
close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  during  the 
persecutions  of  the  Huguenots.     But  this  con- 

♦  ContiBuazioae  degli  annali,  torn.  xiv.  P.  ii.,  p.  107. 


JOSEPH  II. 


387 


flict  was  now  at  an  end  ;  the  most  sedulous 
self-delusion  could  no  lonj^er  flatter  itself  with 
the  hope  of  any  essential  advantages  to  be 
gained  '  in  that  way  :  the  anti-catholic  states 
possessed  an  unquestionable  superiority  in  the 
great  political  relations  of  Europe,  and  tiic 
catholic  states  sought  rather  to  approximate 
to  them  than  to  draw  them  over  to  their  own 
side.  In  this,  it  strikes  me,  lay  the  principal 
and  the  deepest  cause  of  the  suppression  of 
the  order.  It  was  an  institution  of  war,  and 
was  no  longer  suitable  to  a  time  of  peace. 
Since  it  now  refused  to  yield  a  hair's  breadth, 
and  doggedly  rejected  every  reform,  much  as 
it  needed  it  on  other  grounds  besides,  it  in 
fact  pronounced  its  own  doom.  It  is  a  mo- 
mentous fact  that  the  papal  see  had  no  power 
to  sustain  an  order  that  was  established  ex- 
pressly to  wage  war  on  protestantism,  that  a 
pope  abandoned  it,  and  that  too  of  his  own 
free  impulse. 

This  event  had  the  most  immediate  effect 
on  the  catholic  countries.  The  Jesuits  were 
assailed  and  overthrown  chiefly  in  consequence 
of  their  defending  the  supremacy  of  the  Ro- 
man see  in  its  strictest  acceptation  ;  but  when 
Rome  now  abandoned  the  order,  it  gave  up  at 
the  same  time  the  strict  idea  of  supremacy 
and  its  consequences.  The  efforts  of  the  op- 
position were  signally  victorious.  The  de- 
struction at  one  blow,  without  the  least  warn- 
ing, of  the  society  which  made  the  instruction 
of  youth  its  special  business,  and  which  was 
still  engaged  in  it  to  so  great  an  extent,  could 
not  but  occasion  a  convulsion  of  the  catholic 
world  to  its  very  basis,  even  to  where  new 
generations  are  formed.*  The  outworks  be- 
ing carried,  a  still  more  vigorous  assault  by 
the  victorious  party  would  necessarily  follow. 
The  agitation  increased  from  day  to  day,  de- 
sertion from  the  church  spread  more  and 
more ;  what  was  to  be  looked  for  now  that  the 
commotion  affected  even  Austria,  the  very 
realm  whose  existence  and  might  were  most 
intimately  connected  with  the  results  of  the 
catholic  efforts  in  the  epoch  of  the  church's 
restoration  ] 

Joseph  II. 

It  was  the  actuating  principle  of  Joseph  II. 
to  combine  without  control  in  his  own  hands  all 
the  powers  of  the  monarchy  ;  how  then  should 
he  have  sanctioned  the  interference  of  Rome, 
or  the  connexion  between  his  subjects  and  the 
pope]  Whether  he  was  more  surrounded  by 
Jansenists  or  by  infidelsf  (undoubtedly  they 
here  too,  as  in  the  attack  on  the  Jesuits,  made 


*  Montbarey  :  M^moires,  i.  p.  225. 

+  To  ihia  may  be  aliributed  what  was  bpUeved  by  Van 
Swieten,  But  that  there  existeJ  in  Vii^nna  very  proiiii- 
nent  Janseiiist  leiulfncies  is  evidencpd  by  tlip  Ufcof  Fess- 
ler:  Riickblicke  auf  seine  Siebzigjahris;!'.  Pilgerschafl,  p. 
74,  78,  and  oLhi^r  passages.  Couipare  Schlozer's  Staals- 
anzeigeo,  i.!^.  33,  p.  113. 


common  cause),  he  waged  an  incessant  and 
and  exterminating  war  on  all  surviving  insti- 
tutions calculated  to  maintain  the  external 
unity  of  the  church.  Out  of  more  than  two 
thousand  convents  he  left  only  about  seven 
hundred  in  existence  :  of  the  congregations 
of  nuns,  those  only  of  more  immediate  utility 
found  favour  in  his  sight;  and  even  those 
which  he  spared  he  severed  from  their  con- 
nexion with  Rome.  He  regarded  the  papal 
dispensations  in  the  light  of  foreign  goods, 
and  would  not  suffer  money  to  go  out  of  the 
country  in  exchange  for  them  ;  and  he  public- 
ly declared  himself  the  administrator  of  the 
temporalities  of  the  church. 

Pius  VI.  the  successor  of  Ganganelli,  was 
soon  impelled  to  look  to  the  impression  he 
hoped  to  make  on  the  emperor,  in  a  personal 
interview,  as  to  the  only  means  of  restraining 
him  from  the  most  extreme  steps,  perhaps 
even  in  regard  to  doctrine.  Pius  went  to 
Vienna,  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  his 
gentleness  and  his  noble  gracious  pre- 
sence had  some  influence.  Joseph  not- 
withstanding, pursued  his  course  in  the 
main  without  wavering.  The  monastery  in 
which  he  had  solemnly  taken  leave  of  the 
pope,  immediately  after  the  holy  father's  de- 
parture received  notice  of  suppression.  Pius 
VI.  was  obliged  in  the  end  to  make  up  his 
mind  to  surrendering  to  the  emperor  the 
nomination  to  the  episcopal  sees  even  of  Italy. 
Thus  did  the  anti-papal  efforts  force  their 
way  into  Italy  from  Austria  likewise.  Leo- 
pold, who,  as  far  as  we  judge,  was  himself 
tinctured  with  Jansenism,  reformed  the  church- 
es of  Tuscany,  without  any  reference  to  the 
see  of  Rome :  at  no  great  distance  from  the 
capitol  of  Christendom,  the  synod  of  Pistoja 
published  in  its  decrees  a  complete  manifesto 
of  the  Union  of  Galilean  and  Jansenist  princi- 
ples, rvaples,  which  was  also  closely  allied 
with  this  party,  through  Queen  Caroline,  ob- 
literated the  last  traces  of  feudal  connexion 
with  the  see  of  Rome. 

The  German  church,  too  was  indirectly  act- 
ed on  by  the  proceedings  of  the  emperor.  The 
spiritual  electors,  aft;er  so  long  a  period  of 
harmony  with  Rome,  began  at  last  to  oppose 
it.  They  were  actuated  by  twofold  motives 
of  interest; — as  sovereigns  who  desired  to 
put  an  end  to  the  drain  of  money  from  their 
dominions,  and  as  spiritual  dignitaries  anxious 
to  renovate  their  own  authority.*  .  According 
to  their  declaration  of  Ems,  "  written,"  says  a 
Roman  prelate,  "with  a  pen  dipped  in  the 
gall  of  Paolo  Sarpi,"  the  Roman  primate  was 
for  the  future  to  content  himself  with  the 
rights  he  had  enjoyed  in  the  first  centuries  ot 
Christianity. +     The   labours  of  the  German 

*  Compare  the  Coblentz  article  for  the  year  1769  in  the 
journal  DfUIsche  Bliitler  fiir  Proiestanten  und  Katholi- 
ken.     Hpidelbprsr,  1839,  part  i,  p.  39. 

f  Bartoloininfo  Pacta:  Memorie  storiche  sul  di  lui  sog- 
gioino  iu  Gerniania,  p.  S3. 


388 


THE  POPES  SUBSEQUENTLY  TO  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


canonists  had  admirably  prepared  the  way 
for  these  proceedings ;  and  besides  these 
there  were  other  jurists  who  waged  war  on 
the  whole  constitution  of  the  catholic  church 
in  Germany,  the  political  power  and  the  civil 
administration  of  its  hierarchy.*  A  lively 
spirit  of  innovation  had  seized  both  the  learn- 
ed and  the  laity.  The  lower  clergy  and  the 
bishops,  the  bishops  and  the  archbishops,  the 
latter  and  the  pope,  were  all  at  mutual  vari- 
ance. Every  thing  there,  as  elsewhere,  fore- 
boded change. 

The  French  Revolution. 

But  before  the  first  steps  to  it  were  taken, 
before  Joseph  had  carried  out  his  reforms,  the 
most  tremendous  explosion  burst  forth  from 
the  deeply  fermenting  elements  of  society  in 
Fran^ie. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  disputes  of  the  clergy 
among  themselves,  the  collision  of  two  hostile 
parties  on  all  occasions  of  religion,  the  inca- 
pacity of  the  dominant  party  to  hold  its  ground 
in  the  domain  of  thought  and  literature,  and 
the  general  aversion  it  not  undeservedly 
brought  down  on  itself,  contributed  inwnensely 
towards  evolving  that  event  which  shaped  the 
destinies  of  modern  times,  namely,  the  French 
revolution.  The  spirit  of  opposition  that  had 
arisen  out  of  the  discordant  bosom  of  Catholi- 
cism had  become  more  and  more  consolidated. 
Step  by  step  it  won  its  way  forward ;  and  in 
the  tempestuous  times  of  1769  it  obtained 
possession  of  power, — a  power  that  deemed 
itself  summoned  utterly  to  destroy  the  old 
world,  and  to  create  a  new  :  in  the  universal 
ruin  that  consequently  befel  the  most  Chris- 
tian realm,  one  of  the  most  violent  blows  was 
necessarily  dealt  to  the  ecclesiastical  consti- 
tution. 

Every  thing  concurred;  financial  embar- 
rassment, the  interest  of  individuals  and  of 
municipalities,  indifference  or  hatred  towards 
the  established  religion:  at  last  a  member 
even  of  the  higher  clergy  proposed  to  recog- 
nize in  the  nation,  that  is,  in  the  temporal 
authority,  and  more  immediately  in  the  nation- 
al assembly,  the  right  of  disposing  of  church 
property.  Till  then  that  property  had  been 
regarded  as  belonging  not  solely  to  the  French, 
but  likewise  to  the  universal  church,  and  the 
pope's  consent  had  been  held  necessary  to 
every  alienation  thereof  But  how  remote 
were  the  times,  how  obsolete  the  ideas, 
from  which  had  originated  notions  of  this 
kind.  After  a  short  debate,  the  assembly 
asserted  its  own  right  to  dispose  of  church 
property,  that  is,  to  alienate  it,  and  that  with 
more  unconditional  authority  than  had  been 

*  E.  g.  FriPcUich  Carl  von  Mospr,  Uebpr  die  RpgierunR 
dp,r  gpisUichpn  Slaalen  in  Dpulschland,  1787.  His  grand 
proposition  (p.  llJl)  is,  thai  "IhP  Lharaclers  of  prince  and 
bishop  shall  be  again  separated  from  each  other." 


contemplated  in  the  first  proposal.  The  con- 
fiscation of  ecclesiastical  estates,  which  was 
not  a  moment  delayed,  rendering  the  longer 
subsistence  of  existing  arrangements  impossi- 
ble, it  was  necessary  to  proceed  forthwith  to 
a  new  one,  such  as  that  effected  in  the  civil 
constitution  of  the  clergy.  The  principles  of 
the  revolutionized  state  were  applied  to  ec- 
clesiastical things  :*  popular  election  sup- 
planted the  system  of  nomination  appointed 
by  concordat,  and  salaries  the  independence 
conferred  by  the  possession  of  real  estates;  all 
diocesans  were  changed,  the  orders  were  sup- 
pressed, vows  were  repealed,  the  connexion 
with  Rome  severed.  The  attempt  of  a  Car- 
thusian to  vindicate  the  sole  supremacy  of  the 
catholic  religion,  had  the  effect  only  of  hast- 
ening these  resolutions  against  it.  Th*^ 
whole  body  of  the  clergy  was  constrained  to 
pledge  itself  to  the  new  system  by  solemn 
oaths. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  this  course  of 
things  was  effected  with  the  co-operation  of 
the  French  Jansenists,  and  with  the  consent 
and  approbation  of  those  of  other  countries. 
They  saw  with  pleasure  that  the  might  of 
Babal,  as  in  their  hatred  they  called  the  Ro- 
man curia,  was  dealt  so  severe  a  blow,  that 
the  clergy  from  which  they  had  endured  so 
many  persecutions  was  overthrown.  Even 
their  theoretical  principles  tended  to  the 
same  end,  for  they  held  that  "  by  wresting 
their  wealth  from  the  clergy,  you  compel 
them  to  become  really  deserving."! 

The  Roman  court  flattered  itself  for  a  mo- 
ment with  the  hope  of  seeing  these  move- 
ments checked  by  a  reaction  from  within, 
with  which  the  pope  took  every  means  of  co- 
operating. He  rejected  the  new  constitution, 
censured  the  bishops  who  had  sworn  to  it, 
and  endeavoured  by  exhortation  and  praise  to 
confirm  the  still  numerous  party  that  oppos- 
ed it;  at  last,  he  went  the  length  of  ex- 
communicating the  most  influential  and  dis- 
tinguished members  of  the  constitutional 
clergy. 

But  all  was  in  vain;  the  revolutionary  ten- 
dencies prevailed  ;  the  civil  war,  which  was 
chiefly  kindled  by  religious  motives,  turned 
out  to  the  advantage  of  the  innovators.  For- 
tunate had  it  been  for  the  pope  if  matters  had 
rested  there;  if  France  had  torn  nothing  from 
him  besides  herself 

But  meanwhile  that  general  war  had  brok- 
en out  which  was  fated  to  transform  so  thor- 
oughly the  whole  aspect  of  affairs  in  Europe. 

With  that  resistless  fury,   compounded  of 

*  Quite  systematically,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
old  historians  of  the  church.  "  Tola  ecclesiarum  distri- 
butio  ad  forniam  imperii  facta  est."  Camus:  Opinion  sur 
leprojel  de  constitution  du  clerg^,  31  Mai,  17S0. 

t  Letlprs  of  Gianni,  and  some  other  abb^s  in  Potter, 
Vie  de  Ricci,  il.  p.  31.j.  Wolf:  Geschichte  der  Katholis- 
chen  Kirche  unler  Pius  VI.  has  at  book  vii.  p.  3;,  a  chap- 
tor  on  the  pari  taken  by  the  Jansenists  in  forming  the 
new  constitution ;  it  is  however  very  weakly  executed. 


THE  TIMES  OF  NAPOLEON. 


389 


enthusiasm,  rapacity,  and  terror  which  had 
been  engendered  in  intestine  strife,  the  revo- 
lutionary power  poured  like  a  torrent  beyond 
the  limits  of  France. 

It  transformed  after  its  own  model  every 
country  it  touched;  Belgium,  Holland,  and 
Rhenish  Germany ;  which  latter  was  the 
chief  seat  of  the  ecclesiastical  constitution : 
the  campaign  of  1796  made  it  master  of  Italy  : 
revolutionary  states  rose  in  every  direction, 
and  ere  long  the  pope  was  threatened  in  his 
own  dominions,  and  in  his  very  capital. 

He  had,  without  any  really  active  partici- 
pation, ranged  himself  on  the  side  of  the  coa- 
lition, armed  only  with  his  spiritual  weapons. 
But  it  was  in  vain  he  pleaded  this  his  neutra- 
lity.* His  territories  were  overrun,  his  sub- 
jects stimulated  to  insurrection  :  impractica- 
ble contributions  and  concessions  were  de- 
manded of  him,  such  as  had  never  been 
exacted  of  any  of  his  predecessors.f  Nor 
was  this  all.  The  pope  was  not  an  enemy 
like  any  other.  During  the  war  he  had  even 
taken  courage  to  repudiate  the  Jansenist  and 
Galilean  doctrines  of  Pistoja  by  the  bull, 
"Auctorum  fidei."  The  unyieldmg  attitude 
he  had  assumed,  and  his  condemnatory  briefs, 
had  still  a  great  effect  on  the  internal  econo- 
my of  France :  the  French  now  demanded 
the  repeal  of  these,  and  the  recognition  of  the 
;ivil  constitution,  as  the  price  of  peace. 

But  Pius  VI.  was  not  to  be  moved  to  this. 
Such  compliance  would  have  seemed  to  him 
an  abandonment  of  the  very  ground  of  faith, 
and  treason  to  his  ofRce.f  He  replied  to  the 
proposals,  that  "  having  invoked  God's  aid, 
and  inspired  as  he  believed  by  the  Divine 
Spirit,  he  refused  to  accede  to  those  propo- 
sals." 

For  a  moment  the  revolutionary  authorities 
seemed  to  acquiesce — an  accommodation  was 
devised  without  these  conditions — but  it  was 
only  for  a  moment.  From  the  intention  of 
severing  themselves  from  the  pope,  they  had 
already  advanced  to  the  thought  of  entirely 
crushing  him.  The  directory  found  the  go- 
vernment of  priests  in  Italy  incompatible  with 
its  own.  On  the  very  first  occasion  afforded 
by  a  chance  commotion  among  the  populace, 
Rome  was  invaded,  and  the  Vatican  invested. 
Pius  VI.  besought  his  enemies  to  let  him,  an 
old  man  of  eighty,  die  as  he  had  lived  on  that 
spot.  He  was  answered  that  he  might  as 
well  die  in  one  place  as  another.  His  apart- 
ments were  plundered  before  his  eyes  ;  he 


*  Aulhentische  Geschichte  des  franzosischen  Revolu- 
lionskrieses  in  Italien,  1796.  The  pope  had  declared  that 
religion  forebade  a  resistance  which  might  occasion  the 
shedding  of  blood. 

t  In  the  M^moirps  Hisloriques  et  Philosophiques  sur 
Pie  VI.  el  son  ponlificat,  lorn.  ii.  the  loss  endured  by  the 
Roman  stale  is  calculated  at  220,000  livres. 

tMeinoria  dirella  al  principe  della  pace  in  Tavanle  : 
Fasti  di  Pio  VI.  torn.  iii.  p.  335.  "S.  SantitSl  rimase  stor- 
dita,  veggendo  che  si  cercava  ditraviare  la  sua  conscien- 
za  per  dare  un  colpo  il  piu  funesto  alia  religioae." 


was  deprived  of  even  the  most  trifling  neces- 
saries ;  the  ring  he  wore  was  pulled  from  his 
finger:  at  last  he  was  carried  to  France, 
where  he  died  Aug.  1799. 

It  might  well  seem,  indeed,  as  though 
there  was  an  end  forever  to  the  papal  power. 
'J'hose  hostile  tendencies  with  regard  to  the 
church,  the  rise  and  progress  of  which  we 
have  marked,  had  now  reached  a  pitch  that 
encouraged  such  an  anticipation. 

The  times  of  Napoleon. 

But  events  occurred  that  prevented  this 
consummation. 

The  chief  result  of  the  hostility  experienced 
by  the  papacy  at  the  hands  of  the  revolution- 
ary power  was,  that  the  rest  of  the  European 
states,  whatever  might  otherwise  be  their 
disposition  towards  the  papal  see,  now  be- 
came its  protectors.  The  death  of  Pius  VI. 
occurred  exactly  at  a  period  when  the  coali- 
tion was  again  victorious.  This  made  it  pos- 
sible for  the  cardinals  to  assemble  in  San 
Georgio  at  Venice,  and  proceed  to  the  elec- 
tion of  a  pope,  Pius  VII.  (March  13,  1800.) 

It  is  true  that,  shortly  afterwards,  the  revo- 
lutionary arms  were  again  triumphant,  and 
achieved  the  decided  superiority  in  Italy  ; 
but  that  power  had  at  this  moment  itself  un- 
dergone a  vast  change.  After  passing  through 
so  many  metamorphoses,  engendered  by  the 
pressing  contingencies  of  that  stormy  period, 
it  began  to  lean  towards  monarchy.  A  des- 
pot arose,  who  was  filled  with  the  idea  of  a 
new  universal  empire,  and  who  (the  point  of 
most  importance  for  our  present  considera- 
tion,) beholding  the  universal  chaos  around 
him,  and  taught  by  his  experience  of  the 
East,  felt  asswed  that  his  project  needed,  be- 
sides many  other  forms  of  the  old  states,  in 
the  very  first  place,  unity  of  religion  and  hie- 
rarchical subordination. 

Upon  the  very  battle  field  of  Marengo,  Na- 
poleon deputed  the  bishop  of  Vercelli  to  enter 
on  negociations  with  the  pope  for  the  re-es- 
tablishment of  the  catholic  church. 

This  was  a  proposal  which,  though  ex- 
tremely enticing,  was  yet  attended  with  much 
danger.  The  re-establishment  of  the  catholic 
church  in  France,  and  of  its  connection  with 
the  pope,  was  only  to  be  effected  at  the  cost 
of  extraordinary  concessions. 

Pius  VII.  made  up  his  mind  to  these.  He 
recognized  at  once  the  secularization  of 
church  property, — a  loss  of  four  hundred  mil- 
lions of  francs  in  real  estates  ;  his  motives  be- 
ing, as  he  expressed  himself,  that  fresh  trou- 
bles would  break  out  were  he  to  refuse  ;  that, 
rather  than  this  should  occur,  he  was  disposed 
to  go  the  utmost  lengths  allowable  by  religion. 
He  consented  to  a  new  organization  of  the 
French  clergy,  which  was  now  salaried  and 
nominated  by  the  government;  and  he  was 


390 


THE  POPES  SUBSEQUENTLY  TO  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 


well  pleased  that  the  right  of  canonical  insti- 
tution sJiould  be  restored  to  him  in  the  same 
extent  as  enjoyed  by  former  popes,  and  with- 
out limit  to  the  right  of  the  veto.* 

That  which  no  one  but  a  little  before  could 
have  expected,  now  actually  took  place, — the 
restoration  of  Catholicism  in  France,  and  the 
renewed  subjection  of  that  country  to  the  spi- 
ritual authority.  The  pope  was  delighted 
"  that  the  churches  were  purified  from  profa- 
nations, the  altars  reared  again,  the  banner 
of  the  cross  unfurled  anew,  lawful  pastors  set 
over  the  people,  and  so  many  souls  that  had 
wandered  from  the  right  way  brought  back  to 
unity,  and  reconciled  to  themselves  and  to 
God."  "  How  many  motives,"  he  cried, 
"  for  joy  and  thankfulness !" 

But  was  it  indeed  to  be  supposed,  that  with 
the  conclusion  of  the  concordat  of  1801  was 
effected  an  intimate  union  between  the  an- 
cient ecclesiastical  authority  and  the  revolu- 
tionary state  1 

Concessions  were  mutually  made  ;  but,  in 
spite  of  them,  each  party  remained  firm  to  its 
principles. 

The  restorer  of  the  catholic  religion  in 
France  immediately  afterwa-rds  became  the 
chief  agent  in  the  final  overthrow  of  the 
stately  edifice  of  the  German  church,  and  the 
transfer  of  its  possessions  and  its  sovereign 
powers  to  temporal  princes,  whether  to  pro- 
testant  or  catholic,  indifferently.  Huge  was 
the  amazement  of  the  court  of  Rome.  "  He- 
resy, according  to  the  old  decretals,  entailed 
loss  of  property,  but  now  the  church  must  en- 
dure to  see  its  own  possessions  parted  out 
among  heretics."! 

Meanwhile  a  concordat  was  likewise  pro- 
jected for  Italy  upon  the  model  of  that  ob- 
tained by  France ;  and  there  too  the  pope 
was  forced  to  assent  to  the  sale  of  church  pro- 
perty, and  to  abandon  the  nomination  to  be- 
nefices to  the  temporal  authority.  Nay,  so 
many  new  partial  clauses  and  restrictions 
were  annexed  to  this  concordat,  that  Pius 
VII.,  under  these  circumstances,  refused  to 
publish  it. J 

But  it  was  in  France  itself  that  Napoleon 
most  vigorously  asserted  the  rights  of  the 
state  in  opposition  to  those  of  the  church :  he 
regarded  the  declaration  of  1682  as  a  funda- 
mental law  of  the  realm,  and  caused  it  to  be 
expounded  in  the  schools;  he  would  suffer  no 
religious  vows,  and  no  monks ;  the  regula- 
tions respecting  marriage  which  were  laid 
down  in  his  Code  Civile  were  at  variance 
with  the  catholic  principles  of  the  sacrament- 


*  Letteraapostolica  in  forma  di  breve,  in  Pistolesi :  Vi 
ta  di  Pio  VII.  loin.  i.  p.  143,  wilh  a  thorough  collation  of 
the  vaiialions  inlhe  several  publications  of  the  document 
in  France. 

t  Instruction  to  a  nuncio  at  Vienna,  unfortunately  with- 
out date,  but  apparently  of  the  year  18U3,  in  Daunuu:  Es- 
fiai  ii.  p.  318. 

%  Coppi :  Annali  d'ltalia,  torn.  iii.  p.  120. 


al  nature  of  the  institution  ;  the  organic  arti- 
cles which  he  added  from  the  very  first  to  the 
concordat,  were  utterly  anti-Roman. 

When  the  pope,  notwithstanding  all  this, 
resolved,  at  the  emperor's  request,  to  cross 
the  Alps,  and  give  his  coronation  the  religi- 
ous sanction  of  the  holy  oil,  his  motive  was, 
that  he  flattered  himself,  whatever  counte- 
nance the  aspect  of  France  gave  to  such  a 
hope,  that  he  should  be  able  "  to  accomplish 
something  for  the  advantage  of  the  catholic 
church,  and  to  complete  the  work  begun."* 
In  entertaining  these  hopes,  he  relied  on  the 
effect  of  personal  intercourse.  He  took  with 
him  the  letter  of  Louis  XIV.  to  Innocent  XII., 
to  convince  Napoleon  that  even  Louis  had 
suffered  the  declaration  of  1662  to  fall  to  the 
ground.  In  the  first  remonstrance,  written 
in  Italian,  which  he  delivered  in  Paris,  he 
formally  combated  that  same  declaration,  and 
he  endeavoured  to  free  the  new  concordat 
from  the  restrictions  of  the  organic  articles.! 
Nay,  his  purpo.-es  and  his  expectations  went 
still  further.  He  set  forth,  in  a  circumstan- 
tial memorial,  the  wants  of  the  pontificate, 
with  all  the  losses  it  had  sustained  within  the- 
last  fifty  years,  and  urged  the  emperor  toibl- 
low  the  example  of  Charlemagne,  and  restore 
the  provinces  which  had  been  occupied. J  At 
so  high  a  rate  did  he  estimate  the  services  he 
had  rendered  the  revolutionary  monarchy. 

But  how  grievously  did  he  find  himself  de- 
ceived. In  the  very  ceremony  of  the  coro- 
nation an  expression  of  melancholy  was  ob- 
served to  overspread  his  countenance. 

Of  all  he  desired  and  intended,  neither 
then  nor  subsequently  did  he  obtain  the  small- 
est portion.  On  the  contrary,  this  was  the 
very  moment  in  which  the  emperor's  designs 
became  first  disclosed  in  their  full  extent. 

The  constituent  assembly  had  sought  to 
detach  itself  from  the  pope,  the  directory  had 
desired  his  destruction.  Bonaparte's  plan  was 
to  sustain  him,  but  at  the  same  time  to  hold 
him  in  subjection,  and  to  make  him  the  tool  of 
his  own  omnipotence. 

He  caused  proposals,  if  we  are  rightly  in- 
formed, to  be  made  at  that  very  time  to  the 
pope,  that  he  should  remain  in  France,  aud 
reside  in  Avignon  or  in  Paris. 

The  pope  is  said  to  have  answered,  that  he 
had  executed  in  due  form  his  act  of  abdica- 
tion, and  deposited  it  at  Palermo,  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  French  decrees,  provisionally, 


*  Allocutio  habita  in  consislorio,  29  Oct.  1804,  in  Italian  : 
Pistolesi,  Vita  di  Pio  VII.  torn.  i.  p.  193. 

t  Extrait  du  Rapport  de  Mr.  Portales,  in  Arlaud,  Pie 
VII.  t.  ii.  p.  11. 

t  Printed  in  Artaud,  p.  31.  Compare  Napoleon's  letter 
of  July  22,  1807.  "  Le  pape  s'est  donn6  la  peine  de  venir 
k  mon  couronnemenl.  J'ai'  r^connu  dans  celte  d-marche 
uii  saint  pr61al ;  iiiais  il  voulait  que  je  lui  c^dasse  Us  le- 
gations." Bigr.on,  Hisioire  do  France  sous  Napoldon; 
Deuxi6me  6por|Uc,  i.  p.  1-38.  [The  pope  toolt  the  trouble 
to  couie  tomy  co.'onttion.  In  this  act  I  recognize  a  holy 
prelate ;  but  he  wished  me  to  cede  him  the  legations.] 


THE  TIMES  OF  NAPOLEON. 


391 


against  the  contingency  of  his  being  impri- 
soned. 

Nowhere  at  that  moment  could  the  pope 
have  found  protectien  but  under  the  sway  of 
the  British  navy. 

The  pope  was  indeed  suffered  to  return  to 
Rome,  and  left  in  the  same  independence  as 
he  had  previously  enjoyed ;  but  from  that 
hour  he  became  involved  in  the  most  vexa- 
tious perplexities. 

Napoleon  very  soon  declared,  without  fur- 
ther circumlocution,  that,  like  his  predeces- 
sors of  the  second  and  third  dynasty,  he  was 
the  oldest  son  of  the  church,  who  bore  the 
sword  for  its  protection,  and  could  not  suffer 
that  it  should  be  in  communion  with  heretics 
and  schismatics,  liive  the  Russians  and  the 
English.  He  was  particularly  fond  of  re- 
garding himself  as  the  successor  of  Charle- 
magne, though  the  moral  he  drew  from  that 
belief  was  very  different  from  that  contem- 
plated by  the  court  of  Rome.  He  assumed 
that  the  Ecclesiastical  States  were  donations 
from  Charlemagne  to  the  pope  ;  and  that  such 
a  gift  entailed  the  duty  of  not  departing  from 
the  policy  of  the  empire  ;  nor,  indeed,  would 
he  permit  the  pope  so  to  do.* 

The  pope  was  astonished  at  the  suggestion, 
that  he  was  to  regard  the  enemies  of  another 
as  his  own.  He  replied  that  he  was  the  com- 
mon pastor,  the  father  of  all,  the  servant  of 
peace  ;  that  the  mere  request  filled  him  with 
horror:  "  it  became  him  to  be  an  Aaron,  the 
prophet  of  God, — not  an  Ishmael,  whose  hand 
was  against  every  man,  and  every  man's  hand 
against  him." 

But  Napoleon  went  straightforward  to  his 
mark.  He  caused  Ancona  and  Urbino  to  be 
occupied,  and  after  the  rejection  of  his  ulti- 
matum, wherein,  among  other  things,  he 
claimed  the  right  of  nominatmg  a  third  of  the 
cardinals,  he  marched  his  troops  upon  Rome. 
The  cardinals  who  were  not  obsequious  to 
him  were  dismissed,  the  pope's  secretary  of 
state  twice.  But  when  all  this  failed  to  have 
any  effect  on  Puis  VH.,  even  his  person  was 
not  spared ;  he  too  was  carried  away  from  his 
palace  and  his  capital.  A  senatus  consultum 
was  then  passed,  declaring  the  incorporation 
of  the  ecclesiastical  states  witii  the  French 
empire.  The  temporal  sovereignty  was  de- 
clared incompatible  with  the  exercise  of  spi- 

*  Schoell's  Archives  historiques  et  poliliques,  (Paris, 
1819,)  conlain  in  tlie  second  and  third  volumes,  a  Precis 
des  contestations  qui  ont  6u  lieu  enire  le  Saint  Si^ge  et 
Napoleon  Buouaparie,  acco.npagn^e  d'un  grand  nombre 
de  pieces  officirUes.  The  correspondence,  which  is  here- 
given  in  its  full  extent,  reaches  from  the  13lh  of  Novem- 
ber, 1805,  to  the  17th  oi'May,  1808.  Nevertheless,  in  Big- 
non,  Histoire  de  France  depuis  la  paix  de  Tilsit,  1838,  i. 
ch.  3,  p.  125,  we  meet  with  the  following  passage:  "Les 
publications  faites  depuis  1815  nese  composentgu6re  que 
fle  pieces  dont  la  date  commence  en  1808."  And  again  : 
"Jusqu'a  present  son  caract6re  (de  Pie  VII.)  n'esl  pas 
Buffisamment  connu.  On  ne  le  connaitra  bien  qu'en 
I'appr^ciant  d'aprfes  ses  acles."  In  fact,  however,  these 
acts  had  been  already  published.  Bignoa  has  added  but 
little  to  the  documents  given  by  Schoell. 


ritual  privileges;  the  pope  was  for  the  future 
formally  to  pledge  himself  to  the  four  princi- 
ples of  the  Galilean  church ;  he  was  to  draw 
his  income  from  real  estates,  almost  as  a  feu- 
datory of  the  empire ;  the  state  would  take 
upon  itself  all  the  expenses  of  the  college  of 
cardinals.* 

According  to  this  plan,  it  is  evident  the 
whole  power  of  the  church  would  have  been 
subjected  to  the  empire,  and  placed,  at  least 
indirectly,  in  the  hands  of  the  emperor. 

But  how  would  it  be  possible  to  obtain, 
what  was  nevertheless  indispensable,  the  con- 
sent of  the  pope  to  this  degradation  !  Pius 
VH.  had  availed  himself  of  his  last  moment  of 
freedom  to  pronounce  sentence  of  excommu- 
nication. He  refused  canonical  institution  to 
the  bishops  appointed  by  the  emperor.  Na- 
poleon was  not  so  thoroughly  master  of  his 
clergy  as  not  to  feel  the  effects  of  this,  now 
from  one  quarter  now  from  another,  above  all 
on  the  side  of  Germany. 

But  this  very  resistance  served  at  last  to 
overcome  the  pope's  determination.  Its  con- 
sequences were  far  more  painlul  to  the  spi- 
ritual ruler,  who  sympathized  with  the  internal 
condition  of  the  church,  than  to  the  temporal, 
for  whom  spiritual  things  were  no  more  than 
an  instrument  of  power,  themselves  indif- 
ferent. 

In  Savona,  whither  the  pope  had  been 
brought,  he  was  lonely,  thrown  back  upon 
himself,  and  without  an  adviser.  Through 
the  earnest  and  almost  exaggerated  represen- 
tations made  him  of  the  confusion  in  the 
church,  produced  by  his  refusal  to  grant  insti- 
tution, the  amiable  old  man  was  actually 
prevailed  on,  though  with  sore  grief  and 
reluctance,  virtually  to  renounce  the  right  in 
question.  For  what  else  was  it  than  an  act 
of  renunciation  when  he  agreed  that  it  should 
devolve  on  the  metropolitans,  whenever  he 
himself  should  defer  the  exercise  of  it  longer 
than  six  months  upon  any  other  grounds  than 
personal  unworthiness  1  He  abjured  the  right 
that  in  fact  constituted  his  last  weapon. 

And  this  was  not  all  that  was  exacted  of 
him.  He  was  hurried  to  Fontainebleau  with 
an  impatient  haste  that  aggravated  his  bodily 
infirmities:  there  he  was  beset  with  fresh 
importunities,  and  the  most  urgent  demands 
that  he  should  fully  restore  the  peace  of  the 
church.  At  last,  so  far  was  he  wrought  on, 
that  he  gave  way  on  the  remaining,  the  deci- 
sive points.  He  consented  to  reside  in  France, 
and  acquiesced  in  the  most  essential  provi- 
sions of  the  senatus  consultum  before  men- 
tioned. The  concordat  of  Fontainebleau  (Jan. 
25,  1813,)  was  framed  on  ^the  preliminary 
condition  that  he  should  not  return  to  Rome.f 

*  Thibaudeau :  Histoire  de  la  France  et  de  Napoleon  ; 
Empire,  torn.  v.  p.  221. 

f  Bart.  Pacca :  Memorie  storiche  del  minislero  de'  due 
viaggi  in  Francia,  &c.  p.  323.  Historisch-polilische  Zeit- 
Bchrift,  i.  iv.  642. 


392 


THE  POPES  SUBSEQUENTLY  TO  THE  17TH  CENTURY, 


The  autocrat  of  the  revolution  had  now 
actually  achieved  what  no  catholic  sovereign 
before  him  had  ever  ventured  even  to  contem- 
plate seriously.  The  pope  agreed  to  become 
subject  to  the  French  empire.  His  authority 
would  have  become  forever  a  tool  in  the 
hands  of  the  new  dynasty;  it  would  have 
served  to  secure  obedience  at  home,  and  to 
keep  in  a  dependent  position  the  yet  unsub- 
dued catholic  states.  In  these  respects  the 
papacy  would  have  fallen  back  to  the  position 
in  which  it  had  stood  under  the  German  em- 
perors in  the  plenitude  of  their  power,  parti- 
cularly under  the  Salic  emperor  Henry  HI. 
But  it  would  have  been  loaded  with  far  hea- 
vier chains.  There  was  something  hostile  to 
the  church  principle  in  the  power  that  had 
now  mastered  the  pope ;  it  was  at  bottom  but 
another  metamorphosis  of  that  spirit  of  oppo- 
sition to  the  church  which  had  unfolded  itself 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  which  was  so 
strongly  possessed  by  a  disposition  to  actual 
infidelity.  To  this  hostile  power  would  the 
papacy  have  been  subjected  and  made  vassal. 

But  once  again  as  formerly,  these  extreme 
anticipations  were  destined  not  to  be  fulfilled. 

The  Restoration. 

The  empire,  of  which  the  pope  was  now  to 
constitute  the  hierarchical  centre,  was  still 
involved  in  dubious  warfare  with  invincible 
foes.  In  the  solitude  of  his  imprisonment  the 
pope  received  no  accurate  intelligence  of  the 
mighty  vicissitudes  of  the  strife.  At  the  very 
moment  when,  after  such  lengthened  resist- 
ance, he  at  last  gave  way.  Napoleon  had 
already  broken  down  in  his  last  grand  enter- 
prize  against  Russia,  and  his  power  had  been 
shaken  to  its  base  by  all  the  inevitable  conse- 
quences of  that  mischance.  Already  Europe 
caught  up  the  almost  abandoned  hope  of  libe- 
rating herself  When  the  pope,  to  whom,  on 
his  submission,  a  few  cardinals  were  allowed 
access,  was  informed  of  the  state  of  things,  he 
too  felt  his  confidence  revive  ;  he  felt  every 
step  of  the  allied  powers  to  be  an  act  of  libe- 
ration for  himself 

When  Prussia  rose  in  prompt  obedience  to 
the  king's  call,  Pius  VII.  gathered  courage 
to  revoke  the  concordat  extorted  from  him ; 
when  the  congress  of  Prague  had  assembled, 
he  ventured  to  look  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
the  empire  that  held  him  captive,  and  to  re- 
mind the  emperor  of  Austria  of  his  rights. 
After  the  battle  of  Leipsig  his  confidence  had 
risen  so  much,  that  he  rejected  the  offer  made 
him  of  partially  restoring  his  dominions;  and 
when  the  allies  had  crossed  the  Rhine,  he 
would  enter  into  no  further  negociations  till 
he  had  been  fully  reinstated.  Events  followed 
each  other  with  the  utmost  rapidity ;  when 
the  allies  took  Paris,  the  pope  was  already 
arrived  at  the  confines  of  the  ecclesiastical 


states,  and  on  the  24th  of  May,  1814,  he 
entered  Rome  again.  A  new  age  was  begun 
for  the  world,  and  a  new  era  for  the  Roman 
see. 

The  last  score  of  years  have  derived  their 
character  and  tenour  from  the  strife  between 
the  revolutionary  tendencies  which  still  pos- 
sessed such  strong  hold  on  men's  minds,  and 
the  ideas  to  which  the  old  states  now  went 
back  after  their  triumph,  with  double  zeal  as 
to  their  primitive  bases ;  in  this  struggle  it  is 
plain  that  the  %ipreme  spiritual  head  of  the 
catholic  church  must  occupy  an  important 
position. 

He  was  first  backed  by  the  idea  of  temporal 
legitimacy,  though  in  truth  it  was  urged  more 
by  the  party  of  his  ecclesiastical  opponents, 
than  by  his  adherents  and  followers  in  faith. 

It  was  the  victory  of  the  four  great  allied 
powers,  three  of  which  were  anti-catholic, 
over  that  one  which  thought  to  make  its  own 
capital  the  centre  of  Catholicism,  that  set  the 
pope  free,  and  enabled  him  to  return  to  Rome. 
It  was  to  the  three  anti-catholic  monarchs 
alone,  who  were  then  assembled  in  London, 
that  the  pope's  wish  to  recover  the  entire 
states  of  the  church  was  first  submitted.  How 
often  in  former  days  had  the  resources  of 
those  states  been  strained  to  effect  the  des- 
truction of  protestantism  whether  in  England 
or  in  Germany,  and  to  propagate  the  Roman 
catholic  doctrine  in  Russia  or  in  Scandinavia : 
and  now  it  was  to  the  interference  of  the 
rulers  of  those  anti-catholic  countries  that  the 
pope  was  to  owe  his  restoration  to  his  domi- 
nions. In  the  allocution  in  which  Pius  VII. 
communicated  to  the  cardinals  the  happy 
results  of  his  negociations,  he  expressly  extols 
the  services  of  the  sovereigns  "  not  belonging 
to  the  Roman  church ;  the  emperor  of  Russia, 
who  had  taken  his  rights  into  consideration 
with  extraordinary  attention ;  as  also  the  king 
of  Sweden,  and  the  prince  regent  of  England, 
as  well  as  the  king  of  Prussia,  who  had  de- 
clared in  his  favour,  throughout  the  whole 
course  of  the  negociations."*  Differences  of 
creed  were  for  the  moment  forgotten  ;  politi- 
cal considerations  alone  were  regarded. 

We  have  often  already  had  occasion  to  no- 
tice similar  tendencies  in  the  course  of  the 
last  century  and  a  half  We  have  seen  what 
were  the  states  from  which  Innocent  XI. 
received  aid  and  support  in  his  differences 
with  Louis  XIV.  When  the  doom  of  the 
Jesuits  was  pronounced  by  the  Bourbon  courts, 
they  found  favour  and  protection  in  the  North, 
m  Russia  and  Prussia ;  the  seizure  of  Avignon 
and  Benevento  by  those  courts  in  the  year 
1758,  caused  a  political  commotion  in  Eng- 
land.    Rut  never  did  this  mutual  bearing  of 

♦  N6  possiamo  non  fare  un  gran  conto  dei  merili  verso 
di  noi  di  Federigo  (Guil.)  re  di  Prussia,  il  cui  iiupegno  fu 
conslantemenie  in  nosiro  favore  nel  decorso  tuuo  della 
iraltative  de'  nosiri  aftari.  Allocution  of  tlie  4lh  of  Sept. 
1815,  in  Pistoleei,  ii.  p.  144. 


THE  RESTORATION. 


393 


parties  display  itself  more  strikingly  than  in 
the  events  last  detailed. 

Now  that  the  pope  had  once  again  attained 
a  free  and  independent  position  among  the 
sovereigns  of  Europe,  he  could  devote  his 
thoughts  without  interruption  to  the  restora- 
tion of  spiritual  obedience.  His  reinstate- 
ment of  the  Jesuits,  the  first  great  act  that 
marked  the  renewal  of  his  functions,  put  it 
beyond  a  doubt  that  he  hoped  to  be  able  to 
exercise  his  spiritual  authority,  not  subject  to 
the  restrictions  of  the  latter  part  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  but  after  the  manner  of  his 
earlier  predecessors.  And  indeed  could  there 
ever  have  been  a  more  favourable  or  inviting 
moment  for  such  a  project?  The  restored 
governments  of  Southern  Europe  instantly 
repented  of  their  former  refractoriness,  be- 
lieving that  they  had  thereby  unchained  the 
spirit  that  had  wrought  their  own  downfall. 
They  now  beheld  in  the  pope  their  natural 
ally,  and  they  hoped  through  the  influence  of 
the  spiritual  power,  more  easily  to  subdue  the 
domestic  enemies  by  whom  they  found  them- 
selves surrounded.  The  king  of  Spain  be- 
thought him  of  his  title  of  catholic  king,  and 
declared  that  he  would  merit  it ;  he  recalled  the 
Jesuits  whom  his  grandfather  had  so  jealously 
banished ;  he  renewed  the  tribunal  of  the 
nuncio,  and  edicts  of  the  grand  inquisitor 
were  once  more  read  in  Spain.  In  Sardinia 
new  bishoprics  were  established ;  convents 
were  restored  in  Tuscany ;  Naples,  after  some 
repugnance,  assented  to  a  concordat,  by  which 
the  Roman  curia  acquired  a  very  powerful  di- 
rect influence  over  the  clergy  of  the  kingdom. 
In  France,  meanwhile,  the  chamber  of  1815 
regarded  the  welfare  of  the  nation  as  identi- 
fied with  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  French 
church,  "  that  work,"  as  an  orator  expressed 
himself,  "of  heaven,  of  time,  of  kings,  and  of 
forefathers ;"  but  the  point  which  was  chiefly 
dwelt  on,  was  the  necessity  of  restoring  to 
the  clergy  their  influence  over  the  state,  the 
community,  families,  public  life,  and  public 
education  ;  and  no  thought  was  given  to  the 
liberties  which  the  Galilean  church  had  in 
former  days  either  enjoyed  de  facto  or  ex- 
pressly reserved :  by  the  new  concordat 
which  was  projected,  it  would  have  been 
placed  in  a  state  of  dependence  on  Rome 
unknown  to  former  times. 

It  was  impossible  in  the  nature  of  things, 
that  such  decided  proceedings  should  at  once 
be  victorious  over  the  spirit  that  had  been 
developed  in  the  Romanic  nations  with  far 
other  scope  and  tendencies.  The  old  antipa- 
thies to  the  hierarchy  started  up  in  France 
with  loud  war-cries  against  the  new  concor- 
dat ;  the  legislative  power  was  here  consti- 
tuted in  a  manner  that  forbade  all  hope  of 
carrying  out  the  plan  of  1815.  The  tyranni- 
cal acts  of  Ferdinand's  rule  in  Spain  aroused 
an  equally  vehement  reaction ;  a  revolution 
50 


broke  out  which,  whilst  it  combated  the  abso- 
lute king,  who  was  incapable  of  resistance, 
displayed  at  the  same  time  a  decided  anticle- 
rical tendency.  One  of  the  first  measures  of 
the  new  cortes,  was  the  expulsion  of  the  Je- 
suits ;  enactments  soon  followed  for  the  sup- 
pression of  old  orders,  the  secularization  of 
their  possessions,  and  their  application  to  the 
extinction  of  the  national  debt.  Similar 
movements  instantly  took  place  in  Italy  ;  they 
made  their  way  into  the  ecclesiastical  states, 
which  were  filled  with  the  same  elements  of 
disquiet ;  on  one  occasion  the  Carbonari  had 
actually  fixed  the  day  for  a  general  rising  in 
the  states  of  the  church. 

But  the  restored  sovereigns  once  more  re- 
ceived support  and  aid  from  the  great  powers 
that  had  achieved  the  last  victories,  and  the 
revolutions  were  stifled.  This  time,  indeed, 
the  anti-catholic  states  took  no  direct  part  in 
these  acts  of  repression ;  but  some  of  them 
were  at  least  not  hostile  to  them,  and  by 
others  they  were  approved. 

Meanwhile  in  the  non-catholic  realms  them- 
selves, Catholicism  had  attained  to  new  orga- 
nization. Positive  religion,  of  whatever  de- 
nomination, was  held  to  be  the  best  support 
of  civil  allegiance.  Care  was  everywhere 
taken  to  arrange  the  dioceses  anew,  to  estab- 
lish bishoprics  and  archbishoprics,  and  to  found 
catholic  seminaries  and  schools.  How  wholly 
different  an  aspect  did  the  catholic  church 
system  assume  in  the  Prussian  provinces, 
formerly  incorporated  in  the  French  empire, 
from  that  it  had  worn  under  the  latter  yoke. 
The  desultary  efforts  of  ecclesiastical  opposi- 
tion to  the  ancient  regulations  of  the  Roman 
church,  found  no.countenance  in  the  protest- 
ant  states.  On  the  other  hand,  the  court  of 
Rome  concluded  treaties  equally  with  the 
protestant  as  with  the  catholic  governments, 
and  found  it  necessary  to  allow  the  former 
influence  in  the  choice  of  bishops :  that  influ- 
ence was  at  times  actually  exerted  in  pro- 
moting the  most  zealous  churchmen  to  the 
highest  posts.  It  would  almost  have  seemed 
as  though  the  strife  of  creeds  had  forever 
ceased  in  the  higher  political  regions;  and 
day  by  day  it  was  seen  to  die  away  in  civil 
life.  Protestant  literature  devoted  a  respect- 
ful attention  to  ancient  catholic  institutions, 
which  in  earlier  times  it  would  have  found 
impossible. 

It  proved  nevertheless  that  these  anticipa- 
tions of  peace  were  too  bold  and  hasty. 

On  the  contrary,  the  strict  catholic  princi- 
ple, which  clings  to,  and  is  represented  by 
Rome,  became  subsequently  involved  in  more 
or  less  keen  and  deliberate  conflict  with  the 
protestant  governments. 

It  achieved  a  great  victory  in  England  in 
the  year  1329. 

During  the  wars  of  the  revolution  the  gov- 
ernment of  England,  for  a  century  exclusively 


394 


CONCLUSION. 


protestant,  had  made  approaches  to  the  see  of 
Rome.  Phis  VI  [.  had  been  elected  under  the 
auspices  of  the  coalition  victories  of  1799,  in 
which  England  had  borne  so  conspicuous  a 
part.  We  have  mentioned  how  that  the  pope 
subsequently  also  rested  on  English  support, 
and  could  not  be  moved  to  any  acts  of  hostility 
against  that  country.  Neither  could  the 
English  nation  any  longer  see,  as  they  had 
done  before,  the  necessity  of  making  a  depen- 
dence in  point  of  religion  upon  the  pope  a 
ground  of  exclusion  from  all  purely  political 
rights,  and  from  all  qualification  for  public 
functions.  Pitt  had  already  felt  and  expressed 
this  ;*  still,  as  might  be  expected,  the  habit 
of  adhering  firmly  to  tried  principles  of  the 
constitution  longopposed  an  invincibleobstacle 
to  every  change.  At  last,  however,  the  spirit 
of  the  age,  which  is  averse  to  all  exclusive 
privileges,  asserted  its  strength  on  this  ques- 
tion. Hence  in  Ireland,  so  pre-eminently 
catholic,  politico-religious  associations,  and 
acts  of  lawlessness  and  turbulence  prevailed 
to  such  a  degree,  that  at  last  the  great  gene- 
ral, then  at  the  head  of  the  government,  who 
had  victoriously  withstood  so  many  foes,  was 
obliged  to  declare  that  he  could  not  carry  on 
the  government  without  this  concession.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  oaths  were  repealed  or  modi- 
fied, to  which  alone  the  protestant  interest 
had  ascribed  its  safety  in  the  times  of  the 
restoration  and  of  the  revolution  in  England. 
How  often  had  Lord  Liverpool  declared,  that 
if  this  measure  were  carried,  England  would 
no  longer  be  a  protestant  state :  even  though 
no  importantconsequences should  immediately 
follow  it,  still  it  was  impossible  to  foresee  to 
what  future  events  it  might  give  rise.f  Never- 
theless, the  measure  was  passed,  the  hazard 
was  encountered. 

A  still  more  brilliant  and  more  unexpected 
triumph  was  immediately  after  obtained  in 
Belgium. 

The  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands,  from  the 
moment  of  its  foundation,  gave  tokens  of  an 
animosity  between  north  and  south,  that 
threatened  its  destruction,  and  which  from 
the  very  first  had  fastened  chiefly  on  ecclesi- 
astical matters.     The  protestant  king  adopted 

*  "  Mr.  Pitl  is  convinced,"  he  says  in  his  letter  of  the 
31st  Jan.  1801,  to  George  III.,  "  that  the  grounds  on  which 
the  laws  of  exclusion  now  remaining  were  founded,  have 
long  been  nirrowed,— thai  those  principles  formerly  held 
by  the  catholics,  which  made  them  be  considered  as  poli- 
tically dangerous,  have  been  for  a  course  of  time  gradu- 
ally declining,— thai  the  political  circumstances  under 
which  the  exclusive  laws  originated,  arising  from  the  con- 
flicting power  of  hostile  and  nearly  balanced  sects,  .  .  . 
and  a  division  in  Europe  between  catholic  and  protestant 
powers,  are  no  longer  applicable  to  the  present  stale  of 
things." 

t  Speech  of  Lord  Liverpool,  May  17,  18.'5.  "Where 
was  the  danger  of  having  a  popish  king  or  a  popish  chan- 
cellor, if  alllhe  other  executive  officers  might  acknow- 
ledge the  jjope.  ...  It  was  said,— that  a  catholic  might 
be  prime  minister,  and  have  the  whole  patronage  of  the 
church  and  stale  at  his  dis;;os  il.  ...  If  the  bill  were  to 
pass.  Great  Britain  would  be  no  longer  a  proiesiani 
state." 


the  ideas  of  Joseph  II. :  in  that  spirit  he 
established  schools  and  universities,  and  ad- 
ministered generally  his  share  in  the  spiritual 
power.  The  opposition  set  up  against  hira 
educational  institutions  in  a  contrary  spirit, 
and  with  deliberate  purpose  applied  itself  to 
the  most  extreme  eftbrts  in  favour  of  hierarch- 
ical principles.  A  liberal  catholic  party 
sprang  up,  which  taking  its  stand  in  this 
country,  as  in  England,  on  the  common  rights 
of  man,  grew  every  day  bolder  in  its  preten- 
sions, and  extorted  first  concessions,  such  as 
liberation  from  the  government  schools,  and 
finally,  when  a  favourable  opportunity  pre- 
sented itself,  wholly  threw  off  the  hated  yoke, 
and  succeeded  in  founding  a  kingdom  in  which 
the  priests  have  again  attained  to  distinguish- 
ed political  importance.  The  most  decidedly 
liberal  ideas  are  just  what  best  promote  their 
interest.  The  low  electoral  qualification, 
which  admits  even  the  humbler  classes  in 
town  and  country,  whom  they  can  easily  in- 
fluence, to  a  share  in  public  affairs,  enables 
them  to  control  the  elections :  through  the 
elections  they  rule  the  chambers,  and  through 
the  chambers  the  kingdom.  They  are  to  be 
seen  in  Brussels,  as  in  Rome,  in  the  public 
promenades,  in  good  case  and  full  of  preten- 
sion ;  they  enjoy  their  victory. 

In  neither  of  these  events  did  the  Roman 
court,  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  take  a  directly 
active  part,  however  advantageous  they  have 
proved  to  its  authority.  .  In  a  third,  however, 
the  dispute  between  the  catholic  church  and 
Prussia,  it  has  actively  interfered.  In  that 
country  the  tendencies  of  the  protestant  state 
and  of  the  catholic  hierarchy,  which  seemed 
in  some  sort  to  have  coalesced  since  the  res- 
toration, but  which  had  subsequently  for  a 
long  time  become  mutually  estranged,  have 
broken  with  each  other  in  the  most  systematic 
manner,  and  engaged  in  a  conflict  that  de- 
servedly attracts  the  attention  of  the  world, 
and  is  pregnant  with  the  most  important  con- 
sequences. The  pope,  in  conjunction  with 
the  two  archbishops  of  the  empire,  has  stood 
up  against  an  ordinance  of  the  king  ;  the  ob- 
ject of  which  was  the  regulation,  in  a  reli- 
gious point  of  view,  of  the  family  relations  of 
the  mixed  population.  He  has  found  willing 
instruments  and  powerful  support  in  the  midst 
of  Germany. 

Thus  we  see  the  catholic  hierarchical  prin- 
ciple has  once  more  come  forth  in  great 
strength  against  the  ])rotestant  governmentg, 
and  in  this  it  has  been  greatly  aided  by  the 
political  opposition  to  which  it  is  the  nature 
of  our  age  decidedly  to  incline. 

Matters  have  not  thriven  so  well  with  the 
pope  in  the  countries  of  his  own  creed. 

The  revolution  of  July  in  France  could  not 
be  regarded  in  any  other  light  than  that  of  a 
defeat  of  the  partizans  of  the  hierarchy.  The 
religious  zeal  of  Charles  X.  was  what  chiefly 


THE  RESTORATION. 


395 


led  to  his  overthrow.  Parties  had  risen  to 
power  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  which  have  re- 
sumed the  efforts  of  the  revolutionary  cortes. 
Movements  similar  in  their  orij^in  have  taken 
place  at  the  foot  of  the  Vatican,  and  their 
suppression  has  been  wholly  effected  by  for- 
eign force. 

It  cannot  be  alleged  that  the  Roman  see 
has  contributed  much  towards  suppressing 
the  revohitionary  spirit.  Nowhere  has  it 
been  able  to  put  it  down  by  its  own  unassisted 
strength. 

But  before  having  yet  attained  to  firm  and 
stable  sovereignty  within  the  domain  of  its 
own  church,  it  has  found  means  to  place  itself 
in  a  warlike  attitude  upon  the  confines  of 
protestantism.  There  it  would  have  coalesced 
with  the  legitimate  powers,  and  with  ancient 
institutions  of  Europe.  Here  it  has  found  its 
best  allies  in  the  ideas  of  the  times,  and  in 
liberal  opinions.  Its  position  and  its  policy 
continually  oscillate  between  these  great 
forces,  as  formerly  they  did  in  the  time  of 
Napoleon. 

Whither  this  state  of  things  may  lead,  the 
future  alone  can  tell. 

If  we  fix  our  eyes  exclusively  on  the  efforts 
of  the  partizansof  the  hierarchy  and  of  their 
antagonists,  we  may  be  disposed  to  dread  the 
outbreak  of  new  and  fierce  strife,  the  convul- 


sion of  the  world,  and  the  revival  of  ancient 
animosities  in  all  their  former  rancour.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  cast  a  glance  upon  the 
mental  activity  that  characterizes  the  age, 
this  fear  must  vanish.  Few,  indeed,  are  they 
who  are  now  disposed  to  re-establish  the  do- 
minion of  priesthood  in  the  full  sense  of  the 
word.  Such  an  attempt  would  perhaps  expe- 
rience the  most  vehement  resistance  in  the 
inveterately  catholic  countries  of  the  Roman 
group.  Neither  will  the  protestants  ever 
again  return  to  the  hardness  and  bigoted  ran- 
cour of  the  old  system.  We  see  the  pro- 
founder  spirits  on  either  side  with  more  and 
more  knowledge,  penetration,  and  freedom 
from  the  narrow  bondage  of  church  forms, 
going  back  to  the  everlasting  principles  of 
genuine  religion, — that  which  dwells  in  the 
inner  man.  Impossible  it  is  that  this  can  re- 
main barren  of  result.  The  more  perfect 
apprehension  of  the  spiritually  and  absolutely 
true  which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all  forms,  and 
which  can  by  none  of  them  be  expressed  in 
its  entire  import,  must  at  last  harmonize  all 
enmities.  High  above  all  antagonizing  prin- 
ciples— this  trust  we  cannot  tbrego — still 
towers  the  unity  of  an  unalloyed,  and  there- 
fore no  less  assured,  consciousness  of  the 
being  of  a  God. 


THE  END  OF  THE  HISTORY. 


APPENDIX. 


LIST  OF  MANUSCRIPTS    MADE   USE   OP   IN  THE  COMPOSITION  OP  THE 
FOREGOING  WORK,  WlTH  EXTRACTS  AND  CRITICAL  REMARKS. 


SECTION  L 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


1.  Ad  S.  D"^  Nostrum  Pontificem  Maximum 
Nicolaum  V.  conformalio  curie  romane 
loquentis  edita  per  E.  S.  oralorem  Jo- 
seph. B.  doctorem  cum  humili  semper 
recommendatione.  (1453.) — Bibl.  Vatic, 
nr..  3618.  [The  address  of  the  Roman 
court  to  his  holiness,  Pope  Nicholas  V., 
edited  and  dedicated  with  profound  hu- 
mility by  Doctor  Joseph  B.  orator  of  the 
Holy  Church.] 

A  lament  over  the  well-known  conspiracy 
of  Stephen  Porcari,  which  does  not  exactly 
furnish  any  more  accurate  information  on  the 
subject,  but  which  nevertheless  sets  before  us 
some  important  points  in  the  position  of  things. 
For  instance,  it  states  the  principal  intention 
of  Nicholas  V.  in  the  buildings  he  erected. 
"  Arces  fortificat  muris  turrimque  superbam 
Extruit  .  .  .  ne  quisque  tyrannus  ab  alma 
Quemque  armis  valeat  papain  depellere  Ro- 
ma." 
[He  walls  fortresses,  and  piles  up  a   proud 
castle  ....  that  no  armed  tyrant  may  ever 
avail  to  drive  a  pope  from  dear  and  venerated 
Rome.]     Many  a  time  had  former  popes  been 
forced  to  quit  their  capital.     Nicholas  built 
that  he  might  be  able  to  defend  himself  against 
domestic  and  foreign  foes. 

Again  he  exhibits  the  state  of  Rome  as  com- 
pared with  that  of  other  Italian  cities. 

".  .  .  .  Si  tu  perquiris  in  omnibus  illam  (lib- 

ertatem) 
Urbibus  Italise,  nullam  mihi  crede  profecto 
Invenies  urbem  quae  sic  majore  peromnem 
Libertate  modumquam  nunctua  Romafruatur. 
Omnis enim  urbs dominis et  hello  et  pace  coacta 
Prsestita  magna  suisdurasque  gravata  gabellas 
Solvit,  et  interdum  propria m  desperat  habere 
Justitiam,  atque  ferox  violentia  civibus  ipsis 
Saepe  fit,  ut  popuhis  varie  vexatus  ab  illis 
Fasce  sub  hoc  onerum  pauper  de  divite  fiat; 
Attua  Roma  sacro  nee  prsestita  nee  similem  vim 
Nee  grave  vectigal  nee  pondera  cogitur  uUa 


Solvere  pontifici  ni  humiles  minimasque  gabel- 
las: 
Praetereahicdominustribuitjustissimusalmam 
Justitiam  cuicunque  suam,  violentaque  nu{li 
Infert:  hie  populum  prisco  de  paupere  ditem 
Efficit,  et  placida  Romam  cum  pace  gubernat." 
[Seek  if  you  will  through  all  the  cities  of 
Italy,  in  none  assuredly  will  you  find  your 
own  Rome  surpassed  in  the  enjoyment  of 
liberty  of  every  kind.  For  all  the  others  are 
cruelly  taxed  by  their  rulers  in  times  of  peace 
as  well  as  of  war;  justice  is  sometimes  des- 
paired of,  and  violence  is  frequently  committed 
by  the  burghers  themselves,  so  that  the  har- 
assed people  sink  under  their  manifold  bur- 
thens from  affluence  to  poverty.  But  your 
Rome  suffers  no  such  exactions  or  violence, 
nor  is  it  forced  to  pay  to  its  holy  pontiff  any 
exorbitant  tribute,  but  merely  very  moderate 
and  trifling  duties.  There,  too,  the  most  just 
of  lords  dispenses  equity  to  all,  and  wrongs 
none,  and  makes  a  once  needy  people  wealthy, 
and  governs  Rome  in  peace  and  contentment.] 
The  author  blames  the  Romans  for  their  as- 
pirations after  the  freedom  of  ancient  Rome. 
And  indeed  the  fact  is  undeniable,  and  it  is 
one  that  greatly  contributed  to  the  territorial 
acquisitions  of  the  church,  that  the  papal  sway 
was  milder  than  that  of  the  rulers  of  other 
cities  of  Italy.  Our  author  caimot  pardon 
the  resistance  of  the  burghers  to  that  church, 
from  which  they  derived  so  much  spiritual 
and  temporal  wealth : 

"  Quibus  auri  copia  grandis 
Argentique  ferax  asternaque  vita  salusque 
Provenit,  ut  nulli  data  gratia  tam  ardua 
genti." 
[There  is  poured  on  them  a  plenteous  abun- 
dance of  gold  and  silver,  besides  eternal  life 
and  salvation  ;  so  that  they  are  blessed  above 
every  other  people.]     The  pope  is  counselled 
to  increase  his  fortifications  still    more,  and 
never  to  go  to  St.  Peter's  without  300  armed 
attendants  ;  at  the  same  time  to  strive  to  win 


398 


APPENDIX. 


the  love  of  the  inhabitants,  and  toFuccour  the 
poor,  especially  those  of  gentle  blood,  "vitam 
qui  mend;care  rubescunt ;"  [who  blush  to  beg 
their  bread  ;] 

.  .  .  Succtirre  volentibus  artes 
Exercere  bonas,  quibus  inclyta  Roma  nites- 
cat;" 
[give  countenance  and  support  to  those  who 
are  willing  to  exercise  laudable  arts,  and 
thereby  to  enhance  the  lustre  of  Rome;]  an 
advice  it  was  hardly  necest^ary  to  give  Nicholas 
V.  This  little  work  is  mentioned  in  the  Vita 
Nicolai  V.  a  Dominico  Georgio  conscripta  Ro- 
mse,  1742,  p.  130. 

2.  Inslructiones  dat<B  a  Sixto  IV.  RR.  PP. 
/?"'«  J.  de  Agnellis  prolonvtario  apos- 
tolico  et  Anl"  de  Frassis  s.  palatn  cau- 
sarum  avditcri  ad  M.  Impfraioris.  1 
Deci'  1418.— Bibl.  Alheri  VII.  G.  1. 
99.  [Instructions  from  Sixtus  IV.  to  the 
nuncios  sent  to  the  emperor,  &c.  &c.] 

The  oldest  instruction  that  I  have  met  with 
among  the  MSS.  that  have  come  under  my 
notice.  It  begins  "  Primo  salutabant  Seren- 
issimum  Imperatorem." 

The  murderous  attack  of  the  Pazzi  upon 
the  Medici  had  taken  place  on  the  2fith  of 
April,  1478.  The  deed  had  thrown  all  Italy 
into  commotion.  "  Ecclesia  justa  caui-a  con- 
tra Laurentium  mota,  clamant  Veneti,  clamat 
tota  ista  liga." 

The  ambassadors  were  to  hinder  the  em- 
peror from  giving  credit  to  a  certain  Jacobus 
de  Medio,  whom  the  Vi^netians  had  sent  to 
the  imperial  court.  "  Est  magnup  fabricator 
et  Cretensis  :  multa  enim  referebat  suis  quae 
nunquam  cogitaveramus  neque  dixeramus." 
[He  is  a  monstrous  liar  ;  for  he  stated  many 
things  to  his  countrymen  which  we  never  ut- 
tered or  conceived.]  They  were  to  solicit 
the  emperor's  med  iation.  'I  he  king  of  France 
had  offered  his;  but  the  pope  would  rather 
confer  the  honour  of  that  office  on  the  empe- 
ror. "  Velit  scribere  rogi  Franciag  et  ligse 
isti,  ostondendo  quod  non  recte  faciunt  et  pa- 
rum  existiuiant  deum  et  honorem  pontificis,  et 
quod  debent  magis  favere  ecclesiae  justitiam 
habenti  quam  uni  mercatori,  qui  semper  mag- 
na causa  tuit  quod  non  potuerunt  omnia  con- 
fici  contra  Turcum  qua  intendebamus  parare, 
et  fuil  semper  petra  scandali  in  ecclesia  Dei 
ettota  Italia."  [Let  him  write  to  the  king  of 
France  and  to  the  league,  and  point  out  to 
them  thai  they  act  wrongfully  and  with  little 
respect  tor  God  and  the  pope's  honour,  and 
that  they  ought  rather  lo  favour  the  righteous 
cause  of  the  church,  than  an  individual  mer- 
chant, who  has  always  been  a  main  hindrance 
to  the  accomplishment  of  all  our  projects 
against  the  Turks,  and  a  stone  of  offence  to 
God's  church  and  to  all  Italy.] 

The  matter  was  the  more  dangerous  for  the 


pope,  inasmuch  as  intentions  were  entertained 
of  setting  up  a  council  as  a  bar  to  his  temporal 
assumptions.  "  Petunt  cum  rege  Francise, 
concilium  in  Galliis  celebrari  in  dedecus  nos- 
trum." 

This  reminds  us  of  the  attempt  which  was 
made  some  years  later  to  assemble  a  council, 
whereby  the  archbishop  of  Carniola  earned  a 
certain  reputation.  Johann  von  M tiller  has 
devoted  a  couple  of  pages  to  the  subject  in  the 
5th  vol.  of  his  History  of  Switzerland  (p.  286  ;) 
but  his  account  does  not  sufficiently  e.xhibit 
the  temporal  motives  for  this  demand  of  a 
council.  Cardinal  Andreas  was  not  so  tho- 
rough an  ecclesiastic  as  M  ijller  would  make  him 
appear.  The  ambassadors  from  Florence  and 
Milan  sought  him  out  in  Basle, deputed  in  the 
name  of  the  entire  league  which  had  taken 
the  field  against  Sixtus.  They  found  him 
(we  have  their  own  report)  a  man  of  great 
worldly  experience  (gran  pratica  et  experi- 
entia  del  mundo)  and  possessed  with  a  vehe- 
ment hatred  to  the  pope  and  his  nephew.  •'  E 
huomo  per  fare  otjni  cosa  purche  e'  tuffi  el 
papa  e  '1  conte."  [He  is  ready  to  do  anything 
to  swamp  the  pope  and  the  count.]  See  Bac- 
cius  Ugolinus  Laurentio  Medici  in  Basilea  a 
di  20  Sept.  1482  in  Fabroni  Vita  Laurentii, 
II.  229. — Here,  we  perceive,  is  already  an  in- 
stance of  a  spiritual  opposition  on  the  part  of 
sovereigns,  prompted  by  secular  considerations. 
They  too  had  spiritual  weapons,  and  they 
wielded  them  against  those  of  the  pope. 

3.  Relatione  falta  in  pregadi  per  Polo  Ca- 
pello  el  cavalier  venuto  orator  di  Roma 
1500  28  Sett. —  Vienna  Archives.  [Polo 
Capello's  Report  to  the  Venetian  senate 
of  his  embassy  to  Rome,  &c.] 

This  is  the  earliest  report  of  a  Venetian 
ambassador  concerning  the  papal  court  that  I 
have  met  with.  It  is  not  to  be  found  in  the 
Venetian  archives;  it  seems  as  though  re- 
ports were  not  given  in  writing  in  those  days. 
It  is  given  in  the  Chronicle  of  Sanuto,  which 
contains  in  general  whatever  passed  in  the 
pregadi  or  senate. 

Polo  Capello  promises  to  treat  on  four  top- 
ics ; — the  cardinals,  the  disposition  of  the  pope 
to  the  kinjT  of  France  and  to  Venice,  the  inten- 
tions (el  desiderio)  of  his  holiness,  and  what 
was  to  be  expected  from  him  :  but  as  this  di- 
vision of  his  subject  does  not  rest  on  very  ac- 
curate distinctions,  he  does  not  abide  by  it. 

He  remarks  principally  that  neither  Venice 
nor  France  was  on  good  terms  with  the  pope  ; 
the  former  because  it  had  possessed  itself  of  a 
part  of  the  Milanese,  and  fears  were  enter- 
tained that  it  would  lay  hold  on  all  Italy; — 
the  latter,  because  the  king  did  nut  keep  his 
word  with  the  pope.  We  find  in  this  docu- 
ment the  conditions  of  the  league  of  the  year 
1498  between  the  king  and  the  pope.     The 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OP  TRENT. 


399 


pope  s^ranted  the  kinor  a  dispensation  to  sepa- 
rate from  his  wife;  in  return  for  which  the 
king  promised  the  pope's  son,  Caesar  Borgia, 
a  domiin  yielding  an  annual  income  of2S,()()0 
francs,  a  wife  of  the  blood-royal  (Navarre  !)» 
and  renunciation  of  any  attempt  on  Naples, 
except  in  favour  of  the  Borgias  (del  regno  di 
Napoli  non  se  impazzar  se  non  in  ajutar  il 
papa.)  So  that  we  see  the  pope  had  even  a 
design  on  Naples.  But  these  promises  were 
not  kept.  The  match  proposed  to  Caesar  was 
not  quite  to  the  pope's  satisfaction  ;  the  pope 
contented  liimself  with  the  purchase  of  a 
property  of  12,000  francs  as  a  security  for  the 
dowry,  but  the  young  bride  remained  in 
France.  It  was  only  the  king's  superior  pow- 
er that  kept  the  pope  in  check.  "  Q,uando  il 
Sr  LoJovico  intro  in  Milan,"  says  Capello 
very  signigcantly,  "  publice  diceva  (.il  papa) 
mal  del  roy."  [When  S"'  Lodovico  entered 
Milan,  the  pope  publicly  spoke  ill  of  the  king.] 
He  was  incensed  that  the  French  had  refused 
him  aid  towards  expelling  the  Bentivogli  from 
Bologna. 

Whilst  the  foregoing  passages  give  us  a 
better  insight  into  the  secret  springs  of  the 
papal  policy  in  those  days,  the  following  is 
very  valuable  for  its  delineation  of  personal 
traits. 

The  author  speaks  first  of  the  death  of  Alex- 
ander VI. 's  son-in-law.  (/sesar  Borgia  had 
already  wounded  him.  "Per  dubio  mando  a 
tuor  medici  di  Napoli :  ste  33  di  ammalato,  et 
il  CI  Capua  lo  confesso  e  la  moglie  e  sorella, 
ch'e  moglie  del  principe  di  Squillaci  altro 
fiol  di  papa,  stava  con  lui  et  cusinava  in  una 
pignatella  per  dubio  di  veneno,  per  I'odio  li 
haveva  il  ducha  di  Valentinos,  et  il  papa  li 
faceva  custodir  per  dubio  esso  ducha  non 
I'amazzasse,  e  quando  andava  il  papa  a  visi- 
tarlo,  il  ducha  non  vi  andava  se  non  una  volta 
e  disse  :  quello  non  e  fatto  a  disnar  si  fara  a 
cena.  Or  un  zorno,  fo  a  di  17  avosto,  intro 
in  camera,  che  era  za  sublevato,  e  fe  ussir  la 
moglie  e  sorella :  intro  Michiele  cussi  chia- 
mato,  e  strangolo  ditto  zovene.  .  .  . 

"  11  papa  ama  et  ha  gran  paura  del  fiol 
ducha,  qual  e  di  anni  27,  bellissimo  di  corpo 
e  grande,  ben  fatto  e  meglioche  re  Ferandin  : 
amazzo  6  tori  salvadegi  combatendo  a  cavallo 
a  la  zaneta,  et  a  uno  li  taio  la  testa  a  la  prima 
bota,  cosa  che  pare.sse  a  tutta  Roma  grande. 
E  realissmio,  imo  prodego,  e  il  papa  li  dis- 
place di  questo.  Et  alias  amazzo  sotta  il 
manto  del  papa  M.  Peroto,  adeo  il  sangue  li 
salto  in  la  faza  del  pipa,  qual  M.  Peroto  era 
favorito  dal  papa.  Ktiam  amazzo  il  fratello 
ducha  di  Gandia  e  lo  fe  butar  nel  Tevere. — 
Tutta  Roma  trema  di  esso  ducha  non  li  faza 
amazzar."  [He  took  the  precaution  of  hav- 
ing physicians  brought  from  Naples:  he  was 
thirty-three  days  confined  to  his  bed,  and  Car- 
dinal Capua  confessed  him,  and  his  married 
sister,  who  is  the  wife  of  the  prince  of  Squil- 


lacc,  the  pope's  other  son,  stayed  with  him 
and  cooked  his  fool  in  a  small  pot  for  fear  of 
poison,  by  reason  of  the  hatred  boms;  to  him 
by  the  Duke  of  Valentinos;  and  the  pope 
cause  I  him  to  be  guarded  l(>st  the  said  duke 
should  kill  him  ;  and  when  the  pope  went  to 
visit  him  the  duke  did  not  go  with  hiin  except 
once,  and  then  he  said,  what  is  not  done  at 
dinner  will  be  done  at  supper.  Now  one 
day,  it  was  the  17th  of  August,  he  entered 
the  chamber,  the  sick  man  being  already 
risen,  and  turned  out  the  married  sister: 
iMichiele  name  in  at  his  call  and  strangled 
the  said  youth.  .  .  . 

The  pope  loves  and  is  in  great  fear  of  the 
duke,  his  son,  who  is  twenty-seven  years  of 
age,  of  a  very  hanlsome  person,  tall  and  well 
made,  and  surpassing  king  Ferandin  [Ferdi- 
nand, the  last  king  of  .Naples,  who  was  reck- 
oned very  handsome];  he  killed  six  wild  bulls 
fighting  with  the  lance  on  horseback,  and  he 
cleft  the  head  of  one  at  the  first  stroke,  a  feat 
which  astonished  all  Rome.  He  is  most  roy- 
al, nay  prodigal ;  and  the  pope  is  displeased 
with  him  for  this.  Moreover  he  slew  M. 
Peroto  under  the  pope's  mantle,  so  that  his 
blood  spirted  in  the  pope's  face,  which  M. 
Peroto  was  the  pope's  favourite.  Likewise 
he  murdered  his  brother,  the  duke  of  Gandea, 
and  had  him  thrown  into  the  Tiber. — All 
Rome  trembles  at  this  duke  lest  he  assassinate 
them.] 

Roscoe  has  endeavoured,  in  his  life  of  Leo 
X.  to  clear  the  memory  of  Lucretia  Borgia  of 
the  scandalous  imputations  with  which  it  has 
been  loaded.  He  has  set  off  against  the 
charges  brought  against  the  earlier  period  of 
her  life  favourable  testimonies  concerning  her 
later  years.  The  German  translator  of  his 
work  is  not  however  convinced,  his  opinion 
being  that  she  altered  her  conduct  for  the 
the  better.  The  report  before  us  is  also  re- 
markable for  the  favourable  testimony  it  bears 
to  the  character  of  Lucretia  in  the  early  part 
of  her  life.  It  says,  "  Lucrezia  la  qual  e  sa- 
via  e  liberal."  Caesar  Borgia  was  rather  her 
enemy  than  her  lover.  He  took  from  her 
Sermoneta  which  had  been  given  her  by  the 
pope,  saying  she  was  a  woman,  and  could  not 
ke^-p  possession  of  it:  "e  donna,  non  lo  potr^ 
mantenir." 

4.  Among  the  numerous  documents  given 
in  the  fifth  volume  of  Sanulo,  the  following 
appears  to  me  the  most  important: 

"  Questo  e  il  successo  de  la  morte  di  papa 
Alexandro  VI. 

"  Hessendo  el  C  datario  dno  Arian  da  Cor- 
neto  stato  richiesto  dal  pontefice  cliel  voleva 
venir  a  cena  con  lui  insieine  con  el  duca  Val- 
entinos a  la  sua  vigua  et  portar  la  cena  cum 
S.  S^a,  si  imagino  esso  cardinal  questo  invito 
esser  sta  ordinailo  per  darli  la  morte  per  via 
di  veneno  per  aver  il  duca  li  soi  danari  e  ben- 


400 


APPENDIX. 


eficii,  per  esser  sta  concluso  per  il  papa  ad 
ogni  modo  di  privarlo  di  vita  per  aver  il  suo 
peculio,  come  ho  ditto,  qual  era  grande,  e 
procurando  a  la  sua  salute  penso  una  sola 
cosa  poter  esser  la  via  di  la  sua  salute.  E 
mando  captato  tpio  (tempo)  a  far  a  saper  al 
schalcho  del  pontefice  chel  ge  venisse  a  par- 
lar,  con  el  qual  havea  domestichezza.  El 
qual  venuto  da  esso  cd',  se  tirono  tutti  do  in 
uno  loco  secreto,  dove  era  preparato  due.  Xm. 
d'oro,  e  per  esso  c'  fo  persuaso  ditto  schalcho 
ad  acetarli  in  dono  e  galderli  per  suo  amor. 
El  qual  post  multa  li  accepto,  e  li  oferse  etiam 
il  resto  di  la  sua  fuculta,  perche  era  richissi- 
nio  card',  a  ogni  suo  comando,  perche  li  disse 
chel  non  poteva  galder  detta  laculta  se  non 
per  suo  mezo,  dicendo:  vui  conoscete  certo  la 
condition  del  papa,  et  io  so  chel  ha  deliberato 
col  duoha  Valentinos  ch'  io  mora  e  questo  per 
via  di  esso  scalcho  per  morte  ven«nosa,  pre- 
gandolo  di  gratia  che  voia  haver  pieta  di  lui 
e  donarli  la  vita.  Et  dicto  questo,  esso  scal- 
cho li  dichiari  il  modo  ordinate  de  darli  il 
veneno  a  la  cena,  e  si  mosse  a  compassione 
promettendoli  di  preservarlo.  II  modo  era 
chel  dovea  apresentar  dapoi  la  cena  tre  scha- 
tole  di  confecion  in  laola,  uno  al  papa,  una  al 
d'o  card'  et  una  al  ducha,  et  in  quella  del 
card'  si  era  il  veneno.  E  cussi  messe  ditto 
card'  ordine  al  prefato  scalcho  del  modo  che 
dovea  servar,  e  tar  che  la  scutola  venenata, 
dovea  aver  esso  card',  di  quella  il  papa  man- 
zasse  e  lui  si  atosegaria  e  moriria.  E  cussi 
venuto  il  pontefice  a  la  cena  al  zorno  dato 
I'hordine  col  ducha  perditto,  el  prefato  c'  se 
li  butto  a  li  piedi  brazzandoli  ei  strettissima- 
mente  baxandoli,  con  atfectuosissime  parole 
supplicando  a  S.  S'a,  dicendo,  mai  di  quelli 
piedi  si  leveria  si  S.  Beat,  non  li  concedesse 
una  gratia.  Interrogato  del  pontefice,  qual 
era  facendo  instanza,  se  levasse  suso,  esso  c' 
respondeva  chel  voleva  aver  in  gratia  el  di- 
manderia  et  haver  la  promessa  di  fargela  da 
S.  Sia.  Hor  dapio  molta  persuasion,  il  papa 
stete  assai  admirativo  vedendo  la  perseveran- 
tia  del  d^o  c'e  e  non  si  voler  levar,  e  li  prom- 
isse  di  exaudirlo:  al  qual  card'  sublevato 
disse:  patre  santo,  non  e  conveniente  che 
venendo  il  signer  a  caxe  del  servo  suo,  do- 
vesse  al  servo  parimente  confrezer  (I)  con  el 
suo  signer,  e  perho  la  gratia  el  dimandava  era 
questa  zusta  e  honesta  che  lui  servo  dovesse 
servir  a  la  mensa  di  S.  S^a,  e  il  papa  li  fece 
la  gratia.  E  andato  a  cena  al  hora  debita  di 
meter  la  confecion  in  tavola,  fo  per  il  scalcho 
posto  la  confezion  avenenata  ne  la  scutola  se- 
condo  el  primo  ordine  li  havea  dato  il  papa,  et 
il  C  hessendo  chiaro  in  quella  non  vi  esser 
vcnen  li  fece  la  crcdenza  di  dicta  scatola  e 
masse  la  venenata  avante  il  papa,  e  S.  S. 
fidandosi  del  suo  scalcho  e  per  la  credenza  li 
fece  esso  cl,  judico  in  quella  non  esser  veneno 
e  ne  manzo  allegramente,  e  del  altra,  chel 
papa  fusse  avenenata  si  credeva  e  non  era, 


manzo  ditto  c'.  Hor  al  hora  solita  a  la  qual- 
ita  del  veneno  sua  S'''  comenzo  a  sentirlo  e 
cussi  sen'e  morto:  el  card',  che  pur  haveva 
paura,  se  medicine  e  voniito,  e  non  have  mal 
alcnno  ma  non  senza  difficulta.     Valete." 

[This  is  the  way  pope  Alexander  VI.  came 
by  his  death. 

The  cardinal  datary  Arian  da  Corneto  hav- 
ing been  graciously  informed  by  the  pope 
that  he  intended  to  visit  him  at  his  vineyard, 
with  the  duke  of  Valentinos,  to  sup  with  him, 
and  that  his  holiness  would  bring  the  supper 
with  him ;  the  cardinal  conceived  that  the 
invitation  was  made  with  a  view  to  put  him 
to  death  by  poison,  so  that  the  duke  might 
have  his  money  and  preferments;  it  bemg 
resolved  on  by  the  pope  by  all  means  to  de- 
prive him  of  life  in  order  to  get  possession  of 
his  property,  as  I  have  said,  which  was  great. 
Casting  about  how  he  might  preserve  himself, 
he  saw  but  one  way  of  safety.  He  sent  be- 
times to  desire  the  pope's  carver,  with  whom 
he  was  intimate,  to  come  and  speak  with  him, 
and  on  his  arrival  the  two  retired  to  a  secret 
place,  where  were  provided  10,000  gold  du- 
cats, which  the  said  carver  was  prevailed  on 
by  the  cardinal  to  accept  and  keep  for  his 
sake.  The  former  accepted  them  after  many 
words,  and  the  cardinal  offered  him  moreover 
all  the  rest  of  his  means  to  command,  he  be- 
ing exceedingly  rich,  for  he  said  he  could  not 
keep  the  same  except  through  the  said  car- 
ver's aid,  adding,  "  You  know  certes  the  pope's 
character,  and  I  know  that  he  has  planned 
with  the  duke  Valentinos  to  compass  my 
death  by  poison  at  your  hand,"  wherefore  he 
besought  him  to  have  pity  on  him,  and  spare 
his  life.  Thereupon  the  carver  declared  to 
him  the  mode  appointed  for  administering 
poison  to  him  at  supper,  and  yielded  to  com- 
passion, promising  to  save  him.  The  manner 
was,  that  he  was  to  present  after  supper 
three  boxes  of  lozenge  confectionary,  one  to 
the  pope,  one  to  the  said  cardinal,  and  one  to 
the  duke,  and  in  that  of  the  cardinal  was  the 
poison.  So  the  cardinal  directed  the  afore- 
said carver  how  he  should  serve  them,  and 
cause  that  the  pope  should  eat  of  the  drugged 
box  intended  for  the  cardinal,  and  so  poison 
himself  and  die.  Accordingly  the  pope  being 
come  on  the  appointed  day  to  supper,  with 
the  aforesaid  duke,  the  cardinal  threw  him- 
self at  his  feet,  embracing  them  closely,  and 
kissing  them,  intreating  his  holiness  with 
most  affectionate  words,  saying  that  he  would 
never  rise  from  that  posture  if  his  holiness 
did  not  grant  him  a  favour.  The  pontiff 
questioning  him  and  urging  him  to  rise,  the 
cardinal  persisted  in  his  suit,  and  pressed  his 
holiness  to  promise  he  would  grant  it.  After 
much  entreaty  the  pope,  no  little  surprised  at 
the  steadfastness  with  which  the  cardinal  re- 
fused to  rise,  gave  him  his  promise.  There- 
upon the  cardinal  stood  up  and  said,  "  Holy 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


401 


Father,  it  is  not  meet  that  when  the  master 
comes  to  the  house  of  the  servant,  the  servant 
should  eat  as  an  equal  with  his  master :"  the 
favour  he  begn;ed,  tlierefore,  was  the  reason- 
able and  honourable  one,  that  he  the  servant 
should  wait  on  his  holiness  at  table,  which 
favour  the  pope  granted.  Sapper  having 
been  served,  when  the  time  was  come  to  set 
on  the  confectionary,  the  poisoned  confection 
was  put  into  the  box  by  tlie  carver  according 
to  the  pope's  original  order,  and  the  cardinal 
being  aware  in  which  box  there  was  no  poi- 
son, tasted  the  same,  and  set  the  poisoned  one 
before  the  pope,  and  his  holiness,  trusting  to 
his  carver,  and  seeing  the  cardinal  tasting, 
thought  there  was  no  poison  therein,  and  ate 
of  it  heartily,  while  the  cardinal  ate  of  the 
other  which  the  pope  thought  was  poisoned, 
and  which  was  not  so.  In  due  time  then, 
after  tlie  kind  of  the  poison,  his  holiness  be- 
gan to  feel  its  effects,  and  in  suchwise  died 
thereof:  the  cardinal,  who  was  somewhat 
alarmed,  physicked  and  vomited  himself,  and 
took  no  hurt  though  he  escaped  not  without 
difficulty.     Farewell.] 

This,  if  not  autJientic,  is  at  all  events  a 
very  remakable  account  of  Alexander's  death ; 
the  best  perhaps  of  all  that  have  come  down 
to  us. 

5.  Sommario  di  la  relatione  di  S.  Polo  Ca- 
pello,  venuto  orator  di  Roma,  fatta  in 
collegio  1510.  [Summary  of  P.  Capello's 
report  of  his  embassy  to  Rome,  delivered 
before  the  college,  1510.] 

After  the  great  mischances  that  befel  the 
Venetians  through  the  league  of  Cambray, 
they  soon  managed  to  win  over  pope  Julius 
II.  again  to  their  side. 

Polo  Capello  acquaints  us  with  some  points 
hitherto  unknown  respecting  the  manner  in 
which  this  happened.  The  pope  was  alarmed 
at  the  results  that  might  ensue  from  a  pro- 
jected meeting  between  Maximilian  and  the 
king  of  France.  "  Dubitando  perche  fo  ditto 
11  re  di  Romani  et  il  re  di  Francia  si  volcano 
abboccar  insieme  et  era  certo  in  suo  danno." 
For  a  while  he  called  on  the  Venetians  to 
give  up  those  towns  which  by  the  stipulations 
of  the  league  were  to  pass  into  the  possession 
of  the  German  king  :  but  when  he  saw  how 
badly  Maximilian's  enterprize  succeeded,  he 
did  not  urge  the  matter  any  further.  He 
entertained  a  very  mean  opinion  of  Maximi- 
lian. "  E  una  bestia,"  he  said  "  merita  piu 
presto  esser  rezudo  ch'a  rezer  altri."  [He  is 
a  stupid  animal,  fitter  to  be  governed  tlian  to 
govern  others.]  On  the  other  hand  it  was 
reckoned  highly  to  the  honour  of  the  Vene- 
tians, whose  name  had  been  looked  on  in 
Rome  as  extinguished,  that  they  stood  their 
ground.  The  pope  gradually  made  up  his 
mind  to  grant  them  absolution.  I 

51 


Capello  had  a  high  respect  for  the  pope's 
personal  qualities.  "  E  papa  sapicntissimo,  e 
niun  pol  intrinsechamento  con  lui,  e  si  conseja 
con  pochi,  imo  con  niuno."  [Fie  is  a  very 
wise  pope,  he  relies  implicitly  on  no  one,  and 
takes  council  with  few  or  none.]  Cardinal 
Castel  de  Rio  had  only  a  very  indirect  influ- 
ence over  him:  "  parlando  al  papa  dira  una 
cosa,  qual  dita  il  papa  poi  considerera  aquel- 
la."  [lie  mentions" a  matter  in  conversation 
with  the  pope,  leaving  it  to  the  latter  to  re- 
flect upon  it  subsequently.]  Just  then  the 
cardinal  was  adverse  to  the  Venetians,  but 
the  pope  concluded  a  treaty  with  them.  Ca- 
pello states  that  he  was  very  well  supplied 
with  money,  having,  perhaps,  700,000  scudi, 
if  not  a  million  in  his  treasury. 

6.  Sommario  di  la  relatione  di  Domenego  di 
Trivixan,  venuto  orator  di  Roma,  in 
pregadi  1510.  [Domenego  di  Trivisan's 
report  to  the  pregadi  of  his  embassy  to 
Rome,  1510.] 

Trivisan  continues  to  the  senate  the  report 
made  by  Capello  to  the  collegio ;  with  this 
difference,  however,  that  while  the  latter  de- 
velopes  the  secret  motives,  the  former  con- 
tents himself  with  a  general  sketch.  But 
even  this  is  worthy  of  note. 

He  corroborates  his  colleague's  estimate 
of  the  pope's  treasure,  but  adds  that  the  pope 
has  destined  the  money  for  a  war  against  the 
infidels.  "  II  papa  e  sagaze  praticho :  ha  mal 
vecchio  galico  e  gota,  tamen  e  prosperoso,  fa 
gran  fadicha:  niun  pol  con  lui:  aide  tutti,  ma 
fa  quelle  li  par. — E  tenuto  e  di  la  bocha  e  di 
altro  per  voler  viver  piu  moderatamente." 
(Does  this  mean  he  had  himself  said  he  would 
be  more  moderate  for  the  future — in  drink 
perhaps  ?)  "  A  modo  di  haver  quanti  danari 
il  vole  :  perche  come  vacha  un  beneficio,  non 
li  da  si  non  a  chi  (a)  officio  e  quel  officio  da  a 
un  altro,  si  che  tocca  per  esso  assai  danari ;  ed 
e  divenudo  li  officii  sensari  piu  del  solito  in 
Roma."  [The  pope  is  a  man  of  practical  sa- 
gacity ;  he  labours  under  morbus  gallicus  of 
long  standing,  and  the  gout ;  he  is  strong  for 
all  that,  and  goes  through  a  great  deal  of  ex- 
ertion :  no  one  has  influence  over  him ;  he 
listens  to  every  one,  but  does  what  he  thinks 
fit.  .  .  .  He  has  a  way  of  procuring  as  much 
money  as  he  pleases ;  for  when  a  benefice 
becomes  vacant,  he  bestows  it  only  on  such  an 
one  as  already  holds  an  office,  which  office  he 
gives  to  some  one  else  ;  so  that  offices  are  be- 
come procurers  more  tlian  commonly  in  Rome] 
■/.  e.  procurers  of  benefices. 

"  II  papa  a  entrada  due.  200,000  di  ordinario, 
et  extraordinario  si  dice  150  ni."  [The  pope 
has  200,000  ducats  ordinary,  and  150,000  du- 
cats extraordinary  revenue,]  that  is,  the  popes 
have  usually  so  much  :  "  ma  questo  a  di  do 
terzi  piu  di  extraordinario  e  di  ordinario  ancora 


402 


APPENDIX. 


I'entrade  :"  [but  this  pope  has  two-thirds  more 
both  ordinary  and  extraordinary:]  so  that  he 
must  have  had  nearly  a  million.  This  he  ex- 
plains thus  :  "  Soleano  pagare  il  censo  carlini 
X  al  ducato  a  la  chiesia  era  ingannata ;  era 
carlini  XIIIJ  el  due,  vole  paghino  quello  con- 
vien,  eta  fatto  una  stampa  nova  che  val  X  el 
due.  e  son  boni  di  arzento,  del  che  amiora  da 
X  a  XIII^  la  intrada  del  papa,  et  diti  carlini 
novi  si  chiamano  juli."  [The  taxes  used  to  be 
paid  at  the  rate  of  ten  carlini  the  ducat,  by 
which  the  church  was  defrauded  :  the  ducat 
was  worth  thirteen  and  a  half  carlini ;  and  the 
pope  determining  that  what  was  just  should 
be  paid,  caused  a  new  coinage  to  be  struck  of 
pieces,  ten  to  the  ducat,  of  good  silver:  the 
pope's  income  has  been  benefitted  thereby  in 
the  proportion  of  thirteen  and  a  half  to  ten ; 
and  the  said  new  carlini  are  called  giuli.] 
Here  we  see  the  origin  of  the  present  current 
coin  ;  for  it  was  not  till  recent  times  that  the 
present  paoli  superseded  the  name  and  use  of 
the  giuli.  The  carlini,  which  were  the  com- 
mon'coin  of  exchange,  had  become  so  deterio- 
rated as  to  occasion  serious  loss  to  the  exche- 
quer. Julius  II.  issued  good  coin  for  the  sake 
of  his  treasury. 

"  Item  e  misero :  a  pocha  spesa.  Si  acorda 
col  suo  maestro  di  caxa  :  li  da  el  mexe  per  le 
spexe  due.  1500  e  non  piu.  Item  fa  la  chiexia 
di  S.  Piero  di  novo,  cosa  bellissima,  per  la  qual 
a  posta  certa  cruciata,  et  un  solo  frate  di  S. 
Francesco  di  quello  habia  racoltoditti  frati  per 
il  mondo  li  porto  in  una  bota  due.  27  m.  si  che 
per  questo  tocca  quanti  danari  el  vuol.  A 
data  a  questa  fabrica  una  parte  de  I'intrada  di 
S.  M.  di  Loreto  e  tolto  parte  del  vescovado  di 
Recanati."  [Item,  he  is  penurious  ;  he  spends 
little.  He  contracts  with  his  house-steward, 
giving  him  1500  ducats  for  the  month's  ex- 
penditure, and  no  more.  Item,  he  is  construct- 
ing anew  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  a  very 
beautiful  work  ;  and  for  this  he  has  appointed 
a  certain  crusade,  and  a  single  Franciscan  friar 
brought  him  in  one  sum  27,000  ducats,  col- 
lected by  the  brethren  of  the  order  throughout 
the  world ;  so  that  he  gets  as  much  money  as 
he  chooses.  He  has  devoted  to  this  edifice 
part  of  the  income  of  S.  M.  di  Loreto,  and 
taken  away  part  of  the  bishopric  of  Recanati.] 

7.  Siimmario  de  la  relatione  di  S.  Marin 
Zorzi,  do(or,venrito  orator  di  cor te,  fata  in 
prrgadi  a  di  17  Marzo  1517.  [Suunnary 
of  doctor  Marin  Zorzi's  report  of  his  em- 
bassy to  t!ie  court  of  Rome,  &.c.] 

Marin  Zorzi  was  chosen  ambas?ador  to  the 
court  of  Leo  X.  on  the  4th  of  January,  1514, 
and  on  his  declining  the  appointment,  he  was 
chosen  again  on  the  25th  of  the  same  month. 
]f  it  be  true  that  orders  were  given  him  with 
reference  to  the  expedition  of  Francis  I.,  as 
I'aruta  says  (lib.  iii.  p.  109)  he  could  notliave 


set  out  for  Rome  till  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1515. 

His  report  concerns  that  period.  It  is  of 
the  more  importance,  inasmuch  as  he  proposes 
to  make  known  in  it  what  he  had  not  ventured 
to  communicate  by  letter.  "  Referira,"  says  the 
summary  which  appears  to  have  been  written 
afterwards,  "di  quelle  cose  che  non  a  scritto 
per  sue  lettere,  perche  multa  occurrunt  que 
non  sunt  scribenda." 

These  points  relate  chiefly  to  the  pope's 
negotiations  with  Francis  I.,  with  which  even 
Paruta  was  not  acquainted,  and  of  which,  as 
far  as  I  am  aware,  we  have  here  the  best  ac- 
count. 

Mention  has  occasionally  been  made  of  a 
supposed  desire  of  Leo  X.  to  procure  a  crown 
for  his  brother ;  but  how  that  was  to  have  been 
effected  has  never  been  made  clearly  apparent. 
Zorzi  asserts  that  Leo  at  this  time  proposed  to 
the  king  of  France,  "  che  del  reame  di  Napoli 
saria  bon  tuorlo  di  man  di  Spagnoli  e  darlo  al 
magnifico  Juliano  suo  fradello  ;"  [that  it  would 
be  well  to  wrest  the  kingdom  of  Naples  from 
the  Spaniards,  and  give  it  to  his  brother  Giu- 
liano  the  magnificent;]  adding,  "e  sopra 
questo  si  fatichoe  assai,  perche  el  non  si  con- 
tentava  di  esser  ducha  so  fradello,  ma  la  volea 
far  re  di  Napoli :  il  christianissimo  re  li  aria 
dato  il  principato  di  Taranto  e  tal  terre  :  ma 
il  papa  non  volse,  e  sopra  questo  venneno  di- 
versi  orator!  al  papa,  mons^  di  Soglie  e  di  Borsi, 
et  il  papa  diceva:  quando  il  re  vol  far  questo 
acordo,  saremo  con  S.  M.  Hor  si  stette  sopra 
queste  pratiche  :  il  ch'^io  re  havendo  il  voler 
che'l  papa  non  li  saria  contra,  delibero  di  venir 
potente,  etcussi  venne  :  et  il  papa  subito  si  ligo 
con  I'imperator,  re  catholico,  re  de  Inghilterra 
e  Sguizzari."  [And  he  took  no  little  pains  on 
this  subject,  because  he  was  not  content  with 
having  his  brother  a  duke,  but  he  wished  to 
make  him  king  of  Naples  :  the  most  Christian 
king  would  have  given  liim  the  principality  of 
Tarento  and  certain  territories,  but  the  pope 
would  not  agree,  and  thereupon  divers  ambas- 
sadors came  to  the  pope,  Monsignor  di  Soglie 
and  Monsignor  di  Borsi,  and  the  pope  said,  "  If 
the  king  is  willing  to  make  this  arrangement, 
we  will  be  for  his  majesty."  Matters  now 
remained  on  this  footing:  his  most  Christian 
majesty  having-  a  desire  that  the  pope  should 
not  be  against  him,  thought  of  commg  to  Italy 
in  strength,  and  he  did  so :  but  the  pope  sud- 
denly allied  himself  with  tiie  emperor,  the 
catholic  king,  the  king  of  England,  and  the 
Swiss.] 

I  have  already  given  in  the  text  or  in  the 
notes  the  notices  relating  to  the  time  of  the 
campaign. 

How  strongly  the  pope  was  inclined  in  secret 
against  the  French,  is  plain  from  the  fact,  not 
only  that  he  testified  displeasure  against  the 
Venetians  for  the  decided  bias  they  manifested 
to  the  French  with  regard   to  Maximilian's 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUJVCIL  OF  TRENT. 


403 


enterprise  of  the  following  year ; — "  O  che 
materia,"  he  said,  "  a  fatto  questo  senate  a  las- 
sar  le  vostre  gente  andar  a  Milano,  andar  con 
Frances!,  aver  passa  8  fiumi,  o  che  pericolo  e 
questo  !"  [What  good  lias  the  senate  done  in 
causing  your  troops  to  march  to  Milan,  to  join 
the  French,  and  cross  eight  rivers;  or  what 
danger  is  tliisl] — but  also  that  he  secretly  sup- 
pofted  Maximilian.  "  II  papa  a  questo  subito 
niando  zente  in  favor  del  imperador  e  sotto 
man  discendo  :  M.  Ant.  Colonna  e  libero  capi- 
tano  a  soldo  del  imperador."  [The  pope  on 
this  suddenly  sent  troops  in  support  of  the  em- 
peror, sa3ang  privily,  M.  Ant.  Colonna  is  a  free 
captain  in  the  pay  of  the  emperor.]  Mean- 
while the  ratification  of  the  treaty  of  Bologna 
was  delayed.  The  king  sent  ambassador  after 
ambassador  to  demand  it.  At  last  the  pope 
sent  his  own  envoy  to  France,  and  the  treaty 
was  sealed. 

Francis  I.  had  soon  an  opportunity  to  revenge 
himself  The  pope  encountered  an  unexpect- 
ed resistance  on  the  part  of  the  duke  of  Urbino. 
Zorzi  asserts  :  "  II  re  non  si  tien  satisfacto  del 
papa  :  e  contento  Francesco  Maria  prosperi." 
[TJie  king  is  not  satisfied  with  the  pope  :  he  is 
glad  at  tlie  success  of  Francesco  Maria.] 

He  then  describes  the  pope  more  minutely. 
"  A  qualche  egritudine  interior  de  repletion  e 
catarro  ed  altra  cosa,  non  licet  dir,  videl.  in 
fistula.  E  horn  da  ben  e  liberal  molto,  non  vor- 
ria  faticha  s'il  potesse  far  di  mancho,  ma  per 
questi  soi  si  tuo  faticha.  E  ben  suo  nepote  e 
astuto  e  apto  a  far  cosse  non  come  Valentino 
ma  pocho  mancho."  [He  suffers  from  some 
internal  plethora,  and  from  catarrh,  and  ano- 
ther disorder  not  to  be  named,  viz.  in  fistula. 
He  is  a  good  man  and  very  liberal  :  he  would 
not  give  himself  much  trouble  if  he  could  help, 
but  he  does  so  for  the  sake  of  his  relations. 
And  truly  his  nephew  is  shrewd  and  apt  to 
accomplish  his  ends,  not  in  the  same  degree 
as  Valentino,  but  little  less.]  He  alludes  to 
Lorenzo  Medici.  He  affirms  positively  what 
others  deny  (Vittori  for  instance),  that  Lorenzo 
de'  Medici  himself  had  entertained  strong  de- 
signs upon  Urbino.  He  says,  that  Julian,  only 
two  days  before  his  death,  had  entreated  the 
pope  to  spare  Urbino,  where  he  had  met  with 
so  much  kindness  after  his  banishment  from 
Florence.  The  pope  would  not  give  way,  but 
said,  "  Non  e  da  parlar  deste  cose."  [These 
are  matters  not  to  be  talked  of]  "Questo 
feva  perche  de  altra  parte  Lorenzin  li  era  at- 
torno  in  volerli  tuor  il  stato."  [This  he  did, 
being  pressed  on  the  other  hand  by  Lorenzo, 
who  coveted  possession  of  that  state.] 

Among  the  counsellors  of  the  pope,  he  first 
mentionsGiuliode' Medici,  afterwards  Clement 
VII.,  of  whose  talents,  however,  he  does  not 
make  so  much  account  as  others  :  "  E  hom  da 
ben,  hom  di  non  molte  facende,  benche  adcsso 
il  manegio  di  la  corte  e  in  le  sue  mani,  che 
prima  era  in  S.  M^- in  Portego."     [He  is  a 


good  man,  of  no  great  practical  abilities, 
though  at  present  the  chief  direction  of  the 
court  of  Rome  is  in  his  hands ;  he  was  for- 
merly at  the  court  of  Portugal.]  Next  he 
mentions  Bibbiona,  whom  he  considers  inclin- 
ed to  the  Spaniard.s,  he  being  enriched  by 
Spanish  benefices  ;  and  lastly  Lorenzo — "qual 
a  animo  gaiardo"  [a  stirring  spirit.] 

Lorenzo's  name  leads  him  to  speak  of  Flor- 
ence. He  says  a  word  or  two  about  the  con- 
stitution, but  adds  :  "  Hora  non  si  serva  piu 
ordine :  quel  ch'  el  vol  (Lorenzin)  e  fatto. 
Tamen  Firenze  e  piu  francesse  che  altrimente, 
e  la  parte  contraria  di  Medici  non  pol  far  altro, 
ma  non  li  place  questa  cosa."  [At  present  all 
order  is  violated  :  whatever  Lorenzo  wills  is 
done.  Florence,  however,  is  rather  French 
than  otherwise :  the  party  opposed  to  the 
Medici  do  not  like  this,  but  they  cannot  help 
it.]  The  militia  had  been  diminished.  The 
revenue  amounted,  1st,  from  the  duties  at  the 
gates  and  in  the  city  to 74,000 ducats;  2ndly, 
from  the  towns  subject  to  Florence  to  120,000 
ducats  ;  3dly,  from  tlie  balzello,  a  kind  of  tithe, 
a  direct  tax,  to  160,000  ducats. 

This  brings  him  to  the  revenues  of  the  pope, 
which  he  esUmates  on  the  whole  at  420,000 
ducats;  and  so  he  reverts  to  the  pope's  expen- 
diture and  his  personal  character.  "  E  docto 
in  humanita  e  jure  canonicho,  et  sopra  tutto 
musico  excellentissimo,  equando  el  canta  con 
qualche  uno,  li  fa  donar  100  e  piu  ducati :  e 
per  dir  una  cosa  che  si  dimentico,  il  papa  trahe 
air  anno  di  vacantie  da  due.  60,000  e  piu,  ch'e 
zercha  due.  8000  al  mese,  e  questi  li  spende 
in  doni,  in  zuogar  a  primier  di  che  molto  si  di- 
letta."  [Heislearne  in  polite  letters,  and  in 
canon  law,  and  above  all  he  is  an  excellent 
musician;  and  when  he  sings  with  any  one, 
he  makes  him  a  present  of  a  hundred  ducats  or 
more.  One  thing  I  forgot  to  mention.  The 
pope  derives  yearly  from  vacancies  60,000  du- 
cats and  upwards,  which  is  about  8000  (?) 
ducats  a  month,  «ind  this  money  he  spends  in 
presents  and  in  playing  at  primero,  of  which 
he  is  very  fond.]  ^ 

Our  author,  as  we  perceive,  gives  his  details 
very  graphically,  with  great  naivete  and  con- 
versational ease.  He  brings  his  personages  with 
all  their  sayings  and  doings  bodily  before  us. 

8.  Somrnario  de  la  relatione  di  Marco  Minio, 
ritornalo  da  corte,  1520  Zugno, — Sanuto 
torn,  xxviii.  [Summary  of  the  report  of 
Marco  Minio's  embassy  to  Rome.;  June, 
1520.] 

Marco  Minio  was  Zorzi's  successor:  his 
report  is  unfortunately  very  short. 

He  begins  with  the  papal  revenues,  which 
he  finds'inconsiderable.  "  II  papa  a  intrada 
per  il  papato  pocha  :  son  tre  sorle  de  intrade : 
d'annate  traze  all'  anno  100m  due,  male  an- 
nate consistorial,  ch'e  episcopati  e  abbatie,  la 


404 


APPENDIX. 


naita  e  de  cardinali ;  di  officj  traze  all'  anno 
60ni. ;  di  composition  60ni.  Non  a  contadi 
(contante),  perclie  e  liberal,  non  sa  tenir  da- 
nari,  poi  li  Fiorentini  e  soi  parenti  non  li  lassa 
niai  aver  un  soldo,  e  diti  Fiorenf.ini  e  in  gran 
odio  in  corte,  perche  in  ogni  cosa  e  Fioren- 
tini. II  papa  sta  neutral  fra  Spagna  e  Franza  ; 
ma  lui  orator  tien  pende  da  Spagna,  perche  e 
sta  pur  niesso  in  caxa  da  Spagnoli,  etiam  as- 
umpto  al  papato.  II  cardinal  di  Medici  suo 
nepote,  qual  non  e  legitimo,  a  gran  poter  col 
papa:  e  horn  di  gran  rnanegio;  a  grandissima 
autorita,  tamen  non  fa  nulla  se  prima  non  di- 
manda  al  papa  di  cose  di  conto :  hora  si  ritrova 
a  Firenze  a  governar  quella  citta  :  il  cardinal 
Bibbiena  e  appresso  assa  del  papa,  ma  questo 
Medici  fa  il  tutto."  [The  pope  derives  little 
income  from  the  papacy  :  the  revenues  are  of 
three  kinds  :  from  the  annates  he  draws  yearly 
100,000  ducats ;  but  of  the  consistorial  an- 
nates, which  arise  out  of  the  bishoprics  and 
abbeys,  the  half  belongs  to  tlie  cardinals ;  he 
draws  60,000  ducats  annually  from  offices,  and 
60,000  from  compositions.  He  has  no  ready 
money  ;  because  he  is  liberal  and  cannot  keep 
it.  Then  the  Florentines  and  his  relations 
never  leave  him  a  penny.  And  the  said  Flo- 
rentines are  in  great  odium  at  court,  because 
they  thrust  themselves  into  every  thing.  The 
pope  stands  neutral  between  Spain  and  France : 
but  it  is  the  ambassador's  opinion  that  he  in- 
clines to  Spain,  because  he  owes  the  establish- 
ment of  his  fortune  to  the  Spaniards,  and  even 
his  advancement  to  the  papacy.  Cardinal 
Medici,  his  nephew,  who  is  not  legitimate,  has 
great  influence  with  the  pope  :  he  is  a  man  of 
great  ability  in  business  :] — his  reputation  we 
see  had  risen  since  Zorzi's  time — [he  posses- 
ses very  great  authority,  nevertheless  he  does 
nothing  in  affairs  of  importance  without  first 
consulting  the  pope.  At  present  he  resides 
at  Florence  as  governor  of  that  city.  Cardinal 
Bibbiena  is  in  considerable  esteem  with  the 
pope,  but  this  Medici  does  efery  thing.] 

The  ambassador  assures  his  countrymen  of 
the  tolerably  fair  disposition  of  the  pope  to- 
wards them.  He  was  not  indeed  inclined  to 
see  Venice  greater  than  she  was ;  but  for  no 
earthly  consideration  would  he  see  her  pe- 
rish. 

9.  Diario  de  Sebastiano  de  Branca  de  Telini. 
—Barber.  Bibl.  n.  1103.  [Diary  of  Se- 
bastiano de  Branca  de  Telini.] 

It  contains  sixty-three  leaves,  and  reaches 
from  the  22nd  of  April,  1494,  to  1513,  in 
Leo's  time.  It  is  certainly  not  to  be  com- 
pared with  Burcardus ;  and  as  the  author 
knew  very  little  of  what  was  passing,  it  is 
not  even  of  use  as  a  check  on  that  writer. 
Telini  saw  only  what  every  body  else  saw. 

Thus  he  describes  the  entrance  of  Charles 
VIII.  into  Italy,  whose  army  he  estimates  at 
from  thirty  to  forty  thousand  men.     He  thinks 


the  king  the  ugliest  man  he  had  ever  beheld ; 
his  troops,  on  the  contrary,  the  handsomest 
people  in  the  world ;  "  la  piu  bella  gente  non 
fu  vista  mai."  We  must  not  believe  him  lite- 
rally :  he  is  fond  of  expressing  himself  in  this 
fashion.  (He  tells  us  that  as  much  as  300 
ducats  had  been  paid  for  a  horse.) 

CsBsar  Borgia  is  the  most  cruel  man  that 
ever  lived.  Alexander's  times  were  distin- 
guished for  cruelty,  scarcity,  and  high  taxa- 
tion. "  Papa  Alessandro  gittao  la  data  a  tutti 
li  preti  e  a  tutti  li  officiali  per  tre  anni  e  tutte 
le  chiese  di  Roma  e  fora  di  Roma  ....  per 
fare  la  cruciata  contro  il  Turco,  e  poi  la  dava 
alio  figliuolo  per  fare  meglio  la  guerra." 
[Pope  Alexander  assigned  the  revenues  for 
three  years  of  all  the  priests,  and  all  the  pub- 
lic functionaries,  and  all  the  churches  within 
and  without  Rome,  for  a  war  against  the 
Turks ;  and  then  he  gave  the  proceeds  to  his 
son  for  the  better  waging  of  the  war.]  Ac- 
cording to  him,  Csesar  Borgia  gave  audience 
to  no  one  but  his  executioner,  Michilotto.  All 
his  servants  were  sumptuously  clad  "  vestiti 
di  broccado  d'oro  e  di  velluto  fino  alle  calze : 
se  ne  facevano  le  pianelle  e  le  scarpe:" 
[dressed  in  gold  brocade  and  velvet  to  their 
heels :  their  shoes  and  slippers  were  made  of 
the  same  stuff]. 

He  is  a  great  admirer  of  Julius  II.  "  Non 
lo  fece  mai  papa  quello  che  have  fatto  papa 
Julio."  [No  pope  ever  did  what  pope  Julius 
did.]  He  enumerates  the  towns  he  conquered ; 
alleging,  however,  that  by  his  wars  he  caused 
the  death  of  ten  thousand  men. 

Leo  came  next.  He  began  with  promises, 
"  che  i  Romani  fossero  fianchi  di  gabella,  ed 
officii  e  beneficii  che  stanno  nella  cittade  di 
Roma  fossero  dati  alii  Romani :  ne  fecero 
grand'  allegrezze  per  Roma"  [that  the  Ro- 
mans should  be  free  from  taxes,  and  that  the 
offices  and  benefices  within  the  city  should  be 
conferred  on  Romans ;  whereby  he  aflbrded 
great  delight  to  Rome]. 

Sometimes  private  individuals  figure  in  his 
pages :  we  are  made  acquainted,  lor  instance, 
with  the  boldest  and  most  celebrated  of  pro- 
curators: "Benio  Moccaro,  il  piu  terribile 
upmo  (the  most  powerful,  the  most  tyranni- 
cal), che  mai  fusse  stato  in  Roma  per  un  huo- 
mo  privato  in  Roma."  He  lost  his  life  through 
the  Orsini. 

Even  in  this  otherwise  insignificant  work 
the  spirit  of  the  times  and  the  spirit  of  the 
several  administrations  are  imaged, — the  pe- 
riods of  terror,  of  conquest,  and  of  quiet,  under 
Alexander,  Julius,  and  Leo.  There  are  other 
diaries,  for  instance,  that  of  Cola  Colleine, 
1521 — 1561,  which  contain  nothing  of  impor- 
tance. 

10.  Vita  Leonis  X  Ponfificis  Maxiini  per 
Franciscum  Novellum  Romanum,  J.  V. 
Prqfessorem. — Bibl.  Barberini. 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


405 


"Alii,"  says  the  author,  "longe  melius  et 
hffic  et  alia  mihi  incognita  referre,  et  descri- 
bere  poterunt."  By  all  means.  His  little 
work  is  perfectly  insignificant. 

11.  QiKBilam  historica  qiice.  ad  notitiam  tem- 
poriirn  pertinent  jmntificatuum  Leonis  X. 
Adriana  VI.  dementis  VII.  Ex  libris 
notariorum  sub  iisdem  pnntijicibvs. 
{Abridged  by  Felix  Contellorius.) — Bibl. 
Burberini,  48  leaves.  [Certain  historical 
particulars  pertaining  to  the  pontificates 
of  Leo  X.,  Adrian  VL,  and  Clement  VII. 
From  the  books  of  the  notaries  under  tiie 
same  popes.] 

Short  notices  of  the  contents  of  papal  in- 
struments :  for  instance,  "  Leo  X.  assignat 
contessinae  de  Medicis  de  Rodulfis  ejus  sorori 
due.  285  auri  de  camera  ex  introitibus  doha- 
narum  pecudum  persolvendos."  [Leo  X.  as- 
signs to  his  sister  the  countess  de'  Medici  de' 
Rodolfii  285  gold  ducats  from  the  treasury, 
chargeable  upon  the  dogana  of  cattle.] 

I  have  here  and  there  made  use  of  these 
data.  The  following  extract  from  a  brief  of 
June  9,  1529,  is  perhaps  the  most  interesting, 
as  detailing  personal  incidents  of  an  affecting 
character,  which  have  hitherto  escaped  no- 
tice : — "  Certain  precious  articles  belonging 
to  the  papal  see  were  given  in  pledge  to  Ber- 
nardo Bracchi.  In  the  time  of  the  conquest, 
Bracchi  thought  it  advisable  to  bury  these  in 
a  garden.  He  made  the  fact  known  only  to 
one  individual,  a  certain  Hieronymo  Bacato 
of  Florence,  so  that,  should  any  mischance 
befal  himself,  the  secret  might  at  least  be 
in  some  one's  keeping.  Bracchi  was  soon 
afterwards  seized  by  the  Germans  and  cruelly 
used.  Hieronymo,  now  believing  that  his 
friend  had  died  under  the  torture,  was  induced 
by  a  similar  anxiety  to  impart  the  secret  to  a 
third  person.  But  this  last  was  not  so  dis- 
creet. The  Germans  heard  of  the  hidden 
treasure,  and,  by  dint  of  fresh  and  severer 
tortures,  forced  Bracchi  at  last  to  indicate  the 
place  of  concealment.  To  save  the  valua- 
bles, Bracchi  made  himself  answerable  for  the 
payment  of  10,000  ducats.  Hieronymo  look- 
ed on  himself  as  a  traitor,  and  killed  himself 
for  shame  and  vexation." 

12.  Sommario  di  la  relation  fatta  in  pregadi 
per  S.  Aluixe  Gradenigo,  venuto  orator 
di  Roma  1523  Mazo. — Sanuto  tom.  xxxiv. 
[Summary  of  Aluise  Gradenigo's  report  of 
his  embassy  to  Rome,  &-c.] 

He  speaks  first  of  the  cit)^  which  he  finds 
enlarged  within  a  short  period  by  about  ten 
thousand  houses;  next  of  the  constitution — the 
conservatori  claimed  precedence  of  the  am- 
bassadors, which  the  latter  disputed  ;  then  of 
the  cardinals.     Giulio  Medici  had  risen  still 


higher  in  reputation.  "Horn  di  summa  auto- 
rita  e  richo  cardinale,  era  il  primo  appresso 
Leon,  horn  di  gran  ingegno  e  cuor :  il  papa 
(Leone)  feva  quelle  lui  voleva."  [A  wealthy 
and  highly  influential  cardinal;  he  was  the 
first  with  pope  Leo,  a  man  of  great  under- 
stfinding  and  heart:  pope  Leo  did  whatever 
he  desired.]  He  pourtrays  Leo  X. :  "  Di  sta- 
tura  grandissima,  testa  molto  grossa,  havea 
bellissima  man:  bellissimo  parlador :  prometea 
assa  ma  non  atendea.  ...  II  papa  si  serviva 
molto  con  dimandar  danari  al  imprestido,  ven- 
deva  poi  li  officii,  impegnava  zoie,  raze  del  pa- 
pato  e  fino  li  apostoli  per  aver  danaro."  [A 
man  of  very  lofty  stature,  with  a  very  large 
head,  and  beautiful  hands :  a  very  fine  speak- 
er :  he  promised  fairly,  but  did  not  keep  his 
promises.  .  ,  The  pope  had  very  frequent 
recourse  to  borrowing ;  besides  which,  he  sold 
offices,  and  pledged  jewels  and  heir-looms  of 
the  papacy,  and  the  very  apostles,  to  get  mo- 
ney.] He  estimates  the  temporal  revenues 
of  Rome  at  300,000,  the  ecclesiastical  at 
100,000  ducats. 

He  regards  Leo's  policy  as  thoroughly  anti- 
French.  If  it  ever  appeared  otherwise,  it 
was  the  effect  of  dissimulation.  "  Fenzeva 
esso  amico  del  re  di  Francia."  But  at  that 
period  he  was  the  open  and  midisguised  ene- 
my of  France,  for  which  Gradenigo  gives  the 
following  reason  : — "  Disse  che  mr  di  Lutrech 
et  mr  de  I'Escu  havia  ditto  che'l  voleva  che 
le  recchia  del  papa  fusse  la  major  parte  res- 
tasse  di  la  so  persona."  Does  this  mean  that 
Lutrech  and  I'Escu  had  said  that  nothing 
should  be  left  of  the  pope  but  his  ears  ]  A 
very  coarse  and  vulgar  joke  assuredly,  which 
Leo  took  much  amiss.  Upon  receiving  news 
of  the  conquest  of  Milan,  Leo  is  stated  to  have 
said,  "that  but  half  the  fight  was  won," 

Leo  left  the  papal  treasury  so  exhausted, 
that  it  was  necessary  to  employ  in  his  obse- 
quies the  wax-candles  that  had  been  provided 
tor  those  of  cardinal  St.  Georgio,  who  had 
died  shortly  before. 

The  ambassador  waited  the  arrival  of 
Adrian  VI.  He  describes  the  moderate  and 
rational  habits  of  life  of  that  pope,  and  observes 
that  he  had  maintained  at  first  an  attitude  of 
neutrality.  "  Disse  :  il  papa  per  opinion  soa, 
ancora  che  '1  sia  dipendente  del  imperador,  e 
neutral,  ed  a  molto  a  cuor  di  far  la  trieva  per 
atender  a  le  cose  del  Turco,  e  questo  si  judica 
per  le  sue  operation  cotidiane  come  etiam  per 
la  mala  contentezza  del  vicere  di  Napoli,  che 
venne  a  Roma  per  far  dichiarar  il  papa  impe- 
rial, e  S.  S^^^  non  volse,  ondo  si  parti  senza 
conclusion.  II  papae  molto  intento  a  le  cose 
di  Hungaria  e  desidera  si  fazi  la  impresa  con- 
tra infideli,  dubita  che  '1  Turco  non  vegni  a 
Roma,  pero  cerca  di  unir  li  principi  christian! 
e  far  la  paxe  universal,  saltern  trieve  per  tre 
anni."  [He  said  that  in  his  opinion  the  pope, 
though  he  be  dependent  on  the  emperor,  is 


406 


APPENDIX. 


neutral ;  and  he  has  it  much  at  heart  to  effect 
a  truce  to  attend  to  the  affairs  of  the  Turk, 
and  this  is  indicated  by  his  daily  operations, 
as  also  by  the  discontent  of  tlie  viceroy  of 
Naples,  who  visited  Rome  to  engage  the  pope 
to  declare  himself  tor  the  emperor,  which  his 
holiness  would  not  do,  and  the  viceroy  re- 
turned without  effecting  any  thing.  The 
pope  is  very  intent  on  the  affairs  of  Hungary, 
and  is  eager  for  an  enterprize  against  the 
infidels :  he  is  apprehensive  lest  the  Turk 
make  a  descent  on  Rome ;  and  therefore  he 
wishes  the  Christian  sovereigns  to  make  uni- 
versal peace,  or  at  least  a  truce  for  three 
years.] 

13.  Sununario  del  viazo  di  oralori  nostri  an- 
dono  a  Roma  a  dar  la  obedientia  a  -papa 
Hadriano  VI.  [Summary,  &c.  of  liie 
journey  of  our  ambassadors  to  Rome,  to 
tender  allegiance  to  pope  Adrian  VI.] 

Tlie  only  report  that  possesses  the  interest 
of  a  narrative  of  travels,  and  which  also  ad- 
verts to  works  of  art. 

The  ambassadors  describe  the  flourishing 
condition  of  Ancona,  and  the  fertility  of  the 
March :  they  were  hospitably  received  in 
Spello  by  Oratio  Baglione ;  thence  they  pro- 
ceeded to  Rome. 

They  describe  an  entertainment  given  them 
by  a  fellow-countryman,  cardinal  Cornelio. 
Their  account  of  the  music  at  table  is  worthy 
of  note:  "A  la  tavola  vennero  ogni  sorte  de 
nuisici,  che  in  Roma  si  atrovava,  li  pifari  ex- 
cellenti  di  continue  sonorono,  ma  eravi  clavi- 
cembani  con  voce  dentro  mirabilissima,  liuti 
e  quatro  violoni."  [At  table  there  were  mu- 
sicians of  every  kind  to  be  found  in  Rome ; 
excellent  flute-players  performed  continually ; 
and  there  were  harpsichords,  most  admirably 
accompanied  with  the  voice,  lutes,  and  tour 
violins.]  Grimani,  too,  gave  them  an  enter- 
tainment :  "Poi  disnar  venneno  alcuni  musici, 
tra  li  quali  una  donna  brutissima  che  canto 
in  liuto  mirabilmente."  [The  dinner  was 
attended  by  some  musicians,  among  whom  was 
a  very  loathsome  woman,  who  sang  admirably 
to  the  lute.] 

They  next  visited  the  churches.  In  Santo 
Croce  workmen  were  putting  some  ornaments 
on  the  doors  .  .  "alcuni  arnesi  e  volte  di  al- 
cuno  porte  di  una  preda  raccolta  delle  anti- 
caglio;"  [some  ornaments  and  arches  of  doors 
selected  from  the  spoils  of  antiquity,]  every 
little  stone  which  was  wrought  there  deserved 
in  their  opinion  to  be  set  in  gold,  and  worn  on 
the  finger.  In  the  Pantheon  an  altar  was  in 
course  of  erection,  at  its  foot  the  tomb  of  Ra- 
phael. They  were  shown  ornaments,  said  to 
be  of  gold,  as  pure  as  the  Rhenish  giilden. 
They  fancy,  were  this  true,  pope  Leo  would 
not  have  left  them  there.  They  admire  the 
columns,  larger  than  those  of  their  own  St, 


Mark.  "  Sostengono  un  coperto  in  col  mo,  el 
qual  e  di  alcune  travi  di  metallo."  [They 
sustain  an  entire  roof,  consisting  of  some 
beams  of  metal.] 

They  express  their  admiration  of  the  objects 
of  antiquity  with  great  naivete.  I  know  not 
whether  this  book  is  likely  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  antiquarians.  The  following  descrip- 
tion of  the  colossal  statutes  is  at  any  rate  very 
striking: — "Monte  Cavallo  e  ditto  perche 
alia  summita  del  colle  benissimo  habitato  vie 
una  certa  machina  de  un  pezo  di  grossissimo 
muro,  sopra  uno  di  cantoni  vi  e  uno  cavallo  di 
pietra  par  de  Istria  molto  antique  e  della  ve- 
tusta  corroso  e  sopra  I'altro  uno  altro,  tutti 
doi  dal  mezo  inanzi  zoe  testa,  coUo,  zampe, 
spalle  e  mezo  il  dorso :  appresso  di  quelli 
stanno  due  gran  giganti,  huomini  due  fiate 
maggiore  del  naturale,  ignudi,  che  con  un 
brazzo  li  tengono :  le  figure  sono  bellissime, 
proportionate  e  di  la  medesima  pietra  di  ca- 
valli,  bellissimi  si  i  cavalli  come  gli  huomeni, 
sotto  una  di  quali  vi  sono  bellissime  letterc 
majuscule  che  dicono  opus  Fidie  e  sotto  I'altro 
opus  Praxitelis."  [Monte  Cavallo  is  so  called, 
because  at  the  summit  of  that  very  well-peo- 
pled hill  there  is  a  certain  structure,  a  part 
of  a  very  huge  wall  (a  rude  base),  on  one  of 
the  corner-stones  of  which  there  is  a  horse  of 
stone,  apparently  Istrian,  very  old  and  decayed 
by  time,  and  on  the  other  corner  another, 
both  of  them  forepart  halves, — that  is,  head, 
neck,  legs,  shoulders,  and  half  the  back :  be- 
side them  stand  two  great  giants,  men  twice 
the  natural  size,  naked,  holding  the  horses 
with  one  arm.  These  figures  are  very  beau- 
tiful, proportioned  to  and  of  the  same  stone  as 
the  horses ;  the  horses,  too,  are  as  beautiful 
as  the  men,  and  under  one  of  them  is  in- 
scribed, in  very  handsome  capital  letters, 
"  Opus  Phidise,"  and  under  the  other,  "  Opus 
Praxitelis."]  They  visit  the  capitol,  where, 
among  other  fine  figures,  they  discover  "  uno 
villano  di  bronzo  che  si  cava  un  spin  da  un 
pe,  fatto  al  natural  rustico  modo  :  par  a  cui 
lo  mira  voglia  lamentarsi  di  quel  spin,  cosa 
troppo  excellente"  [a  peasant  in  bronze,  tak- 
ing a  thorn  out  of  his  foot,  made  in  the  natu- 
ral rustic  manner :  you  think  as  you  look  at 
him  he  wants  to  complain  of  the  thorn, — an 
exceedingly  fine  work].  In  the  Belvidere 
their  great  object  of  attraction  was  the 
Laocoon.  Hitherto  the  German  lansquenets 
have  been  frequently  charged  with  having 
rendered  necessary  the  restoration  of  one  of 
the  arms  of  that  noble  work  of  art:  we  find, 
however,  from  our  travellers,  that  it  was 
wanting  even  before  the  sack  of  the  city. 
"  Ogni  cosa  e  Integra,  salvoche  al  Laocoonte 
gli  manca  il  brazzo  destro."  [Every  thing  is 
entire,  except  that  the  Laocoon  wants  the 
right  arm.]  They  are  enchanted  with  admi- 
ration. They  say  of  the  whole  group,  "  Non 
gli  manca  che  lo  spinto."     [It  wants  nothing 


PERIOD  OF  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


407 


but  the  breath  of  life.]  Their  description  of 
the  boys  is  very  good.  "  L'lmo  volendosi 
tirare  dal  rabido  serpente  con  il  suo  brazello 
da  una  gamba  ne  potendosi  per  modo  alcana 
ajutar,  sta  con  la  faccia  lacrimosa  cridando 
verso  il  padre  e  tenendolo  con  I'aJtra  mano 
nel  sinistro  brazzo.  Si  vede  in  sti  puttini 
doppio  dolore,  I'uno  per  vedersi  la  morte  a  lui 
propinqiia,  I'altro  perche  il  padre  non  lo  puol 
ajutare  e  si  languisce."  [One  of  them  en- 
deavouring to  free  one  leg  from  the  folds  of 
the  tierce  serpent  with  his  little  arm,  and  not 
being  able  in  any  way  to  help  himself,  stands 
with  his  tearful  face  turned  beseechingly  to 
his  father,  whose  left  arm  he  holds  with  the 
other  hand.  A  two-fold  grief  is  depicted  in 
these  lads  :  that  of  the  one  who  sees  his  death 
at  hand,  and  that  of  the  other  who  sees  that 
his  tiither  cannot  help  him,  and  whose  strength 
fails  him.]  They  add,  that  at  tlie  meeting 
between  the  pope  and  king  Francis  at  Bologna, 
the  latter  solicited  this  work  of  his  holiness; 
but  the  latter  would  not  rob  his  Belvidere  of 
it,  and  had  a  copy  of  it  made  for  the  king. 
The  boys  were  already  finished.  But  if  the 
maestro  were  to  live  for  five  hundred  years, 
and  to  spend  a  himdred  of  them  on  the  work, 
he  could  never  equal  the  original.  They  fell 
in  with  a  young  Flemish  artist  in  the  Belvi- 
dere who  had  made  two  statues  of  the  pope. 

They  next  proceed  to  speak  of  the  latier, 
and  of  the  court.  Tiie  most  important  infor- 
mation they  give  is,  that  cardinal  di  Volterra, 
who  had  hitherto  kept  down  the  Medici,  had 
been  tlirown  into  prison  because  letters  of  his 
had  been  got  hold  of,  in  which  he  had  encou- 
raged king  Francis  to  make  an  immediate 
descent  on  Italy,  as  he  could  never  have  a  j 
better  opportunitj*.  This  enabled  the  JMedici 
to  rise  again.  The  imperial  ambassador, 
Sessa,  supported  them.  It  is  very  possible 
that  this  incident  may  have  decided  the 
change  in  Adrian's  policy. 

14.  Clrmeiitis  VII.  P.  3/.  conclave  et  creatio. 
— Bi.hl.  Barb.  4.  70  leaves.  [Conclave 
and  election  of  Pope  Clement  VII.] 

The  following  remark  appears  on  the  title , 
— "  Hoc  conclave  sapit  sty  1  urn  Joh.  Bapt. 
Sangse  civis  Romani,  qui  fuit  Clementi  VII  ab 
epistolis."  [This  conclave  savours  of  the 
style  of  Giovan-Battista  Sanga,  citizen  of 
Rome,  who  was  epistolary  secretary  to  Cle- 
ment VII.]  But  this  conjecture  may  be  re- 
jected without  hesitation.  Anotlier  MS.  in 
the  Barberini  library,  with  the  title,  "Via- 
nesii  Albergati  Bononiensis  commentarii  re- 
rum  sui  teniporis,"  contains  nothing  besides 
this  conclave.  It  constitutes  the  first  part  of 
the  commentarii,  of  which,  however,  no  con- 
tinuation is  to  be  found.  We  may  assume 
that  the  conclave  above-mentioned  is  the  work 
of  Vianesio  Albergati. 


But  who  was  he  1  Mazzuchelli  names  sev- 
eral Albergati,  but  not  this  one. 

The  following  story  is  told  in  a  letter  of 
Girolamo  Negro.  A  Bolognese  gave  pope 
Adrian  to  understand  tliat  he  had  an  impor-, 
taut  secret  to  impart  to  him,  but  he  had  not 
money  to  defray  the  cost  of  the  journey  to 
Rome.  Messer  Vianesio,  a  friend  and  favour- 
ite of  the  Medici,  interceded  for  Iiim,  and  was 
told  at  last  by  the  pope  that  he  might  advance 
the  twenty-four  ducats  the  Bolognese  required, 
and  they  should  be  repaid  him.  Vianesio  did 
so,  and  his  man  arrived.  He  was  introduced 
to  the  pope  with  the  utmost  secrecy.  "  Holy 
father,"  said  he,  "  if  you  would  conquer  the 
Turks,  you  must  equip  a  great  armament  both 
by  sea  and  land."  Not  a  word  more  had  he  to 
say.  "  Per  Deum  !"  cried  the  highly  incensed 
pope  the  next  time  he  saw  Messer  Vianesio, 
"  that  Bolognese  of  yours  is  a  great  swindler  ; 
but  it  shall  be  at  your  cost  that  he  has  cheat- 
ed me."  Vianesio  never  got  back  his  twent}'- 
four  ducats.  This  Vianesio  is  propably  our 
author;  for  he  says,  in  the  little  work  before 
us,  that  he  had  mediated  between  the  Medici 
and  the  pope  :  "  me  etiam  internuncio."  He 
was  well  acquainted  with  Adrian,  whom  he 
had  already  known  in  Spain. 

He  has  erected,  however,  to  his  memory 
the  least  flattering  monument  that  can  be.  It 
serves  to  show  us  the  full  intensity  of  the 
hatred  with  which  Adrian  inspired  the  Ita- 
lians. "Si  ipsius  avaritiam,  crudelitatem,  et 
principatus  adminislrandi  inscitiam  considera- 
bimus,  barbarorumque  quos  secum  adduxerat 
asperam  feramque  naturam,  merito  inter  pes- 
simos  pontifices  referendus  est."  [If  we  con- 
sider his  avarice,  his  cruelty,  his  ig'norance  of 
the  arts  of  government,  and  the  rude  and 
savage  nature  of  the  barbarians  he  brought 
with  him,  he  is  justly  to  be  classed  among 
the  worst  popes.]  He  is  not  ashamed  to  relate 
the  most  miserable  lampoons  against  the  dead 
pope:  one,  for  instance,  in  which  he  is  com- 
pared first  to  an  ass,  and  then  to  a  wolf, — 
"  post  paulo  faciem  induit  lupi  acrem," — nay, 
at  last,  to  Caracalla  and  Nero.  But  if  we 
look  for  proofs,  we  find  that  the  poor  pope  is 
even  justified  by  what  Vianesio  relates. 

Adrian  had  a  room  in  the  Torre  Borgia,  the 
key  of  which  he  always  carried  about  him, 
and  which  went  under  the  name  of  the  sanc- 
tum sanctorum.  This  was  opened  with  great 
curiosity  after  his  death.  As  he  had  received 
much,  and  spent  nothing-,  it  was  supposed  that 
his  treasures  would  be  found  in  the  secret 
chamber;  but  nothing  was  discovered  there 
but  books  and  papers,  a  couple  of  rings  be- 
longing to  Leo  X.,  and  scarcely  any  money. 
It  was  confessed  at  last,  "  male  partis  optima 
usum  fuisse"  [that  he  had  made  an  excellent 
use  of  wealth  ill-gotten]. 
j  The  complaints  made  by  the  author  re- 
specting the  procrastination  of  business  may 


408 


APPENDIX. 


have  more  truth  in  them.  The  pope  was  in 
the  habit  of  saying,  "  Cogitabimus,  videbi- 
mus."  [We  shall  consider,  we  shall  see.] 
He  would  refer,  to  be  sure,  to  his  secretary  ; 
but  the  latter,  after  long  delay,  would  in  re- 
turn refer  to  the  auditorc  di  camera.  This 
vja.s  a  well-meaning  man,  but  one  who  never 
got  through  with  any  thing,  and  only  bewil- 
dered himself  with  his  own  excessive  industry. 
"  Niinia  ei  nocebatdiligentia."  People  went 
back  from  him  once  more  to  Adrian,  who 
again  said,  "Cogitabinms,  videbimus." 

On  the  other  hand,  he  highly  extols  the 
Medici  and  Leo  X,,  that  pope's  kindness,  and 
the  security  enjoyed  under  him :  he  also 
praises  liis  public  works. 

I  collect  from  our  author's  remarks  that 
Raphael's  Arazzi  were  originally  intended 
for  the  Sixtine  chapel.  "  Quod  quidem  sacel- 
lum  Julius  II  opera  Michaelis  Angeli  pingen- 
di  sculpendique  scientia  clarissimi  adrnirabili 
exornavit  pictura,  quo  opere  nullum  absolutius 
extare  aetate  nostra  plerique  judicant;  moxque 
Leo  X  ingenio  Raphaelis  Urbinatis  architecti 
et  pictoris  celeberrimi  auleis  auro  purpuraque 
intextis  insignivit,  qua?  absolutissimi  operis 
pulchritudine omnium oculostenent."  [Which 
chapel  Julius  II.  adorned  with  admirable 
paintings  by  the  hand  of  Michael  Angelo,  a 
most  renowned  painter  and  sculptor,  and  it  is 
the  general  opinion  that  no  works  of  more 
perfect  excellence  exist  in  our  day :  subse- 
quently Leo  X.  decked  the  chapel  with  hang- 
ings wrought  with  gold  and  brilliant  colours, 
after  the  designs  of  Raphael  of  Urbino,  a  very 
famous  architect  and  painter;  the  beauty  of 
these  most  exquisite  specimens  of  art  fasci 
nates  every  beholder.] 


15.  Instruttione  al  Card^  Rev^"<>  di  Farnese, 
che  fu  poi  Paul  III,  quando  ando  legato 
alV  Imprc  Carlo  V  doppo  il  sacco  di  Ro- 
ma. [Instruction  to  cardinal  Farnese, 
afterwards  Paul  III.,  on  his  proceeding  as 
legate  to  the  court  of  the  emperor  Charles 
V.  after  the  sack  of  Rome.] 

I  found  this  instruction  first  in  the  Corsini 
library,  No.  ^67,  and  afterwards  procured  a 
copy  m  the  handwriting  of  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century. 

This  document  was  known  to  Pallavicini, 
who  mentioned  it  in  the  Istoria  del  Concilio 
di  Trento,  lib.  ii.  c.  13.  Nevertheless,  as  we 
shall  show  in  the  following  chapter,  he  has 
made  less  use  of  it  than  his  words  import. 
He  has  collected  his  narrative  from  other 
sources. 

As  this  instruction  is  highly  important,  not 
only  as  regards  the  aflairs  of  the  papacy,  but 
also  with  respect  to  the  whole  policy  of 
Europe  at  so  interesting  a  period,  and  con- 
tains many  weighty  particulars  not  to  be 
found  elsewhere,  I  have  thought  it  expedient 


to  print  it  entire.  No  extract  would  satisfy 
the  instructed  reader.  A  few  more  pagea 
will  be  well  devoted  to  it. 

The  pope  had  issued  a  brief  in  June,  1-526, 
in  which  he  shortly  enumerated  his  complaints 
against  the  emperor,  and  the  latter  made  a 
very  spirited  reply  in  1.526.  The  state  paper 
which  then  appeared  under  the  title,  "  Pro 
divo  Carlo  V.  .  .  apologetici  libri  .  .  ."  (in 
Goldast's  Politica  Impenalia,  p.  984,)  contains 
a  circumstantial  refutation  of  the  pope's  asser- 
tions. The  instructions  before  us  is  attached 
to  this  paper.  It  will  be  found  to  consist  of 
two  distinct  parts :  one,  in  which  the  pope  is 
spoken  of  in  the  third  person,  drawn  up  per- 
haps by  Giberto,  or  some  other  confidential 
minister  of  the  pope,*  and  of  the  highest  im- 
portance with  reference  to  past  occurrences, 
both  under  Leo  and  Clement ;  the  other  and 
smaller  part,  which  begins  with  the  words : 
"  Per  non  entrare  in  le  cause  per  le  quali 
fummo  constretti,"  in  which  the  pope  speaks 
in  the  first  person,  and  which  was  perhaps 
composed  by  himself  Both  are  shaped  with 
a  view  to  justify  the  proceedings  of  the  court 
of  Rome,  and  to  exhibit,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  conduct  of  the  viceroy  of  Naples  in  par- 
ticular in  the  worst  possible  light.  It  must 
be  confessed  that  we  ought  in  fairness  to  be 
in  possession  of  the  answer  made  by  the  im- 
perial court. 

"  lilmo  Rev'no  Signore.  Nella  difficulta 
della  provincia  che  e  toccata  alle  mani  di  V. 
S.  Ill™a  e  Rma^  tanto  grande  quanto  ella  stes- 
sa  conosce,  et  nella  recordatione  della  somma 
et  estrema  miseria  della  quale  siamo,  penso 
che  non  sara  se  non  di  qualche  rilevamento  a 
quella,  haver  quella  informatione  che  si  pud 
di  tutte  I'attioni  che  sono  accadute  tra  N. 
Signore  e  la  M.^^  Cesarea  et  in  esse  conoscere 
che  V.  S,  R"ia  va  a  prencipe  del  quale  S^  Si^^ 
et  la  casa  sua  e  piu  benemerita  che  nessun 
altra  che  ne  per  li  tempi  passati  ne  per  li  pre- 
sent! si  possa  ricordare  :  et  se  qualche  offen- 
sione  e  nata  in  quest'  ultimo  anno,  non  e 
causata  ne  da  alienatione  che  S'^  S^^  havessi 
fatto  della  solita  volunta  et  amore  verso  sua 
Maestra  o  per  disegni  particular!  d'aggraudire 
i  suoi  o  altri  o  per  abbassare  le  reputatione  o 
stato  suo,  ma  solo  per  necessita  di  non  com- 
portare  d'esser  oppresso  da  chi  haveva  et  aut- 
torita  et  forze  in  Italia,  et  per  molte  prove  che 
sua  Be  havessi  fatto  per  nuntii,  lettere,  messi 
et  lagati,  non  era  mai  stato  possible  trovarci 
remedio. 

"  La  Sii  di  N.  Signore  da  che  comincio  a 
esser  tale  da  poter  servir  la  corona  di  Spagna 
et  la  casa  della  Maesta  Cesarea,  il  che  fu  dal 


*  [It  will  be  seen,  however,  that  the  writer  occasionally 
lapses  into  the  use  of  the  first  person :  whether  he  does 
so  in  momentary  forgetfulness  of  an  assumed  character,  or 
because  he  feels  so  lively  an  interest  in  his  subject  as  to 
identify  himself  with  the  person  whose  cause  he  pleads.— 

TUANSLATOR.] 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


409 


principio  del  pontificato  della  S'-^'  M'''*di  Le- 
one 6U0  iVatello,  con  el  quale  poteva  quanto 
ogn'urio  sa  et  la  M^^  sua  lia  provato,  fii  seui- 
pre  di  tanto  studio  et  servitii  della  parte 
Spagnuolo  et  iniperiale  die  uon  si  potra  im- 
merar  beneficio  o  gratia  o  sodisfattione  di  co- 
sa  alcuua  die  questa  parte  in  ogni  tempo 
habbi  ricevutadalla  Siii  M'"'='-  di  Leone  et  del- 
la chiesa,  nella  quale  non  solo  N.  Signore 
stando  in  minoribus  non  si  sia  trovato  o  non 
ad  versa  rio  o  consentiente  solo,  ma  ancora  aut- 
tore,  indrizzatore  et  conduttore  del  tutto.  Et 
per  toccare  quelle  cose  die  sono  di  piu  im- 
portantia  solamente  :  la  lega  che  si  fece  il  se- 
condo  et  terzo  anno  della  Sia  M'"'a  di  Leone  per 
adversare  alia  venuta  prima  che  fece  il  cliris- 
tianissimo  re  Francesco  passu  tutta  per  niano 
di  S.  S'^'^,  et  ella  ando  in  persona  legato  per 
trovarsi  in  tatto  con  gli  altri.  Dove  essendo 
riusciti  lidisegni  diversamente  da  quelle  che 
s'era  imaginato,  et  constretto  papa  Leone  a 
fare  quelli  accordi  che  pote  con  el  chr"io,  il 
cardinale  de  Medici  hebbe  quella  cura  di  con- 
servare  il  papa  Spagnuolo  die  ogn'uno  di 
quelli  che  all'  hora  vi  si  trovorono  posson 
render  testimonio,  et  uso  tutta  I'auttorita  che 
haveva  col  papa  sue  fratello,  che  la  volunta 
et  estremo  desiderio  che  el  christianissimo 
haveva  di  seguir  la  vittoria  et  passar  con  tanto 
esercito  et  favore  nel  regno,  fussi  ralfrenato 
lior  con  una  scusa  et  hor  con  un  altra,  et  tra 
le  altre  che  se  essendo  il  re  catolico  vecchio 
et  per  rinfermila  gia  a  gli  ultimi  anni  S.  M"^^ 
aspettasse  I'occasione  della  morte  sua,  nel 
qual  tempo  I'impresa  riuscirebbe  senza  diffi- 
culta  alcana.  Et  succedendo  assai  presto 
doppo  questi  ragionamenti  la  morte  del  re  cat- 
tolico,  che  credo  non  ci  fusse  un  mese  di  tem- 
po, con  quant'  arte  et  fatica  fussi  necessario 
reprimere  I'instantiagrande  che  el  christian- 
issimo ne  faceva,  ne  sarebber  testimonio  lo 
lettere  di  propria  inano  di  S^-  M^'^,  se  questi 
soldati,  che  tra  le  altre  cose  hanno  ancor  sac- 
cheggiato  tutte  le  scritture,  o  ci  le  rendesse- 
ro  over  le  mandassero  all'  imperatore.  Et 
queste  cose  con  molte  altre,  che  tutte  erano 
in  preparar  quieta  e  stabile  la  heredita  et  suc- 
cessione  della  persona  hora  dell'  imperatore 
et  in  assicurarlo  etiam  vivents  I'avo  de  maes- 
trati  di  Spagna,  tutte  faceva  el  cardinale  de 
Medici  non  per  private  commodo  suo  alcuno, 
anzi  direttumente  contro  Futile  particulare, 
non  havendo  rendita  alcuna  di  moinento  se 
non  nel  dominio  di  Francia,  et  non  procuran- 
do  mai  d 'haver  ristoro  in  quel  di  8pagna. 

"  Successe  la  morte  dell'  imperatore  Mas- 
similiano,  et  essendo  Leone  inclinato  alia 
parte  dei  christianissimo  per  quella  dignita 
et  opponendosi  alii  conati  dell  Al'^  Cesarea 
d'hora,  non  passo  il  termine  dell'  elettione 
che  el  cardinal  de  Medici  condusse  il  papa  a 
non  contra venirvi,  e  doppo  fatta  I'elettione  ad 
approvarla,  assolverlo  dalla  simonia,  dal  per- 
giuro,  che  non  poteva,  essendo  re  di  Napoli, 
52 


si  come  vuole  la  constitutione  di  papa  .  .  .  ., 
procurar  d'essero    imperatore,    rinvestirlo  et 
darli  di  nuovo  il  regno  di  Napoli :  in  che  non 
so — se  I'affettion  grande  et  Toppionione  nella 
quale  el  cardinal  de  Medici  era  entrato  della 
bonta,   prudentia  et  religione  della  Mii^  sua, 
non  lo  scusasse — se  fusse  piu  o  il  servilio,  che 
puo   molto   apertamente   dire   d'haver    fatto 
grandissimo  alia  M^a  sua,  overo  il  dcservitio 
latto  al  fratello  cioe  al  papa  et  alia  chiesa, 
favorendo   et   nutrendo   una    potentia    tanto 
grande  e  da  considerare  die  un  di  da  questo 
fiume  poteva  erumpere  unadevastatione  et  ol- 
traggio  si  grande  come  hora  e  seguito.     Ma 
vedendo  il  cardinale  queste  due   potenze  di 
Spagna  et  Francia  divise  di  sorte  che  mala- 
mente  non  contrapesando  I'una  coll'  altra  si 
poteva  sperar  pace,  ando  prima  con  questo  di- 
segno  d'aggiunger  tanta  auttorita  et  forze  al 
redi  Spagna  che  essendo  uguale  al  christian- 
issimo dovessi  haver  rispetto  di  venire  a  guer- 
ra,  et  se   pur  la  disgratia  portasse  che  non  si 
potesse  far  dimeno,  essendo  I'oppinione  d'an- 
teporre  il  re  di  Spagna  al  christmo,  Spagna 
fussi   in   modo  ferma   et  gagliarda  che  attac- 
candosi  in  un  case  simile  a  quella  parte  si 
potesse  sperarne  buon  esito  ct  certa  vittoria. 
Et  questo  lo  provassi  con  altro  che  a  parole, 
se  forte  le  cose  sopradette  fusser  cosi  oscure 
che  havesser  bisogno  di  piu  apertafede:  ne 
farEi  testimonio  la  conclusa  lega  con  Cesare 
contra  Francia,  et  tanto  dissimili  le  conditioni 
che  si  promettevano  da  un  lato  a  quelle  dell' 
altro,  che  non  solo  Leone  non  doveva  venire 
a  legarsi  coll'  imperatore,  essendo  in  sua  li- 
berta  et  arbitrio  d'elegger  quel  che  piu  face- 
va per  lui,  ma  essendo  legato  doveva  fare  og- 
ni opera  per  spiccarsene.      Et   per   mostrar 
brevemente   esser  con  etfetto  quanto  io  dico, 
I'imperatore  si  trovava  in  quel  tempo  che  Le- 
one fece  lega  seco,    privo   d'ogni   auttorita, 
nerv'O,  amici  et  reputatione,  havendo  perduto 
in  tutto  I'obbedienza  in  Spagna  per  la  rebel- 
lione  di   tutti   i   populi,  essendo  tornato  dalla 
dieta  che  sua  Mi^  haveva  fatta  in  Vorniatia, 
escluso  d'ogni  conclusion  buona  d'ajuti  et  di 
favori  che  si  fussi  proposto  d'ottenere  in  essa, 
havendo  la  guerra  gia  mossa  ne  suoi  paesi  in 
due  lati,   in  Fiandra  per  viadi  Roberto  della 
Marca  et  in   Navarra,  il  qual  regno  gia  era 
tutto  andato  via  et  ridottosi  all'  obbedienza  del 
re  favorito  da  i  Francesi:  li  Suizzeri  poco  in- 
anzi  s'eron  di  nuovo  allegati  col  christianissi^ 
mo  con   una  nuova  conditione  d'obbligarsi  al- 
ia defensione  dellostato  di   Milano,  che  el  re 
possedeva,  cosa  che  mai  per  inanzi  non  have- 
von  voluto  fare:  et  il  ser"'"  re  d'Anglia,  nel 
quale  forse  I'imperatore  faceva   fondamento 
per  il  parentado  tra  loro  et  per  la  nemista  na- 
turale  con  Francia,  mostrava  esser  per  star  a 
veder  volentieri,  come  comprobo  poi  con  li  ef- 
fetti,  non  si   movendo  a  dar  pure  un  minimo 
ajuto  all'  imperatore  per  molta  necessita  in 
che  lo  vedessi  et  per  niolta  inslanlia  che  gli 


410 


APPENDIX. 


ne  fusse  fatta,  salvo  doppo  la  morte  di  Leone. 
II  christianissimo  all'  incontro,  oltre  la  poten- 
tia  orande  unita  da  se  etla  pronta  uniono  che 
haveva  con  I'lllma  Signoria  et  che  haveva 
questa  nuova  lianza  de  Suizzeri,  si  trovava 
tanto  piu  superior  nel  resto  quanto  li  caiisano 
la  potentia  sua  et  la  facevano  maggiore  li 
molti  et  infiniti  disordini  ne  quali  dico  di  so- 
pra  che  I'imperatore  si  trovava.  Le  speranze 
et  propositioni  dei  premii  et  comodita  del  suc- 
cesso  et  prosperitn  che  le  cose  havessero  ha- 
vuto  eron  molto  diverse:  il  christianissimo 
voleva  dar  di  primo  colpo  Ferrara  alia  chiesa 
inanzi  che  per  sua  M^'^  si  tacessi  altra  impre- 
sa,  poi  neir  acquisito  del  regno  di  Napoli  Sa 
M^^  chrislianissima,  per  non  venire  a  i  parti- 
cular!, dava  tante  comodfta  alia  chiesa  circa 
ogni  cosa  che  gli  tornava  di  piu  comodo  piu 
utilita  et  sicurta  assai,  che  non  sarebbe  stato 
ee  ce  I'havesse  lassato  tutto ;  in  quest'  altra 
banda  non  era  cosa  nessuna  se  non  proposito 
di  metter  lo  stato  di  Milano  in  Italiani  et  far 
ritornar  Parma  et  Piacenza  alia  chiesa :  et 
nondimeno,  essendo  et  la  facilita  dell'  impre- 
ea  in  una  parte  et  nell'  altra  il  pericolo  cosi 
ineguale  et  aggiungendovisi  ancora  la  dispa- 
rita  de  i  guadagni  si  grande,  potette  tanto  la 
volunta  del  cardinale  de  Medici  appresso  al 
papa,  et  appresso  a  S.  S.  Rev^a  I'oppinione 
della  bonta  et  religione  della  Maesta  Cesarea, 
che  mettendosi  nella  deliberatione  che  era 
necessaria  di  tare  o  in  un  luogo  o  in  un  altro 
questa  imaginazione  inanzi  agli  occhi,  non 
voile  dar  parte  della  vista  all'  altro  consiglio 
ne  altro  esamine  se  non  darsi  in  tutto  et  per 
tutto  a  quelJa  parte  donde  sperava  piu  frutti 
d'animo  santo  et  christiano  che  da  qualsivog- 
lia  altri  premii  che  temporalmente  havesser 
potuto  pervenire  per  altra  via.  Et  che  sia 
vero  chi  non  ha  visto  che  non  essendo  suc- 
cesse  le  cose  in  quel  principio  come  si  spera- 
va, et  essendo  consumati  i  danari  che  per  la 
prima  portion  sua  la  M'^  Cesarea  haveva  da- 
to,  et  vedendo  male  il  modo  che  si  facessi 
provisione  per  piu,  la  S^a  M^ia  di  Leone  per 
sua  parte  et  S.  tS.  Rev'i^a  molto  piu  per  la  sua 
non  manco  mettervi  la  sustantia  della  patria 
sua  et  di  quanti  amici  et  servitori  che  haves- 
si  et  per  I'ultimo  la  persona  sua  propria,  del- 
la quale  conobbe  I'importantia  et  il  trutto  che 
ne  scgui. 

"  Mori  in  quelle  papa  Leone,  et  benche  S. 
S.  Reyma  si  trovasse  nemico  tutto  il  mondo, 
perche  quclli  che  haveva  ofteso  dalla  parte 
francesG  tutti  s'eron  levati  contro  lo  stato  et 
dignita  sua  temporale  et  spirituale,  gli  altri 
della  parte  dell'  Impre  parte  non  lo  volsero 
ajutare,  parte  gli  furon  contrarii,  come  V.  S. 
Reyma  et  ogn'uno  sa  molto  bene,  non  dimeno 
ne  il  pericolo  o  oflertc  grandi  dei  primi  ne 
I'ingrattitudine  o  sdegno  dci  secondi  bastoro- 
no  mai  tanto  che  lo  facesser  muovere  pur  un 
minimo  punto  della  volunta  sua,  parendoli 
che  sicome  ranimo  di  Cesare  et  roppinion 


d'esso  era  stato  scapo  et  objetto,  cosi  quello 
dovessi  esser  sua  guida :  et  non  si  potendo 
imaginar  che  questo  nascessi  dall'  animo  suo 
ne  potendo  per  il  tempo  breve  suspicarlo, 
volse  piu  presto  comportar  ogni  cosa  che  mu- 
tarsi  niente,  anzi  come  se  fussi  stato  il  contra- 
rio,  di  nessuna  cura  tenne  piu  conto  che  di 
fare  un  papa  buono  parimente  per  la  M^^  sua 
come  per  la  chiesa :  et  che  I'oppinione  anzi 
certezza  fussi  che  non  sarebbe  quasi  stato 
dift'erenza  a  far  papa  Adriano  o  I'lmp^'e  stesso, 
ogn'uno  lo  sa,  sicome  ancora  e  notissimo  che 
nessuno  fu  piu  auttore  et  conduttore  di  quella 
creatione  che'l  cardinale  de  Medici. 

"  Hor  qui  fu  il  luogo  dove  il  card's  de  Me- 
dici hebbe  a  far  prova,  se'l  giudicio  el  quale 
S.  S.  haveva  fatto  della  M^-^  Cesarea  gli  rius- 
civa  tale  quale  S.  S.  Rev^a  s'era  imaginato, 
perche  inanzi  Tombra  et  indrizzo  dell  Sia 
M'''a  di  Leone  haveva  fatto  che  nou  si  veniva 
a  fare  esperienza  d'altro,  et  I'animo  di  S.  S. 
tutto  occupato  a  servir  la  M'''^  sua,  non  have- 
va pensato  di  distraherlo  in  cura  sua  o  disuoi 
particulari,  ne  era  cosi  avido  o  poco  prudente 
che  s'imaginasse  i  premii  corrispondenti  ai 
meriti,  anzi  in  questo  parevad'haver  perfetta- 
mente  servito  et  meritato  assai,  non  havendo 
objetto  nessun  tale  et  essendosi  rimesso  in 
tutto  e  per  tutto  alia  discrettione  et  liberalita 
sua.  E  vero  che  trovandosi  piu  di  due  anni 
quasi  prima  che  la  M^^  sua  non  pensava  ne 
credeva  poter  ricever  tanto  beneficio  et  servi- 
tio  dalla  casa  de  Medici,  haver  promesso  per 
scritto  di  sua  mano  et  disegnato  et  tenuto  a 
tale  instantia  separatamente  da  quella  uno 
stato  nel  regno  di  Napoli  di  VI  m.  scudi  et 
una  moglie  con  stato  in  dote  di  X  m.  pur  pro- 
messo a  quel  tempo  per  uno  dei  nipoti  di  pa- 
pa Leone  et  di  S.  S.  Rma,  et  non  essendosi 
mai  curati  d'entrare  in  possesso  del  primo  ne 
venir  a  effetto  del  secondo  per  parerli  d'haver 
tutto  in  certissimo  deposito  in  mano  di  sua 
Maest^,  morto  papa  Leone  et  non  essendo  ri- 
masto  segno  alcuno  di  bene  verso  la  casa  de 
Medici,  che  gli  facessi  ricordo  d'haver  havuto 
tanto  tempo  un  papa,  se  non  questo,  mandando 
S.  S.  Rma  alia  M^^  Cesarea  a  farli  riverenza 
et  dar  conto  di  se,  dette  commissioni  dell'  es- 
peditione  di  questa  materia,  che  se  ne  facessi 
la  speditione,  la  consignatione  et  li  privilegii 
et  venisse  all'  eft'etto.  Ma  successe  molto  di- 
versamente  da  quello  che  non  solo  era  I'op- 
pinion  nostra  ma  d'ogn'uno :  perche  in  canibio 
di  vedere  che  si  pensasse  a  nuovi  premii  et 
grattitudine  per  li  quali  si  conoscesse  la  re- 
cognitione  de  beneficii  fatti  alia  Mi^  sua,  et 
la  casa  de  Medici  si  consolasse  vedendo  non 
haver  fatto  molta  perdita  nella  morte  di  Le- 
one, si  messe  difficolta  tale  nell'  espeditione 
delle  cose  dette  non  come  si  fusse  tratiato  di 
uno  stato  gia  stabilito  et  debito  per  conto  mol- 
to diverse  et  inferiore  ai  meriti  grandi  che 
s'erono  aggiunti,  prima  di  disputare,  non  al- 
tr'monti  che  se  la  casa  de  Medici  gli  fusse 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


411 


stata  nemica,  facendo  objettioni  di  sorte  che 
ancorche  fusse  stata  in  quel  termine,  non  si 
devevon  fare,  perche  la  fede  ct  quel  che  s'c 
una  volta  promesso  si  vuol  servare  in  ogni 
tempo:  pure  si  replico  et  mostro  il  torto  che 
si  riceveva  talmente  che  in  cambio  di  sperar 
piu  o  di  havere  almeno  interamente  quello 
che  era  promesso  d'uno  stato  di  XVI  m.  scu- 
di,  VI  di  Sa  Mt^  propria  et  X  m.  di  dote  che 
si  doveva  dare,  si  risolvette  in  tre :  nel  qual 
tempo  essendo  il  cardinaledo  Medici  bene  in- 
formato  di  tutto,  se  S.  S.  Rma-  non  si  mosse 
dalla  devotione  di  S»  M"^^  perseverando  non 
come  trattato  ut  supra  ma  come  se  fusse  stato 
remunerate  a  satieta,  si  potrebbe  dire  che 
I'havessi  fatto  per  forza,  essendo  la  potenza 
deir  imperatore  fermata  di  sorte  che  non  pote- 
va  far  altro,  overo  per  mancarii  partito  con 
altri  prencipi,  overo  per  trovarsi  in  qualche 
gran  necessita  nella  quale  fusse  piu  pronto 
prestar  ajuto  all'  imperatore  che  ad  altri :  ma 
chi  si  ricorda  dello  stato  di  quel  tempi,  che  e 
facile  essendo  assai  fresca  la  memoria,  conos- 
cera  che  I'esercito  e  parte  imperiale  in  Italia 
per  el  nuovo  soccorso  che  i  Francesi  havean 
rnandato  reparando  I'esercito  et  forze  loro  con 
I'lllma  Sig'''^,  era  in  grandissimo  pericolo,  et 
in  mano  d'alcuno  era  piu  in  Italia,  per  I'op- 
portunita  del  stato  amici  parenti  dependentie 
denari  et  gente,  che  del  cardinale  de  Medici 
far  cader  la  vittoria  in  quella  parte  dove  gli 
fusse  parso  a  S.  S.  R'na  salda  nella  volunta 
verso  I'imperatore,  cercavono  opprimerlo,  non 
solo  poteva*  sperare  ajuto  dalli  Cesarei,  ma 
essi  male  haverebbon  fatto  i  fatti  loro  se  da  S. 
S.  I\nia  non  havesser  ricevuto  ogni  sorte  di 
ajuto  tanto  ad  acquistar  la  vittoria  quanto  a 
mantenerla,  essendosi  spogliato  fino  all'  ossa 
et  se  et  la  patria  per  pagare  una  grossa  impo- 
sitione  che  fu  imposla  per  contribuire  et  pa- 
gar  I'essercito  et  tenerlo  unite.  Direi  volen- 
tieri,  connumerando  tutti  i  beneficii,  officii  et 
meriti  infiniti  del  cardinale  de  Medici  et  di 
casa  sua,  qualche  amorevol  demostratione  o 
specie  di  grattitudine  che  S^  M^^  havessi  usa- 
to  inverso  di  loro,  cosi  per  dire  il  vero  come 
per  scusare  in  questo  modo  questa  persever- 
antia  mai  interrotta  per  alcun  accidente  ver- 
so Sa  M"^^  et  difenderla  da  chi  la  volessi  chia- 
mare  piu  tosto  ostinatione  che  vero  giudicio, 
ma  non  vi  essendo  niente  non  lo  posso  far  di 
nuovo,  salvo  se  non  si  dicesse  che  in  cambio 
di  XXII  m.  sc.  d'entrata  perduti  in  Francia 
ga  M^^gli  ordino  sopra  Toledo  una  pensione 
di  X  m.  sc,  dei  quali  ancora  in  parte  ne  resta 
creditore.  E  vero  che  nelle  lettere  che  8=^  M^-^ 
scriveva  in  Italia  a  tutti  li  suoi  ministri  etora- 
tori  et  capitani  gli  faceva  honorifica  mentione 
di  S.  S.  R'"a,  et  cometteva  che  facessin  capo 
a  quella  et  ne  tenessero  gran  conto  per  insino 
a  commetterli  che  se  dio  disponesse  della  S^a- 
Mria  d'Adriano,  non  attendessero  a  far  papa 


[*  Qy.  non  solo  non  poteva  ?— Translator.] 


altri  che  S.  S.  Rma;  donde  nasceva  che  tutti 
facevano  nei  negotii  loro  capo  a  J'iorenza  et 
communicavano  le  tiiccnde,  et  quando  s'hav- 
eva  a  trattar  di  danari  o  altra  sorte  d'ajuti,  a 
nessuno  si  ricorreva  con  piu  fiducia  che  a  S.  S. 
R'^a^  favorendola  gagliardamente  contro  la 
mala  dispositione  di  papa  Adriano  per  triste 
informationi  ingeste  da  Volterra  che  mostrava 
haver  di  S.  Sri^:  nelle  quai  cose,  non  facendo 
ingiuria  al  buon  animo  che  Cesare  potesse 
havere  con  el  cardinale,  diro  bene  che  S^  jy^u 
si  governava  prudentissimamente  in  volere 
che  si  mantenessi  una  persona  di  tanta  aut- 
torito  in  Italia,  la  quale  per  poca  recognitione 
che  gli  fussi  stata  fatta  non  si  era  mai  mutato 
un  pelo  del  solito  suo,  et  non  possendo  succe- 
cere,  cosi  in  questo  come  negli  altri  stati,  che 
rnutando  la  forma  et  regimento  se  ne  fusse 
potuto  sentire  evidentissimi  frutti  et  commo- 
dita  che  faceva  sua  Maesta  stando  integro  in 
Fiorenza  el  cardinale  de  Medici. 

"  Morto  Adriano  fu  il  cardinale  create  papa, 
dove  ancorche  i  ministri  et  altri  dependent! 
da  Cesare  havesser  gagliarda  commissione, 
parte  si  portoron  come  volsero,  et  alcuni  che 
air  ultimo  desceseropoi  a  favorir  la  sua  elet- 
tione  ilprimo  protesto  che  essi  volsero  fu  che 
non  intendevono  per  niente  che  S.  S"-^  conos- 
cesse  I'opera  loro  ad  instantia  dell'  impera- 
tore, ma  che  lo  facevono  per  mera  dispositione 
privata.  Et  nondimeno  fatto  papa  ritenne  S. 
S^'"-  la  medesima  persona  del  cardinal  de  Med- 
ici, quanto  comportava  una  union  tale  insieme 
con  la  dignita  nella  quale  dio  I'haveva  posto : 
et  se  in  pesar  queste  due  parti,  del  debito  del 
pontefice  et  dell'  aftettion  verso  I'imperatore, 
S.  S'-^  non  s'havesse  lassato  vincere  et  fatto 
pesar  piu  1' ultima,  forse  che  il  mondo  sarebbe 
piu  anni  fa  in  pace  et  non  patiremmo  hora 
queste  calamita.  Perche  trdvandosi  nel  tem- 
po che  Sa  S"^^  fu  papa,  due  esserciti  gagliardi 
in  Lombardia,  di  Cesare  et  del  christianisso, 
et  il  prime  oppresso  da  molte  difficulta  di  po- 
tersi  mantenere,  se  N.  S.  non  I'ajutava,  come 
fece  con  lassar  le  genti  ecclesiastiche  et  Flo- 
rentine in  campo,  con  darli  tante  decime  nel 
regno  che  ne  cavavano  80  m.  scudi,  et  farli 
dar  contributioni  di  Fiorenza,  et  S^  S'-^  anco- 
ra privatamente  denari  et  infinite  altre  sorti 
d'ajuti,  forse  quella  guerra  havrebbe  havuto 
altro  esito  et  piu  moderate  et  da  sperar  fine 
ai  travagli  et  non  principo  a  nuove  et  maggi- 
ori  tribulationi,  alle  quali  sperando  N.  S.  tan- 
to  ritrovar  forma  quanto  oltre  all'  auttorita 
ordinaria  che  credeva  haver  coll'  imperatore 
et  per  consigliarlo  bene  ci  haveva  ancora  ag- 
giunto  queste  nuove  dimostrationi,  senza  le 
quali  non  havrebbe  potuto  vincere,  perche  et 
me  n'ero  scordato  senz'  esse  mai  la  Signoria 
faceva  unir  I'esercito  suo,  non  solo  non  fu  dato 
luogo  alcuno  al  suo  consiglio,  die  dissuadeva 
di  passare  in  Francia  con  I'esercito,  anzi  in 
molte  occorentie  si  comincio  a  mostrare  di 
tenere  un  poco  conto  di  S^  S^i^,  et  favorir  Fer- 


412 


APPENDIX. 


rara  in  dispreggio  di  quella,  et,  in  cambio  di 
lodarsi  et  ringTatiarla  di  quanto  liaveva  fatto 
per  loro,  querelarsi  di  quel  clie  non  s'cra  flvtto 
a  voglia  loro,  non  misurando  prima  che  tutto 
si  facessi  per  mera  dispositione  senza  obbligo 
alciino,  el  poi,  se  ben  ce  ne  fussero  stati  infi- 
niti,  che  molto  maggior  doveva  esser  quello 
che  tirava  Sa  Santita  a  fare  il  debito  suo  con 
dio  che  con  rimperatore. 

"  L'esito  che  hebbe  la  guerra  di  Francia 
mostro  se  el  consiglio  di  N.  Sig^e  era  buono, 
che  venendo  el  christianissimo  adosso  all' 
esercito  Cesareo  ch'era  a  Marsiglia,  lo  cos- 
trinse  a  ritirarsi,  di  sorte  e'l  re  seguiva  con 
celerita,  che  prima  fu  entralo  in  IVIilano  ch' 
essi  si  potesser  provedere,  et  fu  tanto  terrore 
in  quella  giornata  del  vicere,  secondo  che  I'hn- 
omo  di  S.  a^^  che  era  presso  a  S.  Ecczagcrisse, 
che  non  sarebbe  stato  partito  quale  S.  iSigno- 
ria  non  avessi  accettato  dal  re,  et  prudente- 
mente  :  vedendosi  in  estrema  rovina  se  la 
Ventura  non  I'havessi  ajutato  con  fare  che  el 
christianissimo  andasse  a  Pavia  etnon  a  Lodi, 
dove  non  era  possibile  stare  con  le  genti  che 
vi  s'eron  ridotte.  Hora  le  cose  si  trovavano  in 
questi  termini  et  tanto  peggiori  quanto  sem- 
pre  in  casi  cosi  subiti  1  huomo  s'imagina,  el 
N.  S.  in  malissima  intelligentia  co!  chrmo  et 
poca  speranza  di  non  haver  a  sperar  se  non 
male  da  S^  M"^^  et  rimanerli  odiatoin  infinite, 
essendosi  governala  come  diro  appresso  con 
quella  verita  che  debbo  et  sono  obbligato  in 
qualsivoglia  luogo  che  piu  potessi  stringere  a 
dirladi  quel  che  io  mi  reputi  al  presente. 

"  Falto  che  fu  N.  Sig^e  papa,  mando  el 
christianissimo  di  mandar  subito  messi  a  sup- 
plicare  a  S.  S^'\  che  come  dio  I'haveva  posta 
in  luogo  sopra  tutti,  coi  ancora  si  volessi  met- 
ier sopra  se  stessa  et  vincer  le  passioni  qnali 
gli  potesser  esser  rimaste  odi  troppa  aft'ettione 
verso  rimperatore  o  di  troppo  mala  volunta 
verso  di  lui,  et  chi  rimarebbe  molto  obbligato 
a  dio  et  a  S.  Si^  se  tenessi  ogn'uno  ad  un  seg- 
no, interponendosi  a  far  bene,  ma  non  metten- 
dosi  a  favorir  I'una  parte  contro  I'altra  :  et  se 
pure  per  suoi  interessi  o  disegni  S.  B^e  gjndi- 
casse  bisognarliuno  appoggio  particulare  d'un 
prencipe,  qual  poteva  havere  meglio  del  suo, 
che  naturalmente  et  a  figliolo  della  chiesa  et 
non  emuio,  desiderava  et  era'solito  operar gran- 
dczza  di  essa  etnon  diminutione,  et  quanto  alia 
volunta  poi  da  ])erKona  a  persona,  gli  fareb- 
be  ben  partiti  tali  che  S.  Si'^  conoscei^ebbe  che 
molto  piu  ha  guadagnato  in  firsi  conosccre 
quanto  meritavaoffcndendo  et  deservcndo  lui, 
che  adjutando  et  favorendo  I'imperatore,  ven- 
endo in  particnlari  gramli. 

"  Nostro  Signore  accettava  la  prima  parte 
d'essere  amorcvole  a  tutti,  et  bcnclie  poi  con 
li  efl(3tti  depondessi  piu  dall'  imperatore,  oltre 
alia  inclinazione  lo  facova  ancora  con  certissi- 
nia  speranza  di  poter  tanto  con  I'imperatoro 
che  lacilmente  lassandosi  Sua  M^'^  Cesarca 
governare  et  muovere,  a  Sua  S^^  non  fussi  per 


essere  si  grave  quello  che  offendeva  el  chris- 
tianissimo, quanto  gli  sarebbe  comodo  poi  in 
facilitare  et  adjutare  gli  accordi  che  se  haves- 
sero  havuto  a  fare  in  la  pace.  Ma  succedendo 
altrimenti  et  facendo  il  re,  mentre  che  I'esser- 
cito  Cesarea  era  a  Marsiglia,  resokuione  di 
venire  in  Italia,  mando  credo  da  Azais  (Aix) 
un  corriere  con  la  carta  bianca  a  N.  Sig^e  per 
mezzo  del  sig''^  Alberto  da  Carpi  non  capitula- 
toine  favorevole  et  amplissimi  mandati  el  con 
una  dimostration  d'animo  tale  che  certo  I'ha- 
verebbe  possuto  mandare  al  proprio  imperatore, 
perche  di  voler  lo  stato  di  Milano  in  poi  era 
contenlo  nel  reslo  di  riporsi  in  tutto  et  per 
tuttoalla  volunlaet  ordine  di  Nostro  Signore  : 
et  non  oslante  questo  Sua  Santita  non  si  volse 
risolver  mai  se  non  quando  non  la  prima  ma 
la  seconda  volta  fu  certa della  presa  di  Milano 
et  hebbe  lettere  dall'  huomo  suo,  che  tutto  era 
spacciato  et  che  el  vicere  non  lo  giudicava  al- 
trimenti. Mettasi  qulasivoglia  o  amico  o  ser- 
vitore  o  fratello  o  padre  o  I'imperatore  raed- 
esimo  in  questo  luogo,  et  vegga  in  queslo  sub- 
ito et  ancora  nel  seguente,  che  cosa  havria 
potuto  fare  per  beneficio  suo  che  molto  meg- 
lio S.  S^i^  non  habbia  fatto!  dico  meglio:  per- 
che son  certo  che  quelli  da  che  forse  S.  M"-^  ha 
sperato  et  spera  miglior  volunta  poiche  si 
Irovano  obbligati,  havrebber  voluto  tenere  al- 
tro  conto  dell'  obbligo  che  non  fece  la  S.  S'^ ; 
la  quale  havendo  riposto  in  man  sua  far  ces- 
sar  I'arme  per  iar  proseguir  la  guerra  nel  reg- 
no di  Napoli  et  infiniti  altri  comodi  et  publici 
et  privati,  non  s'cra  obligata  ad  altro  in  favor 
deir  christianissimo  se  non  a  farli  acquistar 
quello  che  gia  I'esercito  di  Cesare  teneva  per 
perduto  et  in  reprimerlo  di  non  andare  inanzi 
a  pigliare  il  regno  di  Napoli,  nel  quale  non 
pareva  che  fust-i  per  essere  molta  difficulta. 
Et  chi  vuol  farsi  hello  per  li  eventi  successi  al 
contrario,  deve  ringratiare  dio  che  miracolosa- 
mente  et  per  piacerli  ha  voluto  cosi,  et  non 
attribuir  nulla  a  se,  el  riconoscer  che'l  papa 
fece  quella  capitulazione  per  conservar  se  et 
rimperatore  et  non  per  mala  volonta.  Per- 
che trovando  poi  per  sua  disgralia  el  re  diffi- 
culta nell'  impresa  per  haverla  presa  altri- 
menti di  quel  che  si  doveva,  N.  S^e  lo  lasso 
due  mesi  d'intorno  a  Pavia  senza  dar  un  sos- 
piro  di  favore  alle  cose  sue,  et  benche  questo 
fusse  assai  beneficio  delli  Spagnuoli,  non 
manco  ancora  far  per  loro,  dandoli  del  suo 
stato  tulle  le  comodita  che  potevon  disegnare, 
non  mancando  d'interporsi  per  metier  accordo 
quante  era  possibile  tra  loro:  ma  non  vi  es- 
sendo  ordine  et  sollecitando  il  re,  che  N.  Sig- 
nore si  scoprisse  in  favor  suo  per  farli  acquis- 
tare  tanto  piu  facilmente  lo  stato  di  Milano, 
et  instando  ancora  che  i  Fiorentini  facessero 
il  medesimo,  a  che  parimente  come  S.  S^^  er- 
ono  obbligati,  fece  opera  di  evitare  I'haversi 
ascoprire  ne  dare  ajuto  alcuno,  salvo  di  darli 
passo  et  vetlovaglia  per  el  suo  stato  a  una 
parte  dell'  esercito,  clie  sua  M'^  voleva  man- 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


413 


dare  nel  regno  per  far  diversione  et  ridur  piu 
facilmente  all'  accortlo  gV  impcriali.  Oh  chc 
gran  servitio  fu  questo  ai  Frances!,  conccdend- 
oli  cosa  la  quale  era  in  tacolta  loro  di  torsela, 
ancorche  non  glie  I'havesse  voluto  dare,  tro- 
vandosi  disarmato  et  parendo  per  troppo  strano 
che  havendo  latto  una  lega  con  S.  ^l'■'^  cliris- 
tianissinia  non  I'havendo  voluto  servir  d'altro, 
gli  neoasse  quello  che  non  poteva,  et  una 
publicatione  d'una  concordia  finta,  come  fu 
quella  che  si  dette  fuora  all'  hora  per  dare  un 
poco  di  pastura  a  quella  M^'^  et  fare  che  di 
manco  mal  animo  comportasse  che  S.  S^^  non 
osservasse  ad  unguem  la  capitulatione  :  et  se 
si  vorra  dire  il  vero,  el  cliristianissimo  fu  piu 
presto  deservito  che  servito  di  quella  separa- 
tione  dell  esercito,  perche  furono  le  genti  in- 
terteniite  tanto  in  Siena  et  di  poi  in  questo  di 
Roma,  che  I'imperiali  hebber  tempo  in  Lcm- 
bardia  di  far  la  prova  che  fccero  a  Pavia :  la 
qual  ottenuta,  qualche  ragione  voleva  che 
I'imperatore  ne  i  suoi  agenti  ne  huomo  al 
mondodi  quella  parte  si  tenesse  offeso  da  Sua 
S''^  0  pensassi  altro  che  farli  servitio  o  pia- 
cere,  se  la  religione  non  li  moveva  et  il  se- 
guitare  gli  esempii  degli  altri  proncipi,  li 
quali  non  solo  non  hanno  ofFeso  i  papi  che  si 
sono  stati  a  vedere,  ma  quando  hanno  ottenuto 
vittoria  contro  quelle  parte  con  la  quale  la 
chiesa  si  fussi  adherita,  gli  hanno  havuti  in 
somma  adherenza  e  riverenza  e  posto  termine 
alia  vittoria  sua  in  chiederli  perdono,  honorar- 
ia et  servirla.  Lasciamo  stare  la  religione 
da  canto  et  mettiamo  il  papa  et  la  chiesa  in 
luogo  di  Moscovita,  dove  si  trovo  mai  che  a 
persona  et  stato  che  non  ti  occupa  nienle  di 
quello  a  che  la  ragione  vuole,  tu  possa  pre- 
tendere]  anzi  havendo  una  contmuata  me- 
nioria  d'haver  tanti  anni  col  favore,  ajuto  et 
sustantia  sua  et  particularmente  della  persona 
ottenuto  tante  vittorie  :  et  se  hora  si  era  ad- 
herito  col  re,  lo  fece  in  tempo  nel  quale  non 
potendo  ajutare  se  ne  altri,  gli  parve  d'havere 
una  occasione  divina  di  poter  col  mezzo  dei 
nemici  fare  quel  medisimo  effetto,  non  gli  dan- 
do  piu  di  quello  che  o  la  forza  loro  o  I'impo- 
tentia  dell'  imperatore  gli  concedeva,  et  poi 
quando  el  corso  della  vittoria  si  fermo  per  i 
Francesi,  haverla  piu  tosto  arenata  che  ajuta- 
ta  a  spignere  inanzi:  che  inhumanita  inaudi- 
ta,  per  non  usar  piu  grave  termine,  fu  quella, 
come  se  appunto  non  vi  fusse  stata  alcuna  di 
qneste  raggioni  o  fussero  state  al  contrario, 
subito  ottenuta  la  vittori  in  Pavia  et  fattoprigi- 
one  il  re,  cercare  di  tar  pace  con  gli  altri,  dei 
quali  mcritamente  potevasi  presumere  d'es- 
sere  stati  offesi,  alia  chiesa  et  alia  persona  del 
papa  subito  indir  la  guerra  et  mandarli  uno 
esercito  adosso !  Ogl'  imperial!  havevon  ve- 
duti  i  capito  i  della  lega  con  el  chr  o  non 
gli  havevon  veduti.  Havendo  gli  visti,  come 
siam  certi,  essendo  andate  in  man  loro  tutte 
le  scritture  di  S.  M^^,  dovevon  produrli,  et 
mostrando  oft'ensione  in  essi  o  nel  tempo  che 


furon  conclusi  overo  nei  particulari  di  cosa 
che  fusse  in  pregiudicio  alia  M'"^  Cesarea, 
giustificar  con  essi  quello  che  contavano,  se 
giustiticatione  alcuna  pero  vi  potesse  essere 
bastante.  Non  gli  havendo  visti,  perche  usar 
tale  iniquita  contra  di  .  .  .  .1  Maneinscrip- 
tis  non  havendo  visto  costa  tale  ne  in  fatto  non 
havendolo  provato,  non  havevon  sentito  offen- 
sione  alcuna,  Ne  resto  N.  Sig^e  per  poco 
animo  o  per  non  potere,  perche  se  I'ha  dell* 
animo  odel  potere  essi  in  loro  beneficio  I'ha- 
vevon  provanto  tanto  tempo  et  dei  primo  I'eta, 
non  glien'  haveva  potuto  levar  niente  et  del 
secondo  la  dignita  glien'  haveva  aggiunto  as- 
sai,  ne  anche  perche  S.  S^'^  havessi  intercette 
alcune  lettere  di  questi  sig"  nelle  quali  si 
vedeva  che  stavano  gonfi  et  aspettavano  occa- 
sione di  vendicarsi  della  ingiuria  che  non  rice- 
verono  da  S.  S^i^,  ma  per  non  reputar  niente 
tutte  queste  cose,  respetto  alia  giustitia  et  al 
dovere  et  buon  animo  della  M^^  Cesarea,  sen- 
za  participation  della  quale  non  penso  mai  che 
si  mettesse  a  tentare  cosa  alcuna,  et  non  pos- 
sendo  mai  persuaders!  che  S.  M^*^  fusse  per 
comportarlo.  Pero  accadde  tutto  il  contrario, 
che  subito  senza  dimora  alcuna  fecer  passare 
I'esercito  in  quel  della  chiesa  et  constrinser 
S.  Sii^  a  redimer  la  vexatione  con  100  m.  sc. 
et  col  far  una  lega  con  loro :  la  quale  man- 
dandosi  in  Spagna,  la  demostratione  che  S. 
M^^  ne  fece  d'haverlo  a  male  fu  che  se 
in  essa  si  conteneva  qualche  cosa  che  fus- 
se in  beneficio  di  N.  Sig^e  et  della  chi- 
esa,  non  la  volse  ratificare,  non  ostante  che 
quanto  fu  fatto  in  Italia,  fussi  con  li  mandati 
amplissimi  della  M^^  sua,  et  tra  le  altre  cose 
v'era  la  reintegratione  dei  sali  dello  stato  di 
Milano  che  si  pigliasser  dalla  chiesa,  et  la 
restitution  di  Reggio,  di  che  non  volse  far 
nulla.  Havendo  N.  Sigre  veduto  gabbarsi 
tante  volte  et  sperando  serapre  che  le  cose 
deir  imperatore,  ancorche  alia  presentia  par- 
essero  altrimenti,  in  eftetto  poi  fussero  per 
riuscire  migliori  et  havendo  sempre  visto  rius- 
cirli  il  contrario,  comincio  a  dare  arecchie, 
con  tante  prove  che  ne  vedeva,  a  chi  glie 
I'haveva  sempre  detto  et  perseverava  che  la 
Mt^  sua  tendessi  alia  oppressione  di  tutta 
Italia  et  volersene  far  sig^e  assoluto,  parendoli 
strano  che  senza  un'  objetto  tale  S.  M'-'-^  si 
governasse  per  se  et  per  li  suoi  di  qua  della 
sorte  che  faceva :  et  trovandosi  in  questa  sus- 
pettione  et  mala  contentezza  di  veder  che  non 
gli  era  osservato  ne  fede  ne  promessa  alcuna, 
gli  pareva  che  gli  fusse  ben  conveniente  adhe- 
rire  alia  amicilia  et  pratiche  di  coloro  li  quali  ha- 
vessero  una  causa  commune  con  la  santita 
sua  et  fusser  per  trovar  modi  da  difendersi  da 
una  violentia  tale  che  si  teneva :  et  essendo 
tra  le  altre  cose  proposto  che  disegnando  Ce- 
sare  levar  di  stato  el  duca  di  Milano  et  far- 
sene  padrone  et  havendo  tanti  indicii  che 
questo  era  piu  che  certo  non  si  doveva  perder 
tempo  per  anticipar  di  fare  ad  altri  quel  che 


414 


APPENDIX. 


era  disegnato  di  fare  a  noi,  S.  S^^  non  poteva 
recusare  di  seguitare  il  camino  di  chi  come 
dico  era  nella  fortuna  commune.  Et  di  qui 
nacque  che  volendosi  il  regno  di  Francia,  la 
S.  S"'>-  di  Venetia  et  il  resto  di  Italia  unire 
insieme  per  rilevamento  delli  stati  et  salute 
commune,  N.  S.  dava  intentione  di  non  recu- 
sare d'essere  al  medesimo  che  gli  altri  s'offe- 
rivono :  et  confe^ssa  ingenuamente  che  essen- 
doli  proposto  in  nome  et  da  parte  del  marchesc 
di  Pescara  che  egli  come  mal  contento  dell' 
imperatore  et  come  Italiano  s'offeriva  d'essere 
in  questa  compagnia  quando  s'avesse  a  venire 
a  fatti,  non  solamente  non  lo  ricuso,  ma  ha- 
vendo  sperato  di  poterlo  havere  con  effetti, 
gli  haverebbe  fatto  ogni  partito,  perche  essen- 
do  venuto  a  termine  di  temer  dello  stato  et 
salute  propria,  pensava  che  ogni  via  che  se 
gli  fusse  otferta  da  potere  sperare  ajuto  non 
era  da  rifiutare.  Hora  egli  e  morto  et  dio  sa 
la  verita  et  con  che  animo  governo  questa  cosa. 
E  ben  vero  et  certo  questo  che  simile  partic- 
ulare  fu  messo  a  N.  Signore  in  siio  nome  :  et 
mandando  S.  S^^  a  dimandarnelo,  non  solo  non 
lo  ricuso,  ma  torno  a  confermare  egli  stesso 
quel  che  per  altri  mezzi  gli  era  stato  fatto 
intendere:  et  benche  le  partiche  procedesser 
di  questa  sorte,  dio  sa  se  N.  Signore  ci  anda- 
va  piu  tosto  per  necessita  che  per  elettione  : 
et  di  cio  possono  far  testimonio  molte  lettere 
scritte  in  quel  tempo  al  nuntio  di  S.  St^^  ap- 
presso  I'imperatore,  per  le  quali  se  gli  ordi- 
nava  che  facesse  intendere  alia  M^^  Sa  li 
mali  modi  et  atti  a  rovinare  il  mondo  che  per 
quella  si  tenevano,  et  che  per  amor  di  dio 
volesse  pigliarla  per  altra  via,  non  essendo 
possibile  che  Italia,  ancorche  si  ottenesse,  si 
potesse  tenere  con  altro  che  con  amore  et  con 
una  certa  forma  la  quale  fusse  per  contentare 
gli  animi  di  tutti  in  universale.  Et  non  gio- 
vandoniente,  anzi  scoprendosi  S.  M^^  in  quel 
che  si  dubitava,  d'impatronirsi  dello  stato  di 
Milano  sotto  il  pretesto  di  Girolamo  Morone 
et  che  il  duca  si  fusse  voluto  ribellare  a  S. 
Mi^,  perseverava  tuttavia  in  acconciarla  con 
le  buone,  descendendo  a  quel  che  voleva 
S.  Mt^  se  ella  non  voleva  quel  che  piaceva 
alia  StJ^  Sua,  purche  lo  stato  di  Milano  res- 
tasse  nel  duca,  al  quale  effetto  si  erano  fatte 
tutte  le  guerre  in  Italia;  in  che  S.  S^^  hebbe 
tanto  poca  ventura  die  andando  lo  spaccio 
di  questa  sua  volunta  all'  imperatore  in  tempo 
che  S.  Alti  voleva  accordarsi  col  christianis- 
simo,  rifiuto  far  I'accordo:  et  polendo,  se  ac- 
cettava  prima  I'accordo  con  il  papa,  far  piu 
yantaggio  et  poi  piu  fermo  quel  del  christian- 
issimo,  rifiuto  far  I'accordo  con  N.  Sio-nore, 
per  fare,  che  quanto  faceva  con  il  re'' fusse 
tanto  piu  [comodo]  vanociuanto  non  lo  volendo 
il  re  osservare  era  per  haver  de  campagni  mal 
contenti,  con  li  quali  unendosi  fusse  per  ten- 
ere manco  conto  della  M^^^  Sua :  et  non  e  pos- 
sibile imaginarsi  donde  procedesse  tanta 
alienatione  dell'  imperatore  di  volere  abbrac- 


ciare  il  papa :  non  havendo  ancora  con  effetto 
sentita  offesa  alcuna  di  S.  S"-^,  havendo  man- 
date legato  suo  nipote  per  honorarlo  et  prati- 
care  queste  cose  accioche  conoscesse  quanto 
gli  erano  a  cuore,  facendoli  ogni  sorte  di  pia- 
cere,  et  tra  gli  altri  concedendoli  la  dispensa 
del  matrimonio,  la  quale  quanto  ad  unire 
I'amicitia  et  intelligentia  di  quel  regni  per 
ogni  caso  a  cavargli  denari  delle  dote  et  ha- 
ver questa  successione  era  della  importanza, 
che  ogn'  uno  sa,  et  tamen  non  si  movendo  S. 
M^^  niente,  costrinse  la  S.  S^^  a  darsi  a  chi 
ne  la  pregava,  non  volendo  I'imperatore  sup- 
plicarlo,  et  a  grandissimo  torto  accettarlo : 
et  avenne  che  stringendosi  N.  Signore  con  il 
christianissimo  et  con  I'altri  prencipi  et  po- 
tentati  a  fare  la  lega  per  commune  difensione 
et  precipuamente  per  far  la  pace  universale, 
quando  I'imperatore  lo  seppe,  volse  poi  unirsi 
con  N.  Signore  et  mandando  ad  offrirgli  per 
il  sig''e  Don  Ugo  di  Moncada  non  solo  quel 
che  S.  S'^  gli  haveva  addimandato  et  impor- 
tunato,  ma  quel  che  mai  haveva  sperato  di  po- 
tere ottenere.  Et  se  o  la  M''^  S.  si  vuol  dif- 
endere  o  calumniare  N.  Sig""e,  che  conceden- 
doli per  il  sigre  Don  Ugo  quanto  dissi  di  sopra, 
non  I'havesse  voluto  accettare,  non  danni  la 
S^^  S.,  la  quale  mentre  che  fu  in  sua  potesta, 
gli  fece  istanza  di  contentarsi  di  manco  assai, 
ma  incolpi  il  poco  gudicio  di  colore  che  quan- 
to e  tempo  et  e  per  giovare  non  vogliono  con- 
sentire  a  uno  et  vengono  fuori  d'occasioni  a 
voler  buttar  cento :  .  .  .  ,  non  essendo  (se 
non  ?)  con  somma  giustificatione  cio  in  tempo, 
die  sua  M"^^  negasse  d'entrare  in  lega  con 
honeste  conditioni  et  che  la  imprese  riuscis- 
sero  in  modo  difficili  che  altrimenti  non  si 
potesse  ottenere  I'intento  commune.  Et  chi 
dubitassi  che  I'impresa  del  regno  non  fusse 
stata  per  essere  facile,  lo  puo  mostrare  I'esito 
di  Frusolone  et  la  presa  di  tanie  terre,  consi- 
derando  massime  che  N.  Sig^e  poteva  man- 
dare  nel  principio  le  medesime  genti,  ma  non 
eron  gia  atti  ad  havere  nel  regno  in  un  subito 
tante  preparationi  quante  stentorono  ad  ha- 
vere in  molti  messi  con  aspettare  gli  ajuti  di 
Spagna.  Et  mentre  non  manca  nell'  inimici- 
tia  esseramico  et  voler  usar  piu  presto  ufficia 
di  padre,  minacciando  che  dando  (offendendo?) 
e  procedendo  con  ogni  sincerita  et  non  man- 
cando  di  discendere  ancora  ai  termini  sotto 
della  dignita  sua  in  fare  accordo  con  Colon- 
nesi  sudditi  suoi  per  levare  ogni  suspettione 
et  per  non  mandar  mai  il  ferro  tanto  inanzi 
che  non  si  potessi  tirandolo  in  dietro  sanar 
facilmente  la  piaga,  fu  ordinata  a  S.  S^^  quel- 
la traditione,  che  sa  ogn'  uno  et  piu  sene  parla 
tacendo,  non  si  potendo  esprimere,  nella  quale 
e  vero  che  S.  M^^  non  ci  dette  ordine  ne  con- 
senso,  ne  mostro  almeno  gran  dispiacere  et 
non  fece  maggior  dimostration,  parendo  che 
I'armata  e  tutti  li  preparatorii  che  potessi  mai 
fare  I'imperatore  non  tendessino  ad  altro  che 
a  voler  vendicare  la  giustitia  che  N.  Sigi^^ 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


415 


haveva  fatta  contro  i  Colonnesi  di  rovinarli 
quattro  castelli.     Non  voglio  disputar  della 
tregiia  fatta  qui  in  castello  questo  septembre 
per  il  sigt'e  Don  Ugo,  se  teneva  o  non  teneva : 
ma  I'assolutione  dei  Colonnesi  non  teneva  gia 
in  modo  N.  Sig'"''  che  essendo  suoi  sudditi  non 
gli  potessi  etdovessi  castigare.     Et  se  quanto 
air  osservantia  poi  della  tregua  tra  N.  Sign's 
et   rimperatore  fussi  stato   modo  da    potersi 
fidare,  si  sarebbe  osservata  d'avvanzo,  benclie 
N.  Sigfe  non  fusse  mai  el  primo  a  romperla : 
ma  non  gli  essendo  osservata  ne  qui  ne  in 
Lombardia,  dove  nel  tempo  della  tregua  calan- 
do  XII  mila  lanzichineche  vennero  nella  terra 
della  chiesa,  et  facendosi  dalle  bande  di  qua 
el  poggio  che  si  poteva,  et  sollecitandosi  el 
vicere  per  lettere  del  consigliodi  Napoli,  che 
furono  intercette,   che  S.  S^ia-  accelerassi  la 
venuta  per  trovare  il  papa  sprovisto  et  fornir 
quel  che  al  primo  colpo  non  si  haveva  potuto 
fare,  non  pote  N.  Sig''^  mancare  a  se  stesso 
di  mandare  a  tor  gente  in  Lombardia,  le  quali, 
ancorche  venissero  a  tempo  di  far  fattione  nel 
regno,  non  volse  che  si  movesser  dei  confini — 
et  la  rovina  de  luoghi  dei  Colonnesi  fu  piu  per 
I'inobbedienza  di  non  haver  voluto  alloggiare 
che  per  altro — et  similmente  di  dar  licentia  a 
Andrea  Doria  di   andare   ad    impedir  quell' 
amata  della  quale  S.  S^'^  haveva  tanti  riscon- 
tri  che  veniva  alia  sua  rovina.     Non  si  puo 
senza  nota  di  S.  St^^  di  poca  cura  della  salute 
et  dignita  sua  dir,  con  quante  legittime  occa- 
sioni  costretto   non   abbandonassi   mai  tanto 
tempo  I'amore  verso  I'imperatore,  e  dipoiche 
comincio  a  esservi  qualche  separatione,  quante 
volte  non  solo  essendoli  offerti  ma  andava  cer- 
cando  i  modi  di  tornarvi,  ancorche  etdi  questo 
primo  proposito  et  di  quest'  altre  reconcilia- 
tioni  gliene   fussi   seguito  male.     Ecco  che 
mentre  le  cose  son  piu  ferventi  che  mai,  viene 
el  padre  generale  dei  Minori,  al  quale  haven- 
do  N.  Sigre  nel  principio  della  guerra  andan- 
do  in  Spagna  dette  buone  parole  assai  dell' 
animo   suo  verso   I'imperatore  et  mostratoli 
quali  sariano  le  vie  per  venire  a  una  pace 
universale,  la  M'-^  sua  lo  rimando  indietro  con 
commissioni  a  parole  tanto  ample  quanto  si 
poteva  desiderare,  ma  in  effetto  poi  durissime  : 
pur  desiderando  N.  Signore  d'uscirne  et  ven- 
ire una  volta  a  chiarirsi  facie  ad  faciem  con 
I'imperatore,  se  vi  era  modo  o  via  alcuno  di 
far  pace,  disse  di  si  et  accetto  per  le  migliori 
del  mondo  queste  cose  che  rimp'"e  voleva  da 
sua  santita  et  quello  che  la  M''^  sua  voleva 
dare  :  et  volendo  venire  alio  stringere  et  bis- 
ognando  far  capo  col  vicere,  il  quale  si  ti'ova- 
va  anch'  esso  arrivato  a  Gaetta  nel  medesimo 
tempo  con  parole   niente  inferior!  di  quelle 
che  el  generale  haveva  detto,  queste  condi- 
tioni  crescevano  ogn'  hora  et  erano  infinite  et 
insoportabile  da  potersi  fare.     Con  tutto  cio 
niente  premeva  piu  a  N.  Signore  che  esser 
costretto  a  far  solo  accordo  con  1'  imperatore 
in  Italia,  perche  la  causa  che  moveva  a  farlo, 


etiam  con  grandissimo  danno  et  vergogna  sua, 
era  I'unione  et  pace  in  Italia  et  il  potere  an- 
dare air  imperatore,  et  se  la  Signoria  di  Ve- 
netia  non  gli  consentiva,  questo  non  poteva 
occorrere,  et  per  praticare  il  consenso  loro, 
stando  il  vicere  a  Frusolone,  si  fece  la  sospen- 
sione  dell'  armi  otto  giorni,  Ira  quali  potesse 
venire  la  risposta  di  Venetia,  et  andando  con 
esse  il  signer  Cesare  Fieramosca,  non  fu  pri- 
ma arrivato  la  che  gia  essendosi  alle  mani  et 
liberate  Frusolone  dall'  assedio  non  si  pote 
far  niente  :  nel  qual  maneggio  e  certo  che  N. 
Signore  ando  sinceramente  et  cosi  ancora  il 
revmo  legato,  ma  trovendosi  gia  I'inimici  a 
posta  et  con  I'armi  in  mano,  non  era  possibile 
di  trattare  due  cose  diverse  in  un  tempo  me- 
desimo.    Si  potrebbe  maravigliarsi  che  doppo 
I'aver  provato  I'animo  di  questa  parte  et  res- 
tarsi  sotto  con  inganno,  danno  et  vergogna, 
hora  volens  et  sciens,  senza  necessita  alcuna, 
libero  dalla  paura  del  perdere,  sicuro  di  gua- 
dagnare,  non  sapendo  che  amicitia  acquistassi, 
essendo  certo  della  alienatione  et  nemicitia  di 
tutto  il  mondo  et  di  quel  principali  che  di  cuore 
amano  la  St^^  sua,  andasse  a  buttarsi  in  una  pace 
o  tregua  di  questa  sorte.     Ma  havendo  sua 
Si^  provato  che  non  piaceva  a  dio  che  si  fa- 
cessi  guerra — perche  ancorche  havessi  fatto 
oo-ni  prova  per  non  venire  ad  arme  et  di  poi 
essendovi  venuto  con  tanti  vantaggi,  il  non 
haver  havuto  se  non  tristi  successi  non  si  puo 
attribuire  ad  altro,  venendo  la  povera  christi- 
anita  afflitta  e  desolate  in  modo  insofFribile  ad 
udirsi  da  noi  medesimi,  che  quasi  eravamo 
per  lassar  poca  fatica  al  Turco  di  fornirla  di 
rovinare — giudicava  che   nessun  rispetto  hu- 
mane dovessi,  per  grand  che  fusse,  valer  tanto 
che  havessi  a  rimuovere  la  S^^  sua  da  cercar 
pace  in  compagnia  d'ogn'uno,  non  possendola 
haver  con  altri,  farsela  a  se  stessa,  et  mas- 
sime  che  in  questa  pensieri  tornorno  a  interpor- 
visi  di  quelli  avvisi  et  nuove  dell'  animo  et 
volunta.  di  Cesare  disposto  a  quello  che  suol 
muovere  la  S.  S'^  mirabilmente,  havendo  ha- 
vuto nel  medesimo  tempo  lettere  di  man  pro- 
pria di  S.  Mta  per  via  del  Sigi'e  Cesare  et  per 
Paolo  di  Arezzo  di  quella  sorte  che  era  ne- 
cessario,  vedendo  che  d'accordarsi  il  papa  col 
imperatore  fusse  per  seguirne  la  felicita  del 
mondo  overo  imaginarsi  che  uomo  del  mondo 
non  potessi  mai  nascer  di  peggior  natura  che 
I'imperatore  se  fusse  andato  a  trovare  questa 
via  per  rovhiare  il  papa,  la  qual  fussi  indegnis- 
sima  d'ogni  vilissimo  uomo  et  non  del  mag- 
giore  che  sia  tra  christiani,  ma  absit  che  si 
possa  imaginar  tal  cosa,  ma  si  reputa  piu  tes- 
te che  dio  I'habbia  parmessa  per  recognition 
nostra  et  per  dar  campo  alia  M'-^  sua  di  mos- 
trar  piu  pieta,  piu  bonta  e  fede  et  darli  luogo 
d'assettare  il  mondo  piu  che  fusse  mai  conces- 
so  a  principe  nato.     Essendo  venute  in  mano 
di  questi  soldati  tutte  le  scritture,  tra  I'altre 
gli  sara  capitate  una  nuova  capitulatione,  che 
fece  N.  Sre  cinque  o  sei  di  al  piu  prima  che 


416 


APPENDIX. 


seguisse  la  perdita  di  Roma,  per  la  quale  ri- 
tornando  S.  Si^i  per  unirsi  con  la  lega  et  con- 
sentondoa  niolte  couditione  che  erano  in  pre- 
giudicio  della  M^'^  Cesarea,  non  penso  che 
alcuno  sia  per  volersene  valere  contro  N.  S^e 
di  quelli  della  parte  di  Cesare,  perche  non 
lo  polrebbon  fare  senze  scoprir  piu  i  difetti  et 
mancamenti  loro,  li  quali  dato  che  si  potessi 
concedere  che  non  si  fussi  potuto  ritrar  i3or- 
bone  dal  propositio  suo  di  voler  venire  alia  ro- 
vina  del  papa,  certo  e  che  eron  tanti  aitri  in 
quel  campo  di  lanti  et  uomini  d'anne  et  per- 
sone  principali  che  havrebbono  obbedito  a  i 
commandamenti  dell'  imperatore  se  gli  fusse- 
ro  stati  fatti  di  buona  sorte,  et  privato  Bor- 
bone  d'una  siinil  parte,  restava  pocco  atto  a 
proseguire  el  disegno  suo.  Et  dato  che  ques- 
to  non  si  fusse  possuto  tare,  benche  non  si  pos- 
sa  essere  escusazione  alcuna  che  vagli,  come 
si  giustirichera  che  havendo  N.  Sig''^  adempito 
tutte  le  condition!  della  capilulazione  fatta  col 
vicere,  sicome  V.  S.  R'"*  potria  ricordarsi  et 
vedere  rileggendo  la  copia  di  essa  capilula- 
zione, che  portera  seco,  che  domandando  S.  S^'^ 
air  incontro  che  se  li  osservasse  il  pagamento 
dei  fanti  et  degli  uomini  d'arme,  che  ad  ogni 
richiesta  sua  se  li  erano  obbligati,  non  ne  fussi 
state  osservato  niente,  si  che  non  essendo  state 
corrisposto  in  nessuna  parte  a  N.  Sig^e  in 
quella  capilulazione  da  un  canto  facendosi 
conto  qnello  che  si  doveva,  dall'  altro  non  se 
]i  dando  li  ajuti  che  si  doveva,  non  so  con  che 
animo  possa  mettersi  a  voler  calunniare  la 
S'i^  S.  d'una  cosa  fatta  per  rnera  necessita 
indutta  da  loro  et  tardata  tanto  a  fare,  che  fu 
la  rovina  di  sua  Beattitudine,  e  pigliare  occa- 
sione  di  tenersi  offesi  da  noi. 

Dalla  deliberatione  che  N.  Signore  fece 
deir  andata  sua  all'  imperatore  in  tempo  che 
nessuno  posseva  suspicare  che  si  movessi  per 
altro  che  per  zelo  della  salute  de  christiani, 
essendo  venuta  quella  inspiratione  subito  che 
si  hebbe  nuova  della  morte  del  re  d'Ungheria 
et  della  perdita  del  regno,  non  lo  negheranno 
li  nemici  proprii,  havendo  Sa  S^^  consultato  e 
rosoluto  in  concistoro  due  o  tre  di  inanzi  I'en- 
trata  di  Colonnesi  in  Roma;  ne  credo  che  sia 
alcuno  si  grosso  che  pensi  si  volessi  fare  quel 
tutto  di  gratia  coll'  imperatore  prevedendo 
forse  quella  tempesta,  perche  non  era  tale  che 
ee  si  fussi  luivuto  tre  liore  di  tempo  a  saperlo, 
non  die  tre  di,  non  si  fusse  con  un  minimo 
suono  (sforzo!)  potuto  scacciare. 

Lc  condition!  che  el  padre  generale  di  S. 
Francesco  jiorto  a  N.  Sig'Q  furon  queste :  la 
prima  di  voler  pace  con  »'  Siii,  else  per  caso 
aia  venuta  sua  trovasse  le  cose  di  Sa  S^^  et 
della  chiesa  rovinato,  che  era  contento  si 
riduccssero  luttc  al  pristino  stato  et  in  Italia 
darebbc  pace  ad  ogn'uno,  non  essendo  d'animo 
suo  volere  ne  per  se  ne  per  suo  fratello  per  un 
palino,  anzi  lassar  ogn'  un  in  possesso  di  quello 
in  che  si  trovava  tanto  tempo  fa  :  la  differentia 
del  duca  di  Alilano  si  vedessi  in  jure  da  giu- 


dici  da  deputarsi  per  S^  St^  et  Sa  S^^,  et  ve- 
nendo  da  assolversi  si  restituisse,  dovendo 
esser  condennato  si  dessi  a  Borbone,  et  Pran- 
cia  sarebbe  contento  far  I'accordo  a  danari, 
cosa  che  non  haveva  voluto  far  fin  qui,  et  la 
somnia  nominava  la  medesima  che'l  christian- 
issimo  haveva  mandate  a  offerire  cioe  due 
millioni  d'oro:  le  quali  conditioni  N.  Sig""" 
accetto  subito  secondo  che  il  generale  ne  puo 
far  testimonio,  et  le  sottoscrisse  di  sua  mano, 
ma  non  furono  gia  approvate  per  gli  altri,  li 
quali  V.  S.  sa  quanto  gravi  et  insoportabili 
petitioni  gli  aggiunsero.  Mora  non  essendo 
da  presumere  se  non  che  la  M''^  Cesarea  di- 
cesse  da  dovero  et  con  quella  sincerita  che 
conviene  a  tanto  prencipe,  et  vedendosi  per 
queste  propositioni  et  ambasciate  sue  cosi 
moderate  animo  et  inolto  benigno  verso  N. 
Sigre,  in  tanto  che  la  M^^  sua  non  sapeva 
qual  fussi  quello  di  S^^  S'^^  in  verso  se  et  che 
si  stimava  I'armi  sue  essere  cosi  poteiitissime 
in  Italia  per  li  lanzichineche  et  per  I'armata 
mandata  che  in  ogni  cosa  havessi  ceduto,  non 
e  da  stimare  se  non  che  quando  sara,  informato 
die  se  la  M^'^  sua  mando  a  mostrar  buon  animo 
non  fu  trovato  interiore  quel  di  N.  Sig'e,  et 
che  alle  forze  sue  era  tal  resistentia  che  S* 
Santita  piu  tosto  fece  beneficio  a  S^  M^'^  in 
depor  I'armi,  che  lo  ricevessi,  come  ho  detto 
di  sopra  et  e  chiarissimo,  et  che  tutte  la  rovi- 
na seguita  sta  sopra  la  fede  et  nome  di  sua 
Mi^,  nella  quale  N.  Sig^e  si  e  confiualo,  vorra 
non  solamente  esser  simile  a  se,  quando  an- 
dera  sua  sponte  a  desiderar  bene,  et  offerirsi 
parato  rilarne  a  N.  Sig''e  et  alia  chiesa,  ma 
ancora  aggiunger  tanto  piu  a  quella  naturale 
disposition  sua  quanto  ricerca  il  volere  evitare 
questo  carico  et  d'ignominioso,  che  (non) 
sarebbe  per  essere  (dal)  passarsene  di  leg- 
giero,  voltarlo  in  gloria  perpetua,  facendola 
tanto  piu  chiara  et  stabile  per  se  medesima 
quanto  altri  hanno  cercato  come  suoi  ministri 
deprimerla  et  oscurarla.  Et  gli  effetti  che 
bisognerebbe  tar  per  questo  tanto  privatamente 
verso  la  chiesa  et  restauration  sua  quanto  i 
beneficii  che  scancellassero  le  rovine  in  Italia 
et  tutta  la  christianita,  estimando  piu  essere 
imperatore  per  pacihcarla  che  qualsivoglia 
altro  emolumento,  sara  molto  facile  a  trovarli, 
purche  la  disposilione  et  giudicio  di  volere  et 
conoscere  il  vero  bene  dove  consiste  vi  sia. 

Per  non  entrare  in  le  cause  per  le  quali 
fummo  costretti  a  pigliar  I'armi,  per  essere 
cosa  che  ricercarebbe  piu  tempo,  si  verra 
solamente  a  dire  che  non  le  pigliammo  mai 
per  odio  o  mala  volunta  che  havessimo  contra 
i'lmperatore,  o  per  ambitione  di  far  piu  grande 
lo  stato  nostro  o  d'alcuno  de  nostri,  ma  solo 
per  necessita  nella  quale  ci  pareva  che  fusse 
posta  la  liberta  et  stato  nostro  et  delli  com- 
inuni  stati  d'ltalia,  et  per  far  constare  a  tutto 
il  mondo  el  all'  imperatore  che  se  si  cercava 
d'opprimerci,  noi  non  potevama  ne  dovevamo 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUxNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


417 


comportarlo  senza  far  ognisforzo  di  difenderci, 
in  tanto  che  sua  M''^,  se  haveva  quell'  animo 
del  quale  mai  dubitavamo,  intendosse  che  le 
cose  non  erano  per  riuscirli  cosi  facilmente 
come  altri  forse  gli  haveva  dato  ad  intendere, 
overo  se  noi  ci  fussimo  gabbati  in  questa  oppi- 
nione  che  Si*  M^'^  intendessi  a  farci  male,  et 
questi  sospetti  ci  fusser  nati  piu  per  modi  dei 
ministri  che  altro,  facendosi  S.  M^^  Cesarea 
intendere  esser  cosi  da  dovero,  si  venisse  a 
una  buona  pace  et  amicitia  non  solo  tra  noi 
particularmente  et  S.  M'^,  ma  in  compagnia 
degli  altri  prencipi  o  sig""'  con  li  quali  erava- 
mo  colligati  non  per  altro  efFetto  che  sola- 
inente  per  difenderci  dalla  villania  che  ci 
fusse  fatta  o  per  venir  con  conditioni  honeste 
et  ragionevoli  a  mettere  un'  altra  volta  pace 
infra  la  misera  christianita  :  et  se  quando  Don 
Ugo  venne  S.  M^^^  ci  havesse  mandato  quelle 
resolution!  le  quali  honestissimamente  ci  pa- 
revan  necessarie  per  venir  a  questo,  ci  have- 
rebbe  N.  Sig''"  Iddio  fatto  la  piu  felice  gratia 
che  si  potessi  pensare,  che  in  un  medesimo  di 
quasi  che  si  presero  I'armi  si  sarebbon  deposte. 
Et  che  sia  vero  quel  che  diciamo  che  habbiamo 
havuto  sempre  in  animo,  ne  puo  far  testimo- 
nio  la  disporiitione  in  che  ci  trovo  il  generale 
di  S.  Francisco,  con  el  quale  communciando 
noi  hora  e  un'  anno,  che  era  qui  per  andare 
in  Spagna,  le  cause  perche  noi  et  gli  altri 
d'ltalia  havevamo  da  star  mal  contenti  dell' 
imperatore,  et  dandogli  carico  che  da  nostra 
parte  I'esponesse  tutle  a  quella,  con  farli  in- 
tendere che  se  voleva  attendere  ai  consigli  et 
preghiere  nostre,  le  quali  tutte  tendevano  a 
laude  et  servitio  di  dio  et  beneficio  cosi  suo 
come  nostro,  ci  troverebbe  sempre  di  quella 
amorevolezza  che  ci  haveva  provato  per  inan- 
zi,  et  essendosi  di  la  alquanii  mesi  rimanda- 
toci  il  detto  generale  da  S.  M'^  con  rispon- 
derci  humanissimamente  che  era  contenta, 
per  usar  delle  sue  parole,  accettar  per  coman- 
damento  quello  che  noi  gli  havevamo,  man- 
dato a  consigliare  :  et  per  dar  certezza  di  cio, 
portava  tra  I'altre  risolutioni  d'esser  coutento 
di  render  li  figliuoli  del  christianissimo  con 
quel  riscatto  et  taglia  che  gli  era  stata  offerta 
da  S.  M''^,  cosa  che  sin  qui  non  haveva  voluto 
mai  fare :  oltre  che  prometteva  che  se  tutta 
Italia  per  un  mode  di  dire  a  quell'  hora  che'l 
generale  arrivassi  a  Roma,  fussi  in  suo  potere, 
era  contenta,  per  far  buggiardo  chi  I'havesso 
voluto  calunniare  che  la  volessi  occupare,  di 
restituir  tutto  nel  suo  pristino  state  et  mostrar 
che  in  essa  ne  per  se  ne  per  il  ser"'°  suo  fra- 
tello  non  ci  voleva  un  palmo  di  piu  di  quello 
che  era  solito  di  possidervi  anticamenle  la 
corona  di  Spagna :  et  perche  le  parole  s'ac- 
compagnasser  con  i  fatti,  portava  di  cio  am- 
plissuno  mandato  in  sua  persona  da  poter 
risolvo  tutto  o  con  Don  Ugo  o  con  el  vicere, 
se  al  tempo  che  ci  capitava,  in  Italia  fussi 
arrivato.  Quanto  qui  fussi  il  nostro  contento, 
non  si  potrebbe  esprimere,  e  ci  pareva  un' 
53 


hora  mill'  anni  venire  all'  effetto  di  qualche 
sorte  d'accordo  generale  di  posar  I'arme.  Et 
sopragiungendo  quasi  in  un  medesimo  tempo 
il  vicere  et  mandandoci  da  San  Steffano,  dove 
prima  prese  porto  in  questo  mare,  per  el  co- 
mandante  Pignalosa  a  dire  le  miglio  parole 
del  mondo  et  niente  differenti  da  quanto  ci 
haveva  detto  el  generale,  rendemmo  gratie  a 
iddio  che  il  piacere  che  havevamo  preso  per 
I'ambasciata  del  generale  non  fusse  per  ha- 
vere  dubbio  alcuno,  essendoci  confermato  il 
medesimo  per  il  signor  vicere,  il  quale  in 
farci  intendere  le  commissioni  dell'  impera- 
tore ci  confortava  in  tutto,  et  pur  ci  mandava 
certificare  che  nessuno  potrebbe  trovarsi  con 
migliore  volunta  di  mettersi  ad  eseguirle. 
Hora  qualmente  ne  succedesse  il  contrario, 
non  bisogna  durare  molta  fatica  in  dirlo,  non 
essendo  alcun  che  non  sappia  le  durissime, 
insoportabili  et  ignominiose  conditione  che  ne 
furono  dimandate  da  parte  del  vicere,  non  ha- 
vendo  noi  posta  dimora  alcuna  in  mandarlo  a 
pregare  che  non  si  tardasse  a  venire  alia  con- 
ditione di  tanto  bene.  Et  dove  noi  pensavamo 
ancora  trovar  meglio  di  quel  che  ne  era  stato 
detto,  essendo  I'usanzadi  farsi  sempre  riservo 
delle  migliori  cose  per  farle  gustare  piu  gra- 
tamente,  non  solo  ci  riusci  di  non  trovare 
niente  del  proposto,  ma  tutto  il  contrario,  et 
prima :  non  havere  fede  alcuna  in  noi,  come 
se  nessuno  in  verita  possa  produrre  testimonio 
in  contrario,  et  per  sicurta  domandarci  la 
migliore  et  piu  importante  parte  dello  stato 
nostro  et  della  S^^^  di  Fiorenza,  dipoi  somma 
di  denari  insoportabile  a  chi  havesse  havuto  i 
monti  d'oro,  non  che  a  noi,  che  ogn'uno  sapeva 
che  non  havevamo  un  carlino ;  volere  che  con 
tanta  ignominia  nostra,  anzi  piu  dell'  impera- 
tore, restituissimo  coloro  che  contra  ogni  debito 
humane  et  divino,  con  tanta  tradizione,  ven- 
nero  ad  assalire  la  persona  di  N.  Signore, 
saccheggiare  la  chiesa  di  San  Pietro,  il  sacro 
palazzo;  stringerne  senza  un  minimo  rispetto 
a  volere  che  ci  obbligassimo  strettamente  di 
piu  alia  M^^  Cesarea,  sapendo  tutto  il  mondo 
quanto  desiderio  ne  mostrammo  nel  tempo  che 
eravamo  nel  piu  florido  stato  che  fussimo  mai, 
et,  per  non  dire  tutti  gli  altri  particular!,  vo- 
lere che  soli  facessimo  accordo,  non  lo  potendo 
noi  fare,  se  volevamo  piu  facilmente  condurre 
a  fine  la  pace  universale  per  la  quale  voleva- 
mo dare  questo  principio.  Et  cosi  non  si  po- 
tendo il  vicere  rimuoversi  da  queste  sue 
dimande  tanto  insoportabili  et  venendo  senza 
niuna  causa  ad  invader  lo  stato  nostro,  haven- 
do  noi  in  ogni  tempo  et  quel  pochi  mesi  inanzi 
lasciato  stare  quello  dell'  imperatore  nel  regno 
di  Napoli,  accadde  la  venuta  di  Cesare  Fiera- 
mosca:  il  quale  trovando  il  vicere  gia  nello 
stato  della  chiesa,  credemmo  che  portasse  tali 
commissioni  da  parte  dell'  imperatore  a  S. 
Sria  che  se  si  fossero  eseguite,  non  si  sareb- 
bero  condotte  le  cose  in  questi  termini.  Et 
mentre  S.  S'^^  volse  fare  due  cose  assai  con- 


418 


APPENDIX. 


trarie  insieme,  una  mostrare  di  non  haver 
fatto  male  ad  esser  venuto  tanto  inanzi  overo 
non  perdere  le  occasion!  che  gli  pareva  ha- 
vere  di  guadagnare  il  tutto,  Taltra  di  obbedire 
alii  comandamenti  dell'  imperatore,  quali 
erano  che  in  oa:ni  inodo  si  tacesse  accordo, 
non  successe  all'  hora  ne  I'lino  ne  I'altro : — 
perche  S.  S^'a  si  trovo  gabbata,  che  non  po- 
tette  fare  quello  che  si  pensava,  et  tornando 
il  signor  Cesare  con  patti  di  far  tregua  per 
otto  di,  fintanto  che  venisse  risposta  se  la 
Sigria  di  Venetia  vi  voleva  entrare,  quando 
arrive  in  campo,  trovo  gli  eserciti  alle  mani 
et  non  si  ando  per  all'  hora  piu  inanzi :  salvo 
che  non  ostante  questo  siiccesso  et  conoscendo 
certo  che  stassimo  sicurissimi  in  Lombardia  et 
in  Toscana  per  le  buone  provisioni  et  infinita 
gente  di  guerra  che  vi  era  di  tutta  la  lega,  et 
che  le  cose  del  reame  non  havessero  rimedio 
alcuno  come  I'esperientia  Thaveva  comiuciato 
a  dnnostrave,  mai  deponemmo  dall'  animo 
nostro  il  desiderio  et  procuratione  delia  pace. 
Et  in  esser  successe  le  cose  cosi  bene  verso 
noi,  non  havevamo  altro  contento  se  non  poter 
mostrare  che  se  desideravamo  pace,  era  per  vero 
giudicio  et  buona  volunta  nostra  et  non  per 
necessita,  et  per  mostrare  all'  imperatore  che, 
Be  comando  con  buono  animo,  come  crediamo, 
al  padre  generale  che  ancorche  tutto  fusse 
preso  a  sua  devotione  si  restituisse,  che  quel 
che  ella  si  imaginava  di  fare  quando  il  caso 
havesse  portato  di  esserlo,  noi  essendo  cosi  in 
fatto  lo  volevamo  eseguire.  A  questo  nostro 
desiderio  ci  aggiunseroun  ardore  estremo  piu 
lettere  scritte  di  mano  dell'  imperatore,  tra 
I'altre  due  che  in  ultimo  havemmo  da  Cesare 
Fioramosca  et  da  Paolo  di  Arezzo  nostro  ser- 
vitore,  le  quali  sono  di  tal  tenore  che  non  ci 
pareria  havere  mai  errato  se  in  fede  di  quelle 
lettere  sole  non  solo  havessimo  posto  tutto  il 
mondo  ma  I'anima  propria  hi  manodi  S.  M^^: 
tanto  ci  scongiura  che  voglianio  dar  credito 
alle  parole  che  ne  dice,  et  tutte  esse  parole 
sono  piene  di  quella  satisfattione  di  quelle 
promesse  et  queli'  ajuto  che  noi  a  noi  non  lo 
desideravamo  migliore.  Et  come  in  trattare 
la  pace,  finche  non  eravamo  sicuri  che  corris- 
pondenza  s'era  per  havere,  non  si  rimetteva 
niente  delle  provisioni  della  guerra,  cosi  ci 
sforzavamo  chiarirci  bene  essendo  due  capi  in 
Italia,  Borbone  et  il  signore  vicere,  s'era  bi- 
sogno  trattare  con  un  solo  et  quello  sarebbe 
rato  per  tutti,  overo  con  tutti,  due  particular- 
mente :  accioche  se  ci  fusse  avenuto  quel  che 
c,  la  colpa  che  c  data  d'altra  sorte  ad  altri, 
non  fusse  stata  a  noi  di  poca  prudentia ;  et 
havendo  trovato  che  questa  faculta  di  contrat- 
tare  era  solo  nel  vicere,  ce  ne  volemmo  molto 
ben  chiarire  et  non  tanto  che  fussi  cosi  come 
in  eft'etto  il  generale,  il  signor  Cesare,  il 
vicere  proprio,  Paulo  d'Arezzo  et  Borbone  ne 
dicevono,  ma  intender  daJ  detto  Borbone  non 
una  volta  ma  inille  et  da  diverse  persone  se 
I'era  per  obbedirlo,  et  proposto  di  voler  fare 


accordo  particularmente  con  lui  et  recusando 
et  affermando,  che  a  quanto  appuntarebbe  el 
vicere  non  farebbe  replica  alcuna.  Hora  fu 
facil  cosa  et  sara  sempre  ad  ogn'uno  adom- 
brar  con  specie  di  virtii  un  suo  disegno,  et  non 
lo  potendo  condurre  virtuosamente  ne  all' 
aperta,  tirarlo  con  fallacia,  come — venghi 
donde  si  voglia,  ci  par  esser  a  termine  che  non 
sappiamo  indovinar  donde  procedeva — ci  par 
che  si  sia  state  fatto  a  noi,  li  quali  si  vede  che 
tutte  le  diligentie  che  si  possono  usare  di  non 
esser  gabbati,  sono  state  usate  per  noi,  et  tanto 
che  qualche  volta  ci  pareva  d'  esser  superstitiosi 
et  di  meritarne  reprehensione  :  perche  haven- 
do  el  testimonio,  et  di  lettere  et  di  bocca  dell' 
imperatore,  del  buon  animo  sue  et  che  Borbone 
obbedirebbe  al  vicere,  et  a  cautela  dando  S. 
M^^  lettere  nuove  a  Paulo  sopra  questa  obbe* 
dientia  al  vicere  dirette  a  esso  Borbone,  et 
facendosi  el  trattato  con  el  poter  si  ampio  di 
S.  JVP*^  che  doveva  bastare,  et  havendo  Bor- 
bone mostrato  di  remettersi  in  tutto  nel  vicere, 
et  contentandosi  poi  esso  di  venire  in  poter 
nostro,  fu  una  facilta  tanto  grande  a  tirarci 
alio  stato  ove  siamo  che  non  sappiamo  gia  che 
modo  si  potra  piu  trovare  al  mondo  di  credere 
alia  semplice  fede  d'un  private  gentil  huome, 
essendovi  qui  intervenute  molte  cose  e  riuscito 
a  questo  modo.  Et  per  non  cercare  altro  che 
fare  i  fatti  proprii,  era  molto  piu  lecito  et  facile 
a  noi,  senza  incorrer  non  solo  in  infamia  di  non 
servator  di  fede  ma  ne  anche  d'altro,  usar  dell' 
occasione  che  la  fortuna  ci  haveva  portato  di 
starsi  sicurissimo  in  Lombardia  come  si  stava 
che  mai  veniva  Borbone  inanzi,  se  I'esercito 
della  lega  non  si  fusse  raffreddato  per  la  stretta 
prattica  anzi  conclusion  della  pace,  et  valuto 
di  quella  commodita  seguitar  la  guerra  del 
reame  et  da  due  o  tre  fortezze  in  poi  levarlo 
tutto,  e  di  poi  andare  appresso  in  altri  luoghi, 
dove  si  fosse  potuto  far  danno  et  vergogna  all' 
imperatore,  et  stando  noi  saldi  in  campagnia 
dei  confederati  rendre  tutti  li  disegni  suoi  piu 
difficili.  Ma  parendoci  che  el  servitie  di  die 
et  la  niLsera  christianita  ricercasse  pace,  ci 
proponemmo  a  deporre  ogni  grande  acquisto 
o  vittoria  che  fussimo  stati  per  havere,  et  offen- 
der tutti  li  prencipi  christiani  et  Italiani,  senza 
saper  quodammodo  che  haver  in  mano,  ma 
assai  pensavamo  d'havere  se  I'animo  dell'  im- 
peratore era  tale  come  S.  M^'^  con  tante  evi- 
dentie  si  stbrzava  darci  ad  intendere.  Et  molto 
poco  stimavamo  I'oflfensione  degli  altri  pren- 
cipi christiani,  li  quali  di  li  a  molto  poco  ci 
sarebber  restati  molto  obligati  se  si  fusse  seg- 
uito  quello  che  tanto  amplamente  S.  M'-^  ci  ha 
con  argument!  replicate,  che  sarebbe,  accor- 
dandosi  noi  sece,  per  rimettere  in  nostra  mano 
la  conclusion  della  pace  etassenso  con  1!  pren- 
cipi christiani.  Et  se  alcuno  volesse  pensare 
che  fussimo  andati  con  altro  objetto,  cestui 
conoscendoci  non  puo  piu  mostrare  in  cosa  al- 
cuna malignita  sua:  non  ci  conoscendo  et 
facendo  diligentia  di  sapere  le  attioni  della  vita 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


419 


nostra,  Iroverii  che  e  molto  consentiente  che 
noi  non  habbiamo  iriai  desiderato  se  non  bene 
et  operate  virtuosamente  et  a  quel  fine  post- 
posto  onrni  altro  interesse.  Et  se  hora  ce  n'e 
successo  male,  ricevendo  di  mano  di  N.  Sign's 
Dio  quanto  g'iiistamente  gVi  place  con  og'ni  hu- 
milta,  non  e  che  dagli  huomini  non  riceviamo 
gfrandissimo  torto  et  da  quelli  massime  che,  se 
ben  fino  a  un  certo  termine  posson  coprirsi 
con  la  forza  et  con  la  disobbedienza  d'  altri — 
benche  qiiando  s'havesse  a  disciitere,  si  trova- 
rebbe  da  dire  assai — liora  et  un  pezzo  fa  et  per 
honor  loro  et  per  quel  che  sono  obbligati  secondo 
dio  et  secondo  il  mondo  si  potrebber  portare 
altrimenti  di  quel  che  fanno.  Noi  siamo  en- 
trati  nel  trattato  poi  fatto  a  Fiorenza  con  quelli 
di  Borbone  per  mano  del  sign's  vicere  et  dipoi 
non  osservato,  perche  non  vogliamo  parer 
d'haver  tolto  assuntodi  fare  il  male  contra  chi 
e  stato  causa  di  trattarci  cosi,  li  quali  dio  giu- 
dichi  con  el  suo  giusto  giudicio  ;  doppo  la  mi- 
sericordia  del  quale  verso  di  noi  et  della  sua 
chiesa  non  superiamo  in  altro  che  nella  reli- 
gione,  fede  et  viru  dell'  imperatore,  che  essen- 
doci  noi  condotti  dove  siamo  per  I'opinione  che 
havevamo  di  esso,  con  el  frutto  che  s'aspetta  a 
tal  parte  ci  ritragga  et  ponga  tanto  piu  alto 
quanto  siamo  in  basso.  Dalla  cui  M^'^  aspet- 
tiamo  della  ignominia  et  danni  patiti  infinita- 
mente  quella  satisfattione  che  S.  M"-^  ci  puo 
dare  eguale  alia  grandezza  sua  et  al  debito,  se 
alcuna  se  ne  potesse  mai  trovare  al  mondo  che 
bastasse  alia  minima  parte.  Non  entraremo 
esprimendo  i  particolari  a  torre  la  gratia  dei 
concetti,  che  doviam  sperare  che  havra  et  che 
ci  mandera  a  proporre :  diciamo  che  metten- 
doci  al  piu  basso  grade  di  quel  che  si  possi 
domandare  et  che  e  per  esser  piu  presto  ver- 
gogna  a  S.  M^^  a  non  conceder  piuet  a  noi  a 
non  domandare  che  parer  duro  a  farlo,  che  da 
S.  M'^  dovrebber  venire  queste  provision! : 

"  Che  la  persona  nostra,  el  sacro  colleggio 
et  la  cort,e  dello  stale  tutto  temporale  et  spiri- 
tuale  siamo  restituiti  in  quel  grade  ch'era 
quando  furon  fatte  I'indutie  col  sig^  vicere,  et 
non  ci  gravare  a  pagare  un  denaro  dell'  obbli- 
gato. 

"  Et  se  alcuno  sentendo  questo  si  burlera  di 
noi,  rispondiarao  che  se  le  cose  di  sopra  son 
vere,  et  si  maraviglia  che  ci  acquietiamo  di 
questo,  ha  gran  raggione  ;  ma  se  gli  paresse 
da  dovero  strano,  consideri  con  che  bonta  lo 
giudica  o  verso  Cesare  o  verso  noi :  se  verso 
Cesare,  consideri  bene  che  ogni  volta  che 
non  si  promette  di  S.  M^^  e  questo  e  molto 
piu,  che  lo  fa  gia  partecipe  di  tutto  quel  male 
che  qui  e  passato :  ma  se  verso  noi,  diciamo 
che  iniquamente  ci  vuole  detrarre  quelle  che 
nessune  mai  ardirebbe  di  far  buonarnente.  Ne 
si  deve  guardare  che  siamo  qui,  ma  si  bene 
come  ci  siamo,  et  che  e  pur  meglio  far  con 
virtii  et  giudicio  quelle  che  finalmente  el 
tempo  in  ogni  modo  ha  da  portare,  se  non  in 
vita  nostra,  in  quella  d'altri." 


[Most  illustrious  and  most  reverend  signor, 
Seeing  the  difficulty  of  the  province  which 
has  fallen  to  your  lot.,  the  vastnessef  which  is 
well  known  to  you,  and  considering  the  utmost 
extreme  of  misery  in  which  we  stand,  I  think 
it  cannot  but  prove  seme  alleviation  of  the 
former,  to  possess  whatever  information  can  be 
afibrded  respecting  all  the  transactions  that 
have  passed  between  our  lord  the  pope  and  his 
imperial  majesty ;  and  of  the  latter  to  know 
that  you,  most  reverend  sir,  are  about  to  visit 
a  monarch  en  whom  his  holiness  and  his 
house  have  more  claims  of  gratitude  than  any 
other  house  that  can  be  named,  whether  of 
past  or  present  times :  and  if  some  cause  of 
ottence  has  arisen  within  this  last  year,  it  has 
not  sprung  either  from  any  falling  ofi'  on  the 
part  of  his  holiness  from  his  accustomed  good- 
will and  love  towards  his  imperial  majesty,  or 
from  any  special  designs  for  the  aggrandize- 
ment of  his  own  retainers  or  ethers,  or  with  a 
view  to  impair  the  reputation  or  the  power 
and  dignity  of  his  imperial  majesty  ;  but  solely 
from  the  necessity  of  not  submitting  to  be 
oppressed  by  those  in  power  and  authority  in 
Italy,  and  from  the  manifold  proofs  his  holiness 
had  acquired,  through  nuncios,  letters,  envoys, 
and  legates,  that  no  remedy  could  possibly  be 
found. 

[From  the  time  when  his  holiness  first  began 
to  be  able  to  serve  the  crown  of  Spain  and  his 
imperial  majesty's  house,  which  was  from  the 
beginning  of  the  pontificate  of  his  brother  Leo 
of  holy  memory, — his  great  influence  with 
whom  every  one  knows,  and  his  imperial  ma- 
jesty has  proved  by  experience, — his  holiness 
was  always  so  zealously  subservient  to  the 
Spanish  and  imperial  interests,  that  no  one 
advantage,  favour,  or  gratification  can  be 
named,  which  those  interests  ever  enjoyed  at 
the  hands  of  Leo  of  holy  memory,  or  of  the 
church,  wherein  our  lord  the  pope,  being  in 
minoribus,  was  not,  I  will  not  say  merely  not 
adverse  or  consenting,  but  even  the  origina- 
tor, the  director,  and  manager  of  the  whole. 
And  to  mention  only  those  things  which  are 
of  superior  importance  : — the  league  which 
was  effected  in  the  second  and  third  years  of 
the  reign  of  Lee  of  holy  memory,  to  oppose  the 
first  descent  made  by  the  most  Christian  king 
of  France,  passed  entirely  through  the  hands  of 
his  holiness,  who  went  in  person,  as  legate, 
and  met  the  other  parties.  Measures  after 
this  turning  out  differently  from  what  had  been 
expected,  and  pope  Leo  being  compelled  to 
make  what  terms  he  could  with  the  most 
Christian  king,  cardinal  de  Medici  took  that 
care  to  keep  the  pope  in  the  interest  of  Spain,  to 
which  all  who  were  present  at  the  time  can 
bear  testimony ;  and  he  exerted  all  the  weight 
he  possessed  with  the  pope  his  brother,  to  the 
end  that  the  most  Christian  king's  wish  and 
extreme  desire  to  follow  up  his  victory,  and  to 
enter  the  kingdom  with  so  great  an  army,  and 


420 


APPENDIX. 


under  such  favourable  auspices,  should  be 
bridled  now  by  one  excuse,  now  by  another : 
whereof  one  was,  that  the  Catholic  king-  being 
old,  and  by  reason  of  his  ill  iiealth  now  near 
the  close  of  his  years,  his  majesty  should  wait 
the  opportunity  of  his  death,  at  which  time  the 
enterprise  would  succeed  without  any  diffi- 
culty. And  the  death  of  the  Catholic  king- 
taking  place  very  speedily  after  these  sug-ges- 
tions, — within  less  than  a  month  I  believe, — 
what  skill  and  pains  were  necessary  to  repress 
the  great  ardour  with  which  the  event  inspir- 
ed the  most  Christian  king,  would  be  testified 
by  the  letters  written  by  his  majesty's  own 
hand,  if  the  soldiers,  who  have  pillaged  with 
other  things  all  the  pope's  papers,  would  either 
return  tliem  or  send  them  to  the  emperor. 
And  all  these  things,  with  many  others,  which 
all  tended  to  put  on  a  quiet  and  stable  basis  the 
hereditary  succession  of  the  individual  now 
emperor,  and  to  secure  him  the  magistracies 
of  Spain,  even  in  the  lifetime  of  his  grand- 
father,— all  these  cardinal  de  Medici  did,  not 
for  any  private  advantage  of  his  own,  but  even 
in  direct  opposition  to  his  own  interests ;  he 
not  having  any  income  of  consequence  save 
what  he  derived  from  the  realm  of  France, 
and  never  seeking  any  equivalent  in  that  of 
of  Spain. 

[The  emperor  Maximilian  died,  and  Leo 
being  inclhied  to  favour  the  pretensions  of  the 
most  Christian  king  to  the  imperial  dignity, 
and  being  hostile  to  those  of  his  present  impe- 
rial majesty,  before  the  election  took  place 
cardinal  de  Medici  induced  the  pope  not  to 
oppose  the  present  emperor;  and  after  the 
election  was  over  he  prevailed  on  him  to  sanc- 
tion it,  and  to  absolve  the  emperor  from  simony 
and  from  perjury,  in  so  far  as  being  king  of 
Naples  he  could  not,  in  accordance  with  the 
papal  constitutions,  seek  to  become  emperor  ; 
and  he  made  the  pope  re-invest  his  imperial 
majesty  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  In  all 
this — if  the  great  affection  entertained  by  the 
cardinal  de  Medici,  and  the  opinion  he  had 
conceived  of  the  goodness,  prudence,  and  piety 
of  his  majesty,  did  not  excuse  him,— I  know 
not  which  was  the  greater,  the  service  he  may 
openly  declare  himself  to  have  most  largely 
rendered  to  his  imperial  majesty,  or  the  ill 
service  done  to  his  own  brother,  that  is,  to  the 
pope  and  the  church,  in  thus  favouring  and 
fostering  a  power  so  great,  and  one  which  gave 
reason  to  apprehend  that  one  day  the  swollen 
river  migiit  burst  forth  with  such  a  torrent  of 
devastation  and  outrage  as  hath  now  occurred 
But  the  cardinal  seeing  those  two  powers  of 
Spain  and  France  divided  in  such  sort,  that  un- 
less the  one  were  equipoised  against  the  other, 
peace  was  hardly  to  be  e-xpeetcd,  his  first  care 
was  so  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  king  of 
Spain,  that  being  on  an  equality  with  the  most 
Christian  king,  he  should  scruple  to  engage  in 
war ;  and   that   if  unfortunately  that   event 


could  not  be  prevented,  from  the  prevalence 
of  a  desire  to  make  the  king  of  Spain  superior 
to  the  most  Christian,  Spain  should  be  so  firm 
and  vigorous,  that,  in  case  of  attack,  it  might 
hope  for  a  prosperous  result  and  certain  vic- 
tory. And  this  at  least — if  perad venture  the 
matters  above-named  demand  more  palpa- 
ble evidence — this  at  least  he  proved  other- 
wise than  by  mere  words.  Bear  witness  the 
league  concluded  with  the  emperor  against 
France,  whilst  so  different  were  the  advan- 
tages offered  by  the  respective  sides,  that  not 
only  Leo  ought  not  to  have  allied  himself  with 
the  emperor,  being  free  to  choose  the  side 
most  for  his  own  interest,  but  even  had  he 
been  allied  with  him  he  should  have  used 
every  effort  to  break  off"  the  connexion.  And 
to  show  briefly  that  all  things  were  actually 
as  I  have  stated,  at  tlie  time  Leo  concluded 
his  alliance  with  the  emperor,  the  latter  was 
destitute  of  all  influence,  force,  friends,  and 
reputation  :  he  had  wholly  lost  the  allegiance 
of  Spain  through  the  rebellion  of  all  the  pro- 
vinces :  he  had  retired  from  the  diet  held  by 
his  majesty  in  Worms,  disappointed  of  all  his 
hopes  of  aid  and  service  from  the  same  :*  war 
had  already  broken  out  in  his  dominions  in  two 
quarters, — in  Flanders  through  Robert  de  la 
Marc,  and  in  Navarre,  which  kingdom  was 
already  wholly  lost  and  reduced  under  the 
sway  of  the  king  favoured  by  the  French  :-|- 
the  Swiss  had  shortly  before  entered  into  a 
fresh  alliance  with  the  most  Christian  king, 
and  bound  themselves  by  a  new  stipulation  to 
the  defence  of  Milan,  which  was  in  the  king's 
possession, — a  thing  they  had  never  before 
consented  to  do :  and  the  most  serene  king  of 
England,  on  whom  the  emperor  counted,  per- 
haps in  consideration  of  the  relationship  be- 
tween them  and  the  national  enmity  of  Eng- 
land to  France,  showed  a  disposition  to  look 
on  inactively  ;  and  so  he  actually  did,  not  stir- 
ring to  afford  the  slightest  assistance  to  the 
emperor,  however  pressing  his  need,  and  how- 
ever urgent  his  entreaties,  till  after  the  death 
of  Leo.  The  most  Christian  king,  on  the  other 
hand,  in  addition  to  his  vast  united  resources, 
his  prompt  union  with  the  most  illustrious 
signory,  and  his  new  alliance  with  the  Swiss, 
was  the  more  powerful  in  proportion  as  his 
strength  was  absolutely  and  relatively  aug- 
mented by  the  numerous  and  infinite  perplexi- 
ties in  which,  I  repeat,  the  emperor  was  invol- 
ved. The  hopes  and  promises  of  advantage, 
and  reward  from  the  success  of  the  respective 
sides  were  very  different :  the  most  Christian 
king  was  willing  at  once  to  bestow  Ferrara 
on  the  church  before  his  majesty  engaged  in 


*  Manifestly  incorrect.  Succour  was  voted  the  empo- 
ror  at  Worms  to  the  extent  of  20,000  infantry  and  4000 
cavalry. 

f  A  chronological  error.  The  treaty  with  the  emperor 
was  ratified  on'the  Sth  of  May  :  Du  Mont,  IV.  iii.  07.  Il 
was  not  till  the  20th  the  French  arrived  at  Fampeluna: 
Garebay,  xxx.  523. 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUIVCIL  OF  TRENT. 


421 


any  other  enterprize;  and  on  arcquirinq-  tlie 
kingdom  of  Naples  his  most  Christian  ma  jesty 
(not  going  into  particulars)  offered  such  ad- 
vantat^es  to  the  church  in  every  respect,  that 
it  could  not  have  been  more  to  its  profit  and 
security,  had  the  whole  kingdon  been  given 
up  to  it ;  whereas,  on  the  other  side,  there 
was  nothing  except  a  proposal  to  place  Milan 
in  Italian  hands,  and  to  recover  Parma  and 
Piacenza  to  the  church  :*  yet,  notwithstand- 
ing all  this — notwithstanding  the  facility  of 
the  enterprize  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the 
other  the  very  disproportionate  danger,  and 
the  vast  disparity  of  the  gains  to  be  derived 
from  either  side, — so  much  did  the  wishes  of 
cardinal  de  Medici  avail  with  tiie  pope,  and 
so  much  was  the  latter  convinced  of  the 
goodness  and  piety  of  his  imperial  majesty, 
that  when  it  was  suggested  that  somewhere 
or  other  visible  evidence  should  be  given  of 
the  truth  of  those  fond  fancies,  he  would  not 
listen  to  any  counsel,  or  go  into  any  inquiry, 
but  cast  himself  with  might  and  main  into 
that  cause  from  which  he  hoped  to  derive 
more  fruits  of  holy  Christian  spirit  than  from 
any  rewards  of  a  temporal  nature  that  might 
have  accrued  to  him  by  other  means.  And 
who  is  there  but  has  seen  and  knows  it  to  be 
true,  that  when  things  at  first  turned  out  con- 
trary to  expectation,  and  when  the  money 
advanced  by  his  imperial  majesty  as  his  first 
contribution  was  spent,  and  the  prospect  of 
procuring  more  looked  ill,  Leo  of  holy  mem- 
ory on  his  part,  and  the  cardinal  de  Medici 
still  more  on  his,  failed  not  to  come  forward 
with  the  means  of  his  country,  and  of  all  his 
friends  and  dependants,  and  finally  with  his 
own  person,  of  which  he  knew  the  importance 
and  the  effect  it  produced  ] 

[At  this  juncture  pope  Leo  died  ;  and  though 
the  cardinal  found  all  the  world  his  enemy, 
because  all  those  he  had  offended  on  the 
French  side  were  arrayed  against  his  tempo- 
ral and  spiritual  fortune  and  dignity  ;  while 
on  the  imperial  side  none  would  help  him, 
and  some  were  against  him,  as  you,  most 
reverend  sir,  and  every  one  well  know :  nev- 
ertheless, neither  the  danger,  nor  the  great 
offers  of  the  one  party,  nor  the  ingratitude  or 
scorns  of  the  other,  ever  availed  to  move  him 
a  jot  from  his  determination,  which  he  thought 
should  be  his  guide,  as  the  mind  of  the  em- 
peror and  the  opinion  conceived  of  his  char- 
acter had  been  his  mark  and  object :  and  as 
he  could  not  imagine  that  the  character  im- 
puted to  his  imperial  majesty  was  the  creation 
of  his  own  mind,  and  the  short  time  did  not 
enable  him  to  take  up  such  a  suspicion,  he 
was  ready  to  endure  every  thing  rather  than 
change  his  conduct  in  the  least  degree.     Ac- 


*  Totally  incorrect.  The  I3th  article  of  tlie  treaty  en- 
gages the  emperor  to  aid  against  Ferrara  :  "  Promiltit  Cesa 
M'ls  omnem  vim,  omnem  potentiani,  ut  ea  (Ferraria)  apo- 
atolicae  sedi  recuperetur." 


cordingly,  just  as  though  matters  had  been 
the  reverse  of  what  they  were,  there  was  no- 
thing to  which  he  more  sedulously  applied 
himself  than  to  the  election  of  a  pope  equally 
desirable  for  his  majesty  and  for  the  church : 
and  every  one  knows  that  the  opinion  amount- 
ed to  all  but  certainty  that  it  would  be  almost 
the  same  thing  whether  Adrian  or  the  empe- 
ror himself  were  made  pope,  and  equally  noto- 
rious is  it  that  no  one  had  a  greater  share  in 
originating  and  carrying  through  this  election 
than  had  cardinal  de  Medici. 

[Now  was  the  time  for  cardinal  de  Medici 
to  make  trial  whether  the  judgment  he  had 
formed  of  his  imperial  majesty  turned  out  to 
be  well  founded  ;  because  up  to  that  time, 
shaded  by  the  patronage  of  Leo  of  holy  mem- 
ory, he  had  not  been  exposed  to  feel  the  dif- 
ference of  fortune,  and  being  wholly  engrossed 
with  his  desire  to  serve  his  majesty,  he  had 
never  thought  of  diverting  his  attention  to 
his  own  or  his  friends'  interests,  nor  was  he 
so  covetous  or  so  importunate  as  to  think  of 
rewards  corresponding  to  his  merits.  Thus 
he  must  be  admitted  to  have  rendered  his  ser- 
vices in  a  perfect  spirit,  and  to  have  well  de- 
served, since  he  had  no  mercenary  object  in 
view,  and  relied  wholly  and  solely  on  the  em- 
peror's discretion  and  liberality.  It  is  true 
that,  whereas  two  years  before,  almost  before 
his  majesty  had  any  idea  of  the  possibility  of 
his  receiving  such  essential  services  from  the 
house  of  Medici,  his  majesty  had  promised  in 
writing,  under  his  own  hand  and  in  other 
ways,  in  reply  to  various  solicitations,  an  estate 
in  the  kingdom  of  Naples  of  six  thousand 
scudi,  and  a  wife  with  a  dowry  of  ten  thou- 
sand scudi  for  one  of  the  nephews  of  pope  Leo 
and  of  the  cardinal;  and  they  never  caring  to 
enter  into  possession  of  the  former,  or  to  effect 
the  latter,  thinking  themselves  fully  secured 
by  his  majesty's  promise  they  held  in  their 
hands  when  pope  Leo  died,  (and  save  which 
promise,  no  token  of  advantage  remained  to 
the  house  of  Medici  to  remind  it  that  it  had  so 
long  had  a  pope  among  its  members,)  the  car- 
dinal did  then,  on  sending  to  present  his  re- 
spects to  the  emperor  and  to  give  an  account 
of  himself  to  his  imperial  majesty,  give  direc- 
tions for  the  carrying  out  of  this  matter,  and 
for  the  ratification  of  the  said  grants  and  privi- 
leges. But  the  event  turned  out  far  differ- 
ently, not  only  from  our  own*  expectation, 
but  from  that  of  every  one  else  :  for,  instead 
of  its  appearing  that  thought  was  given  to 
new  rewards  whereby  might  be  evinced  a 
sense  of  the  services  rendered  his  majesty, 
and  the  house  of  Medici  might  have  the  con- 
solation of  seeing  that  it  had  not  lost  much 
by  the  death  of  pope  Leo,  such  difficulties 
were  thrown  in  the  way,  as  though  the  mat- 


♦  [The  writer  here  slides  into  the  uBe  of  the  iirst  per- 
son.— Translator.] 


422 


APPENDIX. 


ter  in  hand  were  not  the  fulfilment  of  an  en- 
gagement already  fixed,  and  one  very  inade- 
quate to  repay  the  services  for  which  it  was 
contracted.  Disputes  were  raised,  just  as  if 
the  house  of  Medici  were  a  hostile  one,  and 
objections  thrown  out  that  even  in  that  case 
would  have  been  unjustifiable,  because  plight- 
ed faith  and  a  promise  once  made  must  be 
kept  under  all  circumstances.  Replies,  how- 
ever, were  made,  and  the  injustice  done  was 
pointed  out  in  such  sort,  that,  instead  of  a 
hope  being  encouraged  of  having  more,  or  at 
least  the  whole,  of  what  was  promised, — 
namely,  the  value  of  sixteen  thousand  scudi 
(six  from  his  majesty,  and  ten  by  way  of  dow- 
er), the  thing  dwindled  down  to  three  thou- 
sand. Upon  cardinal  de  Medici  being  at  that 
time  fully  informed  of  the  whole  matter,  had 
he  not  been  moved  by  his  devotion  to  his  ma- 
jesty to  persevere,  not  in  accordance  with  the 
above  treatment,  but  as  though  he  had  been 
remunerated  to  satiety,  it  might  be  said  that 
he  had  been  forced  to  do  so,  the  emperor's 
power  being  so  absolute  that  he  could  not  do 
otherwise,  or  because  of  his  (the  cardinal's) 
lack  of  interest  with  other  potentates,  or  be- 
cause of  some  pressing  necessity  of  his  own 
which  made  him  more  ready  to  lend  his  aid 
to  the  emperor  than  to  others.  But  whoever 
will  call  to  mind  the  then  existing  state  of 
things,  which  is  easy  enough,  they  being 
fresh  in  memory,  will  admit  that  the  imperial 
army  and  cause  in  Italy  were  in  extreme 
peril,  by  reason  of  the  accession  of  strength 
the  French  arms  had  received  through  their 
alliance  with  the  most  illustrious  signory ; 
and  furthermore,  that  there  was  no  one  in 
Italy  more  capable,  by  his  position,  friends, 
relations,  dependents,  money,  and  men,  than 
was  cardinal  de  Medici,  to  incline  the  victory 
to  whichever  side  he  pleased.  Stedfast  as 
was  the  cardinal  in  his  attachment  to  the  em- 
peror's cause,  not  only  could  he  not  hope  for 
aid  from  the  imperialists,  in  case  his  downfall 
was  sought,  but  the  latter  would  even  have 
prospered  badly  had  they  not  received  from 
the  cardinal  every  possible  aid,  both  towards 
obtaining  and  towards  maintaining  the  victo- 
ry, he  having  stripped  himself  and  his  coun- 
try bare  to  pay  a  large  levy,  to  enable  the 
army  to  subsist  and  hold  together.*  Whilst 
reckoning  up  all  the  benefits  and  infinite 
meritorious  services  rendered  by  the  cardinal 
de  Medici  and  his  house,  I  would  fain  name 
every  kindly  demonstration,  every  show  of 
gratitude,  evinced  in  return  by  his  imperial 
majesty.  This  I  would  do  both  for  the  sake 
of  truth  and  by  way  of  excusing  such  perse- 
vering devotion  to  his  majesty  never  inter- 
rupted  by  any   accident,  and  defendino-    it 


*  rXhe  style  of  the  original,  which  is  involvod  and 
perplexed  throughout.  Is  here  particularly  un'Tainmaii- 
cal  and  obscure.  The  above  is  the  beat  ^(te.s-.s  the  irans- 
Ulor  can  make  at  the  writer's  meaning.— Translator  ] 


against  the  objections  of  such  as  might  be 
inclined  to  regard  it  rather  as  obstinacy  than 
as  the  result  of  sound  judgment.  But  there 
being  nothing  of  the  kind,  I  cannot  alter  the 
fact,  and  have  nothing  to  say,  except  that,  in 
in  exchange  for  twenty-two  thousand  scudi 
yearly  income  lost  in  France,  his  majesty  ap- 
pointed the  cardinal  a  pension  from  Toledo 
of  ten  thousand  scudi,  part  of  which  is  still 
unpaid.  It  is  true  that,  in  all  the  letters  his 
majesty  wrote  to  his  ministers,  and  ambassa- 
dors, and  captains  in  Italy,  he  made  honoura- 
ble mention  of  the  cardinal,  and  enjoined  them 
to  correspond  wilh  him  and  hold  him  in  great 
esteem,  to  the  extent  of  assuring  him,  that  if 
God  should  dispose  of  Adrian  of  holy  memory, 
they  would  not  think  of  having  any  one  but 
himself  for  pope.  Hence  it  came  to  pass  that, 
in  their  affairs  of  business,  they  all  applied  to 
Florence  and  reported  their  proceedings :  and 
when  questions  of  money  or  of  other  assist- 
ance were  to  be  solved,  there  was  no  one  to 
whom  they  addressed  themselves  with  more 
confidence  than  to  the  cardinal,  strongly  sup- 
porting him  against  the  ill-will  of  pope  Adrian, 
which  he  had  conceived  on  account  of  inju- 
rious information  he  had  got  from  Volterra 
respecting  the  said  cardinal.  With  regard 
to  these  transactions,  without  prejudice  to  the 
good  intentions  the  emperor  may  have  enter- 
tained towards  the  cardinal,  I  must  say  that 
the  emperor  acted  with  consummate  prudence 
in  wishing  to  uphold  a  person  of  so  much 
weight  in  Italy,  one  who,  little  as  had  been 
the  gratitude  shown  him,  had  never  swerved 
a  jot  from  his  wonted  course.  Neither  was 
it  possible,  whether  as  regarded  this  or  the 
other  states,  that  any  change  in  the  existing 
order  of  things  should  have  permitted  his 
majesty  to  reap  such  manifest  advantages  as 
accrued  to  him  in  consequence  of  the  firm 
and  secure  position  of  cardinal  de  Medici  in 
Florence. 

[Adrian  being  dead,  the  cardinal  was  cre- 
ated pope.  And  here,  though  the  ministers 
and  other  dependents  of  the  emperor  had  strict 
orders  given  them,  some  acted  according  to 
their  own  pleasure,  and  some,  who  consented 
at  last  to  support  him,  protested  in  the  very 
first  instance  that  they  would  by  no  means 
have  his  holiness  attribute  what  they  did  to 
the  emperor's  injunctions,  but  simply  to  their 
own  private  feelings.  Nevertheless,  on  be- 
coming pope,  his  holiness  still  continued  to 
be  cardinal  de  Medici,  as  far  as  such  an  union 
of  characters  was  suited  to  the  dignity  to 
which  God  had  raised  him.  And  if,  in  weigh- 
ing these  two  claims, — that  of  his  duty  as 
pope,  and  that  of  his  affection  to  the  emperor, 
— his  holiness  had  not  suffered  the  latter  to 
preponderate,  perhaps  the  world  would  several 
years  ago  have  been  at  peace,  and  we  should 
not  to-day  be  labouring  under  our  present 
calamities.     For,  there  being  at  the  tune  his 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


423 


holiness  was  made  pope  two  strong  armies  in 
Lombardy, — that  of  the  emperor  and  that  of 
the  most  Christian  king, — and  the  former 
labouring  under  numerous  difficulties,  and 
being  unable  to  keep  his  ground,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  aid  of  our  lord  the  pope,  who 
recruited  it  with  Roman  and  Florentine 
troops,  granted  it  tithes  from  the  kingdom 
which  realized  eighty  thousand  scudi,  and 
caused  contributions  to  be  made  to  it  from 
Florence,  besides  money  and  infinite  other 
aids  afforded  it  by  his  holiness  individually; 
but  for  this,  I  say,  perhaps  the  war  would 
have  had  a  different,  a  more  moderate  issue, 
and  there  would  have  been  reason,  perhaps, 
to  look  for  an  end  of  troubles,  and  not  for  a 
beginning  of  fresh  and  greater  tribulations. 

And  his  holiness  moreover *  added 

those  new  demonstrations,  without  which  the 
emperor  could  not  have  conquered,  because 
— a  point  I  forgot  to  state — without  them  the 
signory  could  never  have  combined  its  army : 
but  not  only  was  no  regard  paid  to  the  advice 
he  gave  against  passmg  with  the  army  into 
France,  but  in  many  occurrences  it  began  to 
appear  that  little  account  was  made  of  his 
holiness,  and  Ferrara  began  to  be  favoured  to 
his  prejudice,  and  instead  of  praise  and  grati- 
tude for  what  he  had  done  for  them,  they  be- 
gan to  complain  of  every  thing  that  had  not 
been  done  according  to  their  wishes,  not  con- 
sidering that  every  thing  performed  by  him 
had  proceeded  from  sheer  good-will,  and  not 
from  any  obligation ;  and  furtherfore,  that 
even  if  his  obligations  to  the  cause  had  been 
infinite,  much  greater  ought  that  to  have  been 
by  which  his  holiness  was  bound  to  do  his  duty 
to  God  than  to  the  emperor. 

[The  issue  of  the  French  war  showed 
whether  or  not  his  holiness  had  given  good 
advice.  For  his  most  Christian  majesty  com- 
ing down  on  the  imperial  army,  which  lay  at 
Marseilles,  compelled  it  to  retreat,  and  pur- 
sued it  with  such  speed  that  it  had  entered 
Milan  quite  unexpectedly ;  and  such  was  the 
terror  of  the  viceroy  on  that  day,  as  reported 
by  his  holiness's  ministers  at  his  excellency's 
court,  that  there  were  no  terms  he  would  not 
have  accepted  from  the  king,  and  with  rea- 
son, seeing  that  he  was  utterly  undone  if 
chance  had  not  favoured  him,  by  inducing  his 
most  Christian  majesty  to  go  to  Pavia  and  not 
to  Lodi,  where  it  was  not  possible  to  keep  his 
ground  with  the  forces  collected  there.  Such 
was  the  existing  aspect  of  things ;  and  as 
much  worse  apparently,  as  imagination  al- 
ways makes  sudden  contingencies  appear, 
and  his  holiness  was  on  the  worst  terms  with 
his  most  Christian  majesty,  and  had  little  to 
hope  but  ill  of  his  majesty,  and  to  be  infinite- 


*  [The  translator  has  here  omitted  a  lino  or  two  of  the 
original,  from  which  he  despaired  of  extracting  any  intel- 
ligible meaning.] 


ly  hated  by  him,  his  holiness  having  conduct- 
ed  himself  in  the  way  I  shall  hereafter  state 
with  as  much  truth  as  I  should  be  bound  to 
observe  under  any  circumstances  that  miffht 
more  cogently  demand  it  of  me  than  those  in 
which  1  consider  myself  at  present. 

[When  our  lord  the  pope  was  elected  the 
most  Christian  king  immediately  set  to' sup- 
plicate his  holiness,  that  as  God  had  placed 
him  in  a  position  above  all,  so  in  like  manner 
he  should  place  himself  above  himself,  and 
conquer  the  passions  that  might  lurk  in 'him 
whether  of  too  great  affection  towards  the 
emperor,  or  of  too  great  aversion  to  him,  the 
king:  adding,  that  he  would  hold  himself 
deeply  bound  to  God  and  his  holiness  if  he 
treated  all  parties  alike,  interposino-  to  do 
good,  but  not  interfering  to  favour  one  party 
agamst  another.  If,  however,  his  holiness's 
intentions  or  purposes  should  make  him  feel 
the  necessity  of  a  special  support  in  some 
prince,  where  could  his  holiness  find  a  better 
than  in  him,  who  by  nature,  and  as  a  son  of 
the  church  and  not  its  rival,  desired,  and  was 
wont  to  labour  for  its  aggrandizement,  not  its 
diminution !  and  then,  as  regarded  proofs  of 
good-vyill  between  man  and  man,  he  would 
make  him  such  conditions  as  would  convince 
his  hohness  that  he  had  gained  much  more  by 
making  known  his  worth  in  acting  offensively 
and  injuriously  towards  him,  the  king,  than  in 
aiding  and  favouring  the  emperor. 

[Our  lord  the  pope  adopted  the  first  propo- 
sal, namely,  that  he  should  deal  lovingly  with 
all :  and  though  the  result  rested  rather  with 
the  emperor,  he  did  so  with  alacrity,  and  with 
the  confident  hope  that  his  imperial  majesty 
would  so  ;readily  yield  to  his  guidance,  that 
his  holiness  should  not  have  so  much  to  de- 
precate what  offended  his  most  Christian  ma- 
jesty, as  he  should  be  gratified  by  facilitating 
and  aidmg  the  arrangements  to  be  adopted  in 
adjusting  a  peace.  But  things  turning  out 
otherwise,  and  the  king  resolving  to  enter 
Ita  y  whilst  the  imperial  army  was  in  Mar- 
seilles, he  sent  from  Aix  I  think,— a  courier 
with  carte  blanche  to  our  lord,  through  the 
medium  of  signer  Alberto  da  Carpi,  with  fa- 
vourable stipulations,  most  ample  terms,  and 
a  display  of  his  intentions,  such  as  he  might 
certainly  have  sent  to  the  emperor  himself: 
for  except  that  he  claimed  Milan,  in  all  other 
matters  he  was  content  to  defer  absolutely  to 
he  decision  of  his  holiness.  Notwithstanding 
his,  his  hohness  would  not  make  up  his  mind 
till  he  had  not  once,  but  twice,  had  certain 
intelligence  of  the  capture  of  Milan,  and  re- 
ceived  letters  from  his  agent  that  all  was  ir- 
retrievable, and  that  the  viceroy  did  not  think 
otherwise.  Let  any  friend,  or  servant,  or 
brother,  or  father,  or  the  emperor  himself, 
tancy  himself  m  this  situation,  and  see  in  this 
emergency,  and  again  in  the  following  one, 
what  he  could  have  done  for  the  emperor's 


424 


APPENDIX. 


benefit  that  the  pope  did  not  do  much  better. 
The  pope  having  gotten  into  his  hands  the 
means  of  stopping  the  war  in  the  Icingdom  of 
Naples,  and  infinite  other  advantages  public 
and  private,  was  not  bound  to  any  thing  else 
in  favour  of  his  most  Christian  majesty  except 
to  acquire  what  the  imperial  army  already 
gave  up  for  lost,  and  to  hinder  him  from  going 
forth  to  seize  the  kingdom  of  Naples, — an  at- 
tempt whicli  seemed  to  threaten  no  great  dif- 
ficulty. And  whoever  has  a  mind  to  vaunt 
upon  the  strength  of  the  events  that  turned 
out  otherwise,  ought  to  thank  God,  who  de- 
termined it  so  miraculously  and  of  his  own 
good  pleasure,  and  should  attribute  nothing 
therein  to  himself,  and  own  that  the  pope 
made  that  capitulation  to  preserve  himself  and 
the  emperor,  and  not  with  a  bad  intention. 
For  the  king,  unluckily  for  him,  finding  the 
enterprise  prove  difficult,  because  he  had  not 
set  about  it  as  he  ought,  the  pope  left  him  a 
couple  of  months  at  Pavia  without  a  breath 
in  favour  of  his  cause  ;  and  though  this  was 
no  small  benefit  conferred  on  the  Spaniards, 
he  failed  not  to  do  more  for  them,  giving 
them  all  the  assistance  they  could  ask  from 
his  territories,  and  not  failing  by  his  interpo- 
sition to  effect  concord  between  them  as  far 
as  possible  ;  but  disorder  prevailing,  and  the 
king  pressing  to  have  our  lord  declare  in  his 
favour,  so  as  to  facilitate  his  conquest  of  Mi- 
lan, and  urging  likewise  that  the  Florentines 
should  do  the  same,  as  they  were  bound 
equally  with  the  pope,  his  holiness  laboured 
to  avoid  having  to  declare  himself,  or  to  give 
him  any  aid,  save  only  allowing  passage 
through  his  dominions,  and  provisions  for  a 
part  of  the  army  which  his  majesty  wished  to 
send  into  the  kingdom  to  cause  a  diversion, 
and  thereby  more  easily  reduce  the  imperial- 
ists to  come  to  terms.  Oh  !  but  this  was  a 
mighty  service  rendered  to  the  French  ! — 
yielding  to  them  what  they  were  able  to  ex- 
tort if  refused  them,  the  pope  being  disarmed, 
and  the  notion  appearing  altogether  too  ab- 
surd, that,  having  made  a  league  with  his 
most  Christian  majesty,  and  having  been  un- 
willing to  serve  him  in  any  thing  else,  he 
should  deny  him  that  which  he  could  not 
withhold,  and  the  publication  of  a  feigned 
concord  like  that  then  promulgated  by  giving 
a  little  provision  to  his  majesty,  and  contriv- 
ing tliat  he  should  endure  with  less  ill-will 
that  his  holiness  did  not  observe  the  capitula- 
tion to  the  very  letter.  And,  to  say  the  truth, 
his  most  Christian  majesty  was  rather  preju- 
diced than  served  by  this  partition  of  his  ar- 
my; for  the  forces  were  so  delayed  in  Siena 
and  in  the  Roman  territory,  that  the  imperi- 
alists had  time  in  Lombardy  to  achieve  the 
victory  of  Pavia.  This  being  obtained,  what 
reason  was  there  why  the  emperor,  or  his 
agents,  or  any  one  in  the  world,  of  whatever 
party,  should  entertain  angry  feelings  against 


his  holiness,  or  should  think  of  any  thing  but 
to  do  him  service  or  pleasure,  even  though  he 
were  not  moved  thereto  by  motives  of  reli- 
gion and  by  the  example  of  other  monarchs, 
who  not  only  never  offended  popes  who  re- 
mained neutral,  but  even  when  they  were 
victorious  over  the  party  to  which  the  church 
had  adhered,  always  treated  Ihe  pope  with 
the  utmost  submissivene.«!s  and  reverence,  and 
closed  their  victories  with  intreating  his  par- 
don, honouring  and  serving  him ']  Let  us  put 
religion  for  the  present  out  of  the  question, 
and  suppose  the  pope  and  the  church  trans- 
ported to  Muscovy,  and  then  tell  me.  What 
right  canst  thou  possibly  have  to  make  any 
charge  against  a  person  or  a  state  that  usurps 
nothing,  to  which  thou  hast  a  reasonable 
claim  J  But  the  case  is  still  stronger,  when 
it  is  remembered  that  for  a  long  series  of 
years  favour,  aid,  and  means,  particularly 
personal,  were  afforded,  whereby  such  great 
victories  were  obtained.  And  if  the  pope  did 
then  adhere  to  the  king,  he  did  so  at  a  time 
when,  not  being  able  to  help  himself  or  others, 
it  seemed  to  him  that  he  had  a  divine  oppor- 
tunity to  produce  that  same  effect  through  the 
instrumentality  of  the  enemy ;  for  he  gave 
him  nothing  but  what  the  enemy's  own 
strength  or  the  emperor's  weakness  secured 
him ;  and  he  managed  so,  that  when  the  ca- 
reer of  victory  was  closed  for  the  Fi'ench,  it 
would  appear  that  he  had  rather  retarded  it 
than  helped  it  forward.  What  unheard-of 
inhumanity  was  it,  not  to  use  a  harsher  ex- 
pression, just  as  if  none  of  these  reasons  ex- 
isted, or  as  if  they  had  been  quite  the  reverse, 
immediately  after  the  victory  of  Pavia  and 
the  capture  of  the  king,  to  make  overtures  of 
peace  to  the  other  states  that  might  justly  be 
supposed  to  have  offended,  and  suddenly  to 
declare  war  upon  the  church  and  the  person 
of  the  pope,  and  to  send  an  army  against 
him !  Either  the  imperialists  had  seen  the 
articles  of  the  league  with  his  most  Christian 
majesty,  or  they  had  not  seen  them.  Sup- 
posing them  to  have  seen  them,  as  we  are 
certain  they  did,  since  all  his  majesty's  pa- 
pers fell  into  their  hands,  tht^  ought  to  pro- 
duce them,  and  by  pointing  out  what  there 
was  in  them  to  take  offence  at,  either  with 
regard  to  the  time  when  they  were  conclud- 
ed, or  to  any  particulars  prejudicial  to  his  im- 
perial majesty,  make  them  serve  in  justifica- 
tion of  their  own  allegations,  if  indeed  they 
furnished  any  sufficient  justification.  Sup- 
posing them  not  to  have  seen  them,  why  act 
so  iniquitously  against  ....'?  But  having 
neither  discovered  any  thing  of  the  kind  in 
written  documents,  nor  experienced  it  in  fact, 
they  had  no  cause  of  offence.  It  was  not  for 
want  of  spirit,  or  for  want  of  power,  that  our 
lord  tlie  pope  forbore ;  for  that  he  possesses 
both,  they  had  long  experienced  to  their  own 
benefit,  and  age  could  not  have  deprived  him 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


425 


in  any  respect  of  the  former,  and  his  dignity 
had  given  him  a  considerable  increase  of  the 
latter.     Nor  yet  was  it  because  his  holiness 
had  intercepted  some  letters  of  those  gentle- 
men, wherein  it  seemed   that  they  were  puff- 
ed up,  and    waited   opportunity    to  revenge 
themselves  for  the  injury  they  had  not  received 
from  his  holiness :  but  it  was,  without  the 
slightest  reference  to  all  these  things,  solely 
in  consideration  of  the  justice,  the  duty,  and 
the  good  disposition  of  his  imperial  majesty; 
without  whose  participation  it  was  never  sup- 
posed that  any  thing  could  be  attempted,  and 
of  whom  his  holiness  could   never  persuade 
himself  that  his  majesty  would  sanction  what 
was  done.     But  every  thing  turned  out  quite 
the  reverse ;  for  suddenly,  without  the  least 
delay,  the  army  was  marched  into  the  domin- 
ions of  the  church,  and  his  holiness  was  con- 
strained to  buy  off  the  vexation  with  a  sum  of 
100,000  scudi,  and   to  make  a  league  with 
them.     Upon  the  said  league  being  reported 
in  Spain,  the  proof  his  majesty  gave  of  his 
disapprobation  of  these  proceedings  was  his 
declaration,  that  if  there  was  contained  in  the 
league  any  thing  favourable  to  our  lord  and 
the  church,  he  would  not  ratify  it,  notwith- 
standing that  all  that  had  passed  in  Italy  had 
been  done  with  his  majesty's  full  and  express 
commands ;  and  among  the  clauses  were  the 
restoration  of  the  proceeds  of  Milan,  which 
had  been  taken  from  the  church,  and  the  res- 
titution of  Reggio,  of  which  he  would  not 
hear  at  all.     Our  lord  having  found  himself 
so  often  deceived,  and  having  ever  hoped,  in 
spite  of  appearances,  that  matters  would  turn 
out  better  on  the  emperor's  part,  whereas  the 
contrary  had   invariably   been   the   case,  at 
length  began,  with  so  many  evident  proofs 
before  him,  to  hearken  to  those  who  had  al- 
ways persisted  in  affirming  that  his  imperial 
majesty  aimed  at  the  oppression  of  all  Italy, 
and  at  making  himself  absolute  master  of  the 
country :  and   indeed  it  appeared  strange  to 
his  holiness,  that  without  such  an  object,  his 
majesty  should  govern  by  himself  and  by  his 
officers  in  the  manner  he  did.     Entertaining 
this  suspicion,  and  discontented  at  seeing  that 
no  faith  or  promise  was  kept  with  him,  it 
seemed  to  the  pope  very  proper  that  he  should 
unite  in  friendship  and  in  proceedings  with 
those  who  had  a  common  cause  with  his  holi- 
ness, and   who  would  have  to  find  means  of 
defending  themselves  against  such  violence 
as  was  practised.     And  it  being  suggested, 
among  other  things,  that  the  emperor  pur- 
posed to  depose  the  duke  of  Milan,  and  to 
make  himself  master  of  that  state,  and  nu- 
merous indications  fully  establishing  the  truth 
of  this  surmise,  it  was  thought  that  not  a  mo- 
ment should  be  lost  in  anticipating  the  de- 
signs against  us,  and  retorting  them  on  their 
devisers  ;  nor  could  his  holiness  refuse  to  fol- 
low the  course  adopted  by  those  whose  cause, 
54 


as  I  said,  was  identified  with  his  own.  Hence 
it  followed,  that  when  France,  Venice,  and 
the  rest  of  Italy,  proposed  to  combine  tor  the 
relief  of  the  states,  and  for  the  common  weal, 
the  pope  expressed  his  intention  of  not  being 
behindhand  with  the  rest.  And  he  candidly 
confesses,  that  when  it  was  made  known  to 
him,  in  the  name  and  on  the  part  of  the  mar- 
quis of  Pescara,  that  he  offered,  as  malcon- 
tent with  the  emperor  and  as  an  Italian,  to 
take  part  in  the  combination  when  matters 
were  ripe  for  action,  not  only  did  his  holiness 
not  refuse  the  offer,  but  hoping  actually  to 
possess  his  aid,  he  would  have  given  him  eve- 
ry encouragement ;  for  being  driven  to  fear 
for  his  own  state  and  well-being,  he  thought 
he  ought  not  to  reject  any  means  of  safety 
that  fell  in  his  way.  Pescara  is  now  dead, 
and  God  knows  the  truth  and  with  what  in- 
tentions he  conducted  himself  in  this  matter. 
Thus  much,  at  all  events,  is  certain,  that  such 
a  proposition  was  sent  in  his  name  to  his  ho- 
liness ;  and  when  his  holiness  sent  to  question 
him  on  the  subject,  so  far  from  denying  it,  he 
personally  confirmed  what  had  been  stated 
by  others  in  his  name.  And  though  such  pro- 
ceedings took  place,  God  knows  that  his  holi- 
ness was  led  into  them  more  by  necessity 
than  by  choice;  testimony  whereof  will  be 
found  in  many  letters  written  at  the  time  to 
his  holiness's  nuncio  at  the  imperial  court,  di- 
recting that  his  majesty's  attention  should  be 
drawn  to  the  ruinously  bad  system  he  was  pur- 
suing, and  that  he  should  be  intreated  for  the 
love  of  God  to  adopt  a  different  course  ;  foras- 
much as  it  was  not  possible  that  Italy,  though 
won,  should  be  retained  otherwise  than  by  love, 
and  by  a  certain  system  which  should  serve 
to  satisfy  the  general  mind.  But  all  being  of 
no  avail,  and  his  majesty  putting  an  end  to  all 
doubts  that  had  subsisted  as  to  his  intentions 
to  seize  on  the  state  of  Milan,  under  cover  of 
the  name  of  Girolamo  Morone,  and  upon  the 
pretext  that  the  duke  had  been  disposed  to  re- 
bel against  his  imperial  majesty,  still  the  pope 
persisted  in  trying  fair  means,  and  was  ready 
to  meet  the  emperor's  wishes  if  the  emperor 
would  not  meet  his;  if  so,  the  duke  might  be 
left  in  possession  of  Milan,  that  having  been 
the  cause  of  all  the  wars  in  Italy.  So  little 
was  the  pope's  success  on  this  score,  that  on 
this  desire  of  his  being  communicated  to  the 
emperor,  at  the  time  his  imperial  majesty  was 
disposed  to  come  to  terms  with  the  most  Chris- 
tian king,  he  refused  to  comply  with  it.  And 
whereas  if  his  imperial  majesty  had  first 
agreed  with  the  pope,  he  might  have  acquired 
more  advantage,  and  afterwards  established  a 
more  sokd  treaty  with  the  most  Christian 
king,  his  refusal  to  agree  with  his  holiness 
served  but  to  make  all  his  arrangements  with 
the  king  the  more  futile;*  inasmuch  as  the 


*  [See  the  Italian  supra.  I  have  not  adopted  Ranke's(?) 
suggealion  of  interpolating  the  word  "  comodo,"  ihinJi- 


426 


APPENDIX, 


king,  not  being  inclined  to  observe  them, 
would  find  himself  linked  with  discontented 
associates,  and  would  make  the  less  account 
of  his  imperial  majesty.  It  is  impossible  to 
conceive  whence  sprang  so  great  an  aversion 
on  the  emperor's  part  to  embrace  the  pope : 
he  had  never  yet,  in  fact,  received  any  offence 
from  his  holiness,  who  had  sent  his  nephew  as 
legate  to  do  him  honour,  and  to  treat  of  these 
matters,  so  that  he  might  know  how  much  the 
pope  had  them  at  heart;  and  who  had  sought 
to  gratify  him  in  every  way,— among  others, 
in  granting  the  matrimonial  dispensation, 
which,  as  every  one  knows,  was  of  import- 
ance towards  drawing  closer  the  bonds  of 
friendship  and  good  intelligence  between  the 
two  kingdoms,  and,  at  any  rate,  as  a  means 
of  procuring  the  emperor  money  by  way  of 
dowry,  and  the  succession  to  the  crown.* 
Nevertheless,  his  imperial  majesty,  totally 
unmoved  by  these  considerations,  forced  his 
holiness  to  give  himself  up  to  those  who 
sought  his  alliance.  And  now,  when  the 
pope  entered  into  a  league  with  the  most 
Christian  king,  and  with  the  other  princes  and 
potentates,  for  the  common  defence,  and  prin- 
cipally to  effect  an  universal  peace,  the  em- 
peror, on  learning  it,  was  then  willing  to 
unite  with  the  pope,  and  sent  to  offer  him, 
through  Signor  Don  Ugo  di  Moncada,  not  only 
what  his  holiness  had  urgently  demanded  and 
intreated,  but  even  what  he  had  never  hoped 
he  could  possibly  obtain.  And  if  his  majesty 
will  urge  in  his  own  defence,  or  in  aspersion 
of  his  holiness,  that  when  the  offer  was  made 
to  the  latter  through  Signor  Don  Ugo  as  afore- 
said, he  would  not  accept  it,  let  him  not  lay 
the  blame  on  his  holiness,  who,  while  it  was 
in  his  own  power,  offered  to  content  himself 
with  little  enough;  but  let  him  blame  the 
want  of  judgment  of  those  who,  when  the  op- 
portunity is  in  their  hand,  will  not  consent  to 
one,  and  come  forward  to  bid  a  hundred  out 
of  season.  The  pope  was  perfectly  justified 
in  acting  thus  at  a  tmie  when  his  majesty  re- 
fused to  enter  into  a  league  upon  honourable 
conditions,  and  when  the  enterprises  in  hand 
were  turning  out  in  such  a  manner  that  there 
seemed  hardly  a  possibility  of  not  arriving  at 
the  common  object.  Now  if  any  one  suppose 
that  the  enterprise  against  the  kingdom  was 
not  likely  to  prove  easy,  the  contrary  will  ap- 
pear from  the  issue  of  Frusolone,  and  from 
the  conquest  of  so  many  territories,  especially 
when  it  is  considered  that  his  holiness  could 
have  sent  the  same  forces  thither  in  the  be- 
ginning, whilst  they  were  not  in  a  condition 
in  the  kingdom  suddenly  to  make  such  great 
preparations  as  they  hardly  obtained  in  many 


ing    the    passage    makes    belter   sense  without    it. — 
Translator.] 

•  We  see  thai  the  lai  se  of  Portugal  to  the  crown  of 
Spain  was  thought  of  in  1525. 


months  with  waiting  aid  from  Spain.  And 
whilst  his  holiness  failed  not  even  in  hostility 
to  be  a  friend,  and  to  be  willing  to  act  rather 
as  a  father,  threatening  rather  than  hurting, 
and  proceeding  with  all  sincerity,  and  not 
failing  to  descend  even  to  terms  below  his  dig- 
nity, in  entering  into  arrangements  with  the 
Colonnas,  his  own  subjects,  so  that  he  might 
remove  every  ground  of  suspicion,  and  never 
thrust  the  steel  so  far  forward  that  he  could 
not  on  drawing  it  back  easily  heal  the  wound ; 
even  then  that  treason  was  devised  against 
his  holiness,  which  is  known  to  every  one,  and 
the  unutterable  guilt  of  which  silence  can  best 
express,  wherein  it  is  true  that  if  his  majesty 
was  not  acting  and  consenting,  at  least  he 
showed  no  great  displeasure  at  it;  for  it 
seemed  that  the  armament  and  all  the  prepara- 
tions the  emperor  could  ever  make  had  no 
other  object  than  to  take  vengeance  for  the 
justice  the  pope  had  inflicted  on  the  Colonnas, 
by  ruining  four  of  their  castles.  I  will  not 
dispute  about  the  truce  made  this  September 
in  the  castle  by  Signor  Don  Ugo,  or  inquire 
whether  it  was  observed  or  not;  but  the  ab- 
solution of  the  Colonnas  did  not  so  tie  up  the 
pope's  hands  that  he  could  not  and  ought  not 
to  punish  them,  they  being  his  own  subjects. 
And  if  there  had  been  any  possibility  of  re- 
lying on  the  observance  of  the  truce  between 
our  lord  and  the  emperor,  it  would  have  been 
observed  on  our  lord's  part,  though  he  was 
never  the  first  to  break  it:  but  as  it  was  not 
observed  either  here  or  in  Lombard)^  from 
whence,  whilst  the  truce  was  still  unexpired, 
twelve  thousand  lansquenets  entered  the  ter- 
ritories of  the  church,  whilst  those  in  that 
quarter  did  their  very  worst, — and  the  vice- 
roy of  Naples  wrote  letters,  which  were  in- 
tercepted, wherein  he  besought  the  signory  to 
hasten  the  arrival  of  their  forces,  so  as  to  catch 
the  pope  unprepared,  and  complete  what  had 
been  lefiuneft'ected  at  the  first  blow, — our  lord 
could  not  so  far  fail  of  what  was  due  to  him- 
self as  not  to  send  and  procure  forces  from 
Lombardy  ;  and  though  these  arrived  in  time 
to  cause  a  diversion  within  the  kingdom  of 
Naples,  he  would  not  allow  them  to  quit  the 
frontiers,^-the  ruin  of  the  castles  of  the  Col- 
onnas was  more  owing  to  their  disobedience 
in  refusing  to  harbour  the  troops  than  to  any 
thing  else, — and  likewise  the  pope  gave  leave 
to  Andrew  Doria  logo  and  intercept  that  fleet, 
of  which  his  holiness  had  had  such  frequent 
intelligence  that  it  was  designed  for  his  de- 
struction. It  is  impossible,  without  passing 
censure  on  his  holiness  for  his  little  regard  to 
his  own  welfare  and  dignity,  to  tell,  in  despite 
of  how  many  urgent  legitimate  occasions,  he 
never  for  so  long  a  time  abandoned  his  love 
for  the  emperor ;  and  after  there  began  to  be 
some  division  between  them,  how  often  he  not 
merely  waited  to  be  offered,  but  went  out  of 
his   way  to  seek  means  of  accommodation, 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


427 


though  no  g'ood  had  come  to  him  either  of  the 
first  propositions  or  of  the  subsequent  reconcil- 
iations. Now  while  matters  were  in  a  more 
violent  condition  than  ever,  comes  the  father- 
general  of  the  Minorites,  to  whom,  on  his 
going  to  Spain,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
our  lord  the  pope  having  strongly  expressed 
his  good  feelings  towards  the  emperor,  and 
pointed  out  to  him  what  would  be  the  course 
of  proceeding  towards  obtaining  an  universal 
peace,  his  majesty  sent  him  back  with  com- 
missions in  terms  as  ample  as  could  be  desired, 
but  which  afterwards  proved  actually  ex- 
tremely hard.  For  when  our  lord  desired  to 
go,  and  have  for  once  an  explanation  face  to 
face  with  the  emperor,  to  see  if  there  were 
any  possible  means  of  arriving  at  peace,  he 
agreed  with  the  greatest  alacrity  to  those 
things  which  the  emperor  desired  of  his  holi- 
ness, and  accepted  what  his  majesty  was 
pleased  to  grant ;  and  when  he  wished  to 
come  to  a  positive  arrangement,  and  found  it 
necessary  to  treat  with  the  viceroy,  who  like- 
wise had  arrived  at  the  same  time  in  Gaetta 
with  no  less  large  offers  than  those  the  general 
had  made,  those  conditionsswelled  continually 
till  they  surpassed  all  possibility  of  execution 
or  endurance.  Yet  with  all  this  there  was 
nothing  so  much  afflicted  the  pope  as  his  being 
constrained  to  make  terms  alone  with  the  em- 
peror in  Italy  ;  because,  what  induced  him  to 
do  so,  even  to  his  own  very  great  loss  and 
disgrace,  was  the  effecting  of  union  and  peace 
in  Italy,  and  the  being  able  to  go  along  with 
the  emperor :  but  this  could  not  be  if  Venice 
were  not  a  consenting  party ;  wherefore,  to 
obtain  the  consent  of  the  signory,  the  viceroy 
being  at  Frusolone,  a  suspension  of  arms  was 
agreed  on  for  eight  days,  in  which  time  a  re- 
ply might  be  had  from  Venice ;  and  Signore 
Cesare  Fieramosca,  being  the  bearer  of  it,  did 
not  arrive  till  hostilities  had  been  actually  re- 
sumed, and  Frusolone  freed  from  siege,  so 
that  nothing  could  be  done.  In  the  whole  of 
this  negociation  it  is  certain  that  his  holiness 
acted  sincerely,  and  so  too  did  the  most  reve- 
rend legate ;  but  the  enemy  being  already  at 
their  post,  and  with  arms  in  their  hands,  it 
was  not  possible  to  deal  with  two  different 
things  at  the  same  time.  It  might  excite  sur- 
prise, that  after  the  pope  had  made  trial  of 
the  disposition  of  the  party,  and  had  been 
cheated  and  left  in  the  lurch,  injured  and  in- 
sulted, he  should  now  thrust  himself  upon  a 
peace  or  a  truce  of  this  sort,  and  that  too  de- 
liberately, and  with  his  eyes  open,  without 
any  necessity,  urged  by  no  fear  of  loss,  se- 
cure of  gaining,  not  knowing  what  friendship 
he  might  acquire,  but  certain  of  alienating 
and  exciting  the  hostility  of  everybody,  and 
of  those  especially  who  loved  his  holiness  in 
their  hearts.  But  his  holiness  having  proved 
that  God  was  not  pleased  there  should  be  war, 
(tor  to  nothing  else  can  be  attributed  the  fact, 


that  whereas  his  holiness  had  made  every  ef-M 
fort  to  avoid  war,  yet,  after  it  had  actually 
commenced  with  such  advantages  on  his  side, 
it  nevertheless  ended  most  disastrously,  un- 
happy Christendom  being  afflicted  and  desola- 
ted by  ourselves  in  a  manner  too  horrible  to 
think  of,  as  if  we  had  a  mind  to  leave  little 
for  the  Turks  to  do  towards  completing  its 
ruin,)  he  deemed  that  no  human  consideration, 
however  important,  ought  to  avail  to  hinder 
his  holiness  from  seeking  peace  in  company 
with  every  one,  and  from  making  it  by  him- 
self if  he  could  not  have  it  in  conjunction 
with  others.  In  these  views  he  was  especial- 
ly confirmed  by  the  receipt  of  news  represent- 
ing the  emperor  as  disposed  to  what  is  wont 
to  move  his  holiness  in  a  wonderful  degree; 
for  his  holiness  had  received  at  that  time 
through  Signore  Cesare  and  through  Paolo 
di  Arezzo,  letters  under  his  majesty's  hand  of 
that  kind  that  was  necessary,  seeing  that  an 
agreement  between  the  pope  and  the  emperor 
promised  to  be  a  blessing  to  the  world,  whilst 
it  would  be  impossible  to  conceive  the  exist- 
ence of  a  worse  man  than  the  emperor  would 
be  if  he  had  devised  this  way  of  ruinino-  the 
pope, — a  scheme  which  would  have  been  most 
unworthy  of  the  basest  of  men,  much  more  of 
the  greatest  among  Christians.  But  far  be 
all  possible  imaginings  of  any  such  thing,  and 
rather  let  it  be  thought  that  God  had  permit- 
ted it  to  prove  us,  and  to  give  his  majesty  an 
opportunity  of  displaying  more  piety,  good- 
ness, and  faith,  and  more  fully  controlling  the 
destinies  of  the  world,  than  ever  was  granted 
to  any  sovereign  born.  All  the  pope's  papers 
having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  soldiers, 
they  will  have  carried  off  among  others  a 
new  capitulation  made  by  his  holiness  five  or 
six  days  at  most  before  the  downfal  of  Rome, 
in  which  if  he  again  united  himself  with  the 
league,  and  consented  to  many  conditions  pre- 
judicial to  his  imperial  majesty,  I  do  not  think 
that  this  can  be  cast  up  against  his  holiness 
by  any  of  the  emperor's  partisans ;  for  they 
could  not  do  so  without  exposing  their  own 
faults  and  failings :  for,  supposing  it  were  true 
that  there  was  no  restraining  Bourbon  from 
his  purpose  of  seeking  the  pope's  destruction, 
certain  it  is  that  there  were  many  others  en- 
gaged in  the  war,  both  infantry  and  men  at 
arms,  and  principal  personages,  who  would 
have  obeyed  the  emperor's  commands  had 
they  been  properly  conveyed  to  them;  and 
had  Bourbon  been  deprived  of  such  support, 
he  would  have  been  in  no  very  good  condition 
for  prosecuting  his  design.  And  supposing 
that  it  had  not  been  possible  to  do  this,  though 
no  valid  excuse  for  not  doing  it  can  be  offered, 
what  justification  can  be  offered  for  the  fact 
that  when  his  holiness  had  fulfilled  all  the 
conditions  of  the  capitulation  made  with  the 
viceroy,  (as  you,  most  reverend  Sir,  may  satisfy 
yourself  by  reading  over  the  copy  of  the  capita- 


428 


APPENDIX. 


Ration  which  you  will  take  with  you,)  and  when 
his  holiness  demanded  in  return  the  payment  of 
the  infantry  and  men-at-arrns  who  had  bound 
themselves  to  every  request  of  his,  nothing'  of 
the  sort  was  done  :  so  that  his  holiness,  having- 
met  with  nothing  like  reciprocity  in  the  exe- 
cution of  this  capitulation, — on  the  one  hand, 
things  having  been  done  that  ought  not,  and 
on  the  other,  aid  having  been  withheld  that 
ought  to  have  been  afforded, — I  know  not  how 
any  of  the  party  can  think  of  vilifying  his  holi- 
ness for  a  thing  done  through  sheer  necessity 
induced  by  themselves,  and  which  his  holiness 
60  long  delayed  to  do,  that  it  proved  his  ruin: 
I  know  not,  I  say,  how  they  can  catch  at  this 
as  a  ground  of  quarrel  against  ns. 

[The  very  enemies  of  his  holiness  will  not 
deny  that  he  announced  his  intention  of 
making  advances  to  the  emperor  at  a  time 
when  no  one  could  suspect  that  he  was  moved 
by  anything  else  than  by  zeal  for  the  welfare 
of  Christians  ;  tiie  suggestion  having  occurred 
immediately  on  receipt  of  the  news  of  the 
king  of  Hungary's  death  and  the  loss  of  the 
kingdom,  and  his  holiness  having  discussed 
and  terminated  the  matter  in  consistory  two 
or  three  days  before  the  entry  of  the  Col- 
onnas  into  Rome.  Nor  do  I  suppose  that  any 
one  will  be  gross  enough  to  believe  that  the 
pope  was  led  to  show  all  this  favour  to  the 
emperor  by  his  foresight  forsooth  of  that  storm  ; 
for  it  was  not  of  such  a  kind  that  had  it  been 
known  three  hours  beforehand,  not  to  say 
three  days,  it  might  not  have  been  quelled 
with  a  very  little  noise. 

[The  conditions  conveyed  to  our  lord  by 
the  father-general  were  these  :  first,  the  em- 
peror desired  peace  with  his  holiness,  and  if 
by  chance  on  the  arrival  of  the  father-general, 
he  should  find  the  affairs  of  his  holiness  and 
of  the  church  ruined,  the  emperor  was  con- 
tent that  all  things  should  be  restored  to  their 
first  condition,  and  that  peace  should  be 
granted  to  every  one  in  Italy,  he  having  no 
desire  for  a  hand's  breadth  of  ground  there 
either  for  himself  or  his  brother,  but  to  leave 
every  one  in  possession  of  wliat  was  his  of 
old  :  the  duke  of  Milan's  affair  was  to  be  tried 
judicially  by  judges  appointed  by  his  holiness 
and  his  majesty,  and  if  he  were  acquitted,  he 
should  be  restored;  if  condemned,  his  territo- 
ries siiould  be  given  to  Bourbon ;  and  France 
would  be  content  to  grant  money,  a  thing  it 
had  not  before  been  willing  to  do ;  and  the 
sum  he  named  was  the  same  as  that  the  most 
Christian  king  had  sent  to  offer,  that  is,  two 
millions  of  gold.  These  conditions  the  pope 
accepted  as  soon  as  ever  he  was  able  to  sub- 
stantiate their  validity,  and  subscribed  them 
under  his  hand  ;  but  tliey  were  not  approved 
by  the  others,  who,  as  you,  most  reverend  Sir, 
are  aware,  added  intolerable  demands.  Now, 
since  it  cannot  be  presumed  but  that  his  im- 
perial majcoty  dealt  in  earnest,  and  witli  that 


sincerity  which  becomes  so  great  a  monarch ; 
and  these  his  propositions  and  embassies 
evincing  so  much  moderation  and  kindness  of 
feeling  towards  our  lord,  whilst  his  majesty 
was  not  aware  what  was  his  holiness's  dispo- 
sition towards  him,  and  whilst  he  thought 
that  his  arms  were  so  omnipotent  in  Italy 
through  his  lansquenets  and  the  fleet  sent 
hither,  that  they  had  carried  all  before  them, 
it  is  not  to  be  supposed  but  that,  when  he 
shall  be  informed  that  if  his  majesty  sent  the 
pope  testimonies  of  his  good-will,  they  were 
fully  reciprocated  on  the  part  of  his  holiness, 
and  that  his  forces  encourtered  such  resist- 
ance here  that  his  holiness,  in  laying  down 
his  arms  rather  conferred  a  benefit  on  his  im- 
perial majesty  than  received  one,  as  I  have 
before  said,  and  as  is  most  clear,  and  that  all 
the  subsequent  calamities  rest  on  the  faith 
and  name  of  his  majesty,  in  whom  our  lord 
confided :  in  that  case  the  emperor  will  not 
only  see  that  it  will  be  like  himself  if  he  shall 
spontaneously  show  kindness  and  evince  a 
readiness  to  make  reparation  to  his  holiness 
and  the  church,  but  he  will  even  seek  to  in- 
crease that  his  natural  disposition  in  propor- 
tion as  he  wishes  to  escape  this  obloquy,  and 
by  an  easy  transition  to  convert  the  ignominy 
that  would  otherwise  attend  him  into  perpe- 
tual glory,*  made  so  much  the  more  illustri- 
ous and  stable  by  himself,  as  others,  such  as 
his  ministers,  have  sought  to  sink  and  obscure 
it.  And  the  acts  which  it  would  be  necessary 
to  do  to  this  end  for  the  church  individually, 
and  for  its  restoration,  as  well  as  the  benefits 
which  would  efface  the  disasters  of  Italy,  and 
of  all  Christendom,  supposing  the  emperor  to 
look  more  to  their  pacification  than  to  any  oth- 
er emolument,  will  be  easily  discovered  pro- 
vided the  disposition  and  the  judgment  to  wish 
for  and  to  know  wherein  consists  what  is 
truly  for  the  general  good  be  present. 

[Not  to  enter  into  the  causes  whereby  we 
were  compelled  to  take  up  arms,  a  subject 
which  would  occupy  too  much  time,  we  shall 
only  say,  that  we  never  took  them  up  from 
hatred  or  ill-will  towards  the  emperor,  or  from 
ambition  to  aggrandize  our  state,  or  that  of 
any  one  belonging  to  us,  but  solely  from  the 
necessity  in  which  it  seemed  to  us  were 
placed  our  liberty  and  our  state,  and  the  liber- 
ties of  the  states  of  Italy  in  general,  and  to 
prove  to  the  world  and  to  the  emperor  him- 
self if  he  sought  to  oppress  us,  that  we  conld 
not  and  would  not  endure  it  without  making 
every  effort  in  our  own  defence  ;  insomuch 
that  his  majesty,  if  he  was  of  that  mind, 
which  we  never  doubted,  might  understand 
that  matters  were  not  likely  to  succeed  with 


*  [The  passage  in  the  original  is  obscure  ;  but  I  think  it 
intelligible  in  a  different  meaning  from  that  which  would 
he  put  upon  it  by  Ranke's  suggested  addition  of  two 
words.    See  the  Italian  supra.— Translator.] 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


429 


him  so  easily  as  others,  perhaps,  had  given 
him  to  suppose :  or  if  we  were  deceived  in 
thus  supposing  that  his  majesty  intended  us 
mischief,  and  if  those  suspicions  should  prove 
to  have  risen  rather  from  the  conduct  of  min- 
isters than  from  any  other  cause;  that  tlicn, 
upon  his  majesty's  giving  us  full  assurance 
of  this,  good  peace  and  friendship  might  en- 
sue not  only  between  us  in  particular  and  his 
majesty,  but  embracing  also  those  other  sov- 
ereigns and  signers  with  whom  we  had  been 
leagued  for  no  other  end  than  to  defend  our- 
selves from  the  villany  done  us,  or  once  more 
to  bring  about  peace  in  wretched  Christen- 
dom upon  honourable  and  reasonable  condi- 
tions. And  if  when  Don  Ugo  came  hither, 
his  majesty  had  communicated  to  us  those 
conditions  which  in  all  honour  appeared  to 
him  necessary  thereto,  we  should  have  deem- 
ed it  the  greatest  blessing  that  God  could  be- 
stow on  us,  that  one  day  should  behold  as  it 
were  the  taking  up  and  the  laying  down  of 
arms.  And  that  what  we  state  to  have  al- 
ways been  the  purpose  of  our  mind  was  truly 
60,  appears  from  the  disposition  in  which  we 
were  found  by  the  general  of  the  Franciscans, 
to  whom  we  communicated  a  year  ago,  when 
he  was  here  on  his  way  to  Spain,  the  grounds 
which  we  and  the  other  sovereigns  of  Italy 
had  to  be  dissatisfied  with  the  emperor,  and 
charged  him  on  our  part  to  lay  all  these  be- 
fore his  majesty,  and  to  give  him  to  under- 
stand that  if  he  was  willing  to  attend  to  our 
counsels  and  prayers,  which  all  tended  to  the 
praise  and  service  of  God,  and  to  his  own 
benefit  as  well  as  ours,  he  would  always  find 
on  our  part  that  friendship  he  had  before  made 
proof  of;  and  when  the  said  general  was  sent 
back  to  us  again  some  months  afterwards,  he 
brought  us  his  majesty's  most  courteous  reply, 
that  he  was  content  (to  use  his  own  words) 
to  accept  as  commands  the  counsels  we  had 
sent  him  :  and  to  give  assurance  of  this,  he 
stated  among  other  resolutions,  that  he  was 
content  to  release  the  sons  of  his  most  Chris- 
tian majesty  for  the  ransom  that  had  been 
offered  him  by  his  majesty,  a  thing  that  till 
then  he  had  never  been  willing  to  do.  In 
addition  to  which  he  promised,  that  if  all  Italy 
was  in  his  power,  as  it  was  the  fashion  to  say 
at  the  time  the  general  was  in  Rome,  he  was 
content,  in  order  to  give  the  lie  to  those  who 
sought  to  slander  him  by  imputing  to  him  an 
intention  of  keeping  possession  of  it,  to  restore 
everything  there  to  its  pristine  state,  and  to 
show,  that  neither  for  himself  nor  for  his  most 
serene  brother,  he  desired  one  hand's-breadth 
of  territory  in  that  country  beyond  what  had 
belonged  of  old  to  the  crown  of  Spain.  And 
that  his  words  might  be  accompanied  by  facts, 
the  general  was  furnished  with  the  most  am- 
ple authority  to  arrange  every  thing  either 
with  Don  Ugo,  or  with  the  viceroy,  if  he 
should  have  arrived  in  Italy  when  he  came 


here.  How  great  was  our  satisfaction  here, 
it  is  impossible  to  describe ;  and  an  hour  ap- 
peared to  us  a  thousand  years  in  our  impa- 
tience to  come  to  some  sort  of  general  agree- 
ment to  lay  down  arms.  And  when  the  vice- 
roy arrived  nearly  at  the  same  time,  and  sent 
to  us  from  San  Steffano,  where  he  first  put 
into  port  in  these  seas,  by  the  commandant 
Pignalosa,  the  fairest  possible  words,  in  no 
respect  different  from  what  had  been  uttered 
by  the  general,  we  rendered  thanks  to  God 
that  the  pleasure  we  had  received  from  the 
general's  embassy  was  not  to  be  alloyed  by 
any  doubt,  the  same  being  confirmed  to  us  by 
the  viceroy,  who  comforted  us  in  every  re- 
spect by  making  known  to  us  the  emperor's 
commission,  and  further  assured  us  that  no 
one  could  feel  more  alacrity  than  himself  to 
give  it  effect.  How  totally  all  this  was  re- 
versed in  fact,  there  needs  no  great  effort  to 
tell ;  for  there  is  no  one  who  does  not  know 
the  exceedingly  harsh,  intolerable,  and  igno- 
minious conditions  that  were  demanded  on  the 
viceroy's  part,  we  having  made  no  delay  in 
praying  him  to  hasten  to  state  the  conditions 
attached  to  such  welcome  promises.  And 
whereas  we  expected  to  hear  still  better  news 
than  had  yet  been  told  us,  it  being  always 
usual  to  keep  back  the  best  things  for  the 
last,  to  make  them  taste  more  gratefully,  not 
only  were  we  disappointed  of  finding  any- 
thing of  what  we  had  been  led  to  expect,  but 
we  met  with  the  very  contrary  ;  as  firstly,  we 
found  that  no  faith  whatever  was  placed  in  us, 
as  if  no  one  in  truth  could  offer  any  favoura- 
ble testimony  for  us  in  that  respect;  and  that 
there  was  demanded  of  us  by  way  of  security 
the  best  part  of  our  state  and  of  the  signory 
of  Florence,  and  then  a  sum  of  money,  intol- 
erable to  one  who  possessed  mountains  of 
gold,  much  more  to  us  who,  as  every  one 
was  aware,  had  not  a  carlino ;  that  it  was 
required,  to  our  great  disgrace,  and  to  the 
still  greater  disgrace  of  the  emperor,  that  we 
should  reinstate  those  who,  in  violation  of 
every  duty  human  and  divine,  had  come  so 
treasonably  to  assail  the  person  of  our  lord 
the  pope,  and  to  sack  the  church  of  St.  Peter 
and  the  sacred  palace;  and  that  it  was  insist- 
ed on  without  the  least  respect,  that  we  should 
further  stringently  bind  ourselves  to  his  impe- 
rial majesty,  all  the  world  knowing  how  much 
voluntary  zeal  to  that  effect  we  displayed  at 
the  time  when  most  of  all  we  were  in  a  flour- 
ishing condition :  and,  not  to  go  into  all  other 
particulars,  that  it  was  required  that  we 
should  make  terms  apart  and  alone,  which 
we  could  not  do  if  we  were  disposed  to  facili- 
tate the  conclusion  of  the  general  peace  for 
which  we,  were  willing  to  make  this  begin- 
ning. And  there  being  no  possibility  of  mov- 
ing the  viceroy  from  these  his  intolerable  de- 
mands, and  he  actually  invading  our  territo- 
ries without  any  cause,  though  we  at  all  times 


430 


APPENDIX. 


and  during  the  few  previous  months  had  for- 
borne to  molest  those  of  the  emperor  in  the 
kingdom  of  Naples,  the  arrival  of  Cesare  Fi- 
eramosca   took   place   in   the   interim ;    and 
whereas  he  found  the  viceroy  already  in  the 
state  of  the  church,  we  believe  that  he  was 
the  bearer  of  such  orders  on  the  emperor's 
part  to  his  excellency,  that  if  they  had  been 
obeyed,  things  would  not  have  been  brought 
to  such  a  pass.     And  whilst  his  excellency 
strove  to  do  at  once  two  very  opposite  things, 
— the  one  being  to  show  that  he   had   not 
done  ill  in  going  so  far,  or  not  to  lose  the 
opportunity  he  thought  he  had  of  winning  the 
whole  prize ;  the  other  being  to  obey  the  em- 
peror's commands,  which  were,  that  an  agree- 
ment should  by  all  means  be  come  to; — the 
consequence  was,  that  neither  the  one  nor 
the  other  has  come  to  pass  to  this  hour :  for 
his  excellency  found  he  was  deceived   and 
could  not  do  what  he  intended  ;  and  Signer 
Cesare  coming  forward   with  proposals  for  a 
truce  of  eight  days,  till  an  answer  should  be 
received  as  to  whether  the  signory  of  Venice 
would  join  in  the  arrangement,  when  he  ar- 
rived on  the  ground  he  found  the  armies  actu- 
ally engaged,  and  so  to  this  day  the  matter 
never  went  any  further ;  except  that  notwith- 
standing this  event,  and  knowing  for  certain 
that  we  were  most  secure  in  Lombardy  and 
in  Tuscany,  by  reason  of  the  satisfactory  pre- 
parations there,  and  the  vast  number  of  troops 
of  the  whole  league  in  those  parts,  and  know- 
ing too  that  there  was  no  remedy  whatever 
for  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom,  as  experience 
had  begun  to  demonstrate,  we  never  abandon- 
ed  our  longing  desire   and   our   efforts   for 
peace.     And  the  sole  gratification  we  derived 
from  the  fact  that  events  had  turned  out  so 
prosperously  for  ourselves  was,  that  it  enabled 
us  to  show  that  if  we  desired  peace  it  was 
from  sound  judgment  and  of  our  own  good 
will,  not  from  necessity  ;  and  to  demonstrate 
to  the  emperor  that  if  he  was  sincere,  as  we 
believed,  in  his   instructions  to  the  father- 
general,  purporting  that  even  if  everything 
were  at  his  absolute  disposal  matters  should 
be  restored  to  their  primitive  state,  we  who 
were  actually  in  the  condition  in  which  he 
supposed   himself  to   be,  were   ready  to  do 
what  he  had  purposed  on  his  part.     This  in- 
tention of  ours  was  rendered  still  more  in- 
tense by  letters  written  with  the  emperor's 
hand,  among  which  were  the  last  two  we  re- 
ceived through  Cesare  Fieramosca,  and  Paolo 
di  Arezza,  our  servant,  which  are  of  such 
tenour  that,   relying  on  those  letters  alone, 
we  should   have  seemed  safely  warranted  in 
placing  the  whole  world,  and  even  our  very 
Boul,  in  the  emperor's  hands;  so  earnestly  did 
his  majesty  conjure  us  to  believe  his  words, 
which    were   full  of  such  satisfaction,  such 
promises  and  assurances  of  aid,  that  we  could 
not  have  desired  anything  better.     And  as  in 


treating  for  peace,  we  never  desisted  from 
preparations  for  war,  so  long  as  we  were  un- 
certain what  reciprocity  should  be  shown  us, 
so  there  being  two  chiefs  in  Italy,  Bourbon 
and  the  viceroy,  we  took  pains  to  understand 
clearly  whether  it  was  necessary  to  treat  with 
but  one  of  them,  and  if  his  decisions  should 
be  binding  on  both,  or  with  both  separately  ; 
so  that  if  what  has  happened  should  occur, 
we  should  not  be  as  chargeable  with  lack  of 
prudence  as  others  are  with  faults  of  a  differ- 
ent kind.  Now,  finding  that  the  viceroy  had 
the  sole  power  of  treating  with  us,  v/e  wished 
to  have  this  put  in  the  clearest  light,  and  not 
to  trust  simply  to  the  declarations  of  the  father- 
general,  Signor  Cesare,  the  viceroy  himself, 
Paulod'Arezzo,  and  Bourbon,  but  to  understand 
from  the  said  Bourbon,  not  once  but  a  thousand 
times,  and  through  divers  persons,  if  he  was  dis- 
posed to  obey,  and  if  he  would  refuse  to  make 
any  reply  touching  what  concerned  the  vice- 
roy, should  it  be  proposed  to  treat  with  himself 
individually.  Now  it  was  easy  for  him,  as  it 
is  for  everybody,  to  cloak  over  his  designs 
with  a  show  of  virtue,  and  to  effect  by  fraud 
what  he  could  not  do  honestly  and  openly,  as 
(come  it  whence  it  might,  fraud  we  think 
there  was,  though  we  cannot  tell  whence  it 
proceeded)  seems  to  have  been  done  by  us, 
who  it  is  manifest  used  all  possible  diligence 
to  avoid  being  deceived;  so  much  so,  indeed, 
that  at  times  we  seemed  to  be  superstitious 
and  deserving  of  censure.  For  since  we  had 
warranty  both  by  letters  and  by  word  of 
mouth  from  the  emperor  of  his  good  feeling, 
and  that  Bourbon  would  obey  the  viceroy,  and 
since  by  way  of  precaution  his  majesty  had 
given  fresh  letters  lo  Paulo,  touching  this 
obedience  to  the  viceroy,  directed  to  the  said 
Bourbon,  and  the  whole  negociation  was  con- 
ducted with  such  ample  powers  from  his  ma- 
jesty as  ought  to  have  sufficed,  and  Bourbon 
had  expressed  his  readiness  to  submit  in  every 
respect  to  the  viceroy,  and  the  latter  was  af- 
terwards content  to  put  himself  into  our  power, 
so  strongly  did  every  thing  tend  towards  be- 
guiling us  into  the  condition  in  which  we  are 
placed,  that  I  know  not,  taking  all  the  cir- 
cumstances into  consideration,  how  it  would 
be  humanly  possible  to  find  more  reasons  than 
we  had  for  trusting  the  simple  faith  of  a  pri- 
vate gentleman.  But  to  speak  only  of  our 
own  proceedings,  it  was  much  more  lawful 
and  easy  for  us,  without  incurring  the  infamy 
of  breach  of  faith  or  any  other  disgrace,  to 
use  the  opportunity  presented  by  fortune  to 
hold  ourselves  perfectly  secure  in  Lombardy, 
(which  we  were  to  such  a  degree  that  Bour- 
bon would  never  have  advanced  if  the  army 
of  the  league  had  not  cooled  in  consequence 
of  the  earnest  prosecution  of  the  negotiations 
for  peace,)  and  to  avail  ourselves  of  that  ad- 
vantage to  follow  up  the  war  in  Naples,  seize 
the  whole  kingdom  except  two  or  three  for- 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


431 


tresses,  press  on  then  to  other  places  where 
the  emperor  might  have  sustained  loss  and 
discredit,  and  in  strict  union  with  the  confede- 
rates  render   all  his  designs  more  difficult. 
But  whereas  it  seemed  to  us  that  God's  ser- 
vice and  unhappy  Christendom  required  peace, 
we  purposed  to  forego  every  great  acquisi- 
tion or  victory  we  might  have  had,  and  to  of- 
fend  all   the    Christian  and  Italian  princes, 
without  at  all  knowing  what  we  were  to  look 
to  get,  but  thinking  we  should  come  off  well 
enough  if  the  emperor's  mind  were  such  as 
his   majesty   had   endeavoured   by  so   many 
proofs  to  make  it  appear.     And  we  made  very 
little  account  of  offending  the  other  Christian 
princes,  who  would  very  soon  have  been  un- 
der great  obligations  to  us  if  that  had  ensued 
which  his  majesty  had  so  strongly  assured  us 
of, — namely,  that  if  we  came  to  terms  with 
him,  he  would  put  into  our  hands  the  conclu- 
sion of  peace  and  agreement  with  the  Chris- 
tian princes.     And  if  any  one  should  be  in- 
clined  to   think   that  we   acted  with  other 
views,  nothing  could  exceed  the  malignity  of 
such  a  person,   supposing  him  to  know  us; 
should  he  not  know  us,  and  should  he  take 
the  pains  to  acquaint  himself  with  our  life 
and  conduct,  he  will  find  on  all  hands  that 
our  desires  have  been  invariably  worthy  and 
our  conduct  virtuous,  and  that  to  such  motives 
we  have  postponed  every  other  interest ;  and 
if  we  have   nevertheless   been    unfortunate, 
though  we  receive  at  the  hands  of  God  with 
all  humility  whatever  he  is  pleased  to  inflict, 
still  are  we  most  grievously  wronged  by  men, 
and  above  all  by  those  who,  (though  up  to  a 
certain  time  they  may  shelter  themselves  by 
force  and  by  the  disobedience  of  others,  whilst 
if  reason  were  to  be  heard  there  would  be 
enough  to  say  against  them)  ought  now  and 
for  some  time  past,  to  have  acted  difi'erentiy 
both  for  their  own  honour  and  in  considera- 
tion of  what  they  owe  to  God  and  the  world. 
We  entered  into  the  treaty  afterwards  made 
at  Florence  with   Bourbon's  people  through 
the  mediation  of  the  viceroy,  and  which  was 
not  observed,  because  we  did  not  wish  to  seem 
as  though  we  cherished  the  design  of  doing  ill 
to  those  who  had  been  the  cause  of  our  being 
thus  treated,  whom  we  leave  to  the  just  judg- 
ment of  God :  from  his  mercy  to  us  and  to  his 
church  let  us  hope  only  in  the  piety,  the  faith, 
and  the  virtue  of  the  emperor,  that  since  we 
have  been  brought  to  our  present  condition 
through  the  opinion  we  entertained  of  him, 
he  will  treat  us  accordingly,  and  exalt  us  in 
proportion  as  we  are  now  brought  low.     Let 
us  look  to  his  majesty  for  such  satisfaction  for 
the  infinite  contumely  and  injuries  we  have 
sustained,  as  may  accord  with  his  greatness 
and  with  the  justice  of  the  case,  if  indeed  it 
be  possible  that  any  amends  can  be  equiva- 
lent to  the  least  part  of  our  wrongs.     We 


spontaneous  grace  of  the  suggestions  which 
we  cannot  but  think  will  occur  to  him,  and 
which  he  will  send  and  offer  us.  Only  let  us 
say,  that  putting  at  the  very  lowest  what  can 
be  asked,  and  which  it  would  rather  be  a  dis- 
grace for  his  majesty  not  to  grant  and  for  us 
not  to  ask,  than  the  performance  thereof 
would  be  difficult,  his  majesty  ought  to  com- 
ply with  these  terms  : — 

[That  we,  our  own  person,  the  sacred  col- 
lege and  the  court,  be  restored  in  all  tempo- 
ralities and  spiritualities  to  that  fooling  on 
which  we  stood  at  the  time  the  preliminaries 
were  entered  into  with  the  viceroy,  and  that 
we  be  not  burthened  with  the  payment  of  one 
penny. 

[And  if  any  one  on  hearing  this  shall  jeer 
us,  let  us  answer,  that  if  the  things  above 
stated  are  true,  and  it  moves  wonder  that  we 
are  appeased  with  this,  this  may  well  be  and 
with  reason:  but  if  it  appear  to  him  truly 
strange,  let  him  consider  what  kindness  he 
shows  in  thus  judging,  whether  to  the  empe- 
ror or  to  ourselves :  for  the  emperor — let  him 
ponder  well  that  so  often  as  this  and  much 
more  is  not  promised  on  his  majesty's  part,  he 
is  thereby  made  an  accomplice  in  all  the 
wrong  that  has  been  done  here :  for  ourselves 
— let  us  say  that  this  is  a  mere  perfidious  at- 
tempt to  insinuate  slanderously,  what  no  one 
would  ever  venture  to  assert  openly.  It  is 
not  enough  to  take  heed  that  we  stand,  but 
likewise  how  we  stand  ;  and  better  is  it  assur- 
edly that  we  do  at  the  prompting  of  virtue 
and  judgment  that  which  time  most  certainly 
will  at  last  bring  about,  in  the  life-time  of 
others,  if  not  in  our  own.] 

16.  Sommario  delV  isloria  d' Italia  dalV  anno 
1512  insino  a  1527  scritto  da  Francesco 
Vettori.  [Summary  of  the  history  of  Italy 
from  1512  to  1527,  written  by  Francesco 
Vettori.] 

A  most  remarkable  little  work  by  a  sensi- 
ble man,  the  friend  of  Machiavel  and  Guicci- 
ardini,  and  one  profoundly  versed  in  the  affairs 
of  the  house  of  Medici,  and  of  all  the  rest  of 
Italy.  I  found  it  in  the  Corsini  library  in 
Rome,  but  I  was  only  allowed  to  make  ex- 
tracts from  it ;  otherwise  I  would  have  it 
printed  as  it  highly  deserves  to  be. 

The  plague  of  the  year  1527  having  driven 
Francesco  Vettori  from  Florence,  he  writes 
his  survey  of  recent  events  at  his  villa. 

He  directs  his  attention  chiefly  to  Floren- 
tine matters.  His  way  of  thinking  nearly  re- 
sembles that  of  his  friends  above-mentioned. 
Speaking  of  the  form  of  government  given  to 
his  native  city  in  the  year  1512,  which  was 
such  as  to  make  cardinal  Medici,  afterwards 
Leo  X.,  all-powerful  ("  si  ridusse  la  citta,che 
non  si  facea  se  non  quanto  volea  il  card'  de 


will  not  descend  to  particulars,  to  take  off"  the  I  Medici,")  he  adds,  people  to  be  sure  call  this 


432 


APPENDIX. 


tyranny ;  but  for  his  own  part  he  knows  no 
state,  ancient  or  modern,  whether  monarchy 
or  republic,  which  had  not  some  tinge  of  ty- 
ranny. "Tutte  quelle  republiche  e  princi- 
pati  de'  quali  io  ho  cognitione  per  historia  o 
che  io  ho  veduto  mi  pare  che  sentino  della 
tirannide."  If  the  example  of  France  or  of 
Venice  is  objected  to  him,  he  answers,  that  in 
France  the  nobility  have  the  preponderance 
in  the  state,  and  are  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
benefices;  whilst  in  Venice  three  thousand 
men  are  seen  ruling  over  more  than  one 
hundred  thousand,  not  always  with  justice ; 
and  he  lays  it  down  that  there  is  no  difference 
between  a  king  and  a  tyrant,  except  that  a 
good  ruler  deserves  to  be  called  a  king,  and 
a  bad  one  a  tyrant. 

In  spite  of  the  close  relation  in  which  he 
stood  to  both  the  popes  of  the  house  of  Medici, 
he  is  little  convinced  of  the  Christianity  of 
the  papal  power.  "  Chi  considera  bene  la 
legge  evangelica,  vedra  i  pontefici,  ancora 
che  tenghino  il  nome  di  vicario  di  Christo, 
haver  indutto  una  nova  religione,  che  non  ve 
n'e  altro  di  Christo  che  il  nome :  il  qual  co- 
manda  la  poverta  e  loro  vogliono  la  richezza, 
comanda  la  humilta  e  loro  vogliono  la  super- 
bia,  comanda  la  obedientia  e  loro  vogliono  co- 
mandar  a  ciascuno."  [Whoever  carefully 
considers  the  law  of  the  gospel  will  perceive 
that  the  popes,  though  they  bear  the  name  of 
Christ's  vicar,  have  introduced  a  new  religion, 
which  has  nothing  in  it  of  Christ  but  the 
name.  Christ  enjoins  poverty,  and  they  de- 
sire riches ;  he  enjoins  humility,  and  they  de- 
sire pride ;  he  enjoins  obedience,  and  they 
desire  to  command  every  one.]  It  is  plain 
how  much  this  secularity,  and  its  opposition 
to  the  spiritual  principle,  prepared  the  way 
for  protestantism. 

Vettori  ascribes  the  election  of  Leo,  above 
all,  to  the  opinion  generally  entertained  of  his 
good-nature.  Two  terrible  popes  had  reigned 
consecutively,  and  the  world  had  had  enough 
of  them.  Medici  was  chosen.  "  Havea  sa- 
puto  in  modo  sirnulare  che  era  tenuto  di  ottimi 
costumi."  [He  had  managed  appearances  so 
skilfully,  that  he  passed  for  a  man  of  excel- 
lent moral  conduct.]  This  election  was  chiefly 
due  to  the  exertions  of  Bibbiena,  who  knew 
the  inclinations  of  all  the  cardinals,  and  had 
the  art  to  prevail  upon  them  in  the  teeth  of 
their  own  interests.  "  Condusse  fuori  del  con- 
clave alcuni  di  loro  a  promettere,  e  nel  con- 
clave a  consentire  a  detta  elettione  contra 
tutte  le  ragioni." 

He  gives  a  very  full  and  satisfactory  ac- 
count of  the  expedition  of  Francis  I.  in  the 
year  151.5,  and  of  the  bearing  of  Leo  X.  dur- 
ing that  period.  That  it  had  no  worse  conse- 
quences for  the  pope,  he  attributes  especially 
to  the  dexterity  of  Tricarico,  who  entered  the 
French  camp  at  the  moment  the  king  was 
mounting  his  horse  to  oppose  the  Swiss  at 


Marignano,  and  who  conducted  the  subse- 
quent negociations  with  consummate  pru- 
dence. 

He  next  speaks  of  the  revolt  of  Urbino.  I 
have  already  mentioned*  the  reasons  Vettori 
assigns  for  Leo's  conduct.  "  Leone  disse, 
che  se  non  privava  il  duca  dello  state,  el  quale 
si  era  condotto  con  lui  e  preso  danari  et  in  su 
I'ardore  della  guerra  era  convenuto  con  li 
nemici  ne  pensato  che  era  suo  subdito  ne  ad 
altro,  che  non  sarebbe  si  piccolo  barone  che 
non  ardisse  di  fare  il  medesimo  o  peggio :  e 
che  havendo  trovato  il  ponteficato  in  riputa- 
tione  Io  voleva  mantenere.  Et  in  verita  vo- 
lendo  vivere  i  pontefici  come  sono  vivuti  da 
molte  diecine  d'anni  in  qua,  il  papa  non  poteva 
lasciare  il  delitto  del  duca  impunito." 

Vettori  wrote  also  a  separate  life  of  Lo- 
renzo de'  Medici.  He  praises  him  more  than 
does  any  other  author:  he  sets  his  govern- 
ment of  Florence  in  a  new  and  peculiar  light. 
The  contents  of  the  biography  and  of  the  sum- 
mary before  us  are  supplementary  each  of  the 
other. 

He  treats  likewise  of  the  election  for  em- 
peror, which  occurred  in  this  period,  and  says 
that  Leo  backed  the  king  of  France  only  be- 
cause he  was  aware  before  hand  that  the  Ger- 
mans would  not  elect  him.  He  calculated, 
according  to  Vettori,  that  Francis  I.,  fbr  the 
sake  of  preventing  the  election  of  Charles, 
would  give  his  interest  to  some  German  prince. 
I  meet  with  the  unexpected  assertion,  which 
I  do  not  indeed  desire  to  have  received  impli- 
citly, that  the  king  did  actually  at  last  en- 
deavour to  promote  the  election  of  Joachim  of 
Brandenburg.  "II  re  .  .  .  haveva  volto  ilfa- 
vore  suo  al  marchese  di  Brandenburg,  uno 
delli  electori,  et  era  contento  che  li  danari 
prometteva  a  quelli  electori  che  eleggevano 
lui,  dargli  a  quelli  che  eleggevano  dicto  mar- 
chese." At  all  events,  the  conduct  of  Joachim, 
with  regard  to  the  election,  was  very  extra- 
ordinary. This  whole  history,  strangely  per- 
verted as  it  has  been,  both  intentionally  and 
unintentionally,  certainly  deserves  to  be  duly 
elucidated. f 

Vettori  regards  Leo's  league  with  Charles 
as,  bej  ond  conception,  imprudent.  "  La  mala 
fortuna  di  Italia  Io  indusse  a  fare  quelle  che 
nessuno  uomo  prudente  avrebbe  facto."  He 
lays  the  blame  of  it  particularly  on  the  per- 
suasions of  Geronimo  Adorno.  He  takes  no 
notice  of  the  natural  considerations  influenc- 
ing the  house  of  Medici. 

He  relates  some  particulars  of  the  pope's  death 
which  I  have  incorporated  in  the  text.  He 
does  not  believe  he  was  poisoned.  "  Fu  detto 
che  mori  di  veneno,  e  questo  quasi  sempre  si 
dice  delli  uomini  grandi  e  maxime  quando 
muojono  di  malattie  acute."     In  his  opinion, 


*  Supra,  page  40. 

1 1  have  since  endeavoured  in  my  German  history  to 
;ome  nearer  the  truth.    (Note  to  the  2d  edition.) 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


433 


the  wonder  rather  was  that  Leo  had  lived  so 
long. 

He  confirms  the  fact,  that  Adrian  at  first 
refused  to  do  any  thing  against  the  French  : 
it  was  not  till  after  the  receipt  of  an  urgent 
letter  from  the  emperor  that  he  consented  to 
do  some  little  in  that  way. 

It  would  carry  us  too  far  if  we  were  to  re- 
peat all  the  remarks  made  in  this  work  on  the 
further  course  of  events.  It  is  remarkable, 
even  in  the  passages  in  which  the  author  only 
expresses  his  own  sentiments :  in  these,  as 
already  observed,  he  is  near  a  kin  to  Machia- 
vel.  He  had  just  as  bad  an  opinion  of  man- 
kind. "  Quasi  tutti  gli  uomini  sono  adulatori 
e  dicono  volontieri  quello  che  piaccia  agli 
uomini  grandi,  benche  sentino  altrimenti  nel 
cuore."  [Almost  all  men  are  flatterers,  and 
readily  say  what  may  please  great  men, 
though  in  their  hearts  they  think  differently.] 
The  violation  of  the  treaty  of  Madrid  by 
Francis  I.  he  pronounces  the  finest  and  no- 
blest thing  that  had  been  done  for  many 
centuries.  "  Francesco,"  he  says,  "  fece  una 
cosa  molta  conveaiente,  a  promettere  assai 
con  animo  di  non  observare,  per  potersi  tro- 
vare  a  difendere  la  patria  sua."  [Francis  did 
very  properly  in  promising  what  he  was  pretty 
well  resolved  not  to  perform,  so  that  he  might 
thereby  be  placed  in  a  condition  to  defend  his 
country.]  This  is  a  view  of  the  subject  wor- 
thy of  the  "  Principe." 

But  Vettori  claims  kindred  on  other  grounds 
besides  with  the  great  authors  of  that  age. 
The  work  before  us  is  full  of  originality  and 
talent,  and  is  the  more  attractive  from  its 
brevity.  The  author  sets  down  no  more  than 
he  actually  knows  ;  but  that  is  truly  impor- 
tant. It  would  require  a  more  minute  exami- 
nation to  do  justice  to  his  merits. 

17.  Sommario  di  la  relatione  di  S.  Marco 
Foscari  venulo  orator  del  sormno  pontfjice 
a  di  2  Marzo  1526. — Sanuto,  vol.  xli. 
[Summary  of  the  report  of  iMarco  Foscari's 
embassy  to  the  pope,  &c.] 

Marco  Foscari  was  engaged  in  the  embassy 
that  tendered- allegiance  to  Adrian.  Heap- 
pears  to  have  remained  in  Rome  from  that 
time  till  1526. 

He  says  something  of  Adrian's  times;  but 
his  authority,  with  respect  to  those  of  Clement 
Vli.,  is  of  the  more  weight,  since  he  had  con- 
stant and  animated  intercourse  with  that 
pope,  in  consequence  of  the  close  connexion 
then  existing  between  Venice  and  the  see  of 
Rome. 

He  thus  portrays  Clement.  "  Horn  pru- 
dente  e  savio,  ma  iongo  a  risolversi,  e  di  qua 
vien  le  sue  operation  varie.  Discorre  ben, 
vede  tutto,  ma  e  molto  timido ;  niun  in  mate- 
ria di  state  pol  con  lui,  aide  tutti  e  poi  fa 
quello  li  par  :  homo  justo  et  homo  di  dio :  et 
in  signatura,  dove  intravien  tre  cardinal!  e 
55 


tre  referendarii,  non  fara  co.«!a  in  pregiuditio 
di  altri,  e  come  el  segna  qualche  supplication, 
non  revocha  piu,  come  feva  papa  Leon.  Ques- 
to  non  vende  beneficii,  no  li  da  per  symonia, 
non  tuo  officii  con  dar  beneficii  per  venderli, 
come  feva  papa  Leon  e  li  altri,  ma  vol  tutto 
passi  rectamente.  Non  spende,  non  dona,  ne 
tuol  quel  di  altri :  onde  e  reputa  mixero.  E 
qualche  murmuration  in  Roma,  etiam  per 
causa  del  cardinal  Armelin,  qual  truova  molte 
invention  per  trovar  danari  in  Roma  e  fa  met- 
ter  nove  angarie  e  fino  a  chi  porta  tordi  a 
Roma  et  altre  cose  di  manzar  .  .  .  E  conti- 
nentissimo,  non  si  sa  di  alcuna  sorte  di  luxu- 
ria  che  usi.  .  .  .  Non  vol  buffoni,  non  musici, 
non  va  a  cazare.  Tutto  il  suo  piacere  e  di 
rasonar  con  inzegneri  e  parlar  di  aque."  [A 
prudent  and  sage  man,  but  slow  to  resolve, 
whence  proceeds  the  changeableness  of  his 
proceedings.  He  reasons  well,  sees  every 
thing,  but  is  very  timid :  no  one  has  influence 
over  him  in  matters  of  state :  he  hears  all, 
and  then  does  what  seems  fit  to  himself.  He 
is  a  just  and  a  godly  man ;  and  in  the  signa- 
tura, in  which  three  cardinals  and  three  re- 
ferendarii take  part,  he  will  not  do  any  thing 
to  the  prejudice  of  the  others;  and  when  he 
affixes  his  signature  to  any  petition,  he  never 
revokes,  as  pope  Leo  used  to  do.  This  pope 
does  not  sell  benefices,  nor  does  he  bestow 
them  simoniacally  :  he  does  not  exchange  be- 
nefices for  offices,  that  he  may  sell  the  latter, 
as  pope  Leo  and  the  others  have  done,  but  he 
wislieg  that  every  thing  should  take  place 
legitimately.  He  does  not  spend,  nor  make 
presents,  nor  take  what  belongs  to  others ; 
hence  he  is  reputed  penurious.  There  is 
some  murmuring  in  Rome  likewise  on  account 
of  cardinal  Armelin,  who  has  devised  many 
expedients  for  raising  money  by  imposing 
new  duties,  even  to  the  extent  of  imposing  a 
toll  on  those  who  bring  thrushes  and  other 
eatables  into  Rome.  .  .  .  He  is  extremely  con- 
tinent ;  he  is  not  known  to  indulge  in  any  kind 
of  luxury.  .  .  .  He  is  not  fond  of  comedians 
nor  of  musicians,  nor  does  he  hunt.  His  only 
recreation  is  in  discoursing  with  engineers, 
and  talking  about  water-works.] 

He  then  proceeds  to  speak  of  his  advisers. 
The  pope  allowed  his  nephew  no  influence ; 
even  Giberto  had  not  much  power  in  affairs 
of  state :  "  il  papa  lo  aide,  ma  poi  fa  al  suo 
modo."  He  also  states  that  Giberto — "  devo- 
to  e  savio"  [a  pious  and  wise  man] — was  for 
the  French,  and  Schomberg — "  libero  nel  suo 
parlar  [free  with  his  tongue] — for  the  empe- 
ror. Zuan  Foietta  was  another  strong  adhe- 
rent of  the  emperor's;  he  had  been  less 
frequent  in  his  attendance  on  the  pope  since 
the  latter  had  entered  into  an  alliance  with 
France.  Foscarini  makes  mention  also  of  the 
pope's  two  secretaries,  Jac.  Salviati  and  Fr. 
Vizardini  (Guicciardini),  the  latter  of  whom 
he  esteems  the  abler  man,  but  wholly  French. 


434 


APPENDIX. 


It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  pope  did  not 
stand  much  better  with  the  French  than  with 
the  imperialists.  He  was  well  avvarg  what 
he  had  to  expect  from  them.  It  was  only 
with  Venice  he  felt  himself  truly  allied. 
"  Conosce,  se  non  era  la  Signoria  nostra,  saria 
ruinado  e  caza  di  Roma."  [He  knows  that 
but  for  our  signory  he  would  be  ruined  and 
driven  out  of  Rome.] 

They  strengthened  each  other  in  their 
schemes  for  the  advantage  of  Italy,  and  felt 
their  honour  involved  in  them.  The  pope 
was  proud  that  he  had  hindered  Venice  from 
coming  to  terms  with  the  emperor :  on  the 
other  hand,  our  ambassador  positively  asserts 
that  it  was  he  himself  by  whose  means  Italy 
had  become  free ;  that  the  pope  had  actually 
resolved  to  recognise  Bourbon  as  duke  of 
JVJilan  ;  but  that  he,  Foscari,  had  so  earnestly 
dissuaded  him  against  doing  so,  that  he  aban- 
doned his  purpose. 

He  corroborates  the  fact,  not  hinted  at  in 
the  foregoing  instruction,  that  the  pope  would 
only  on  certain  conditions  grant  the  emperor 
the  dispensation  that  was  necessary  to  his 
marriage :  the  emperor,  however,  contrived 
to  obtam  it  without  the  conditions. 

There  is  one  thing  particularly  remarkable 
with  regard  to  this  relation.  W^hen  orders 
were  given  at  a  later  period  that  the  ambas- 
sadors should  made  and  send  in  their  reports 
in  writing,  Marco  Foscari  did  so  too.  It  is 
striking  how  much  weaker  the  second  report 
is  than  the  first.  The  latter  was  deliver- 
ed immediately  after  the  events  had  occur- 
red, and  while  they  were  still  fresh  and  vivid 
in  the  memory ;  afterwards  so  many  other 
great  events  had  occurred,  that  the  recollec- 
tions of  the  first  had  become  obscured.  This 
shows  how  much  we  owe  on  this  score  to  the 
diligence  of  the  indefatigable  Sanuto.  This 
is  the  last  report,  a  knowledge  of  which  I 
have  derived  from  his  chronicle.  Others  fol- 
low, which  have  been  preserved  in  copies 
made  and  revised  by  their  authors. 

18.  Relatione  riferita  nel  consiglio  di  pre- 
gadi  per  il  clarissimo  Gaspar  Contarini, 
ritornalo  ambascialore  del  papa  Clemente 
VII.  e  dal  i?/ij9''«  Carlo  V.,  Marzo  1.52.'l 
Informationi  politiche  XXV- — Berlin  Li- 
brary. [Gaspar  Contarini's  report  of  his 
embassy  to  (Jlement  VII.  and  Charles  V. 
i.arch,  1530.] 

This  is  the  same  Gaspar  Contarini  of  whom 
we  have  had  occasion  to  speak  in  terms  of 
such  high  praise  in  our  history. 

After  liaving  already  fulfilled  an  embassy 
to  (-harles  V.  (his  report  of  this  embassy  is 
exceedingly  rare:  1  have  only  seen  one  copy 
of  it  in  the  Albani  library  in  Rome,)  he  was 
appointed  ambassador  to  the  pope  in  1528, 
before  the  latter  had  returned  to  Rome  after 


so  many  misfortunes  and  so  protracted  an  ab- 
sence. He  accompanied  his  holiness  from 
Viterbo  to  Rome,  and  from  Rome  to  Bologna, 
to  attend  the  coronation  of  the  emperor.  He 
took  part  in  the  negociations  carried  on  in  the 
latter  city. 

He  gives  an  account  of  all  he  witnessed  in 
Viterbo,  Rome,  and  Bologna :  the  only  thing 
we  have  to  find  fault  with  is,  that  his  narra- 
tive is  so  brief. 

Contarini's  embassy  took  place  at  the  im- 
portant period  in  which  the  pope  was  <iradu- 
ally  inclining  to  a  renewal  of  the  alliance 
with  tlie  emperor,  which  had  formerly  sub- 
sisted between  hun  and  the  house  of  JViedici. 
The  ambassador  very  soon  remarked  with 
amazement  that  the  pope,  though  so  grossly 
offended  by  the  imperialists,  had  still  almost 
more  confidence  in  them  than  in  the  confede- 
rates. In  this  the  pontiff  was  confirmed 
chiefly  by  Musettola;  "huomo,"  as  Contarini 
says,  "  ingegnoso  e  di  valore  assai,  ma  di  lin- 
gua e  di  audacia  maggiore"  [a  man  of  consi- 
derable talent  and  ability,  but  of  greater 
freedom  of  speech  and  audacity].  So  long  as 
the  fortune  of  war  was  dubious,  the  pope 
remained  undecided;  but  when  the  French 
were  beaten,  and  the  imperialists  gradually 
showed  a  willingness  to  give  up  the  fortresses 
in  their  possession,  he  no  longer  hesitated. 
By  the  spring  of  1529  the  pope  was  once 
more  on  good  terms  with  the  emperor:  in 
June  they  concluded  their  alliance,  the  stipu- 
lations of  which  Contarini  found  it  difficult  to 
get  sight  of. 

Contarini  likewise  describes  the  persons 
with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 

The  pope  was  rather  large  and  well-made. 
He  was  at  this  time  not  quite  recovered  from 
the  effects  of  so  many  calamities,  and  from  a 
recent  severe  illness.  "  He  knows  neither 
great  love,"  says  Contarini,  "nor  violent  ha- 
tred ;  he  is  choleric,  but  he  has  so  much  self- 
command  that  no  one  would  suppose  him  so. 
He  would  fain  remedy  the  evils  that  oppress 
the  church,  but  he  adopts  no  fit  means  to  that 
end.  His  inclinations  are  not  to  be  judged  of 
with  certainty.  For  a  while  k  seemed  as  if 
he  cared  little  about  Florence,  and  now  he 
lets  an  imperial  army  march  against  that 
city." 

Several  changes  had  taken  place  in  the 
ministry  of  Clement  VII. 

The  datario  Giberto  still  possessed  more 
than  any  one  else  the  special  confidence  of 
his  master;  but  after  the  disastrous  issue  of 
the  measure  taken  under  his  administration, 
he  retired  of  his  own  accord,  and  devoted 
himself  to  his  bishopric  of  Verona.  Nicolo 
Schomberg,  on  the  other  hand,  had  again 
come  to  be  employed  in  the  most  important 
affairs,  in  consequence  of  his  embassy  to  Na- 
ples. Contarini  describes  him  as  a  strong 
partisan  of  the  emperor,  a  man  of  good  sense, 


PERIOD  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT. 


435 


beneficent,  but  irritable.  Jacopo  Salviati  had 
also  much  influoiico,  and  was  still  considered 
as  inclined  to  the  French  interests. 

Short  as  is  this  little  work,  it  is  neverthe- 
less highly  instructive. 

19.  Inslruciio  data  Ccesari  a  rev™"  Campeg- 
gio  in  dieta  Auffustana  1530  {MS.  Roma). 
[Instructions  given  to  the  emperor  by  car- 
dinal Campeggio  in  the  diet  of  Augsburg, 
1530.] 

Hitherto  political  matters  had  been  the 
most  important,  but  by  degrees  ecclesiastical 
affairs  challenged  attention.  At  the  very 
beginning  of  this  document,  we  light  upon 
that  blood-thirsty  scheme  for  a  reduction  of 
the  protestants  of  which  I  have  already  spo- 
ken.    It  is  here  even  entitled  an  instruction. 

The  cardinal  says,  that  as  became  the  place 
he  filled,  and  in  compliance  with  the  orders 
of  the  apostolic  see,  he  would  set  forth  the 
measures  which,  according  to  his  judgment, 
it  was  necessary  to  adopt. 

He  thus  describes  the  state  of  affairs :  "  In 
alcuni  luoglu  della  Germania  per  le  sugges- 
tioni  di  questi  ribaldi  sono  abrogati  lutti  li 
christiani  riti  a  noi  dagli  antichi  santi  padri 
dati:  non  piu  si  ministrano  li  sacramenti,  non 
si  osservano  li  voti,  li  matrimonii  si  confun- 
dono  e  nelli  gradi  prohibiti  della  legge."  [In 
some  places  in  Germany,  all  the  Christian 
rites  handed  down  to  us  from  the  ancient 
holy  fathers  have  been  abolished  through  the 
suggestions  of  these  scoundrels:  the  sacra- 
ments are  no  longer  administered ;  vows  are 
no  longer  observed,  and  marriages  are  con- 
tracted promiscuously,  and  within  the  forbid- 
den degrees] — and  so  forth,  lor  it  would  be 
superfluous  further  to  transcribe  this  capuci- 
nade. 

He  reminds  the  emperor  that  this  sect 
would  not  procure  him  any  increase  of  power, 
as  he  had  been  promised.  He  pledges  him- 
self to  afibrd  the  emperor  his  special  assist- 
ance in  the  measures  he  recommends.  "  Et 
io,  se  sera  bisogno,  con  le  censure  e  pene 
ecclesiastiche  li  proseguiro,  non  pretermet- 
tendo  cosa  a  far  che  sia  necessaria,  privando 
li  heretici  beneficiati  delli  beneficii  loro  e 
separandoli  con  le  excommunicationi  del  cat- 
tolico  gregge,  e  V.  Cels.  col  suo  bando  impe- 
riale  justo  e  formidabile  li  ridurra  a  tale  e  si 
horrendo  esterminio  die  ovvero  saranno  cos- 
tretti  a  ritornare  alia  santi  e  cattolica  fede 
ovvero  con  la  loro  total  ruina  mancar  delli 
beni  e  della  vita.  .  .  .  Se  alcuni  ve  ne  fossero, 
che  die  nol  voglia,  li  quali  obstinatamente 
perseverassero  in  questa  diabolica  via,  . 
quella  (V.  M.)  potra  mettere  la  mano  al  ferro 
et  al  foco  et  radicitus  extirpare  queste  male  e 
venenose  piante."  [And  1,  if  there  shall  be 
need,  will  pursue  them  with  the  church's 
censures  and  penalties,  omitting  nothing  that 


may  be  necessary,  depriving  the  beneficed 
lieretics  of  their  benefices,  and  separating 
them  by  excommunication  from  the  catholic 
flock  ;  and  your  highness,  by  your  just  and 
formidable  imperial  ban,  will  reduce  them  to 
such,  and  so  horrible  an  extremity,  that  either 
they  will  be  constrained  to  return  to  the  holy 
catholic  faith,  or  to  be  utterly  ruined  and  de- 
spoiled of  goods  and  life.  .  .  .  If  there  should 
be  any  of  them,  which  God  forbid,  who  should 
obstinately  persevere  in  this  diabolical  course 
.  .  .  your  majesty  may  ply  fire  and  sword, 
and  radically  extirpate  these  noxious  and 
venomous  weeds.] 

He  also  purposes  that  the  kings  of  England 
and  of  France  should  confiscate  the  property 
of  the  heretics. 

But  he  dwells  above  all  on  Germany  ;  he 
shows  how  the  articles  of  Barcelona,  to  which 
he  frequently  refers,  should  in  his  opinion  be 
interpreted.  "  Sara  al  proposito,  poiche  sara 
ridotta  questa  magnifica  e  cattolica  impresa 
a  buono  e  dritto  camino,  che  alcuni  giorni 
dipoi  si  eleggeranno  inquisitori  buoni  e  santi, 
li  quali  con  summa  diligentia  et  assiduita  va- 
dino  cercando  et  inquirendo,  s'alcuni,  quod 
absit,  perseverassero  in  queste  diaboliche  et 
heretiche  opinioni  ne  volessero  in  alcun  modo 

lasciarle, et  in  quel  case  siano  gas- 

tigati  e  puniti  secundo  le  regole  e  norma  che 
si  osserva  in  Spagna  con  li  Marrani."  [It 
will  be  convenient,  after  this  magnificent  and 
catholic  enterprize  shall  have  been  put  fairly 
on  its  way,  that  some  days  afterwards  there 
be  elected  good  and  holy  inquisitors,  who 
shall  go  about  seeking  and  inquiring,  with  the 
utmost  diligence  and  assiduity,  if  there  be 
any,  which  Heaven  forbid,  who  persevere  in 
these  diabolical  and  heretical  opinions,  and 
will  by  no  means  be  persuaded  to  leave  them, 
and  in  that  case  tliey  shall  be  cas- 
tigated and  punished  according  to  the  rules 
and  regulations  observed  in  Spam  with  regard 
to  the  Moors.] 

Fortunately  all  were  not  of  these  opinions. 
Neither  do  such  schemes  appear  frequently  in 
the  documents  we  have  met  with. 

20.  Relatio  viri  nobilis  Antonii  Surianidocto- 
ris  et  equitis,  qui  reversus  orator  ex  curia 
Romana,  prcsenlata  in  collegio  \H  Julii 
1533.  {Archivio  di  Venetia.)  [Report 
by  Antonio  Suriano,  doctor  and  knight,  of 
his  embassy  to  Rome.] 

"  Among  the  most  important  things,  he 
begins  by  observing,  "  which  are  to  be  no- 
ticed by  ambassadors,  are  the  personal  quali- 
ties of  the  sovereigns  to  whom  they  are  ac- 
credited." 

He  describes,  in  the  first  place,  the  charac- 
ter of  Clement  Vil. 

He  remarks,  that  if  the  regularity  of  that 
pope's  habits  of  life  be  observed,  his  unwearied 


436 


APPENDIX. 


assiduity  in  giving"  audiences,  and  his  strict 
attention  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  church, 
one  would  be  disposed  to  consider  him  of  a 
melancholy  temperament;  those  who  know 
him,  however,  are  of  opinion  that  his  temper- 
ament is  sanguine,  only  that  he  is  of  a  cold 
heart:  so  that  he  is  slow  in  making  up  his 
mind,  and  easy  to  move  from  his  resolution. 

"  lo  per  me  non  trovo  che  in  cose  perti- 
nent! a  stato  la  sia  proceduta  cumgrande  dis- 
simulatione.  Bencauta:  et  quelle  cose  che 
S.  S'a  non  vole  che  si  intendano,  piu  presto 
le  tace  che  dirle  sotto  falso  colore."  [For  my 
own  part,  I  do  not  think  that  he  has  acted 
with  great  dissimulation  in  matters  pertaining 
to  the  state.  He  is  very  cautious  ;  and  those 
things  which  his  holiness  does  not  wish  should 
be  known,  he  is  rather  silent  about  than  states 
them  in  false  colours.] 

Those  of  the  ministers  of  Clement  VII. 
who  were  chiefly  mentioned  in  former  reports, 
were  no  longer  of  weight :  they  are  not  even 
mentioned  by  Suriano.  On  the  other  hand, 
Jacopo  Salviati  comes  prominently  forward, 
having  then  the  chief  conduct  of  the  admin- 
istration of  Romagna  and  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
States  in  general.  The  pope  trusted  him  im- 
plicitly in  this.  His  holiness  saw,  indeed, 
that  the  minister  looked  rather  too  eagerly 
after  his  own  advantage ;  he  had  even  com- 
plained of  this  in  Bologna ;  but  still  he  em- 
ployed him. 

Hence  Salviati  was  hated  by  the  pope's 
other  relations.  They  thought  he  stood  ift 
their  way,  and  they  imputed  to  him  that 
Clement  displayed  little  liberality  to  them, 

" pare   che  suadi  al  papa  a  tener 

strette  le  mani  ne  li  subministri  danarisecun- 
do  e  lo  appetite  loro,  che  e  grande  di  spender 
e  spander." 

But  they  were  very  much  at  variance 
among  themselves.  Cardinal  Ippolito  Medici 
would  fain  have  been  a  temporal  prince.  The 
pope  only  said  of  him  at  times :  "  He  is  a  mad 
devil :  the  fool  does  not  wish  to  be  a  priest" 
— (L'e  matto  diavolo,  el  matto  non  vole  csser 
prete);  but  he  was  exceeding-ly  incensed 
when  Ippolito  actually  made  attempts  to  drive 
duke  Alexander  out  of  Florence. 

Cardinal  Ippolito  lived  on  terms  of  intimate 
friendship  with  the  young  Catherine  of  Medi- 
ci, who  is  here  called  the  "  duche.ssina."  She 
was  his  "  cusina  in  terzo  grado,  con  la  quale 
vive  in  amor  grande,  essendo  anco  reciproca- 
mente  da  lei  amato,  ne  piu  in  altri  lei  siconfi- 
da  ne  ad  altri  ricorre  in  li  sui  bisogni  e  desiderj 
salvo  al  dicto  cardl"  [third  cousin,  with  whom 
he  lives  in  great  affection,  which  is  fully  re- 
ciprocated by  her  ;  and  there  is  no  one  in 
whom  she  more  confides,  nor  has  she  recourse 
to  any  one  respecting  her  wants  and  wishes 
except  the  said  cardinal]. 

Suriano  thus  describes  the  girl  who  was 
destined  to  occupy  so  important  a  position  in 


the  world  in  the  following  terms:  "Di  natura 
assai  vivace,  mostra  gentil  spirito,  ben  accos- 
tumata  :  e  stata  educata  e  gubernala  cum  le 
monache  nel  monasterio  delle  murate  in  Fio 
renza,  donne  di  molto  bon  nome  e  sancta  vita: 
e  piccola  de  persona,  scarna,  non  de  viso  deli- 
cate, ha  li  occhi  grossi  prcprj  alia  casa  de' 
Medici."  [Of  a  lively  character,  virtuous  and 
well  bred  :  she  was  brought  up  by  the  nuns 
of  the  monasterio  delle  murate  in  Florence, 
ladies  of  excellent  reputation  and  holy  life. 
She  is  small  in  person,  thin,  not  pretty,  with 
the  large  eyes  peculiar  to  the  house  of  Med- 
ici.] 

Suitors  for  her  hand  presented  themselves 
from  every  quarter.  The  duke  of  Milan,  the 
duke  of  Mantua,  and  the  king  of  Scotland 
wished  to  marry  her ;  but  all  were  objected 
to  for  various  reasons.  The  French  marriage 
was  not  then  finally  resolved  on.  "  In  ac- 
cordance with  his  irresolute  nature,"  says 
Suriana,  "  the  pope  spoke  sometimes  with 
greater,  sometimes  with  less,  warmth  of  this 
marriage." 

He  is  of  opinion  that  the  pope's  reason  for 
acceding  to  the  French  match  was,  that  he 
might  secure  the  French  party  in  Florence. 
For  the  rest,  he  treats  of  the  foreign  relations 
of  Rome  only  in  a  very  brief  and  reserved 
manner. 

21.  Relatione  di  Roma  d^ Antonio  Suriano 
1536.  MS.  Foscar.  Vienna. — Library 
of  St.  Marc,  Venice.  [Antonio  Suriano's 
report  of  Rome.] 

The  copies  of  this  report  vary  in  date  from 
1535  to  1539.  I  hold  1536  to  be  the  right 
date.  First,  because  the  report  mentions  the 
emperor's  return  to  Rome,  which  took  place 
in  April,  1536 ;  secondly,  because  there  is  a 
letter  from  Sadolet  to  Suriano,  dated  Rome, 
November,  1.536,  from  which  it  appears  that 
the  ambassador  had  already  taken  his  depar- 
ture from  Rome  when  it  was  written. 

This  letter  (Sadoleti  Epp.  p.  383)  speaks 
greatly  to  the  honour  of  Suriano.  "  Mihi  ea 
ofBcia  prsestitisti  quae  vel  frater  fratri,  vel 
filio  prsBstare  indulgens  pater  solet, — nullis 
meis  provocatus  oiSciis."  [You  rendered  me 
those  good  offices  which  a  brother  bestows 
upon  a  brother,  or  a  fond  father  on  a  son, 
though  not  indebted  to  me  for  any  similar  ser- 
vices.] 

Three  days  after  Suriano  delivered  the  pre- 
ceding report,  he  was  again  sent  ambassador 
to  Rome  (July  21,  1533). 

His  second  report  sets  forth  the  further 
course  of  the  events  of  which  the  first  relates 
the  beginning,  particularly  the  conclusion  of 
the  French  marriage,  which  it  seems  was  not 
satisfactory  to  all  the  pope's  relations.  "  Non 
voglio  tacere  che  questo  matrimonio  fu  fatto 
contra  il  volere  di  Giac.     Salviati  e  molto  piu 


CRITICAL  REMARKS  ON  SARPI  AND  PALLAVICINI. 


437 


della  Sra  Lucretia  sua  moglie,  la  quale  etiam 
con  parole  ingiuriose  si  sforzo  di  dissuadere 
S.  Si^."  [I  will  not  conceal  that  this  mar- 
riage took  place  contrary  to  the  wish  of  Giac. 
Salviati,  and  still  more  of  signora  Lucretia  his 
wife,  who  even  strove  with  abusive  words  to 
persuade  his  holiness  from  it.]  Doubtless 
because  the  Salviati  were  now  in  the  impe- 
rial interest.  Suriano  also  speaks  of  that  re- 
markable meeting  between  the  pope  and  the 
emperor  which  we  have  mentioned.  The 
pope  behaved  with  the  utmost  forethought, 
and  would  not  pledge  himself  to  any  thing  in 
writing.  "  Di  tutti  li  desiderii  s'accommodo 
Clemente  con  parole  tali  che  gli  facevano 
credere  S.  S^^  esser  disposta  in  tulte  alle  sue 
voglie  senza  pero  far  provisione  alcana  in 
scritture."  [Clement  met  ail  his  wishes  with 
such  language  as  induced  him  to  believe  that 
his  holiness  was  ready  entirely  to  comply 
with  his  will,  but  this  without  committing 
himself  in  writing.]  The  pope  did  not  wish 
for  war,  at  least  in  Italy  :  all  he  wanted  was 
to  keep  the  emperor  in  check ;  "  con  questi 
spaventi  assicurarsi  del  spavento  del  concilio" 
[by  these  fears  to  secure  himself  from  the  fear 
of  a  council.] 

By  degrees  the  council  became  the  grand 
consideration  of  the  papal  policy.  Suriano 
investigates  the  points  of  view  under  which 
this  was  contemplated  by  the  court  of  Rome 
in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Paul  III. 
Even  then  Schomberg  said  that  it  would  be 
assented  to  only  on  condition  that  everything 
brought  forward  in  it  should  first  be  weighed, 
discussed,  and  determined  in  Rome  by  the 
pope  and  the  cardinals. 


SECTION  IL 

CRITICAL  REMARKS  ON   SARPI  AND  PALLAVI- 
CINI. 

The  council  of  Trent,  its  preliminaries, 
convocation,  twice  repeated  dissolution,  and 
its  re-assembling,  with  all  the  motives  that 
contributed  thereto,  fill  a  large  space  in  the 
history  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  dwell  in  this  place  on  its  im- 
mense importance  with  regard  to  the  defini- 
tive establishment  of  the  catholic  creed  and 
its  relation  to  protestantism.  It  was  pre- 
cisely the  centre  of  that  theologico-political 
schism  that  marked  the  century. 

Its  history  has  been  embodied  in  two  elabo- 
rate original  delineations,  each  of  them  pos- 
sessed of  intrinsic  interest. 

But  not  only  are  these  two  pictures  diame- 
trically opposite  in  character  to  each  other, 
but  the  world  too  has  diflered  no  less  respect- 
ing the  historians  than  their  subject.  To  this 
very  day  Sarpi  is  regarded  by  the  one  party 


as  veracious  and  trustworthy,  Pallavicini  as 
false  and  mendacious:  whilst  the  other  party 
looks  on  Pallavicini  as  worthy  of  implicit  cre- 
dence, and  regards  the  name  of  Sarpi  almost 
as  a  by- word  for  a  liar. 

A  sort  of  dread  comes  over  us  as  we  ap- 
proach these  voluminous  works.  The  task  of 
mastering  their  contents  would  be  hard 
enough  even  if  they  contained  nothing  but 
what  was  authentic ;  but  how  immensely  is 
the  difficulty  increased  when  at  every  step 
we  are  obliged  to  have  a  wary  eye,  lest  we  be 
misled  by  the  one  or  the  other,  and  beguiled 
into  a  maize  of  wilful  deceptions. 

Nevertheless  it  is  impracticable  to  test 
their  credibility  step  by  step  by  means  of  facts 
better  known  to  other  authorities.  Where 
should  we  look  for  impartial  information  re- 
specting these  facts'?  And  if  we  could  find 
such,  we  should  need  fresh  folios  to  bring  the 
matter  to  an  issue  in  this  way. 

Nothing  remains,  then,  but  to  make  an  at- 
tempt towards  acquiring  a  clear  insight  into 
the  respective  methods  of  our  authors. 

For  all  does  not  necessarily  belong  to  the 
historian  that  is  to  be  found  in  his  works, 
especially  in  works  so  voluminous  and  full  of 
matter  as  these.  He  takes  the  bulk  of  his 
facts  from  others;  and  it  is  only  by  the  fashion 
in  which  he  handles  and  works  up  his  ma- 
terials that  we  are  enabled  to  judge  of  the 
individual  man  who  is,  after  all,  himself  the 
unity  of  his  work.  Even  in  these  folios,  from 
which  industry  itself  shrinks  back  appalled, 
there  lurks  a  poet. 

Storia  del  concilio  Tridentino  di  Pietro 
Soave  Polano. — The  first  edition  free 
from  extraneous  additions.  Geneva,  1629. 

This  work  was  first  published  in  England 
by  Domini  of  Spalatro,  an  archbishop  who 
had  gone  over  to  protestantism.  Though  Fra 
Paoli  Sarpi  never  confessed  himself  its  author, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  fact.  His  letters 
show  that  he  employed  himself  on  such  a  his- 
tory ;  a  manuscript  copy  which  he  caused  to 
be  made  of  it  is  preserved  in  Venice,  with 
corrections  in  his  own  hand-writing  :  it  may 
be  affirmed  that  he  was  literally  the  only  man 
who  at  any  time  could  have  composed  such  a 
history  as  that  before  us. 

Fra  Paolo  stood  at  the  head  of  a  catholic 
opposition  to  the  pope,  which  was  grounded 
on  views  of  state  policy,  but  which  in  many 
particulars  approximated  to  protestant  no- 
tions, especially  through  the  adoption  of  cer- 
tain principles  of  St.  Augustine  :  occasional- 
ly, indeed,  it  incurred  the  reproach  of  protes- 
tantism. 

Sarpi's  work,  however,  is  not  to  be  regard- 
ed with  suspicion  purely  on  the  ground  of 
these  opinions.  The  world  consisted  almost 
exclusively  of  two  parties,  the  decided  parti- 


438 


APPENDIX. 


sans  and  the  decided  adversaries  of  this  coun- 
cil. From  the  former  nothing  was  to  be  look- 
ed for  but  adulation,  from  the  latter  nothing 
but  unmitigated  abuse.  Sarpi's  position  was, 
on  the  whole,  apart  from  these  two  opposite 
camps.  He  had  no  motive  for  defending  the 
council  throughout,  nor  was  he  under  the  ne- 
cessity of  indiscriminately  condemning  it. 
His  position  afforded  him  the  means  of  form- 
ing a  more  unbiassed  judgment,  and  only  in 
the  midst  of  an  Italian  catholic  republic 
could  he  have  collected  the  materials  neces- 
sary thereto. 

If  we  would  form  a  clear  conception  of  his 
manner  of  going  to  work  on  his  subject,  we 
must  first  of  al!  take  into  account  the  mode 
in  which  the  larger  works  of  history  had  been 
composed  up  to  his  day. 

Historians  had  not  imposed  on  themselves 
the  task  either  of  collecting  their  materials 
in  uniform  completeness, — a  difficult  task  in- 
deed,— nor  of  sitling  them  critically ;  nor  of 
employing  original  authorities;  nor,  finally, 
of  working  out  the  whole  matter  philosophi- 
cally. 

How  few  there  are  even  now  who  give 
themselves  so  much  trouble  ! 

Authors  in  those  days  contented  themselves 
not  so  much  with  taking  for  their  ground- 
work the  writings  of  those  men  who  were 
generally  reckoned  trustworthy,  as  with  trans- 
ferring them  bodily  to  their  own  pages  ;  en- 
larging their  narratives  with  the  help  of  the 
new  materials  that  had  been  collected,  which 
were  interpolated  in  the  proper  places.  Af- 
ter this  had  been  done,  the  chief  thing  that 
remained  was  to  give  the  whole  word  an  uni- 
form style. 

Thus  Sleidan's  book  is  made  up  of  the  doc- 
uments relating  to  the  history  of  the  refor- 
mation, which  he  picked  up  as  he  could,  and 
then  strung  together  without  much  critical 
discrimination,  after  which  he  gave  the  whole 
an  uniform  complexion  with  the  help  of  his 
latinity. 

Thuanus  has  without  scruple  copied  long 
passages  from  other  historians.  For  instance, 
he  has  taken  to  pieces  Buchanan's  Scottish 
history  and  inserted  it  in  the  various  parts  of 
his  own  work.  He  has  borrowed  his  English 
history  from  the  materials  furnished  him  by 
Camden ;  that  of  Germany  from  Sleidan  and 
ChrytrsBUS ;  that  of  Italy  from  Adrian :  and 
that  of  Turkey  from  Busbequius  and  Leun- 
clavius. 

This  was  a  method,  truly,  that  showed  lit- 
tle regard  for  originality,  and  in  consequence 
of  which  we  have  ofttm  set  before  our  eyes 
the  work  of  a  different  person  from  the  au- 
thor whose  name  is  on  the  title-page.  It  has 
been  newly  adopted  in  the  present  day,-  par- 
ticularly by  the  French  writers  of  Meiiioires: 
in   this    they  are  wholly  inexcusable.     The 


very  nature  of  that  class  of  works  demands  Sleidan  alone. 


that  they  should   give  the    originals   unal- 
tered. 

To  return  to  Sarpi.  In  the  very  begin- 
ning of  his  work  he  gives  us  the  following 
undisguised  account  of  his  position  as  a 
writer. 

"  My  intention  is  to  write  the  history  of  the 
council  of  Trent.  For  though  many  celebrat- 
ed historians  of  our  age  have  touched  on  par- 
ticular points  thereof  in  their  works,  and 
John  Sleidan,  a  very  accurate  writer,  has 
with  great  diligence  narrated  the  earlier 
events  by  which  it  was  occasioned  (le  cause 
antecedenti,)  yet  would  not  all  these  matters, 
were  they  put  together,  amount  to  a  complete 
narrative.  So  soon  as  I  began  to  interest 
myself  in  the  aftairs  of  mankind,  I  was  pos- 
sessed with  a  great  desire  to  become  tho- 
roughly acquainted  with  this  history.  After 
I  had  collected  all  I  found  written  on  the  sub- 
ject, as  well  as  the  documents,  printed  or 
manuscript,  which  had  been  promulgated  on 
the  subject,  I  began  to  explore  the  remains 
of  the  prelates  and  others  who  had  taken  part 
in  the  council,  in  search  of  the  accounts  they 
might  have  left,  as  well  as  to  seek  out  the 
votes  they  had  given,  recorded  by  themselves 
or  by  others,  and  the  notices  contained  in  let- 
ters dispatched  from  Trent.  I  spared  no 
pains  or  labour  in  this  search,  and  1  had  the 
good  fortune  to  get  sight  of  whole  collections 
of  notes  and  letters  from  persons  who  had  ta- 
ken a  considerable  part  in  those  transactions. 
Having  thus  collected  so  many  things,  fur- 
nishing superabundant  materials  for  a  narra- 
tive, I  embraced  the  design  of  putting  them 
together." 

Sarpi  has  here  described  his  position  very 
simply  and  clearly.  We  see  him,  on  the  one 
side,  in  the  midst  of  the  historians  whose 
narratives  he  has  strung  together,  but  which 
are  not  sufficient  for  him  ;  on  the  other,  pro- 
vided with  manuscript  materials,  with  which 
he  ekes  out  what  is  wanting  in  his  printed 
authorities. 

Unfortunately  Sarpi  has  not  given  a  full 
list  either  of  the  one  or  the  other,  nor  was 
this  the  method  of  his  predecessors ;  like 
them  he  made  it  his  whole  concern  to  weave 
a  well-arranged,  agreeable,  and  complete 
history  out  of  the  records  that  fell  in  his  way. 

Nevertheless,  even  without  any  such  par- 
ticular information,  we  can  easily  guess  what 
were  the  printed  historians  he  made  use  of: 
first  Jovius  and  Guicciardini,  then  Thuanus 
and  Adriani,  but  principally  Sleidan,  whom 
indeed  he  mentions  by  name. 

Fore.xample:  in  his  whole  account  of  the 
state  of  affairs  in  the  time  of  the  Interim,  and 
after  the  transference  of  the  council  from 
Trent  to  Bologna,  he  had  Sleidan  before  him, 
and  only  in  a  few  places  the  original  docu- 
ments used  by  that  author,— everywhere  else 


CRITICAL  REMARKS  ON  SARPI  AND  PALLAVICINI. 


439 


It  is  well  worth  while  to  "fo  a  step  further, 
and  observe  his  manner  of  proceeding. 

It  is  not  uniisiuil  with  him  simply  to  trans- 
late Sleidan, — freely,  indeed,  but  still  he  does 
translate.  For  instance,  in  the  passage  where 
he  speaks  of  the  emperor's  negociations  with 
the  several  sovereigns  as  to  their  preliminary 
submission  to  the  council  of  Trent, — Sleidan, 
lib.  xix.  p.  50. 

*' Et  Palatinus  quidem  territatus  fuit  etiam, 
nisi  morem  gereret,  ob  recentem  anni  supe- 
rioris  oftensionem,  uti  diximus,  cum  vix  ea 
cicatrix  coaluisset :  Mauricins,  qui  et  socerum 
landgravium  cuperet  liberari  et  nuper  admo- 
dum  esset  auctus  a  Ceesare,  faciundum  ali- 
quid  sibi  videbat.  Itaque  cum  Csesar  eis  pro- 
lixe  de  sua  voluntate  per  internuncios  pro- 
mitteret,  et  ut  ipsius  fidei  rem  permitterent 
flagitaret,  illi  demum  Octobris  die  vigesimo 
quartoassentiuntnr.  Reliquse  solum  erant  civi- 
tates ;  quiB  m:igni  rem  esse  ppriculi  videbant 
submittere  se  concilii  decrelis  indifferenter. 
Cum  iis  Granvellanus  et  Hasius  diu  multum- 
que  agebant ;  atque  interim  flima  per  urhem 
divulgata  fuit,  illos  esse  prajfractos,  qui  recu- 
sarent  id  quod  principes  omnes  comprobas- 
sent:  auditse  quoque  fuerunt  comminationes, 
futurum  ut  acrms  multo  quam  nuper  plectan- 
tur.  Tandem  fuit  inventa  ratio  ut  et  Caasari 
satisfieret  et  ipsis  etiam  esset  cautum.  Ete- 
nim  vocati  ad  Ctesarem,  ut  ipsi  responsa  prin- 
cipum  corrigant,  non  suum  esse  dicunt,  et 
simul  scnplum  ei  .tradunt,  quo  testificantur 
quibus  ipsi  conditionibus  concilium  probent. 
Ocesar,  eorum  audito  sermone,  per  Seldium 
respondet,  sibi  pergratuin  esse  quod  reliquo- 
rum  exempio  rem  sibi  permittant  et  cseteris 

consentiant." Sarpi,  lib.  iii.  p.  28:3.  "Con 

I'elettor  Palatino  le  preghierc  havevano  spe- 
cie di  minacce  rispelto  alle  precedent!  offese 
perdonate  di  recente  :  verso  Mauricio  duca  di 
fcsassonia  erano  necessita,  per  tanti  beneficii 
nuovamente  havuti  da  Cesare,  e  perche  desi- 
derava  liberare  il  lantgravio  suo  suocero. 
Perilche  promettendo  loro  Cesare  d'adoperar- 
si  che  in  concilio  havessero  la  dovuta  sodis- 
fattione  e  ricercandogli  che  si  fiJassero  in 
lui,  finalmente  consentirono,  e  furono  seguiti 
dagli  ambasciatori  dell'  elettore  di  Brande- 
burg  e  da  tutti  i  prencipi.  Le  citta,  ricusaro- 
no,  come  cosa  di  gran  pericolo,  il  sottomet- 
tersi  inJifl'erenlemente  a  tutti  i  decreti  del 
concilio.  II  Granvela  negotiocon  gli  ambas- 
ciatori loro  assai  e  longamente,  trattandogli 
anco  da  ostinati  a  ricusar  quello  che  i  prenci- 
pi havevano  comprobato,  aggiongendo  qualche 
eorte  di  minacce  di  cundannargli  in  somma 
maggiore  die  la  gia  papata.  Perilche  final- 
menle  furono  costrette  di  condescendere  al 
voler  di  Cesare,  riservata  pero  cautione  per 
I'osservanza  delle  projnesse.  Onde  chiamate 
alia  presenza  dell'  imperatore,  et  interrogate 
Be  si  conlormavano    alia    deliberatione  de' 


prencipi,  riposero  che  sarebbe  state  troppo  ar- 
dire  il  loro  a  voler  correggere  la  riposta  de' 
prencipi,  e  tutti  insieme  diedero  una  scrittura 
contenente  le  conditioni  con  che  avrebbono 
ricevuto  il  concilio.  La  scrittura  fu  ricevuta 
ma  non  letta,  e  per  nome  di  Cesare  dal  suo 
cancel lario  furono  lodati  che  ad  essempio 
degli  altri  havessero  rimesso  il  tultoall'  im- 
peratore e  fidatisi  di  lui :  e  I'istesso  impera- 
tore fece  dimostratione  d'haverlo  molto  gra- 
to.  Cosi  Tuna  e  I'altra  parte  voleva  esser  in- 
gannata." 

The  remark  strikes  us  at  once,  on  perusing 
the  translation,  that  Sarpi  does  not  always 
adhere  faithfully  to  facts  as  he  finds  them. 
Sleidan  does  not  say  that  Granvella  had 
threatened  the  cities  :  what  the  German  men- 
tions as  a  common  talk  of  the  day,  the  Italian 
puts  into  the  mouth  of  the  minister.  Tiie 
agreement  with  the  cities  is  more  clearly  set 
forth  in  the  original  than  in  the  translation. 
It  is  the  same  with  an  immense  number  of 
other  passages. 

If  this  were  all,  no  more  would  need  to  be 
said :  it  would  only  be  necessary  to  bear  in 
mind  that  we  had  before  us  a  somewhat  ar- 
bitrary paraphrase  of  Sleidan;  but  now  and 
then  we  meet  with  more  material  changes. 

In  the  first  place  Sarpi  has  no  accurate  no- 
tion of  the  constitution  of  the  empire  :  he  has 
always  in  view  a  constitution  consisting  of  the 
three  estates, — the  clergy,  temporal  lords, 
and  cities.  Not  unfrequently  he  alters  his 
author's  expressions  to  suit  his  own  erroneous 
conception.  For  example  (lib.  xx.  p.  108,) 
Sleidan  gives  the  votes  upon  the  Interim  in 
the  three  colleges.  1.  The  electoral.  The 
three  spiritual  electors  voted  in  the  affirma- 
tive, but  not  the  temporal :  "  reliqui  tres  elec- 
tores  non  quidem  ejus  erant  sententise,  Pala- 
tinus imprimis  et  Mauricius,  verum  uterque 
causas  habebant  cur  Cffisari  non  admodum  re- 
clamarent." — 2.  The  college  of  princes : 
"caeteri  principes,  qui  maxima  parte  sunt 
episcopi,  eodem  modo  sicut  Moguntinus  atque 
coUegae  respondent." — 3.  "Civitatum  non  ita 
magna  fuit  habita  ratio."  Sarpi's  version  of 
this  is  as  follows  (lib.  iii.  p.  300)  :  The  spirit- 
ual electors  give  their  opinions  in  the  same 
way  as  stated  by  Sleidan.  "Ai  parer  de' 
quali  s'accostarono  tutti  i  vescovi :  i  prencipi 
secolari  per  non  ofl^endere  Cesare  tacquero: 
et  a  loro  essempio  gli  ambasciatori  delle  citta 
parlarono  poco,  ne  di  quel  poco  fu  tenuto  con- 
to."  What  Sleidan  says  of  two  electors  is 
here  applied  to  all  the  temporal  sovereigns. 
The  bishops  are  made  to  appear  to  have  giv- 
en their  votes  separately,  and  the  whole  odi- 
um is  cast  on  them.  The  high  importance 
to  which  the  council  of  the  princes  of  the  em- 
pire had  attained  in  those  times  is  wholly 
misconceived.  In  the  above  cited  passages 
Sarpi  asserts  that  the  princes  acceded  to  the 


440 


APPENDIX. 


judgment  of  the  electors.  Now  (he  fact  was, 
that  they  had  already  passed  their  own  reso- 
lutions, which  were  at  variance  on  a  multi- 
plicity of  points  from  those  of  the  electors. 

But  what  is  of  still  more  moment  is,  that 
whilst  Sarpi  copies  the  statements  he  finds, 
and  incorporates  with  them  what  he  collects 
from  other  sources,  and  extracts  and  trans- 
lates, he  also  interweaves  the  narrative  with 
his  own  remarks.  Let  us  observe  how  he 
docs  this,  for  it  is  extremely  remarkable. 

For  example,  honest  Sleidan  repeats  (lib. 
XX.  p.  58,)  without  any  suspicion,  a  proposal 
of  the  bishop  of  Trent,  in  which  three  things 
are  demanded  :  the  recal  of  the  council  to 
Trent,  the  sending  of  a  legate  to  Germany, 
and  a  resolution  respecting  the  manner  in 
which  proceedings  were  to  be  regulated  in 
case  the  papal  see  should  become  vacant. 
Sarpi  translates  all  this  verbatim,  but  inter- 
polates a  remark  of  his  own.  "The  third 
point,"  he  says,  "  was  added  to  remind  the 
pope  of  his  advanced  age  and  his  approaching 
death,  and  so  make  him  more  compliant  if  he 
would  not  leave  the  emperor's  displeasure  as 
a  bequest  to  his  heirs." 

This  is  a  sample  of  the  general  style  of  his 
remarks ;  they  are  every  one  steeped  in  gall 
and  bitterness.  "  The  legate  summoned  the 
assembly  and  stated  his  opinion  in  the  first 
place  :  for  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  is  wont  to 
move  the  legates  in  accordance  with  the 
pope's  wishes,  and  the  bishops  in  accordance 
with  the  legates,  did  as  usual  on  thi.s  occa- 
sion." 

According  to  Sleidan,  the  Interim  was  sent 
to  Rome  because  it  contained  some  conces- 
sions to  the  protestants.  According  to  Sarpi, 
the  German  prelates  insisted  on  this :  "  for," 
says  he,  "  it  has  always  been  their  aim  to  up- 
hold the  papal  authority,  as  this  is  the  only 
counterpoise  to  that  of  the  emperor,  which 
they  could  not  withstand  but  for  the  pope,  par- 
ticularly if  the  emperor  should  ever,  after  the 
usage  of  the  ancient  Christian  churches,  re- 
solve on  compelling  them  to  do  their  duty  and 
curbing  the  abuses  of  the  so-called  ecclesias- 
tical liberty." 

On  the  whole  we  see  how  widely  Sarpi 
differs  from  the  compilers  who  had  preceded 
him.  His  manner  of  extracting  is  full  of  life 
and  spirit.  In  spite  of  his  borrowed  materials, 
his  language  has  an  easy,  pleasant,  and  uni- 
form flow.  We  do  not  perceive  the  points  of 
transition  from  one  authority  to  another.  But 
at  the  same  time  his  narrative  is  coloured  by 
his  own  cast  of  opinion, — his  systematic  oppo- 
sition, dislike,  or  hatred  to  the  court  of  Rome. 
Its  eftect  is  proportionately  impressive. 

But,  as  we  have  seen,  Haul  Sarpi  had  other 
materials,  quite  different  from  printed  books; 
and  from  thein  he  derived  the  far  greater  part 
of  his  matter. 

He  distinguishes  the  interconciliary  and  the 


preliminary  events  from  the  history  proper  of 
the  council,  and  says  he  intends  to  treat  the 
former  rather  in  the  style  of  a  book  of  annals, 
the  latter  in  that  of  a  diary.  Another  differ- 
ence is,  that  for  the  former  he  trusted  for  the 
m.ost  part  to  well  known  current  works,  while 
for  the  latter  he  had  recourse  to  new  and  spe- 
cial documents. 

The  first  question  is,  of  whatkind  are  these 
documents  ! 

I  am  not  inclined  to  believe  that  he  derived 
much  special  information  from  such  men  as 
Oliva,  the  secretary  of  the  first  legate  at  the 
council,  or  Ferrier,  the  French  ambassador  to 
Venice,  who  was  also  present  at  the  council. 
With  respect  to  Oliva,  Sarpi  commits  a  great 
blunder,  for  he  makes  him  leave  the  council 
before  he  really  did  so.  The  French  docu- 
ments were  very  soon  in  print.  The  influ- 
ence of  these  two  men,  who  belonged  to  the 
malcontent  party,  will  have  consisted  in  this, 
that  they  corroborated  Sarpi  in  the  dislike  he 
felt  for  the  council.  The  Venetian  collections, 
on  the  other  hand,  presented  him  with  the 
proper  documents  in  great  completeness:  let- 
ters from  legates,  e.  g.  JVlonti;  from  secret 
agents,  such  as  Visconti ;  reports  of  nunicos, 
for  instance,  Chieregato;  minute  diaries  kept 
at  the  council;  the  Lettere  d'Avisi,  and  innu- 
merable other  more  or  less  authentic  records. 
He  was  so  fortunate  in  this  respect,  that  he 
made  use  of  documents  which  have  never  since 
come  to  light  again,  which  Pallavicini  failed  to 
procure,  notwithstanding  the  vast  patronage 
he  enjoyed,  and  tor  which  historical  inquirers 
of  subsequent  times  must  ever  refer  to  Sarpi's 
work. 

The  next  question  is,  how  did  he  employ 
these  documents'! 

There  is  no  doubt  that,  in  part,  he  trans- 
ferred them  to  his  own  pages  with  but  slight 
modifications.  Courayer  asserts  that  he  had 
once  in  his  hands  a  manuscript  report  concern- 
ing the  congregations  of  the  year,  which  had 
been  made  use  of,  and  nearly  copied  by  Sarpi, 
"  que  nostre  historien  a  consultee  et  presque 
copiee  mot  pour  mot." 

1  am  in  possession  of  a  MS. — "  Historia  del 
s.  concilio  di  Trento  scritta  per  M.  Antonio 
JNlilledonne,  seer.  Veneziano" — which  was  also 
knowji  to  Foscarini  (Lett.  Venez.  i.  p.  351) 
and  to  Mendham,  by  a  contemporaneous  and 
very  well-informed  author,  which,  notwith- 
standing its  brevity,  is  by  no  means  uninstruc- 
tive  as  regards  the  latter  sittings  of  the  coun- 
cil. 

Now  I  find  that  Sarpi  has  occasionally  made 
use  of  this  almost  word  for  word.  For  in- 
stance, the  following  passage  occurs  in  JMille- 
donne  :  "  II  senato  di  iXorimbergo  rispose  al 
nontio  Delfino,  che  non  era  per  partirsi  dalla 
confessione  Augustana,  e  che  non  accettava  il 
concilio,  come  quello  che  non  aveva  le  condi- 
tion! ricercate  da'  protestanti.     Simil  risposta 


CRITICAL  REMARKS  ON  SARPI  AND  PALLAVICINL 


441 


fecero  li  eenati  di  Argentina  e  Francfort  al 
medesimo  nontio  Delfino.  II  senato  di  Au- 
gusta e  quello  di  Olma  risposero,  che  non 
potevano  separarsi  dalli  altri  die  tenevano  la 
confessione  Augustana." 

Sarpi's  version  is  this,  p.  450  :  "  II  noncio 
Delfino  nel  ritorno  espose  il  suo  carico  in  di- 
verse citta.  Dal  senato  di  Norimberg  hebbe 
risposta,  che  non  era  perpartirsi  dalla  confes- 
sione Augustana,  e  che  non  accettera  il  con- 
cilio,  come  quello  che  non  haveva  conditioni 
ricercate  da'  protestanti.  Simili  risposte  gli 
fecero  li  senati  d'Argentina  e  di  Francfort. 
II  senato  d'Augusta  e  quello  d'Olma  risposero, 
che  non  potevano  separarsi  dagli  altri  che  ten- 
gono  la  lor  confessione." 

Sarpi  only  does  not  follow  Milledonne  when 
the  latter  distributes  praise,  even  though  it  be 
beyond  the  reach  of  cavil. 

Milledonne  says  :  "  II  ci  Gonzaga  prattico 
di  negotii  di  stato  per  aver  governato  il  ducato 
di  Mantova  molti  anni  doppo  la  morte  del  duca 
suo  fratello  fino  che  li  nepoti  erano  sotto  tu- 
tela,  gentiluomo  di  bell'  aspetto,  di  buona 
creanza,  libero  e  schiettonel  parlare,  di  buona 
mente,  inclinato  al  bene.  Seripando  era  Napo- 
litano,  arcivescovodi  Salerno,  frate  eremitano, 
grandissimo  teologo,  persona  di  ottima  cos- 
cienza  e  di  singolar  bonta,  desideroso  del  bene 
universale  della  christianita." 

Sarpi  is  much  more  chary  of  praise  to  these 
men.  "  Destino  al  concilio,"  he  says,  for  in- 
stance, p.  456,  "  Fra  Girolamo,  Ci  Seripando, 
theologo  di  molta  fama;"  this  is  enough  for 
him. 

Visconti's  letters,  which  Sarpi  had  before 
him,  were  afterwards  printed,  and  we  perceive 
upon  the  first  comparison  that  he  adhered  very 
closely  to  them  in  places.  VVe  have  an  ex- 
ample in  Visconti,  Lettres  et  Negotiations, 
torn.  ii.  p.  174  :  "  Ci  sono  poi  stati  alcuni  Spag- 
nuoli,  li  quali  parlando  dell'  istituzione  de'  ves- 
covi  e  della  residenza  havevano  havuto  ordine 
di  affirmare  queste  opinion!  per  vere  come  li 
precetti  del  decalogo.  Segovia  segui  in  queste 
due  materie  I'opinione  di  Granata,  dicendo 
ch'era  veritii  espressa  la  residenza  ed  istitu- 
zione delli  vescovi  essere  de  jure  divino  e  che 
niuno  la  poteva  negare,  soggiungendo  che 
tanto  pill  si  dovea  fare  tal  dichiarazione  per 
dannare  I'opinione  de  gli  heretici  che  tene- 
vano il  contrario.  Guadice,  Alifli  e  Monte- 
maranocon  molti  altri  prelati  Spagnuoli  hanno 
aderito  all'  opinione  di  Granata  e  di  Segovia  ; 
ma  piacque  al  signore  dio  che  si  fecero  all' 
ultimo  di  buona  risoluzione." 

Compare  Sarpi,  viii.  753  :  "  Granata  disse, 
esser  cosa  indegna  haver  tanto  tempo  deriso 
li  padri  trattando  del  fondamento  dell'  institu- 
zione  de'  vescovi  e  poi  adesso  tralasciandola,  e 
ne  ricerco  la  dichiarazione  de  jure  divino,  di- 
cendo maravegliarsi  perche  non  si  dichiarasse 
un  tal  punto  verissimoet  infallibile.  Aggionse 
che  si  dovevano  prohibire  come  heretic!  tutti 
56 


quel  libri  che  dicevano  il  contrario.  Al  qual 
parer  adheri  Segovia,  aftermando  che  era  es- 
pressa verita  che  nissuno  poteva  negarla,  e 
si  doveva  dichiarare  per  dannare  I'openione 
degli  heretici  che  tenevano  il  contrario.  Seg- 
uivano  anco  Guadice,  Aliffe  et  Monte  Marano 
con  gli  altri  prelati  Spagnuoli,  de'  quali  alcuni 
dissero,  la  loro  openione  esser  cosi  vera  come 
1!  precetti  del  decalogo." 

Sarpi,  we  see,  is  no  common  transcriber ; 
the  more  we  compare  him  with  his  originals, 
the  more  we  are  convinced  of  his  skill  in  fill- 
ing up  and  rounding  a  story,  and  enhancing 
the  force  of  the  expressions  by  a  slight  turn ; 
at  the  same  time  his  endeavour  is  manifest  to 
strengthen  the  impression  unfavourable  to  the 
council. 

As  will  naturally  be  supposed,  he  treats  his 
manuscript  documents  just  as  he  does  the 
printed. 

This,  however,  has  of  course  a  great  effect 
at  times  on  the  aspect  in  which  the  facts  are 
presented ;  as  is  the  case,  for  instance,  in  his 
account  of  the  most  important  of  the  German 
religious  conferences,  that  of  Ratisbon  in 
1541. 

Here  he  again  followed  Sleidan  closely ;  he 
had  also,  no  doubt,  before  him  Bucer's  account 
of  the  conference. 

He  falls  again  into  the  faults  already  men- 
tioned in  his  mode  of  using  three  German 
authors.  The  states  in  this  diet  twice  return- 
ed their  answers  to  the  emperor's  proposals, 
and  each  time  they  were  at  variance  among 
themselves.  The  electoral  college  was  for 
the  emperor's  intentions,  the  college  of  princes 
against  them.  The  differeftce, however,  was, 
that  the  princes  gave  way  on  the  first  occa- 
sion, but  not  on  the  second,  when  they  return- 
ed a  refusal. 

Sleidan  accounts  for  the  opposition  of  the 
college  of  princes  by  remarkmg,  that  there 
were  so  many  bishops, — a  point  certainly  of 
great  moment  as  regarded  the  constitution  of 
the  empire.  But  Sarpi  destroys  the  whole 
force  of  the  passage  by  persisting  in  calling 
the  college  of  princes  bishops.  He  says  of  the 
first  answer:  "I  vescovi  rifiutarono"  [the  bi- 
shops refused]  ;  of  the  second  :  "  I  vescovi  con 
alcuni  pochi  princip!  cattolici"  [the  bishops 
with  some  few  catholic  princes]  ;  thereby,  as 
we  have  said,  totally  misrepresenting  the  con- 
stitution of  the  empire. 

We  will  not,  however,  dwell  on  this.  The 
chief  point  is  the  way  in  which  he  used  the 
more  secret  authorities  to  which  he  had  ex- 
clusive access,  and  which  he  had  reason  to 
believe  would  long  remain  unprintcd. 

Towards  the  history  of  this  diet  he  had  Con- 
tarini's  instruction,  which  was  subsequently 
printed  by  cardinal  Quirini,  and  that  too  from 
a  Venetian  MS. 

Now  the  first  thing  we  have  to  remark  is, 
that  he  takes  the  contents  of  the  instruction 


442 


APPENDIX. 


and  weaves  them  here  and  there  into  the  dis- 
courses held  by  the  legate  with  the  emperor. 

For  instance,  we  read  in  the  instruction : 
"Eos  articulos  in  quibus  inter  se  convenire 
non  possunt,  ad  nos  remittant,  qui  in  fide  boni 
pastoris  et  universalis  pontificis  dabimus  ope- 
rain  ut  per  universale  concilium  vel  per  ali- 
quam  viam  ssquivalentem  non  prsecipitanter, 
sed  mature  et  quemadmodum  res  tanti  mo- 
menti  exigit,  finis  hiscontroversiisimponatur, 
et  remedium  quod  his  malis  adhibendum  est 
quam  diutissime  perdurare  possit." 

Sarpi  makes  Contarini  require  :  "  ogni  cosa 
si  mandasse  al  papa,  il  qual  prometteva  in  fede 
di  buon  pastore  et  universale  pontefice  di  fare 
che  il  tutto  fosse  determinato  per  un  concilio 
generale  o  per  altra  via  equivaiente  con  sin- 
cerita.  e  con  nissun  affetto  humano,  non  con 
precipitio,  ma  maturamente." 

In  another  place  the  instruction  proceeds 
thus :  "  Si  quidem  ab  initio  pontificatus  nostri, 
ut  facilius  hoc  religionisdissidium  in  pristinam 
concordiam  reduceretur,  primum  christianos 
principes  ad  veram  pacem  et  concordiam  per 
literas  et  nuntios  nostros  ssepissime  hortati 
sumus, — mox  ob  banc  eandem  causam  conci- 
lium generale christianis  regibus  et 

principibus  etiam  per  proprios  nuntios  signifi- 

cavimus multaque  in  Germania  reli- 

gionis  causa  non  ea  qua  decuit  auctoritatem 
nostram,  ad  quam  religionis  judicium  cognitio 
et  examen  spectat,  reverentia  tractari  et  fieri 
non  absque  gravi  dolere  animi  intelleximus, 
turn  temporum  conditione  moti,  turn  Caesareee 
etregise  majestatem  vel  earum  oratorum  polli- 
citationibus  persuasi,  quod  ea  quee  hie  fiebant 
boni  alicujus  inde  secuturi  causa  fierent,  par- 
tim  patientes  tulimus,"  &c. 

Sarpi  adds  to  this :  "  Sicome  la  S^^  S.  nel 
principle  del  pontificato  per  questo  medesimo 
fine  haveva  mandate  lettere  e  nuntii  a'  pren- 
cipi  per  celebrar  il  concilio,  e  poi  intimatolo,  e 
mandate  al  luogo  i  suoi  legati,  e  che  se  haveva 
sopportato  che  in  Germania  tante  volte  s'ha- 
vesse  parlato  delle  cose  della  religione  con 
poco  riverentia  dell'  autorita  sua,  alia  quale 
sola  spetta  trattarle,  I'haveva  fatto  per  esser- 
gli  dalle  M'-^  S.  data  intentione  e  promesso 
che  cio  si  faceva  per  bene." 

In  short,  it  is  plain  that  the  declarations 
Sarpi  puts  into  Contarini's  mouth  are  taken 
from  the  latter's  instruction ;  and  when  we 
are  once  aware  how  the  fact  stands,  we  can 
readily  excuse  it.  Still  it  is  not  to  be  denied 
that  truth  is  sometimes  jeopardized  by  this 
method  of  proceeding.  The  daily  changes  of 
events  caused  corresponding  alterations  in  the 
instructions  sent  to  the  legate.  Sarpi  makes 
him  put  forward  reasons  for  referring  to  Rome 
only  those  points  on  which  no  agreement  had 
been  come  to,  at  a  time  wiien  he  was  required 
to  refer  every  thing,  even  the  points  already 
agreed  on,  for  the  approval   of  the  court  of 

ome. 


To  this  first  departure  from  his  original,  in 
applying  the  words  of  the  instruction  to  a  case 
for  which  they  were  not  intended,  Sarpi  adds 
others  still  more  serious. 

The  pope  pronouncesstrongly  in  the  instruc- 
tion against  a  national  council :  "  Majestati 
Csesareae  in  memoriam  redigas,  quantopere 
concilium  illud  sit  semper  detesta,  cum  alibi 
tum  Bononiffi  palani  diceret  nihil  seque  perni- 
ciosum  fore  et  apostolicse  et  imperial i  dignita- 
tibus  quam  Germanorum  nationale  concilium, 
illi  nulla  meliore  via  quam  per  generale  con- 
cilium obviam  iri  posse  confiteretur:  quin 
imo  etiam  S.  M.  post  Ratisbonensem  dietam 
anno  d"'  1532  habitam  pro  sua  singulari  pru- 
dentia  omni  studio  semper  egit  ne  qua  impe- 
rialis  dieta  hactenus  sit  celebrata  ac  ex  ea 
occasione  ad  concilium  nationale  deveniretur." 

Sarpi  quotes  this  literally,  and  states,  too, 
that  he  takes  it  from  the  instruction ;  at  the 
same  time  he  makes  a  remarkable  addition  to 
it.  "  Che  raccordasse  all'  imperatore  quanto 
egli  medesimo  havesse  detestato  il  concilio 
nationale  essendo  in  Bologna,  conoscendolo 
pernicioso  all'  autorita  imperiale :  poiche  i 
sudditi  preso  animo  dal  vedersi  concessa  po- 
testa  di  mutare  le  cose  della  religione  pensa- 
rebbono  ancora  a  mutare  lo  stato :  e  che  S.  M. 
dope  il  1532  non  volse  mai  piii  celebrare  in 
sua  presenza  dieta  imperiale  per  non  dar  occa- 
sione di  domandar  concilio  nationale." 

Who  would  not  suppose  from  this  that 
the  emperor  had  himself  expressed  the  thought, 
that  a  nation  readily  changes  its  form  of  gov- 
ernment when  once  it  has  made  a  change  in 
its  religion]  This,  however,  I  cannot  be- 
lieve on  Sarpi's  bare  word.  Nothing  of  the 
kind  is  to  be  found  in  the  instruction.  The 
thought  is  one  which  first  gained  currency  af- 
ter the  events  of  a  later  period. 

I  do  not  think  that  my  criticism  will  appear 
triflingly  minute.  How  are  we  to  set  about 
discovering  whether  or  not  an  author  speaks 
the  truth,  but  by  comparing  him  with  the 
sources  from  which  he  has  drawn  1 

I  find  in  Sarpi  another  departure  from  his 
authorities  still  stronger  than  those  already 
mentioned. 

Into  the  very  first  conversation  he  gives  be- 
tween Contarini  and  the  emperor,  he  inter- 
weaves the  words  of  the  instruction, — those 
important  words  to  which  we  have  referred  in 
the  text.* 

The  pope  excuses  himself  for  not  having 
given  the  cardinal  such  plenary  authority  as 
the  emperor  and  the  king  would  have  wished  : 
"primum  quia  videndum  imprimis  est,  an  pro- 
testantes  ....  in  principiis  nobiscum  con- 
veniant,  cujusmodi  est  hujus  sanctae  sedis 
primatus  tanquam  a  deo  et  salvatore  nostro 
institutus,  sacros.  ecciesicesacramenla,  etalia 
queedam  qua?  tum  sacrarum  literarum  aucto- 


♦  Supra,  p.  61. 


CRITICAL  REMARKS  ON  SARPI  AND  PALLAVICINI. 


443 


ritate  turn  universalis  ecclesiffi  perpetua  ob- 
servatione  hactenus  observata  et  comprobata 
fuere  et  tibi  nota  esse  bene  scimus:  quibiis 
statim  initio  admissis  omnis  super  aliis  con- 
troversiis  concorJia  tentaretur." 

Sarpi  makes  Contarini  say:  "  che  S.  S^^gli 
aveva  data  og'ni  potesta  di  concordare  co'  pro- 
testanti,  purche  essi  ammetino  i  principii,  che 
sono  il  primato  della  sede  apostolica  institutio 
da  Christo,  et  i  sacramenti  sicome  sono  inseg- 
nati  nella  chiesa  Romana,  e  altre  cose  deter- 
minate nella  bolla  di  Leone  [and  the  other 
things  determined  in  Leo's  bull,]  oiferendosi 
nelle  altre  cose  di  dar  ogni  sodisfattione  alia 
Germania." 

The  difFerence  is  glaring.  The  indefinite- 
ness  of  the  pope's  words  constitutes  the  sole 
possibility  of  a  desirable  result :  the  confer- 
ence could  have  had  no  conceivable  aim  if 
this  opening  had  not  been  left :  but  Sarpi 
completely  cuts  this  off.  The  pope,  accord- 
ing to  him,  does  not  hint  at  "  qusedam  quas 
tibi  nota  bene  scimus,"  [certain  things  which 
we  are  well  aware  you  are  acquainted  with ;] 
but  he  demands  the  recognition  of  the  en- 
actments of  Leo  X.'s  bull, — that  is,  the  con- 
demnation of  the  Lutheran  doctrine  ;  a  mea- 
sure wholly  impracticable. 

In  no  respect  will  Sarpi  allow  that  the  pa- 
pal see  displayed  any  kind  of  conciliatory 
spirit.  Accordmg  to  him,  Contarini  was  obli- 
ged to  stand  up  for  the  papal  authority  in  its 
harshest  forms  ;  and  he  makes  him  begin  by 
asserting,  that,  "  the  pope  could  not  impart  to 
any  one  his  authority  to  decide  absolutely  on 
disputed  points  of  faith ;  to  him  alone  was 
given  the  prerogative  of  infallibility,  in  the 
words,  '  Ego  rogavi  pro  te,  Petre.'  Of  all 
which  not  a  word  is  to  be  found, — at  least  in 
the  instruction. 

For  Sarpi  beheld  the  papacy  on  the  whole 
in  the  light  of  his  times.  After  the  restoration 
had  been  accomplished,  it  became  far  more 
despotic  and  inflexible  than  it  had  been  in  its 
days  of  danger  and  depression ;  and  in  this 
fulness  of  power  and  unbroken  self-exaltation 
did  it  stand  before  Sarpi's  eyes.  He  trans- 
ferred to  earlier  times  the  thoughts  and  sen- 
timents he  had  imbibed  from  the  experience 
of  his  own.  All  the  accounts  and  documents 
that  passed  through  his  hands  were  interpre- 
ted by  him  in  this  spirit,  which  was  so  natural 
to  him,  and  which  originated  in  the  position 
of  his  native  city,  of  his  party  there,  and  in 
his  own  personal  situation. 

We  have  another  historical  work  of  Paul 
Sarpi  upon  the  disputes  between  Venice  and 
Rome  in  the  year  1606 :  "  Historia  particolare 
dello  cose  passate  tra'l  summo  pontetice  Paolo 
V  e  la  ser'"a  rep^  di  Venetia,  Lion  1624  ;" 
written  on  the  whole  in  a  kindred  spirit :  a 
masterpiece  in  point  of  description,  true  in 
the  main,  but  still  a  partisan  work.  We  find 
in  Sarpi  little  or  no  trace  of  the  discord  among 


the  Venetians,  which  broke  out  on  this  occa- 
sion, and  w4iich  constituted  so  important  a 
feature  in  their  domestic  history.  According 
to  him  it  would  appear  as  though  but  one  senti- 
ment pervaded  all  parties.  He  is  always  speak- 
ing of  the  "  princeps ;"  for  so  he  designates  the 
Venetian  government.  This  fiction  does  not 
strengthen  us  in  the  belief  that  he  attained  to 
much  accuracy  in  his  delineation  of  the  inter- 
nal affairs  of  Venice.  He  glides  lightly  over 
matters  that  are  not  much  to  the  credit  of  his 
country,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  surrender 
of  the  prisoners;  just  as  if  he  did  not  know 
why  they  were  given  up  first  to  the  ambas- 
sador, and  then  with  other  words  to  the  car- 
dinal. Nor  does  he  allude  to  the  fact  that  the 
Spaniards  were  in  favour  of  the  exclusion  of 
the  Jesuits.  He  had  embraced  an  implacable 
hatred  against  both,  and  will  not  condescend 
to  know  that  on  this  occasion  their  interests 
were  mutually  at  variance. 

Now  the  same  is  nearly  the  case  with  his 
history  of  the  council  of  Trent.  His  authori- 
ties are  diligently  collected,  very  well  handled, 
and  used  with  superior  intelligence;  nor  can 
it  be  said  that  they  are  falsified,  or  that  they 
are  frequently  or  essentially  perverted  ; — but 
a  spirit  of  decided  opposition  pervades  the 
whole  work. 

In  this  way  Sarpi  struck  anew  into  a  dif- 
ferent course  from  that  commonly  pursued  by 
the  historians  of  his  day.  He  gave  to  their 
system  of  compilation  the  unity  of  a  general 
tone  and  purpose :  his  work  is  disparaging, 
condemnatory,  and  hostile ;  he  set  the  first 
example  of  a  history  which  accompanies  the 
whole  progress  of  its  subject  with  increasing 
censure  ;  far  more  decided  in  this  than  Thua- 
nus,  who  first  made  a  cursory  use  of  this  meth- 
od. Sarpi  has  found  numberless  imitators  on 
this  score. 

Istoria  del  concilio  di  Trento  scritta  dal  pa- 
dre Sforza  Pallavicino  della  compagnia  di 
Gesu.     1664. 

Such  a  book  as  Sarpi's  history,  so  rich  in 
details  never  before  published,  full  of  talent 
and  sarcasm,  and  treating  of  an  event  of  such 
importance,  the  consequences  of  which  sway- 
ed the  destinies  of  the  age,  could  not  fail  of 
producing  the  greatest  sensation.  The  first 
edition  appeared  in  1619 :  between  that  year 
and  1622  four  editions  of  a  Latin  translation 
were  put  forth,  besides  a  German  and  a  French 
translation. 

The  court  of  Rome  felt  the  more  strongly 

urged  to  have  the  work  refuted,  inasmuch  as 

it  really  contained  many  errors  obvious  to 

every  one  somewhat  minutely  acquainted  with 

I  the  occurences  of  that  period. 

Terentio  Alciati,  a  Jesuit,  Prefect  of  the 

Studies  in  the  Collegio  Romano,  immediately 

•set  about  collecting  materials  for  a  reply, 


444 


APPENDIX. 


which  should  also  be  a  circumstantial  substan- 
tive work.  His  book  had  for  it& title,  "His- 
toric concilii  Tridentini  a  veritatis  hostibus 
evulgatee  Elenchus."*  He  amassed  an  enor- 
mous quantity  of  materials,  but  died  in  1651, 
before  he  had  reduced  them  to  shape. 

Goswin  Nickel,  the  general  of  the  Jesuits, 
selected  Sforza  Pallavicini,  another  brother 
of  the  order,  who  had  already  given  proof  of 
some  literary  talent,  to  complete  the  unfinish- 
ed task,  and  he  relieved  him  from  all  other 
occupations.  Pallavicini  himself  says,  that 
he  had  been  commanded  to  this  duty  by 
the  general,  "as  a  soldier  by  his  condot- 
tiere." 

Pallavicini  executed  the  task  in  three  thick 
folios,  which  appeared  subsequently  to  the 
year  1656. 

The  work  contains  an  enormous  mass  of 
matter,  and  is  of  the  utmost  importance  as  re- 
gards the  history  of  the  sixteenth  century,  for 
it  begins,  be  it  observed,  from  the  origin  of 
the  reformation.  The  archives  were  thrown 
open  to  the  author,  and  he  had  access  to  what- 
ever available  materials  were  contained  in 
the  Roman  libraries.  He  was  able  to  avail 
nimself  not  only  of  the  records  of  the  council 
in  their  fullest  detail,  but  also  of  the  corres- 
pondence of  the  legates  with  Rome,  and  a 
great  multitude  of  other  sources  of  informa- 
tion. He  is  far  from  concealing  his  authori- 
ties ;  on  the  contrary,  he  parades  their  titles 
in  the  margin  of  his  book :  they  are  beyond 
counting. 

His  grand  purpose  is  above  all  to  refute 
Sarpi.  At  the  end  of  each  volume  he  gives 
a  catalogue  of  "  the  errors  in  matters  of  tact," 
of  which  he  asserts  he  has  convicted  his  oppo- 
nent, and  he  makes  them  amount  to  three 
hundred  and  sixty-one :  but  numberless  others, 
he  adds,  which  he  has  also  confuted,  are  not 
set  down  in  the  catalogues. 

He  says  in  his  preface  "  he  will  not  engage 
in  petty  skirmishes :  if  any  one  will  attack 
him,  let  him  advance  in  full  order  of  battle, 
and  overthrow  his  whole  book,  as  he  has  over- 
thrown Sarpi's."  VVhata  work  it  would  have 
been  that  should  have  accomplished  this  !  We 
feel  by  no  means  tempted  to  engage  in  such 
an  enterprise. 

We  must,  as  we  said  before,  content  our- 
selves with  collecting  an  idea  of  Pallavicini's 
method  from  a  few  examples. 

Since  he  drew  from  so  many  private  sources, 
and  in  fact  derived  from  them  the  whole  sub- 
stance of  his  work,  it  becomes  our  first  con- 
sideration to  acquaint  ourselves  how  he  em- 
ployed  these  materials. 

We  shall  find  this  more  particularly  easy 
wherever  the  documents  he  made  use  of 
were  printed.  Besides  this,  1  have  had  the 
good  fortune  to  examine   a  whole  series  of 


*Ii  is  so  given  by  Mazzuchelli. 


documents  cited  by  him,  which  have  never 
been  given  to  the  press:  it  is  necessary  that 
we  should  compare  the  originals  with  his 
text. 

I  will  do  so  with  regard  to  a  few  points  con- 
secutively. 

1.  Now,  in  the  first  place,  it  must  be  ac- 
knowledged that  the  extracts  made  by  Palla- 
vicini, from  the  instructions  and  papers  that 
lay  before  him,  and  the  mode  in  which  he  used 
them  are  often  satisfactory.  For  instance,  I 
have  compared  an  instruction  received  by  the 
Spanish  ambassador  in  November,  1562,  the 
answer  given  him  by  the  pope  in  March, 
1563,  and  the  fresh  instruction  furnished  by 
the  pope  to  his  nuncio,  with  Pallavicini's  ex- 
tracts from  them,  and  found  them  to  corres- 
pond exactly.  Pall.  xx.  10.  xxiv.  1.  He 
has  but  availed  himself  of  a  reasonable  privi- 
lege, if  he  has  made  some  transpositions 
which  in  no  respect  do  any  violence  to  truth. 
It  is  true,  no  doubt,  that  he  softens  down  some 
rather  strong  expressions,  as,  for  instance, 
when  the  pope  says  he  had  opened  the  council 
only  in  reliance  on  the  aid  and  support  of  the 
emperor,  persuaded  that  the  king  would  be  to 
him  as  his  right  arm,  and  a  guide  and  leader 
in  all  his  thoughts  and  dealings — "  II  fonda- 
mento  che  facessimo  nella  promessa  di  S.  M^^ 
e  de'  suoi  ministri  di  doverci  assistere  ci  fece 
entrare  arditamente  nell'  impresa,  pensando 
diavere  S.  M^^  per  nostro  bracciodrittoe  che 
avesse  a  esserci  guida  o  conduttiero  in  ogni 
nostra  azione  e  pensiero," — Pallavicini  makes 
him  say  merely,  he  would  not  have  opened 
the  council  again  had  he  not  been  persuaded 
the  king  would  be  his  right  arm  and  his  lead- 
er. But  as  the  substance  is  here  preserved  there 
is  no  room  for  censure.  Upon  the  occasion  of 
Visconti's  embassy  to  Spain,  and  the  despatch 
of  another  ambassador  to  the  emperor,  Sarpi 
gives  it  as  his  opinion  (viii.  61)  that  the  orders 
given  to  them  to  propose  a  meeting  was  but  a 
feint ;  but  this  is  too  a  subtle  a  surmise.  The 
proposal  for  a  congress,  or  a  conference  as  it 
was  then  called,  is  one  of  the  points  most 
strongly  insisted  on  in  the  instruction.  Palla- 
vicini is  unquestionably  right  in  upholding 
this. 

2.  But  Pallavicini  is  not  always  the  better 
informed.  When  Sarpi  relates  that  Paul  III. 
had  proposed  to  the  emperor  Charles  V.  at  the 
congress  of  Busseto,  that  the  fief  of  Milan  should 
be  conferred  on  his  nephew,  who  was  married  to 
the  emperor's  natural  daughter,  Pallavicini  de- 
votes a  whole  chapter  to  contradict  this.  Nor 
will  he  believe  any  other  historians  who  state 
the  same  fact.  "  How,  in  that  case,"  he  exclaims 
"should  the  pope  have  ventured  to  write  let- 
ters to  the  emperor  in  such  a  tone  as  he  actu- 
ally did!"  "Con  qual  petto  avrebbe  ardito 
di  scrivere  a  Carlo  lettere  cosi  risentite."  The 
emperor  might  at  once  have  charged  him  with 
shameless  dissimulation   (simulatione  sfaccia- 


CRITICAL  REMARKS  ON  SARPI  AND  PALLAVICINI. 


445 


ta.)  Since  Pallavicini  displays  so  much  ve- 
hemence we  must  suppose  that  he  here  writes 
bona  fide.  Sarpi's  account  of  the  n)alter  is 
well  founded  for  all  that;  the  despatches  of 
the  Florentine  ambassador  (Dispaccio  Guicci- 
ardini,  26  Giugno  1543)  put  the  matter  beyond 
dispute. 

Still  more  circumstantial  details  of  the  af- 
fair are  to  be  found  in  a  manuscript  life  of 
Vasto.  We  may  mention  a  Discorso  of  car- 
dinal Carpi  which  tends  to  the  same  result. 
Nay,  the  pope  had  not  given  up  this  idea  even 
in  the  year  1547.  "  Le  cardinal  de  Bologne 
au  roy  Henry  II."  in  Ribier,  II.  9.  "  L'un — 
le  pape — demande  Milan,  qu'il  jamais  n'aura, 
I'autre — I'empereur — 400,000  scudi,  qu'il 
n'aura  sans  rendre  Milan.  [The  pope  de- 
mands Milan,  which  he  will  not  get;  the  em- 
peror, 400,000  scudi,  which  he  will  not  get 
without  giving  up  Milan.]  Notwithstanding 
this,  pope  Paul  III.  did  actually  write  the  let- 
ter in  question. 

3.  But  the  question  presents  itself,  does 
Pallacivini  in  general  err  but  bona  fide! 
This  cannot  be  alleged  in  every  case.  It 
does  happen  at  times  that  his  documents  are 
not  so  orthodox  and  catholic  as  he  is  himself. 
While  events  were  still  in  progress,  showing 
every  aspect  of  their  nature,  and  obtruding 
every  possibility  of  varying  course  and  result, 
it  was  impossible  to  entertain  such  strict 
views  as  at  a  later  period  when  everything 
was  once  more  on  a  firm  footing.  Such  a 
compromise  as  the  peace  of  Augsburg  could 
never  have  been  tolerated  by  the  orthodoxy 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  Pallavicini  be- 
wails the  "  detrimenti  gravissimi "  it  occa- 
sioned the  see  of  Rome,  and  compares  it  with 
a  palliative  medicine,  which  in  the  end  only 
gives  occasion  to  a  more  perilous  crisis.  For 
all  that  he  met  with  a  report  on  the  subject 
by  a  bishop  who  was  convinced  of  its  neces- 
sity. This  was  bishop  Delfino  of  Liesina. 
Pallavicini  mentions  the  report  made  by  that 
bishop  to  cardinal  Caraffa,  and  actually  makes 
use  of  it.     But  how  does  he  do  so  ] 

All  the  reasons  which  Delfino  alleges  in 
proof  of  the  intrinsic  necessity  of  this  compro- 
mise, Pallavicini  converts  into  so  many  ex- 
cuses urged  on  his  own  behalf  by  Ferdinand. 
The  nuncio  says,  that  at  this  time  there 
was  no  prince  or  city  that  had  not  some  dis- 
pute with  their  neighbours,  and  he  names 
them  ; — the  country  was  going  to  ruin,  Bran- 
denburg, Hesse,  and  Saxon-Naumburg,  declar- 
ed, as  if  constituting  an  opposition  diet,  that 
they  would  hold  together; — the  king  had  be- 
sought the  emperor  to  make  peace  with 
France,  and  to  turn  his  whole  attention  to 
Germany ;  but  the  latter  refused  ;  the  estates 
assembled  in  the  midst  of  all  these  disorders; 
the  king  then  confirmed  the  points  on  which 
both  parties  were  agreed  :  this  they  did  so 
joyfully  (si  allegramente)  that  Germany  had  I 


never  been  so  quiet  as  it  was  then  since  the 
time  of  Maximilian. 

Pallavicini,  too,  mentions  all  this  (1.  xiii.  c. 
13)  ;  but  how  much  does  he  weaken  its  force 
by  putting  the  entire  statement  into  the 
mouth  of  a  monarch  who  is  only  trying  to  ex- 
cuse himself. 

"  Scusavasi  egli  di  cio  con  addurre  che 
haveva  richiesto  d'ordini  specificati  I'impera- 
tore,  confortandolo  alia  pace  di  Francia,  .... 
ed  havergli  ricordato  esser  questa  Tunica 
arrne  per  franger  I'orgoglio  de  protestanti, 
etc."  [He  excused  himselffor  this  by  stating, 
that  he  had  requested  specific  orders  of  the 
emperor,  and  urged  him  to  make  peace  with 
France,  ....  reminding  him  that  this  was 
the  only  weapon  to  break  the  pride  of  the 
protestants,  &,c.]  Compare  these  tortured 
expressions  with  Delfino's  words  :  "  II  ser""o 
re  vedendo  questi  andamenti  (the  religious 
dissensions)  scrisse  a  S.  M^^Cesarea  esortan- 
dola  alia  pace  col  christianissimo  accioche  ella 
possa  attendere  alle  cose  di  Germania  e  farsi 
ubedire  etc."  [The  most  serene  king  seeing 
these  proceedings,  wrote  to  his  imperial  ma- 
jesty, exhorting  him  to  peace  with  the  most 
Christian  king,  so  that  he  might  be  able  to 
attend  to  the  afiairs  of  Germany,  and  enforce 
obedience  there,  &c.] 

Unquestionably  it  is  a  gross  departure  from 
the  original,  and  one  not  to  be  borne  in  a 
work  that  makes  such  pompous  claims  to  ac- 
cordance with  authentic  documents,  to  trans- 
form the  narration  of  a  nuncio  into  the  self- 
exculpation  of  the  king  :  but  the  worst  of  the 
matter  is,  that  it  obscures  the  true  view  of  the 
event. 

The  whole  of  the  documents  are  used, 
translated  from  the  language  of  the  sixteenth 
into  that  of  the  seventeenth  century,  but  used 
amiss. 

4.  We  have  still  farther  remarks  to  make 
on  the  relations  between  the  pope  and  Ferdi- 
nand I.  The  emperor  we  know  urged  a  re- 
form that  was  far  from  acceptable  to  the  pope. 
Twice  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1563 
Pius  sent  his  nuncios,  first  Commendone  and 
then  Morone,  to  Inshruck,  where  the  emperor 
was  then  residing,  to  withdraw  him  from  his 
opposition:  these  were  very  remarkable  mis- 
sions, and  the  results  had  a  vast  effect  upon 
the  council.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  the 
manner  in  which  Pallavicini  (xx.  4)  reports 
them.  We  have  Commendone's  report  of  the 
19th  of  February,  1563,  which  Pallavicini  had 
also  before  him. 

Now  the  first  thing  we  have  to  remark  is, 
that  he  vastly  v/eakens  the  expressions  used 
at  the  imperial  court,  and  the  intentions  en- 
tertained there.  He  makes  Commendone  say 
of  the  union  then  subsisting  between  the  em- 
peror on  the  one  side,  and  the  French  and  the 
cardinal  of  Lorraine'^Bn  the  other :  "  Renders! 
credibile  che  scambievolmente  si  confirmereb- 


446 


APPENDIX. 


bono  nel  pare  e  si  prometterebbono  ajuto  nell' 
operare :"  [it  is  probable  that  their  views  will 
mutually  harmonize  and  combine,  and  that 
they  will  pledge  each  other  aid  in  their  re- 
spective undertakings.]  Commendone  ex- 
presses himself quitedifferently.  The  impe- 
rial court  did  not  merely  purpose  to  urge 
reform  in  common  with  the  French:  "Pare 
che  pensino  trovar  modo  e  forma  di  haver  piii 
parte  et  autorita  nel  presente  concilio  per  sta- 
bilire  in  esso  tutte  le  loro  petitioni  giunta- 
mente  con  Francesi."  [It  appears  that  they 
are  bent  on  finding  ways  and  means  to  obtain 
more  weight  and  influence  in  the  present 
council,  towards  carrying  through  in  it  the 
measures  they  propose  in  conjunction  v/ith 
the  French.] 

But  there  are  many  other  things  of  which 
Pallavicini  absolutely  omits  all  mention.  The 
opinion  prevailed  at  the  imperial  court  that 
much  might  be  effected  with  the  protestants 
with  the  help  of  a  little  more  compliancy, 
coupled  with  real  reforms.  "  La  somma  e 
che  a  me  pare  di  haver  veduto  non  pur  in  S. 
M''-^  ma  nelli  principali  ministri,  come  Trau- 
sen  e  Seldio,  un  ardentissimo  desiderio  della 
riforma  e  del  progresso  del  concilio  con  una 
gran  speranza  quod  remittendo  aliquid  de  jure 
positive  et  reformando  mores  et  disciplinam 
ecclesiasticam  non  solo  si  possono  conservare 
li  cattolici  ma  guadagnare  e  ridurre  degli 
heretici,  con  una  opinioue  et  impressione  pur 
troppo  tbrte  che  qui  siano  molti  che  non  vogli- 
ano  riforma."  [In  fine,  I  think  I  have  dis- 
covered, not  indeed  in  his  majesty,  but  in  his 
principal  ministers,  such  as  Trausen  and  Seld, 
a  most  earnest  desire  for  reform,  and  for  the 
good  speed  of  the  council,  with  a  strong  hope, 
that  by  relaxing  something  of  the  juspositi- 
vum,  and  by  a  reform  of  morals  and  discipline 
in  the  church,  not  only  may  the  catholics  be 
preserved  to  the  church,  but  also  the  heretics 
gained  and  brougiit  back;  while  at  the  .•^ame 
time  they  are  impressed  with  an  exaggerated 
belief  that  there  are  many  here  averse  to  re- 
form.] I  will  not  inquire  who  may  have  been 
the  protestants  whose  return  to  the  church 
might  have  been  expected  in  case  of  due  re- 
form, but  language  of  such  tenour  was  too 
offensive  to  the  courtier  prelate  to  be  reported 
by  him.  Mention  being  made  of  the  difficul- 
ties experienced  in  the  council,  Seld  answer- 
ed shortly  :  "  Oportuisset  ab  initio  sequi  sana 
consilia."  [Wholesome  measures  ought  to 
have  been  adopted  from  the  beginning.]  Pal- 
lavicini mentions  the  complaints  of  the  diffi- 
culties, but  he  suppresses  the  answer. 

On  the  otiier  hand,  he  gives  at  full  length 
the  decision  of  the  cliancellor  in  favour  of  the 
Jesuits. 

In  short,  he  dwells  on  what  is  agreeable  to 
him,  but  ignores  whatever  might  be  irksome 
to  liimself  and  the  curia. 

5.  This  cannot  have  failed  to  act  injuri- 


ously on  the  views  he  has  given  of  his  sub- 
ject. 

For  example,  in  the  year  1.547  the  Span- 
iards presented  some  articles  of  reform,  known 
by  the  title  of  the  Censures.  The  transfer- 
ence of  the  council  to  Bologna  followed  soon 
after,  and  it  cannot  be  questioned  but  that  the 
Censures  had  much  to  do  with  causing  that 
event.  It  was  by  all  means  matter  for  the 
most  serious  reflection  that  the  immediate 
adherents  of  the  emperor  Charles  put  forth 
such  extraordinary  demands  at  the  very  mo- 
ment when  he  was  victorious.  Sarpi  gives 
them  at  full  length,  lib.  ii.  p.  262 ;  and  he 
shortly  after  subjoins  the  pope's  answers. 
But  such  outrageous  demands  on  the  part  of 
orthodox  prelates  are  not  opportune  to  Palla- 
vicini's  purposes.  He  says  that  Sarpi  relates 
a  great  deal  on  the  subject,  of  which  he  can 
find  nothing;  and  that  he  only  finds  an  an- 
swer of  the  pope  to  certain  proposals  of  reform 
made  by  numerous  fathers,  and  communicated 
to  him  by  the  president;  lib.  ix.  c.  9,  "sopra 
varie  reformazioni  proposte  da  molti  de'  pa- 
dri."  He  takes  good  care  not  to  cite  them. 
They  might  have  interfered  inconveniently 
with  his  refutation  of  the  worldly  grounds  as- 
signed by  Sarpi  for  the  transference  of  the 
council. 

6.  He  carries  to  a  rare  pitch  this  art  of 
silence,  and  of  passing  over  whatever  does 
not  suit  his  purpose. 

In  his  third  book,  for  instance,  he  two  or 
three  times  quotes  a  Venetian  report  by  Suri- 
ano.  Speakmg  of  it,  he  says  tiie  author  as- 
serts that  he  had  diligently  inquired  and  as- 
sured himself,  beyond  all  doubt,  of  the  exist- 
ence of  a  treaty  between  Francis  and  Clement; 
nor  does  Pallavicini  think  of  questioning  the  • 
fact  (iii.  chap.  xii.  n.  1^ :  he  inserts  in  his 
work  passages  from  the  report,  e.  g.  that  Cle- 
ment had  shed  tears  of  grief  and  indignation 
upon  hearing  that  his  nephew  had  been  taken 
prisoner  by  the  emperor:  in  short,  he  puts 
full  faith  in  Suriano.  He  also  alleges  that 
this  Venetian  directly  contradicts  his  coun- 
tryman Sarpi.  The  latter  says  :  "  II  papa 
negotio  confederazione  col  re  di  Francia,  la 
quale  si  concluse  e  stabili  anco  col  matrimo- 
nio  di  Henrico  secondogenito  regio  e  di  Ca- 
tharina."  [The  pope  negotiated  an  alliance 
with  the  king  of  France,  which  was  concluded 
and  further  consolidated  by  the  marriage  of 
Henry,  the  king's  second  son,  and  Catharine.] 
Upon  this  subject  Pallavicini  exclaims — "The 
pope  did  not  ally  himself  with  the  king,  as  P. 
Soave  so  boldly  maintains."  He  appeals  to 
Guicciardini  and  Soriano.  Now  what  does 
the  latter  say  1  He  investigates  at  great 
length  how  and  where  the  inclination  of  the 
pope  to  the  French  had  begun  ;  what  a  deci- 
dedly political  colour  it  had ;  and  lastly,  he 
speaks  too  of  the  negotiations  of  Bolog'na. 
He  certainly  denies  that  a  regular  treaty  of 


CRITICAL  REMARKS  ON  SARPI  AND  PALLAVICINI. 


447 


alliance  took  place ;  but  his  denial  imports  no 
more  than  that  the  terms  of  the  treaty  were 
not  committed  to  writing.  "  Di  tutti  li  desi- 
deri  (del  re)  s'accommodo  Clemente  con  pa- 
role tali  che  gli  fanno  credere,  S.  S"^'-^  esser 
disposta  in  tutto  alle  sue  voglie,  senza  pero 
far  provisione  alcuna  in  scrittura."  [Clement 
acquiesced  in  all  the  king's  desires,  in  such 
words  as  gave  his  majesty  reason  to  believe 
that  his  holiness  was  disposed  in  all  things  to 
accede  to  his  wishes,  without,  however,  mak- 
ing any  stipulation  in  writing.]  He  after- 
wards relates  that  the  king  pressed  for  the 
fulfilment  of  the  promises  that  had  been  made 
him  there  :  "  S.  M"^^  chrn^a  dimando  che  da  S. 
S^^  li  fussino  osservate  le  promesse :"  which, 
according  to  the  same  author,  was  among  the 
causes  of  the  pope's  death.  Here  we  have 
the  curious  case  in  which  falsehood  is,  in  a 
certain  sense,  truer  than  truth.  Sarpi  is  un- 
doubtedly wrong  in  saying  that  a  league  was 
concluded;  what  is  so  called  was  not  carried 
into  effect:  Pallavicini  is  right  in  denying  it: 
yet,  on  the  whole,  Sarpi  approaches  much 
nearer  to  the  truth.  The  closest  union  was 
cemented,  only  it  was  ratified  by  words  of 
mouth,  not  in  writing. 

7.  The  case  is  similar  as  to  the  use  made 
by  Pallavicini  of  Vi^conti's  letters.  Sarpi 
sometimes  takes  more  from  them  than  is 
literally  set  down  in  them.  For  instance,  he 
says,  vii.  657,  speaking  of  the  decree  enforc- 
ing residence,  that  cardinal  Lorraine  had 
spoken  very  diffusely  and  indistinctly,  and 
that  no  one  could  tell  whether  he  was  alto- 
gether in  favour  of  such  a  decree  or  not. 
Pallavicini  vehemently  contradicts  him.  "Si 
scorge  apertamente  il  contrario"  (xix.  c.  8). 
He  even  quotes  Visconti  in  support  of  his 
contradiction.  Let  us  hear  Visconti  himself: 
"  Perche  s'allargo  molto,  non  potero  seguire 
se  non  pochi  prelati."  (Trente  X.  Dec. 
Mansi  Misc.  Balusii,  iii.  p.  454).  Thus  it  is 
true,  that  it  was  nor  possible  to  follow  or  to 
understand  his  meaning.  Further  on,  Palla- 
vicini is  enraged  that  Sarpi  gives  it  to  be  un- 
derstood that  the  cardinal  did  not  make  his 
appearance  in  a  congregation  because  he 
wished  to  give  the  French  an  opportunity  of 
expressing  their  opinions  in  perfect  freedom  ; 
and  that  he  made  the  news  of  the  king  of  Na- 
varre's death  a  pretext  for  his  absence.  Pal- 
lavicini vehemently  asserts  that  this  was  his 
true  and  only  motive.  "  Ne  io  trovo  in  tante 
memorie  piene  di  sospetto,  che  cio  capitasse 
in  mente  a  persona."  (ib.)  [Nor  do  I  find 
among  so  many  records  filled  with  suspicions 
that  this  one  entered  any  body's  head.]  What? 
no  one  conceived  any  suspicion  as  to  the  mo- 
tive of  the  cardinal's  absence  ?  Visconti  says, 
in  a  letter  published  by  Mansi  "  Loreno  chi- 
amo  questi  prelati  Francesi,  e  gli  commise  che 
havessero  da  esprimere  liberamente  tutto 
puello  che  haveano   in  animo  senza   timor 


alcuno.  E  sono  di  quelli  che  pensano  che  il 
cardinal  se  ne  restrasse  in  casa  per  questo 
efi'etto."  [Cardinal  Lorraine  called  together 
those  prelates,  and  told  them  that  they  should 
speak  out  freely  whatever  they  had  a  mind, 
without  any  fear.  And  some  there  are  who 
think  that  the  cardinal  remained  at  home 
to  that  end.]  Visconti  certainly  says  noth- 
ing about  the  cardinal's  making  a  pretext 
of  the  king  of  Navarre's  death  ;  unless  per- 
chance he  does  so  in  some  other  letter  ^and 
Sarpi  had  manifestly  other  sources  before  his 
eyes :)  but  as  for  the  fact  that  the  cardinal 
was  suspected  to  have  remained  away  pur- 
posely, this  assuredly  the  letters  distinctly  as- 
sert. What  must  we  say,  since  Pallavicini 
undoubtedly  saw  them  1 

8.  Pallavicini  has  but  one  object  in  view, 
to  confute  his  opponent,  without  concerning 
himself  to  bring  the  truth  itself  to  light.  This 
is  no  where  more  glaring  than  with  regard  to 
the  Ratisbon  conference,  of  which  we  have 
already  spoken  so  fully.  Pallavicini  too,  as 
may  readily  be  supposed,  was  acquainted  with 
the  instruction  in  question,  and  he  held  it  to 
be  more  secret  than  it  really  was.  But  his 
manner  of  dealing  with  it  fully  unfolds  his 
character  to  us.  He  inveighs  vehemently 
against  Sarpi ;  he  abuses  him  for  making  the 
pope  declare  that  he  was  willing  to  give  the 
protestants  satisfaction,  provided  only  they 
would  agree  with  him  in  the  already  esta- 
blished points  of  the  catholic  faith:  "che  ove 
i  Luterani  convenissero  ne'  punti  gia  stabiliti 
della  chiesa  romana,  si  offeriva  nel  resto  di 
porger  ogni  sodisfattione  alia  Germania."  He 
finds  this  directly  contrary  to  the  truth. 
"  Questo  e  dirimpetto  contrario  al  prime  capo 
deir  instruttione."  What?  Does  he  mean 
that  the  contrary  was  the  fact  ?  In  the  pope's 
instruction  it  is  said :  "  Vivendum  est  an  in 
principiis  nobiscum  conveuiant,  .  .  .  quibua 
admissis  omnis  super  aliis  controvei'siis  Con- 
cordia tentaretur."  [It  must  be  ascertained 
whether  or  not  they  agree  with  us  in  princi- 
pal points  .  .  .  these  being  admitted,  every 
means  of  concord  on  other  controverted  topics 
should  be  essayed,]  and  the  other  words  which 
have  been  already  quoted.  It  is  true,  Sarpi 
is  at  fault  here  ;  he  makes  the  legate's  powers 
more  restricted  than  they  really  were;  he 
says  too  little  of  the  pope's  disposition  to  give 
way.  Pallavicini,  instead  of  discovering  this 
palpable  error,  makes  it  out  that  Sarpi  states 
too  much ;  he  enters  into  a  distinction  be- 
tween articles  of  faith  and  others,  which  is 
not  made  in  the  bull ;  and  he  brings  forward 
a  multitude  of  things,  which  are  true,  but  not 
the  whole  truth,  and  which  cannot  undo  those 
words  which  are  set  down  in  the  instruction. 
In  non-essentials  he  is  accurate ;  he  com- 
pletely distorts  essentials.  In  short,  Palla- 
vicini acts  like  an  advocate  who  has  under- 
taken   to  defend  a  client  in  a  difficult  case 


443 


APPENDIX. 


throuffh  thick  and  thin.  He  endeavours  to 
place'^him  in  the  best  light,  and  brings  for- 
ward whatever  can  help  his  cause  ;  whatever 
he  imagines  might  prejudice  him  he  not 
merely  omits,  but  flatly  denies. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  follow  him  through 
the  diffuse  discussions  into  which  he  enters: 
it  is  enough  if  we  have  in  some  measure  af- 
forded an  idea  of  his  manner. 

Truly  the  result  of  such  an  inquiry  is  not 
the  most  agreeable  for  the  history  of  the 
council. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  the  truth  may  be 
distinctly  gathered  from  these  two  works  com- 
bined. This  may  perhaps  be  the  case  in  a 
very  large  and  general  sense  :  it  is  by  no 
means  so  in  particulars. 

They  both  swerve  from  the  truth,  which 
certainly  lies  in  the  midst  between  them ;  but 
it  cannot  be  come  at  by  conjecture:  truth  is 
positive,  original,  and  is  not  to  be  conceived 
by  any  accommodation  of  partial  statements, 
but  by  a  direct  review  of  facts. 

As  we  have  seen,  Sarpi  says,  that  a  treaty 
had  been  concluded  at  Bologna  ;  Pallavicini 
denies  this :  no  conjecture  in  the  world  could 
hit  upon  the  fact  that  the  treaty  was  made  by 
word  of  mouth,  not  by  writing, — a  fact  which 
really  reconciles  the  discrepancy. 

They  both  distort  Contarini's  instruction  ; 
there  is  no  harmonizing  their  contradictions; 
it  is  only  when  we  refer  to  the  original  that 
the  truth  strikes  us. 

Their  minds  were  of  the  most  opposite  cast. 
Sarpi  is  keen,  penetrating,  caustic;  his  ar- 
rangement is  eminently  skilful,  his  style  pure 
and  unaffected ;  and  tliough  the  Crusca  will 
not  admit  him  into  the  list  of  classic  authors, 
probably  on  account  of  some  provincialisms  he 
exhibits,  his  work  is  really  refreshing  after  all 
the  pompous  array  of  words  through  whicii  we 
are  forced  to  toil  in  other  authors.  His  style 
coincides  with  his  subject :  in  point  of  graphic 
power  he  is  certainly  the  second  among  the 
modern  historians  of  Italy  : — I  rank  him  im- 
mediately after  Machiavelli. 

Nor  is  Pallavicini  void  of  talent;  he  draws 
many  pointed  and  forcible  parallels,  and  he 
often  displays  no  little  skill  as  the  pleader  for 
a  party.  But  his  talent  is  somewhat  of  a 
heavy  and  cumbrous  cast ;  it  is  one  that  chiefly 
delights  in  turning  phrases  and  devising  sub- 
terfuges ;  ills  style  is  overloaded  with  words. 
Sarpi  is  clear  and  transparent  to  the  very  bot- 
tom ;  PaHavicini  is  not  wanting  in  continuous 
flow,  but  he  is  muddy,  diffuse,  and  shallow. 

Both  are  heart  and  soul  partisans;  both 
lack  the  true  spirit  of  the  historian,  that  grasps 
its  object  in  its  full  truth,  and  sets  il  in  the 
broad  light  of  day.  Sarpi  had  certainly  the 
talent  requisite  for  this,  but  he  will  be  an  ac- 
cuser and  nothing  more ;  Pallavicini  had  it  in 
a  vastly  lower  degree,  but  he  will  be  by  all 
means  the  apologizer  of  his  party. 


Neither  can  we  obtain  a  full  view  of  the 
substance  of  the  case  from  the  works  of  these 
two  writers  combined.  It  is  a  very  remarka- 
ble circumstance,  that  Sarpi  contains  much 
that  Pallavicini  was  never  able  to  hunt  out, 
many  as  were  the  archives  thrown  open  to 
him.  I  will  only  mention  a  memoir  of  the 
nuncio  Chieregato,  concerning  the  consulta- 
tions at  the  court  of  Adrian  VI.,  which  is  very 
important,  and  against  which  Pallavicini 
makes  objections  of  no  moment.  Pallavicini 
also  overlooks  many  things  from  a  sort  of  in- 
capacity. He  cannot  discover  them  to  be  of 
much  consequence,  and  so  he  neglects  them. 
On  the  other  hand,  Sarpi  lacked  a  multitude 
of  documents  which  Pallavicini  possessed : 
the  former  saw  but  a  small  part  of  the  corre- 
spondence of  the  Roman  court  with  the  legates. 
His  errors  spring,  for  the  most  part,  from  the 
want  of  original  documents. 

But  in  many  cases  they  both  are  ignorant 
of  important  records.  A  little  report  by  car- 
dinal Morone,  who  executed  the  decisive  em- 
bassy to  Ferdinand  I.,  is  of  the  highest  mo- 
ment, as  regards  the  history  of  the  whole  lat- 
ter part  of  the  council.  Neither  of  them  has 
made  use  of  it. 

Nor  must  we  suffer  ourselves  to  believe 
that  these  deficiencies  are  fully  supplied  by 
Rainaldus  or  Le  Plat.  The  former  frequently 
does  no  more  than  abridge  Pallavicini.  Le 
Plat  follows  him  or  Sarpi  often  verbatim,  and 
takes  the  Latin  translations  of  their  text  as 
original  authority  for  what  he  cannot  find  in 
a  more  authentic  form  elsewhere.  He  has 
used  much  fewer  MS.  materials  than  might 
be  expected.  Many  things  new  and  valuable 
are  to  be  found  in  Mendham's  History  of  the 
Council  of  Trent;  for  instance,  at  page  181, 
there  is  an  extract  from  the  official  records 
of  Paleotto:  there  are  besides  his  introduc- 
tions to  several  distinct  sessions,  as  for  exam- 
ple the  2()th :  but  he  has  not  duly  studied  the 
subject. 

If  any  one  should  be  disposed  to  undertake 
a  new  history  of  the  council  of  Trent  (which 
is  not  very  likely,  since  the  subject  has  lost 
so  much  of  its  original  interest,)  he  must  be- 
gin anew  from  the  very  commencement.  He 
must  collect  the  special  negotiations  and  the 
discussions  of  the  congregations,  of  which  very 
little  that  is  authentic  has  been  published  ;  he 
must  possess  himself  of  the  dispatches  of  one 
or  other  of  the  ambassadors  who  attended  the 
council.  Not  till  he  had  done  this  would  he 
be  able  to  take  a  full  and  commanding  view 
of  the  whole  matter,  and  of  the  two  authors 
who  have  treated  of  it.  This,  however  is  a 
task  that  will  never  be  undertaken,  since 
those  who  could  fulfil  it  will  not,  and  those 
who  would,  have  not  the  means. 


FROM  THE  RESTORATION  OF  CATHOLICISM  TO  SIXTUS  V.        449 


SECTION  III. 

PERIOD  OF  THE  RESTORATION  OF  CATHOLICISM 
DOWN  TO  THE  PONTIFICATE  OF  SIXTUS  V. 

We  return  to  our  manuscripts,  in  which  we 
find  information,  however  fragmentary,  at  all 
events  genuine  and  unadulterated. 

22.  Instructio  pro  causa  Jidei  et  concilii  data 
episcopo  MutincR,  Pauli  III.  ad  regem 
Romanorum  nuntio  destinato,  24  Oct. 
1586.  (MS.  Barb.  3007.  15  leaves.  [In- 
struction given  touching  the  fiiith  and  the 
council  by  Paul  III.  to  the  bishop  of  Mu- 
tina,  appointed  nuncio  to  the  king  of  the 
Romans.] 

A  striking  evidence  how  necessary  the  Ro- 
man court  felt  it  to  recollect  itself  and  take 
heed  to  its  good  name.  The  following,  among 
other  rules  of  conduct,  are  enjoined  on  the 
nuncio.  He  was  neither  to  be  lavish  nor  par- 
simonious; neither  too  grave  nor  too  lively; 
he  was  not  to  publish  his  spiritual  preroga- 
tives by  affixing  them  to  the  church  doors, 
which  miglit  bring  him  into  derision ;  who- 
ever wanted  him  could  find  him  without  that; 
he  was  only  under  peculiar  circumstances  to 
remit  his  dues,  but  he  was  never  to  exact 
them  with  excessive  rigour;  he  was  not  to 
contract  any  debts,  and  was  to  pay  in  the  inns. 
*'  Nee  hospitii  pensione  nimis  parce  vel  for- 
tasse  etiam  nequaquam  soluta  discedat,  id 
quod  ab  aliquibus  nuntiis  aliis  factum  pluri- 
raumanimos  eorum  populorum  in  nos  irritavit. 
...  In  vultu  et  colloquiis  omnem  timorem  aut 
causae  nostrse  diffidentiam  dissimulet.  .  Hiiari 
quidem  vultu  accipere  se  fingant  invitationes, 
sed  in  respondendo  modum  non  excedant,  ne 
id  forte  mali  iis  accidat  quod  cuidam  nobili 
Saxoni,  camerario  socreto  q.  Leonis  X  (Mil- 
titz,)  qui  ob  Lutheranam  causam  componen- 
dam  in  Saxoniam  missus,  id  tantum  fructus 
reportavit,  quod  saepe,  perturbatus  vino,  ea 
effutire  de  pontifice  et  Romana  curia  a  Saxo- 
nibus  inducebatur,  non  modo  quae  facta  erant, 
sed  quae  ipsi  e  malae  in  nos  mentis  affectu 
imaginabantur  et  optabant ;  et  ea  omnia  scrip- 
tis  excipientes  postea  in  conventu  Vorma- 
tiensi  nobis  publice  coram  tota  Germania  ex- 
probrabant."  [Let  him  not  pay  scantily,  or 
perhaps  not  at  all,  on  quitting  his  inn,  which 
some  nuncios  have  done,  thereby  exceedingly 
exasperating  the  minds  of  those  people  against 
us.  .  Let  him  dissemble  in  his  countenance 
and  his  discourse  all  fear  and  distrust  of  our 
cause.  .  .  .  Let  them  affect  to  accept  invita- 
tions with  cheerful  looks ;  but  let  them  not 
forget  moderation  in  responding  to  them,  lest 
they  meet  with  the  same  mischance  as  a  cer- 
tain noble  Saxon,  private  chamberlain  to  Leo 
X.  (Miltitz,)  who  was  sent  into  Saxony  to  set- 

57 


tie  the  Lutheran  business,  and  had  no  other 
fruit  of  his  pains,  but  that  being  frequently 
confused  with  wine,  he  was  induced  by  the 
Saxons  to  blab  things  of  the  pope  and  the 
court  of  Rome  ;  not  only  such  as  were  true, 
but  such  as  they  in  their  malice  towards  us 
imagined  and  desired.  All  these  things  they 
took  down  in  writing,  and  afterwards  cast  up 
against  us  at  the  diet  of  Worms  publicly,  ia 
the  presence  of  all  Germany.] 

We  see  from  Pallavicini,  i.  18,  that  the 
conduct  of  Miltitz  caused  his  memory  to  be  in 
very  bad  odour  at  the  court  of  Rome. 

The  instruction  before  us  is  further  remark- 
able for  mentioning  byname  some  less  known 
champions  of  Catholicism  in  Germany  :  Leonh. 
Marstaller, — Nicol.  Appel, — Joh.  Burchard, 
preacher  of  his  order  .  .  "qui  etsi  nihil  libro- 
rum  ediderit  contra  Lutheranos,  magno  tamen 
vitae  periculo  ab  initio  usque  hujus  tumultus 
pro  defensione  ecclesias  laboravit,"  [who 
though  he  has  not  published  any  books  against 
the  Lutherans,  has  nevertheless  laboured,  at 
the  great  peril  of  his  life,  from  the  very  be- 
ginning of  this  disturbance,  for  the  defence  of 
the  church.]  Among  those  of  more  note, 
Ludwig  Berus,  who  had  fled  from  Basel  to 
Freiburg,  in  the  Breisgau,  is  especially  ex- 
tolled and  recommended  to  the  nuncio,  "  turn 
propter  sanam  et  excellentem  hominis  doctri- 
nam  et  morum  probitatem,  turn  quia  sua  gra- 
vitate et  autoritate  optime  operam  navare  po- 
terit  in  causa  fidei,"  [both  for  his  sound  and 
excellent  doctrines  and  morals,  and  because, 
by  the  weight  and  influence  of  his  character, 
he  can  do  the  best  possible  service  to  the 
cause  of  the  faith.]  It  is  well  known  that 
Ber  knew  how  to  make  himself  respected 
even  by  the  protestants. 

23.  Instruttione  mandata  da  Roma  per  Velet- 
tione  del  concilio,  1537. — Infnrmalioni 
Politt.  tom.  xii.  [Instruction  sent  from 
Rome  touching  the  selection  of  a  place  for 
the  meeting  of  the  council.] 

It  was  now  by  all  means  the  intention  of 
Paul  III.  to  convoke  a  council :  in  this  instruc- 
tion he  affirms  that  he  was  fully  resolved  on 
doing  so  ("tutto  risoluto,")  only  his  wish  was 
to  assemble  it  in  Italy.     He  was  inclined  to 
choose  Piacenza  or  Bologna,  places  belonging 
to  the  church,  the  common  mother  of  all, — or 
at  least  some  town  of  the  Venetians,  since 
these  were  the  common  friends  of  all.     His 
j  reasons  were,  that  he  believed  the  protest- 
,  ants  were  not  in  earnest  in  their  calls  for  a 
j  council,  as  appeared   from  the  conditions  for 
j  which  they  stipulated.     Here  the  notion  dis- 
covers  itself,  which   afterwards  acquired   so 
j  important   a   bearing  on  the  history  of  the 
world,  that  the  council  was  only  an  affair  of 
the  catholics  amonir  themselves. 


450 


APPENDIX. 


Furthermore,  he  gives  the  emperor  intelli- 
gence of  his  efforts  for  internal  reform.  .  . 
"  Sara  con  effetto  e  non  con  parole."  [It 
shall  take  place,  not  in  words  only  but  in 
deed.] 

24.  Instrutiione  data  da  Paolo  III.  al  d  Mon- 
tepulciano  destinato  aW  imperotore  Carlo 
Y.  sopra  le  cose  della  reUgione  in  Ger- 
mania  1589.  Bibl.  Corsini  nr.  467.) 
[Instruction  given  by  Paul  III.  to  cardinal 
Montepulciano  on  his  embassy  to  the  em- 
peror Charles  V.,  respecting  the  religious 
affairs  of  Germany.] 

Nevertheless,  it  was  apparent  that  the  need 
of  a  reconciliation  was  most  pressing  in  Ger- 
many. Now  and  then  it  set  both  parties  in 
array  against  the  pope.  At  the  convention  of 
Frankfort,  the  imperial  ambassador,  Johann 
Wessel,  archbishop  of  Lund,  made  the  protes- 
tants  very  important  concessions, — a  truce  of 
fifteen  months,  during  which  all  judicial  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Kammergericht  should  be 
suspended,  and  a  religious  conference,  with 
which  the  pope  was  not  at  all  to  interfere. 
Of  course  this  was  exceedingly  offensive  to 
Paul  III.  Cardinal  Montepulciano,  after- 
wards Marcellus  II.,  was  therefore  sent  to 
Germany  to  frustrate  so  uncatholic  an  ar- 
rangement. 

The  instruction,  above  all,  accuses  the 
archbishop  of  Lund  of  having  had  corrupt 
personal  motives  for  his  compliant  conduct,  of 
having  been  influenced  by  presents,  promises, 
and  ulterior  views.  "La  communita  d'Au- 
gusta  gli  dono  2500  fiorini  d'oro,  poi  gli  fu 
fatta  promissione  di  4000  f.  singulis  annis 
sopra  il  frutto  del  suo  arcivescovato  di  Lunda 
occupato  per  quel  re  Luterano."  [The  city 
of  Augsburg  gave  him  2500  gold  florins;  in 
addition  to  which  he  was  promised  4000  flo- 
rins yeajly  out  of  the  proceeds  of  his  arch- 
bishopric, seized  by  the  Lutheran  king  (of 
Denmark)].  He  is  suspected  of  wishing  to 
stand  well  with  the  duke  of  Cleves,  and  with 
queen  Maria  of  Hungary :  for  that  sister  of 
the  emperor,  who  was  then  governess  of  the 
Netherlands,  was  especially  accused  of  a 
strong  leaning  Jo  the  protestants.  "  Secreta- 
mente  presta  favore  alia  parte  di  Luterani, 
animandogliove  puo,  e  con  mandarli  huomini 
;a  posta  disfavoreggia  la  causa  de'  cattolici." 
[She  secretly  favours  the  party  of  the  Luthe- 
rans, encouraging  them,  as  far  as  she  can,  and 
sending  them  men  on  purpose  to  hurt  the 
cause  of  the  catholics.]  She  had  sent  an  en- 
voy to  Smalcalde,  and  expressly  exhorted  the 
elector  of  Triiers  not  to  join  the  catholic 
league. 

Maria  and  the  archbishop  were  prominent 
representatives  of  the  anti-French  and  anti- 
Roman  policy  of  the  imperial  court.  They 
wished  to  see  Germany  united  under  the  em- 


peror. The  archbishop  declared  that  this 
depended  only  on  a  few  religious  conces- 
sions: "che  se  S.  M^^  volesse  tolerare  che 
i  Luterani  stassero  nei  loro  errori,  disponeva 
a  modo  e  voler  suo  di  tutta  Germania"  [that 
if  his  majesty  would  tolerate  the  persistence 
of  the  Lutherans  in  their  errors,  he  might 
dispose  of  all  Germany  as  he  pleased]. 

The  pope  replies  that  there  were  very  dif- 
ferent means  of  settling  affairs  in  Germany. 
Let  us  hear  himself. 

"  Annichilandosi  dunque  del  tutto  per  le 
dette  cose  la  dieta  di  Francfordia,  et  essendo 
il  consiglio  di  S.  M^'^  Cesarea  etaltri  principi 
christian!  che  per  la  mala  dispositione  di 
questi  tempi  non  si  possa  per  hora  celebrare 
il  concilio  generale,  non  ostante  N.  S.  gia 
tanto  tempo  lo  habbia  indetto  et  usato  ogni 
opera  e  mezzo  per  congregarlo,  pare  a  S. 
fine  che  sarebbe  bene  che  S.  M^^  pensasse 
alia  celebratione  di  una  dieta  imperiale,  per 
prohibire  quelli  inconvenienti  che  potriano 
nascere  massimamente  di  un  concilio  nation- 
ale,  il  quale  tacilniente  si  potria  fare  per  cat- 
tolici e  Luterani  per  la  quiete  di  Germania 
quando  i  cattolici  havendo  visto  infiniti  disor- 
dini  seguiti  per  causa  di  alcun  ministro  della 
Cesarea  e  Regia  M^^^  vedessero  anche  le 
Maesta  loro  eSser  tardi  alii  rimedj  :  ne  detto 
concilio  nationale  sarebbe  mono  dannoso  alia 
Cesarea  e  Regia  Maesta,  per  le  occulte  cause, 
che  sanno,  che  alia  sedia  apostolica:  non  po- 
triae  non  partorire  scisma  in  tutta  la  christi- 
anita  cosi  nel  temporale  come  nello  spirituale. 
Ma  S.  S'^  e  di  parere  che  si  celebri  tal  dieta 
in  evento  che  S.  M^^  si  possa  trovare  presente 
in  Germania  o  in  qualche  luogo  vicino  a  la 
congregatione  :  altrimenti  se  S.  M'^  Cesarea 
distratta  da  altre  sue  occupationi  non  potesse 
trovarsi  cosi  presto,  e  d'opinione  che  la  dieta 
non  s'indichi,  ne  che  S.  M'^  si  riposi  nel  giu- 
dicio  altrui,  quantunque  sufficienti  e  buoni 
che  procurassero  e  sollecitassero  fare  detta 
dieta  in  assenza  di  S.  M^^,  per  non  incorrere 
in  quel  disordini  che  sono  seguiti  nelle  altre 
diete  particolari  ove  non  si  e  trovato  S.  M^^, 
e  tra  questo  mezzo  con  fama  continuata  da 
ogni  banda  di  voler  venire  in  Germania  e  fare 
la  dieta  e  con  honesto  vie  et  esecutioni  trat- 
tenere  quel  principi  che  la  soUecitano  e  I'ad- 
dimandano:  mentre  che  S.  M^^^  venendo  da 
buon  senno  la  indichi  poi  e  celebri,  et  inte- 
rea  vedendo  S.  M'^  quanto  bene  et  utile  sia 
per  portare  la  propagatione  della  lega  catto- 
lica,  attenda  per  hora  a  questa  cosa  principal- 
mente,  e  scriva  al  suo  oratore  in  Germania 
e  parendoli  ancora  mandi  alcun'  altro  che 
quanto  pifi  si  puo  procurino  con  ogni  diligen- 
za  e  mezzo  d'accrescere  detta  lega  cattolica 
acquistando  e  guadagnando  ogn'  uno,  ancora 
cho  nel  principle  non  fossero  cosi  sinceri  nella 
vera  religione,  perche  a  poco  a  poco  si  potri- 
ano poi  ridurre  e  per  adcsso  importa  piii  il 
togliere  a  loro  che  acquistare  a  noi :  alia  quale 


FROM  THE  RESTORATION  OF  CATHOLICISM  TO  SIXTUS  V.         451 


cosa  gioveria  molto  quando  S.  M'^  mandasse 
in  Gcrmania  qiiella  piu  quantita  di  denari 
ch'ella  potnsse,  perche  divulgandosi  tal  fama 
confirmarebbe  gli  altri,  che  piu  facilmente 
entrassero  vedendo  che  li  primi  nervi  della 
guerra  no  mancariano.  E  per  mag'g-iore  cor- 
roboratione  di  delta  lega  cattolica  S.  S^^  si 
risolvera  di  mandare  una  o  piii  persone  a  quei 
principi  cattolici  per  animarli  similmente  con 
promissioni  di  ajuto,  di  denari  et  altri  efFetti, 
quando  le  cose  s'incammineranno  di  sorte,  per 
il  beneficio  della  religione  e  conservatione 
della  disfnita  della  sede  apostolica  e  della  Ce- 
sarea  M^^,  che  si  veda  da  biion  senno  la  spesa 
dover  fare  frutto :  ne  in  questo  si  partira  dal 
ricordo  di  S.  M^^;  ne  sarebbe  male  tra  questo 
mezzo  sotto  titolo  delle  cose  Turchesche  man- 
dare  qualche  numero  di  gente  Spagnuolo  et 
Italiana  in  quelle  bande  con  trattenerli  nelle 
terre  del  re  de'  Romani  suo  fratello,  accioche 
bisognando  Tajuto  fosse  presto  in  ordine." 
[Now  whereas  the  diet  of  Frankfort  has  been 
broken  up  for  the  aforesaid  causes,  and  where- 
as his  imperial  majesty  and  other  Christian 
princes  are  advised,  that  in  consequence  of 
the  evil  disposition  of  these  times  a  general 
council  cannot  be  held  at  present,  notwith- 
standing that  our  lord  the  pope  proclaimed  it 
long  since,  and  has  used  every  effort  and 
means  to  assemble  it,  it  seems  to  his  holiness 
that  his  majesty  would  do  well  to  think  of 
holding  an  imperial  diet,  to  prevent  those  in- 
conveniences which  might  most  especially 
arise  out  of  a  national  council,  whereby  the 
quiet  of  Germany  might  very  readily  be  dis- 
turbed by  catholics  and  Lutherans,  should  the 
catholics,  after  seeing  infinite  disorders  pro- 
duced by  any  imperial  or  royal  minister, 
perceive  that  their  majesties  themselves  were 
slow  in  applying  remedies.  Nor  would  the 
said  national  council  be  less  mischievous  to 
his  imperial  and  his  royal  majesty  for  occult 
causes,  than  certain,  as  they  well  know,  to 
produce  for  the  apostolic  see  schism  through- 
out all  Christendom,  both  in  temporal  and  in 
spiritual  things.  But  his  holiness  is  of  opi- 
nion that  such  a  diet  may  be  held,  if  so  be  his 
majesty  may  be  able  to  be  present  in  Ger- 
many or  in  some  place  near  tlie  assembly. 
Otherwise  should  his  imperial  majesty's  occu- 
pations prevent  his  being  so  near  at  hand,  his 
holiness  is  of  opinion  that  it  should  not  be 
called,  and  that  his  majesty  should  not  rely 
on  the  judgment  of  others,  however  sound 
and  sufficient,  who  should  endeavour  and  soli- 
cit to  have  the  said  diet  held  with  his  majes- 
ty's consent,  that  so  those  disorders  may  be 
avoided  which  have  happened  in  other  special 
diets  where  his  majesty  was  not  present. 
Meanwhile,  it  will  be  advisable,  by  continual 
reports  from  all  quarters  of  the  emperor's  in- 
tention to  visit  Germany  and  hold  the  diet, 
and  by  all  honourable  ways  and  means,  to 
keep  in  play  those  princes  who  solicit  and 


demand  it.  When  his  majesty  shall  have 
actually  arrived  he  may  proclaim  and  hold  the 
diet;  and  meanwhile,  seeing  how  advisable  it 
is  to  propagate  the  catholic  league,  he  should 
attend  at  present  chiefly  to  this,  and  should 
write  to  his  ambassador  in  Germany,  and  if 
he  pleases  send  also  some  one  else  thither 
with  orders  that  they  should  with  all  possible 
diligence  use  every  means  to  increase  the 
said  catholic  league,  acquiring  and  gaining 
over  every  one,  even  such  as  may  not  at  first 
have  been  quite  sound  in  the  true  religion ; 
because  by  and  by  they  may  come  round,  and 
at  present  it  is  of  more  moment  to  take  from 
their  ranks  than  to  add  to  ours.  To  this  end 
I  should  much  rejoice  if  his  majesty  would 
send  as  much  money  as  ever  he  can  into 
Germany,  because  upon  such  news  spreading 
through  the  country  others  would  be  more 
induced  to  join  the  league,  seeing  that  the 
main  sinews  of  war  were  not  wanting.  And 
for  the  greater  strengthening  of  the  said 
catholic  league,  his  holiness  will  resolve  to 
send  one  or  more  persons  to  those  catholic 
princes  to  encourage  them,  and  to  convey  to 
them  likewise  promises  of  aid  in  money  and 
otherwise,  when  matters  shall  have  been  put 
in  such  a  train  for  the  benefit  of  religion  and 
the  preservation  of  the  dignity  of  the  apostolic 
see  and  of  his  imperial  majesty,  that  there 
shall  appear  in  reality  good  reason  to  hope 
for  a  desirable  result.  Nor  will  his  holiness 
forget  his  majesty  in  this  matter:  nor  would 
it  be  amiss  meanwhile,  under  pretext  of  Turk- 
ish affairs,  to  send  a  certain  number  of  Spanish 
and  Italian  troops  into  those  parts,  maintain- 
ing them  in  the  territories  of  the  emperor's 
brother,  the  king  of  the  Romans,  so  that  in 
case  of  need  due  aid  should  be  at  hand.] 

Pallavicini  was  acquainted  with  this  as 
well  as  with  the  former  instruction.  (Lib.  iv. 
c.  xiv.)  We  learn  from  him  that  the  infor- 
mation concerning  Germany  in  the  latter  of 
the  two  is  derived  chiefly  from  the  letters  of 
Aleander,  who  earned  for  himself  so  ambigu- 
ous a  reputation  in  these  transactions. 

25.  Instructiones  pro  rev"'"  doni^"  episcopo 
Mutinensi  apostolico  nuntio  interfuturo 
conventui  Germanorum  Spirce  12  Maji 
1.540  celbhrando.—{Darb.  3007.)  [In- 
structions for  the  bishop  of  Mutina,  nuntio 
at  the  German  conference  in  Spires.] 

The  religious  conferences  took  place  how- 
ever. We  here  see  in  what  light  they  were 
regarded  in  Rome. 

"  Neque  mirum  videatur  alicui  si  neque 
legatis  neque  nuntiis  plenaria  facultas  et  auc- 
toritas  decidendi  aut  concordandi  in  causa  fidei 
detiir,  quia  maxime  absurdum  esset  et  ab 
omni  ratione  disseutaneum,  quin  imo  diflicile 
et  quam  maxime  periculosum,  sacros  ritus  et 
sanctiones,  per  tot  annorum  censuras  ab  uni- 


452 


APPENDIX. 


versali  ecclesia  ita  receptas  ut  si  quid  in  his 
innovandum  esset,  id  rionnisi  universalis  con- 
cilii  decretis  vel  saltern  summi  pontificis 
ecclesise  moderatoris  njature  et  bene  discussa 
deliberatione  fieri  debeat,  paiicorum  etiam 
non  competentium  judicio  et  tain  brevi  ac 
prsecipiti  tempore  et  in  loco  non  satis  idoneo 
committi. 

"  Debet  tamen  rev.  dom.  nuntius  domi  suae 
seorsim  intelligere  a  catholicis  doctoribus  ea 
omnia  quae  inter  ipsos  et  doctores  Lutheranos 
tractabuntur,  ut  snum  consilium  prudentiam- 
que  interponere  et  ad  bonum  finem  omnia 
dirigere  possit,  salva  semper  sanctissimi  Do- 
mini Nostri  et  apostolicse  sedis  auctoritate  et 
dignitate,  ut  ssepe  repetitum  est,  quia  hinc 
salus  universalis  ecclesise  pendet,  ut  inquit  D. 
Hieronimus.  Debet  idem  particulariter  qua- 
dam  cum  dexteritate  et  prudentia  catholicos 
principes,  tam  ecclesiasticos  quam  sseculares, 
in  fide  parentum  et  majorum  suorum  confir- 
mare,  et  ne  quid  in  ea  temere  et  absque  apos- 
tolicse  sedis  auctoritate,  ad  quam  hujusmodi 
exaraen  spectat,  innovari  aut  immutari  pati- 
antur,  eos  commonefacere."  [Nor  let  it  seem 
strange  to  any  one,  if  neither  to  legates  nor 
nuncii  is  accorded  plenary  power  and  autho- 
rity to  decide  or  enter  into  agreement  in  mat- 
ters of  faith,  because  it  would  be  most  absurd 
and  at  variance  with  all  reason,  nay  in  the 
utmost  degree  difficult  and  excessively  peril- 
ous, that  to  the  judgment  of  a  few  persons, 
and  those  not  competent,  in  so  brief  a  space 
of  time,  with  such  precipitation,  and  in  no 
very  suitable  place,  should  be  committed  sa- 
cred rites  and  sanctions,  commended  to  the 
universal  church  by  the  searching  experience 
of  so  many  years ;  and  so  received  by  it,  that 
were  any  innovation  to  be  made  in  them,  it 
could  only  be  done  by  the  decrees  of  an  uni- 
versal council,  or  at  the  least  by  the  mature 
and  well-digested  deliberation  of  the  sove- 
reign pontiff",  the  moderator  of  the  church. 

[The  reverend  nuntio  ought,  however, 
when  abroad,  to  hear  from  the  catholic  doc- 
tors all  those  things  which  shall  be  treated  of 
between  them  and  the  Lutheran  doctors,  so 
that  he  may  be  able  to  interpose  with  his 
wisdom  and  his  counsel,  and  du-ect  every- 
thing to  a  happy  issue;  saving  always  the 
authority  and  dignity  of  our  most  holy  lord, 
and  of  the  apostolic  see,  as  has  been  repeat- 
edly said;  because  on  this  depends,  as  St. 
Jerome  says,  the  weal  of  the  universal  church. 
He  ought  likewise  in  particular,  with  some 
address  and  judgment,  to  confirm  the  catholic 
princes  as  well  clerical  as  lay,  in  the  faith  of 
their  parents  and  their  forefatiiers,  and  admo- 
nish them  not  to  suffer  any  chanore  or  inno- 
vation to  be  made  in  it  rashly,  and  without 
the  authority  of  the  apostolic  see,  to  which 
the  investigation  of  such  matters  properly 
appertains.] 


26.  Instructio  data  rev^'  card^i  Contareno 
in  Germanium  legato.  28  Jan.  1541. 
[Instruction  given  to  cardinal  Contarini, 
legate  to  Germany.] 

Already  printed  and  often  noticed. — At 
length  the  court  of  Rome  consents  to  give  way 
in  some  degree. 

Our  collections  contain  between  the  years 
1.541  and  1551  a  considerable  number  of  let- 
ters, reports,  and  instructions,  comprehending 
all  Europe,  and  not  unfrequently  throwing  a 
new  light  on -events  that  cannot,  however,  be 
minutely  investigated  in  this  place,  for  the 
book  which  these  extracts  would  further 
illustrate  was  not  intended  for  a  complete 
representation  of  that  period.  I  therefore, 
without  much  scruple,  confine  myself  to  the 
more  important. 

27.  1551  die  20  Junii  in  senatu  MatthcBus 

Dandulus  eques  ex  Roma  orator. 

The  title  of  the  report  which  Matt.  Dando- 
lo — the  brother-in-law  of  Caspar  Contarini, 
as  we  learn  from  the  letter  of  cardinal  Pole 
(ed.  Quir.  ii.  p.  90) — gave  in  after  a  resi- 
dence of  twenty-six  months  in  Rome.  He 
promises  to  be  brief:  "  Alle  relatione  non  con- 
vengono  delle  cose  che  sono  state  scritte  se 
non  quelle  che  sono  necessarie  di  esser  osser- 
vate." 

He  speaks  first  of  the  latter  days  of  Paul 
III.  (I  have  already  given  the  most  important 
portions) ;  he  then  mentions  the  conclave, 
and  names  all  the  cardinals.  Dandolo  asserts 
that  he  arrived  in  Rome  with  members  of  the 
college  belonging  to  the  university  of  Padua. 
We  see  how  well  he  must  have  been  inform- 
ed. He  then  gives  a  table  of  the  papal  fi- 
nances :  "  II  particolar  conto,  io  I'ho  avuto  da 
essa  camera. 

"  I.  La  camera  apostolica  ha  d'entrata 
I'anno:  per  la  thesaureria  della  Marca  25000 
sc,  per  la  salaradi  detta  provincia  10000,  per 
la  thesaureria  della  citta  d'Ancona  9000, — 
d'Ascoli  2400, — di  Fermo  1750, — di  Cameri- 
no  17000, — di  Romagna  et  salara  31331, — 
di  Patrimonio  24000, — di  Perugia  et  Umbria 
35597, — di  Cainpagna  1176,  per  Norsia  600, 
per  la  salara  di  Roma  19075,  per  la  doana  di 
Roma  92000,  per  la  gabella  de  cavalli  in  Ro- 
ma 1322,  per  la  lumiere  212.50,  per  I'anco- 
raggio  di  Civita  vecchia  1000;  per  il  sussidio 
triennale  :  dalla  Marca  66000,  da  Romagna 
44334,  da  Bologna  15000,  da  Perugia  et  Um- 
bria 43101  da  patrimonio  18018,  da  Cam- 
pagna  21529;  da  censi  di  S.  Pietro  24000, 
dalla  congregne  de  frati  23135,  da  vigesima 
de  Hebrei  9855,  da  maleficj  di  Roma  2000. 

Sum  ma    559473. 
Da  dexime  del   stato  ecelesiastico 
quando  si  pongono  3000  sc,  da  dex- 


FROM  THE  RESTORATION  OF  CATHOLICISM  TO  SIXTUS  V. 


453 


i?ne  di  Milano  40000, — del  regno 
3T000, — dalla  gabella  della  farina 
30000, — della  gabella  de  contratti 
8000  =  2-22(!)000. 

Ha  il  datario  per  li  officii  die  vocano 
compositioni  et  admission!  131000, 
da  spoglie  di  Spagna  25000  = 


147000 


Summa  delle  entrate  tutte  706(!)473 
senza  le  5  partite  non  tratte  fuora,  che  stanno 
a  beneplacito  di  N.  Signore. 

"IL  La  camera  ha  dispeza  I'anno:  adiversi 
governatori,  legati,  roche  46071  scudi,  alii 
officiali  di  Roma  145815,  a  diverse  gratie 
58192  in  Roma  al  governatore  bargello,  giiar- 
die  camerali  et  altri  officii  66694,  al  capitano 
generate  39600,  alle  gallere  24000,  al  populo 
Romano  per  il  capitolio  8950,  al  maestro  di 
casa,  il  vitto  della  casa  60000,  a  diversi  ex- 
traordinarii  in  Roma  35485,  al  signor  Baldu- 
ino  cameriere  17000,  al  signor  Gioan  Battista 
1750,  alia  cavelleria  quando  si  teneva  I'anno 
30000  al  N.  S.  per  suo  spendere  et  per  provisi- 
on! da  a  cardinali  e  tutto  il  datariato  232000. 
Summa  in  tutto  questo  excito  70(61)5557 
scudi." 

[I.  The  apostolic  chamber  has  of  yearly 
revenue,  from  the  treasury  of  La  Marca 
25000  scudi,  from  the  salt  dues  of  the  said 
province  10000,  from  the  treasury  of  the  city 
of  Ancona9000, — of  Ascoli  2400, — of  Fermo 
1750, — of  Camerino  17000, — of  Romagna  with 
salt  dues,  31331, — of  the  patrimony  24000, — 
of  Perugia  and  Umbria  35597, — of  Campagna 
1176,  from  Norsia  600,  from  the  salt  dues  of 
of  Rome  19075,  from  the  customs  of  Rome 
92000,  from  the  tax  on  horses  in  Rome  1322, 
from  lights  21250,  from  the  anchorage  of 
Civita  Vecchia  1000;  from  the  triennial  sub- 
sidy, of  La  Marca  66000,  of  Romagna  44334, 
of  Bologna  15000,  of  Perugia  and  Umbria 
43101,  of  the  patrimony  18018,  of  Campania 
21529 ;  from  St.  Peter's  tax  24000,  from  the 
congregation  of  friars  23135,  from  the  Hebrew 
twentieths  9855,  from  the  malefactors  of  Rome 
2000. 

Total  559473 
Adding  for  the  tithes  of  the  ecclesi- 
cal  state  3000  scudi,  for  that  of  Mi- 
Ian  40000,  tor  that  of  the  kingdom 
37000,  for  the  wheat  tax  30000,  for 
the  tax  on  contracts  8000  =  220000 
The  datario  receives  upon  vacant 
offices  tor  compositions  and  admis- 
sions 131000,  from  Spanish  booty 
25000.  =     147000 

Total  of  the  entire  revenue  706473 
without  the  five  portions  not  brought  forward, 
which  are  disposable  at  the  good  pleasure  of 
our  lord. 

[II.  The  chamber's  annual  expenditure  is : 
for  various  governors,  legates,  forts,  46071 
scudi,  for  the  officers  of  Rome  145815,  for 


various  gratuities  58192,  in  Rome  for  the  go- 
vernor bargello,  guards  of  the  chamber,  and 
other  appointments,  66694,  for  the  captain 
general  39600,  for  the  galleys  24000,  for  the 
Roman  people  for  the  capitol  8950,  for  the 
master  of  the  palace,  for  the  victualling  of  the 
palace  60000,  for  sundry  contingencies  in 
Rome  35485,  for  signor  Balduino,  chamber- 
lain, 17000,  for  signor  Gioan  Battista  1750, 
for  the  cavalry  when  it  was  on  service  30000 
yearly,  for  our  lord,  for  his  privy  purse,  and 
for  pensions  for  the  cardinals  and  the  whole 
datariato,  232000.  Total  of  this  whole  ex- 
penditure, 705557  scudi.] 

He  ends  with  remarks  on  the  person  of 
Julius  IIL  "  Papa  Giulio,  Ser'na  Sig"a,  gra- 
vissimo  e  sapientissimo  conso,  e  dal  Monte 
Sansovino,  picciol  luogo  in  Toscana,  come 
gia  scrissi  alle  Ecc^e  Ve.  II  prime  che  diede 
nome  e  qualche  riputatione  alia  casa  sua  fu 
suo  avo,  dottore  e  molto  dotto  in  legge,  e  fu 
al  servitio  del  duca  Guide  de  Urbino,  dal 
quale  mandate  in  Roma  per  negotii  del  suo 
state  li  acquisto  gratia  molta,  sicche  col  mol- 
to studio  che  in  detta  faculta  fece  il  suo  ne- 
pote,  acquisto  tanto  di  gratia  et  riputatione 
che  el  fu  il  cardinal  de  monte  :  di  chi  poi  fu 
nipote  questo.  Arrivato  in  corte  per  il  primo 
grade  camerier  di  papa  Julio  secondo,  fu  poi 
arcivescovo  di  Siponto,  et  in  tal  grade  venne 
qui  alle  Ecc^e  Ve  a  dimandargli  Ravenna  et 
Cervia,  quandoche  elle  le  hebbeno  doppo  il 
sacco  di  Roma  :  et  col  mullo  suo  valore  nel 
quale  el  si  dimostro  et  nelle  lettere  di  legge 
et  nei  consigli  havuti  molti  et  per  I'auttorita 
molta  di  suo  zio,  che  fu  il  cardinal  di  Monte, 
doppo  morto  lui,  fu  fatto  cardinal  questo.  Et 
fatto  papa  si  prese  subito  il  nome  di  Julio,  che 
fu  il  suo  patron,  con  uno  perfettion  (presun- 
tion"?)  di  volerlo  imitare. 

"  Ha  Sua  S^^  64  anni  a  28  Ottobre,  di  natu- 
ra  collerica  molto,  ma  ancho  molto  benigne 
sicche  per  gran  collera  che  I'abbi  la  gli  passa 
inanzi  che  compisse  di  ragionarla,  sicche  a 
me  pare  di  poter  affirmare  lui  non  portar  odio 
ne  ancho  forse  amore  ad  alcuno,  eccetto  pero 
il  cardinal  di  Monte,  del  quale  diro  poi.  A 
Sua  Santita  non  volsero  mai  dar  il  vote  li  car- 
dinali ne  di  Marsa  (?)  ne  di  Trento,  et  furono 
li  subito  et  meglio  permiati  da  lei  che  alcun' 
altro  di  quel  che  la  favorirono.  II  piu  favo- 
rite servitore  di  molti  anni  suo  era  lo  arcives- 
covo di  Siponto,  che  lei  essendo  cardinale  gli 
diede  I'arcivescovato  e  da  lui  fu  sempre  ben 
servita,  sicche  si  credea  che  subito  la  lo  farebbe 
cardinale,  ma  lui  si  e  rimasto  in  minoribus 
quasi  che  non  era  quandoche  lei  era  cardinale, 
che  poi  fatta  papa  o  poco  o  nulla  si  e  volute 
valer  di  lui,  sicche  el  poverino  se  ne  resta 
quas!  come  disperato." 

[Pope  Julius,  may  it  please  your  most  se- 
rene seignory,  most  grave  and  most  wise 
council,  is  from  Monte  Sansovino,  a  little 
place  in  Tuscany,  as  I  have  already  wr  itten 


454 


APPENDIX. 


to  your  excellencies.  The  first  who  gave 
name  and  some  degree  of  reputation  to  his 
house  was  his  grandfather,  a  doctor  very 
learned  in  the  laws,  who  was  in  the  service 
of  duke  Guido  de  Urbino,  by  whom  being  sent 
to  Rome  on  affairs  concerning  his  state,  he 
attained  to  great  favour  there :  so  that  his 
nephew,  having  made  great  progress  in  the 
study  of  the  said  faculty,  acquired  so  much 
favour  and  renown,  that  he  became  cardinal 
di  Monte,  whose  nephew  is  the  present  pope. 
His  first  appointment  at  court  having  been 
that  of  chamberlain  to  pope  Julius  the  second, 
he  was  next  made  archbishop  of  Siponto,  and 
in  that  rank  went  to  )'our  excellencies  to 
demand  of  you  Ravena  and  Cervia  when  you 
held  them  after  the  sack  of  Rome ;  and  by 
means  of  his  great  ability,  whereby  he  distin- 
guished himself  both  in  legal  learning  and 
on  numerous  occasions  on  which  his  counsel 
was  available,  and  through  the  great  influ- 
ence of  his  uncle,  the  then  cardinal  de  Monte, 
since  dead,  he  was  made  cardinal.  On  be- 
ing made  pope,  he  immediately  took  the  name 
of  Julius,  which  was  that  of  his  patron,  with 
a  purpose  to  imitate  him. 

[His  holiness  will  be  64  years  of  age  the 
28th  of  October,  is  of  a  very  choleric  but  yet 
very  kindly  nature,  so  that,  for  all  his  choler 
be  great,  he  puts  it  aside  with  those  who  are 
able  to  reason  with  him ;  so  that  I  think  I 
can  affirm  that  he  does  not  entertain  hatred 
to  any  one,  nor  it  may  be  love, — except,  in- 
deed to  cardinal  di  Monte,  of  whom  I  shall 
speak  hereafter.  Neither  cardinal  di  Marsa  (?) 
nor  cardinal  di  Trento  ever  voted  for  his  holi- 
ness, and  they  immediately  received  higher 
rewards  from  him  than  any  of  those  who  fa- 
voured him.  His  most  favourite  servant  for 
many  years  was  the  archbishop  of  Siponto,  to 
whom,  when  he  was  cardinal,  he  gave  the 
archbishopric,  and  he  was  always  well  served 
by  him,  so  that  it  was  thought  he  would  im- 
mediately make  him  cardinal:  the  archbishop, 
however,  has  remained  in  minoribus,  worse 
almost  than  he  was  when  the  pope  was  cardi- 
nal, who  when  he  became  pope  made  little 
or  no  account  of  him,  so  that  the  poor  man  is 

almost  in   despair   thereat ]      The 

MS.  is  unfortunately  too  defective  to  allow 
of  our  copying  further,  particularly  as  the  in- 
formation it  gives  often  becomes  trivial. 

28.  Vita  di  Marcello  II  scritta  di  propria 
mano  del  signor  Alex.  Cervini  suo  fra- 
tello.  {Alb.  nr.  157.)  [The  life  of  Mar- 
cellus  n.  written  by  his  brother,  Signor 
Alex.  Cervini,  with  his  own  hand.] 

There  exists  a  very  useful  little  work  on 
pope  Marcellus  II.  by  Peter  Polidori,  1744. 
The  very  first  of  the  sources  from  which  he 
states  that  he  drew  his  information  is  this 
biography  by  Alex.  Cervini.  Unfortunately 
the  greater  part  of  it  suffered  severely  in  a 


fire  that  occurred  in  the  family  mansion  at 
Montepulciano  in  the  year  1598.  Only  a 
fragment  of  it  remains.  I  extract  the  fol- 
lowing passage,  which  relates  to  an  attempt 
at  reforming  the  calendar  made  under  Leo  X.: 
which  is  not  mentioned  by  Polidori. 

"  Havendolo  adunque  il  padre  assuefatto  in 
questi  costumi  et  esercitatolo  nella  grammat- 
ica,  rettorica,  aritmetica,e  geometria,  accadde 
che  anche  fu  esercitato  nell'  astrologia  natu- 
rale  pivi  ancora  che  non  haverebbe  fatto  ordi- 
natamente,  e  la  causa  fu  questa :  la  Si^^  di  N. 
Sigre  in  quel  tempo,  Leone  X,  per  publico 
editto  fece  intendere  che  chi  haveva  regola  o 
mode  di  correggere  I'anno  trascorso  fino  ad 
air  hora  per  undici  giorni,  lo  facesse  noto  a 
S.  S"^^:  onde  M^"  Riccardo  gia  detto,  siccome 
assai  esercitato  in  questa  professione,  volse 
obbedire  al  pontefice,  e  pero  con  longa  e  dili- 
gente  osservatione  e  con  suoi  stromenti  trovo 
il  vero  corso  del  sole,  siccome  apparisce  nelli 
suoi  opusculi  mandati  al  papa  Leone,  con  il 
quale  e  con  quella  gloriosissima  casa  de  Me- 
dici teneva  gran  servitti  e  specialmente  con 
il  magnifico  Giuliano,  dal  quale  aveva  ricevu- 
ti  favori  et  ofterte  grandi.  Ma  perche  la 
morte  lo  prevenne,  quel  Signore  non  segui 
pivi  oltre  il  disegno  ordinate  che  M""  Riccardo 
seguitasse,  servendo  la  persona  Sua  Ecc^a  in 
Francia  e  per  tutto  dove  essa  andasse,  come 
erano  convenuli.  Ne  la  Santita  di  N.  Signore 
potette  eseguire  la  publicatione  della  corret- 
tione  deir  anno  per  varii  impedimenti  e  final- 
rnente  per  la  morte  propria,  che  ne  segui  non 
molto  tempo  doppo." 

[His  father  then  having  accustomed  him  to 
these  habits,  and  having  exercised  him  in 
grammar,  rhetoric,  arithmetic,  and  geometry, 
it  happened  that  he  became  likewise  much 
versed  in  natural  astrology,  and  that  much 
more  than  would  have  been  the  case  under 
ordinary  circumstances.  The  cause  was 
this :  his  holiness,  the  then  pope,  Leo  X., 
gave  out  by  public  proclamation,  that  who- 
ever knew  a  rule,  or  method,  for  correcting 
the  year, — which  by  this  time  had  outrun  the 
reckoning  eleven  days, — should  make  the 
same  known  to  his  holiness.  Accordingly, 
the  before-mentioned  M''  Riccardo  (the  pope's 
father),  being  tolerably  versed  in  that  profes- 
sion, applied  himself  to  obey  the  pope,  and  so 
by  long  and  diligent  observation,  and  with 
the  help  of  his  instruments,  he  found  the  true 
course  of  the  sun,  as  appears  in  his  essays 
presented  to  pope  Leo,  whose  very  devoted 
servant  he  was,  as  well  as  of  the  whole  of 
that  most  glorious  house  of  Medici,  particu- 
larly the  magnifico  Giuliano,  from  whom  he 
had  received  favours  and  large  offers.  But 
the  death  of  that  signor  prevented  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  intention  that  M^  Riccardo 
should  attend  on  his  excellency  in  France 
and  wherever  he  went,  as  had  been  agreed  on 
by  them.     Nor  was  his  holiness  able  to  follow 


RESTORATION  OF  CATHOLICISM  DOWN  TO  SIXTUS  V. 


455 


up  the  publication  of  the  correction  of  the 
year,  by  reason  of  various  hindrances,  and 
finally  of  his  own  death,  which  followed  not 
long  after.] 

We  see  how  the  minds  of  the  Italians  in 
the  times  of  Leo  X.  were  busied  in  this  mat- 
ter ;  and  that  the  bishop  of  Fossombrone, 
who  urged  a  reform  of  the  calendar  in  the 
Lateran  council  of  the  year  1513,  was  not 
the  only  one  who  turned  his  attention  to  the 
subject. 

29.  Antonio  Caracciolo  Vita  di  Papa  Paolo 
IV.  (2  vols,  fol.)  [Life  of  pope  Paul  IV. 
by  Antonio  Caracciolo.] 

Antonio  Caracciolo,  a  theatine,  a  Neapoli- 
tan, and  a  compiler  all  his  life,  could  not  ab- 
stain from  devoting  his  industry  to  the  history 
of  the  most  renowned  of  Neapolitan  popes  and 
the  founder  of  the  theatines,  Paul  IV.  For 
this  we  owe  him  all  thanks.  He  has  collect- 
ed a  great  multitude  of  particulars  that  would 
otherwise  have  been  lost.  His  book  is  the 
basis  of  Carlo  Bromato's  elaborate  work,  Sto- 
ria  di  Paolo  IV.  Pontefice  Massimo,  Rom. 
1748,  which  presents  an  exceedingly  rich 
collection  of  materials  in  two  thick  and  close- 
ly-printed quarto  volumes. 

Eut,  as  was  inevitable  under  the  rigid  cen- 
sure exercised  in  the  catholic  church,  Broma- 
to  could  by  no  means  admit  every  thing  that 
he  found  in  his  authorities. 

I  have  often  mentioned  a  detailed  informa- 
tion presented  by  J.  P.  Caraffa  to  Clement 
VII.  on  the  condition  of  the  church,  which 
was  drawn  up  in  the  year  1.532.  Bromato 
has  a  long  extract  from  it  (i.  p.  205,)  but  he 
omits  a  great  deal,  and  that  too  the  most  sig- 
nificant part ;  for  example,  what  is  said  of  the 
propagation  of  Lutheran  opinions  in  Venice. 

"  Si  supplica  S.  S'i^  che  per  I'honore  di  dio 
e  suo,  non  essendo  questa  citta  la  piu  minima 
ne  la  piii  vil  cosa  della  christianita  et  essen- 
dovi  nella  citta  e  nel  dominio  di  molte  e  mol- 
te  migliara  d'anime  commesse  a  S.  S^^,  sia 
contenta  da  persona  fedele  ascoltare  qualche 
cosa  del  loro  bisogno,  il  quale  ancorche  sia 
grande,  pure  se  ne  dira  per  hora  qualche  par- 
te. E  perche,  come  I'apostolo  dice,  sine  fide 
impossibile  est  placere  deo,  comminciarete  da 
questa,  etavisarete  S.  S^^  come  si  sente  deg- 
li  errori  e  dell'  heresie  nella  vita  e  nei  costu- 
mi  di  alcuni,  come  e  in  non  fare  la  quaresima 
e  non  confessarsi  etc.,  e  nella  dottrina  di  al- 
cuni, che  publicamente  ne  parlano  e  tengono 
e  communicano  ancora  con  gli  altri  de'  libri 
prohibit!  senza  rispetto.  Ma  sopra  tutto  di- 
rele  che  questa  peste,  tanto  dell'  heresia  Lu- 
terana  quanto  d'ogni  altro  errore  contra  fidem 
et  bonos  mores,  da  due  sorti  di  persone  potis- 
simamente  si  va  disseminandoet  aumentando, 
cioe  dagli  apostati  e  da  alcuni  frati  massime 
convencuali,  e  S.  S^^  deve  sapere  di  quella 


maledetta  nidata  di  quelli  frati  minori  conven- 
tuali,  la  quale  per  sua  bonta  fermando  alcuni 
suoi  servi  ha  incominciato  a  mettere  in  iscom- 
piglio  :  perche  essendo  loro  stati  discepoli  d'un 
frate  heretico  gia  morto,  han  voluto  far  onore 
al  maestro.  .  .  .  E  per  dire  quelio  che  in  cio 
mi  occorse,  pare  che  in  tanta  necessity  non 
si  debba  andare  appresso  la  stampa  usata :  ma 
siccome  nell'  ingruente  furore  della  guerra  si 
fanno  ogni  di  nuove  provvisioni  opportune, 
cosi  nella  maggior  guerra  spirituale  non  si 
deve  stare  a  dormire.  E  perche  S.  S^^  sa 
che  I'officio  dell'  inquisitione  in  questa  provin- 
cia  sta  nelle  mani  de'  sopradetti  frati  minori 
conventuali,  li  quali  a  caso  s'abbattono  a  fare 
qualche  inquisitione  idonea,  come  estate  quel 
maestro  Martino  da  Treviso,  della  cui  dili- 
genza  e  fede  so  che  il  sopradetto  di  buona 
memoria  vescovo  di  Pola  informo  S.  S"^^,  et 
essendo  hora  lui  mutato  da  quelio  in  altro  of- 
ficio, e  successo  nell'  inquisitione  non  so  chi, 
per  quanto  intendo,  molto  inetto:  e  pero  bi- 
sogneria  che  S.  S^^  provvedesse  parte  con 
eccitar  gli  ordinarj,  che  per  tutto  quasi  si 
dorme,  e  parte  con  deputare  alcune  persone 
d'autorita,  mandare  in  questa  terra  qualche 
legato,  se  possibile  fosse,  non  ambitioso  ne 
cupido,  e  che  attendesse  a  risarcire  I'honore 
e  credito  della  sede  apostolica  e  punire  o  al- 
meno  fugare  li  ribaldi  heretici  da  mezzo  de' 
poveri  christiani :  perche  dovunque  anderan- 
no,  porteranno  seco  il  testimonio  della  propria 
nequitia  e  della  bonta  de'  fedeli  cattolici,  che 
non  li  vogliono  in  lor  compagnia.  E  perche 
la  peste  dell'  heresia  si  suole  introdurre  e  per 
le  prediche  e  libri  hereticali  e  per  la  lunga 
habituatione  nella  mala  e  dissoluta  vita,  della 
quale  facilmente  si  viene  all'  heresia,  par  che 
S.  S'^  potria  fare  in  cio  una  santa,  honesta  et 
utile  provvisione." 

[His  holiness  is  implored  for  the  honour  of 
God  and  his  own,  this  city  not  being  the  least 
or  the  meanest  object  in  Christendom,  and 
there  being  in  this  city  and  its  territories 
many  and  many  a  thousand  souls  committed 
to  his  holiness,  that  he  be  content  to  hear  from 
a  faithful  witness  something  of  their  wants, 
which,  great  as  they  are,  shall  now  be  stated, 
at  least  in  part.  And  since,  as  the  Apostle 
says,  without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please 
God,  you  shall  begin  with  this,  and  acquaint 
his  holiness  of  the  errors  and  heresies  in  life 
and  conduct  of  certain  persons,  who  do  not 
keep  Lent,  nor  confess,  &c.,  and  with  the 
doctrines  of  others,  who  publicly  profess  and 
maintain  the  same,  and  indecently  communi- 
cate with  others  in  the  matter  of  prohibited 
books.  But,  above  all,  you  will  say  that  this 
plague,  whether  of  the  Lutheran  heresy,  or 
of  all  other  errors  contrary  to  the  faith  and 
to  sound  morality,  is  chiefly  disseminated  and 
augmented  by  two  sorts  of  persons,  that  is,  by 
apostates  and  by  certain  monks  especially  ; 
and  his  holiness  ought  to  be  made  acquainted 


456 


APPENDIX. 


with  that  accursed  nest  of  frati  minori,  which 
being  allowed  by  his  goodness  to  stop  some  of 
his  servants,  has  begun  to  create  disturbance; 
for  they,  having  been  disciples  of  a  heretic 
monk  now  dead,  wish  to  do  honour  to  their 
master.  .  .  .  And  to  speak  my  opinion  in  this 
matter,  I  think  that  in  so  great  an  emergency 
we  ought  not  to  confine  ourselves  to  the  usual 
routine  ;  but,  as  in  the  thickening  horrors  of 
war,  new  expedients  are  daily  adopted  as  op- 
portunity requires,  so  in  the  greater  spiritual 
warfare  we  ought  not  to  slumber.  And 
whereas  his  holiness  knows  that  the  office  of 
the  inquisition  in  this  province  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  aforesaid  frati  minori,  who  occasionally 
condescend  to  execute  some  fit  inquisition,  as 
was  the  case  under  that  master  JVIartino  de 
Treviso,  of  whose  diligence  and  faith  I  know 
that  the  aforesaid  bisliop  of  Pola,  of  worthy 
memory,  informed  his  holiness ;  and  he  being 
now  transferred  from  that  office  to  another, 
and  his  place  filled  by  I  know  not  who,  some 
very  incapable  person,  as  far  as  I  can  learn, 
— it  were  needful  accordingly  that  his  holi- 
ness should  make  due  provision,  partly  by 
exciting  the  ordinaries,  who  are  every  where, 
so  to  speak,  asleep,  and  partly  by  deputing 
some  persons  of  weight,  and  sending  hither 
some  legate  free,  if  it  be  possible,  from  ambi- 
tion and  cupidity,  who  should  apply  himself 
to  patch  up  tlie  honour  and  credit  of  the  apos- 
tolic see,  and  to  punish,  or  at  least  to  chase 
away,  the  rascal  heretics  from  among  the 
poor  Christians :  for  let  them  go  where  they 
will,  they  will  carry  with  them  the  evidence 
of  their  own  wickedness,  and  of  the  goodness 
of  the  faithful  catholics,  who  will  not  have 
them  in  their  company.  And  whereas  the 
plague  of  heresy  is  usually  introduced  by 
preachers  and  by  heretical  books,  and  by  long 
habituation  in  an  evil  and  dissolute  life,  which 
easily  leads  to  heresy,  it  seems  that  his  holi- 
ness might  adopt  a  holy,  honourable,  and  use- 
ful provision  in  this  respect.] 

Caracciolo's  work  contains  a  great  many 
other  pieces  of  information  of  more  or  less 
consequence,  which  however  have  remained 
unknown,  and  which  a  more  detailed  work 
than  the  present  ought  not  to  overlook.  The 
Italian  Biography  is  altogether  distinct  from 
another  of  his  writings,  "  Collectanea  histori- 
ca  de  Paulo  IV.  :"  it  is  quite  a  diflTerent  kind 
of  work,  and  far  more  useful.  There  are, 
however,  in  the  Collectanea  some  few  things 
which  recur  in  the  "  Vita,"  such,  for  instance, 
as  the  description  of  the  changes  undertaken 
by  Paul  IV.  after  he  had  dismissed  his  ne- 
phews. 

30.  Relatione  di  M.  Bernardo  Navagero  al- 
ia S""^  Rep'^"^  di  Venetia  tornando  di 
Roma  ambasciatore  appresso  del  ponte- 
Jice  Paolo  IV.  1558.  [Report  made  to 
the  republic  of  Venice  by  Bernardo  Nava- 


gero on  his  return  from  an  embassy  to 
Paul  IV.] 

This  is  one  of  the  Venetian  reports  which 
obtained  general  circulation,  Pallavicini 
made  use  of  it,  and  was  even  attacked  on  that 
account:  Rainaldus,  too,  not  to  speak  of  later 
authors,  makes  mention  of  it  (Annales  Ec- 
cles.  1557,  No.  10.) 

Undoubtedly  it  is  highly  deserving  of  these 
honours.  Bernardo  Navagero  enjoyed  the 
reputation  in  Venice  of  a  learned  man.  We 
learn  from  Foscarini  (della  Lett.  Ven.  p.  255) 
that  he  was  proposed  as  historiographer  of 
the  republic.  In  his  former  embassies  to 
Charles  V.,  Henry  VIII.,  and  Solyman,  he 
had  acquired  practice  in  the  conduct  of  diffi- 
cult affairs,  and  in  the  observation  of  remark- 
able characters.  He  came  to  Rome  immedi- 
ately after  the  accession  of  Paul  IV. 

Navagero  classifies  the  duties  of  an  ambas- 
sador under  three  heads ;  understanding, 
which  demands  penetration ;  negociation, 
which  demands  address ;  and  reporting, 
which  demands  judgment  in  order  to  deter- 
mine what  is  necessary  and  useful  to  say. 

He  begins  with  the  general  question  of  the 
election  and  power  of  the  popes.  It  is  his 
opinion  that  if  the  popes  would  make  it  their 
study  to  imitate  Christ,  they  would  be  vastly 
more  formidable.  He  then  pourtrays  "  le 
conditioni"  as  he  says,  "  di  papa  Paolo  IV,  e 
di  chi  lo  coDsiglia,"  [the  qualities  of  pope 
Paul  IV.,  and  of  his  advisers,]  that  is,  above 
all  his  three  nephews.  I  have  made  use  of 
his  description ;  but  we  cannot  agree  with 
the  author  in  his  general  conclusions.  He 
holds  that  even  Paul  IV.  had  no  other  object 
than  the  aggrandizement  of  his  own  house. 
Had  Navagero  written  at  a  later  period,  after 
the  banishment  of  the  nephews,  he  would  not 
have  let  fall  such  an  opinion.  That  very 
event  marked  the  great  turn  in  the  papal  po- 
licy from  temporal  to  spiritual  views.  From 
personal  matters  Navagero  proceeds  to  a  de- 
scription of  the  war  between  Paul  IV.  and 
Philip  II.,  and  here  he  displays  the  same  hap- 
py conception  and  acute  observation.  Next 
follow  reflections  on  the  foreign  relations  of 
Rome,  and  on  the  probable  result  of  a  future 
election.  It  is  with  extreme  caution  Nava- 
gero ventures  to  speak  on  this  subject: 
"  piu,"  he  says,  "  per  sodisfare  alle  SS.  VV. 
EE.  che  a  me  in  quella  parte,"  [rather  for 
your  excellencies'  satisfaction  than  my  own.] 
But  he  did  not  guess  amiss.  He  names  as  one 
of  the  two  who,  in  his  opinion,  had  the  great- 
est chance  of  success,  Medighis,  who  was 
actually  elected,  although  he  thought,  in- 
deed, that  the  other,  Puteo,  had  the  better 
prospects. 

"  Now,  however,"  he  says,  "  I  am  here 
once  more.  I  again  behold  the  countenance 
of  my  sovereign,  the  illustrious  republic,  for 


RESTORATION  OF  CATHOLICISM  DOWN  TO  SIXTHS  V. 


457 


whose  service  there  is  nothing  so  great  that  I 
would  not  attempt  it,  nothing  so  insignificant 
that  I  would  not  undertake  it."  This  expres- 
sion of  devotedness  gives  a  still  more  glowing 
colour  to  his  descriptions. 

31.  Relatione  del  CI'""  M.  Aluise  Mocenigo 
Cav"  ritornato  della  Corte  di  Rojna  1560 
— {Arch.  Yen.)  [Aluise  Mocenigo's  re- 
port of  his  embassy  to  Rome.] 

Mocenigo  remained  seventeen  months  at 
the  court  of  Paul  IV. ;  the  conclave  lasted 
four  months  eight  days  ;  and  seven  months  he 
filled  the  post  of  ambassador  to  Pius  IV. 

He  describes  first  the  ecclesiastical  and 
temporal  administration,  the  tribunals  of  jus- 
tice, and  the  court  under  Paul  IV.  On  this 
head  he  makes  an  observation,  of  which  I 
have  not  ventured  to  make  use,  though  it  is 
suggestive  of  a  great  deal :  "I  cardinali,"  he 
says,  "  dividono  fra  loro  le  citta  delle  legati- 
oni  (nel  conclave)  :  poi  continuano  in  questo 
modo  a  beneplacito  delli  pontefici."  [The 
cardinals  distribute  the  legations  to  the  seve- 
ral cities  among  themselves  (in  the  conclave), 
and  the  arrangement  is  afterwards  continued, 
subject  to  the  good  pleasure  of  the  popes.]  Is 
this  possibly  the  origin  of  the  administration 
of  the  state  by  the  clergy,  which  was  gradu- 
ally introduced] 

Nor  does  he  forget  the  antiquities  in  which 
Rome,  as  the  accounts  of  IJoissard  and  Ga- 
mucci  testify,  was  then  more  rich  than  at  any 
other  period,  "  In  cadaun  loco,  habitato  o 
non  habitato,  che  si  scava  in  Roma,  si  ritro- 
vano  vestigie  a  fabriche  nobili  et  antiche,  et 
in  molti  luoghi  si  cavano  di  bellissime  statue. 
Di  statue  marmoree,  poste  insieme,  si  potria 
fare  un  grandissimo  esercito."  [In  every  spot, 
inhabited  or  otherwise,  which  is  excavated  in 
Rome,  are  found  vestiges  of  noble  antique 
structures,  and  in  many  places  very  beautiful 
statues  are  dug  up.  There  are  marble  sta- 
tues enough,  if  they  were  put  together,  to 
form  a  huge  army.] 

He  then  adverts  to  the  disturbances  that 
broke  out  on  the  death  of  Paul  IV.,  and  which, 
even  after  they  appeared  to  be  allayed,  were 
repeated  in  a  thousand  fresh  disorders.  "  Ccs- 
sato  c'hebbe  il  popolo,  concorsero  nella  citta 
tutti  falliti  e  fuorusciti,  che  non  si  sentiva  altro 
che  omicidii,  si  ritrovavano  alcuni  che  con  8, 
7  e  fin  6  scudi  si  pigliavano  il  caricco  d'amazzar 
un'  uomo,  a  tanto  che  ne  furono  in  pochi  giorni 
commesse  molte  centenara,  alcuni  per  nimi- 
cizia,  altri  per  lite,  molti  per  ereditar  la  sua 
roba  et  altri  per  diverse  cause,  di  modo  che 
Roma  pareva,  come  si  suol  dire,  il  bosco  di 
Baccaro."  [When  the  people  had  ceased 
from  their  commotions,  all  the  broken  men  and 
outlaws  flocked  to  the  city,  so  that  nothing 
was  heard  of  but  murders;  and  persons  were 
found,  who  for  eight,  seven,  and  even  six  scudi, 
53 


would  take  upon  them  to  kill  a  man,  so  that 
many  hundred  murders  were  committed  in  a 
few  days,  some  for  old  quarrels,  some  on  account 
of  law-suits,  many  for  the  sake  of  inheriting 
the  spoils  of  the  murdered,  and  for  divers  other 
reasons,  insomuch  that  Rome,  as  the  saying 
is,  was  like  the  forest  of  Baccaro.] 

The  conclave  was  very  jovial,  with  ban- 
quets every  day  :  Vargas  spent  whole  nights 
there  ;  at  least  "  alii  busi  del  conclave ;"  but 
the  person  who  determined  the  election  was 
duke  Cosmo  of  Florence.  "  II  duca  di  Firenze 
I'a  fatto  papa  :  lui  I'a  fatto  poner  nei  nominati 
del  re  Filippo  e  poi  con  diversi  mezzi  raccom- 
mandar  anco  dalla  regina  di  Franza,  e  final- 
mente  guadagnatogli  con  grand'  industria  e 
diligenza  la  parte  Carafesca."  The  duke  of 
Florence  made  him  pope.  It  was  he  who  had 
him  put  among  the  nominees  of  King  Philip, 
then  by  various  means  caused  him  to  be  recom- 
mended by  the  queen  of  France,  and  finally 
with  great  exertions  gained  over  the  Caraflfa 
party  to  his  interests.]  How  plainly  do  all  the 
intrigues  related  in  the  histories  of  the  con- 
claves shrink  before  our  eyes  into  their  intrin- 
sic ]iothingness !  The  authors  of  these  his- 
tories, themselves  usually  members  of  the  con- 
claves, saw  only  the  mutual  bearings  of  the 
individuals  with  whom  they  were  acquainted, 
but  all  influences  from  without  were  hidden 
from  them. 

The  report  concludes  with  a  description  of 
Pius  IV.  so  far  as  his  personal  character  had 
up  to  that  time  displayed  itself. 

32.  Relatione  del  Cl^<>  M.  Marchio  Michiel 
A'*"  e  Proc.  ritornato  da  Pio  IV  sommo 
pontefice,  fatta  a  8  di  Zugno  1560.  [Re- 
port of  the  embassy  of  Marchio  Michiel  to 
Pius  IV.] 

A  report  of  an  embassy  of  congratulation 
which  was  absent  from  Venice  but  thirty-nine 
days,  and  cost  l;3,000  ducats.  As  a  report  it 
is  very  feeble.  Michiel  exhorts  to  submissive- 
ness  to  Rome.  "  Non  si  tagli  la  giurisdition 
del  papa,  e  li  sig''  avogadori  per  non  turbare 
I'animo  di  S.  S^i^  abbino  tutti  quelli  rispetti 
che  si  conviene,  i  quali  ho  visto  che  molte  volte 
non  si  hanno."  [Let  the  pope's  jurisdiction 
not  be  wrested  from  him,  and  let  the  lawyers, 
to  avoid  disturbing  the  mind  of  his  holiness,  act 
with  all  that  deference  and  circumspection 
which  is  becoming,  and  which  I  have  on  many 
occasions  seen  that  they  do  not  observe.] 

33.  Dispacci  degli  amhasciatori  Veneti  19 
Maggio  21  Sett.  Io60.— Inform.  Politt. 
toin.  viii.  272  leaves. — Ragguagli  delV 
ambasciatore  Veneto  in  Roma  1561. 
Inform.  Politt.  tom.  xxxvii.  71  leaves. 
[Despatches  of  the  Venetian  ambassadors, 
18th  May— 21st  Sept.  1560.— Reports  of 
the  Venetian  ambassador  at  Rome,  1561.] 


458 


APPENDIX. 


The  Ragguagli  are  also  dispatches  of  the 
months  of  Jan.  and  Feb.  1561,  all  from  Marc. 
Anton,  de  Mula,  who  for  a  while  filled  the 
post  of  ambassador.  (See  Andres  Mauroceni 
Hist.  Venet.  lib.  viii.  torn.  ii.  153.)  They  are 
very  instructive,  and  interesting  as  to  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  times  and  the  character  of 
Pius.  The  final  fate  of  the  Carafeschi  occu- 
pies a  prominent  place  in  them,  and  it  appears 
that  Philip  II.  was  then  desirous  of  saving  his 
old  foes.  This  was  even  alleged  against  him 
at  the  court  of  Rome  as  a  crime.  Vargas 
replied  that  Philip  II.  had  pardoned  them  once 
for  all :  "  quel  gran  re,  quel  santo,  quel  catto- 
lico  non  facenda  come  voi  altri"  [that  great 
king,  that  holy,  that  catholic  king  not  doing 
after  your  ways.]  The  pope,  on  the  other 
hand,  reproached  them  most  vehemently : 
"  havere  mosse  I'arme  de  Christian!,  de  Turchi 

e  degl'  eretici, e  che  le  lettere  che 

venivano  da  Francia  e  dagli  agenti  in  Italia, 
tutte  erano  contrafatte  etc."  [that  they  had 
roused  the   Christians,    the   Turks,  and  the 

heretics  to  war and  the  letters  from 

France  and  from  the  agents  in  Italy  were  all 
forged,  &c.]  The  pope  said  he  would  give 
100,000  scudi  to  know  they  were  innocent. 
But  horrors  such  as  they  had  committed  were 
not  to  be  endured  in  Christendom. 

I  abstain,  however,  from  making  extracts 
from  these  letters.  It  is  enough  to  have  signi- 
fied their  contents. 

34.  Extractus  processus  cardinalis  CarqffcB. 
Inff.  tom.  ii.  f  465  bis  516,  with  the  addi- 
tion :  HcEC  copia  processus  formati  contra 
cardinalem  Caraffam  reducta  in  summain 
cum  imputationibus  Jisci  eorumque  repro- 
bationibus perfecta  fuit  d.  XX  Nov.  1560. 
[Extract  of  the  trial  of  cardinal  Caraffa, 
&c.] 

From  the  ninth  point  of  the  defence,  s.  v. 
Haeresis,  we  learn  that  Albert  of  Branden- 
burgh  sent  a  certain  colonel  Friedrich  to  Rome 
to  conclude  a  treaty  with  Paul  IV.  The  colo- 
nel had  audience  of  the  pope  hmiself,  but  the 
cardinal  of  Augsburg  (Otto  von  Truchscss) 
raised  so  many  objections  against  him,  that  he 
was  at  last  sent  out  of  Rome.  To  tiiis  is 
annexed :  "  El  successo  de  la  muerte  de  los 
Garrafas  con  la  declaration  y  el  mode  que 
murieron  y  el  di  y  hora  1561.     Inform,  ii. 

35.  Relatione  di  Girolamo  Sornnzo  del  1563. 
Rorna. — (Arch  Yen.)  [Report  by  Giro- 
lamo Soranzo.] 

The  date  of  the  year  1561  on  the  copy  in 
the  archives,  is  undoubtedly  incorrect.  It  ap- 
pears from  the  authentic  lists  of  the  embas- 
sies, that  Girolamo  Soranzo  was  appointed  as 
early  as  Sept.  2"2,  1560,  on  account  of  Mula 
having  accepted  a  place  of  pope  Pius  IV,  and 


thereby  fallen  into  disgrace  with  the  republic. 
But  he  was  forgiven,  and  it  was  not  till  he  was 
even  made  cardinal,  in  the  year  1562,  that  he 
was  replaced  by  Soranzo.  The  latter  often 
refers,  too,  to  the  council,  which  did  not  sit  at 
all  in  the  year  1561. 

Girolamo  Soranzo  remarked,  that  the  reports 
of  ambassadors  were  both  useful  and  agreeable 
to  the  senate  (e  volontieri  udite  e  maturamente 
considerate ;)  he  composed  his  own  with  in- 
dustry and  good-will.  It  is  well  worth  while 
to  hear  his  description  of  Pius  IV. 

"  Delle  qualita  dell'  animo  di  Sua  Beatitu- 
dine  diro  sinceramentealcune  particular!  pro- 
prieta,  che  nel  tempo  della  mia  legatione  ho 
potuto  osservare  in  lei  et  intender  da  persone 
che  ne  hanno  parlato  senza  passione.  II  papa, 
come  ho  detto  di  sopra,  ha  studiato  in  leggi : 
con  la  cognitione  delle  quali  e  con  la  pratica 
di  tanti  anni  nelli  govern!  principal!  che  ha 
havuto,  ha  fatto  un  giudicio  mirabile  nolle 
cause  cosi  di  giustitia  come  di  gratia  che  si 
propongono  in  segnatura,  in  modo  che  non 
s'apre  la  bocca  che  sa  quelle  si  puo  concedere 
e  quelle  si  deve  negare,  la  quale  parte  e  non 
pur  utile  ma  necessaria  in  un  pontefice  per  le 
molte  et  important!  materie  che  occorre  trat- 
tar  di  tempo  in  tempo.  Possiede  molto  bene 
la  lingua  latina  e  s'ha  sempre  dilettato  di 
conoscer  le  sue  bellezze,  in  modo  che,  per 
quanto  mi  ha  detto  I'illustrissimo  Navagiero, 
che  ne  ha  cosi  bel  giudicio,  ne!  concistorj,  dove 
e  I'uso  di  parlar  latino,  dice  quelle  che  vuole 
e  facilmente  e  propriamente.  Non  ha  stu- 
diato in  theologia,  onde  avviene  che  non  vuole 
ma!  propria  autorita  pigliar  in  se  alcuna  delle 
cause  commesse  all'  ufficio  dell'  inquisitione  : 
ma  usa  di  dire  che  non  essendo  theologo  si  con- 
tenta  rimettersi  in  tutte  le  cose  a  chi  si  ha  il 
carico  :  e  se  bene  si  conosce  non  esser  di  sua 
satisfattione  il  modo  che  tengono  gl'  inquisi- 
tor! di  procedere  per  I'ordinario  con  tanto  ri- 
gore  contra  gl'  inquisiti,  e  che  si  lascia  inten- 
dere  che  piu  gli  piaceria  che  usassero  termini 
da  cortese  gentilhuomo  che  da  frate  severo, 
nondimeno  non  ardisce  o  non  vuole  mai  oppo- 
nersi  ai  giudicii  lore,  nei  quali  interviene  poche 
volte,  tacendosi  per  il  piii  congregatioui  senza 
lapresenz  asua.  Nolle  materie  e  deliberationi 
di  state  non  vuole  consiglio  d'alcuno,  in  tanto 
che  si  dice  non  esser  stato  pontefice  piu  trava- 
gliato  e  manco  consigliato  di  S.  S^^,  non  senza 
meraviglia  di  tutta  la  corte  che  almeno  nolle 
cose  di  maggior  importantia  ella  non  voglia 
avere  il  parere  di  qualche  cardinale,  che  pur 
ve  ne  sono  molti  di  buon  consiglio:  e  so  che 
un  giortio  Vargas  lo  persuase  a  tarlo,  con  dirle 
che  se  bene  S.  Si'^  era  prudentissima,  che  pero 
unus  vir  erat  nullus  vir,  ma  ella  se  lo  levo 
d'inanzi  con  male  parole  :  et  in  efl^etto  si  vede 
che,  0  sia  che  ella  stima  esser  atta  di  poter 
risolver  da  se  tutte  le  materie  che  occorrono, 
o  die  pur  conosca  esser  pochi  o  forse  niuno 
cardinale  che  non  sia  iuteressato  con  qualche 


RESTORATION  OF  CATHOLICISM  DOWN  TO  SIXTUS  V. 


459 


principe,  onde  il  giudicio  non  pud  esser  libero 
e  sincere,  si  vede,  dico,  che  non  si  vuole  ser- 
vire  d'aitri  che  dal  card'  Borromeo  e  dal  sig""© 
Tolomeo,  i  quali  essendo  giovani  di  niuna  o 
poca  sperienza  et  esseguenti  ad  ogni  minimo 
cenno  di  S.  S^^,  si  possnno  chiamar  piutosto 
semplici  essecutoriche  consiglieri.  Da  questo 
mancamento  di  consiglio  ne  nasce  che  la  Beat" 
Sua,  di  natura  molto  presta  per  tuttc  le  sue 
attioni,  si  risolve  anco  molto  presto  in  tutte  le 
materie,  per  important!  che  le  sieno,  e  presto 
si  rimuove  da  quelle  che  ha  deliberate  :  perche 
quando  sono  publicate  le  sue  deliberationi  e 
che  li  venga  poi  dato  qualche  advertimento  in 
contrario,  non  solo  le  altera,  ma  fa  spesso  tutte 
I'opposito  al  sue  primo  disegno,  il  che  a  mio 
tempo  e  avvenuto  non  una  ma  molte  volte. 
Con  i  principi  tiene  niodo  immediate  contrario 
al  sue  precessore :  perche  quelle  usava  di  dire 
il  grade  del  pentefice  esser  per  metter  sotto  i 
piedi  gl'imperatori  et  i  re,  e  questo  dice  che 
senza  I'autorita  de'  principi  non  si  puo  conser- 
vare  quel  la  del  pentefice  :  e  percio  precede 
con  gran  rispetto  verso  di  cadauno  principe  e 
fa  lore  volentieri  delle  gratie,  e  quando  le 
niega,  lo  fa  con  gran  destrezza  e  modestia. 
Precede  medesimamente  con  gran  delcezza  e 
facilita  nel  trovar  i  negotii  indifTerentemente 
con  tutti:  ma  se  alcuna  volta  segli  domanda 
cosa  che  non  sente,  se  mostra  vehemente  molto 
e  terribile,  ne  patisce  che  segli  contradica :  ne 
quasi  mai  e  necessaria  con  S.  St-^  la  destrezza, 
perche  quando  si  e  addolcita,  difficilmente 
niega  alcuna  gratia :  e  vero  che  nell'  essecu- 
tiene  poi  si  trova  per  il  piu  maggior  difficulta 
che  nella  premessa.  Porta  gran  rispetto  verse 
i  rov"i'  card^',  e  fa  loro  volentieri  delle  gTatie, 
ne  deroga  mai  ai  sei  indulti  nelle  coUatieni 
de'  beneficii,  quelle  che  non  faceva  il  sue  pre- 
cessore. E  vero  che  da  quelli  di  maggior 
autorita  par  ch6  sia  desiderate  che  da  lei  fusse 
dato  lore  maggior  parte  delle  cose  che  occor- 
rono  a  tempo  di  tanti  travagli  di  quelle  che 
usa  di  fare  la  S.  St^:  onde  si  doglione  di 
vederedeliberationidi  tanta  importantiapassar 
con  cosi  poco  consiglio,  e  chiamanofelicissima 
in  questa  parte  la  Serenita  Vostra.  Alii  am- 
basciatori  usa  S.  Beafe  quelle  maggior  dimos- 
tratioiii  d'amore  et  honore  che  si  possi  deside- 
rare,  ne  lascia  adietre  alcuna  cosa  per  tener 
li  ben  satisfatti  e  contenti :  tratta  dolcemente 
i  negotii  con  loro,  e  se  alcuna  volta  s'altera 
per  causa  di  qualche  dimanda  ch'ella  non  senta 
o  altra  occasione,  chi  sa  usare  la  destrezza, 
I'acquieta  subito,  e  fa  in  modo  che  se  non  et- 
tiene  in  tutto  quanto  desidera,  ha  ahneno  in 
risposta  parole  molto  cortesi ;  dove  quando 
segli  vucl  opponere,  si  puo  esser  carte  di  non 
aver  ne  I'uno  ne  I'altro :  e  pero  Vargas  non  e 
mai  state  in  gratia  di  S.  St^^,  perche  non  ha 
proceduto  con  quella  modestia  ch'era  deside- 
rata da  lei.  Finite  che  ha  di  trattar  li  nego- 
tii con  li  ambasciatori,  fa  loro  parte  cortese- 
msnte,  park  delli  avvisi  che  ha  di  qualche 


importantia,  e  poi  entra  volentieri  a  discorrere 
de  le  presente  state  del  mondo  :  e  con  me  I'ha 
fatto  in  particulare  molte  spesso,  come  si  puo 
ricerdar  V.  S^^  che  alcune  volte  ho  ernpite  i 
fegli  dei  suoi  ragionamenti.  Con  i  suoi  famig- 
liari  precede  in  mode  che  non  si  puo  conos- 
cere  che  alcune  ha  autorita  con  lei,  perche  li 
tratta  tutti  egualmente,  non  li  dando  liberta 
di  far  cosa  alcuna  che  non  sia  cenveniente,  ne 
permettendo  che  se  la  piglino  da  loro  mede- 
simi,  ma  li  tiene  tutti  in  cosi  bassa  e  povera 
fortuna  che  dalla  corte  saria  desiderate  di 
veder  verse  quelli  piii  intimi  camerieri  et  altri 
servitori  antichi  dimostratione  di  maggior 
stima  et  araore.  Fa  gran  professione  d'esser 
giudice  giusto,  e  volentieri  ragiona  di  questo 
suo  desiderio  che  sia  fatto  giustitia,  e  partico- 
larmente  con  gli  ambasciatori  de'  principi,  con 
li  quali  entra  poi  alle  volte  con  tal  occasione  a 
giustificarsi  della  morte  di  CarafTa  e  delle  sen- 
tentie  di  Napoli  e  Monte  come  fatte  giusta- 
mente,  essendoli  forse  venule  alle  orecchie 
esser  state  giudicato  dalla  corte  tutta  ch'esse 
sententie  e  particularmente  quella  di  Caraffa 
siano  state  fatte  conseveritapurtroppogrande 
et  extraordinaria.  E  naturalmente  il  papa 
inclinato  alia  vita  privata  e  libera,  perche  si 
vede  che  difficilmente  si  puo  accomodare  a 
procedere  con  quella  maesta  che  usava  il  pre- 
cessore, ma  in  tutte  le  sue  attioni  mostra  piu- 
testo  delcezza  che  gravita,  lasciandosi  vedere 
da  tutti  a  tutte  There  et  andando  a  cavallo  et 
a  piedi  per  tutta  la  citta  con  pochissima  cem- 
pagnia.  Ha  una  inclinatione  grandissima  al 
fabbricare,  et  in  questo  spende  volentieri  e 
largamente,  sentendo  gran  piacere  quando  si 
lauda  le  opere  che  va  facende :  e  par  che 
habbi  fine  lasciar  anco  per  questa  via  merineria 
di  se,  non  vi  essendo  horraai  luego  in  Roma 
che  non  habbi  il  nome  suo,  et  usa  di  dire  il 
fabbricare  esser  particularmente  inclinatione 
di  casa  de  Medici,  ne  osserva  S.  Beatne  quello 
che  e  stato  fatto  dalli  altri  suoi  precessori,  che 
hanno  per  il  piii  incominciato  edificii  grandi 
e  magnifici  lasciandoli  poi  imperfetti,  ma  ella 
ha  piutosto  a  piacere  di  far  acconciar  quelli 
che  minacciano  rovina  e  finir  gl'mcominciati, 
con  fame  anco  de'  nuovi,  facende  fabbricar  in 
melti  luoghi  delle  stato  ecclesiastico:  perche 
fortifica  Civita  vecchia,  acconcia  il  porto 
d'Ancona,  vuel  ridur  in  fortezza  Bologna  :  in 
Roma  poi,  oltra  la  fortificatiene  del  borgo  e 
la  fabbrica  di  Belvedere  e  del  palazzo,  in 
molte  parti  della  citta  fa  acconciar  strade, 
fabbricar  chiese  e  rinovar  le  porte  con  spesa 
cosi  grande  che  al  tempo  mio  per  molti  mesi 
nelle  fabbriche  di  Roma  solamente  passava 
12  m.  scudi  il  mese  e  forse  pivi  di  quelle  che 
si  conviene  a  principe,  in  tanto  che  viene 
affermato  da  piii  antichi  cortigiani  non  esser 
mai  le  cose  passate  con  tanto  misura  e  cosi 
strettamente  come  fanno  al  presente.  E  per- 
che credo  non  habbia  ad  esser  discaro  I'in- 
tendere   qualche    particulare   che   tiene    S. 


460 


APPENDIX. 


Beatiie  nel  vivere,  pero  satisfaro  anche  a  qiies- 
la  parte.  Usa  il  pontefice  per  ordinario  le- 
varsi,  quando  e  sano,  tanto  di  buon'  hora  cosi 
I'inverno  come  Testate  ch'e  sempre  quasi  in- 
anzi  giorno  in  piedi,  e  subito  vestito  esce  a 
far  esercitio,  nel  quale  spende  gran  tempo : 
poi  ritornato,  entrano  nella  sua  camera  il 
revn-c  Borromeo  o  monsr  Tolomeo,  con  i  quali 
tratta,  come  ho  detto,  S.  S^^  tutte  le  cose  im- 
portanti  cosi  pubbliche  come  private,  e  li  tiene 
per  I'ordinario  seco  doi  o  tre  hore  :  e  quando 
11  ha  licentiati,  sono  introdutti  a  lei  quei  am- 
basciatori  che  stanno  aspettando  I'audientia  : 
e  finito  che  ha  di  ragionar  con  loro,  ode  S.  S^^ 
la  messa,  e  quando  I'hora  non  e  tarda,  esce 
fuori  a  dare  audientia  ai  cardinali  et  ad  altri : 
e  poi  si  niette  a  tavola,  la  qual,  perdir  il  vero, 
non  e  molto  splendida,  com'  era  quella  del  pre- 
cessore,  perche  le  vivande  sono  ordinarie  e 
non  in  gran  quantita  et  il  servitio  e  de'  soliti 
soi  camerieri.  Si  nutrisce  di  cibi  grossi  e  di 
pasta  alia  Lombarda  bene  piu  di  quello  che 
mangia,  et  il  vino  e  greco  di  somma  molto 
potente,  nel  quale  non  si  vuole  acqua.  Non 
ha  piacere  che  al  suo  mangiare  si  trovino,  se- 
condo  I'uso  del  precessore,  vescovi  et  altri 
prelati  di  rispetto,  ma  piutosto  ha  caro  udir 
qualche  ragionamento  di  persone  piacevoli  e 
che  habbino  qualche  umore.  Ammette  alia 
sua  tavola  niolte  volte  di  cardinali  edegli  am- 
basciatori,  et  a  me  in  particulare  ha  fatto  di 
questi  favori  con  dimostrationi  molto  amore- 
voli.  Dapoi  che  ha  finito  di  mangiare,  si  riti- 
ra  nella  sua  camera,  e  spogliato  in  camicia 
antra  in  letto,  dove  vi  sta  per  I'ordinario  tre  o 
quattro  hore  :  e  svegliato  si  ritorna  a  vestire, 
e  dice  I'ufficio  et  alcune  volte  da  audientia  aj 
qualche  cardinale  et  ambasciatore,  e  poi  se  ne  [ 
ritorna  al  suo  esercitio  in  Belvedere,  il  quale : 
non  intermette  mai  Testate  fin  Thora  di  cena  I 
e  I'inverno  fin  che  si  vede  lume."  [Of  the; 
character  of  his  holiness's  mind  I  will  sincere-! 
ly  relate  some  special  traits  which  I  had  an  i 
opportunity  of  personally  observing  during  my 
embassy,  and  of  hearing  from  persons  who 
spoke  of  them  dispassionately.  The  pope,  as 
I  have  already  said,  has  studied  the  laws ;  his  [ 
knowledge  in  this  department,  and  his  practi-  { 
cal  experience  for  so  many  years  in  the  prin- 1 
cipal  governments,  have  given  an  admirable  \ 
force  of  judgment  in  the  questions,  as  well  of 
justice  as  of  favour,  which  are  brought  for-  { 
ward  in  the  segnatura;  so  that  he  never  [ 
opens  his  mouth  without  knowing  what  may  j 
be  granted  and  what  must  be  denied  ;  an  en- : 
dowment  not  only  useful  but  necessary  to  a ! 
pontiff,  seeing  the  multitude  of  important  rnat- ! 
ters  he  has  to  dispose  of  from  time  to  time.  [ 
He  is  very  proficient  in  the  Latin  language,  j 
and  has  always  delighted  in  its  beauties;  soi 
that,  as  I  am  informed  by  the  illustrious  Na- ' 
vagiero,  wiio  is  a  good  judge,  in  the  consisto- 1 
ries,  where  it  is  customary  to  speak  Latin,  he 
expresses  whatever  he  will  with  ease  and  pro-  j 


priety.  He  is  not  read  in  theology,  for  which 
reason  he  will  never  take  upon  himself,  of  his 
unaided  authority,  any  of  the  cases  before  the 
oSice  of  the  inquisition;  but  he  is  accustomed 
to  say,  that  not  being  a  theologian  he  is  con- 
tent to  rely  in  all  things  on  those  whose 
proper  business  it  is :  and  though  it  is  noto- 
rious that  he  is  not  well  pleased  with  the 
mode  adopted  by  the  inquisitors  of  proceeding 
commonly  with  so  much  rigour  against  the 
accused;  and  though  he  gives  it  to  be  under- 
stood he  would  better  like  that  they  should 
use  the  language  of  courteous  gentlemen  than 
of  stern  monks,  still  he  never  ventures  or 
choses  to  oppose  their  judgments,  with  which 
he  seldom  interferes,  the  congregations  taking 
place  for  the  most  part  without  his  presence. 
In  the  business  and  deliberations  of  state  he 
desires  no  man's  counsel,  so  that  the  saying 
runs,  there  never  was  a  pontift'  more  worked 
and  less  advised  than  his  holiness ;  nor  does 
it  fail  to  excite  surprise  at  court  that  at  least 
in  more  important  matters  he  does  not  chose, 
for  appearance's  sake,  to  employ  a  few  cardi- 
nals, many  of  whom  by  the  by  are  men  of 
sound  judgment.  I  know  that  Vargas  one 
day  advised  him  to  do  so,  telling  that  though 
his  holiness  was  indeed  most  wise,  yet  unus 
vir  erat  nullus  vir ;  but  his  holiness  cut  him 
short  with  a  severe  reproof.  And  in  fact  it 
is  plain,  that  whether  it  be  he  deems  himself 
fitted  with  the  capacity  to  determine  all  mat- 
ters that  come  before  him,  or  that  he  knows 
there  are  few,  or  perhaps  not  one,  of  the  car- 
dinals not  committed  to  the  interests  of  some 
prince  or  other,  whence  they  cannot  exercise 
a  free  and  unbiassed  judgment, — it  is  plain,  I 
say,  that  he  will  not  make  use  of  any  others 
than  the  cardinals  Borromeo  and  Signor  Tolo- 
meo, who  being  young  men  of  little  or  no  ex- 
pectations, and  obsequious  to  his  holiness's 
least  beck,  may  rather  be  called  simple  exec- 
utors of  his  commands  tlian  counsellors.  From 
this  lack  of  advice  it  conies  to  pass  that  his 
holiness,  prompt  by  nature  in  all  his  actions, 
is  very  rapid,  too,  in  his  decisions  in  all  mat- 
ters, whatever  their  importance,  and  rapidly 
abandons  the  decision  he  has  pronounced. 
For  when  his  conclusions  have  been  made 
public,  and  he  subsequently  receives  any  in- 
formation of  a  contrary  tendency,  he  not  only 
alters  them,  but  frequently  does  the  very  op- 
posite to  his  original  design  ;  a  thing  that  in 
my  time  happened  not  once  but  on  many  oc- 
casions. His  behaviour  towards  princes  is 
the  direct  opposite  to  that  of  his  predecessor ; 
for  the  latter  used  to  say  the  pope  was  made 
to  tread  on  the  heads  of  emperors  and  kings, 
but  the  present  pope  declares  that,  without 
the  authority  of  princes,  that  of  the  pontifl[' 
cannot  be  maintained :  hence  he  bears  him- 
self very  respectfully  towards  every  potentate, 
cheerfully  grants  them  favours,  and  when  he 
denies  them  does  it  with  great  address  and 


RESTORATION  OF  CATHOLICISM  DOWN  TO  SIXTHS  V. 


461 


modesty.  In  like  manner  he  conducts  him- 
self with  great  gentleness  and  afiability 
towards  all  persons  without  distinction  in 
matters  of  business  ;  but  if  on  any  occasion  a 
request  be  made  him  which  is  not  to  his  taste, 
he  becomes  very  vehement  and  terrible,  and 
will  suffer  no  contradiction.  It  is  hardly  ever 
necessary  to  use  address  with  his  holiness,  for 
when  he  is  in  good  humour,  he  finds  it  hard 
to  refuse  any  favour ;  true  it  is  the  execution 
subsequently  presents  more  difficulty  than  the 
promise.  He  displays  great  respect  for  the 
most  reverend  cardinals,  and  cheerfully  be- 
stows favours  upon  them,  nor  even  detracts 
from  the  value  of  his  kindness  in  the  collation 
of  benefices,  which  was  not  the  case  with  his 
predecessor.  It  is  true  that  the  more  influen- 
tial among  them  appear  to  wish  that  they 
were  allowed  a  larger  share  than  is  custom- 
ary with  his  holiness  in  the  affairs  which  oc- 
cur in  so  busy  a  period ;  they  are  dissatisfied, 
therefore,  at  seeing  deliberations  of  such  im- 
portance take  place  with  so  little  aid  of  coun- 
sel, and  pronounce  your  serenity  particularly 
fortunate  in  this  respect.  His  holiness  be- 
stows on  ambassadors  the  highest  demonstra- 
tions of  love  and  honour  they  can  desire,  and 
omits  nothing  that  can  tend  to  their  satisfac- 
tion ;  he  treats  mildly  with  them  of  their  sev- 
eral affairs,  and  if  he  sometimes  becomes  ex- 
asperated on  account  of  some  demand  he  dis- 
approves of,  or  for  any  other  cause,  one  who 
can  use  address  quickly  pacifies  him,  and  suc- 
ceeds with  him  so  far,  that  if  he  does  not 
wholly  obtain  what  he  desires,  at  least  he  re- 
ceives very  courteous  language  in  reply ; 
whereas,  if  one  were  to  oppose  him  roundly, 
he  might  be  assured  of  receiving  neither  the 
one  nor  the  other :  yet  for  all  this  Vargas 
never  possessed  the  favour  of  his  holiness,  be- 
cause he  did  not  conduct  himself  with  the 
modesty  which  was  looked  for  in  him.  When 
the  business  in  hand  is  dispatched,  he  convers- 
es courteously  with  the  ambassadors  ;  talks  of 
the  advices  he  has  received  of  any  importance, 
and  enters  freely  into  discourse  on  the  present 
posture  of  the  world  :  with  myself  in  particu- 
lar he  has  done  this  very  frequently  ;  and 
your  serenity  may  remember  that  I  have 
sometimes  filled  leaves  with  his  discourses. 
With  his  domestics  he  behaves  in  suchwise 
that  no  one  can  perceive  any  of  them  to  pos- 
sess influence  over  him,  for  he  treats  all  equal- 
ly, not  suffering  one  of  them  to  do  anything 
that  is  not  becoming,not  permitting  them  to  take 
anything  of  themselves ;  but  he  keeps  them  all 
in  such  poor  and  humble  fortune  that  the  court 
would  willingly  see  more  respect  and  regard 
displayed  towards  the  more  confidential  cham- 
berlains and  other  old  servants.  He  makes  high 
professions  of  justice  as  a  judge,  and  willingly 
converses  respecting  this  desire  of  his,  that 
justice  should  be  done,  particularly  with  the 
ambassadors  of  potentates,  with  whom,  on  all 


such    occasions,  he   proceeds   to  justify  the 
death  of  Caraff'a  and  the  sentences  of  Napoli 
and  Monte  as  equitably  pronounced,  it  having 
probably  reached  his  ears  that  these  sentences, 
especially  that  of  Caraff'a,  were  judged  by  the 
whole  court  to  be  of  extraordinary  and  undue 
severity.     The  pope  is  naturally  disposed  to 
a  life  of  privacy  and  freedom,  because  he  sees 
he  can  hardly  fashion  himself  to  the  majesty 
with  which  his  predecessor  bore  himself;  but 
in  all  his  actions  he  displays  kindliness  rather 
than  dignity,  suffering  himself  to  be  seen  by 
every  one  and  at  all  hours,  and  going  all  over 
the  city  on  foot  and  on  horseback  with  a  very 
scanty  retinue.     He  has  a  very  great  taste  for 
construction,  in  which  way  he  spends  readily 
and  largely,  being  highly  gratified  when  the 
works  he  lias  in  hand  meet  with  praise :  it 
seems  he  looks  to  perpetuate  his  memory  in 
this    way  too,    there    being  now   scarcely  a 
place  in  Rome   that  does  not  bear  his  name  ; 
and  he   is   in  the   habit  of  saying,  that  con- 
struction is  particularly  the  propensity  of  the 
house  of  Medici,     Nor  does  his  holiness  fol- 
low the  practice  of  his  predecessors,  who  for 
the  most  part  began  large  and  sumptuous  edi- 
fices, and  then  left  them  imperfect,  but  he  de- 
lights rather  in  causing  the  repair  of  those 
that  are  threatened  with  ruin,  and  in  finishing 
those  that  are  begun,  while  at  the  same  time 
he  also  causes  the  erection  of  new  ones,  hav- 
ing many  such  constructed  in  many  places  of 
the  ecclesiastical  states ;  for  he  is  fortifying 
Civita  Vecchia,  repairing  the  harbour  of  An- 
cona,  and  proposes  to  convert  Bologna  into  a 
fortress.     In   Rome  again,  besides  the  fortifi- 
cation of  the  town,  and  the  construction  of  the 
Belvedere  and  the  palace,  he  is  causing  streets 
to   be   repaired  in   many   parts  of  the  city, 
churches  to  be  built  and  the  gates  to  be  re- 
paired, with  an  outlay  so  great,  that  in  my 
time  there  were  expended  on  the  buildings  of 
Rome  alone  for  many  months  12m.  scudi  the 
month,  more  perhaps  than  becomes  a  sovere- 
ign ;  insomuch  that  it  is  affirmed   by  the  old- 
est courties  that  matters  were  never  subject- 
ed to  such  strict  rule  and  measure  as  at  pre- 
sent.    As  I  imagine  some  particulars  as  to  his 
holiness's  personal  habits  will   not  be  unwel- 
come, I  will  supply  information  on  this  head 
also.     The  pontiff  is  commonly  in  the  habit  of 
rising  so  early,  when  in   good  health,  both 
winter  and  summer,  that  he  is  always  a-foot 
almost  before  day,  and  dressing  quickly  he 
goes  out  for  exeixise,  in  which  he  spends  a 
great  deal  of  time.     Upon  his  return,  cardinal 
Borromeo  and  Mons.  Tolomeo  enter  his  cham- 
ber, and  with  them  his  holiness,  as  I  have 
said,  treats  of  all  important  matters  both  pub- 
lic and  private,  and  he  usually  keeps  them 
with  him  two  or  three  hours.     On  their  dis- 
missal those  ambassadors  who  expect  audi- 
ence are  introduced  to  him,  and  when  his  ho- 
liness has  concluded  with  them  he  hears  mass, 


462 


APPENDIX. 


and  if  it  be  not  late  goes  out  to  give  audience 
to  the  cardinals  and  others.  After  this  he 
goes  to  table,  which,  to  say  the  trutli,  is  not 
served  in  any  very  splendid  style  as  was  that 
of  his  predecessor,  for  the  viands  are  common 
and  in  no  great  quantity,  and  the  attendance 
is  that  of  his  usual  valets.  His  diet  is  of 
coarse  meats  and  Lombard  pastry,  and  his 
wine  is  Greek,  of  a  very  strong  body,  and 
which  will  not  bear  water.  He  is  not  fond, 
as  was  his  predecessor,  of  having  bishops  and 
other  dignified  prelates  at  bistable,  but  rather 
loves  the  conversation  of  agreeable  persons, 
and  such  as  possess  some  humour.  He 
often  admits  cardinals  and  ambassadors  to 
his  table,  and  on  me  in  particular  he  has 
bestowed  such  favours  in  the  most  gracious 
manner.  When  he  has  finished  his  meal 
he  retires  to  his  chamber,  and  stripping 
to  his  shirt  goes  to  bed,  where  he  remains 
usually  three  or  four  hours.  On  waking  he 
dresses  again,  recites  his  offices,  and  some- 
times gives  audience  to  a  few  cardinals  and 
ambassadors,  and  then  returns  to  his  exer- 
cise in  the  Belvedere,  which  he  never  leaves 
off  in  summer  till  supper  time,  and  in  winter 
so  long  as  there  is  light] 

Many  other  interesting  particulars  relating 
to  the  history  of  those  times  are  adduced  by 
Soranzo.  For  instance,  he  throws  light  on 
the  otherwise  almost  inexplicable  conversion 
of  the  king  of  Navarre  to  Catholicism.  As- 
surances had  been  given  him  from  Rome, 
that  should  Philip  II.  not  indemnify  him  with 
Sardinia  for  the  lost  part  of  Navarre,  the  pope 
would  at  all  events  give  him  Sardinia.  No 
theologians,  says  the  ambassador,  were  needed 
to  effect  the  change  in  his  sentiments ;  the 
negotiation  did  the  business. 

36.  Instrutlione  del  re  cattolico  al  C"  M'' 
if  Alcantara  suo  avibasciatore  di  quello 
ha  da  trattar  in  Roma,  Madr.  30  Nov. 
1562.  {MS.  Rom.) — [Instruction  of  the 
catholic  king  to  his  ambassador,  Monsignor 
d'Alcantara,  touching  matters  to  be  han- 
dled in  Rome.] 

Accompanied  with  the  pope's  answer.  Pal- 
lavicini's  extracts  from  the  document  (xx.  10.) 
are  satisfactory,  with  the  exception  of  the  fol- 
lowing passage,  which  he  rather  seems  to 
have  mistaken.  "  Circa  I'articola  della  com- 
munione  sub  utraque  specie  non  restaremo  di 
dire  con  la  sicurta  che  sapemo  di  potere  usare 
con  la  M.^^  Sua,  che  si  parono  cose  molto  con- 
trarie  il  dimandar  tanta  liberta  e  licenza  nel 
concilio  et  il  volere  in  un  medesiino  tempo 
che  noi  impediamo  detto  concilio  e  che  pro- 
hibiamo  all'  imperatore,  al  re  di  Francia,  al 
duca  di  Baviera  et  ad  altri  principi  che  non 
possano  far  proponere  et  questo  et  molti  altri 
articoli  che  ricercano  attento,  che  essi  sono 
deliberati  et  risoluti  di  farli  proponere  da  suoi 


ambasciatori  e  prelati,  etiam  che  fosse  contro 
la  volunta  dei  legati.  Sopra  il  che  S.  M''^ 
dovra  fare  quella  consideratione  che  le  parera 
conveniente.  Quanto  a  quello  che  spetta  a 
noi,  havemo  differita  la  cosi  fin  qui,  e  cerca- 
remo  di  differirla  piii  che  potremo,  non  os- 
tante  le  grandi  islanze  che  circa  cio  ne  sono 
state  fatte :  e  tuttavia  se  fanno  dalli  sudetti 
principi,  protestandoci  che  se  non  se  gli  con- 
cede, perderanno  tutti  li  loro  sudditi,  quali 
dicono  peccar  solo  in  questo  articulo  e  nel 
resto  esser  buoni  cattolici,  e  di  piu  dicono  che 
non  essendogli  concesso,  li  piglieranno  da  se, 
e  si  congiungeranno  con  li  settarii  vicini  e 
protestanti,  da  quali  quando  ricorrono  per 
questo  uso  del  calice,  sono  astretti  ad  abjurare 
la  nostra  religione  :  sicche  S.  M^^  puo  consi- 
derare  in  quanta  molestia  e  travaglio  siamo. 
Piacesse  a  dio  che  S.  M^^  cattolica  fosse  vi- 
cina  e  potessimo  parlare  insieme  ed  anche 
abboccarsi  con  I'imperatore — havendo  per 
ogni  modo  S.  M'^  Cesarea  da  incontrarsi  da 
noi, — che  forse  potriamo  acconciare  le  cose 
del  mondo,  o  nessuno  le  acconciera  mai  se 
non  dio  solo,  quando  parera  a  Sua  Divina 
Maesta."  [Touching  the  article  of  commu- 
nication in  both  kinds,  we  will  not  hesitate  to 
say,  with  all  the  freedom  we  are  assured  we 
may  use  towards  his  majesty,  that  it  appears 
to  us  a  glaring  contradiction,  to  demand  so 
much  liberty  and  license  in  the  council,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  require  that  we  should 
hinder  the  said  council,  and  prohibit  the  em- 
peror, the  king  of  France,  the  duke  of  Bava- 
ria, and  the  other  princes,  from  proposing  this 
and  many  other  articles,  seeing  that  they 
have  deliberately  resolved  on  proposing  them 
through  their  ambassadors  and  prelates,  even 
though  it  should  be  in  opposition  to  the  will 
of  the  legates.  Upon  this  head  his  majesty 
must  adopt  what  views  he  shall  think  proper. 
As  far  as  we  are  concerned,  we  have  hitherto 
postponed  the  matter,  and  will  endeavour  to 
postpone  it  as  much  as  we  can,  notwithstand- 
ing the  earnestness  with  which  it  has  been 
urged,  and  still  is  so,  by  the  said  princes,  who 
protest  that,  if  it  is  not  conceded  to  them, 
they  will  lose  all  their  subjects,  who,  they 
say,  are  in  fault  only  on  this  point,  and  in  all 
others  are  good  catholics ;  and,  moreover^ 
they  say,  if  the  same  be  not  granted  them, 
they  will  take  it  of  themselves,  and  will  com- 
bine with  the  neighbouring  sectaries  and 
protestants,  whom  if  they  join  in  this  use  of 
the  cup,  they  will  be  forced  to  abjure  our  re- 
ligion. His  majesty  therefore  may  see  in 
what  a  painful  perplexity  we  are  placed. 
Would  to  God  that  his  catholic  majesty  were 
near  us,  and  that  we  could  speak  with  him, 
and  also  with  the  emperor, — it  being  by  all 
means  expedient  that  his  imperial  majesty 
should  have  an  interview  with  us, — so  that 
perchance  we  might  arrange   the  affairs  of 


RESTORATION  OF  CATHOLICISM  DOWN  TO  SIXTUS.  V. 


463 


the  world,  else  no  one  will  ever  arrange  them 
except  God  alone,  when  it  shall  seem  good  to 
his  Divine  Majesty.] 

37.  Instruttione  data  al  .V  Carlo  Visconti 
mandato  da  papa  Pio  IV  al  re  cattolico 
per  le  cose  del  concilia  di  Trento. — t^ub- 
scrihed,  Caroliis  Borroma:us  itltimo  Oct. 
1563.  [Instruction  to  Carlo  Visconti,  en- 
voy from  Pius  IV.  to  the  king  of  Spain, 
touching  the  affairs  of  the  council  of 
Trent.] 

Not  contained  in  the  collection  of  the  nun- 
cio's letters,  which  goes  no  further  than  Sep- 
tember, 1563,  and  remarkable  from  its  inves- 
tigation of  the  motives  for  closing  the  council. 
Pallavicini,  xxiv.  1,  1,  has  cited  the  greater 
part  of  this  instruction,  though  not  in  the  order 
in  which  it  was  written.  The  most  remark- 
able fact,  perhaps,  made  known  by  it  is,  that 
it  had  been  intended  to  bring  the  affairs  of 
England  before  the  council,  and  that  this  was 
abstained  from  only  in  deference  to  Philip  II. 
"  Non  abbiamo  voluto  parlare  sin  ora  ne  las- 
ciar  parlare  in  concilio  della  regina  d'lnghil- 
terra  (Mary  Stuart),  con  tutto  die  lo  meriti, 
ne  meno  di  quest'  altra  (Elizabeth),  e  cio  per 
rispetto  di  S.  M^'^  Cattolice. — Ma  ancora  e 
questa  bisognerebbe  un  di  pigliare  qualche 
verso,  e  la  M^^  S.  dovrebbe  almeno  fare  opera 
che  li  vescovi  et  altri  cattolici  non  fossero 
molestati."  [Hitherto  we  have  not  been  wil- 
ling to  speak  or  to  allow  mention  in  the  coun- 
cil of  the  queen  of  England  (Mary  Stuart), 
much  as  she  deserves  it,  nor  yet  of  the  other 
(Elizabeth),  and  that  out  of  respect  to  his 
catholic  majesty The  latter,  how- 
ever, must  some  day  take  a  turn,  and  his  ma- 
jesty ought  at  least  to  make  it  his  care  that 
the  bishops  and  other  catholics  be  not  molest- 
ed.] It  is  made,  we  see,  in  some  sort  incum- 
bent on  Philip  II.  to  take  up  the  cause  of  the 
English  catholics. 

38.  Relatione  in  scriptis  /atta  dal  Commen- 
done  ai  s'"'  legati  del  concilio  sopra  le  cose 
ritratte  delV  imperalore  19  Feb.  1563. — 
[A  report  made  in  writing  by  Commen- 
done,  to  the  legates  at  the  council,  con- 
cerning the  matters  treated  of  with  the 
emperor,  &c.] 

"  La  somma  e  che  a  me  pare  di  aver  veduto 
non  pur  in  S.  M^^^  ma  nelli  principali  ministri, 
come  Trausen  e  Seldio,  im  ardentissimo  desi- 
derio  della  riforma  e  del  progresso  del  conci- 
lio con  una  gran  speranza  quod  remittendo 
aliquid  de  jure  positive  et  refermando  mores 
et  disciplinam  ecclesiasticam  non  solo  si  pos- 
sono  conservare  li  cattolici  ma  guadagnare  e 
ridurre  degli  heretici,  con  una  opinione  o  im- 
pressione  pur  troppo  forte  che  qui  siano  molti 
che   non   vogliano  riforma."     [See  p.  445.] 


The  activity  of  the  Jesuits  had  made  a  marked 
impression.  "Seldio  disse,  che  li  Gcsuiti 
hanno  hormai  mostrato  in  Germania  quello 
che  si  puo  sperare  con  effetto,  perche  sola- 
mente  con  la  buona  vita  e  con  le  prediche  e 
con  le  scuole  loro  hanno  ritenuto  e  vi  sosten- 
gono  tuttavia  la  religione  cattolica."  [ISeld 
said,  that  the  Jesuits  have  now  shown  palpa- 
bly in  Germany  what  may  be  expected  ;  for 
solely  by  their  good  lives,  their  preacliings, 
and  their  schools,  they  have  been,  and  are 
still,  the  stay  of  the  catholic  religion  in  that 
land.] 

39.  Relatione  sommaria  del  cardinal  Morone 
sopra  la  legatione  sua  1564  Januario. 
{Bibl.  Altieri  VII.  F.  3.) 

This  ought  properly  to  be  given  at  full 
length.  Unfortunately  I  had  not  an  opportu- 
nity of  procuring  a  copy  :  so  that  the  reader 
must  be  content  with  the  exti-act  I  have  in- 
serted in  the  third  book. 

40.  Antonio  Canossa  :  On  the  attempt  to  as- 
sassinate Pms  IV.     See  page  11.5. 

41.  Relatione  di  Rama  al  tempo  di  Pio  IV  e 
V.  di  Palo  Tiepolo  ambasciatore  Veneto. 
[Report  on  Rome  in  the  times  of  Pius  [V. 
and  v.,  by  Paolo  Tiepolo,  Venetian  am- 
bassador.] First  found  in  MSS.  in  Gotha, 
and  afterwards  in  many  other  collections. 
—1568. 

In  almost  all  the  copies  this  report  is  set 
down  as  belonging  to  the  year  1567  ;  but  as 
Paolo  Tiepolo  says  expressly,  he  was  33 
months  with  Pius  V.,  who  was  elected  in 
January,  1566,  this  would  make  the  true  date 
some  time  after  September,  1568.  The  dis- 
patches, too,  of  this  ambassador, — the  first  that 
w^ere  preserved  in  the  Venetian  archives, — 
reach  to  that  year. 

Tiepolo  portrays  Rome,  the  states  of  the 
church,  and  their  administration,  as  well  as 
the  ecclesiastical  power,  which,  as  he  says, 
punishes  by  interdicts  and  rewards  with  indul- 
gences. He  then  draws  a  comparison  between 
Pius  IV,  and  V.,  their  respective  piety,  equity, 
liberality,  manners,  and  character  in  general. 
Venice  had  found  in  the  former  a  very  easy, 
in  the  latter  a  very  rigorous,  pope.  Pius  V. 
complained  incessantly  of  the  limitations  of 
ecclesiastical  priviliges  ventured  on  by  Ven- 
ice, its  taxation  of  monasteries,  its  summoning 
priests  before  the  civil  tribunals,  and  the  con- 
duct of  the  avogadores.  In  spite  of  these 
misunderstandings,  the  comparison  instituted 
by  Tiepolo  is  wholly  in  favour  of  the  more 
rigid,  and  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  more 
indulgent  pope.  This  ambassador  affords 
an  example  of  the  impression  made  on  the 
catholic  world  at  large  by  the  personal  quali- 
ties of  Pius  V. 


464 


APPENDIX. 


This  report,  as  we  have  said,  is  frequently 
to  be  met  with.  It  has  occasionally  been 
adopted  into  printed  works  ;  but  in  what  man- 
ner, deserves  to  be  noted.  In  the  Tesoro 
Politico,  i.  19,  there  is  a  Relatione  di  Roma, 
in  which  everything  Tiepolo  says  of  Pius  V. 
is  applied  to  Sixtiis  V.  Traits  of  character, 
— nay,  even  particular  acts,  ordinances,  &c., 
— are  here  transferred  from  one  pope  to  an- 
other. This  thoroughly  falsified  account  was 
afterwards  inserted  in  the  Republica  Romana, 
published  by  Elzevir,  where  it  is  to  be  found 
verbatim,  under  the  title,  "  De  statu  urbis  Ro- 
mae  et  pontificis  relatio  tempore  Sixti  V  papse, 
anno  1585." 

42.  Relatione  di  Roma  del  Cl^'  S^  Michiel 
Suriano  K^  rittornato  ambasciatore  da  N. 
S.  papa  Pio  V.  1571. — [Report  on  Rome 
by  Michiel  Suriano,  late  ambassador  to 
pope  Pius  v.] 

Michiel  Suriano,  in  whom,  as  Paruta  says, 
(Guerra  di  Cipro,  i.  p.  28,)  literary  attain- 
ments added  a  more  brilliant  lustre  to  talents 
for  business,  was  the  immediate  successor  of 
Paolo  Tiepolo. 

He  thus  describes  Pius  V, 

"  Si  vede  che  nel  papato  S.  Santita  non  ha 
atteso  mai  a  delitie  ne  a  piaceri,  come  altri 
suoi  antecessori,  che  non  ha  alterato  la  vita 
ne  i  costumi,  che  non  ha  lasciato  I'essercitio 
deir  inquisitione  che  haveva  essendo  privato, 
et  lasciava  piu  presto  ogn'  altra  cosa  che 
quella,  riputando  tutte  I'altre  di  manco  stima 
et  di  manco  importantia :  onde  benche  per  il 
papato  fosse  mutata  la  dignita  et  la  fortuna, 
non  fu  pero  mutata  ne  la  volonta  nc  la  natura. 
Era  S.  S^^  di  presenza  grave,  con  poca  carne 
magra,  et  di  persona  piu  che  mediocre  ma  forte 
et  robusta:  havea  gl'occhi  piccoli  ma  la  vista 
acutissima,  il  naso  aquilino,  che  denota  animo 
generoso  et  atto  a  regnare,  il  colore  vivo  et  la 
canitie  veneranda :  caminava  gagliardissima- 
mente,  non  temea  I'aere,  mangiava  poco  e 
bevea  pochissimo,  andava  a  dormire  per  tem- 
po :  pativa  alcune  volte  d'orina,  et  vi  remedi- 
ava  con  usar  spesso  la  cassia  et  a  certi  tempi 
il  latte  d'asina  et  con  viver  sempre  con  regola 
et  con  misura.  Era  S.  St^^  di  complession  col- 
erica  et  subita,  et  s'accendeva  in  un  tratto  in 
viso  quando  sentiva  cosa  che  le  dispiacesse  : 
era  pero  facile  nell'  audiente,  ascoltava  tutti, 
parlava  poco  et  tardo  et  stentava  spesso  a 
trovar  le  parole  proprie  et  significanti  al  suo 
modo.  Fu  di  vita  esemplare  et  di  costumi 
irreprensibili  con  un  zelo  rigoroso  di  religi- 
one,  che  haveria  voluto  cheogn'  un  I'havesse, 
et  per  questo  corregea  gl'  ecclesiastici  con 
riserve  et  con  bolle  et  i  laici  con  decreti 
et  avvertimenti.  Facea  professione  aporta 
di  sinceritii  et  di  bontii,  di  non  ingan- 
nare,  di  non  publicar  mai  le  cose  che  gli 
eran  dette   in  secretezza  et  d'esser  osser- 


vantissimo  della  parola,  tutte  cose  contrarie 
al  suo  predecessore :  odiava  i  tristi  et  non 
poteva  tollorarli,  amavi  i  buoni  o  quel  che  era 
persuasa  che  fosser  buoni :  ma  come  un  tristo 
non  potea  sperar  mai  di  guadagnar  la  sua 
gratia,  perche  ella  non  credea  che  potesse 
diventar  buono,  cosi  non  ero  senza  pericolo 
un  buono  di  perderla  quando  cedea  in  qualche 
tristezza.  Amava  sopra  tutte  le  cose  la  veri- 
ta  et  se  alcuno  era  scoperto  da  S.  S'^  una  sol 
volta  in  bugia,  perdeva  la  sua  gratia  per  sem- 
pre, et  fu  visto  I'essempio  nel  sigr  Paolo  Ghi- 
silieri  suo  nipote,  il  quale  scaccio  da  se  per 
averlo  trovato  in  bugia,  come  S.  S'^  medesi- 
ma  mi  disse,  et  per  officii  che  fusser  fatti  non 
volse  mai  piii  riceverlo  in  gratia.  Era  d'in- 
gegno  non  molto  acuto,  di  natura  difficile  et 
sospettosa,  et  da  quella  impression  che  pren- 
dea  una  volta  non  giovava  a  rimoverlo  niuna 
persuasione  di  ragione  di  respetti  civili.  Non 
avea  isperienza  di  cose  di  state,  per  non  averle 
mai  pratticate  se  non  ultimamente  :  onde  nei 
travagli  che  portan  seco  i  maneggi  di  questa 
corte  et  nelle  difficolta  che  sempre  accom- 
pagnan  la  novita  dei  negotii,  un  che  fosse 
grato  S.  Santita  et  in  che  ella  havesse  fede 
era  facilmente  atto  a  guidarla  a  suo  modo,  ma 
altri  in  che  non  havea  fede  non  potea  essere 
atto,  et  la  ragioni  regolate  per  prudenza  hu- 
mana  non  bastavano  a  persuaderla,  et  se  al- 
cun  pensava  di  vincere  con  auttorita  o  con 
spaventi,  ella  rompeva  in  un  subito  et  mette- 
va  in  disordine  ogni  cosa  o  per  lo  manco  gli 
dava  nel  viso  con  dir  che  non  temeva  il  mar- 
tirio  et  che  come  dio  I'ha  messo  in  quel  luogo 
cosi  poteva  anco  conservarlo  contra  ogni  aut- 
torita et  podesta  humana.  Queste  conditioni 
et  qualita  di  S.  Santita,  se  ben  son  verissime, 
pero  son  difficili  da  credere  a  chi  non  ha  auto 
la  sua  pratica  et  molto  piii  a  chi  ha  auto  pra- 
tica  d'altri  papi;  perche  pare  impossibile  che 
un  huomo  nato  et  nutrito  in  bassa  fortuna  si 
tenesse  tanto  sincero  :  che  resistesse  cosi  ar- 
ditamente  a  i  maggior  prencipi  et  piii  potenti : 
che  fosse  tanto  difficile  nei  favori  et  nelle 
gratie  et  nelle  dispense  et  in  quell'  altre  cose 
che  gl'  altri  pontetici  concedean  sempre  facil- 
mente :  che  pensasse  piii  all'  inquisitione  che 
ad  altro,  et  chi  secondava  S.  Santita  in  quella, 
potesse  con  lei  ogni  cosa:  che  nelle  cose  di 
stato  non  credesse  alia  forza  delle  ragioni  ne 
air  auttorita  de  i  prencipi  esperti,  ma  sola- 
mente  alle  persuasioni  di  quel  in  che  havea 
fede :  che  non  si  sia  mai  mostrato  interessato 
ne  in  ambitione  ne  in  avaritia  ne  per  se  ne 
per  niun  de  suoi :  che  credesse  poco  ai  car- 
denali  et  gl'avesse  tutti  per  interessati  o  qua- 
si tutti,  et  chi  si  valea  di  loro  con  S.  Santita 
se  nol  facea  con  gran  temperamento  et  con 
gran  giudicio,  si  rendea  sospetto  et  perdea  il 
credito  insieme  con  loro.  Et  chi  non  sa 
queste  cose  et  si  ricorda  delle  debolezze,  della 
facilita,  di  i  rispetti,  delli  passioni  et  degl'  af- 
fetti  de  gl'  altri  papi  accusava  et  strapazzava 


RESTORATION  OF  CATHOLICISM  DOWN  TO  SIXTUS  V. 


465 


gl'  ambasciatori,  credendo  non  che  non  pot- 
esser  ma  che  non  volessero  o  non  sapessero 
ottener  quelle  cose  che  s'ottenevano  facili- 
niente  in  altri  tempi." 

[It  is  plain  that  when  pope,  his  holiness 
never  devoted  himself  to  luxury  or  pleasure, 
as  others  before  him,  that  he  changed  neither 
his  life  nor  habits,  that  he  did  not  abandon 
the  exercise  of  his  inquisitorial  functions 
which  he  had  practised  when  in  a  private 
station,  but  rather  postponed  every  thing  than 
this,  considering  all  otliers  as  of  little  estima- 
tion and  importance  :  thus,  tiiough  changed 
in  dignity  and  lortune  by  his  accession  to  the 
popedom,  he  was  yet  unchanged  in  will  and 
in  nature.  His  holiness  was  of  a  grave  pre- 
sence, of  a  spare  habit  of  body,  below  the 
middle  size,  but  strong  and  robust:  he  had 
small  eyes,  but  very  quick  sight,  an  aquiline 
nose,  the  which  denotes  a  lofty  spirit  fitted  to 
command,  florid  complexion,  and  venerable 
grey  hairs;  his  step  was  elastic  and  buoyant; 
he  shunned  not  the  open  air,  ate  little  and 
drank  very  little,  and  retired  early  to  rest : 
he  suffered  occasionally  from  urinary  disor- 
ders, as  remedies  for  which  he  constantly  em- 
ployed cassia,  and  at  certain  times  asses' 
milk,  aided  with  constant  regularity  and  tem- 
perance. His  holiness  was  of  a  choleric  and 
sudden  temperament,  and  his  countenance 
would  kindle  up  in  an  instant  when  any  thing 
occurred  to  displease  him:  nevertheless  he 
gave  audience  affably,  had  an  ear  for  every 
man,  spoke  little  and  slowly,  and  frequently 
paused  to  select  the  proper  words,  and  such  as 
were  most  expressive  after  his  own  fashion. 
His  life  was  exemplary,  and  his  habits  irre- 
proachable ;  and  he  was  animated  with  a 
rigorous  zeal  for  religion,  which  he  would  fain 
have  seen  partaken  by  every  individual, 
wherefore  he  chastised  the  clergy  with  re- 
servations and  bulls,  and  the  laity  with  de- 
crees and  admonitions.  He  made  open  pro- 
fession of  sincerity  and  good  faith,  of  eschew- 
ing fraud,  of  never  publishing  matters  told 
him  in  secret,  and  of  being  a  most  strict  ob- 
server of  his  word;  in  all  which  he  was  tlie 
opposite  of  his  predecessor:  he  hated  profli- 
gate men,  and  could  not  tolerate  them  ;  he 
loved  the  good,  or  those  whom  he  believed  to 
be  so:  but  as  no  profligate  man  could  ever 
hope  to  gain  his  favour,  because  he  did  not 
think  such  an  one  capable  of  goodness,  so  too 
a  good  man  ran  the  risk  of  losing  his  favour 
when  he  tell  into  any  vice.  He  loved  truth 
above  all  things,  and  if  any  one  was  once  de- 
tected by  his  holiness  in  a  lie,  he  lost  his  fa- 
vour forever.  This  was  exemplified  in  the 
case  of  Signer  Paolo  Ghisilieri,  his  nephew, 
whom  he  drove  from  him  because  he  had 
caught  him  in  a  lie,  as  his  holiness  himself 
told  me,  and  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  that 
were  made  to  that  end,  he  would  never  take 
him  back  into  favour.  His  genius  was  not 
59 


very  acute,  his  nature  was  hard  and  prone  to 
suspicion,  and  when  he  had  once  taken  up  an 
impression,  he  was  not  to  be  moved  from  it 
by  any  considerations  of  courtesy.  He  had 
no  experience  in  state  affairs,  not  having 
practised  them  till  latterly ;  whence  it  hap- 
pened, that  in  the  labours  belonging  to  his 
court,  and  amidst  the  difficulties  always  inci- 
dent to  business  of  a  novel  kind,  one  who  pos- 
sessed his  favour,  and  in  whom  he  had  confi- 
dence, might  easily  lead  him  after  his  own 
fasliion,  but  others  in  whom  he  had  not  faith 
could  do  little,  and  reasonings,  shaped  in  ac- 
cordance with  human  prudence,  were  una- 
vailing to  convince  him  ;  and  if  any  one 
thought  to  prevail  with  him  by  authority,  or 
through  the  influence  of  fear,  he  would  sud- 
denly cut  the  whole  matter  short,  and  leave 
it  in  confusion,  or  else  look  him  sternly  in  the 
face,  and  tell  him  that  he  did  not  fear  martyr- 
dom, and  that  as  God  had  put  him  in  that 
place,  so  He  could  keep  him  there  in  despite 
of  all  human  authority  and  power.  These 
characteristics  of  his  holiness,  most  true 
though  they  be,  are  yet  hard  to  be  believed 
by  any  one  who  has  not  been  in  personal  con- 
tact with  him,  and  still  more  by  one  who  has 
had  personal  knowledge  of  other  popes ;  for 
it  seems  impossible  that  a  man  born  and  edu- 
cated in  low  station  could  maintain  so  much 
sincerity,  that  he  should  with  such  ardour 
resist  the  greatest  and  most  powerful  princes ; 
that  he  should  be  so  chary  of  favour,  and 
affection,  and  expense,  in  those  matters,  in 
which  other  pontiffs  always  evince  such  facil- 
ity ;  that  he  should  think  more  of  the  inquisi- 
tion than  of  any  thing  else,  and  whoever 
seconded  his  holiness  in  this  should  be  all 
potent  with  him  ;  that  in  matters  of  state  he 
should  concede  nothing  to  the  force  of  argu- 
ment or  to  the  authority  of  experienced 
princes,  but  only  to  the  representations  of 
tiiose  in  whom  he  had  confidence ;  that  he 
never  manifested  an  interested  feeling  of 
ambition  or  avarice,  whether  for  himself  or 
for  any  belonging  to  him ;  that  he  put  little 
trust  in  the  cardinals,  and  held  them  all,  or 
nearly  all,  for  interested  men  ;  and  any  one  of 
them  who  sought  to  ingratiate  himself  with 
his  holiness,  if  he  did  it  not  with  great  reserve 
and  discretion,  rendered  himself  suspected  by 
him,  and  lost  credit  equally  with  the  rest. 
Now  those  who  were  unaware  of  these  things, 
and  remembered  the  weakness,  the  facility, 
the  polite  compliances,  the  passions  and  affec- 
tions of  other  popes,  accused  and  contemned 
the  ambassadors,  believing  not  that  they  could 
not,  but  that  they  would  not,  or  had  not  the 
skill  to  obtain  certain  things  easy  to  be  had  in 
other  times.] 

We  can  readily  believe  the  ambassador  that 
he  had  a  difficult  task  with  a  pope  of  this 
character.  Wlien  Pius,  for  instance,  was 
aware  that  they  would  not  publish  the  bull, 


466 


APPENDIX. 


"  In  cosna  domini"  in  Venice,  he  broke  out 
into  a  violent  rage :  "  Si  perturbo  estrenm- 
mente,  et  arceso  in  collera  disse  molte  cose 
gravi  et  fastidiose."  These  were  circum- 
stances that  rendered  the  management  of 
business  doubly  difficult.  Suriano,  in  fact, 
lost  the  favour  of  his  republic.  He  was  re- 
called, and  a  great  part  of  the  present  report 
has  for  its  purpose  to  justify  his  conduct,  in 
which  we  cannot  accompany  him. 

43.  Inform atione  di  Pio  V.  Inform.  Politt. 

Bibl.  Amhros.  F.  D.  181. 

Anonymous  indeed,  but  founded  on  accu- 
rate information,  and  corroborating  the  other 
accounts.  It  is  a  singular  fact  stated  here, 
that  in  spite  of  all  the  rigour  of  this  pious 
pope,  factions  prevailed  in  his  family.  The 
older  servants  were  opposed  to  the  younger, 
who  adhered  to  the  grand  chamberlain,  Mr 
Cirillo.  The  latter  was  in  general  the  most 
accessible.  "  Con  le  carezze  e  col  mostrar 
di  conoscere  il  suo  valore  facilmente  s'acquis- 
tarebbe  :  ha  I'animo  elevatissimo,  grande  in- 
telligenza  con  Gambara  e  Correggio,  e  si 
stringe  con  Morone." 

44.  Relatione  delta  corte  di  Roma  nel  tempo 
di  Gregorio  XIII.  {Bibl.  Cors.  ?7r.  714.) 
Signed  20  Febr.  1574. — [Report  on  the 
court  of  Rome  in  the  time  of  Gregory 
XIII.]  "    ^ 

Anonym.ous,  but  nevertheless  very  instruc- 
tive, and  impressed  with  the  stamp  of  truth. 

The  author  thinks  it  difficult  to  judge  of 
courts  and  sovereigns.  "  Diro  come  si  giu- 
dica  nelle  corte  e  come  la  intendo."  [I  will 
state  the  opinions  entertained  at  court,  and 
what  I  myself  think.]  He  gives  the  tbllowing 
description  of  Gregory  XIII. 

"  Assonto  che  e  stato  al  pontificate  in  eta 
di  71  anni,  ha  parso  c'habbi  voluto  mutare 
natura :  et  il  rigore  che  era  solito  biasimare 
in  altri,  massimamente  nel  particulare  del 
vivere  con  qualche  licenza  con  donne,  n'e 
stato  piu  rigoroso  dell'  antecessore  e  fattone 
maggiori  essecutioni :  e  parimente  nella  ma- 
teria del  giuoco  si  e  mostrato  rigorosissimo, 
perche  havendo  certi  illustrissimi  principiato 
a  trattenersi  nel  principio  del  pontificato  con 
giuocare  qualche  scudo,  li  riprese  acremente, 
ancorche  alcuni  dubitarono  che  sotto  il  pre- 
testo  del  giuoco  si  facessero  nuove  pratiche 
di  pontificato  per  un  poco  di  male  e'hebbe  S. 
S^^  in  quel  principio :  e  da  questo  comincio  a 
calare  quella  riputatione  o  oppinione  che  si 
voleva  far  credere  dall'  illustrissimo  de'  Me- 
dici d'haver  lui  fatto  il  papa  e  doverlo  gover- 
nare,  la  qual  cosa  tece  chiaro  il  mondo  quanto 
S.  Sf-^  abhorrisce  che  alcuno  si  voglia  arro- 
gare  di  governarlo  o  c'habbi  bisogno  d'essere 
governato,  perche  non  vuole  essere  in  questa 


oppinione  di  iasciarsi  governare  a  persona. 
Perche  in  efl^etto  nelle  cose  della  giustitia  n'e 
capacissimo  e  la  intende  e  non  bisogna  pen- 
sare  di  darli  parole.  Ne'  maneggi  di  stati  S, 
St^  ne  potria  saper  piii  perche  non  vi  ha  fatto 
molto  studio,  e  sta  sopra  di  se  al!e  volte  irre- 
solute, ma  considerate  che  v'habbi  sopra,  n'e 
benissime  capace  e  nell'  udire  le  oppinioni  di- 
scerne  benissime  il  meglio.  E  patientissimo 
e  laboriosissimo  e  non  sta  mai  in  otio  e  piglia 
ancora  poca  ricreatione.  Da  continuamente 
audientia  e  vede  scritture.  Dorme  poco,  si 
leva  per  tempo,  e  fa  volontieri  esercitio,  e  li 
place  I'aria,  quale  non  teme,  per  cattiva  che 
sia.  Mangia  sobriamente  e  beve  pochissimo, 
ed  c  sano  senza  sorte  alcuna  di  schinelle.  E 
grato  in  dimostrationi  esteriori  a  chi  gli  ha 
fatto  piacere.  Non  e  prodigo  ne  quasi  si  puo 
dire  iiberale,  secondo  I'oppinione  del  volgo,  il 
quale  non  considera  o  discerne  la  differentia 
che  sia  da  un  principe  che  si  astenghi  dall  es- 
torsioni  e  rapacita  a  quello  che  conserva  quel- 
le che  ha  con  tenacita  :  questo  non  brama  la 
roba  d'altri  e  gli  insidia  per  haverla.  Non  e 
crudele  ne  sanguinolento,  ma  temendo  di 
continuo  delle  guerre  si  del  Turcocomedegli 
heretici,  li  place  d'haver  somma  di  denari  nell 
erario  e  conservali  senza  disfsensarli  fuori  di 
proposito,  e  n'ha  intorno  a  un  millione  e  mez- 
zo d'oro :  e  pero  magnifico  e  gli  piacciono  le 
grandezze,  e  sopra  tutto  e  desideroso  di  gloria, 
il  qual  desiderio  il  fa  forse  trascorrerre  in 
quello  che  non  piace  alia  corte  :  perche  questi 
reverendi  padri  Chiettini,  che  I'hanno  conos- 
ciuto,  se  li  sono  fatti  a  cavaliere  sopra  con 
dimostrarli  che  il  credito  et  autorita  che  ha- 
ve va  Pio  V  non  era  se  non  per  riputatione 
della  bonta,  e  con  questo  il  tengono  quasiche 
in  filo  et  il  necessitano  a  far  cose  contra  la 
sua  natura  e  la  sua  volonta,  perche  !S.  S'^*  e 
sempre  stato  di  natura  piacevole  e  dolce,  e  lo 
restringono  a  una  vita  non  consueta :  et  e  op- 
pinione che  per  far  questo  si  siano  valsi  di  far 
venire  lettere  da  loro  padri  medesimi  di  Spag- 
na  e  d'altri  luoghi,  dove  sempre  fanno  men- 
tione  quanto  sia  commendata  la  vita  santa  del 
papa  passato,  quale  ha  acquistata  tanta  gloria 
con  la  riputatione  della  bonta  e  delle  ritbrme, 
e  con  questo  modo  perseverano  loro  in  domi- 
nare  et  havere  autorita  con  S.  Beafe:  e  di- 
cesi  che  sono  ajutati  ancora  dal  vescovo  di 
Padova,  nuntio  in  Spagna,  creatura  di  Pio  V 
e  di  loro.  Brama  tanto  la  gloria  che  si  ri- 
tiene  e  sforza  la  natura  di  fare  di  quelle 
dimostrationi  ancora  verso  la  persona  del 
figliuolo  quali  sariano  riputate  ragionevoli  et 
honeste  da  ogn'uno  per  li  scrupoli  che  li  pro- 
pongono  costoro:  et  in  tanta  felicita  che  ha 
havuto  S.  St^  di  essere  asceso  a  questa  dignita 
da  basso  stato,  e  contrapesato  da  questo  ogget- 
to  e  dell  havere  parenti  quali  non  li  sodisfan- 
no  e  che  a  S.  S*^^  non  pare  che  siano  atti  o 
capaci  de'  negotii  importanti  e  da  commet- 
terli  le  facende  di  stato."     [Having  arrived 


RESTORATION  OF  CATHOLICISM  DOWN  TO  SIXTUS  V. 


467 


at  tlie  papacy  at  the  age  of  seventy-one, 
he  seemed  disposed  to  change  his  nature; 
the  rigour  which  he  used  to  blame  in  others, 
— particularly  as  regarded  a  certain  license 
as  to  intercourse  with  women, — he  enforced 
in  a  still  more  peremptory  manner  than  his 
predecessors.  With  respect  to  play,  likewise, 
he  has  shown  himself  most  rigorous;  for  cer- 
tain persons  of  the  highest  rank  having  begun, 
in  the  commencement  of  his  pontificate,  to 
amuse  themselves  with  playing  for  a  few 
crowns,  he  reproved  them  with  acrimony; 
though  some,  indeed,  suspected  that  the  said 
play  was  made  a  cloak  for  new  electioneering 
intrigues,  in  consequence  of  a  slight  illness 
with  which  his  holiness  was  effected  at  the 
time.  Thenceforth  the  opinion  began  to  lose 
ground,  th;it  cardinal  de  Medici  had  been  the 
means  of  creating  his  holiness  pope,  and  would 
possess  a  commanding  influence  over  him ; 
and  it  became  manifest  to  the  world  how  much 
his  holiness  abhors  the  thought  that  any  one 
should  presume  to  govern  him,  or  that  he 
needs  to  be  governed ;  for  he  will  not  have  it 
believed  that  he  suffers  himself  to  be  governed 
by  any  one, — and,  indeed,  in  all  things  of  a 
judicial  nature  he  is  in  the  highest  degree 
competent,  and  no  one  need  think  of  dictating 
to  him.  His  holiness  is  not  so  well  versed  as 
he  might  be  in  matters  of  state  policy,  be- 
cause he  has  not  studied  them  much,  and  at 
times  he  is  at  a  loss  how  to  make  up  his  mind  ; 
but  when  he  has  considered  the  matter,  he 
shows  a  very  just  conception  of  it,  and,  upon 
hearing  opinions,  he  very  soundly  discerns 
that  which  is  best.  He  has  great  patience 
and  industry,  is  never  idle,  and  takes  little 
amusement.  He  continually  gives  audience, 
and  looks  over  papers.  He  sleeps  little,  rises 
early,  is  fond  of  exercise  and  of  the  open  air, 
— which  he  does  not  fear,  however  inclement 
may  be  the  weather.  He  is  moderate  in  his 
eating,  and  drinks  very  little ;  and  enjoys 
sound  health,  without  any  kind  of  bolstering 
up.  He  is  gracious  in  outward  demeanour  to 
those  who  please  him.  He  is  not  lavish,  nor, 
it  may  ba,  liberal,  according  to  the  opinion  of 
the  vulgar,  who  do  not  consider  or  discern  the 
difference  there  is  between  a  sovereign  who 
abstains  from  extortion  and  rapacity,  and  one 
who  keeps  what  he  has  got  with  tenacity.  He 
does  not  covet  other  men's  property,  nor  in- 
trigue to  possess  himself  of  it.  He  is  not  cruel, 
nor  sanguinary  ;  but  as  he  is  in  continual  ap- 
prehension of  war,  both  on  the  part  of  the 
Turks  and  of  the  heretics,  he  chooses  to  have 
a  sum  of  money  in  the  treasury,  which  he 
will  not  have  spent  inopportunely, — this  sum 
amounts  to  a  million  and  a  half  of  gold.  He 
is,  after  all,  fond  of  magnificence  and  grandeur, 
and,  above  all  things,  desirous  of  glory  :  which 
desire,  perhaps,  makes  him  run  into  things 
that  are  not  pleasing  to  the  court;  for  the 
reverend  paJri  Chiettini,  who  knew  him  well, 


have  got  the  upper  hand  of  him,  showing  him 
that  the  credit  and  personal  influence  pos- 
sessed by  Pius  V.  was  due  to  nothing  else 
than  his  reputation  for  goodness:  and  they 
thereby  keep  him  in  leading  strings,  as  it  were, 
and  oblige  him  to  do  things  contrary  to  his 
nature  and  his  wishes ;  for  his  holiness  haa 
always  been  of  an  amiable  and  gentle  disposi- 
tion, and  they  bind  him  to  a  course  of  life  to 
which  he  is  not  accustomed.  It  is  thought 
that  to  this  end  they  have  employed  the  expe- 
dient of  having  letters  addressed  to  them  from 
the  fathers  of  their  order  in  Spain  and  else- 
where, in  which  it  was  continually  remarked 
how  highly  commended  was  the  holy  life  of 
the  late  pope,  who  had  acquired  so  much 
glory  through  his  reputation  for  goodness  and 
reforming  zeal ;  and  in  this  way  it  is  said  they 
maintained  their  sway  and  their  influence 
with  his  holiness.  It  is  said  too  that  they  are 
also  assisted  by  the  bishop  of  Padua,  nuncio 
in  Spain, — the  creature  of  Pius  V.  and  their 
own.  So  desirous  is  he  of  glory,  that  he  puts 
force  on  his  own  nature,  and  refrains  from 
those  demonstrations  even  towards  his  son, 
which  every  one  would  admit  to  be  reasona- 
ble and  honourable,  in  consequence  of  the 
scruples  the  aforesaid  persons  suggest  to  him. 
The  great  good  fortune  his  holiness  has  en- 
joyed in  reaching  this  dignity  from  a  low  sta- 
tion, is  counterbalanced  by  this  matter,  and 
by  his  having  relations  who  do  not  give  him 
satisfaction,  and  whom  he  does  not  think  of 
proper  capacity  for  important  affairs,  or  tit  to 
be  entrusted  with  the  business  of  state.] 

In  the  same  manner  he  pourtrays  the  car- 
dinals also.  Of  Granvilla  he  remarks,  that  he 
did  not  maintain  his  credit.  He  was  intent 
on  his  own  inclinations,  and  was  reputed  to 
be  avaricious;  in  the  alTair  of  the  Ligue  he 
had  nearly  brought  about  a  rupture  between 
the  king  and  the  pope.  On  the  other  hand 
Commendone  is  highly  extolled.  "  Ha  la 
virtii,  la  bonta,  I'esperienza  con  infinito  giu- 
dicio."  [He  is  virtuous,  good,  experienced, 
and  of  vast  judgment.] 

45.  Seconda  relatione  delV  ambasciatore  di 
Roma,  clar^o  M.  Paolo  Tiepolo  K''  3 
Maggie  1576.  [Second  report  of  Paolo 
Tiepolo,  ambassador  to  Rome.] 

The  above  anonymous  report  speaks  in  high 
terms  of  Tiepolo,  as  a  man  of  sound  head  and 
moral  worth.  "  E  modesto  e  contra  il  costume 
de'  Veneziani  e  corteggiano  a  liberaie,  e 
riesce  eccellentemente,  e  sodisfa  molto,  e  mos- 
tra  prudcnza  grande  in  questi  travagli  e  fran- 
genti  a  sapersi  regere."  [He  is  modest,  and, 
contrary  to  what  is  u.<ual  with  the  Venetians, 
he  is  courteous  and  liberal ;  he  succeeds  ad- 
mirably, gives  much  satisfaction,  and  shows 
great  prudence  in  shaping  his  course  through 
these  stormy  aftkirs."] 


468 


APPENDIX. 


The  Venetians  having-  fallen  off  from  the 
confederacy  against  the  'J'urks,  he  had  a  dilR- 
cult  position  to  maintain.  It  was  thoiiirht  that 
the  pope  would  bring-  ibrward  in  consistory  a 
proposal  to  excommunicate  the  Venetians, 
and  some  cardinals  were  prepared  to  oppose 
such  a  design.  "  Levato  Cornaro  nessuno  fo 
che  in  quei  primi  giorni  mi  vedesse  o  mi  man- 
dasse  a  veder,  non  che  mi  consigliasse,  conso- 
lasse  e  sollevasse."  [Except  Cornaro,  (a  Ve- 
netian) there  was  no  one  who  for  the  first  few 
days  came  to  see  me,  or  sent  to  me,  or  who  gave 
me  advice,  comfort,  or  assistance.]  Tiepolo 
states,  as  the  special  reason  for  the  separate 
peace,  that,  after  the  Spaniards  had  promised 
they  would  be  ready  in  April,  1573,  they  de- 
clared in  that  month  that  their  preparations 
would  not  be  completed  before  June.  It  went 
a  great  way  towards  soothing  the  pope,  that 
Venice  at  last  resolved  to  declare  his  son  a 
Venetian  nobile.  The  manner  in  which  Tie- 
polo  expresses  himself  about  this  son  of  the 
pope  is  very  remarkable. 

"  II  s""  Giacomo  e  figliulo  del  papa  :  e  gio- 
vane  anchor  esso  di  circa  29  anni,  di  belle  let 
tere,  gratiose  maniere,  di  grande  et  liberal 
animo  et  d'un  ingegno  attissimo  a  tutte  le 
cose  dove  egli  I'applicasse.  Non  bisogna 
negar  che'l  primo  et  si  puo  dir  solo  affetto  del 
papa  non  sia  verso  di  lui,  come  e  anco  ragione- 
vole  che  sia,  perciocche  nel  principio  del  pon- 
tificate, quando  egli  operava  piii  secondo  il 
suo  seno,  lo  creo  prima  castellano  et  dapoi 
governator  di  s.  chiesa  con  assegnarli  per 
questo  conto  provisioni  di  cerca  X  m.  ducati 
all'  anno  et  con  pagarli  un  locotenente,  colon- 
nelli  et  capitani,  accioche  egli  tanto  piix  hono- 
ratamente  potesse  comparer:  ma  dapoi,  come 
che  si  fosse  pentito  di  esser  passato  tanto  oltre 
verso  un  suo  figliuolo  naturale,  mosso  per  av- 
vertimenti,  come  si  affermava,  di  persone  spi- 
rituali,  che  li  mettevano  questa  cosa  a  con- 
scientia  et  a  puntod'honore,  incomincio  a  riti- 
rarsi  con  negarli  i  favori  et  le  gratie  che  li 
erano  da  lui  domandate  et  con  far  in  tutte  le 
cose  manco  stima  di  lui  di  quello  che  prima 
aveafatto:  anzi  come  che  dope  averlo  pale- 
sato  volesse  nasconderlo  al  mondo,  separan- 
dolo  da  lui  lo  fece  parlir  da  Roma  et  andar  in 
Ancona,  dove  solto  specie  di  fortificar  quella 
citta  per  un  tempo  lo  intertenne,  senza  mai 
provederlo  d'una  entrata  stabile  et  sicura  colla 
quale  egli  doppo  la  morte  sua  avesse  possuto 
con  quaiche  dignita  vivere  et  sostenersi :  onde 
il  povero  signore  dolendosi  delia  sua  fortuna 
che  lo  havesse  voluto  innalzar  per  doverlo  poi 
abbandotiare  si  messc  piu  volte  in  tanta  des- 
peratione  che  fuggendo  la  pvatica  et  conver- 
so.tione  di  ciascuno  si  r(;tirava  a  viver  in  casa 
solitario,  continuando  in  questo  per  molti 
giorno,  con  far  venir  anciiora  all'  orecchie  dell' 
padre  come  egli  era  assalito  da  fieri  et  peri- 
colosi  accident!,  per  vedere  se  con  questo  ha- 
vesse possuto  muover  la  sua  tenerezza  verso 


di  lui.  In  fine  troppo  pu6  I'amor  naturale  pa- 
terno  per  spingere  o  dissimulare  il  quale  in- 
darno  I'uomo  s'adopera.  Vinto  finalmente  et 
commosso  il  papa  dapoi  passato  I'anno  santo 
volse  I'animo  a  provederli  et  a  darli  satis- 
fattione,  et  prima  si  resolse  da  maritarlo." 
[Signer  Giacomo  is  the  pope's  son  ;  his  age  is 
about  twenty-nine  ;  he  is  well  read,  of  grace- 
ful manners,  of  a  noble  and  liberal  mind,  and 
an  understanding  very  apt  for  all  things  to 
which  he  might  apply  it.  It  need  not  be  de- 
nied that  the  first,  and  it  may  be  said,  the  sole 
affection  of  the  pope  is  fixed  on  him,  as  it  is 
reasonable  that  it  should  be  ;  for  in  the  begin- 
ning of  his  pontificate,  when  his  son  acted 
more  in  accordance  with  his  wishes,  he  made 
him  first  castellan,  and  afterwards  governor 
of  the  holy  church,  with  an  income  of  about 
ten  thousand  ducats  yearly,  paying  for  him, 
besides,  a  lieutenant,  colonels,  and  captains, 
so  that  he  might  be  able  to  make  the  more 
dignified  an  appearance.'  But  afterwards,  as 
if  he  Iiad  repented  of  having  gone  such  lengths 
on  behalf  of  his  natural  son,  and  moved  by 
warnings,  as  he  affirmed,  from  ecclesiastical 
persons,  who  made  this  matter  a  point  of  hon- 
our and  conscience  with  him,  he  began  to 
draw  in,  and  to  refuse  him  such  favours  as  he 
asked,  and  to  show  in  all  things  less  esteem 
for  him  than  he  had  at  first  evinced.  And  as 
if  after  making  him  public  he  had  wished  to 
hide  him  from  the  world,  he  drove  him  from  his 
presence,  and  made  him  quit  Rome,  and  go  to 
Ancona,  where  he  kept  him  engaged  some 
time  under  pretence  of  fortifying  that  city, 
without  ever  providing  him  any  fixed  and  per- 
manent income  with  which  he  might  main- 
tain himself  with  becoming  dignity  after  the 
pope's  death.  Hence  the  poor  signer,  bewail- 
ing his  fortune,  which  had  raised  him  so  highly 
only  to  abandon  him,  fell  frequently  into  such 
despondency,  that,  shunning  all  converse  and 
society,  he  would  shut  himself  up  alone,  and 
so  continue  many  days,  at  the  same  time  caus- 
ing it  to  be  reported  to  his  father  how  he  had 
suffered  fearful  accidents,  in  order  to  see  if  so 
the  pope  might  be  moved  to  tenderness  to- 
wards his  son.  After  all,  the  natural  love  of 
a  father  will  break  through  all  the  vain  at- 
tempts a  man  may  make  to  suppress  or  dis- 
semble it.  Overcome  at  last,  and  giving  way 
to  his  feelings,  after  the  termination  of  the 
year  of  jubilee  the  pope  applied  himself  to  pro- 
vide for  his  son  and  to  give  him  satisfaction, 
and  in  the  first  place  he  resolved  to  marry 
him.] 

Tiepolo  likewise  gives  some  interesting  par- 
ticulars respecting  the  administration  of  Gre- 
gory XIII.  and  especially  as  to  the  cardinal 
di  Como. 

"  Partisce  il  governo  delle  cose  in  questo 
mode,  che  di  quelle  che  appartengono  al 
state  ecclesiastico,  ne  da  la  cura  alii  d"'  car- 
dinali  sui  nepoti,  et  di  quelle  che  hanno  rela- 


RESTORATION  OF  CATHOLICISM  DOWN  TO  SIXTHS  V. 


469 


tione  alii  altri  principi,  al  cardinal!  di  Como. 
Ma  dove  in  quelle  del  stato  ecclesiastico,  che 
sono  senza  comparation  di  manco  importanza, 
perche  non  comprendono  arme  d  fortezze,  al 
governatore  i^enerale  reservate,  ne  danari,  de' 
quali  la  camera  apostolica  et  il  tesorier  gene- 
rale  ne  tien  cura  particolare,  ma  solamente 
cose  ordinarie  pertinenti  al  governo  delle 
citta  et  delle  provincie,  non  si  contentando 
delli  d"'  nepoti  ha  aggiunta  loro  una  congre- 
gatione  di  quattro  principali  prelati,  tra'  quali 
vi  e  monsignor  di  Nicastro,  stato  nuntio  presso 
la  Serenita  V",  colli  quali  tutte  le  cose  si 
consigliano  per  doverle  poi  referir  a  lui :  in 
quelle  di  stato  per  negotli  colli  altri  principi, 
che  tanto  rilevano  et  importano  non  sok)  per 
la  buona  intelligentia  con  lor  ma  ancora  per 
beneficio  et  qniete  di  tutta  la  christianita,  si 
rimette  in  tutto  nel  solo  cardinal  di  Como,  col 
quale  si  redrecciano  li  ambasciatori  dei  prin- 
cipi che  sono  a  Roma  et  li  nuntii  apostolici  et 
altri  ministri  del  papa  che  sono  alle  corti, 
perche  a  lui  solo  scrivono  et  da  lui  aspettano 
li  ordini  di  quello  che  hanno  da  fare.  Egli  e 
quello  che  solo  consiglia  il  papa,  et  che,  come 
universalmente  si  tiene,  fa  tutte  le  resolu- 
tion! pill  important!,  et  che  da  1!  ordini  et  li 
fa  eseguire.  Sogliono  ben  alcuni  cardinal! 
di  maggior  pratica  et  autorita  et  qualcun' 
altro  ancora  da  se  stesso  raccordare  al  papa 
quello  che  giudica  a  proposito,  et  suole  ancora 
alle  volte  il  papa  doniandar  sopra  alcune  cose 
I'opinione  di  qualcuno  et  di  tutto  il  coUegio  di 
cardinal!  ancora,  massimamente  quando  li 
torna  bene  che  si  sappia  che  la  determination 
sia  fatta  d!  conseglio  d!  molti,  come  principal- 
mente  quando  si  vuol  dare  qualche  negativa, 
et  sopra  certe  particolari  occorrentie  ancora 
suole  deputar  una  congregatione  di  cardinal!, 
come  gia  fo  fatto  nelle  cose  della  lega  et  al 
presente  si  fa  in  quelle  di  Germania,  del  con- 
cilio,  et  di  altre :  ma  nel  restretto  alle  con- 
clusion! et  nelle  cose  piii  important!  il  cardi- 
nal di  Como  e  quello  che  fa  et  vale.  Ha  usato 
il  cardinal,  scben  cogno-ce  saver  et  intender 
a  sofficientia,  alle  volte  in  alcune  cose  andars! 
a  consigliare  col  cardinal  Morone  et  cardinal 
Commendon,  per  non  si  fidar  tanto  dei  suo 
giudicio  che  non  tolesse  ancor  il  parer  d'hu- 
omini  pii^i  intelligent!  et  savii:  ma  fatto  da 
lui  poi  il  tuttodipende.  Mette  grandissima  dili- 
gentia  et  accuratezza  nelle  cose,  et  s'industria 
di  levar  la  falica  et  i  pensieri  al  papa  et  di  darli 
consigli  che  lo  liberino  da  travagli  present!  et 
daila  spesa,  poiche  nessuna  cosa  pare  esser 
piu  dal  papa  desiderata  che'l  sparagno  et  la 
quiete.  Si  stima  universalmente  ch'esso  ab- 
bia  grande  inclinatione  al  re  cattolico,  non 
tanto  per  esser  suo  vasallo  et  per  haver  la 
maggior  parte  delli  sui  benefici!  nei  su!  paesi, 
quanto  par  molti  comod!  et  utilita  che  in  cose 
di  molto  momento  eslraordinariamente  riceve 
da  lui,  per  recognition  de'  quali  all'  incontro 
con  destri  modi,  come  ben  sa  usar  senza  raolto 


scoprirsi,  se  ne  dimostri  nelle  occasion!  grato. 
Verso  la  Serenita  Vostra  posso  affermar 
ch'egl!  sottosopra  s!  sia  portato  assai  bene, 
massimamente  se  si  ha  respetto  che  ne  !  mi- 
nistri d'altr!  principi  non  si  put)  ritrovar  tutto 
quello  che  si  vorria,  et  che  ben  spesso  bisogna 
contentarsi  di  manco  che  di  mediocre  buona 
volonta."  [He  divided  the  affairs  of  govern- 
ment in  such  a  manner,  that  those  of  an  eccle- 
siastical nature  were  committed  to  the  care 
of  the  cardinals  his  nephews,  and  those  which 
had  reference  to  the  other  sovereigns  fell  to 
cardinal  di  Como.  Now  whereas  in  ecclesi- 
astical matters,  (which  are  of  incomparably 
less  importance,  as  not  comprising  arms  or 
fortresses,  reserved  to  the  governor-general, 
nor  money,  which  is  specially  seen  to  by  the 
apostolic  chamber  and  the  treasurer-general, 
but  only  ordinary  affairs  pertaining  to  the 
government  of  the  cities  and  provinces,)  not 
content  to  rely  on  his  nephews,  he  has  con- 
joined with  them  a  congregation  of  four  prin- 
cipal prelates,  among  whom  is  monsignor  di 
Nicastro,  formerly  nuncio  to  your  serenity, 
with  whom  all  matters  are  first  discussed  and 
afterwards  reported  to  himself:  on  the  other 
hand  in  matters  of  state  connected  with  the 
other  sovereigns,  weighty  and  important  as 
they  are,  not  only  as  regards  the  preservation 
of  good  intelligence  with  the  sovereigns,  but 
the  advantage,  too,  and  the  peace  of  all  Chris- 
tendom, he  trusts  wholly  and  solely  to  cardi- 
nal di  Como,  to  whom  the  foreign  ambassadors 
at  Rome  address  themselves,  as  well  as  the 
apostolic  nuncios  and  the  pope's  other  minis- 
ters at  the  several  courts ;  for  they  WTite  only 
to  him  and  receive  their  orders  from  him. 
He  is  the  pope's  sole  counsellor,  and  the  man 
who,  as  it  is  universally  supposed,  suggests 
all  the  more  important  resolutions,  and  gives 
orders,  and  sees  to  their  execution.  Some  of 
the  cardinals,  it  is  true,  of  greater  weight  and 
experience,  and  others  besides,  are  accustom- 
ed to  suggest  on  their  part  to  the  pope  wiiat 
they  think  expedient ;  and  at  times,  too,  the 
pope  will  ask  the  advice  of  different  persons, 
and  of  the  whole  college  of  cardinals,  parti- 
cularly when  it  is  desirable  it  should  be  known 
that  the  determination  taken  was  adopted 
upon  the  advice  of  numbers ;  especially,  for 
instance,  when  it  is  intended  to  give  a  refu- 
sal :  and  upon  certain  special  occurrences  he 
is  also  used  to  depute  a  congregation  of  car- 
dinals, as  was  done  in  the  affairs  of  the  Ligue, 
and  as  is  now  done  in  those  of  Germany,  the 
council,  and  others;  but  in  the  chief  points 
determined,  and  in  all  matters  of  special  im- 
portance, cardinal  di  Como's  power  and  mflu- 
ence  are  paramount.  The  cardinal,  though 
he  has  sufficient  confidence  in  his  own  judg- 
ment and  abilities,  has  been  in  the  occasional 
habit  of  consulting  cardinal  Morone  or  cardi- 
nal Commendone,  that  he  might  not  so  far 
rely  on  his  own  judgment  as  not  toavail  himself 


470 


APPENDIX. 


of  that  of  men  of  eminent  intelligence  and 

■wisdom :  but  after  all  everything  in  reality 
depends  on  himself.  He  displays  extreme 
diligence  and  accuracy  in  business,  and  he 
studies  to  relieve  the  pope  from  trouble  and 
anxiety,  and  to  give  him  such  councils  as  may 
free  him  from  present  toils  and  from  expense  ; 
for  there  is  nothing  the  pope  seems  more 
desirous  of  than  economy  and  quiet.  It  is 
universally  thought  that  the  cardinal  is  strong- 
ly inclined  to  the  catholic  king,  not  so  much 
as  being  his  vassal,  and  having  most  of  his 
benefices  in  his  majesty's  dominions,  as  for 
the  many  extraordinary  favours  and  advan- 
tages he  receives  from  him  in  matters  of 
much  moment,  for  which  he  contrives  on 
occasions  to  show  his  gratitude  in  adroit  ways, 
such  as  he  knows  how  to  use  without  much 
exposing  himself.  Towards  your  serenity,  1 
can  affirm,  that  on  the  whole  he  has  been 
tolerably  well  disposed,  especially  if  it  be 
considered  that  one  cannot  always  meet  with 
all  one  wishes  in  the  ministers  of  other  sove- 
reigns, and  that  very  often  one  must  needs  be 
content  with  less  than  middling  good  will] 
Although  this  report  by  no  means  obtained 
the  publicity  of  the  other,  still  it  is  in  reality 
no  less  important  and  instructive  regarding 
the  times  of  Gregory  XIII.  than  the  former 
with  respect  to  those  of  Pius  IV.  and  V. 

46.  Commentariorum  de  rf^bus  Gregorii 
XIII.  lib.  i.  et  n.—{BibL  Alb.)  [Com- 
mentaries on  the  affairs  of  Gregory  Xlil. 
books  i.  and  ii.] 

Unfortunately  incomplete.  The  author, 
cardinal  di  Vercelli,  when  he  comes,  after 
some  preliminaries,  to  speak  of  Gregory's 
pontificate,  promises  to  treat  of  three  things, — 
the  war  against  the  Turks,  the  war  of  the 
protestants  against  the  kings  of  France  and 
Spain,  and  the  dispute?  respecting  the  juris- 
diction of  the  church. 

It  is  to  be  regretted,  however,  that  we  find 
in  the  second  book  only  the  war  against  the 
Turks  up  to  the  Venetian  treaty  of  peace. 

We  know  the  connexion  that  subsisted  be- 
tween eastern  aftairs  and  those  of  religion. 
Our  autlior's  exposition  of  the  entanglements 
of  the  year  1572  is  by  no  means  bad.  A  re- 
port had  been  spread  that  Charles  IX.  was 
abetting  tlie  outbreaks  of  the  protestants  in 
the  Netherlands.  «  Quod  cum  Gregorius  mo- 
leste  ferret,  dat  ad  Gallorum  regem  litteras 
quibus  ab  eo  vehementer  petit  ne  suos  in  hoc 
se  admiscere  bellum  patiatur:  alioquin  se  ex- 
istimaturum  omnia  base  illius  voluutate  nutu- 
que  fieri.  Rex  de  suis  continendis  magnse 
sibi  cura;  fore  pollicetur,  id  quod  quantum  in 
se  est  prfestat:  verum  ejusmodi  litteris,  quiE 
paulo  minacius  scriptas  videbantur,  nonnihil 
tactus,  nonnullis  etiam  conjecturis  eo  adduc- 
tus  ut  se  irfitari  propeque  ad  bellum  provo- 


cari  putaret,  ne  imparatum  adorirentur,  urbes 
quas  in  finibus  regni  habebat  diligenter  com- 
munit,  duces  suos  admonet  operam  dent  ne 
quid  detrimenti  capiat,  simulque  Emanuelem 
Allobrogum  ducem,  utriusque  regis  propin- 
quum  et  amicum,  de  his  rebus  omnibus  certio- 
rem  facit.  Emanuel,  qui  pro  singulari  pru- 
dentia  sua,  quam  horum  regum  dissensio  suis 
totique  reipublicse  christianse  calamitosa  fu- 
tura  esset,  probe  intelligebat,  ad  pontificem 
haec  omnia  perscribit,  eumque  obsecrat  et  ob- 
testatur  nascenti  malo  occurrat,  ne  longius 
serpat  atque  inveteratum  robustius  fiat.  Pon- 
tifex,  quam  gereret  personam  minimum  obli- 
tus,  cum  regem  Gallorum  adolescentem  et 
gloria  cupiditate  incensum  non  difficiUime  a 
ca^holicse  fidei  hostibus,  quorum  tunc  in  aula 
maxima  erat  auctoritas,  ad  hujusmodi  bellum 
impelli  posse  animadverteret,  reginam  tamen 
ejus  matrem  longe  ab  eo  abhor rere  dignita- 
tisque  et  utilitatis  suae  rationein  habituram 
putaret,  mittit  eo  Antonium  Mariam  Salvia- 
tum,  reginag  affinem  eique  pergratum,  qui 
eam  in  officio  contineat,  ipsiusque  opera  faci- 
lius  regi,  ne  reip.  christianse  accessionem  im- 
perii et  gloriam  quae  ex  orientali  expeditione 
merito  expectanda  esset  invideat  funestumque 
in  illius  visceribus  moveat  bellum,  persua- 
deat."  [Gregory  taking  this  amiss,  sent  a 
letter  to  the  king  of  France,  urgently  requir- 
ing that  he  should  not  suffer  his  subjects  to 
take  part  in  that  war ;  otherwise  he  would 
think  that  all  these  things  were  done  with 
his  wish  and  instigation.  The  king  promised 
he  would  use  the  utmost  diligence  to  restrain 
his  subjects,  and  did  all  that  was  in  his  power 
to  that  end ;  but  being  somewhat  piqued  by  a 
letter  of  such  a  kind,  which  seemed  rather 
threatening  in  its  tones, — and  being  wrought 
on  by  some  conjectures,  to  think  even  that  he 
was  irritated  and  almost  challenged  to  war, 
— in  order  that  he  might  not  be  taken  unpre- 
pared, he  carefully  put  his  frontier  towns  in 
a  state  of  defence,  gave  orders  to  his  generals 
to  take  all  necessary  measures,  and  at  the 
same  time  gave  notice  of  all  these  things  to 
Emanuel,  duke  of  Savoy,  the  relation  and 
friend  of  both  kings.  Emanual,  whose  re- 
markable prudence  distinctly  perceived  how 
calamitous  this  dissension  between  the  two 
kmgs  would  be  to  his  own  country  and  to  the 
whole  Christian  commonwealth,  reported 
everything  to  the  pope,  and  implored  him  to 
stifle  the  mischief  in  its  birth,  and  not  allow 
it  to  creep  on  and  gather  strength.  The 
pope,  in  nowise  forgetful  of  the  duties  of  his 
high  station,  reflecting  that  the  king  of  France 
— a  young  man,  and  fired  wath  the  love  of 
<i]ory — might  with  no  great  difficulty  be 
urged  to  this  war  by  the  enemies  of  the  ca- 
tholic faith,  whose  influence  was  then  very 
great  at  court ;  and  thinking  that  his  mother 
was  extremely  averse  to  it,  and  would  have 
'  regard  to  her  dignity  and  advantage,  sent 


SIXTUS  V. 


471 


thither  Antonio  Maria  Salviato,  the  queen's 
kinsman  and  esteemed  friend,  to  keep  her  to 
her  duty,  and  with  her  help  to  persuade  the 
king  not  to  hinder  the  (Christian  common- 
wealth of  obtaining  that  accession  of  dominion 
and  glory  which  might  justly  be  expected 
from  the  eastern  expedition,  nor  to  excite 
within  it  that  deadly  intestine  war.] 

Thus  far  the  pope  was  assuredly  indirectly 
implicated  in  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew. He  had  reason  to  make  every  effort 
to  prevent  the  breaking  out  of  war  between 
Spain  and  France.  It  were  very  much  to  be 
wished  that  we  possessed  at  least  the  part  of 
this  book  which  related  to  the  religious  differ- 
ences. 

I  have  had  another  reason  for  quoting  the 
ahove  passage,  namely,  that  the  very  first 
lines  in  it  show  that  it  belongs  to  the  sources 
of  which  Maffei  availed  himself  for  his  "  An- 
nali  di  Gregorio  XIII.  Pontefice  Massimo." 
Compare  the  passage  in  Maffei,  i.  p.  27: 
"  Scrisse  a  Carlo  risentitamente,  che  se  egli 
comportava  che  i  sudditi  e  ministri  s'intro- 
mettessero  in  questa  guerra  per  distornarla, 
egli  tutto  riconoscerebbe  da  lui  e  dalla  mala 
sua  intenzione.  E  per  I'istesso  fine  opero 
che  li  signori  Veneziani  gli  mandassero  un' 
ambasciadore  con  diligenza.  Rispose  Carlo 
modeslamente,  ch'egli  farebbe  ogni  possibile 
perche  i  suoi  ne  a  lui  dovessero  dar  disgusto 
ne  agli  Spagnuoli  sospetto  di  quelle  ch'egli 
non  aveva  in  pensiero.  Ma  non  resto  pero  di 
dolersi  con  Emanuele  duca  di  Savoja  della 
risentita  maniera  con  che  gli  aveva  scritto  il 
pontefice :  parendogli  che  si  fosse  lasciato 
spingere  dagli  Spagnuoli  che  avessero  voglia 
essi  di  romperla  :  er  ad  un  tempo  comincio  a 
presidiare  le  citta  delle  frontiere." 

It  appears  to  me  that  Maffei's  book  is  here 
and  there  but  an  amplified  transcript  of  parts 
of  the  manuscripts  before  us.  I  will  not,  how- 
ever, on  this  account,  attempt  in  the  least  to 
disparage  Maffei's  work,  to  which  I  am  in- 
debted for  much  instruction,  and  which,  even 
though  not  impartial,  is  calm,  copious  in  mat- 
ter, and  on  the  whole  trustworthy. 

47.  Relatione  di  monsr  rev™"  Gio  P.  Ghisi- 
lieri  a  papa  Gregorio  XIII.,  lornando  egli 
dal  presidentato  della  Romagna. — See  p. 
126. 

48.  Discorso  over  ritratto  della  carte  di  Roma 
di  mons^  ill""'  Commendone  all  ill'"''  .s'" 
Hier.  Savorgnano.  {BiOl.  Vindob.  Codd. 
Rangon.  nr.  18.  fol.  278—395.)  [A  dis- 
course on  the  court  of  Rome,  addressed  by 
cardinal  Commendone  to  cardinal  Hiero- 
nymo  Savorgnano.] 

To  all  appearances  this  work  belongs  to 
Gregory's  times.  I  should  not  venture  to 
warrant  Commendone's  name;  but  whoever 


was  the  author,  he  was  at  all  events  a  man  of 
talent,  profoundly  initiated  into  the  more 
secret  relations  of  Roman  life, 

He  thus  defines  the  court.  "  Questa  re- 
publica  e  un  principato  di  somma  autorita  in 
una  aristocratia  universa  di  tutti  i  christiani 
coliocato  in  Roma.  II  suo  principio  e  la 
religione.  Conciosia," he  concludes,  "che  la 
religione  sia  il  fine  e  che  questa  si  mantenga 
con  la  virtu  e  con  la  dottrina,  e  impossibile 
che  alterandosi  le  conditioni  degli  uoinini  non 
si  rivolga  insieme  sotto  sopra  tutta  la  repub- 
lica,"  [This  commonwealth  is  a  principality 
of  supreme  authority  in  an  universal  aristo- 
cracy of  all  Christians,  the  seat  of  which  is  in 
Rome.  Its  principle  is  religion.  Seeing  that 
religion  is  its  end,  and  that  this  is  maintained 
by  virtue  and  doctrine,  it  is  impossible  but 
that,  men's  conditions  being  altered,  the  whole 
commonwealth  shall  be  turned  topsy-turvy.] 

He  then  treats  principally  of  this  conflict 
between  the  spiritual  and  secular  interests. 
Above  all  things,  he  inculcates  great  fore- 
thought: "  molto  riguardo  di  tutti  i  movimenti 
e  gesti  della  persona  :  casa,  servitori,  cavalca- 
ture  convenienti,  amicitie  e  honorate  e  virtu- 
ose, non  affermando  cosa  che  non  si  sappia  di 
certo"  [much  attention  to  all  movements  and 
gestures  of  the  person  ;  house,  servants,  equi- 
pages, all  of  a  becoming  kind  ;  honourable  and 
virtuous  acquaintances  ;  no  affirmin;»- a  thing 
that  is  not  known  for  certain].  The  court 
demands,  i  "  bonta,  grandezza  dell'  animo, 
prudentia,  eloquentia,  theologia"  [goodness, 
greatness  of  soul,  prudence,  eloquence,  the- 
ology]. Still  all  is  uncertain.  "  Deve  si 
pensar  che  questo  sia  un  viaggio  di  mare,  nel 
quale  benche  la  prudentia  possa  molto  e  ci 
renda  favorevole  la  maggior  parte  de'  venti, 
nondimeno  non  gli  si  possa  prescriver  tempo 
determinate  o  certezza  alcunad'arrivar.  Al- 
cuni  di  mezza  estate  in  gagliarda  e  ben  for- 
nita  nave  affondono  o  tardano  assai,  altri 
d'inverno  in  debole  e  disarmato  legno  vanno 
presto."  [We  ought  to  regard  this  as  a  sea 
voyage,  in  which,  though  prudence  can  do 
much,  and  make  most  winds  available,  still  it 
cannot  command  what  weather  it  will,  or 
possess  any  certainty  of  arrival.  Some  in  the 
middle  of  summer,  with  good  and  well  found 
ships,  sink,  or  make  slow  way;  whilst  others 
make  good  speed  in  winter  in  crazy  or  dis- 
mantled vessels.] 


SECTION  IV. 

SIXTHS  V. 

I. CRITICAL    REMARKS  ON    THE    BIOGRAPHERS 

OF  THAT  POPE,  LETI  AND  TEMPEST  I. 

Vita  di  Sisto  V pontejice  Romano  scritta  dal 


472 


APPENDIX. 


signer  Geltio  Rogeri  alV  instanza  di 
Gregorio  Leti.  Losanna  1669,  2  vols. ; 
afterwards  published  under  less  singular 
titles,  in  3  vols. 

It  is  far  more  by  popular  writings,  which 
obtain  univei'sal  currency,  than  by  historical 
works  of  more  weight,  which  are  often  too  long- 
delayed,  that  the  reputation  of  a  man,  or  the 
mode  of  viewing  an  event,  is  usually  deter- 
mined. The  public  do  not  specially  inquire 
whether  the  statements  laid  before  them  are 
well  founded  ;  they  are  satisfied  if  the  remini- 
scences presented  to  them  in  print  be  like 
those  expressed  in  conversation,  as  abundant 
and  as  varied  in  colour,  only  somewhat  more 
concise,  and  therefore  the  more  piquant. 

Such  a  book  is  the  biography  of  Sixtus  V. 
by  Leti, — the  most  effective  production,  per- 
haps, of  that  voluminous  author :  it  has  deter- 
mined the  light  in  which  the  memory  of  pope 
Sixtus  has  ever  since  been  viewed  by  the 
world. 

We  are  strangely  perplexed  upon  our  first 
attempts  in  the  study  of  such  books.  We  can- 
not deny  them  a  certain  degree  of  truth,  we 
cannot  pass  them  by  unnoticed ;  yet  we  see 
at  once  they  are  not  to  be  trusted  far.  But 
where  the  boundary  lies,  there  is  no  determi- 
nation in  general  terms. 

The  only  way  in  which  we  can  arrive  at  a 
sound  conclusion  is  by  discovering  an  author's 
sources,  and  ascertaining  his  way  and  manner 
of  employmg  them. 

Now  m  the  course  of  our  researches  we 
light  upon  the  sources  from  which  Leti  drew  ; 
we  cannot  refrain  from  comparing  them  with 
his  representations. 

1.  In  the  whole  history  of  Sixtus  V.  there 
is  nothing  more  famous  than  the  way  in  which 
he  is  said  to  have  attained  to  the  papacy,  and 
his  behaviour  in  the  conclave.  Who  is  there 
but  knows  the  story,  how  the  decrepid  cardi- 
nal, tottering  along  with  the  help  of  his  stick, 
after  he  was  made  pope,  suddenly  drew  him- 
self up  erect  and  strong,  flung  away  his  stick, 
and  threatened  those  with  the  exercise  of  his 
power  from  whom  he  had  won  it  by  deceit] 
This  tale  of  Leti's  lias  been  received  through- 
out the  wliole  world.  Whence  did  he  take 
it!  we  ask. 

There  exist  documents  relating  to  every 
papal  election,  giving  the  motives,  or  rather 
the  intrigues,  that  led  to  it.  We  find,  among 
others,  a  so-called  "Conclave,"  relating  to  the 
election  of  Sixtus  V.,  contemporaneous,  like 
most  of  the  others,  and  written  with  much 
knowledge  of  persons.  "  Conclave  nel  quale 
fu  create  il  c'  Montalto  che  fu  Sisto  V." 

We  see  on  the  first  comparison  that  Leti 
had  this  document  chiefly  in  view.  We  may 
perceive  that,  in  point  of  fact,  he  only  para- 
phrased it. 

Concl.  MS.     "  II  lunedi  mattina  per  tempo 


si  ridussero  nella  capella  Paulina,  dove  il  car- 
dinal Farnese  come  decano  celebro  messa,  e 
di  mano  sua  cotnmunico  li  cardinali :  dipoi  si 
venne  secondo  il  solito  alio  scrutinio,  nel  quale 
il  cardinal  Albani  hebbe  13  voti,  che  fu  il 
maggior  numero  che  atcun  cardinale  havesse. 
Ritornati  i  cardinali  alle  celle,  si  attese  alia 
pratiche,  et  Altemps  comincio  a  trattare  alia 
gagliarda  la  pratica  di  Sirleto,  ajiitato  da 
iVIedici  e  delle  creature  di  Pio  IV,  per  la  con- 
fidenza  che  havevano  di  poter  di  qualsivoglia 
di  loro  disponere  :  ma  subito  fu  trovata  I'esclu- 
sione,  scoprendosi  contra  di  lui  Este,  Farnese 
e  Sforza." 

Leti :  "  Lunedi  mattina  di  buon'  hora  si 
adunarono  tutti  nella  capella  Paolina,  ed  il  car. 
dinal  Farnese  in  qualitJi  di  decano  celebi'6  la 
messa,  e  communico  tutti  i  cardinali :  e  poi  si 
diede  principle  alio  scrutinio,  nel  quale  il  car- 
dinal Albano  hebbe  13  voti,  che  fu  il  numero 
maggiore.  Doppo  questo  li  cardinali  se  ne 
ritornarono  alle  lor  celle  per  pransare,  e  doppo 
il  pranso  si  attese  alle  pratiche  di  molti:  ma 
particorlamente  Altemps  comincio  a  trattare 
alia  gagliarda  le  pratiche  di  Guglielmo  Sirleto 
Calabrese,  ajutato  dal  cardinal  Medici  e  dalle 
creature  di  Pio  IV,  per  la  confidenza  che  ha- 
veva  ogni  uno  di  loro  di  poterne  disporre  :  ma 
in  breve  se  gli  fece  innanzi  I'esclusione,  sco- 
prendosi contro  di  lui  Este,  Farnese  e  Slbrza." 

It  is  just  the  same  with  accessaries  as  with 
leading  points,  e.  g.  MS.  "  Farnese  incapric- 
ciato  et  acceso  di  incredibile  voglia  di  essere 
papa,  comincia  a  detestare  publicamente  la 
pratica  et  il  soggetto,  dicendo:  lo  non  so 
come  costoro  lo  intendonodi  volere  far  Sirleto 
papa." — Leti :  "  II  primo  che  se  gli  oppose  fu 
P'arnese,  incapricciato  ancor  lui  ed  acceso 
d'incredibile  voglia d'esser  papa:  ondeparendo 
a  lui  d'esserne  piu  meritevole,  come  in  fatti 
era,  comincio  publicamente  a  detestare  la  pra- 
tica ed  il  soggetto,  dicendo  per  tutti  gli  angoli 
del  conclave :  lo  non  so  come  costoro  I'inten- 
dono  di  voler  far  papa  Sirleto." 

So  also  as  to  the  reflections.  For  instance, 
the  MS.  says  what  ofl>5nce  the  disguise  of  Six- 
tus gave  to  cardinal  Alessandrino  :  "  Ma  dio, 
che  haveva  eletto  Montalto  papa,  non  per- 
messe  che  si  avertisse  a  quello  che  principal- 
mente  avertire  si  dovea,  ne  lascioche  Farnese 
ne  suoi  si  svegliassei'o  a  impedire  la  pratica, 
credendo  che  non  fosse  per  venire  ad  effetto 
deir  adoratione,  ma  solo  per  honorare  Montalto 
nello  scrutinio."  Though  so  pious  a  mode  of 
thought  is  not  usual  with  Leti,  he  finds  it  very 
convenient,  nevertheless,  to  copy  it,  and  insert 
it  in  his  book.  He  did  so  verbatim,  with  only 
a  few  slight  changes. 

Does  not  this  rather  speak  in  praise  than  in 
censure  of  Leti's  often  disputed  fidelity  1 

Let  us,  however,  proceed  to  the  one  thing 
that  excites  our  doubts, — the  conduct  of  the 
cardinal.  It  is  remarkable  that  on  this  point 
alone  Leti  does  not  agree  with  his  original. 


SIXTUS  V. 


473 


Leti  says :  "  Montalto  se  ne  stava  in  sua 
camera  e  non  gia  nel  conclave,  fingendosi 
tutto  lasso  et  abandonato  d'ogni  adjuto  humano. 
Non  usciva  die  raramente,  et  se  pure  andava  in 
qualche  parte,  come  acelebrare  messa,  o  nello 
scrutiniodollacapella,  se  no  andava  con  certe 
maniere  spensierate."  [Montalto  Jcept  Piis 
chamber  and  did  not  go  to  the  conclave,  pre- 
tending to  be  quite  worn  out  and  beyond  the 
reach  of  all  human  aid.  He  went  out  but  sel- 
dom ;  and  when  he  did  go  any  where,  as  to 
celebrate  mass,  or  to  the  scrutiny  in  the  chapel, 
he  departed  with  a  certain  air  of  indifference.] 

On  the  other  hand  the  original  says : 
*'  Sebene  non  mostravaunascopertaambitione, 
non  pretermetteva  di  far  poi  tutti  quelli  officii 
che  il  tempo  et  il  luogo  richiedevano,  humi- 
liandosi  a  cardinali,  visitandoli  et  elFerendosi, 
ricevendo  all'  incontro  i  favori  e  I'offerte  degli 
altri."  [Though  he  did  not  display  an  open 
ambition,  still  he  did  not  omit  any  of  those 
ceremonious  offices  which  the  time  and  place 
required,  humbling  himself  to  the  cardinals, 
visiting  and  making  them  offers,  and  in  return 
receiving  favours  and  offers  from  the  others.] 

The  original  says :  "  Before  the  assembly 
of  the  conclave  he  did  thus  with  Farnese,  and 
afterwards  with  Medici  and  Este ;"  it  relates 
how,  on  the  evening  before  his  election,  he 
visited  cardinal  Madruzzi,  and  cardinal  Al- 
temps  on  the  previous  morning,  and  received 
their  assurance  that  he  should  be  elected.  In 
a  word,  Montalto  appears  in  the  original 
active,  full  of  life  and  health;  nay,  that  he 
enjoyed  such  a  lusty  old  age  is  set  down  as  a 
motive  to  his  election.  The  whole  story  of 
his  pretended  debility  and  seclusion,  which  has 
acquired  so  much  celebrity,  is  an  addition  by 
Leti.  But  whence  did  he  take  it !  Did  he 
merely  follow  popular  rumour,  a  self-wrought 
story,  or  some  other  writer  ? — We  shall  return 
to  this  point. 

2.  A  second  prominent  feature  in  the  univer- 
sally received  notions  about  Sixtus  V.  is  the 
idea  entertained  of  his  financial  arrangements. 
This,  too,  is  partially  founded  on  Leti's  state- 
ments. In  the  second  part  of  his  book  (p.  289) 
there  is  a  table  of  the  papal  revenue  and  ex- 
penditure, that  has  found  a  certain  degree  of 
credit  even  at  the  hands  of  the  most  rational 
and  the  most  learned  persons.  "  Rendite  ordi- 
narie  c'haveva  la  sede  apostolica  nel  tempo 
che  Sisto  entrava  nel  pontilicato."  We  ought 
at  least  to  be  able  to  put  confidence  in  his 
figures  in  general. 

Nevertheless,  even  here  it  is  palpable  that 
matters  are  not  as  Leti  represents  them.  Upon 
the  accession  of  Sixtus  in  April,  1585,  the  con- 
tracts were  still  in  force,  which  had  been  con- 
cluded by  Gregory  XIII.  in  Aug.  1576,  for 
nine  years,  with  the  farmers  of  the  revenues. 
We  have  an  authentic  detail  of  these  under 
the  title  "  Entrata  della  reverenda  camera 
apostolica  sotto  il  pontificate  di  N.  Sig^^  Gre- 
60 


gorio  XIII  fatto  nell'  anno  1576,"  a  very  ac- 
curate document,  in  which  are  separately  set 
forth,  first  the  sum  contracted  for,  then  tlhe 
part  of  it  that  was  alienated,  and  next  the  re- 
mainder. Now  Leti's  statements  agree  very 
badly  with  these  tables.  He  sets  down  the 
proceeds  of  the  dogana  di  Roma  at  182,450 
scudi,  whereas  they  amounted  only  to  133,000 : 
not  a  single  sum  of  all  he  names  is  correct. 
But  whence  did  he  derive  the  particulars  of 
his  account"!  It  cannot  be  that  he  should 
have  drawn  it  up  altogether  without  any  au- 
thority. We  have  another  account  in  our 
hands  of  the  year  1592,  two  years  after  the 
death  of  Sixtus  V.  Leti's  agrees  with  this 
with  regard  to  almost  all  the  public  offices,  and 
even  the  order  in  which  they  stand  ;  in  both 
we  find  for  instance  in  the  same  succession  : 
"Dogana  di  Civita  vecchia  1977  sc,  diNarni 
400,  di  Rieti  100,  gabella  del  studio  di  Roma 
26560,  gabella  del  quadrino  a  libra  di  carne 
di  Roma  20,335,"  &c.  But  what  a  confusion 
is  here  !  All  the  changes  introduced  by  Six- 
tus V.  were  already  begun  in  these  offices,  and 
ought  to  have  been  detailed.  Nay,  the  con- 
fusion does  not  end  here.  Probably  Leti  fell 
in  with  a  bad  MS.  if  he  did  not  himself  make 
some  arbitrary  alterations  in  it ;  at  all  events  he 
makes  the  strangest  deviations  from  the  au- 
thentic account.  The  Salaradi  Koma  produc- 
ed 27,654  scudi,  he  gives  17,654  ;  the  tesoreria 
e  salario  di  Romagna  brought  in  71,395  scudi, 
he  puts  it  down  at  11,395.  In  short,  his  ac- 
count is  not  even  correct  with  reference  to  any 
other  year,  but  in  all  particulars  thoroughly 
false  and  useless. 

3.  He  compiled,  as  we  perceive,  without 
judgment  or  critical  discrimination  ;  he  tran- 
scribed, but  hastily :  how,  indeed,  could  it 
have  been  possible  for  him,  in  the  unsettled 
life  he  continually  led,  to  have  produced  so 
many  books  entirely  of  his  own  labour? 
Whence,  then,  did  he  draw  his  materials  on 
this  occasion  ? 

A  MS.  in  the  Corsini  library  in  Rome, 
"  Detti  e  fatti  di  papa  Sisto  V.,"  enables  us  to 
answer  this  question. 

It  is  manifest  at  the  first  glance  that  this 
work  is  substantially  Leti's.  Let  us  compare 
the  first  passage  that  occurs  to  us. 

E.  g.  the  Corsini  MS.  says :  •'  II  genitore  di 
Sisto  V  si  chiamava  Francesco  Peretti,  nato 
nel  castello  di  Farnese,  di  dove  fu  costretto 
non  so  per  qual  accidente  partire,  ondes'inca- 
mino  per  trovare  la  sua  Ibrtuna  altrove  :  et 
essendo  povero  e  miserabile,  non  aveva  da  po- 
ter  vivere,  essendo  solito  sostentarsi  di  quello 
alia  giornata  guadagnava  grandemente  fati- 
cando,  e  con  la  propria  industiia  viveva.  Par- 
tito.-i  dunque  da  Farnese,  se  ne  ando  a  trovare 
un  suo  zio." 

Leti  has  in  the  first  edition :  "  II  padre  di 
Sisto  si  chiamava  Francesco  Peretti,  nato  nel 
castello  di  Farnese,  di  dove  fu  constretto  noa 


474 


APPENDIX. 


so  per  qual'  accicienteoccorsoli  di  parlirsi,  cio 
che  fece  volentieri  per  cercar  fortuna  allrove, 
mentre  per  la  poverta  della  sua  casa  non 
haveva  di  che  vivere  se  non  di  quello  che  lavo- 
rava  con  le  propria  mani  alia  giornata.  Par- 
tite di  Farnese  la  matina,  giunse  la  sera  nelle 
grotte  per  consigliarsi  con  un  suo  zio." 

It  is  plain  that  this  is  the  same  account  with 
a  sligJit  modification  of  style. 

At  times,  indeed,  we  find  little  interpola- 
tions in  Leti : — but  the  MS.  and  the  printed 
book  immediately  coincide  again. 

And  now  if  we  ask  whence  were  derived 
those  additions  v/ith  which  he  tricked  out  his 
history  of  the  conclave,  we  shall  find  that  they 
also  figure  in  our  MS.  The  above  cited  pas- 
sage from  Leti  runs  thus  in  the  MS. :  "  Mon- 
talto  se  ne  stava  tutto  lasso  con  la  corona  in 
mano  et  in  una  piccolissima  cella  abandonato 
da  ogn'uno,  e  se  pure  andava  in  qualche  parte, 
come  a  celebrar  messa,  o  nello  scrutinio  della 
capella,  se  ne  andava  etc."  We  see  that  Leti 
has  given  a  very  slightly  altered  version  of 
this  text. 

I  am  induced  by  the  importance  of  the  sub- 
ject to  cite  one  more  passage.  The  MS.  says  : 
"  Prima  di  cominciarsi  il  Montalto,  che  stava 
appressoal  card^  diSan  Sistopernon  perderlo 
della  vista  o  perclie  non  fosse  subornato  da 
altri  porporati,  gli  disse  alle  orecchie  queste 
parole  :  Faccia  instanza  V.  S'''^  illma  che  lo 
scrutinio  segua  senza  pregiudicio  dell'  adora- 
tione  :  e  questo  fui  il  priuio  atto  d'ambitione 
che  mostro  esteriormente  Montalto.  Non 
manco  il  cardi  di  San  Sisto  di  far  cio  ;  perche 
con  il  Bonelli  unitamente  principio  ad  alzare 
la  voce  due  o  tre  volte  cosi :  Senza  pregiudi- 
cio della  seguita  adoratione.  Queste  voci 
atterrirono  i  cardinal! :  perche  fu  supposto  da 
tutti  loro  che  dovesse  esser  eletto  per  adora- 
tione. II  card'  Montalto  gia  cominciava  a 
levar  quelle  nebbie  di  fintioni  che  avevano 
tenuto  nascosto  per  la  spatio  di  anni  14  I'am- 
bitione  grande  che  li  regnava  in  seno :  onde 
impatiente  di  vedersi  nel  trono  papale,  quan- 
do  udi  leggere  la  meta  e  piu  delli  voti  in  suo 
favore,  losto  allungo  il  collo  e  si  alzo  in  piedi, 
senza  attendere  il  fine  del  scrutinio,  e  uscilo 
in  mezzo  di  quella  capello  gilto  verso  la  porta 
di  quella  il  bastoncello  che  portava  per  ap- 
poggiarsi,  ergendosi  tutto  dntto  in  tal  modo 
che  pareva  due  palmi  piu  longo  del  solito.  E 
quello  che  fu  piii  maraviglioso,  etc." 

Let  us  compare  with  tiiis  the  corresponding 
passage  in  Leti,  i.  p.  412  (edition  of  1669)  : 
"  Prima  di  cominciarsi  Montalto  si  calo  nell' 
orecchia  di  San  Sisto,  e  gli  disse :  Fate  in- 
stanza die  lo  scrutinio  si  faccia  senza  pregiu- 
dicio deir  adoratione:  che  fu  appunto  il  pri- 
me atto  d'ambitione  che  mostro  esteriormente 
Montalto.  Ne  San  Sisto  manco  di  farlo,  per- 
che insieme  con  Alessandrino  comincio  a  gri- 
dare  due  o  tre  volte  :  Senza  pregiudicio  dell' 
adoratione.    Gia  cominciava  Montalto  a  levar 


quelle  nebbie  di  fintioni  che  havevano  tenuto 
nascosto  per  piti  di  quindeci  anni  I'ambitione 
grande  che  li  regnava  nel  cuore :  onde  impa- 
tiente di  vedersi  nel  trono  ponteficale,  non  si 
tosto  intese  legger  piii  della  meta  de'  voti  in 
suo  favore  che  assicuratosi  del  ponteficato  si 
levo  in  piedi  e  senza  aspettare  in  fino  dello 
scrutinio  getto  nel  mezo  di  quella  sala  un  cer- 
to  bastoncino  che  portava  per  appoggiarsi, 
ergendosi  tutto  dritto  in  tal  modo  che  pareva 
quasi  un  piede  piii  longo  di  quel  ch'era  prima  : 
ma  quello  che  fu  piu  maraviglioso,  etc." 
Thus  we  see  that,  with  the  e.xception  of  a  few 
words,  the  passages  are  identical. 

Leti,  on  one  occasion,  mentions  an  evi- 
dence for  his  narrative :  "  lo  ho  parlato  con 
un  Marchiano,  ch'  e  morto  venti  (in  later  edi- 
tions trenta)  anni  sono,  et  assai  caduco,  il 
quale  non  aveva  altro  piacere  che  di  parlare 
di  Sisto  V.  e  ne  raccontava  tutte  le  partico- 
larita."  Now,  upon  the  face  of  the  thing,  it 
seems  improbable  that  Leti,  who  arrived  in 
Rome  in  1644,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  should 
have  had  intercourse  with  people  who  knew 
Sixtus  V.  intimately,  and  that  he  should  have 
derived  many  materials  for  his  book  from  their 
conversation : — but  this  passage,  too,  is  one 
of  those  extracted  from  the  MS. :  "  Et  un  gi- 
orno  parlando  con  un  certo  uomo  dalla  Mar- 
cha,  che  e  morto,  che  non  aveva  altro  piacere 
che  di  parlare  di  Sisto  V."  The  "  twenty  or 
thirty  years"  were  thrown  in  by  the  author 
for  the  sake  of  greater  probability. 

Here,  too,  it  appears  to  me  that  Leti  made 
use  of  a  bad  copy.  The  MS.  states  in  the 
very  beginning  that  the  boy  was  often  obliged 
to  pass  the  night  in  the  open  field,  watching 
the  cattle,  "  in  campagna  aperta  :"  instead  of 
this,  Leti  writes  "  in  compagnia  d'un'  altro," 
which  has  quite  the  appearance  of  an  ill-cor- 
rected clerical  error.  The  M.  A.  Selleri  of 
Leti  must  have  meant  according  to  the  MS. 
M.  A.  Siliaci. 

In  a  word,  Leti's  Vita  di  Sista  V.  is  by  no 
means  an  original  work.  It  is  a  version  of  an 
Italian  MS.  that  fell  into  his  hands,  with 
some  additions,  and  an  improvement  in  style. 

The  whole  question  would  now  seem  to  be, 
what  credit  does  this  manuscript  deserve  ]  It 
is  a  collection  of  anecdotes,  made  after  a  con- 
siderable lapse  of  years,  and  altogether  of  an 
apocryphal  nature.  In  particular,  that  same 
story  of  the  conclave  is  utterly  undeserving  of 
belief.  Sixtus  V.  was  not  the  first  of  whom 
it  was  told  ;  the  very  same  thing  had  already 
been  narrated  of  pope  Paul  III.  In  the  pre- 
face to  the  work.  Acta  Concilii  Tridentini 
1546,  from  which  there  is  an  extract  in  Stro- 
bel's  Neue  Beitrage,  v.  233,  it  is  said  of  Paul 
III.  :  "  Mortuo  Cleniente  valde  callide  pri- 
mum  simulabat  .  .  .  vix  prte  senio  posse  suis 
pedibus  consistere  :  arridebat  omnibus,  laide- 
bat  neniinem,  suamque  prorsus  voluntatem  ad 
nutum  reliquorum  accommodabat :  .  .    .  ubi 


SIXTHS  V. 


475 


se  jam  pontificem  declaratum  sensit,  qui  an- 
tea  tarditateiTi,  morbum,  senium  et  quasi  ibr- 
midolosurn  leporem  simulabal,  extemplo  tunc 
est  flictus  agilis,  validus,  imperiosus,  suamque 
inauditam  terociam  .  .  .  coepit  ostendere." 
[On  the  death  of  Clement,  he  pretended  at 
first  very  cunningly  that  he  could  hardly 
stand  on  his  feet  for  age :  he  smiled  on  every 
one,  offended  no  one,  and  altogether  submitted 
his  own  will  to  the  beck  of  the  others:  .  .  . 
when  he  heard  himself  actually  declared 
pope,  he  who  before  feigned  decrepitude,  dis- 
ease, old  age,  and  almost  trembling  complai- 
sance, now  suddenly  became  active,  strong, 
imperious,  and  began  to  display  his  unheard- 
of  ferocity.]  This  is  plainly  the  origin  of  the 
story  as  given  by  Leti. 

Leti  had  no  thought  of  scrutinizing  his 
MS.,  or  clearing  it  of  its  errors  ;  he  has  rather 
done  his  best  still  more  to  distort  what  he 
found  before  him. 

Notwithstanding  this,  his  work  was  very 
successful ;  it  ran  through  edition  after  edi- 
tion, and  a  multitude  of  translations. 

It  is  a  striking  fact,  that  history,  such  as  it 
fixes  itself  in  the  memory  of  man,  always 
touches  upon  the  range  of  mythology.  Per- 
sonal traits  become  more  sharply  and  strong- 
ly marked  ;  they  approach  in  some  way  or 
another  to  an  ideal  that  can  be  laid  hold  of  by 
the  imagination ;  the  events  acquire  a  more 
striking  character;  accessary  circumstances 
and  co-operative  causes  are  forgotten.  Thus 
only  does  it  appear  that  the  demands  of  the 
imagination  can  be  satisfied. 

Then  comes  the  scholar  at  a  later  day, 
wondering  how  men  could  have  fallen  upon 
such  false  notions ;  he  does  what  he  can  to 
dissipate  errors,  but  at  last  is  obliged  to  own 
that  the  task  is  not  so  easy  of  accomplish- 
ment. Reason  submits  to  be  convinced,  but 
imagination  is  not  to  be  conquered. 

Storia  delta  vita  e  geste  di  papa  Sisto  V. 
sommo  pontefice,  scritta  dal  P^"  M^"  Cas- 
imiro  Tempesti.  Roma  1755.  [Life  of 
Sixtus  V.  by  Casimiro  Tempesti,  &c.J 

We  have  made  mention  of  the  temperate, 
cheerful,  and  well-meaning  pope  Benedict 
XIV.  :  his  pontificate  was  further  distinguish- 
ed by  the  circum.stance,  that  almost  all  the 
works  of  more  or  less  utility  respecting  the 
internal  history  of  tlie  papacy  belong  to  its 
time.  It  was  then  that  the  Annals  of  Maffei 
were  printed  ;  it  was  then  Bromato  made  his 
collection  for  the  life  of  Paul  IV. ;  the  biog- 
raphies of  Marcellus  II.  and  Benedict  XIII. 
were  produced  in  that  reign ;  and  in  it  too 
Casimiro  Tempesti,  a  Franciscan,  like  Sixtus 
v.,  undertook  to  refute  Gregorio  Leti. 

Every  desirable  opportunity  was  afforded 
him  to  this  end.  He  searched  through  all  the 
Roman  libraries,  where  he  met  with  the  most 


valuable  acquisitions,  biographies,  letters,  me- 
moirs of  various  kinds,  all  of  which  he  put  to- 
gether and  incorporated  in  his  book.  Per- 
haps the  most  important  of  tliem  all  is  the 
correspondence  of  Morosini,  the  nuncio  in 
France,  which  fills  a  large  part  of  his  work  : 
for  commonly  he  admits  his  documents  into 
his  text  with  but  slight  modifications. 

Two  things,  however,  are  to  be  remarked 
on  this  head. 

In  the  first  place,  he  puts  himself  in  a  pe- 
culiar relation  to  his  authorities.  He  believes 
them,  transcribes  them,  but  at  the  same  time 
is  fully  assured  the  pope  must  have  fallen  out 
with  the  writers  of  them  ;  he  must  have  of- 
fended them ;  the  moment  they  begin  to  cen- . 
sure,  he  washes  his  hands  of  them,  and  la- 
bours to  give  a  different  interpretation  to  the 
proceedings  of  his  hero,  which  they  call  in 
question. 

But  sometimes  he  even  departs  from  his  au- 
thorities, either  because  they  are  not  suffi- 
ciently staunch  in  the  church's  cause  for  him,^ 
or  because  he  has  really  no  just  conception  of 
the  matter  in  hand.  Take,  for  example,  the 
affair  of  Miihlhausen,  in  the  year  1587.  The 
MS.,  designated  by  Tempesti  "  Anonimo  Ca- 
pitolino,"  which  he  has  exactly  copied  in 
very  many  places,  relates  the  affair  with 
much  perspicuity :  let  us  see  the  use  he  has 
made  of  its  statements.  The  Anomino  very 
appropriately  qualifies  with  the  words,  "  in 
non  so  che  causa,"  the  dispute  that  broke  out 
in  Miihlhausen,  as  Laufer  (Helv.  Geschischte, 
xi.  10)  expresses  himself,  "  about  a  patch  of 
wood  valued  hardly  at  twelve  crowns." 
Tempesti  turns  this  into  "  in  urgente  lor 
emergenza  [in  their  pressing  emergency.] 
The  people  of  Miihlhausen  imprisoned  some 
of  their  councillors,  "  carcerarano  parecchi 
del  suo  senato."  Tempesti  says  merely  "  car- 
cerati  alcuni,"  without  remarking  that  the 
persons  imprisoned  were  of  the  council.  It 
was  feared  that  the  people  of  Miihlhausen 
would  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of 
the  catholic  districts,  and  separate  from  the 
protestants:  "  clie  volesse  mutar  religione  e 
protettori,  passando  all'  eretica  fede  con  rac- 
comandarsi  alii  cantoni  cattolici,  siccome  al- 
lora  era  raccomandata  alii  eretici."  This 
refers  to  the  fact,  that  Miihlhausen,  upon  its 
first  entrance  into  the  Swiss  confederation, 
was  not  acknowledged  by  Uri,  Schwyz,  Lu- 
ccrn,  and  Unterwalden,  which  cantons  also 
refused  it  their  protection  subsequently,  when 
they  joined  the  reformed  church.  (Glutz 
Blotzheim's  continuation  of  Miiller's  History 
of  Switzerland,  p.  373.)  Tempesti  had  no 
conception  of  this  peculiar  state  of  things;  he 
says  very  drily,  "  Riputarono  che  i  Miiausini 
volessero  dichiararsi  cattolici."  So  it  goes 
on,  even  where  the  author  shows  by  his  punc- 
tuation that  he  is  quoting  another's  words. 
The  Anonimo  Capitolino  says,  that  pope  Six- 


476 


APPENDIX. 


tus  had  been  on  the  point  of  sending  100,000 1  fiorini  30,  e  mi  promise  renderli  a  Montalto 


scudi  to  Switzerland  in  furtherance  of  this 
secession,  when  he  received  intelligence  that 
the  disputes  were  all  settled.  Tempesti,  ne- 
vertheless, affirms  that  the  pope  actually  sent 
the  money.  For,  above  all  things,  he  is  re- 
solved that  his  hero  shall  be  magnificent,  and 
even  liberal;  though  the  latter  quality  was 
certainly  not  that  for  which  he  w-as  most  con- 
spicuous. 

I  will  not  accumulate  examples.  This  is 
his  invariable  mode  of  proceeding,  compare 
him  where  we  will  with  his  authorities.  He 
is  diligent,  careful,  furnished  with  ample  ma- 
terials, but  narrow  in  his  views,  dry,  monoto- 
nous, and  without  real  insight  into  things; 
his  collections  do  not  enable  us  to  dispense 
with  the  originals.  His  work  was  not  adapt- 
ed to  cope  with  and  counteract  the  impression 
produced  by  Leti's. 

II.    MANUSCRIPTS. 

Let  us  now  return  to  our  MSS. :  it  is  to 
these,  after  all,  we  must  always  have  recourse 
for  exact  information. 

We  next  meet  with  a  MS.  by  pope  Sixtus 
V. :  Remarks  under  his  own  hand,  written 
whilst  still  in  the  convent. 

49.  Memorie  autografe  di  papa  Sisto  V. — 
Bibl.  Chigi  n.  iii.  70.     158  leaves. 

A  certain  Salvetti  found  it  once  in  a  garret, 
and  presented  it  to  Alexander  VII.  It  au- 
thenticity is  certainly  beyond  question. 

"  Questo  libro  sara  per  memoria  di  mie 
poche  facenducce,  scritto  di  mia  propria  ma- 
no,  dove  cio  che  sara  scritto  a  laude  di  dio 
sara  la  ignuda  verita,  e  cosi  priego  creda  ogn' 
lino  che  legge."  [This  book  shall  be  for  a 
record  of  my  little  doings,  written  with  my 
own  hand,  wherein  what  shall  be  written  to 
the  praise  of  God  shall  be  the  naked  truth, 
and  this  I  pray  every  one  who  reads  it  to  be- 
lieve.] 

In  the  first  place,  it  contains  accounts,  of 
which  one  leaf  is  certainly  wanting,  if  not 
several. 

"  E  qui  sara  scritti,"  he  continues,  "  tutti 
crediti,  debiti  et  ogn'  altra  mia  attione  di 
momento.  E  cosi  la  verita  come  qui  si  tro- 
vera  .«critto."  [And  herein  shall  be  written 
all  credits,  debts,  and  every  other  concern  of 
mine  of  moment.  And  every  thing  shall  be 
truly  such  as  it  shall  be  here  set  forlh.] 

I  will  give  one  example  more,  in  addition 
to  what  1  have  related  in  the  text : — "An- 
drea del  Apiro,  frate  di  San  Francesco  con- 
ventuale,  venne  a  Venetia,  e  nel  partirse  per 
pagar  robe  comprate  per  suo  fratello,  qual  mi 
disse  tar  botega  in  Apiro,  me  domando  in 
prestito  denari,  e  li  prestai,  presente  fra  Gi- 
rolamo  da  Lunano  e  fra  Cornelio  da  Bologna, 


in  mano  di  fra  Salvatore  per  tutto  il  mese  pre- 
sente d'Augusto,  come  appar  in  un  scritto  da 
sua  propria  mano  il  di  9  Agosto  15.57,  quale  e 
nella  mia  casetta.  H.  30."  [Andrea  del 
i\piro,  friar  of  the  order  of  St.  Francis,  came 
to  Venice,  and  on  his  departure  asked  a  loan 
of  money  of  me  to  pay  for  goods  bought  for 
his  brother,  wlio  he  told  me  kept  a  shop  in 
Apiro,  and  I  lent  him  the  same,  there  being 
present  fra  Girolamo  da  Lunano  and  fra  Cor- 
nelio da  Bologna,  30  florins,  and  he  promised 
to  pay  them  back  to  me  at  iMontalto,  into  the 
hands  of  fra  Salvatore,  taking  all  the  present 
month  of  August,  as  appears  by  a  writing  un- 
der his  own  hand  the  9th  day  of  August, 
1557,  which  is  in  my  casket.     H.  30.] 

Here  we  have  an  insight  into  these  little 
monastic  dealings ;  we  see  how  one  friar 
lends  another  money,  how  the  borrower  aids 
his  brother  in  his  petty  trade ;  others  are 
witnesses.  Fra  Salvatore,  too,  makes  his 
appearance. 

Then  follows  a  list  of  books.*  "  Inventari- 
um  omnium  librorum  tarn  seorsum  quam  si- 
mul  legatorum  quos  ego  Fr.  Felix  Perettus 
de  Monte  alto  emi  et  de  licentia  superiorum 
possideo.  Qui  seorsum  fuerit  legatus,  facial 
numerum  qui  non  cum  aliis  minime."  [An 
inventory  of  all  the  books,  whether  bound 
separately  or  together,  which  I,  fra  Felix 
Peretto  di  Montalto,  bought  and  possess,  with 
license  of  my  superiors.  Such  as  are  bound 
by  themselves  are  numbered  separately,  but 
not  those  that  are  joined  with  others.]  I  now 
regret  that  I  did  not  make  any  notes  from 
this  catalogue  ;  it  seemed  to  me  very  insigni- 
ficant. 

At  last  we  find  at  page  144, 
"  Memoria  degli  anni  che  andai  a  studio,  di 
officii,  perdiche  e  commissioni  avute."  [A 
memoir  of  the  years  I  passed  as  a  student,  of 
my  offices,  my  engagements  as  a  preacher, 
and  the  commissions  I  received.] 

I  will  give  this  at  full  length,  though  Tem- 
pesti has  made  occasional  extracts  from  it; 
it  is  important  as  the  only  diary  of  a  pope  that 
we  possess. 

"  Col  nome  di  dio  1.540  il  di  1  settembre  di 
mercoldi  intrai  a  studio  in  Ferrara,  e  vi  finii 
il  triennio  sotto  il  rd"  m™  Barfdalla  Pergola. 
Nel  43  fatto  il  capitolo  in  Ancona  andai  a 
studio  in  Bologna  sotto  il  t'^°  maestro  Giovan- 
ni da  Correggio :  intrai  in  Bologna  il  di  S. 
Jacobo  maggoir  di  Luglio,  e  vi  stetti  fino  al 
settembre  dal  44,  quando  il  costacciaro  mi 
mando  baccellier  di  convento  in  Rimini  col 
revtno  regente  m^  Antonio  da  citta  di  Penna, 
e  vi  finii  il  tempo  sino  al  capitolo  di  Venezia 
del  46.  Fatto  il  capitolo  andai  baccellier  di 
convento  in  Siena  con  m^°  Alexandre  da 
Montefalco,  e  qui  finii  il  triennio  fino  al  capi- 

*  [The  future  pope  is  not  quite  orthodox  in  his  latinity. 
— Translator.] 


SIXTUS  V. 


477 


tolo  d'Assisi  del  49.  Ma  il  costacciaro  mi 
die'  la  licontia  del  magisterio  nel  48  a  22 
Luglio,  e  quattro  di  dopo  me  addottorai  a  Fer- 
mo.  Nel  capitolo  generaledi  Assisi  fui  fatto 
regente  di  Siena  1549  e  vi  finii  il  triennio,  t'u 
generale  mons'"e  Gia  Jacobo  da  Montefalco. 
A  Napoli :  nel  capitolo  generale  di  Geneva 
fui  fatto  regente  di  Napoli  155:3  dal  rev"io 
generale  m""  Giiilio  da  Piacenza  e  vi  finii  il 
triennio.  A  Venezia :  nel  capitolo  generale 
di  Brescia  1556  fui  fatto  regente  di  Venezia, 
e  vi  finii  il  triennio,  e  I'anno  primo  della  mia 
regeria  fui  eletto  inquisitor  in  tutto  I'illmodo- 
ininio  1557  di  17  di  Gennaro.  Nel  capitolo 
generale  di  Assisi  15.59  eletto  generale  ni^e 
Giovan  Antonio  da  Cervia,  fui  confirmato  re- 
gente et  inquisitore  in  Venezia  come  di  sopra. 
Per  la  morte  di  papa  Paolo  IIII  I'anno  dctto 
d'Agosto  partii  da  Venezia  per  visitare  li  miei 
a  Montalto,  inquisitore  apostolico  :  mosso  da 
gran  tumulti:  il  22  di  Febbraro  1560  tornai 
in  ufficio  col  brieve  di  Pio  IIII  papa,  et  vi 
stetti  tutto  'i  Giugno,  e  me  chiamo  a  Roma: 
il  di  18  Luglio  1560  fui  fatto  teologo  assist- 
ente  alia  inquisitione  di  Roma  e  giurai  I'offi- 
cio  in  mano  del  card'  Aiessandrino.  . 

"  (Prediche.)  L'anno  1540  predicai,  ne  ha- 
vovo  anchor  cantato  messa,  in  iVIontepagano, 
terra  di  Abruzzo.  L'anno  1541  predicai  a 
Voghiera,  villa  Ferrarese,  mentre  ero  stu- 
dente  in  Ferrara.  L'anno  1-542  predicai  in 
Grignano,  villa  del  Polesine  di  Rovigo,  e  stu- 
diavo  in  Ferrara.  L'anno  154:3  predicai  alia 
fratta  di  Badenara  (viveva  il  Diedo  e'l  Man- 
frone)  e  studiavo  in  Ferrara.  L'anno  1.544 
predicai  alia  Canda,  villa  della  Badia  e  studia- 
vo in  Bologna.  L'anno  1.545  predicai  le  feste 
in  Rimini  in  convento  nostro,  perche  il  m™  di 
studio  di  Bologna  ne  preoccupo  la  predica  di 
Monte  Scutulo,  et  ero  bacC  di  convento  di 
Rimini.  L'anno  1546  predicai  a  Macerata  di 
Montefeltro  et  ero  bacco  di  convento  di  Rimi- 
ni. L'anno  1.547  predicai  a  S.  Geminiano  in 
Toscana  et  ero  bacct  di  convento  a  Siena. 
L'anno  1548  predicai  a  S.  Miniato  al  Tedesco 
in  Toscana,  et  ero  bacco  di  Siena.  L'anno 
1549  predicai  in  Ascoli  della  Marca,  partite 
da  Siena  per  I'ingresso  de  Spagnoli  introdutti 
da  Don  Diego  Mendozza.  L'anno  1550  pre- 
dicai a  Fano  et  ero  regente  a  Siena.  L'anno 
1551  predicai  nel  domo  di  Camerino  condotto 
dal  r"'°  vescovo  et  ero  regente  a  Siena. 
L'anno  1.5.52  predicai  a  Roma  in  S.  Apostoli, 
e  tre  ill""  cardinali  me  intrattenneroin  Roma, 
e  lessi  tutto  l'anno  tre  di  della  settirnana  la 
pistola  a  Romani  di  S.  Paolo.  L'anno  155:3 
predicai  a  Geneva,  e  vi  se  fece  il  capitolo 
generale,  et  andai  regente  a  Napoli.  L'anno 
1554  predicai  a  Napoli  in  S.  Lorenzo,  e  vi  ero 
regente,  e  lessi  tutto  l'anno  in  chiesa  I'evan- 
gelio  di  S.  Giovanni.  L'anno  15.55  predicai 
nel  duomo  di  Perugia  ad  instanza  dell'  ill™" 
cardinale  della  Corgna.     L'anno  1556  fu  chia-  ( 


principio  la  santita  di  papa  Paulo  IIII,  pero 
non  predicai.  L'anno  15.57  fu  eletto  inquisi- 
tor di  Venezia  e  del  dominio,  e  bisognandome 
tre  di  della  settimana  seder  al  tribunale  non 
predicai  ordinariamente,  ma  ;3  (?)  di  della  set- 
timana  a  S.  Caterina  in  Venezia.  L'anno 
1.5.58  predicai  a  S.  Apostoli  di  Venezia  e  4 
giorni  della  settimana  a  S.  Caterina,  ancorche 
exequesse  I'officio  della  st^a  inquis"".  L'anno 
15-59  non  predicai  salvo  tre  di  dalla  settimana 
a  S.  Caterina  per  le  niolte  occupationi  del  s. 
officio.  L'anno  1.560  tornando  col  brieve  di 
S.  Santita  a  Venezia  inquisitore  tardi  predicai 
solo  a  S.  Caterina  come  di  sopra. 

"  (Commissioni.)  L'anno  1548  ebbi  da  rev^o 
m^  Bartolommeo  da  Macerata,  ministro  della 
Marca,  una  commissione  a  Fermo  per  liberar 
di  prigione  del  Sf  vicelegato  fra  Leonardo 
della  Ripa:  lo  liberal  e  lo  condussi  in  Mace- 
rata. L'anno  1.549  ebbi  dal  sudo  R.  P''*'  com- 
missioni in  tutta  la  custodia  di  Ascoli  da  Feb- 
braro fino  a  pasqua.  L'anno  istesso  dall' 
istesso  ebbi  una  commissione  nel  convento  di 
Fabriano  e  vi  remisi  frate  Evangelista  dell' 
istesso  luogo.  L'anno  1550  ebbi  dall'  istesso 
padre  commissione  in  Senegaglia:  rimisi  fra 
Nicolo  in  casa  e  veddi  i  suoi  conti.  L'anno 
1-551  ebbi  commissione  dal  r'"o  pre  generale 
m'e  Gia  Jacobo  da  Montefalco  a  visitar  tutta 
la  parte  de  Montefeltro,  Cagli  et  Urbino. 
L'anno  15.52  ebbi  dall'  illmo  ca^rdinale  protet- 
tor  commissione  sopra  una  lite  esislente  tra  il 
guardiano  fra  Tommaso  da  Piacenza  et  unfra 
Francesco  da  Osimo,  che  aveva  fatto  la  coc- 
china  in  Santo  Apostolo.  L'istesso  anno  ebbi 
commission  dal  rev'no  padre  generale  m^ 
Giulio  da  Piacenza  nel  convento  di  Fermo,  e 
privai  di  guardianato  m™  Domenico  da  Mon- 
tesanto,  e  viddi  i  conti  del  procuratore  fra 
Ludovico  Pontano,  e  bandii  della  provincia  fra 
Ciccone  da  Monte  dell'  Olmo  per  aver  dato  . 
deile  ferite  a  fra  Tommaso  dell'  istesso  luogo. 
L'anno  15-55  ebbi  dal  sudetto  rmo  generale 
commissione  di  andar  in  Calabria  a  far  il  min- 
istro, perche  avea  inteso  quelle  esser  morto, 
ma  chiarito  quelle  esser  vivo  non  andai. 
L'anno  15.57  ebbi  commissione  sopra  il  Gatto- 
lino  di  Capodistria,  sopra  il  Garzoneo  da  Ve- 
glia  et  altre  assai  commissioni  di  fra  Giulio 
di  ('apodistria.  L'anno  15-59  fui  fatto  com- 
missario  nella  provincia  di  S.  Antonio,  tenni 
il  capitolo  a  Bassano,  e  fu  eletto  ministro  m"> 
Cornelio  Veneso.  L'anno  1560  fui  fatto  in- 
quisitore apostolico  in  tutto  il  dominio  Veneto, 
e  deir  istesso  anno  fui  fatto  teologo  assistente 
alia  inquisitione  di  Roma  il  di  16  Luglio 
1560. 

"Nel  capitolo  generale  di  Brescia  1-556  fui 
eletto  promoter  a  magisterii  con  I'Andria  e 
con  m^o  Giovanni  di  Bergamo,  et  otto  bacca- 
laurei  da  noi  promossi  furon  dottorati  dal 
rev'io  generale  m™  Giulio  da  Piacenza,  cioe 
Antonio  da  Montalcino,  Ottaviano  da  Ravenna, 


mato  a  Roma  al  concilio  generale,  che  gia  I  Bona ventura  da  Gabiano,  Marc  Antonio  da  Lu- 


478 


APPENDIX. 


^o,  Ottavlano  da  Napoli,  Antonio  Panzetta  da 
Padova,  Ottaviano  da  Padova,  Martiale  Cala- 
brese.  Otto  altri  promossi  ina  non  adottorati  da 
s.  p.  r»ia:  Francesco  da  Sonnino,  Antonio  da 
Urbino,  Nicolo  da  Montefalco,  Jacobo  Appu- 
gliese,  Antonio  Boletta  da  Firenze.  Constantino 
da  Crema,  il  Piemontese  et  il  Sicolino.  In  pero 
con  I'autorita  di  un  cavalier  di  S.  Pietro  da 
Brescia  addottorai  Antonio  da  Urbino,  il  Pie- 
montese e  Constantino  da  Crema.  Di  Macrgio 
1558  con  I'autorita  del  cavalier  Centaniadotto- 
rai  in  Venezia  fra  Paolo  da  S.  Leo,  frate  An- 
drea d'Arimino,  Giammatteo  da  Sassocorbaro 
e  fra  Tironinoda  Lunano,  tutti  miei  discepoli." 

[In  the  name  of  God,  on  Wednesday,  the 
first  of  September,  1540,  I  entered  on  my 
studies  in  Ferrara,  and  finished  by  triennium 
there  under  the  Rev.  Master  Bartolomeo  dalla 
Pergola.  In  43,  the  chapter  havins^  been 
held  in  Ancona,  I  went  to  study  in  Bolog-na 
under  the  Rev.  Master  Giovanni  da  Corregio : 
I  entered  Bologna  on  the  day  of  St.  James 
the  elder  in  July,  and  remained  there  till  the 
end  of  September,  44,  when  the  examiner 
sent  me  as  convent  bachelor  to  Rimini  with 
the  very  reverend  regent  Master  Antonio,  of 
the  city  of  Penna,  and  there  I  completed  my 
time  till  the  chapter  of  Venice  in  46.  After 
the  chapter  I  went  convent  bachelor  to  Siena 
with  Master  Alexandre  da  Montefalco,  and 
there  finished  my  triennium  at  the  chapter 
d'Assisi  in  49.  But  the  examiner  granted 
me  a  master's  license  on  the  22d  of  July,  48, 
and  four  days  after  I  took  the  degree  of  doctor 
at  Fermo.  In  the  chapter  general  of  Assisi  I 
was  made  regent  of  Siena  in  1549,  and  finish- 
ed my  triennium  there,  Monsieur  Gia  Jacobo 
da  Montefalco  being  general.  At  Naples  :  at 
the  chapter  general  of  Genoa,  I  was  made 
regent  of  Naples  in  1553  by  the  very  rever- 
end general  Master  Giulio  da  Piacenza,  and 
there  completed  the  triennium.  At  Venice  : 
in  the  chapter  general  of  Brescia,  1556, 1  was 
made  regent  of  Venice,  and  there  ended  the 
triennium  ;  and  in  the  first  year  of  my  regen- 
cy, on  the  17th  of  January,  1.557,  I  was  efect- 
ed  inquisitor  through  the  whole  of  the  most 
illustrious  dominion.  In  the  chapter  general 
of  Assisi,  1.559,  Monsieur  Giovan  Antonio  da 
Cervia  being  elected  general,  I  was  confirmed 
regent  and  inquisitor  in  Venice  as  before. 
Upon  the  death  of  pope  Paul  IV.  in  the  Au- 
gust of  the  same  year,  I  set  out  from  Venice 
to  visit  my  friends  at  Montalto,  apostolic  in- 
quisitor: alarmed  by  violent  disturbances;  on 
the  22d  of  February,  1560,  I  entered  into  of- 
fice by  virtue  of  a  brief  from  pope  Paul  IV., 
and  remained  in  it  all  June,  till  I  was  called 
to  Rome:  on  the  18th  of  July,  1560,  I  was 
made  assistant  theologian  to  the  inquisition  of 
Rome,  and  was  sworn  into  office  by  cardinal 
Alessandrino. 

(Preacliings.)  I  preached  in  the  year  1540, 
I  had  not  yet  celebrated  mass,  in  Montepa- 


gano,  in  the  terra  di  Abruzzo.  In  the  year 
1541 1  preached  at  Voghiera,  a  city  of  Ferrara, 
while  I  was  a  student  in  Ferrara.  In  1542  I 
preached  in  Grignano,atown  of  the  Polesinedi 
Rovigo,  and  was  studying  in  Ferrara.  In  the 
year  1543  I  preached  to  the  brotherhood  of  Ba- 
denara  (Diedo  and  Manfrone  were  living),  and 
studied  in  Ferrara.  In  the  year  1544 1  preached 
at  Canda,  a  town  of  Badia,  and  studied  in  Bo- 
logna. In  the  year  1545  I  preached  the  festival 
sermons  in  Rimini  in  our  convent,  because  the 
master  of  the  college  of  Bologna  pre-occupied 
there  the  pulpit  of  Monte  Scutulo,  and  I  was 
convent  bachelor  in  Rimini.  In  the  year  1546 
I  preached  at  Macerata  di  Montefeltro,  and 
was  convent  bachelor  in  Rimini.  In  the  year 
1547 1  preached  at  St.  Geminiano  in  Tuscany, 
and  was  convent  bachelor  in  Siena.  In  the 
year  1548  I  preached  at  St.  Miniato  at  Te- 
desco  in  Tuscany,  and  was  bachelor  of  Siena. 
In  1549  I  preached  in  Ascoli  della  Marca, 
having  left  Siena  on  the  entrance  of  the 
Spaniards  introduced  by  Don  Diego  Mendozza. 
In  1550  I  preached  at  Fano,  and  was  regent 
in  Siena.  In  1551  I  preached  in  the  cathe- 
dral of  Camerino,  being  conducted  by  the 
most  reverend  bishop,  and  was  regent  in 
Siena.  In  1552  I  preached  in  Rome  in  S. 
Apostoli,  and  three  most  illustrious  cardinals 
entertained  me  in  Rome,  and  I  read  thrice 
every  week  the  epistle  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Ro- 
mans. In  1553  I  preached  in  Genoa,  and 
there  the  chapter  general  was  held,  and  I 
went  as  regent  to  Naples.  In  1554  I  preach- 
ed in  Naples  in  S.  Lorenzo,  and  was  regent 
there,  and  read  all  the  year  through  the  gos- 
pel of  St.  John  in  the  church.     In  the  year 

1555  I  preached  in  the  cathedral  of  Perugia, 
at  the  instance  of  cardinal  della  Corgna.     In 

1556  I  was  called  to  Rome  to  the  general 
council,  which  his  holiness  pope  Paul  IV.  now 
began,  but  I  did  not  preach.  In  1557  I  was 
elected  inquisitor  of  Venice  and  the  dominion; 
and  as  I  had  to  sit  three  days  in  the  week  on 
the  tribunal,  I  did  not  usually  preach  but  3  (?) 
days  of  the  week  in  S.  Caterina,  in  Venice. 
In  1558  1  preached  at  S.  Apostoli  in  Venice, 
and  four  days  in  the  week  at  S.  Caterina, 
while  I  still  discharged  the  office  of  inquisitor 
of  the  holy  inquisition.  In  1560,  returning 
to  Venice  with  his  holiness's  brief,  I  remained 
there  inquisitor,  and  preached  alone  in  S. 
Caterina  as  before. 

(Commissions.)  In  1548  I  had  from  the 
most  reverend  Mi's  Bartolomeo  da  Macerata, 
minister  of  la  Marca,  a  commission  to  Fermo, 
to  liberate  from  the  vice-legate's  prison  fra 
Leonarda  della  Repa :  I  liberated  him  and 
conducted  him  to  Macerata.  In  1549  I  had 
from  the  aforesaid  reverend  father  commis- 
sions in  all  the  custody  of  Ascoli  from  Feb.  to 
Easter.  Tiie  same  year  I  had  from  the  same 
a  commission  to  the  convent  of  Fabriano,  and 
there   I   replaced  frate  Evangelista  of  that 


SIXTUS  V. 


479 


place.  In  1550,  I  had  from  the  same  father 
commissions  in  Senegaglia  :  I  replaced  Ira 
Nicolo  in  the  house,  and  inspected  his  ac- 
counts. In  1551,  I  had  a  commission  from 
the  most  reverend  father-general  M^e  Gia 
Jacobo  da  Monteialco  to  visit  all  the  district 
of  Monte  fait  ro,  Cagli,  and  Urbino.  In  1552, 
I  had  from  the  most  illustrious  cardinal-pro- 
tector commissions  respecting  a  suit  pending 
between  the  guardian,  fra  Tommaso  da  Pia- 
cenza,  and  one  fra  Francesco  da  Orsimo,  who 
had  cooked  in  S.  Apostolo.  The  same  year  I 
had  a  commission  from  the  most  reverend 
father-general  M''e  Giulio  da  Piacenza  to  the 
convent  of  Fermo,  and  I  deprived  JVJaster 
Dominico  da  Montesanto  of  the  guardianship, 
and  inspected  the  accounts  of  the  procurator 
fra  Ludovico  Pontano,  and  banished  from  the 
province  fra  Ciccone  da  iVIonte  dell'  Olmo  for 
having  inflicted  wounds  on  fra  Tommaso  of 
that  place.  In  15-55,  1  had  from  the  aforesaid 
most  reverend  general  a  commission  to  go 
into  Calabria  to  act  as  minister,  because  he 
expected  to  die;  but  as  by  God's  mercy  he 
lived  I  did  not  go.  In  1557,  I  had  a  commis- 
sion respecting  Gattolino  di  Caposdistria,  re- 
specting Garzoneo  da  Veglia  and  various 
other  commissions  of  fra  Giulio  di  Capodistria. 
In  1559,  1  was  made  commissioner  in  the 
province  of  S.  Antonio,  I  held  the  cliapter  in 
Bassano,  and  M^e  Cornelio  Veneso  was  elect- 
ed minister.  In  1560,  I  was  made  apostolic 
inquisitor  in  all  the  Venetian  dominions,  and 
the  same  year  was  appointed  assistant  theo- 
logian to  the  inquisition  of  Rome  the  16th  of 
July,  1560. 

In  the  chapter-general  of  Brescia,  15-56,  I 
was  elected  promoter  to  masterships  with 
I'Andria  and  with  iVJ aster  Giovanni  da  Berga- 
mo, and  eight  bachelors  promoted  by  us  were 
received  doctors  by  the  most  reverend  general- 
master  Giulio  da  Piacenza,  that  is  to  say,  An- 
tonio da  Montalcino,  Ottaviano  da  Ravenna, 
Bonaventura  da  Gabiano,  Marc  Antonio  da 
Lugo,  Otlavianoda  Napoli,  Antonio  Panzetta 
da  Padova,  Ottaviano  da  Padova,  Martiale  Ca- 
labrese.  PJight  others  promoted  but  not  re- 
ceived doctors ;  P'rancesco  da  Sonnino,  Antonio 
da  Urbino,  Nicolo  da  Montefalco,  Jacobo  Ap- 
pugliese,  Antonio  Boletta  da  Firenze,  Con- 
stantino da  Crema,  il  Piemontese,  and  il  Sico- 
lino.  But  I,  by  the  authority  of  a  knight  of 
S.  Pietro  da  Brescia,  admitted  doctors  Antonio 
da  Urbino,  il  Piemontese,  and  Constantino  da 
Crema.  In  May,  1558,  by  the  authority  of 
the  knight  Cenlani,  I  admitted  doctors  in  Ven- 
ice fra  Paolo  da  S.  Leone,  frate  Andrea  d'Ar- 
imino,  Giammatteo  da  iSassocorbaro,  and  iVa 
Tironino  da  Lunano,  all  my  pupils.] 

50.  De  Vita  Sixti  V  ipsius  manu  ememlata. 
—Bibl.  Altleri.  57  leaves.  [Life  of 
Sixtus  V.  corrected  by  himself] 

Only  a  copy,  indeed,  but  the  mistakes  of 


the  original  writer  and  the  pope's  corrections 
are  tiuthfully  transcribed.  The  emendations 
are  seen  over  words  run  through  with  the  pen. 
He  begins  with  the  poverty  of  this  pope's 
parents,  who  earned  their  bread  "alieni  par- 
vique  agri  cuitura ;"  he  extols  in  particular, 
above  all  the  rest  of  the  family,  Signora  Ca- 
milla, who,  at  least  at  the  time  he  wrote,  was 
very  moderate  in  her  pretensions:  "quseita 
se  intra  modestisc  atque  humilitatis  sua?  fines 
continuit  semper,  ut  ex  summa  et  celsissima 
fbrtuna  fratris,  pra?ter  innccentije  atque  fru- 
galitatis  famam  et  in  reiictis  sibi  a  familia  ne- 
potibus  pie  ac  liberaliter  educandis  diligentiae 
laudem,  nihil  magnopere  cepisse  dici  possit" 
[who  always  so  contained  herself  within  the 
bounds  of  her  natural  modesty  and  humility, 
that  except  the  renown  of  innocence  and  fru- 
gality, and  the  credit  acquired  by  her  diligence 
in  piously  and  liberally  educating  the  nephews 
left  to  her  care,  she  cannot  be  said  to  have 
derived  any  extraordinary  advantage  from  her 
brother's  pre-eminently  exalted  fortune.]  He 
describes  the  education  of  Sixtus,  his  rise, 
and  the  first  period  of  his  administration.  He 
is  particularly  remarkable  for  crying  up  the 
Christian  principle  prevailing  in  the  architect- 
ure of  Rome. 

This  little  work  must  have  been  composed 
about  the  year  1,587.  It  was  the  author's  in- 
tention to  describe  also  the  succeeding  periods. 
"  Tuia  dicentur  nobis  plenius,  cum  acta  ejus 
(Sixti)  majori  parata  ordine  prodere  memorise 
experiemur.  Quod  et  facturi  pro  viribusnos- 
tris,  si  vita  suppetet,  omni  conatu  sunius;  et 
ipse  ingentia  animo  complexus  nee  ulla  med- 
iocri  contentus  gloria  uberem  ingeniis  materi- 
am  prsebiturus  egregie  dese  condendi  voluini- 
na  videtur."  [vVe  shall  speak  of  these  more 
fully  when  we  shall  attempt  to  relate  his  acts 
in  their  grander  development.  This  it  is  our 
purpose  most  earnestly  to  essay  with  all  our 
power,  if  life  be  granted  us;  whilst  it  seems 
probable  from  the  magnificence  of  his  con- 
ceptions, and  his  disdain  of  all  but  the  loftiest 
glory,  that  he  will  afford  rich  materials  for 
many  a  splendid  volume.] 

Tiie  most  important  question  touching  the 
MS.  before  us,  is  whether  it  was  actually  re- 
vised by  Sixtus. 

Tempesti,  who  was  not  acquainted  with  the 
copy  in  the  Altieri  library,  possessed  a  little 
work  which  was  recommended  to  him  as  com- 
posed by  Graziani  and  revised  by  pope  Sixtus. 
He  makes  some  objections  against  it,  which 
may  possibly  be  well-founded.  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, identical  with  our  work.  Tempesti 
among  other  things  points  out  the  fact  (p.  xxx.) 
that  Graziani  makes  the  pope  begin  his  first 
procession  from  S.  Apostoli,  whereas  it  set 
out  from  Araceli.  Truly  this  is  such  a  mis- 
take as  would  be  more  likely  to  be  overlooked 
by  a  man  who  had  become  pope,  and  who  had 
the  affairs  of  tiiis  world  on  Ins  shoulders,  than 


480 


APPENDIX. 


by  the  padre  Maestro  Tempesti.  But  it  does 
not  exist  in  our  Vita,  where  it  is  stated  quite 
correctly:  "  Verum  ut  acceptura  divinitus 
honorem  ab  ipso  deo  oxordiretur,  ante  omnia 
supplicationes  decrevit,  quas  ipse  cum  patri- 
bus  et  frequente  pojiulo  pedibus  eximia  cum 
religione  obivit  a  leinplo  Franciscanorum  ad 
S.  Mariam  Majorem."  [But  that  he  might 
begin  from  God  himself  the  honour  divinely 
imparted  to  him,  he  appointed  mthe  very  first 
place  solemn  prayers,  to  offer  which  he  pro- 
ceeded most  piously  on  foot  with  the  fathers 
and  a  great  concourse  of  people  from  the 
church  of  the  Franciscans  to  S.  Mary  the 
elder.] 

We  have  besides  a  positive  evidence  for 
the  authenticity  of  our  little  work.  Another 
biographer — the  next  of  those  we  shall  men- 
tion— stales,  that  Sixtus  had  remarked  in  the 
margin  of  certain  commentaries,  "sororum  al- 
teram tenera  ietate  decessisse"  [that  another 
sister  died  in  childhood.]  This  very  thing 
we  find  to  have  been  done  in  our  work.  The 
first  author  had  written,  "  Qua  rum  altera  nup- 
sit,  ex  cujus  filia  Silvestrii  profluxisse  dicun- 
tur,  quos  adnumerat  suis  pontifex,  &c."  Six- 
tus struck  this  and  some  more  out,  and  wrote, 
"Quarum  altera  setate  adhuc  tenera  decessit." 

The  second  biographer  says  further:  "In 
ill  is  commentariis  ab  ipso  Sixto,  qui  ea  recog- 
novit,  adscriptum  reperi,  Sixti  matrem  Ma- 
rianam  non  quidem  ante  conceptum  sed  paulo 
ante  editum  filiumde  futura  ejusmagnitudine 
divinitus  fuisse  monitam."  [I  find  it  stated 
by  Sixtus  himself,  in  those  commentaries 
which  he  revised  that  his  mother  Mariana, 
not  indeed  before  her  conception,  but  shortly 
before  the  birth  of  her  son,  had  his  future 
greatness  foretold  her  from  heaven.]  This 
also  we  find  in  our  MS.  The  author  had  said 
that  the  prediction  was  received  by  Peretto 
in  a  dream  :  "  nasciturum  sibi  filium  qui  ali- 
quando  ad  summas  esset  dignitates  perven- 
turus."  The  word  father  is  struck  out,  and 
instead  of  it  is  inserted  :  "  Ejus  uxor  partui 
vicina."     [His  wife  near  her  delivery.] 

Our  MS.  thus  acquires  great  authenticity; 
it  connects  itself  directly  with  that  autograph 
of  the  pope  which  we  have  mentioned.  It 
would  well  deserve  to  be  printed  in  a  separate 
form. 

51.  Sixtus  V.    Pontifex  Maximus  Bibl.  Al- 
tieri.  60  leaves. 

The  same  work  by  which  we  were  just  now 
enabled  to  prove  the  authenticity  of  the  fore- 
going. I  do  not  find  that  it  was  known  to 
Tempesti  or  any  other  writer. 

The  author  wrote  after  the  death  of  Sixtus. 
Already  he  complains  that  his  memory  was 
disfigured  by  many  fabulous  tales.  Sixtus  V., 
he  begins,  "  memorife  qiubusdam  gratae,  ali- 
quibus  invisie,  omnibus  raagnse,  cum  cura  no- 


bis et  sine  ambitu  dicetur :  curam  expectatio 
multorum  acuit,  ambitum  seneclus  nobis  im- 
minens  prsecidit."  [The  life  of  Sixtus  V.,  of 
memory  dear  to  some,  hateful  to  others,  great 
in  the  estimation  of  all,  shall  be  related  by  us 
carefully  and  without  truckling;  the  expec- 
tation of  numbers  stimulates  our  carefulness, 
(although  the  MS.  was  never  printed)  and  im- 
pending age  cuts  off  from  us  all  motive  for 
truckling.] 

He  considers  his  subject  of  great  import- 
ance:  "Vixautrerum  moles  major  aut  ma- 
jorisanimi  pontifex  ullounquam  tempore  con- 
currerunt."  [Hardly  any  times  have  present- 
ed events  of  more  vast  magnitude,  or  a  pope 
of  grander  mind.] 

In  the  first  part  of  his  little  work  he  details 
the  entire  life  of  Sixtus  V.  up  to  his  accession 
to  the  papal  throne.  His  authorities  were  the 
biographers  above  mentioned,  letters  of  Six- 
tus which  he  frequently  cites,  and  oral  com- 
munications from  cardinal  Paleotto,  or  from 
one  of  the  pope's  confidential  domestics  named 
Capeletto.  Many  notable  particulars  are 
mentioned  by  him. 

Chap.  I.  "  Sixti  genus,  parentes,  patria." — 
Here  we  have  the  strange  story  that  Sixtus 
in  his  youth  wished  to  be  called  Crinitus  [long 
or  thick-haired,]  and  that  he  even  went  by 
that  name  for  a  while  in  the  convent.  The 
meaning  he  attached  to  the  word  was  that  of 
a  comet,  and  he  chose  it  in  consideration  of 
his  hopes  of  fortune,  "  propter  speratam  sem- 
per ab  se  ob  ea  quse  mox  exsequar  portenta 
nominis  et  loci  claritatem."  This  is  what  is 
alluded  to  by  the  star  in  his  armorial  bearings. 
This  is  certainly  no  comet.  He  himself  told 
Paleotto  that  the  pears  in  his  arms  designated 
his  father  (Peretti,)  the  mountains  his  native 
country:  the  lion  carrying  the  pears  was 
typical  at  once  of  magnanimity  and  benefi- 
cence. 

11.  •' Ortus  Sixti  divinitus  ejusque  futura 
magnitudo  praenunciatur." — Sixtus  himself 
relates  that  one  night  his  father  heard  a  voice 
crying  unto  him,  "Vade,  age,  Perette,  uxori 
jungere :  paritura  enini  tibi  filium  est,  cui 
Felicis  nomen  impones:  is  enim  mortalium 
dim  maximus  est  futurus."  [Up!  Peretti,  go 
seek  thy  wife  :  for  she  will  bear  thee  a  son, 
to  whom  thou  shalt  give  the  name  of  Felix : 
for  he  will  one  day  be  the  greatest  of  mortals.] 
A  queer  sort  of  fellow  this  Peretti  must  have 
been.  His  wife  v>'as  then  in  the  service  of  the 
Diana  before  mentioned  in  the  town.  At  the 
instigation  of  the  prophetic  voice  he  stole  to 
her  through  the  fogs  of  night ;  for  he  durst  not 
show  himself  by  day  tor  fear  of  his  creditors  — 
Singular  origin  !  At  a  later  period  Peretti 
formally  reassured  his  creditors  on  the  strength 
of  his  son's  luck.  He  used  to  say,  when  he 
had  the  child  in  his  arms,  that  he  was  carrying 
a  pope,  and  he  would  offer  the  foot  to  his 
neigiibours  to  kiss. 


SIXTUS  V. 


481 


III.  "  Nomen." — Peretto  said,    when  ob- 1 
jections  were  made  to  him  against  the   name  j 
of  Felix  :    "  Baptismo   potius    quam    Felicis  ! 
nomine  carebit :"  [Sooner  shall  he  go  without , 
baptism  than  not  be  called  Felix.]    The  child's 
bed  once  caught  fire,  from  a  light  left  near  it :  | 
his  mother  running  to  extinguisli   the  flames, 
found  the  child  unhurt  and  laughing.     Some- 
what as  it  happened  to  the  child  of  Servius 
Tullius's  female  slave, — his  future  greatness 
was  foretold  by  the  flame  that  played  round 
his  head.     After  so  many  centuries,  the  mir- 
acle, or  the  belief  in  it,  was  repeated. 

IV.  "  Studia." — He  was  not  fond  of  hearing 
it  said  that  he  had  tended  swine ;  and  he  forbade 
the  continuance  of  tlie  above-mentioned  com- 
mentaries because  the  fact  was  stated  in  them. 
This  chapter  relates  his  first  rapid  progress  in 
his  studies,  and  how  he  gave  his  schoolmaster 
too  nmch  work  for  his  five  bajocchi.  ♦' Vix 
mensem  alteram  operara  magistro  dederat, 
cumille  Perettum  adit,  stare  se  conventis  posse 
negans:  tam  enim  multa  Felicem  supra  reli- 
quorum  captum  et  morem  discere  ut  sibi,  mul- 
lo  plus  in  uno  illo  quum  in  ceteris  instituendis 
omnibus  laboranti,  non  expediat  niaximam 
operam  minima  omnium  mercedeconsumere." 
[He  had  hardly  attended  the  schoolmaster  two 
months,  when  the  latter  went  to  Peretti,  and 
told  him  he  could  not  abide  by  the  terms 
agreed  on  :  for  Felix  learned  so  many  things 
beyond  the  capacity  of  the  other  boys,  and  out 
of  the  usual  course,  that  he  gave  him  more  to 
do  than  did  all  his  otlier  scholars  together;  it 
was  not  right,  therefore,  that  where  he,  the 
teacher,  had  the  most  labour,  he  should  have 
the  least  pay.]  Felix  was  rather  hardly  treat- 
ed by  fra  Salvatore.  He  had  many  a  blow 
because  he  did  not  set  his  meat  before  him 
properly.  The  poor  child  used  to  stand  on 
tiptoe,  but  he  was  so  small  that  even  thus  lie 
could  hardly  reach  the  top  of  the  table. 

V.  Monastic  life. — What  we  have  related  i 
respecting  his  manner  of  studying  and  the  dis- 
putation at  Assisi.  The  first  fame  of  iiis 
preaching.  On  his  journey  he  was  stopped 
at  Belforte,  and  not  allowed  to  depart  till  he 
had  thrice  preached  to  an  enormous  concourse 
of  people. 

VI.  "  Montalti  cum  Ghislerio  Alexandrine 
jungendaj  familiaritatis  occasio." 

VII.  "  Per  magnam  muitorum  invidiam  ad 
magnos  multosque  honores  evadit."  [In  spite 
of  many  and  vehement  enemies,  he  arrives  at 
great  and  numerous  honours.]  He  had  much 
to  endure  in  Venice  partiularly,  where  he 
carried  out  the  printing  of  the  Index. — He 
was  once  forced  to  retire  from  the  city,  and 
was  in  doubt  whether  he  should  return.  Car- 
dinal Carpi,  his  patron  ever  since  the  dispu- 
tation of  Assissi,  gave  the  Venetian  Francis- 
cans to  understand,  that  if  Montalto  was  not 
Bufiered  to  remain  in  Venice,  not  a  man  of 
them   should   stay   there.      Notwithstanding 

61 


this,  he  could  not  keep  his  ground  in  the  city. 
The  brethren  of  his  order  accused  him  before 
the  council  of  Ten  of  sowing  sedition  in  the 
republic,  inasmuch  as  lie  would  not  give  ab- 
solution to  those  who  were  in  possession  of 
forbidden  books  (qui  damnatos  libros  domi  re- 
tineant.)  He  was  obliged  to  go  back  to  Rome, 
where  he  became  consultor  to  the  Inquisi- 
tion. 

VIII.  "RomansB  inquisitionis  consultor,  sui 
ordinis  procurator,  inter  tlieologos  congrega- 
tionis  Tridentini  concilii  adscribitur."  [Con- 
sultor to  the  Roman  inquisition,  proctor  of  his 
order,  he  is  enrolled  among  the  theologians 
of  the  congregation  of  the  council  of  Trent.] 
— By  the  Franciscans  of  Rome,  too,  Montalto 
was  received  only  upon  the  express  recom- 
mendation of  cardinal  Carpi,  who  sent  him 
his  meals.  He  supported  him  in  every  post, 
and  on  his  death-bed  recommended  him  to 
cardinal  Ghislieri. 

IX.  "Iter  in  Hispaniam."  [Journey  to 
Spain.] — He  accompanied  Buoncompagno,  af- 
terwards Gregory  XIII.  Even  then  there 
was  but  a  bad  understanding  between  them. 
Montalto  was  sometimes  obliged  to  travel  in 
the  baggage-wagon.  "  Accedit  nonnunquam 
ut  quasi  per  injuriam  aut  necessitatem  ju- 
mento  destitutus  vehiculisquibus  impedimen- 
ta comportabantur  deferri  necesse  fuerit." 
Many  otiier  slights  were  added  to  this. 

X.  "  Post  honorifice  delatum  episcopatum 
per  iniquorutn  hominum  calumnias  cardinala- 
tus  Montalto  maturatur."  [After  an  honour- 
able discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  bishopric, 
Montalto's  advancement  to  the  rank  of  car- 
dinal was  hastened  by  the  calumnies  of  wick- 
ed men.] — The  nephew  of  Pius  V.  was  also 
against  him,  "  alium  veterem  contubernalem 
evehendi  cupidus"  [desirous  of  promoting 
some  old  tavern  companion  of  his.]  Among 
other  things  it  was  told  the  pope  that  four  care- 
fully closed  chests  had  been  seen  carried  into 
Montalto's  chamber,  where  he  lived  in  gross 
luxury  and  splendour.  Pius  went  himself 
unexpectedly  to  the  convent.  He  saw  bare 
walls,  and  asked  at  last  what  was  in  the 
chests,  which  were  still  there.  "  Books,  holy 
father,"  said  Montalto,  "  which  I  intend  to 
take  with  me  to  S.  Agatha," — that  was  his 
bishopric, — and  he  opened  one  of  them.  Pius 
was  higlily  pleased,  and  shortly  after  nominat- 
ed him  a  cardinal. 

XI.  "  Montalti  dum  cardinalis  fuit  vita  et 
mores."  [The  life  and  habits  of  Montalto 
while  he  was  a  cardinal.] — Gregory  withdrew 
his  pension,  which  was  very  ominous  of  his 
future  pontificate.  "Levis  enim  auiicorum 
quorundam  superstitio  diu  credidit,  pontifi- 
cum  animis  occultam  quandam  in  futures 
successores  obtrectationem  insidere."  [For 
there  has  long  been  an  idle  superstition  held 
by  soiiie  persons  about  the  court,  that  a  cer- 
tain secret  aversion  creeps  into  the  minds  of 


482 


APPENDIX. 


the  popes  against  those  who  will  one  day 
succeed  them.] 

XII.  "  Francisci  Peretti  ceedes  incredibili 
animi  Eequitate  tolerata." 

XIII.  "  Pontifex  M.  magna  patrum  con- 
sensione  declaratur." 

Then  follows  the  second  part. 

"  Hactenus  Sixti  vitam  per  tempora  diges- 
simus:  jam  hinc  per  species  rerum  et  capita, 
ut  justa  hoTninis  sestimatio  cuique  in  proinptu 
sit,  exequar."  [Hitherto  we  have  treated  of 
the  life  of  Sixtus  in  the  order  of  time  ;  hence- 
forth I  will  arrange  his  actions  under  general 
heads,  so  as  to  afford  a  ready  means  of  forming 
a  just  estimate  of  the  man. J 

There  exist,  however,  only  three  chapters 
of  this  part :  "  Gratia  in  bonemeritos : — 
pietas  in  Franciscanorum  ordinem  ;  publica 
securitas." 

The  last  is  by  far  the  most  important,  on 
account  of  the  description  of  the  times  of 
Gregory,  and  since  I  did  not  make  a  complete 
transcript  of  it,  I  will  at  least  give  an  ex- 
tract. 

"  Initio  quidem  nonnisi  qui  ob  casdes  et 
latrocinia  proscripti  erant,  ut  vim  m^agislra- 
tuuni  eftligerent,  genus  hoc  vita?  instituerant 
ut  aqua  et  igne  prohibiti  latebris  silvarum 
conditi  aviisque  montium  ferarum  ritu  va- 
gantes  miseram  anxiamque  vitam  furtis  pro- 
pemodum  necessariis  sustentarent.  Verum 
ubi  rapinse  dulcedo  et  impunitas  noquitiee 
spes  alios  atque  alios  extremse  improbitatis 
homines  eodem  expulit,  cospit  quasi  legiti- 
mum  aliquod  vel  mercimonii  vel  artilicii 
genus  latrocinium  frequentari.  Itaque  certis 
Bub  ducibus,  quos  facinora  et  ssevitia  nobili- 
tassent,  societates  proscriptorum  etsicariorum 
ad  vim,  cssdes,  latrocinia  coibant.  Eorum 
duces  ex  audacia  vel  scelere  singulos  sesti- 
mabant :  facinorosissimi  et  sffivissima  ausi 
maxime  extollebantur  ac  decurionum  centu- 
rionumque  nominibus  militari  prope  more 
donabantur.  Hi  agros  et  itinera  non  jam 
vago  maleficio  sed  justo  pene  imperio  infes- 

ta  habebant Denique   operam  ad 

csedem  inimicorum,  stupra  virginum  et  alia 
a  quibus  mens  refugit,  factiosis  hominibus  et 
scelere  alieno  ad  suam  exaturandum  libidi- 
nem  egentibus  presente  pretio  iocare  :  eoque 
res  jam  devenerat  ut  nemo  se  impune  peccare 
posse  crederet  nisi  cui  proscriptorum  aliquis 
et  exulum  periculum  pra^staret.  lis  fiebat 
rebus  ut  non  modo  improbi  ad  scelera,  verum 
etiam  minime  mali  homines  ad  incolumitatem 
ejusmodi  feras  bestias  sibi  necessarias  puta- 

rent Id    proceribus    et    principi- 

bus  viris  perpetuo   palam  usurpari 

Et  vero  graves  Jacobo  Boncompagno  suscepta; 
cum  primariis  viris  iuimicitaa  ob  violatam 
Buarum  ajdium  immunitatem  diu  fortunam 
concussere.  Procerum  plerique,  sive  quos  ass 
alienum  exhauserat,  sive  quorum  ambitioeti 
lux  us  supra  opes  erat,  sive  quos  odia  et  ulcis- ' 


cendi  libido  ad  cruenta  consilia  rejecerant, 
non  modo  patrocinium  latronum  suscipere, 
sed  feed  us  cum  illis  certis  conditionibus  san- 
cire  ut  operam  illi  ad  csedem  locarent 
mercede  impunitatis  et  perfugii.  Quum  quo 
quisque  sicariorum  patrono  uteretur  notum 
esset,  si  cui  quid  surreptum  aut  per  vim  abla- 
tum  foret,  ad  patronum  deprecatorem  con- 
fugiebatur,  qui  sequestrum  simulans,  utrinque 
raptor,  turn  prsedce  partem  a  sicariis  turn 
operse  mercedem  a  supplicibus,  aliquando 
recusantis  specie,  quod  ssevissimum  est  ra- 
pinaj  genus,  cxtorquebat.  Nee  defuere  qui 
ultro  adversus  mercatores  atque  pecuniosos 
eorum.que  filios,  agros  etiam  et  bona  ex  desti- 
nato  immitterent,  iisque  deinde  redimendis 
ad  seque  confugientibus  operam  venderent, 
casum   adeo  miserantes  ut  ex    animo  mise- 

reri  credi  possent Lites   sicariorum 

arbitrio  privatis  intendebanlur,  summitteban- 
tur  vi  adacti   testes,  metu  alii  a  testimonio 

dicendo  deterrebantur Per  urbes 

factiones  exoriri,  distinctsa  coma  et  capillitio, 
ut  hi  in  losvam,  illi  in  dexteram  partem  vel 
villus  alerent  comarum  vel  comam  a  fronte 
demitterent.  Multi,  ut  fidem  partium  alicui 
addictam  firmarent,  exores  necabant,  ut  filias, 
sorores,  affines  eorum  inter  quos  censeri  vel- 
lent  ducerent,  alii  consanguinearum  viros 
clam  seu  palam  trucidabant,  ut  illas  iis  quos 
in  suas  partes  adlegerant  collocarent.  Vul- 
gare  ea  tempestate  fait  ut  cuique  sive  forma 
seu  opes  mulieris  cujuscunque  placuissent, 
eam  procerum  aliquo  interprete  vel  invitis 
cognatis  uxorem  duceret:  neque  rare  accidit 
ut  prffidivites  nobilesque  homines  exulum 
abjectissimis  et  rapto  viventibus  grandi  cum 
dote  filias  collocar.e  vel  earum  indotatas  filias 
ipsi  sibi  jussomatriraoniojungere  cogerentur, 
....  Sceleratissimi  homines  tribunalia 
constituere,  forum  iudicere,  judicia  exercere, 
sontes  apud  se  accusarc,  testibus  urgere, 
tormentis  veritatem  extorquere,  denique  so- 
lemni  formula  damnare  :  alios  vero  a  legitimis 
magistratibus  in  vincula  conjectos,  causa  per 
prorem  (procuratorem)  apud  se  dicta,  absol- 
vere,  eorum  accusatores  ac  judices  poena 
talionis  condemnare.  Coram  damnatos  prse- 
sens  poena  sequcbatur :  si  quid  statutum  in 
absentes  foret,  tantisper  mora  erat  dum 
sceleris  ministri  interdum  cum  mandatis 
perscriptis  riteque  obsignatis  circummitteren- 
tur,  qui  per  veram  vim  agerent  quod  legum 

ludibrio   agebatur Dominos  et  re- 

ges  se  cujus  coUibuisset  provinciee,  ne  so- 
lennibus    quidem     inaugurationura     parcen- 

tes,  dixere   multi    et  scripsere Non 

semel  sacra  supellectile  e  tempi  is  direpta, 
augustissimam  et  sacratissimam  eucharistiam 
in  silvas  ac  latibula  asportarunt,  qua  ad 
magica    flagitia    et   execramenta    abuteren- 

tur Mollitudo   Gregoriani    imperii 

malum  in  pejus  convertit.  Secariorum  mul- 
titude infinita,  qute  facile  ex  rapto  cupiditati- 


SIXTHS  V. 


483 


bus  conniventiiim  vel  in  specicm  tantiim 
irascentium  ministrorum  largitiones  sutfice- 
ret.  Publica  fide  securitas  vel  petentihus 
concessa  vel  spoute  ablata :  arcibus,  oppidis, 
militibus  praificiebantur.  Eos,  velut  ab  egre- 
gio  facinore  reduces,  multitudo,  quocunque 
irent,  spectando  efllisa  mirabatur,  laudabat. 

[Originally,  indeed,  none  but  those  who 
were  proscribed  for  murder  and  robbery 
adopted  this  kind  of  life,  to  escape  from  the 
hands  of  justice ;  forbidden  fire  and  water, 
lurking  in  the  shades  of  the  forest,  prowling 
like  wild  beasts  in  the  mountain  wilderness, 
and  sustaining  a  miserable  and  anxious 
existence  by  almost  necessary  thefts.  Cut 
when,  by  and  by,  numbers  of  depraved  men 
were  allured  to  the  same  course  by  the  lust 
of  rapine  and  the  hope  of  impunity,  highway 
robbery  began  to  be  followed  as  though  it 
were  a  legitimate  profession  or  trade.  Thus 
companies  of  bandits  and  assassins  combined 
for  purposes  of  violence,  bloodshed,  and  plun- 
der, under  leaders  noted  for  their  crimes  and 
cruelty.  By  these  leaders  their  followers 
were  esteemed  in  proportion  to  their  several 
degrees  of  daring  or  guilt ;  the  most  criminal, 
and  those  who  had  perpetrated  the  greatest 
atrocities,  were  held  in  the  highest  honour, 
and  endowed  with  titles  of  command  almost 
in  military  style.  They  infested  the  rural 
districts  and  the  roads,  not  as  mere  desultory 
marauders,  but  almost  as  regular  conquer- 
ors  Finally,   they   hired   out   their 

services  for  the  assassination  of  enemies,  the 
pollution  of  virgins,  and  other  loathsome 
iniquities,  which  they  were  ready  to  perform 
for  a  sum  in  hand  on  behalf  of  those  whose 
villany  needed  the  help  of  dospei'ate  hands: 
and  things  had  come  to  such  a  pass,  that  no 
one  thought  he  could  transgress  the  law  with 
impunity  unless  he  had  the  protection  of  some 
of  the  outlaws.  The  consequence  was,  that 
such  savage  beasts  were  thought  necessary, 
— not  merely  by  bad  men,  as  agents  of  their 
crimes,  but  even  by  men  by  no  means  de- 
praved,— as'  guardians  and  defenders 

This  became  an  open  and  established  cus- 
tom   with   the   nobles Giacopo 

Buoncompagno  was  long  harassed  by  the 
violent  hostilities  he  brought  upon  himself  at 
the  hands  of  great  men,  the  immunities  of 
whose  houses  he  had  violated.  Numbers  of 
the  nobility, — such  as  were  laden  with  debt, 
or  whose  ambition  and  luxury  went  beyond 
their  means,  or  who  were  driven  to  deeds  of 
bloodshed  by  their  feuds  and  their  vengeful 
passions, — not  only  became  the  patrons  of 
banditti,  but  entered  into  regular  compacts 
with  them,  bargaining  that  they  should  do 
murder  for  them  in  consideration  of  impunity 
and  shelter.  When  it  was  known  who  was 
the  special  patron  of  the  several  outlaws, 
those  who  had  been  pilfered  or  openly  robbed, 


addressed  themselves  to  the  patron,  who, 
pretending  to  interest  himself  for  the  injured 
party,  became  doubly  a  plunderer,  receiving 
a  part  of  the  booty  from  the  robbers,  and 
extorting  a  fee  for  his  pains  from  those  who 
besought  his  aid  ;  the  cruellest  of  all  forms  of 
plunder,  sometimes  made  still  more  atrocious 
by  a  hypocritical  show  of  refusal.  Some  there 
were  even  who,  after  preconcerting  attacks 
on  merchants  and  men  of  wealth,  t  .eir  sons, 
their  estates  and  their  goods,  made  a  profit  of 
their  services  in  negotiating  a  ransom,  af- 
fecting all  the  while  such  pity  for  the  suffer- 
ers, one  would  have  thought  they  sympathized 
with  them  in  their  hearts Law- 
suits were  brought  against  individuals,  the 
decision  of  which  lay  with  banditti ;  wit- 
nesses were  brought  forward  and  compelled 
to  swear  what  was  dictated  to  them ;  others 

were    terrified    from    appearing 

Factions  arose  in  the  cities,  distinguished  by 
their  head-dresses  and  way  of  wearing  the 
hair,  whether  combed  to  the  right  side  or  to 
the  left,  whether  gathered  up  into  knots  or 
let  fall  down  in  front.  INTany,  to  prove  them- 
selves staunch  to  the  party  they  had  adopted, 
killed  their  wives  that  they  might  marry  the 
daughters,  sisters,  or  kinswomen  of  those 
among  whom  they  wished  to  be  enrolled ; 
others  murdered  the  husbands  of  their  female 
relations  privately  or  openly,  that  they  might 
have  them  united  to  the  members  of  their 
own  faction.  It  was  a  common  thing  at  that 
period  for  a  man  to  procure  for  his  wife, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  some  noble- 
man, any  woman  whose  beauty  or  wealth 
attracted  him,  even  in  opposition  to  the 
wishes  of  his  family;  nor  did  it  seldom  hap- 
pen that  men  of  great  wealth  and  high  birth 
were  obliged  to  give  their  daughters  in  mar- 
riage with  large  dowries  to  the  lowest  outlaws 
and  thieves,  or  themselves  to  take  in  mar- 
riage the  penniless  daughters  of  those  mis- 
creants. The  worst  criminals  constituted 
themselves  judges,  held  courts,  heard  plead- 
ings, summoned  accused  parties  before  them, 
called  witnesses  against  them,  put  them  to 
the  torture,  and  finally  passed  sentence  on 
them  in  judicial  tbrm :  on  the  other  hand 
they  would  try  by  attorney  persons"committed 
to  prison  by  the  lawful  magistrates,  acquit 
them,  and  sentence  their  judges  and  accusers 
to  punishment  according  to  the  lex  talionis. 
Sentence  was  forthwith  executed  upon  such 
as  were  tried  in  person ;  whatever  was 
decreed  against  absent  parties  suftered  no 
longer  delay  than  was  necessary  for  sending 
out  the  ministers  of  crime  with  warrants  duly 
made  out  and  sealed,  to  finish  the  legal  farce 

with    tragic    reality JMany   called 

and  subscribed  themselves  lords  and  kings 
of  such  and  such  provinces,  not  even  omit- 
ting the  ceremonies  of  inauguration 

Upon  more  than  one  occasion  they  carried 


484 


APPENDIX. 


the  holy  utensils  plundered  from  the  churches, 
and  the  most  revered  and  sacred  eucharist 
into  tlie  forests  and  caves,  to  desecrate  them 
to  the  use  of  magical  abominations.  .  .  .  The 
Vi'eakness  of  Gregory's  government  aggravat- 
ed the  mischief  The  immense  numbers  of  the 
bandits  contributed  too  tempting  an  amount 
of  bribes  to  the  public  servants  who  con- 
nived at  their  doings,  or  only  made  a  show 
of  discountenancing  them.  Amnesty  was 
granted  to  some  and  assumed  by  others;  they 
were  put  in  command  of  fortresses,  towns, 
and  soldiers.  Wherever  they  went  they 
were  extolled  by  admiring  crowds,  like  men 
returning  from  the  achievment  of  some  grand 
exploit.] 

52.  Memorie  del  pontijicato  di  Sisto  V. — 
Altieri  xiv.  a  iv.  fol.  480  leaves.  [Me- 
moirs of  the  Pontificate  of  tSixtus  V.] 

This  circumstantial  work  is  not  quite  new 
and  unknown.  Tempesti  had  a  copy  of  it 
taken  from  the  archives  of  the  capitol,  and 
names  as  its  author  the  Anonimo  Capitolino. 

But  Tempesti  is  highly  unjust  to  the  work. 
He  copies  from  it  in  numberless  places,  and 
yet  in  the  general  judgment  pronounced  at  the 
beginning  of  his  book  he  denies  it  all  credibi- 
lity. 

It  is  nevertheless  unquestionably  the  best 
work  on  the  history  of  Sixtus  V. 

The  author  was  in  possession  of  the  most 
important  documents.  This  is  self-evident 
from  his  narrative  :  he  also  says  as  much  him- 
self (e.  g.  as  to  German  afl'airs):  "mi  risolvo 
di  narrar  minutamente  quanto  ne  trovo  in 
lettere  e  relationi  autentiche." 

He  gives  the  most  exact  information  res- 
pecting the  financial  measures  of  Sixtus  V., 
going  through  them  one  by  one.  Yet  he  goes 
to  work  with  much  discretion  in  this  matter. 
"  Gli  venivano,"  he  says,  "  proposte  inventioni 
stravagantissime  ed  horrende,  ma  tutte  sotto 
faccia  molto  humana  di  raccor  danari,  le  quali 
per  esser  tali  non  ardisco  di  metter  in  carta 
tutte,  ma  sole  alcune  poche  vedute  da  me  nelle 
lettere  originali  degl'  inventori."  [The  most 
extravagant  and  startling  devices  were  pro- 
posed to  him,  but  all  under  the  very  plausible 
pretext  of  raising  money  :  such  being  their 
character,  I  do  not  venture  to  commit  them 
all  to  paper,  but  only  some  few  of  them  which 
I  have  seen  detailed  in  the  original  letters  of 
the  inventors.] 

He  had  written  a  life  of  Gregory  XIII. 
which  may  have  been  the  reason  tliat  he  was 
taken  for  Maft'ei,  though  in  other  respects  I 
can  find  no  grounds  lor  identifying  him  with 
that  Jesuit. 

It  is  a  pity  that  this  work  is  but  a  fragment. 
The  earlier  events  are  wanting  from  the  be- 
ginning. They  had  been  written,  but  the 
work,  at  least  our  MS.  copy,  breaks  ofi'  in  the 


middle  of  a  sentence.  The  measures  of  the 
first  years  of  the  pope's  reign  are  next  gone 
through,  but  the  author  gets  no  further  than 
1587. 

We  might  put  up  with  the  first  deficiency, 
since  we  have  so  much  other  and  good  infor- 
mation ;  but  the  want  of  the  latter  part  of  the 
work  is  very  sorely  felt.  It  is  a  kind  of  Euro- 
pean history,  which  the  author  compiled  from 
really  trustworthy  accounts.  No  doubt  we 
should  have  had  from  him  much  valuable  intel- 
ligence respecting  the  year  1588,  the  annus 
climactericus  of  the  world. 

Observe  how  rationally  he  expresses  himself 
in  the  beginning  of  his  work. 

"  Non  ho  lasciata  via  per  cui  potessi  trar 
lume  di  vero  che  non  abbia  con  molta  diligenza 
et  arte  apertamiet  indefessamente  camminata, 
come  si  vedra  nel  racconto  che  faccio  delle 
scritture  e  relationi  delle  quali  mi  son  servito 
nella  tessitura  di  questa  istoria.  Prego  dio, 
autore  e  padre  d'ogni  verita,  sicome  mi  ha 
dato  ferma  volonta  di  non  dir  mai  bugia  per 
ingannare,  cosi  ini  conceda  lume  di  non  dir  mai 
il  false  con  essere  ingannato."  [There  was 
no  way  by  which  I  could  come  at  the  light  of 
truth  that  I  failed  to  enter  upon  with  much 
diligence  and  scrutiny,  and  to  pursue  indefati- 
gably,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  account  I  give 
of  the  writings  and  reports  of  which  I  have 
made  use  in  the  texture  of  this  history.  I 
pray  God,  the  Author  and  Father  of  all  truth, 
that  as  He  has  given  me  the  determined  de- 
sire never  set  down  a  lie  with  a  view  to  deceive 
others,  so  in  like  manner  He  may  grant  me 
light  never  to  say  what  is  false  through  being 
myself  deceived.] 

A  prayer  quite  worthy  of  a  historian. 

He  concludes  at  the  election  of  cardinals  in 
1587  with  the  words :  "  E  le  speranze  spesso 
contrarie  aile  proprie  apparenze." 

I  have  adopted  a  great  number  of  his  state- 
ments after  comparing  them  with  other  autho- 
rities: to  set  down  what  may  yet  remain 
would  lead  too  far  for  the  compass  of  this 
work, 

53.  Sixti  V  Pontificis  Maximi  vita  a  Guido 
Gualterio  Sangenesino  descripta.  MS. 
der  Bibl.  Altieri  VIII.  F.  1.  54  leaves. 
[Life  of  pope  Sixtus  V.  by  Guido  Gualterio 
Sangenesino.] 

Tempesti  speaks  of  a  diary  relating  to  the 
times  of  Sixtus  V.  by  an  author  of  this  name. 
He  is  the  same  who  wrote  the  biography 
before  us,  in  which  he  mentions  the  former 
work.  He  was  specially  rewarded  by  Sixtus 
for  his  exertions. 

The  copy  in  the  Altieri  palace  is  very  au- 
thentic and  perhaps  unique.  It  contains  anno- 
tations in  the  author's  own  hand.  He  says  in 
it,  "  Me  puero  cum  in  patria  mea  Sangeno," 
&c.,  so  that  there  can  be  no  doubt. 


SIXTUS  V. 


4S5 


He  wrote  it  shortly  after  the  death  of  Six- 
tus,  in  the  beginning  of  tiie  reign  of  Clement 
VIII.  whom  he  often  alludes  to.  He  mentions 
that  the  news  of  Henry  IV.'s  conversion  to 
Catholicism  had  just  arrived  as  he  wrote,  so 
that  we  may  confidently  assign  the  composi- 
tion of  the  work  to  the  year  1593. 

The  author  is  particularly  worthy  of  credit. 
He  was  intimately  connected  with  the  Peretti 
family  :  Maria  Felice,  the  daughter  of  Signora 
Camilla,  was  brought  up  in  Sangeno ;  the 
author's  wife  was  her  familiar  friend  ;  he  him- 
self was  intimately  acquainted  with  Antonio 
Bosio,  the  secretary  of  cardinal  Carpi,  Mon- 
talto's  first  patron :  "  summa  mihi  cum  eo 
necessitudo  intercedebat." 

Accordingly  his  information  respecting  the 
earlier  circumstances  of  the  pope's  life  is  par- 
ticularly good. 

He  devotes  to  them  the  first  part  of  his  book. 

He  acquaints  us  how  Fra  Felice  first  be- 
came known  to  Paul  IV.  When  a  minorite 
church  in  tlie  March  took  fire,  the  host  escap- 
ed uninjured.  Some  special  circumstances 
must  have  been  connected  with  the  fact ;  at 
any  rate  a  grand  consultation  was  held  on  the 
subject,  at  which  were  present  the  cardinal 
inquisitors,  the  general  of  orders,  and  many 
other  prelates.  Cardinal  Carpi  brought  Mon- 
talto  with  him,  and  insisted  upon  it  that  his 
favourite  should  also  be  allowed  to  state  his 
opinion.  Montalto  gave  one  that  every  body 
thought  the  best:  Carpi  left  the  assembly  in 
great  satisfaction.  "  In  ejus  sententiam  ab 
omnibus  item  est.  Surgens  cardinalis  Car- 
pensis  dixit :  Probe  noram  quern  virum  hue 
adduxissem." 

The  account  of  his  Aristotelian  labours  is 
interesting. 

The  edition  of  Posius,  who  was  in  fact  a 
pupil  of  Montalto's,  is  directly  ascribed  by 
Gualterius  to  the  latter.  "  Aristotelis  Aver- 
roisque  opera  ex  pluribus  antiquis  bibliothecis 
exemplaria  nactus  emendavit,  expurgavit,  ap- 
toque  ordine  in  tomos,  ut  vocant,  undecim 
digessit.  Mediam  et  magnam  Averrois  in 
libros  posteriorein  expositionem  apta  distribu- 
tione  Aristotelis  textui  accommodavit:  me- 
diam Averrois  expositionem  in  7  metaphysi- 
corum  libros  invenit,  exposuit,  ejusdem  Aver- 
rois epitomata  qucesita  et  epistolas  suis  restituit 
locis,  solutionibus  contradictionum  a  doctis- 
eimo  Zunara  editis  centum  addidit.  [Having 
procured  copies  of  Aristotle  and  Averrhoes  in 
several  ancient  libraries,  he  amended  their 
text,  and  arranged  the  works  in  due  order  in 
eleven  volumes.  He  fitly  adapted  the  com- 
mentary of  Averrhoes  to  the  text  of  Aristotle  : 
he  discovered  the  commentary  of  Averrhoes 
on  seven  books  of  metaphysics,  edited  them, 
and  restored  to  iheir  places  the  epitomata 
quaesita  and  the  epistles  of  the  said  Averrhoes ; 
and  he  added  one  hundred  solutions  of  contra- 
dictions to  those  published  by  the  very  learned 


Zunara]  in  which  the  contradictions  between 
Aristotle  and  Averrhoes  v^cre  reconciled. 

He  then  paints  the  character  of  his  hero. 
"  Magnanimus  dignoscebatur,  ad  iram  tamen 
pronus.  Soinni  potens:  cibi  parcissimus  :  in 
otio  nunquani  visus  nisi  aut  de  studiis  aut  de 
negotiis  meditans."  [Magnanimous,  but  prone 
to  anger.  Not  a  slave  to  sleep  :  very  frugal 
in  food  :  he  was  never  seen  to  pass  a  leisure 
moment  unoccupied  with  the  thoughts  of  study 
or  business.] 

So  he  arrives  at  the  conclave.  Thereupon 
he  begins  to  describe  the  acts  of  Sixtus  under 
the  categories  of  his  several  virtues  :  "  Reli- 
gio,  Pietas,  Justitia,  Fortitude,  Magnificentia, 
Providentia." 

Singular  as  is  this  classification,  we  never- 
theless meet  with  many  fine  passages  as  we 
proceed. 

Gualterius  labours  earnestly  to  defend  the 
pope  from  the  accusations  made  against  him 
on  account  of  his  taxes.  But  let  us  hear  how 
he  does  it.  "  Imprimis  ignorare  videntur,  pon- 
tificem  Romanum  non  in  nostras  solum  facul- 
tates  sed  in.nos  etiam  ipsos  imperinm  habere." 
[In  the  first  place  they  seemed  not  to  know 
that  the  pope  of  Rome's  sovereign  authority 
extends  not  only  over  our  means  but  over  our 
very  selves.]  What  would  the  present  age 
say  to  such  a  doctrine  of  political  rights  1 

He  devotes  his  attention  particularly  to  the 
architectural  works  of  Sixtus,  and  is  very  in- 
teresting in  his  remarks  on  the  subject. 

He  describes  the  condition  of  the  old  Late- 
ran.  "  Erat  aula  permagna  quam  concilii 
aulam  vocabant ;  erant  porticus  tractusque 
cum  sacellius  nonnullis  et  cubiculis  ab  aula 
usque  ad  S.  Sabee  quam  S.  Salvatoris  capellam 
vocant.  Erant  s.  scalarum  gradus  et  porticus 
vetustissimae  qua  veterespontifices,  qui  Late- 
ranum  incolebant,  populobenedicebant.  iEdes 
illae  veteres  maxima  populi  veneratione  celeb- 
rari  solebant,  cum  in  illis  non  pauca  monu- 
menta  esse  crederentur  Hierosolymis  usque 
deportata.  Sed  fortasse  res  in  supcrstitionem 
abierat  :  itaque  Sixtus,  justisde  causis  ut  cre- 
dere par  est,  servatis  quibusdam  probatoribus 
monumentis,  Sanctis  scalis  alio  translatis,  om- 
nia demolitus  est."  [There  was  a  very  large 
hall  called  the  hall  of  the  council  (no  doubt  on 
account  of  the  Lateran  councils  down  to  the 
time  of  Leo  X.) :  there  were  porticoes  and 
galleries  with  some  shrines  and  cells  from  the 
hall  to  the  chapel  of  S.  Saba,  called  the  chapel 
of  S.  Salvatore.  There  were  steps  of  holy 
stairs  and  a  very  ancient  portico  from  which 
the  pontiffs  of  old,  who  inhabited  the  Lateran, 
used  to  bless  the  people.  This  ancient  edifice 
used  to  be  held  in  the  highest  veneration  by 
the  people,  since  it  contained  no  few  monu- 
mental relics  supposed  to  have  been  brought 
from  Jerusalem.  Possibly,  however,  the  mat- 
ter had  degenerated  into  superstition  ;  Sixtus, 
therefore,  upon  good  grounds,  as  we  are  bound 


486 


APPENDIX. 


to  believe,  preserving  the  more  autlientic 
monuments,  and  transferring  the  holy  stairs 
elsewhere,  destroyed  all  the  rest.] 

The  author,  we  see,  submits,  but  he  feels 
the  wrong. 

His  description  of  St.  Peter's  as  it  then 
stood  (1593)  is  no  less  remarkable. 

"  In  Vaticano  tholum  maximum  tholosque 
minores  atque  adeo  sacellum  majus  quod  ma- 
jorem  capellam  vocant  aliaque  minora  sacella 
et  aedificationem  totam  novi  templi  Petro 
Apostolo  dicati  penitus  absolvit.  At  plumbeis 
tegere  laminis,  ornamentaque  qua)  animo  des- 
tinarat  adhibere,  templique  pavimenta  ster- 
nere  non  potuit,  morte  sublatus.  At  quse 
supersunt  Clemens  VIII  persecuturus  perfec- 
turusque  creditur,  qui  tholum  ipsum  plumbeis 
jam  contexit  laminis,  sanctissimse  crucis  vexil- 
lum  asneum  inauratum  imposuit,  templi  illius 
pavimentum  jam  implevit,  asquavit,  stravit  pul- 
cherrime,  totique  templo  aptando  et  exornando 
diligentissiraam  dat  operam  :  cum  veroex  Mi- 
chaelis  Angeli  forma  erit  absolutum,  antiqui- 
tatem  omnem  cito  superabit."  [He  completely 
finished  the  great  roof  of  the  Vatican  and  the 
lesser  roofs,  and  likewise  the  larger  chapel,  be- 
sides other  lesser  chapels,  and  the  whole  build- 
ing of  the  new  church  dedicated  to  St.  Peter 
the  Apostle.  But  death  prevented  his  covering 
the  roof  with  lead  as  he  had  intended,  and 
laying  down  the  floor  of  the  church.  It  is 
believed,  however,  that  Clement  VIII.  will 
carry  out  what  is  wanting  to  the  completion 
of  the  work ;  he  has  clothed  the  dome  with 
lead,  raised  above  it  the  blessed  cross  in  gilded 
brass,  and  filled  up,  levelled,  and  very  beau- 
tifully covered  the  floor  of  the  church,  and  he 
is  diligently  pursuing  the  finishing  and  deco- 
ration of  the  whole  edifice :  when  it  shall 
have  been  fully  executed  after  the  plan  of 
Michael  Angelo,  its  superiority  to  all  the  pro- 
ductions of  antiquity  will  be  readily  admitted.] 

There  was  still,  we  see,  nothing  more  in- 
tended than  to  carry  out  Michael  Angelo's 
plan,  and  it  would  seem  that  all  had  been 
already  actually  accomplished  (penitus  absol- 
vit.) 

We  had  above  a  remarkable  notice  of  the 
colossal  statues.     I  will  here  add  another. 

The  author  is  speaking  of  the  piazza  on  the 
raonte  Quirinale.  He  sa)'3  of  the  improve- 
ments made  there  by  Sixtus  V. :  "  Ornavit 
perenni  fonte  et  marmoreis  Praxitelis  et  Phi- 
diae  equis,  quos  vetustate  cum  eorum  rectori- 
bus  deformatos  una  cum  basi  marmorea  in 
pristinam  fbrmam  concinnavit  et  e  vetere  sede 
ante  Constantini  thermas  in  alteram  areaB  par- 
tem prope  S.  Pauli  monachorum  aedes  trans- 
tulit."  [He  adorned  the  piazza  with  a  peren- 
nial fountain,  and  with  the  marble  horses  of 
Praxiteles  and  Phidias.  The  horses  and  their 
managers  having  been  disfigured  by  age,  he 
restored  them  with  their  marble  bases  to  their 
original  form,  and  removed  them  from  their 


old  site  opposite  the  baths  of  Constantino  to 
another  part  of  the  piazza  near  the  monastery 
of  St.  Paul.]  In  the  older  copies  also,  one  of 
which  is  reproduced  by  Mier  (Geschichte  der 
Kunst,  ii.  299,  and  copies  annexed,  plate  xv.), 
the  colossal  statues  appear  in  a  very  mutilated 
form  ;  pretty  much  as  they  are  described  by 
our  Venetians  (see  page  406).  It  is  manifest 
they  first  acquired  their  present  shape  under 
Sixtus  V. 

54.  Galesini  Vita  Sixti  V.  Vatic.  5438.  122 

leaves.] 

A  MS.  with  no  particular  title;  the  first 
leaf  contains  the  following  dedication. 

"  Sanctissimo  patri  Sixto  V  pontifici  maxi- 
mo,  vigilantissimo  ecclesias  dei  pastori,  provi- 
dissimo  principi,  sapientissimo  universae  rei- 
publicsB  christianse  moderator!  et  rectori,  com- 
mentarium  hoc  de  vita  rebusque  ab  eo  in  sin- 
gulos  annos  diesque  publico  et  pontificie  aclis 
gestisque  distributum  ac  luculenter  scriptum 
Petrus  Galesinus  magno  et  summobenignissi- 
nioque  patrono  singularis  in  ilium  pietatis  at- 
que observantisB  ergo  in  perpetuum  dicavit." 

These  words  show  that  it  is  rather  an  eulo- 
gium,  than  a  biography,  we  have  before  us. 

The  author  thinks  it  worthy  of  note  that 
Sixtus  was  the  fourth  child  born  to  his  parents : 
"  sol  enim  quarto  die  creatus  est ;"  [for  the 
sun  was  created  on  the  fourth  day :] — and 
that  he  was  elected  pope  on  the  day  of  the 
founding  of  Rome. 

The  narrative  of  the  pope's  earlier  years  is 
very  fragmentary.  It  affords  another  instance 
in  proof  that  the  character  of  a  young  man  of 
talents  attains  its  best  growth  under  poverty 
and  rigid  discipline.  In  the  Peretti  family 
the  mother's  rule  was  severe.  "  Matris  metu, 
cum  aliquid  mali  se  commeruisse  videret,  in 
omnes  partes  corporis  se  excitavit."  [When- 
ever he  had  committed  a  fault,  he  shook  in 
every  limb,  for  fear  of  his  mother.] 

His  labours  in  his  villa  are  mentioned. 
"  Opus  manu  faciebat,  ita  ut  vel  hortos  cole- 
ret,  vel  arbores  sereret,  aut  aliqua  ratione, 
instar  diligentissimi  agricolse,  egregise  insi- 
tionis  opera  consererel,  interlocaret."  [He 
wrought  with  his  hands,  cultivating  his  gar- 
den, planting  his  trees,  and  practising  all  the 
most  ingenious  arts  of  the  most  diligent  hus- 
bandmen.] 

In  all  the  acts  of  his  pontificate,  the  strict 
religious  spirit  to  which  Sixtus  V.  surren- 
dered himself  was  conspicuously  displayed,  as 
for  instance  in  his  buildings  :  "  ut  urbis  opera 
et  idolatriae  simulacra,  inanis  et  falsce  gloriolse 
insanarunKpie  superstitionum  monumenta,  ad- 
huc  in  urbe  jam  diu  nimis  inveterata  quadam 
rorum  olim  Komanarum  a  christiano  cultu  ab- 

horrentium   curiositate, ad  christianse 

pietatis  ornamentum  pertraheret :"  [convert- 
ing into  ornaments  of  Christian  piety  the 


SIXTUS  V. 


487 


works  of  the  city,  and  the  idolatrous  images, 
monuments  of  a  vain  and  false  glory,  and  of 
insane  superstitions,  hitherto  preserved  by  n 
too  long  inveterate  idle  admiration  of  an- 
cient Roman  things  abhorrent  to  Christian 
worship.] 

The  origin  of  the  Lateran  palace.  "  Pon- 
fex  cum  vix  cubiculum  inveniret  quo  se  reci- 
peret,  continue  jussit  sedes  pontificia  majes- 
tate  dignas  in  Laterano  extrui :  valde  enim 
absurdum  absonumque  duxit  basilicam  Later- 
anensem,  omnium  ecclesiarum  matrem,  pro- 
priiun  pontilicis  Romani  episcopatum,  aades 
non  habere  quas  cum  tanta  episcopatus  digni- 
tate  convenirent."  [The  pope  finding  hardly 
a  chamber  to  lodge  in,  immediately  ordered  a 
palace  to  be  built  on  the  Lateran  worthy  of 
the  papal  majesty:  for  he  thought  it  very  ab- 
surd and  inconsistent,  that  the  Lateran  ba- 
silica, the  mother  of  all  the  churches,  the  spe- 
cial episcopate  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  should 
not  have  a  palace  befitting  such  high  episcopal 
dignity.] 

On  the  whole,  he  considers  Rome  very  reli- 
gious. "  Dat  magna  pietatis  et  integritatis 
indicia.  Clericorum  disciplina  fere  est  ad 
pristinos  sanctissimos  mores  restituta,  ratio 
divini  cultusadministratioquesacrarum  sedium 
ad  probatum  veterem  morem  plane  perducta. 
....  Ubique  in  ipsis  ecclesiis  genuflexiones: 
ubique  in  omni  fere  urbis  regione  fideles  qui 
sacra  ilia  sexta  feria  (Good  Friday)  infinitis 
verberibus  miserandum  in  modum  propria 
terga  ita  lacerabant  ut  sanguis  in  terram 
usque  defluxerit."  [It  gives  great  proofs  of 
piety  and  integrity.  The  discipline  of  the 
clergy  is  nearly  restored  to  the  primitive  holy 
standard  ;  divine  worship  and  the  administra- 
tion of  the  holy  edifices  are  conducted  in  full 
accordance  with  the  ancient  approved  ways. 
.  .  .  Everywhere,  in  the  churches  themselves, 
there  are  genuflexions ;  everywhere,  in  al- 
most every  quarter  of  the  city,  there  are  num- 
bers of  the  faithful,  who  on  Good  Friday  pite- 
ously  lacerate  tlieir  own  backs  with  such  se- 
vere floggings,  that  the  blood  runs  down  to 
t\\e  ground.] 

55.  Vita  Sixti  V  anonyma.     Vatica  n.  5563. 

Only  a  few  leaves  on  the  youth  of  Sixtus  V. 
His  name  Felix  is  traced  to  a  dream  his  fa- 
ther had. 

56.  Relatione  alpapa  Sisto  V.  41  leaves,  [Re- 

port to  Sixtus  v.] 

By  a  member  of  the  curia  who  did  not  visit 
the  palace,  and  who  learned  no  more  than  was 
known  to  every  one.  It  was  originally  ad- 
dressed to  a  friend  who  wished  to  be  informed 
respecting  the  acts  of  Sixtus,  and  afterwards 
to  that  pope  himself. 

In  works  like  this,  written  by  ordinary  peo- 


ple, who  only  accidentally  step  out  from 
among  the  multitude,  it  is  interesting  to  ob- 
serve the  general  influence  exercised  by  a 
government  on  the  great  body  of  the  public. 

In  the  little  work  before  us,  written  through- 
out in  the  stricter  religious  spirit  that  began 
to  prevail  towards  the  close  of  the  sixteenth 
century, — we  are  struck  by  the  powerful  im- 
pression produced  by  the  transformation  of 
the  heathen  monuments  into  Christian. 

"  Le  croci  santissime  in  cima  delle  guglie 
e  le  statue  delii  prencipi  apostolici  sopra  le 
colonne  scancellano  la  memoria  delle  antiche 
idolatrie,  ....  come  anco  che  la  croce  posta 
in  mano  della  statua  sopra  la  torre  di  Campi- 
doglio  significante  Roma  ci  mostra  che  hoggi 
Roma  cioe  il  papa  non  opra  la  spada  per  sog- 
giogare  il  mondo  a  guisa  d'infideli  iniperatori 
Romani  ma  la  croce  per  salutiferogiornodell' 
universe."  [The  holy  crosses  on  the  tops  of 
the  obelisks,  and  the  statues  of  the  apostolic 
leaders  upon  the  columns,  cancel  the  memory 

of  the  ancient  idolatry So  too  the  cross 

placed  in  the  hand  of  the  statue  over  the  torre 
di  Campidoglio,  signifying  Rome,  shows  that 
now-a-days  Rome — that  is,  the  pope — does  not 
wield  the  sword  to  subjugate  the  world  in  the 
manner  of  the  infidel  emperors  of  Rome,  but 
the  cross,  for  the  blessing  and  light  of  all  man- 
kind.] It  is  striking  how  popular  were  these 
notions  of  the  spiritual  dominion  even  among 
people  of  little  consideration.  The  author  de- 
nies, further  on,  that  the  pope  thought  of  giv- 
ing himself  importance  in  the  eyes  of  sove- 
reigns by  means  of  his  treasure,  as  some  said 
in  order  to  appear  very  wise, — "  per  esser  sa- 
vione  ;"  he  had  no  need  of  this  :  his  intention 
was  rather  to  have  the  means  of  rewarding 
obedient  princes,  and  chastising  the  disobe- 
dient. "  Col  tesoro  castighera  i  prencipi  ri- 
belli  di  santa  chiesa,  et  ajutera  i  prencipi  ob- 
bedienti  nelle  imprese  cattoliche."  He  ap- 
plauds Sixtus  for  his  excommunication  of 
Henry  IV.  "  Subito  fatto  papa  ricorse  a  dio 
per  ajuto,  e  poi  privo  del  regno  di  Navarra 
quelle  scellerato  re  eretico,  .  .  .  .  e  con  queste 
armi  spirituali  principalmente  i  papi  hanno 
disfatti  e  fatti  imperatori  e  re."  [Immedi- 
ately on  becoming  pope  he  besought  God's 
aid,  and  then  deprived  that  vile  heretic  king 
of  the  kingdom  of  Navarre,  ....  and  with 
these  spiritual  arms  principally  the  popes  have 
unmade  and  made  emperors  and  kings.]  That 
priests  and  monks  are  to  be  regarded  as  the 
pope's  soldiery,  is  here  for  once  stated  on  the 
catholic  side.  "  II  papa  tiene  grossi  presidii 
in  tutti  regni,  che  sono  frati  monaci  e  preti,  in 
tanto  numero  e  cosi  bene  stipendiati  e  pro- 

visti  in  tempo  di  pace  e  di  guerra Nelle 

cose  della  religione  vuole  esser  patrone  solo 
et  asseluto,  sicome  dio  vuole :  .  .  .  .  e  beati 
quel  populi  che  avranno  prencipi  ebbedientis- 

simi Se  i  prencipi  manterranno  il  pen- 

siero  di  trattar  le  cose  delli  stati  prima  con  li 


488 


APPENDIX. 


sacerdoti  che  con  i  lor  consiglieri  secolari, 
credami  chc  manterranno  i  sudditi  obbedienti 
e  fedeli."  [The  pope  keeps  large  garrisons 
in  all  kingdoms,  namely  monks  and  priests,  as 
numerous  and  as  well  paid  and  provided  in 

time  of  peace  as  of  war In  matters  of 

religion  he  is  resolved  to  be  sole  and  absolute 
master,  as  it  is  God's  will  he  should  be  :  .  .  .  . 
and  blessed  are  those  nations  who  shall  have 
the  most  obedient  sovereigns If  sove- 
reigns would  adhere  to  the  principle  of  discus- 
sing matters  of  state  with  priests,  in  prefer- 
ence to  their  secular  advisers,  believe  me 
they  W'Ould  keep  their  subjects  obedient  and 
faithful.]  All  the  assertions  of  the  ecclesias- 
tico-political  doctrine  are  here  put  forth  in  a 
popular  shape.  But  what  is  this  worldly 
power  of  the  pope  compared  with  the  autho- 
rity he  has  to  exalt  a  poor  menial  to  be  one  of 
God's  saints'!  Our  author  cannot  sufficiently 
praise  the  canonizations  renewed  by  Sixtus. 
"A  maggior  gloria  di  dio,  ha  dedicato  alcuni 
giorni  festivi  a  santi  che  non  erano  nel  calen- 
dario,  si  per  dare  occasioni  a'  christiani  di 
spendere  tanto  piii  tenipo  in  honor  di  dio  per 
salute  delle  anime  loro  con  I'intercessione  de' 
santi  astenendosi  dell'  opere  servili,  si  perche 
Biano  onorati  gli  amici  di  dio."  [For  the 
greater  glory  of  God  he  has  dedicated  some 
holidays  to  saints  who  were  not  in  the  calen- 
dar, both  to  the  end  that  Christians  may  have 
opportunity  of  spending  so  much  the  more  time 
in  honour  of  God  lor  the  weal  of  their  own 
souls, — beseeching  the  intercession  of  the 
saints,  and  abstaining  from  servile  works, — 
and  also  to  the  honour  of  the  friends  of  God.] 
Among  other  motives,  he  adduces  the  follow- 
ing also  :  "  per  far  vedere  gli  infedeli  e  falsi 
christiani  che  solo  i  veri  servi  di  Christo  sal- 
vatorefannocamminare  i  zoppi,  parlare  i  muti, 
vedere  i  ciechi,  e  resuscitare  i  morti:"  [to 
prove  to  the  infidels  and  to  false  Christians 
that  the  true  servants  of  Christ  our  Saviour 
are  alone  able  to  make  the  lame  walk,  the 
dumb  speak,  the  blind  see,  and  the  dead  come 
to  life  again.] 

57.  Ralatione  presentata  nelV  ecc^"  collegia 
dal  cl"">  Sig^  Lorenzo  Priuli,  ritornalo 
di  Roma  1.586,  2  Luglio.  [Lorenzo  Pri- 
uli's  report  of  his  embassy  to  Rome,  &c.] 

We  pass  from  the  Roman  documents  to  the 
Venetian. 

Lorenzo  Priuli  saw  the  latter  part  of  the 
reign  of  Gregory  XIII.  and  the  beginning  of 
that  of  Sixtus  V. :  he  is  full  of  their  mutual 
contrasts. 

We  must  not  let  ourselves  be  carried  away 
by  him.  The  early  times  of  a  pope  were  ge- 
nerally looked  on  with  more  favour  than  the 
last ;  whether  it  was  because  increasing  years 
necessarily  impair  the  talent  for  administra- 


tion, or  because  we  gradually  discover  in 
every  one  much  that  we  should  wish  away. 

But  Priuli  is  not  unjust.  He  thinks  that 
Gregory's  administration  was  also  very  use- 
ful to  the  church.  "  Nella  bonta  della  vita, 
nel  procurare  il  culto  ecclesiastico,  I'osser- 
vanza  del  concilio,  la  residenza  dei  vescovi, 
nell'  eccellenza  della  dottrina,  I'uno  legale 
I'altro  teologicale,  si  possono  dire  assai  simili." 
[In  goodness  of  life,  in  providing  for  public 
worship,  the  observance  of  the  council  and  the 
residence  of  bishops,  in  excellency  qf  doctrine, 
— the  one  as  a  legist,  the  other  as  a  theolo- 
gian,— they  may  be  said  to  be  very  much 
alike.]  He  thanks  God  that  he  had  given 
such  excellent  rulers  to  his  church. 

We  observe  then  even  foreign  ambassadors 
caught  the  spirit  that  swayed  the  court. 

Priuli  considers  the  election  as  altogether 
miraculous,  —  a  direct  interposition  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  He  reminds  his  native  city  that 
it  had  risen  to  prosperity  through  its  good  un- 
derstanding with  the  popes,  which  he  coun- 
sels it  above  all  things  to  maintain. 

58.  Relatione  del  cP'-osig'''  Giov.  Gritti  ritor- 
nato  ambasciutore  da  Roma  anno  1589. 
[Report  of  Giov.  Gritti's  embassy  to  Rome.] 

There  is  only  an  imperfect  copy  in  the  Ve- 
netian archives. 

I  caught  with  great  eagerness  at  another  I 
saw  in  The  Ambrosian  library  in  Milan:  but 
that  too  I  found  contains  just  as  much  as  the 
other  and  not  a  word  more. 

This  is  the  more  to  be  lamented,  as  the  an- 
ther goes  very  systematically  to  work.  He 
proposes  to  speak  first  of  the  states  of  the 
church,  then  of  the  person  of  the  pope,  of 
whom  he  professes  himself  a  great  admirer, 
thirdly  of  his  views,  and  lastly  of  the  cardi- 
nals and  the  court. 

A  small  portion  only  of  the  first  division  is 
extant.  The  MS.  breaks  off  at  the  very  point 
where  the  author  is  proceeding  to  speak  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  revenue  increased 
under  Sixtus.  Still  I  cannot  doubt  but  that 
the  work  was  completed.  What  we  possess 
is  by  no  means  a  sketch,  but  a  fragment  of 
the  whole. 

It  is  a  curious  fact,  however,  that  none  but 
a  defective  copy  is  to  be  found  even  in  the 
archives. 

59.  Relatione  di  Roma  delV  amhasciatore 
Badoer  K''  relata  in  senato  anno  1589. 
[Badoer's  report  of  his  einbassy  to  Rome.] 

The  report  is  wanting  in  the  Venetian  ar- 
chives. It  is  to  be  found  in  the  collection  of 
the  Quirini  family,  but  only  in  a  fragmentary 
form. 

There  are  eight  leaves  which  contain  no- 


SIXTUS  V. 


489 


thing  but  a  few  remarks  relating  to  the  pro- 
vinces. 

Badoer  remarks  that  Venice  estranged  her 
dependents  in  the  March  by  surrendering  too 
many  of  them  to  the  pope,  or  destroying  them 
at  his  request. 

The  increase  of  trade  in  Ancona  had  been 
talked  of,  but  the  ambassador  was  not  afraid 
that  it  would  be  prejudicial  to  the  Venetians. 

"  Essendo  state  imposte  allora  da  Sisto  V 
doi  per  cento  sopra  tutte  le  mercantie,  le  qua- 
li  a  querelle  d'Anconitani  furono  poi  levate, 
non  era  gionta  in  14  mesi  alcuna  nave  in 
quel  porto."  [Two  per  cent,  having  been  im- 
posed at  that  time  (on  his  journey  from  home) 
on  all  merchandize  by  Sixtus,  which  was  af- 
terwards taken  off  upon  the  remonstrances  of 
the  people  of  Ancona,  not  one  vessel  entered 
that  port  during  a  space  of  fourteen  months.] 

We  see  that  the  two  imposts  of  Gregory 
and  of  Sixtus  V.,  though  they  were  after- 
wards repealed,  n|||brtheless  contributed 
greatly  to  the  decline  of  the  trade  of  Ancona, 
through  the  uncertainty  of  profit  they  occa- 
sioned suddenly  to  the  merchants.  The  chief 
trade  at  that  time  was  in  camlets  and  furs, 
yet  the  Jews  found  no  fitting  opportunity  for 
exchange  in  cloth  or  other  goods.  The  cus- 
toms were  farmed  out  at  only  14,000  scudi, 
and  even  this  sum  was  never  realized. 

Badoer  wishes  that  the  example  of  Spain 
were  copied,  and  that  Venice  would  bestow 
salaries  on  such  friends  as  it  had  in  the  March. 
He  breaks  off  just  as  he  is  about  to  enume- 
rate those  friends. 

60.  Dispacci  Veneti  1573 — 1590.    [Venetian 
Dispatches.] 

No  one  would  suppose  that  amidst  such  a 
profusion  of  documents  there  should  be  felt 
any  want  of  information  :  yet  this  was  very 
near  being  the  case  here.  We  see  what  an 
evil  star  presided  over  the  Venetian  reports  : 
the  Roman  memoirs  elucidate  only  the  first 
part  of  this  pontificate  in  some  detail.  I 
should,  after  all,  have  been  forced  to  put  up 
with  Tempest!  for  the  latter  part — the  most 
important  period — had  not  the  dispatches  of 
the  Venetian  ambassadors  come  to  my  aid. 

I  had  already  in  Vienna  made  extracts 
from  the  whole  series  of  Venetian  dispatches 
from  1573  to  1590,  which  Vv'ere  preserved 
there  for  the  benefit  of  the  government,  part- 
ly in  authentic  copies,  partly  in  rubricaries. 

There  was  really  some  dilticulty  in  the 
task  of  mastering  the  former:  a  monthly  part 
sometimes  extends  to  100  leaves;  they  have 
been  damaged  in  their  transport  by  sea  ;  they 
crumble  as  one  opens  them,  and  the  breath- 
ing is  assailed  by  an  offensive  dust.  The  ru- 
bricaries are  easier  to  deal  with ;  they  are 
protected  by  binding,  and  their  abridged  form 
63 


facilitates  the  gleaning  of  what  is  essential 
from  amongst  the  thousand  insignificant  af- 
fairs that  might  have  passed  between  two  Ita- 
lian states,  and  which  have  no  claim  to  be 
recorded  in  history. 

Among  these  documents  we  find  the  re- 
ports of  Paul  Tiepolo  down  to  1570,  of  An- 
tonio Tiepolo  to  1578,  of  Zuanne  Correr  to 
1581,  of  Lunardo  Donate  to  1583,  of  Lorenzo 
Priuli  to  1536,  of  Zuanne  Gritti  to  1589,  and 
of  Alberto  Badoer  to  1591. 

Besides  these  regular  embassies,  we  find 
now  and  then  extraordinary  ones ;  that  of 
Zuanne  Soranzo,  from  October  1581  to  Feb- 
ruary 1582,  which  was  dispatched  on  account 
of  the  disputes  respecting  the  patriarchate  of 
Aquileja  ;  the  congratulatory  embassy  of  the 
year  1585  to  Sixtus  V.,  discharged  by  Giaco- 
mo  Foscarini,  Marino  Grimani,  and  Lunardo 
Donate,  whose  common  report  was  drawn  up 
by  their  secretary  Padavino ;  lastly,  another 
embassy  of  Lunardo  Donate,  in  the  year  1589, 
occasioned  by  the  political  complications  of 
the  times.  The  dispatches  of  this  last  envoy 
are  by  far  the  most  important:  upon  this  oc- 
casion, the  mutual  relations  of  the  pope  and 
the  republic  were  for  once  of  importance  to 
the  history  of  the  world  ;  fortunately  they  are 
to  be  found  set  forth  in  full  under  the  title, 
"  llegistro  delle  lettere  dell'  ill'no  signor  Lu- 
nardo Donate  Kr  ambasciatore  straordinario 
al  sommo  pontefice :  comincia  a  13  ottobre 
1589  e  finisce  a  19  decembre  1589." 

We  have  not  even  yet  mentioned  all  the 
materials  for  becoming  acquainted  with  the 
transactions  of  the  ambassador.  Thefe  waa 
besides  a  special  privy  correspondence  of  the 
ambassador  with  the  Council  of  Ten,  which 
is  to  be  seen  very  neatly  vs^ritten  on  parch- 
ment; the  first  volume  under  the  title,  "Li- 
bre primo  da  Roma,  secrete  del  consiglio  di 
X  sotto  il  serenissimo  D.  Aluise  Mocenigo  in- 
clito  duca  di  Venetia ;"  the  succeeding  vo- 
lumes have  corresponding  titles. 

I  know  very  well  the  objections  that  may 
be  urged  against  the  use  of  ambassadors'  dis- 
patches. It  is  true  they  are  written  under 
the  influence  of  the  impressions  of  the  mo- 
ment; they  are  seldom  quite  impartial,  often 
bearing  only  on  special  circumstances,  and 
by  no  means  to  be  always  implicitly  followed. 
But  can  any  records  or  writings  be  named 
that  are  worthy  of  complete  and  undiscrimi- 
nating  confidence  J  On  all  hands  the  grain 
of  salt  is  indispensable.  At  any  rate  the  am- 
bassadors were  contemporaneous  witnesses, 
present  on  the  spot,  and  bound  to  observe ; 
they  must  indeed  have  been  wholly  destitute 
of  talent  if  their  reports,  read  to  some  extent, 
do  not  realize  to  us  the  events  they  describe, 
and  make  us  feel  as  though  we  actually  be- 
held them. 

Now  the  Venetian  ambassadors  were  men 


490 


APPENDIX. 


of  great  practical  experience  and  ability  :  I 
consider  these  dispatches  of  theirs  very  in- 
Btructive. 

But  how  far  would  it  carry  us  were  I  to 
think  of  malting  extracts  from  this  long  series 
of  volumes  7 

I  must  be  permitted  to  adhere  to  the  rule  I 
have  laid  down  of  avoiding  extracts  form  dis- 
patches in  this  Appendix.  It  would  require 
a  lengthened  series  of  them  to  give  some  no- 
tion of  the  contents  of  the  originals. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  will  touch  upon  two 
important  missions  belonging  to  the  times  of 
Sixtus  V. 

61.  Relazione  alV  ill"">  e  rev™"  cardinale 
Rusticucci  seg^'"  di  N.  Sig^^  papa  Sisto 
V  delle  cose  di  Polonia  intorno  alia  reli- 
gions e  delle  azioni  del  cardinale  Bolog- 
netto  in  quattro  anni  ch'  egli  e  state 
nuntio  in  qiMla  provincia,  dtvisa  in  due 
parti  :  nella  prima  si  tratta  (/fe'  danni  die 
funno  le  eresie  in  tiUto  quel  regno,  del 
termine  in  che  si  trova  il  misero  stato 
cccl'^'',  e  delle  dijjicolta  e  speranze  che  si 
possono  avere  intorno  a  rimedii :  nella 
seconda  si  narrano  li  modi  tenuti  dal  car- 
dinale Bolognetto  per  svperare  quelle 
dijjicolta,  et  il  profitlo  chefece,  et  il  siio 
negoziare  in  tutto  il  tempo  della  sua  nun- 
tiatura:  di  Horatio  Spannocchj,  gia 
seg""  del  detto  sig^<^  card^^  Bolognetto. 
[Report  of  Horatio  Spannocchi,  formerly 
secretary  to  cardinal  Bolognetto,  four 
years  nuncio  in  Poland,  on  the  ecclesias- 
tical affairs  of  that  kingdom,  addressed  to 
the  secretary  of  Sixtus  V.,  &c.] 

Bolognetto's  secretary,  who  had  been  with 
him  iu  Poland,  employed  the  leisure  of  a  win- 
ter's residence  in  13ologna  in  drawing  up  this 
report,  which  is  not  only  circumstantial  but 
very  instructive. 

He  first  describes  the  extraordinary  propa- 
gation of  protestantism  in  Poland,  "non  las- 
ciando  pure  una  minima  citta  o  castello  libe- 
ro"  [not  leaving  ud^itouchcd  the  smallest  town 
or  castle].  He  attributes  this  phenomenon, 
as  will  readily  be  anticipated,  chiefly  to  se- 
cular considerations  ;  he  asserts  that  the  no- 
bles inflicted  fines  on  their  subjects  if  they 
did  not  attend  the  protestant  churches. 

Moreover,  here  too,  as  in  tiie  rest  of  Eu- 
rope, a  state  of  indifierence  had  begun  to  ma- 
nifest itself  "  La  differenza  d'esser  cattolico 
o  di  altra  setta  si  piglia  in  burla  o  in  rise, 
come  cosa  di  pochissima  importanza."  [The 
difference  between  being  a  catholic  or  of  a 
difierent  sect  is  made  a  mock  of,  as  a  thing  of 
the  most  trifling  importance.] 

The  German.a,  who  settled  even  in  the 
smallest  places,  and  married  tiiere,  had  a 
large  share  in  the  difTusion  of  the  protestant 
doctrines:  but  still   more  formidable  in  the 


author's  opinion  were  the  Italians,  who  utter- 
ed the- assertion  that  in  Italy,  under  the  cloak 
of  Catholicism,  people  even  doubted  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul,  and  that  only  an  oppor- 
tunity was  waited  for,  to  declare  openly 
against  the  pope. 

He  next  depicts  the  condition  into  which 
the  clergy  had  fallen  under  these  circumstan- 
ces. 

"  Tnfiniti  de' poveri  ecclesiastici  si  trovano 
privi  degli  alimenti,  si  perche  i  padroni  delle 
ville,  eretici  per  il  piii,  se  non  tutti,  hanno 
occupato  le  possessioni  ed  altri  beni  delle 
chiese  o  per  ampliarne  il  proprio  patrimonio 
0  per  gratificarne  ministri  delle  lor  sette  ov- 
vero  per  alienarne  in  varj  modi  a  persone 
profane,  si  ancora  perche  negano  di  pagar  le 
decime,  quantunque  siano  loro  dovute  oltre 
alle  leggi  divine  e  canoniche  anco  per  consti- 
tuzione  particolare  di  quel  regno.  Onde  i 
miseri  preti  in  molti  luoghi  non  avendo  con 
che  sostentarsi  lascia^^Bo  le  chiese  in  abban- 
dono.  La  terza  e  rispetto  alia  giurisdizione 
ecclesiastica,  Ja  quale  insieme  con  i  privilegj 
del  clero  e  andata  mancando,  che  oggidi  altro 
non  si  fa  di  differenza  tra'  beni  sottoposti  alle 
chiese  o  monasterj  e  gli  altri  di  persone  pro- 
fane, le  citazioni  e  sentenze  per  niente.  .  .  . 
lo  medesimo  ho  udito  da  principalissimi  sena- 
tori  che  vogliono  lasciarsi  tagliare  pivi  presto 
a  pezzi  che  acconsentire  a  leg"ge  alcuna  per 
la  quale  si  debbano  pagar  le  decime  a  qualsi- 
voglia  cattolico  come  cosa  debita.  Fu  costi- 
tuito  ne'  comizj  gia  sei  anni  sono  per  publico 
decreto  che  nessuno  potesse  esser  gravato  a 
pagar  le  medesime  decime  da  qualsivoglia 
tribunale  nc  ecclesiastico  ne  secola.re.  Tut- 
tavia  perche  ne'  prossimi  comizj  per  varj  im- 
pedimenti  non  si  fece  detta  composizione, 
negano  sempre  di  pagare,  ne  vogliono  i  capi- 
tani  de'  luoghi  eseguire  alcuna  sentenza  so- 
pra  dette  decime  " 

[Multitudes  of  the  poor  clergy,  destitute  of 
food,  as  well  because  the  magistrates  of  the 
cities,  heretics  for  the  most  part  if  not  wholly 
so,  have  seized  the  possessions  and  goods  of 
the  churches,  either  to  augment  their  own 
patrimony,  or  to  bestow  them  on  ministers  of 
their  own  sects,  or  to  alienate  them  in  vari- 
ous ways  in  favour  of  profane  persons,  as  also 
because  they  refuse  to  pay  tithes,  though  due 
not  only  in  accordance  with  divine  and  ca- 
nonical laws,  but  also  by  virtue  of  the  parti- 
cular constitution  of  this  kingdom.  Hence 
the  unfortunate  priests  in  many  places,  not 
having  wherewith  to  sustain  existence,  aban- 
don the  churches.  The  third  is  in  respect  to 
the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  which  is  fallen 
into  decay  along  with  the  privileges  of  the 
clergy,  that  now-a-days  there  is  no  difference 
made  between  property  subjected  to  the 
churches  or  monasteries,  and  that  of  profane 
persons;  citations  and  sentences  are  set  at 
nought.  ...  I  myself  have  heard  very  cmi- 


SIXTUS  V. 


491 


nent  senators  declare,  that  they  would  rather 
suffer  themselves  to  be  cut  to  pieces  than 
submit  to  any  law  enjoining  them  to  pay  tithe 
as  of  riii'ht  due  to  any  catholic  whatever.  It 
was  publicly  decreed  in  the  diet,  six  years 
ago,  that  no  one  should  be  forced  to  pay  the 
said  tithes  by  any  tribunal,  whether  ecclesi- 
astical or  secular.  Nevertheless,  as  in  the 
next  diet  the  ratification  of  the  said  composi- 
tion was  prevented  by  various  impediments, 
they  continue  to  refuse  payment,  nor  will  the 
ducal  officers  execute  any  sentence  for  the 
said  tithes.] 

He  thinks  it  a  difficult  matter  for  a  nuncio 
to  effect  any  thing  in  the  existing  state  of 
things.  It  would  be  impossible  to  introduce 
the  inquisition,  or  even  a  stricter  law  of  mar- 
riage. The  very  name  of  the  pope  was  ab- 
horred ;  tiie  clergy  deemed  it  their  duty  to 
maintain  the  interests  of  the  country  in  oppo- 
sition to  Rome ;  the  king  alone  was  to  be 
counted  upon. 

The  palatine  Radziwill  of  Wilna  had  com- 
municated to  the  king  a  call  to  arms  against 
the  Turks,  composed  by  a  follower  of  Zw in- 
gle. The  author  had  enjoined  the  nation  in 
the  very  first  place  to  mend  their  ways,  and 
to  get  rid  of  the  images,  the  adoration  of 
which  he  regarded  as  idolatrous.  The  king- 
would  notsuffer  the  address  to  be  published  in 
this  form.  He  v.'rote  with  his  own  hand  the 
following  words  in  the  margin  : — "  Prsstat 
hoc  omittere  quam  false  imputare  et  oration- 
era  monitoriam  religionis  antiquissimse  sugil- 
latione  infamem  reddere.  O  utinam  faciant 
uovsB  secta3  nos  tam  diuturna  pace  florentes 
atque  fecit  sancta  religio  catholica  veros  se- 
cutores  suos  !"  '  [It  is  better  to  omit  this  than 
to  make  false  imputations,  and  render  a  moni- 
tory address  infamous  by  the  slander  of  the 
most  ancient  religion.  O  would  that  the  new 
sects  could  bless  us  with  such  lasting  peace 
as  the  holy  catholic  religion  bestowed  on  its 
true  followers.]  A  declaration  on  which  our 
reporter  built  great  hopes. 

He  then  proceeds  to  an  examination  of 
Bolognetto's  undertakings,  which  he  classes 
under  seven  heads : — 

1.  Restoration  of  the  papal  authority, 

2.  Persecution  of  the  heretics. 

3.  Reform  of  the  clergy  ("  modi  per  mode- 
rare  la  licentiosa  vita  di  sacerdoti  scaudalosi"). 

4.  Restoration  of  divine  worship. 

5.  Union  of  the  clergy. 

6.  Defence  of  their  rights. 

7.  Considerations  respecting  the  Christian 
community  in  general. 

I  have  already  described  in  general  terms 
the  efficiency  of  Bolognetto,  with  respect  to 
these  problems.  I  subjoin,  as  an  exan)ple,  a 
more  accurate  account  of  his  interference  in 
the  negociations  with  England. 

"  La  reina  d'Inghilterra  domandava  al  re 


di  Polonia  un'  indulto  per  i  suoi  mercanti  In- 
glesi  di  poter  portar  le  loro  mercanzic  e  ven- 
dero  per  tutto  il  regno  liberamente,  dove  ora 
non  possono  venderle  se  non  i  mercanti  del 
regno  in  Danzica,  domandando  insieme  che 
fosse  loro  concesso  aprire  un  fondaco  publico 
in  Torogno,  ch'e  il  piu  celebre  porto  della 
Prussia  dopo  quelle  di  Danzica,  e  di  1h  poi 
partar  le  lo  mercanzie  eglino  stessi  a  tutte  le 
fiere  che  si  fanno  per  la  Polonia,  dove  non 
possono  portarle  ordinariamente  se  non  mer- 
canti del  paese,  che  per  il  piu  sono  o  Todes- 
chi  o  Pruteni  o  Italiani.  Domandava  dunque 
con  quest'  occasione  quella  pretesa  reina  che 
nel  decreto  di  tal  concessione  si  esprimesse, 
che  a  questi  suoi  mercanti  non  potesse  mai 
esser  fatta  molestia  per  contodi  religione,  ma 
che  potessero  esercitarla  liberamente  a  modo 
loro  ovunque  andassero  per  il  regno.  Piaceva 
questo  partite  universalmente  a  tutta  la  nobil- 
t;i  Polacca:  solo  i  Danzicani  ostavano  gagli- 
ardamente,  mostrando  che  da  questo  indulto 
saria  seguilo  I'ultimo  danno  al  porto  loro, 
tanto  celebre  e  tanto  famoso  per  tutto  il  mon- 
do,  e  che  la  speranza  del  minor  prezzo  era 
fallace,  massimamente  perche  i  mercanti  fo- 
rastieri  quando  fossero  stati  in  possesso  di 
poter  vendere  ad  arbitrio  loro  e  poter  servar 
la  mercanzia  loro  lungo  tempo  nelle  mani, 
I'avrebbon  venduta  molto  piu  cara  di  quello 
che  la  I'endono  oggi  i  mercanti  del  paese. 
Tuttavia  il  contraccambio  che  offeriva  la  regi- 
na  a'  mercanti  di  Polonia,  di  poter  fare  lo 
stesso  loro  in  Inghilterra,  pareva  che  gia 
havesse  persuaso  il  re  a  concedere  tutto 
quello  che  domandava.  II  che  non  prima 
venne  agli  orecchj  del  Bolognetto,  che  ando 
a  trovare  S.  M''^,  e  con  efficacissime  ragioni 
le  mostro  quanto  esorbitante  cosa  sarebbe 
stata  che  avesse  concesso  per  publico  decreto 
una  tanto  obbrobriosa  setta,  e  come  non  senza 
nascosto  inganno  e  speranza  d'importantissi- 
me  conseguenze  quella  scellerata  donna  vo- 
leva  che  si  dichiarasse  cosi  per  decreto  potersi 
esercitar  la  setta  Anglicana  in  quel  regno, 
dove  tutto  il  mondo  pur  troppo  sa  che  si  per- 
metta  il  credere  in  materia  di  religione  quel 
che  place  a  chi  si  sia :  con  questa  ed  altre 
efficacissime  ragioni  il  re  Stetano  rimase  tal- 
mente  persuaso  che  promesse  non  voler  mai 
far  menzione  alcuna  di  religione  in  qualunque 
accordo  avesse  falto  con  quella  regina  o  suoi 
mercanti." 

[The  queen  of  England  demanded  of  the 
king  of  Poland  license  for  her  English  mer- 
chants freely  to  import  and  sell  their  merchan- 
dise every  where  in  his  dominions,  where  at 
present  it  is  only  permitted  the  merchants  of 
the  kingdom  in  Dantzic  to  sell  them,  demand- 
ing at  the  same  time  that  leave  should  be 
granted  them  to  open  a  public  warehouse  in 
Torogno,  which  is  the  most  celebrated  port  of 
Prussia  after  that  of  Dantzic,  and  thence 
themselves  to  carry  their  merchandise  to  all 


492 


APPENDIX. 


the  fairs  held  in  Poland,  where  commonly 
this  can  be  done  only  by  the  merchants  of  the 
country,  who  are  for  the  most  part  Germans, 
or  Prussians,  or  Italians.  Furthermore,  this 
pretended  queen  took  the  opportunity  of  de- 
manding, that  in  the  decree  establishing  this 
concession,  it  should  be  expressed  that  no 
molestation  was  ever  to  be  offered  to  her  mer- 
chants on  account  of  their  religion,  but  that 
they  should  be  at  liberty  to  practise  it  with- 
out hindrance  in  their  own  way  wherever 
they  went  throughout  the  kingdom.  This 
arrangement  gave  universal  satisfaction  to  all 
the  nobility  of  Poland :  only  the  Dantzickers 
opposed  it  with  spirit,  showing  that  the  con- 
sequences of  the  proposed  concession  would 
be  in  the  last  degree  injurious  to  their  port, 
so  renowned  throughout  the  whole  world ; 
and  that  the  hope  of  reduced  prices  was 
fallacious,  above  all  because  the  foreign  mer- 
chants, when  they  should  have  it  in  their 
power  to  sell  at  their  own  pleasure,  and  to 
keep  their  goods  long  on  hand,  would  exact  a 
much  higher  price  for  them  than  that  now 
required  by  the  merchants  of  the  country. 
Nevertheless,  the  reciprocal  advantage  offer- 
ed by  the  queen  to  the  merchants  of  Poland, 
of  enjoying  the  same  privilege  in  England, 
seemed  to  have  quite  determined  the  king  to 
grant  all  that  was  required.  This  no  sooner 
came  to  the  ears  of  Bolognetto,  than  he  went 
to  his  majesty,  and  pointed  out  to  him,  with 
the  most  cogent  arguments,  what  a  monstrous 
thing  it  would  be  were  he  by  public  decree 
to  acknowledge  so  scandalous  a  sect,  and  that 
it  was  not  without  some  lurking  trickery,  and 
hope  of  most  important  consequences,  that 
nefarious  woman  sought  to  have  him  proclaim 
permission  for  the  exercise  of  the  English 
sect  in  that  kingdom,  where  it  is  but  too 
universally  notorious  that  every  one  is  at 
liberty  to  believe  in  matters  of  religion  just 
what  he  pleases.  These  and  other  most  im- 
pressive arguments  so  prevailed  with  king- 
Stephen,  that  he  promised  he  would  never 
make  any  mention  of  religion  in  whatever 
compact  he  should  enter  into  with  that  queen 
or  her  merchants.] 

The  reader  will  perceive  that  this  report 
contains  also  matters  of  a  purely  political 
nature. 

At  the  end  the  author  enters  more  specially 
into  this  field. 

He  finds  the  Poles  divided  into  a  variety  of 
factions;  diflerences  subsisting  between  the 
several  provinces,  and  again  in  each  province 
between  the  clergy  and  the  laity ;  between 
the  senators  and  the  provincial  delegates; 
between  the  ancient  high  nobility  and  the 
inferior. 

The  high  chancellor  Zamoisky  is  repre- 
sented as  possessing  innnense  power :  all 
appointments  depended  on  him  ;  particularly 
since  a  vice-chancellor  and  a  king's  secretary 


were  wholly  in  his  interests.  ("Da  che  e 
state  fatto  il  Baranosky  vicecancelliere  et  il 
Tolisky  segretario  del  re,  persone  poco  fa 
incognite.") 

The  appointments  made  by  Stephen  Ba- 
thory  had  by  no  means  given  general  satisfac- 
tion. Attention  was  already  directed  to  his 
successor  Sigismund,  "  amatissimo  di  tutti  i 
Polacchi"  [exceedingly  beloved  by  all  the 
Poles]. 

62.  Discorso  del  molto  illustre  e  rev™"  mons^o 
Minuccio  Minucci  sopra  il  modo  di  resti- 
tiiire  la  religione  cottolica  in  Alemagna. 
1588.  [Discourse  by  Minuccio  Minucci 
on  the  means  of  re-establishing  the  catho- 
lic religion  in  Germany.] 

A  very  important  paper,  of  which  I  made 
extensive  use,  particularly  at  page  201. 

Minucci  served  a  long  while  under  Gregory 
in  Germany ;  he  is  pretty  frequently  men- 
tioned by  Mafiei.  In  the  paper  before  us  he 
endeavours  to  explain  the  existing  state  of 
things,  in  order,  as  he  says,  that  Rome  might 
refuse  to  send  the  patient  dangerous  remedies. 

He  complains,  in  the  outset,  that  so  little 
pains  were  taken  on  the  catholic  side  to  gain 
over  the  protestant  princes ;  then  he  examines 
the  attacks  of  the  protestants  on  Catholicism, 
— for  his  mission  fell  upon  the  period  of  the 
hot  and  yet  undecided  struggle:  "ho  pensato 
di  raccontare  le  pratiche  che  muovono  gli 
eretici  ogni  di  per  far  seccare  o  svellere  tutta 
la  radice  del  cattolicismo :"  lastly,  he  consi- 
ders the  means  by  which  they  were  to  be 
withstood. 

He  shows  himself  unusually  well  versed  in 
German  affairs;  still  he  cannot  suppress  a 
certain  astonishment  when  he  compares  the 
state  of  the  country,  such  as  it  had  become, 
with  the  quiet  and  order  of  Italy  or  Spain. 
We  have  alreadj'^  adverted  to  the  restless 
movements  of  Casimir  of  the  Palatinate.  Let 
us  observe  the  amazement  into  which  they 
threw  a  foreigner. 

"  II  Casimiro  dope  aver  sprezzata  I'autorita 
deir  imperatore  m  mille  cose,  ma  principal- 
mente  in  abbruciare  le  munitioni  presso  Spira 
che  si  conducevano  in  Fiandra  con  salvocon- 
dotto  imperiale,  dopo  aver  offeso  il  re  di 
Spagna  non  solo  con  quell'  atto,  ma  anco  con 
tanti  ajuti  dati  a  ribelli  suoi  di  Fiandra  e  con 
I'haver  concesso  spatio  alii  medesirai  ribelli 
Fiamenghi  per  edificare  una  citta  (Franchen- 
dal)  nelli  stati  suoi,  con  I'haver  portate  tante 
mine  in  Francia,  tante  desolationi  in  Lorena 
hor  in  propria  persona,  hora  mandando  genti 
sue,  con  I'haver  fatto  afl'ronto  notabile  all'  ar- 
ciduca  Ferdinando  impedendo  il  cardi  sue 
hgliuolo  con  minaccie  e  con  viva  forza  nel 
camino  di  Colonia,  con  I'istesso  dichiarato 
nemico  alia  casa  di  Baviera,  e  pas.sato  in  pro- 
pria persona  contra  I'elettore  di  Colonia,  pur 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


493 


se  ne  sta  sicuro  in  un  stalo  aperto  nel  mezzo 
di  quelli  c'hanno  ricevute  da  lui  tante  ing-iu- 
rie :  ne  ha  fortczze  o  militia  die  li  dia  confi- 
denza  ne  amici  o  parenti  die  siano  per  soc- 
correrlo  e  difenderlo,  ma  gode  trntto  della 
troppa  pazienza  de'  cattolici,  die  li  potriano 
d'improviso  et  a  nianosalva  portare  altre  tan- 
te mine  quante  egli  ha  tante  volte  causate 
nelli  stati  d'altri,  pnrche  si  risolvessero  et 
havessero  ciior  di  farlo." 

[Casimir,  after  having  set  at  nought  the 
authority  of  the  emperor  in  a  thousand  mat- 
ters,  but   diiefly  in   burning   the  munitions 
near   Spires,   which  were   on    their  way  to 
Flanders  under  imperial  safe  conduct,  after 
having  offended  the  king  of  Spain,  not  only 
by  this  act  but  also  by  the  manifold  aid  be- 
stowed on  his  rebel  subjects  in  Flanders,  and 
by  his  granting  ground   to  the  said  rebels  to 
build  a  city  (Franchendal)  in  his  dominions ; 
after  having  carried  such  havoc  into  France, 
such  desolation  into  Lorraine,  sometimes  in 
person,  sometimes  by  his  servants;  after  hav- 
ing grossly  insulted  the  archduke  Ferdinand 
by  stopping  his  son  the  cardinal  on  his  road  to 
Cologne   with  threats  and   actual   violence ;  | 
after  having  been  the  declared  enemy  of  the  j 
house  of  Bavaria,  and  having  withstood  in  his 
own  person  the  elector  of  Cologne ;  notwith- 
standing all  this,  he  remains  safe  in  an  open 
territory,  in  the  midst  of  those  who  have  re- 
ceived such  injuries  at  his  hands:  yet  neither 
has  he  fortresses  or  soldiery  to  inspire  him 
with  confidence,  nor  friends  nor  relations  to 
succour  or  defend  him  ;  but  he  reaps  the  be-  \ 
nefit  of  the  inordinate  patience  of  the  catho- ! 
lies,  who  could  suddenly  and  certainlj'  visit ' 
him  with  such  ruin  as  he  has  so  often  inflict-  | 
ed  on  the  territories  of  others,  if  they  had  but 
the  resolution  and  the  courage  to  do  it.] 


SECTION  V. 

SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL 
RESTORATION. 

63.  Conclaves. 

I  HAVE  little  fear  of  incurring  censure  if  I 
do  not  set  down  in  this  place  every  fugitive 
pamphlet,  every  insignificant  essay,  that  has 
come  before  me  in  manuscript  in  the  course 
of  my  multifarious  preliminary  researches; 
rather  is  it  possible  that  I  have  done  too  much. 
Many  a  reader  who  still  grants  me  his  atten- 
tion will  doubtless  be  dissatisfied  with  an 
unfashioned  work,  made  up  of  a  mixture  of 
various  languages ;  and  yet  it  would  not  be 
expedient  to  translate  the  original  documents; 
they  would  thereby  suffer  as  to  their  utility 
and  authenticity.     Hence  I  could  not  venture 


to  empty  the  whole  contents  of  ray  collectanea 

indiscriminately  into  this  Appendix. 

Of  the  conclaves,  for  instance,  on  whicli 
there  exists  a  great  multitude  of  MSS.,  I 
will  only  give  a  summary  notice. 

After  every  papal  election,  especially  from 
the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  down 
to  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth,  a  report 
of  it  appeared  ;  only  a  written  one  indeed, 
but  so  contrived  as  to  be  widely  diffused,  and 
often  even  to  call  forth  counter-statements. 
Occasionally  these  accounts  were  composed 
by  cardinals,  but  commonly  by  their  secreta- 
ries, who  attended  the  conclaves  under  the 
name  of  conclavisti,  and  made  it  their  parti- 
cular business,  with  a  view  to  their  master's 
interests,  to  observe  the  course  of  the  various 
intrigues,  which  the  cardinals  themselves 
could  not  so  easily  do,  consistently  with  what 
was  required  of  them  by  the  dignity  of  their 
station.  At  times  others  also  assumed  the 
pen.  "  Con  quella  maggior  diligenza  che  ho 
potuto,"  says  the  author  of  the  Conclave  of 
Gregory  XIIF.,  "ho  raccolto  cosi  dalli  signori 
conclavisti  come  da  cardinali  che  sono  stati 
partecipi  del  negotio,  tutto  I'ordine  e  la  verita 
di  questo  conclave."  [I  have  collected  with 
my  utmost  possible  diligence  from  the  concla- 
vists, and  from  the  cardinals  who  took  part  in 
the  transactions,  the  whole  course  and  the 
truth  of  this  conclave.]  We  see  he  was  not 
present  himself.  Sometimes  they  are  diaries 
that  come  into  our  hands,  sometimes  letters, 
sometimes,  too,  regular  narratives.  Each 
little  work  is  complete  in  itself;  now  and  then 
the  universally  known  formalities  are  repeat- 
ed. Their  value,  as  may  be  supposed,  is  very 
various.  Sometimes  every  thing  is  frittered 
into  rambling  detail ;  sometimes,  though  rare- 
ly, the  author  rises  to  a  real  apprehension  of 
the  leading  points ;  but  at  bottom  there  is 
instruction  to  be  found  in  all  these  produc- 
tions, if  the  reader  has  only  courage  and  does 
not  grow  weary. 

How  many  works  of  this  kind  exist  may  be 
learned,  among  other  sources,  from  the  Mar- 
sand  catalogue  of  the  Parisian  library.  They 
have  likewise  found  their  way  to  Germany. 
The  33rd,  35th,  and  several  other  volumes  of 
the  Berlin  Informazioni,  contain  copies  in 
great  abundance.  In  Joh.  Gottfr.  Geissler's 
Programm  de  Bibliotheca  Milichiana  iv.  Gor- 
litz  1767,  there  is  a  list  of  the  conclaves  to 
be  found  in  the  32nd,  33rd,  and  34th  codex  of 
the  collection  of  that  place.  The  most  de- 
tailed list  that  1  know  of  is  to  be  met  with  in 
Novaes,  Inti-oduzione  alle  vite  de'  sommi 
pontefici,  1822,  i.  p.  272.  He  had  access  to 
the  library  of  the  Jesuits,  in  which  there  was 
a  tolerably  complete  collection  of  these  writ- 
ings. 

It  followed  from  the  nature  of  the  case  that 
they  should  very  soon,  at  least  in  part,  come 
before  the  public   in  another  shape.     First 


494 


APPENDIX. 


they  were  incorporated  into  the  histories  of 
the  popes.  The  conclave  of  pope  Pius  V., — 
that  is  to  say,  if  not  the  whole  of  it,  at  least 
the  beginning  and  end, — was  inserted  in  the 
history  of  Panvinius.  Cicarella  translated  the 
greater  part  of  the  conclaves  of  Gregory  XIII. 
and  Sixtus  V.;  the  latter  with  all  the  by- 
reflexions  occurring  in  the  Italian.  The 
passage  which  Shrockh,  N.  Kirchengesch.  iii. 
283,  produces  from  Cicarella  is  taken  verba- 
tim from  the  conclave.  Thuanus  too  has 
given  a  place  to  these  accounts ;  borrowing 
them,  however,  as  appears  upon  closer  inspec- 
tion, not  from  the  originals,  but  from  Cicarella 
(lib.  82,  p.  27).  The  last  named  conclave  is 
also  inserted  in  the  Tesoro  Politico,  but  very 
imperfectly,  and  in  snatches  of  extracts.  The 
same  has  been  the  case  with  the  other  con- 
claves. 

Gradually,  however,  and  first  of  all  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  the  idea  was  conceived 
of  making  collections  of  these  conclaves. 
The  first  printed  collection  has  for  its  title, 
"  Conclavi  de'  pontefici  Romani  quali  si  sono 
potuto  trovare  fin  a  questo  giorno,"  1677.  It 
begins  with  Clement  V.,  but  tliere  is  a  hiatus 
in  it  up  to  Urban  VI,,  another  up  to  Nicholas 
v.,  thenceforth  it  proceeds  regularly  to  Alex- 
ander VII.  In  the  publication  of  this  series 
the  view  was  entertained,  at  least  ostensibly, 
that  the  world  might  learn  from  these  exam- 
ples how  little  human  wisdom  could  avail 
against  the  overruling  hand  of  Heaven.  "  Si 
tocca  con  mano  che  le  negotiation!  piii  se- 
crete, dissimulate  et  accorte  ....  per  opra 
arcana  del  cielo  svaniti  sortiscono  fini  tanto 
diftbrmi."  [It  is  palpable  that  the  most  se- 
cret, disguised,  and  crafty  negotiations  .  .  .  . 
are  frustrated  and  brought  to  confusion  by  the 
mysterious  agency  of  Heaven.]  But  this  was 
not  the  view  taken  by  the  world  at  large, 
which  rather  caught  eagerly  at  the  curious, 
and  at  times  objectionable,  matter  contained 
in  the  work.  A  French  edition  appeared  in 
Lyons,  and  this  being  quickly  bought  up,  a 
reprint,  revised  from  the  original,  was  pro- 
duced in  Holland,  dated  Cologne,  1694,  not 
as  Noaves  relates,  1594.  It  has  often  been 
re-edited  with  further  additions. 

In  this  way  the  conclaves  have  undergone 
numerous  alterations.  On  comparing  the 
French  collections  with  the  originals,  we  find 
them  the  same  on  the  wiiole;  but  we  meet 
with  considerable  alterations  in  particular  de- 
tails. As  far  as  I  can  learn,  they  arise  rather 
from  misunderstanding,  than  from  wilful  per- 
version. 

But  there  are  likewise  other  collections 
which  have  not  been  printed.  I  am  in  pos- 
session of  such  an  one,  which  supplies  the 
omissions  in  the  printed  collections,  and  is  at 
the  same  time  not  inferior  to  any  in  authen- 
ticity.    For  any  detailed  use,  an  examination 


of  the  originals  must  certainly  in  all  cases  be 
desirable. 

64.  Vita  e  successi  del  cardl  di  Santaseveri- 
na.  [Life  and  fortunes  of  cardinal  San- 
taseverina.] 

An  autobiography  of  this  influential  cardi- 
nal, of  whom  it  has  been  necessary  to  make 
frequent  mention. 

It  is  somewhat  prolix,  and  often  wanders 
into  trifles;  the  judgment  pronounced  in  it  on 
persons,  and  the  accounts  it  gives  of  things, 
are  shaped  entirely  by  the  personal  disposi- 
tion of  the  writer;  nevertheless,  it  communi- 
cates very  peculiar  and  characteristic  partic- 
ulars. 

It  only  remains  for  us  to  give  here  verbatim 
a  few  of  those  to  which  occasional  reference 
has  been  made  in  the  body  of  the  work. 

I.  Protestants  in  Naples. 

"  Crecendo  tuttavia  la  setta  de'  Lutherani 
nel  regno  di  Napoli,  mi  armai  contro  di  quella 
spina  del  zelo  della  religione  cattolica  ;  e  con 
ogni  mio  potere  e  con  I'autorita  del  officio, 
con  le  perdiche  publiche,  scritte  da  me  in  un 
libro  detto  Quadragesimale,  e  con  le  dispute 
publiche  e  private  in  ogni  occasione  e  con 
I'oi'atione  cercai  d'abbattere  et  esterminare 
peste  si  crudele  da  i  nostri  paesi:  onde  patii 
acerbissima  persecutione  dagl'  eretici,  che 
per  tutte  le  strade  cercavano  d'offendermi  e 
d'ammazzarmi,  come  ne  ho  fatto  un  libretto, 
distintamente  intitolato  Persecutione  eccitata 
contro  di  me  Giulio  Antonio  Santorio  servo  di 
Gesii  Christo  per  la  verita  della  cattolica 
fede.  Era  nel  nostro  giardino  in  un  cantone 
una  cappelletta  con  I'immagine  di  Maria  s^a 
con  il  bambino  in  braccio,  et  ivi  avanti  era 
nata  una  pianta  d'olivo,  che  assai  presto  con 
maraviglia  d'ogn'uno  crebbe  in  arbore  grande, 
essendo  in  luogo  chiuso  et  ombreggiato  da 
alberi:  mi  ritiravo  ivi  a  far  oratione  con  disci- 
plinarmi  ogni  volta  che  dovevo  predicare  e 
disputare  contro  Lutherani,  e  mi  sentivo  mi- 
rabilmente  inliammare  ed  avvalorare  senza 
tema  di  malealcuno  e  di  pericolo,  ancorche  di 
sicuro  mi  fosse  minacciato  da  quelii  inimici 
della  croce,  e  sentivo  in  metanta  gioja  et  alle- 
grezza  che  bramavo  d'essere  ucciso  per  la 
fede  cattolica.  .  .  .  Intanto  vedendo  cres- 
cere  contro  di  me  maggiormente  la  rabbia  di 
quelii  eretici  quali  io  avevo  processati,  fui 
costretto  nel  1563  al  fine  di  Agosto  o  princi- 
pio  di  Settombre  passarmene  in  Napoli  alii 
servitii  d'Alfonso  Caraffa  cardie  del  titolo  di 
S.  Giovannie  Paolo  arcivescovodi  Napoli,  ove 
servii  per  luogotenente  sotto  Luigi  Campagna 
di  Rossano  vescovo  di  Montepeloso,  che  eser- 
citava  il  vicariate  in  Napoli :  e  poiche  egli 
parti  per  evitare  il  tumulto  popolare  concitato 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION.  495 

ed  alone  in  the  government  of  the^said  church : 
where,  after  many  perils  encountered,  and 
many  threats,  and  after  many  Etoncs  thrown 
and  arquebus-shots  fired,  a  most  cruel  and 
envenomed  plot  was  hatched  against  me  by 
Hortensio  da  Battichio,  with  fra  Fiano  (!)  di 
Terra  d'Otranto,  a  sacrileg-ious  and  relapsed 
heretic,  purporting-  that  I  along  with  the  car- 
dinal di  Napoli  and  Mons.  Campagna,  had 
required  him  to  distil  a  poison  of  su'ch  force 
that  it  could  infect  the  air,  in  order  to  put  to 
death  pope  Pius  V.,  as  an  enemy  of  the  Cara- 
feschi ;  and  the  heretic  doubted  not  of  convey- 
ing all  this  to  the  pope's  ears  through  the 
medium  of  signer  Pompeo  Colonna.] 

II.  Gregory  XIII.  and  Sixtus  V. 
"  Appena  egli  credeva  di  morire  non  ostante 
la  longa  eta,  essendo  sempre  vissuto  con  molta 
moderatione  e  caminato  per  tutti  i  gradi  della 
corte.  Dopoche  iascio  la  lettura  di  Bologna 
venne  in  Roma,  fu  fatto  collaterale  di  Campi- 
doglio,  esercito  I'ufficio  di  luogotenente  di 
monsi-e  auditore  della  camera,  fu  fatto  refer- 
endario,  e  la  prima  volta  che  propose  in  seg- 
natura,  venne  meno :  onde  tutto  pieno  di  ver- 
gogna  e  di  confusione  voleva  abbandonare  la 
corte,  ma  fu  ritenuto  dal  card'  Crescentio  a 
non  partire.  Da  Giulio  III  nell'  auditorato 
di  rota  li  fu  anteposto  Palleotto:  onde  di 
nuovo  confuse  di  doppio  scornodetermino  par- 
tirsi  di  Roma,  ma  dall'istessocardl  Crescentio 
fu  rincorato  e  trattenulo.  Fu  da  Paolo  IV 
fatto  vescovo  di  Vieste,  fu  fatto  consultore  del 
sant'  officio,  fu  al  concilio  di  Trento  e  da  Pio 
IV  fu  fatto  cardie  e  mandate  in  Spagna  per  la 
causa  Toletana :  e  dopo  la  morte  della  santa 
memoria  di  Pio  V  con  ammirabil  consenso  fu 
assunto  al  pontificate.  II  quale  visse  con  molta 
carita,  liberal ita  e  modestia,  e  saria  stato  am- 
mirabile  e  senza  pari,  se  in  lui  fossero  con- 
corsi  valore  e  grandezza  d'animo  senza  I'af- 
fetto  del  figlio,  che  oscuro  in  gran  parte  tutte 
le  attioni  dignissime  di  carita  che  egli  uso 
verso  li  stranieri  e  verso  tutte  le  nationi  che 
veramente  padre  di  tutti.  Dalli  signori  car- 
dinali  nepoti  S.  Sisto  e  Guastavillano  fu  fatto 
subito  intendere  la  sua  morte  al  sacro  colle- 
gio,  e  doppo  celebrare  I'esequie  e  tutte  quelle 
funtioni  che  porta  seco  la  sede  vacante,  s'en- 
tro  in  conclave  :  ove  fu  eletto  papa  il  sigr 
cardie  Montalto,  gia  nostro  collega  e  nelTa 
causa  Toletana  e  nell'  assuntione  al  cardina- 
lato,  per  opera  speciale  del  sigr  cardl  Alessan- 
drino  e  sigr  cardl  Rusticucci,  che  tirarono  in 
favore  di  lui  il  sigr  cardl  d'Este  e  sigr  card' 
de  Medici,  con  non  poco  disgusto  del  sig"" 
cardl  Farnese,  essendoli  mancato  di  parola  il 
sigr  cardl  San  Sisto,  sul  quale  egli  haveva 
fatto  molto  fondamento  per  ostare  alii  suoi 
emoli  e  nemici,  essendosi  adoprato  contro  di 
lui  valorosamente  il  sigrrcard'  Riario,  ma  con 
pentimento  poi  grande,  non  havendo  trovato 
quel  la  gratitudine  che  egli  si  haveva  presup- 


contro  di  noi  per  I'abrugiamento  di  Gio.  Ber- 
nardo Gargano  e  di  Gio.  Francesco  d'Aloys 
detto  il  Caserta,  seguilo  allaquattrodi  Marzo 
di  sabbato  circa  le  20  here,  rimasi  solo  nel 
governo  di  detta  chiesa:  ove  doppo  molti  pc- 
ricoli  scorsi  e  doppo  molte  minacce,  sassi  et 
archibugiate  tirato,  mi  si  ordisce  una  congiura 
molto  crudele  et  arrabbiata  da  Hortensio  da 
Batticchio  con  fra  Fiano  (?)  di  Terra  d'Otran- 
to, heretico  sacramentario  e  relapse  che  io 
insieme  col  card'  di  Napoli  e  monsr  Campag- 
na  rhaveva[ssi]  richiesto,  di  distillare  un 
velsno  di  tanta  forza  che  poteva  infettare 
I'aria  per  estinguere  papa  Pio  IV  come  nem- 
ico  de'  Carafeschi :  e  non  dubitava  I'heretico 
di  far  intendere  tutto  cio  al  pontefice  per 
mezzo  del  signor  Pompeo  Colonna." 

[The  sect  of  Lutherans  still  increasing  in 
Naples,  I  armed  myself  against  that  thorn 
with  the  zeal  of  the  catholic  religion  :  and 
and  with  all  my  might,  and  with  the  authority 
of  the  office,  by  public  preachings,  written  by 
me  in  a  book  named  Quadragesimale,  and  by 
public  and  private  disputations  on  all  occa- 
sions, and  by  prayer,  I  sought  to  abate  and 
exterminate  from  our  lands  so  grievous  a 
plague.  Hence  I  suffered  most  virulent  per- 
secution at  the  hands  of  the  heretics,  who  in 
every  street  sought  to  insult  and  murder  me: 
whereof  I  have  written  a  tract  distinctly  enti- 
tled, "Persecution  excited  against  me,  Giulio 
Antonio  Santorio,  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  tor  | 
the  truth  of  the  catholic  faith."  Tiiere  was 
in  a  corner  in  our  garden  a  shrine  with  an 
image  of  tiie  most  holy  Mary  with  the  babe 
in  her  arms,  and  before  il  sprung  up  an  olive 
twig,  which  to  the  admiration  of  every  one 
grew  up  very  quickly  into  a  large  tree,  being 
in  a  close  place,  and  shaded  by  trees:  thither 
I  used  to  retire  to  pray  and  discipline  myself 
every  time  I  was  to  preach  and  dispute  with 
the  Lutherans,  and  I  felt  myself  marvellously 
kindled  and  invigorated  without  fear  of  any 
evil  and  danger,  though  it  had  been  assuredly 
threatened  me  by  those  enemies  of  the  cross, 
and  I  felt  within  me  such  joy  and  cheerful- 
ness, that  I  longed  to  be  slain  for  the  catholic 

faith Seeing  thus  augment  against  me 

moreand  more  the  rage  of  those  heretics  v/hom 
1  had  proceeded  againstby  law,  [  was  constrain- 
ed, in  1.566,  at  the  end  of  August  or  the  begin- 
ning of  September,  to  betake  myself  to  Na- 
ples, to  the  service  of  Alfonso  Caraftii,  cardi- 
nal of  the  title  of  S.  Giovanni  e  Paolo,  arch- 
bishop of  Naples,  where  I  served  as  deputy 
under  Luigi  Campagna  di  Rossano,  bishop  of 
Montepeloso,  who  filled  the  office  of  vicar  in 
Naples.  And  when  he  departed,  to  avoid  the 
popular  tumult  excited  against  us  by  the  in- 
cendiary proceedings  of  Gio.  Bernardo  Gar- 
gano and  Gio  Francesco  d'Aloys,  surnamed  il 
Caserta,  which  took  place  on  Sunday,  the  4th 
of  March,  about  the  twentieth  hour,  I  remain- 


496 


APPENDIX. 


posta,  sicome  anco  intervenne  al  sigr  carcUe 
Alessandrino,  che  tutto  festante  si  credeva  di 
maneggiare  il  pontificate  a  modo  suo :  escen- 
dendo  in  San  Pietro  lo  pregai  che  dovessc  far 
officio  con  S.  Bn3  in  favore  di  monsr  Carlo 
Broglia,  rettore  dol  coUegio  Greco,  per  un 
beneficio  che  egli  dimandava  :  mi  rispose  tutto 
gratioso:  '  Non  diamo  fastidio  a  questo  po- 
vero  vecchio,  perche  noi  saremo  infallibil- 
mente  li  padroni :'  al  quale  sorridendo  io  all' 
bora  risposi  segretamente  all'  orecchie :  '  Fac- 
cia  dio  che  subito  che  sara  passata  questa  sera, 
ella  non  se  ne  penta:'  come  appunto  in  ef- 
fetto  fu,  poiche  non  stette  mai  di  cuore  alle- 
gro in  tutto  quel  pontificato,  sentendo  sempre 
rammarichi,  angustie,  travagli,  aifanni  pene  et 
angoscii.  E  ben  vero  che  esso  medesimo  se 
I'andava  nella  maggior  parte  procurando  o  per 
trascuraggine,  inavertenza  o  altro  o  pure  per  la 
troppa  suporbia  con  esprobare  sempre  esso  as- 
siduamente  li  beneficii,  servitii  et  honorevo- 
lezze  che  haveva  fatti  a  S.  B^e.  Nelli  primi 
ragionamenti  che  io  potei  havere  con  S.  S'^ 
fu  il  rallegrarmi  dell'  assuntione  sua  al  ponti- 
cato,  con  dirli  che  era  stata  volunta  di  dio, 
poiche  in  quel  tempo  e  punto  che  fu  assunto 
erano  finite  le  40  hore:  quivi  ella  si  dolse 
della  malignita  de  tempi  con  molta  humilta  e 
pianese:  I'essortai  che  cominciasse  il  pontifi- 
cato con  un  giubileo  generale,  che  tenesse 
parimente  cura  del  sant'  officio  e  delle  cose 
sue,  sapendo  bene  che  da  quelle  haveva  ha- 
vuto  origine  la  sua  grandezza." 

[He  hardly  counted  on  dying,  notwithstand- 
ing his  great  age,  having  always  lived  with 
great  temperance,  and  having  passed  through 
all  the  grades  of  the  court.  After  he  ceased 
to  lecture  at  Bologna  he  came  to  Rome,  and 
was  made  collateral  of  Campidoglio,  filled  the 
office  of  deputy  to  the  auditor  of  the  chamber, 
was  made  referendary,  and  the  first  time  he 
spoke  in  the  segnatura  he  broke  down; 
whereat,  covered  with  shame  and  confusion, 
he  was  of  a  mind  to  abandon  the  court,  but 
was  withheld  from  doing  so  by  cardinal  Cres- 
centio.  Palleotto  was  preferred  to  him  by 
Julius  III.  for  the  auditorship,  which  fell  to 
him  by  turn :  upon  which,  again  abashed  at 
his  double  disgrace,  he  determined  to  quit 
Rome,  but  was  re-encouraged  and  retained  by 
the  same  cardinal  Crescentio.  He  was  made 
bishop  of  Vieste  by  Paul  IV.,  counsellor  of  the 
holy  office,  was  a  member  of  the  council  of 
Trent,  was  made  cardinal  by  Pius  IV.,  and 
sent  to  Spain  about  the  Toledo  business  ;  and 
after  the  death  of  Pius  V.  of  blessed  memory 
he  was  elected  pope  with  wonderful  unanimi- 
ty. His  life  was  one  of  much  charity,  libe- 
rality, and  modesty  ;  and  he  would  have  been 
admirable  and  unequalled,  if  his  worth  and 
greatness  of  mind  had  not  been  tainted  by  his 
affection  for  his  son,  which  greatly  tarnished 
his  excellent  acts  of  Christian  charity  towards 


all  nations,  as  being  truly  the  father  of  all. 
His  death  was  immediately  announced  to  the 
sacred  college  by  the  cardinal  nephews,  S. 
Sisto  and  Guastavillano;  and  after  the  per- 
formance of  the  obsequies,  and  of  ail  the 
necessary  functions  incident  to  an  interreg- 
num, the  conclave  was  begun.  The  pope 
elected  was  cardinal  Montalto,  formerly  our 
colleague  both  in  the  Toledan  affliir  and  in 
admission  to  the  cardinalate  ;  his  election  was 
effected  by  the  special  exertions  of  cardinal 
Alessandrino  and  cardinal  Rusticucci,  who 
gained  over  to  his  interest  cardinals  d'Este 
and  de  Medici,  to  the  no  small  displeasure  of 
Cardinal  Farnese ;  cardinal  San  Sisto,  on 
whom  he  had  largely  relied  in  opposition  to 
his  rivals  and  enemies,  having  broken  his 
word  with  him,  and  cardinal  Riario  having 
acted  vigorously  against  him, — though  he 
(Riario)  afterwards  repented  sorely  of  this, 
tor  he  did  not  meet  with  the  gratitude  he  ex- 
pected ;  the  same  was  also  the  case  with  car- 
dinal Alessandrino,  who  confidently  believed 
that  he  would  be  able  to  manage  the  pontifi- 
cate in  his  own  way.  Coming  out  of  St. 
Peter's  I  requested  him  to  intercede  with  his 
holiness  in  favour  of  monsignor  Carlo  Broglia, 
rector  of  the  CoUegio  Greco,  for  an  advantage 
he  was  soliciting :  he  answered  me  very  gra- 
ciously, "  Let  us  not  tease  this  poor  old  man, 
for-  we  shall  be  infallibly  masters;"  upon 
which  I  smiling  whispered  in  his  ear,  "God 
send  that,  as  soon  as  this  evening  is  over,  you 
may  not  have  reason  to  repent."  And  so  it  actu- 
ally turned  out :  for  he  never  had  a  light  heart 
through  the  whole  of  that  pontificate,  being 
incessantly  beset  with  troubles,  annoyances, 
and  vexations.  It  is  very  true  he  brought  the 
greater  part  of  them  on  himself  by  his  heed- 
lessness, inadvertency,  or  otherwise  ;  or  else 
by  his  too  great  arrogance  in  always  casting 
up  to  his  holiness  the  benefits,  services,  and 
acts  of  honour  he  had  done  him.  The  first 
conversation  I  was  able  to  have  with  his  ho- 
liness was  to  congratulate  him  on  his  ac- 
cession, telling  him  that  it  had  been  the  will 
of  God  ;  for  precisely  at  the  moment  he  was 
elected  the  forty  hours  were  ended.  There- 
upon he  bewailed  the  malignity  of  the  times 
with  much  humility  and  wept.  I  exhorted 
him  to  begin  his  pontificate  with  a  general 
jubilee,  that  he  should  take  equal  care  of  the 
holy  office  as  of  his  own  atfairs,  knowing  well 
that  to  It  he  owed  the  origin  of  his  greatness.] 

III.  Affairs  of  Ferrara. 

"  Venuto  il  duca  di  Ferrara  in  Roma  per 
rinvestitura,della  quale  pretendeva  che  li  fosse 
data  buona  intentione,  vi  furono  di  inolti  gar- 
bugli:  et  avendomi  io  opposlo  gagliardamente 
neili  publici  e  privati  ragionamenti  et  in  con- 
cistoro,  mi  persi  afiatto  la  gratia  del  papa  con 
procurarmi  il  sdegno  del  cardl  Sfondrato, 
quale  andava  parlando  per  Roma  che  io  sen- 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


497 


tivo  malamente  dell'  autoritii  del  papa  :  conie 
anco  haveva  imputato  il  cardinale  di  Caincri- 
no,  che  si  mostrava  molto  ardente  in  servitio 
della  sede  apostolica.  Senteiidomi  pungere 
in  cosa  tanto  lontana  dalla  mente  mia,  io  che 
ero  andato  incontrando  tutti  li  pericoli  per  la 
difensione  dell'  autorita  del  papa  e  della  sede 
apostolica,  non  potei  fare  di  non  aherarmene 
gravemente  :  e  come  si  conveniva,  feci  una 
apologia  pro  Cardinale  Sancta  Severina  con- 
tra cardinalem  Sfondratiim,  ove  si  tratta  qual 
sia  la  carica  e  qual  sia  I'officio  di  cardinale : 
benche  il  papa,  che  si  era  mostrato  in  concis- 
toro  molto  turbato  e  collerico  in  camera,  poi 
nel  palazzo  di  S.  Marco  mi  domando  perdono 
con  lagrime  e  con  humilita  e  con  havermi 
anco  ringratialo,  pentendosi  del  decreto 
che  egli  haveva  fattoin  pregjudicio della  bolla 
di  Pio  V  de  non  alienandis  feud  is.  Parten- 
dosi  il  duca  da  Roma  senza  haver  fatto  effetto 
alcuno,  da  quel  tempo  in  poi  mi  si  mostro 
sempre  nernico,  dicendo  che  io  oro  stato  cag- 
ione  precipua  che  egli  non  havesse  ottenuto 
I'investitura  di  Ferrara  pro  persona  nominan- 
da,  et  che  io  come  antico  suo  amico  doveva 
parlare  piu  mitamente,  senza  intraprendere 
rimpresa  con  tanta  ardenza,  come  che  io  fossi 
piu  obligato  agli  huoniini  che  a  dio  et  alia 
sania  chiesa." 

[Thedukeof  Ferrara  having  come  to  Rome 
about  the  investiture, — strong  hopes  of  which 
he  pretended  were  held  out  to  him, — there  , 
was  a  great  stir  and  confusion.  Having  vig- 
orously opposed  the  measure,  both  publicly  ' 
and  privately,  and  in  consistory,  I  entirely  lost 
the  pope's  favour,  and  brought  upon  myself 
too  the  displeasure  ofcardinal  tsfondrato,  who 
told  it  about  in  Rome  that  I  thought  badly  of 
the  pope's  authority  ;  the  same  thing  had  al>o  [ 
been  imputed  to  me  by  cardinal  Canierino, ' 
who  showed  great  ardour  in  the  service  of  the 
apostolic  see.  Piqued  at  having  a  charge 
brought  against  me  so  foreign  to  my  disposi- 
tion,— I  who  had  braved  every  danger  in  de- 
fence of  the  authority  of  the  pope  and  the  holy 
see, — I  could  not  but  feel  deeply  indignant ; 
and  as  it  was  fitting  I  composed  an  apology 
for  cardinal  Santa  Severina  against  cardinal 
Sfondrato,  wherein  is  discussed  what  is  the 
office  and  duty  of  a  cardinal.  The  pope,  who 
had  shown  great  perturbation  and  choler  in 
the  consistory,  afterwards  in  the  palace  of  S. 
Marco,  begged  pardon  of  me  humbly  and  with 
tears,  and  even  thanked  me,  repeutuig  him  of 
the  decree  he  had  made  to  the  prejudice  of 
the  bull  of  Pius  V.  "de  non  alienandis  feudis." 
The  duke  left  Rome  without  in  any  respect 
accomplishing  his  purpose,  and  from  that  time 
forth  he  always  showed  himself  my  enemy, 
saying  that  I  had  been  the  chief  cause  of  his 
not  having  obtained  the  investiture  of  Ferrara 
"  pro  persona  nominanda,"  and  that  as  an  old 
friend  of  his  I  ought  to  have  spoken  more  in- 
63 


dulgently,  without  setting  myself  so  vehe- 
mently against  the  measure, — ^just  as  though 
I  had  been  mf)re  bound  to  men  than  to  God 
and  the  holy  church.] 

IV.  Conclave  u/ter  the  death  of  Innocent  IX. 

"  Entrato  I'anno  1692  si  entro  in  conclave, 
essendosiraddoppiata  controdi  me  la  malignita 
demiei  netiiici,  mostrandosi  il  cardl  Sfondrato 
ardentissimo  contro  la  persona  mia,  non  sola- 
mente  per  tenia  delle  cose  sue,  ma  anco  piii 
irato  delle  parole  del  card'e  Acquaviva,  che 
timoroso  et  invidioso  per  Tarcivcscovo  d'Ot- 
ranto  suo  pareiite  et  altri  signori  regnicoli 
ainici  miei,  moveva  ogni  pietra  contro  di  me : 
e  s'erano  uniti  insieme  li  cardl'  Aragona, 
Colonna,  Altemps  e  Stbrza,  capital!  nemici 
tra  essi,  ma  contro  di  me  concordissimi :  Ara- 
gona per  la  continua  osservanza  et  ossequio 
ciie  io  havevo  usati,  ma  pigliava  pretesti  dell' 
abbadia  che  havevo  tolta  all'  abbate  Simone 
Sellarolo  ;  Colonna  per  li  molti  servitii  che 
gli  havevo  fatto  in  ogni  tempo,  ma  si  raccor- 
dava  del  Talmud  impedito  da  me  contro  li 
Giudei,  repetendo  la  morte  di  Don  Pompeo 
de  Monti,  con  taccia  anco  di  sua  sorella;  Al- 
temps per  li  favori  che  gli  havevo  fa tti  appres- 
80  papa  Sisto  e  mons""  Pellicano  senatore  per 
conto  del  figlio  rattore  della  Giulietta,  onde 
ne  venne  quel  galant'  huomo  in  disgratia  di 
Sisto,  ma  cosi  voleva  Galleotto  Belard"  suo 
padrone;  Sforza  per  haverlo  favoritonel  caso 
del  Massaino,  quando  papa  Sisto  fulminava 
contro  di  lui,  havendomi  ringratiato  con  baci- 
armi  la  mano  in  presenza  del  biion  cardie  Far- 
nese  vecchio,  a  cui  ancora  si  era  mostrato  in- 
grato  havendo  avuta  da  quel  buon  sig^  I'abba- 
dia  di  S.  Lorenzo  extra  majnia,  ma  egli  dice- 
va  che  non  poteva  mancare  alii  amici  suoi, 
ma  in  effetto  egli  temeva  sapendo  b  me  la  sua 
coscienza.  Palleotto  m'uso  quell'  ingratitu- 
dine  che  ogn'  un  sa.  Venne  la  notle  delli  20 
Gennaro  :  quivi  si  rappresento  una  tragedia 
de'  fatti  miei,  mentre  JVIadrucci,  gia  mio  caro 
amico  e  collega  nel  sant'  officio,  consent!  ta- 
citamente  cogli  emcrii  miei  in  danno  mio,  op- 
rando  per  questa  via  di  conseguire  il  pontifi- 
cato,  ma  egli  senti  di  quelli  bocconi  amafi 
che  non  potendo  poscia  digerire  se  ne  mori 
miseramente.  Lascio  da  parte  gli  andamenti 
fraudolenti  del  card'  Gesualdo,  che  come  Na- 
poletano  non  poteva  patire  che  iogli  fossi  an- 
teposto,  et  anche  mosso  da  invidia  contro  i 
suoi  patriotti:  poiche  questo  e  gli  altri  sig" 
cardi''  Napoletani  Aragona  et  Acquaviva 
havevano  questo  senso  di  non  voler  nes^un 
campagno  de'  patriotti  nel  cardinalato.  L'atto 
poi  che  fece  il  cardie  Colonna,  fu  il  piii  brutto 
che  s'havesse  sentito  gia  mai,  et  improbato 
etiam  da  suoi  piu  cari,  e  malissimo  inteso  nella 
corte  di  Spagna.  Canano  solea  prima  haver- 
mi in  tanta  riverenza  che  nullo  piu  e  dovun- 
que  m'mcontrava,  mi  voleva  baciar  la  mano : 


498 


APPENDIX. 


ma  air  hora  scordato  d'ogni  amicitia  obbediva 
al  suo  (luca  di  Ferrara  ;  Borromeo,  ajutato  da 
me  nella  gua  prornotione  per  la  memoria  di 
quel  santo  cardiiiale  di  S.  Prassede  et  haven- 
do  fatta  profession  di  sempre  niio  caro  amico, 
invischiato  dall'  interesse  d'alcune  abbadie 
cha  haveva  rassegnato  Altemps,  furiava  a 
gnisa  di  forsennato,  quelle  che  non  professava 
altro  che  purila  devotione,  spiritualita  e  cos- 
cienza.  Alessandrino,  autore  di  tutte  le 
trame,  non  manco  di  fare  il  suo  solito  in  per- 
seguitare  i  siioi  piu  cari  amici  e  creature  con 
haversele  tutte  alienate,  e  massime  doppo 
I'assuntione  di  Sisto  senti  in  conclave  quel 
che  non  volse  per  bocca  del  sigr  card'  di  Sens 
che  esclainava  publicamente  contro  di  lui.  II 
fervore  all'  iucontro  de'  miei  amici  e  fautori 
non  fu  mediocre,  essendosi  mostrato  ardente 
piu  d'ogni  altro  il  sig^'card'  Giustiniano:  quel 
suo  spirito  vivace  e  coraggioso  fu  in  quel  notte  et 
in  quel  giorno  in  gravi  attanni,  essendomi  anche 
etatasaccheggiatalacella.  Ma  la  notte appres- 
soini  fu  dolorosissinia  sopra  ogn'  altra  cosafu- 
nesta:  onde  per  il  grave  aftanno  dell'  animo 
e  deir  intima  angoscia  sudai  sangue,  cosa  in- 
credibile  a  credere :  e  ricorrendo  con  molta 
huniilita  e  devotione  al  sig^'e,  mi  sentii  aftatto 
liberate  da  ogni  passione  di  animo,  da  ogni 
senso  delle  cose  mondane,  venendo  in  me 
stesso  e  considerandole  quanto  sono  fragili, 
quanto  caduche  e  quanto  miserabili,  e  che  solo 
in  dio  e  nella  contemplatione  di  lui  sono  le 
vere  felicita  e  veri  content!  e  gaudii." 

[At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1592  the 
conclave  met,  whilst  the  malice  of  my  enemies 
was  redoubled  against  me  ;  Cardinal  Sfondra- 
to  displayed  the  utmost  animosity  against  me, 
not  only  for  fear  of  his  own  interests,  but  still 
more  from  the  anger,  with  which  he  was  in- 
spired by  the  words  of  cardinal  Acquaviva, 
who,  fearful  and  jealous  for  the  archbishop  of 
Otranto,  his  relation,  and  other  fellow  country- 
men and  friends  of  mine,  left  no  stone  un- 
turned against  me.  There  were  united  to- 
gether cardinals  Aragona,  Colonna,  Altemps, 
and  Sforza,  bitter  enemies  to  each  other,  but 
all  cordially  agreeing  in  hostility  tome:  Ara- 
gona, notwithstandmg  the  contmual  courtesy 
and  obsequiousness  1  had  practised,  alleged, 
as  a  pretext,  the  abbey  I  had  taken  from  the 
abbot  Simone  Sellarolo  ;  Colonna,  for  all  I  had 
rendered  him  many  services  at  all  times, 
nevertheless  called  to  mind  the  Talmud  I 
hindered  against  the  Jews,  bringing  up  the 
death  of  Don  Pompeo  de  Monte,  with  the  dis- 
grace too  of  his  sister  ;  Altemps,  notwithstand- 
ing the  services  1  had  done  him  with  Sixtus 
and  monsignor  Pellicano,  the  senator,  on  ac- 
count of  his  son,  the  ravisher  of  Giulietta,  in 
consequence  of  which  that  worthy  fell  into 
disgrace  with  Sixtus, — but  such  was  the  will 
of  Cialleotto  Belard°,  his  master;  Sforza, 
though  I  had  favoured  him  in  the  mischance 


of  Massaino,  when  pope  Sixtus  fulminated 
against  him,  for  which  he  thanked  me  and  kis- 
sed my  hand  in  the  presence  of  the  good  old 
cardinal  Farnese, — to  whom  also  he  proved  un- 
grateful, having  received  from  that  good  signer 
the  abbey  of  S.  Lorenzo  extra  mcenia,  but  he 
said  he  could  not  disappoint  his  friends, — 
whereas  the  truth  was  he  was  frightened  by 
his  conscience.  Palleotto  treated  me  with  the 
ingratitude  that  is  notorious.  The  night  of 
20th  of  January  arrived,  a  tragical  night  for 
my  interests,  inasmuch  as  Madrucci,  once  rny 
dear  friend  and  colleague  in  the  holy  office, 
consented  tacitly  with  my  rivals  to  my  injury,* 
scheming  in  this  way  to  obtain  the  popedom  ; 
but  he  had  to  swallow  some  bitter  morsels, 
which  being  unable  to  digest,  he  died  miser- 
ably in  consequence.  I  pass  over  the  fraudu- 
lent proceedings  of  cardinal  Gesualdo,  who, 
as  a  Neapolitan,  could  not  bear  that  I  should 
be  preferred  before  him,  and  who  was  even 
moved  by  envy  against  his  own  countrymen, 
for  he  and  the  other  Neapolitan  cardinals, 
Aragona  and  Acquaviva,  had  made  up  their 
minds  not  to  have  any  fellow  countryman  their 
colleague  in  the  cardinalate.  The  act  which 
was  then  done  by  cardinal  Colonna  was  the 
vilest  ever  heard  of,  disapproved  of  even  by 
his  dearest  friends,  and  taken  in  the  worst 
part  by  the  court  of  Spain.  Canano  had  before 
been  used  to  treat  me  with  the  utmost  possible 
respect,  and  wherever  he  met  me  he  soughJ; 
to  kiss  my  hand ;  but  now,  forgetting  all 
friendship,  he  obeyed  his  duke  of  Ferrara. 
Borromeo,  aided  by  me  in  his  promotion,  in 
regard  to  the  memory  of  the  holy  cardinal  of 
S.  Prassede,  and  who  had  always  professed  to 
be  my  dear  friend,  entrapped  by  some  abbeys 
resigned  to  him  by  Altemps,  raved  like  a  mad- 
man ;  he  who  used  to  profess  nothing  but 
purity,  devotion,  spirituality,  and  conscience. 
Ale.ssandrino,  the  author  of  all  the  plots,  failed 
not  to  act  in  his  usual  way,  persecuting  his 
dearest  friends  and  creatures,  having  alienat- 
ed them  all  from  him,  and  particularly  smce 
the  accession  of  Sixtus,  he  heard  in  the  con- 
clave what  he  could  not  refute  by  the  mouth 
of  cardinal  di  Sens,  who  exclaimed  publicly 
against  him.  The  ardour  of  my  friends  and 
supporters  on  the  other  hand  was  not  little; 
the  most  earnest  of  them  all  was  cardinal 
Giustiniano ;  that  quick  and  brave  soul  was 
all  that  night  and  day  deeply  distressed,  my 
cell  having  been  actually  already  despoiled. 
But  the  following  night  was  surpassingly 
grievous:  such  was  my  intense  anguish  of 
m.ind  that  I  sweated  blood,  incredible  as  it 
may  appear.  But  recurring  with  much  humi- 
lity and  devotion  to  the  Lord,  I  felt  wholly 
freed  from  every  human  passion,  and  from  all 

*  The  Venetian  ambassador,  Moro,  also  observes,  that 
S.  Severina  was  not  elected  " per raancamemo  di  Gesual- 
do decano  e  Madrucci"  [being  disappointed  by  Gesualdo 
the  dean,  aiid  Madrucci] 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


499 


feeling  for  worldly  thinnfs,  collecting  my 
thouijhts  and  considering'  how  frail  they  are, 
how  transient  and  miserable,  and  that  in  God 
alone  and  in  contemplation  of  Him  consist  true 
felicity  and  true  contentment  and  joy.] 

65.  Vita  et  Gesta  dementis  VIII. — In  for- 
matt.  Politt.  xxix.  [Life  and  acts  of 
Clement  VIII.] 

Originally  intended  as  a  continuation  of 
Ciaconius,  where  however  I  do  not  find  it. 

A  narrative  of  the  rise  of  the  pope  and  of 
his  first  acts  :  "  Exulum  turmas  coercuit,  quo- 
rum insolens  furor  non  solum  in  continentem 
sed  in  ipsa  litora  et  subvecta  Tiberis  alveo 
navigia  hostiliter  insultabat."  [He  put  down 
the  bands  of  outlaws,  whose  audacity  over- 
spread not  only  the  main  land,  but  even  assail- 
ed the  coasts  and  the  vessels  that  floated  on 
the  Tiber] ;  so  little  had  Sixtus  succeeded  in 
extirpating  them.  The  absolution  of  Henry 
IV.,  the  resistance  oflfered  by  Clement  to  the 
king,  and  the  severity  with  which  he  pursued 
it,  are  put  prominently  forward  :  lastly,  the 
conquest  of  Ferrara.  "  A  me  jam  latius  coepta 
scribi  opportuniori  tempore  immortalitati  no- 
minis  tui  consecrabo."  [Other  things  I  have 
begun  to  write,  I  will  at  a  more  fitting  oppor- 
tunity consecrate  to  the  immortality  ol"  thy 
name.]  But  of  this  there  is  nothing  to  be 
found.  As  the  work  stands  it  is  but  insigni- 
ficant. 

66.  Instrultione  al  S''  Bartolommeo  Powsin- 
slaj  alia  M'-'^  del  re  di  Polonia  e  Suetia. 
1  Aug.  1593.  Cinthio  Aldobrandini. 
[Iftstruction  to  S^  Bart.  Powsinsky,  nuncio 
to  the  king  of  Poland  and  Sweden. 

Ragguaglio  dclla  andata  del  re  di  Polonia 
in  Suetia.  1594.  [Report  of  the  entry  of 
the  king  of  Poland  into  Sweden.] 

I  have  nothing  to  add  to  what  I  have  bor- 
rowed from  these  papers  in  the  text,  except  it 
be  tiie  assertion  in  the  second  that  duke 
Charles  was  in  reality  hated :  "  perche  egli 
avea  ridotto  in  se  stesso  quasi  tutte  I'mcette  e 
mercantie  e  tutte  le  cave  di  metalli  e  sopra 
tutto  deir  oro  e  dell'  argento"  [because  he 
had  monopolized  almost  all  purchases  and 
merchandise,  and  all  mines  of  metal,  espe- 
cially silver  and  gold.] 

67.  Relatione  di   Polonia.     1598.     [Report 

respecting  Poland.] 

Composed  by  a  nuncio,  who  complains  vehe- 
mently of  the  inordinate  love  of  liberty  of  the 
Poles. 

They  desired  a  feeble  king,  not  one  of  a 
warlike  spirit.  ^J'hey  say:  "che  colore  che 
hanno  spirito  di  gloria,  gli  hanno  vehementi  e 
non  moderati  e  pero  non  diuturni,  e  che  la 


madre  della  diuturnita  degli  imperii  e  la  mo- 
deratione"  [that  those  who  are  possessed  with 
the  spirit  of  glory  are  of  a  vehement  and  not 
moderated  spirit,  consequently  not  of  an  endur- 
ing one,  and  that  the  mother  of  the  duration 
of  empires  is  moderation.] 

Nor  will  they  have  any  alliances  with  for- 
eigners. They  assert  that  they  can  never  find 
it  difficult  to  defend  their  kingdom.  They 
could  always  bring  forward  .50,000  horse,  and 
in  the  worst  case  they  wouldrecover  in  winter 
what  they  lost  in  summer.  They  relied  on 
the  e.xample  of  their  forefathers. 

The  nuncio  reminds  them  :  "  che  gli  antichi 
Poloni  non  sapevano  che  cosa  fosse  smaltire  il 
grano  nel  mar  Baltico  in  Danzig  o  in  Elbing, 
ne  erano  intenti  a  tagliar  selve  per  seminare, 
ne  asciugavano  paludi  per  il  medesimo  efl^etto" 
[that  the  ancient  Poles  did  not  know  what  it 
was  to  sell  grain  in  the  Baltic  sea,  or  in  Dant- 
zig,  or  in  Elbing,  nor  were  they  intent  on 
cutting  down  forests  to  sow  corn,  nor  did  they 
drain  marshes  for  the  same  purpose]. 

Furthermore  the  nuncio  describes  the  pro- 
gress of  Catholicism,  which  was  just  then  in 
the  most  hopeful  train.  I  have  made  use  of 
the  most  important  points. 

68.  Relatione  dello  stato  spirituale  e  politico 
del  regno  di  Suezia  1.593.  [Report  of 
the  spiritual  and  political  condition  of  the 
kingdom  of  Sweden.] 

Remarks  on  the  enterprises  of  Sigismund 
against  Sweden  immediately  before  his  second 
journey.  This  also  I  have  used  as  far  as  was 
essential. 

There  are,  however,  some  interesting  obser- 
vations besides  upon  previous  matters. 

Erich  is  reputed  as  a  downright  tyrant. 
"  Per  impresa  faceva  un  asino  carco  di  sale  a 
piedi  d'una  montagna  erta  e  senza  via  per  sa- 
lirvi  sopra,  et  egli  era  dipinto  con  un  bastone 
in  mano,  che  batteva  il  detto  asino."  [He  was 
figured  forcing  an  ass  laden  with  salt  to  jump 
over  a  steep  and  pathless  mountain,  and  he 
was  represented  with  a  cudgel  in  his  hand 
beating  the  ass]  The  author  expounds  this 
sufficiently  intelligible  symbol  as  signifying 
that  the  king  would  compel  the  people  by  force 
to  do  what  was  impossible. 

John  is  looked  on  as  a  decided  catholic. 
"  Perche  era  in  secreto  cattolico,  siccome  al 
nuntio  ha  affirmato  il  re  suo  figliuolo,  uso  ogni 
industria  perche  il  figliuolo  ritornasse  mentre 
esso  viveva  in  Suetia  a  fine  dichiararsi  aperta- 
mente  cattolico  o  riJurre  il  regno  ab  abbrac- 
ciar  essa  fede."  [Because  he  was  in  secret  a 
catholic,  as  the  king,  his  son,  averred  to  the 
nuncio,  he  used  his  utmost  endeavours  to  have 
his  son  return  to  Sweden  during  his  lifetime, 
and  declare  himself  openly  a  catholic,  and 
reduce  that  kingdom  to  embrace  the  catholic 
faith.] 


500 


APPENDIX. 


I  am  not  however  disposed  to  subscribe  to 
this.  It  is  probable  that  the  worthy  Sig-is- 
muiid  fancied  it,  that  he  might  have  the  com- 
fort of  thinking  himself  sprung'  from  a  catholic 
father. 

On  the  other  hand,  Sigismund's  first  enter- 
prise is  described  in  a  manner  stamped  with 
all  the  veracity  of  one  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  subject.  The  hopes  founded  on  the 
second  journey  are  set  forth  in  their  bearing 
on  Europe  in  general. 

INSERTION. 

Remarks  on  Bentivoglid's  Memoirs. 

In  his  sixty-third  year,  not  in  1640,  as  stated 
in  the  edition  belonging  to  the  Classici  Ita- 
liani,  but  in  1642,  as  Mazzuchelli  also  states, 
cardinal  Guide  Bentivoglio  (born  1.579)  after 
having  composed  many  other  memoirs  on 
public  matters,  sat  down  to  write  his  own  per- 
sonal memoirs. 

His  original  intention  was  to  include  his 
first  residence  at  the  court  of  Rome,  his  nun- 
ciatures in  France  and  in  the  JNelheriands, 
and  the  times  of  his  cardinalate.  Had  he 
accomplished  this,  the  history  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  would  be  the  richer  by  one 
excellent  work  full  of  discernment  and  obser- 
vation. 

But  he  died  before  he  had  completed  the 
first  part.  His  work — Memorie  del  cardinal 
Guido  Bentivoglio — comes  down  only  to  the 
year  1600. 

It  gives  us  the  idea  of  the  quiet  and  comfort 
enjoyed  by  an  aged  prelate,  living  at  ease  in 
his  palace,  remote  from  the  cares  of  business. 
It  is  very  pleasant  reading,  at  once  amusing 
and  instructive;  but  of  course  his  position  im- 
posed certain  obligations  on  the  cardinal,  and  it 
may  be  observed  that  he  does  not  speak  out 
roundly. 

The  tolerably  detailed  portraiture,  for  in- 
stance, that  he  gives  of  the  cardinals  whom 
he  found  about  Clement  VIII.  agrees  but  very 
generally  with  the  accounts  of  them  given  us 
by  others. 

The  very  first,  the  dean  Gesualdo,  is  depict- 
ed by  Bentivoglio  as  "  a  distinguished  man  of 
amiable  manners,  who  does  not  seek,  though 
neither  does  he  avoid  public  affairs;"  but  of 
what  others  tell,  and  what  Bentivoglio  no 
doubt  knew,  how  he  prevented  the  election  of 
Sanseverino  from  personal  dislike, — what  pre- 
tensions to  paramount  rank  he  enforced  over 
the  other  cardinals,  who  complied  very  reluc- 
tantly,— how  all  his  subsequent  effi)rts  were 
directed  to  win  friends,  that  ho  might  reach 
the  papal  chair, — how  he  adhered  in  particular 
to  Spain, — of  all  this  we  are  not  told  a  word. 

Of  the  second,  Aragona,  Buntivoglio  re- 
marks, "  that  in  former  conclaves  he  had  been 
a  leader  particularly  of  the  younger  cardmals ; 


he  had  admirably  governed  Rome  during  an 
absence  of  the  pope ;  he  was  fond  of  handsome 
furniture  ;  he  had  a  beautiful  chapel,  and  fre- 
quently changed  the  altar-piece."  But  all  this 
does  not  make  us  acquainted  with  the  man. 
He  was,  as  we  learn  from  Delfino,  an  old  man 
plagued  with  the  gout,  whose  death  was 
speedily  to  be  looked  for,  but  who  clung  but 
the  faster  on  that  account  to  his  hopes  of  the 
popedom.  He  was  by  no  means  held  in  such 
consideration  as  he  could  have  wished  by  the 
Spanish  court.  He  was  not  able  to  get  admis- 
sion into  the  congregation  on  French  affairs, 
and  it  was  notorious  that  he  bore  this  very  ill: 
but  notwithstanding  this  he  endeavoured  to 
maintain  the  closest  connexion  with  the 
Spanish  ambassador  on  account  of  his  ulterior 
views. 

The  idea  of  calm  and  quiet  suggested  by 
the  book  proceeds  in  fact  from  the  circum- 
stance that  the  lights  are  designedly  very 
much  softened,  that  life  is  not  pourtrayed  in 
the  actual  truth  of  its  phenomena. 


69.  Relalionefatta  aW  ill"^"  sig^  cartV'  iV Este 
al  tempo  della  sua  promotione  die  doveva 
andur  in  Roma. — {Bibl.  Vindob.  Codd. 
Foscar.  n.  169.  46  leaves.)  [Report  made 
to  cardinal  d'Este  upon  his  approaching 
journey  to  Rome  on  the  occasion  of  his 
promotion.] 

In  consequence  of  the  compromise  made 
with  the  Este  family  by  Clement  VIII.  on  the 
escheat  of  Ferrara,  he  included  a  prince  of 
that  house,  Alexander,  in  the  promotion  of  the 
3rd  of  March,  1599. 

It  was  this  prince  whom  the  instruction 
before  us  was  intended  to  prepare  for  his  entry 
to  the  court.  Although  it  bears  no  date,  there 
is  no  doubt  it  belongs  to  the  year  1.599. 

Its  purpose  is  enough  to  distinguish  it 
strongly  from  a  Venetian  report.  Its  object 
was  to  place  the  prince  in  a  condition  to  steer 
like  a  dexterous  pilot, — "  per  potere  come  pru- 
dente  nocchiero  prendere  meglio  I'aura  pro- 
pitia  della  corte."  It  contains  nothing  relat- 
ing to  politics;  even  the  misfortune  that  had 
so  recently  flillen  upon  the  house  of  Este  is 
passed  over  in  silence;  the  author's  intention 
is  only  to  define  the  personal  qualities  of  the 
most  important  individuals. 

The  pope,  his  nephews,  and  the  cardinals, 
are  delineated. 

Clement  VIII.  "  Di  vita  incolpabile,  di 
mente  retta,  di  conditione  universale.  Si 
puo  dir  ch'abbia  in  se  stesso  tutta  la  theorica 
e  la  pratica  della  politica  e  ragion  di  stato." 
[Ofblameless  life,  upright  mind,  universal  eru- 
dition (!)  It  may  be  asserted  that  he  pos- 
sesses in  their  whole  range  the  theory  and 
the  practice  of  politics  and  statesmanship.] 
We  find  it  stated  here,  that  Salvestro  Aldo- 
brandino  had  incited  Paul  IV.  to  war  against 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


501 


Naples  ;  that  nevertheless  attempts  hnd  been 
maile  to  reconcile  that  house  at  least  vvitli  the 
Medici.  "  Dicesi  che  Pio  V  voleiulo  promo- 
vere  il  cardl  Giovanni,  fratello  di  questo  pon- 
tefice,  assiciiio  il  GD  (^osimo  che  tutta  questa 
faiiiio'lia  g-lisarebbe  fidelissima  sempre,  e  che 
mando  I'istesso  Ippolito  Aldobrandino,  liora 
papa,  a  render  testimonio  a  S.  Altezza,  dclla 
quale  fu  niolto  ben  visto."  [It  is  said  that 
Pius  V.  wishing  to  promote  cardinal  Giovanni, 
the  brother  of  that  pontiifi  assured  the  grand 
duke  Cosmo,  that  all  that  tamily  would  always 
be  most  faithful  to  him,  and  that  he  sent  the 
same  Ippolito  Aldobrandino,  who  is  now  pope, 
to  testify  this  to  his  highness,  by  whom  he 
was  very  well  received.]  At  that  time  John 
Bardi  was  in  most  favour  with  pope  Clement. 
"  Fra  i  servitori  di  Clemente  il  piu  intimo  e 
favorito  e  il  sig''  Giov.  Rardi  dei  conti  di  Ver- 
nio,  luogotenente  delle  guardie,  di  moita 
bonta.  virtu  e  nobilta."  [Among  the  servants 
of  Clement,  the  most  intin)ateand  the  favour- 
ite is  Signer  Giov.  Bardi  of  the  house  of 
Veruio,  lieutenant  of  the  guards,  a  man  of 
much  goodness,  virtue,  and  nobility.]  The 
new  cardinal  might  rely  on  him  the  more,  as 
he  was  well  disposed  to  the  house  of  Este. 

The  nephews.  The  preference  of  I*ietro 
Aldobrandino  before  San  Giorgio  was  decided. 
"San  Giorgio,  accommodate  I'animo  alia  for- 
tuna  sua,  mortificate  le  sue  pretensioni,  non 
gareggia,  non  contrasta  piu,  ma  o  lo  seconda 
o  non  s'impaccia  seco,  e  si  mostra  sodisfatto 
deir  ottenuta  segnatura  di  giustitia."  [San 
Giorgio,  adjusting  his  mind  to  his  fortunes, 
and  mortifying  his  aspirations,  no  longer 
strives  against  his  cousin,  or  counteracts  him, 
but  either  seconds  him  or  does  not  thwart 
him,  and  appears  satisfied  with  having  ob- 
tained the  segnatura  of  justice.] 

The  cardinals  were  divided  into  two  fac- 
tions, the  Spanish,  to  which  Montalto  was 
already  attached,  and  the  Aldobrandinist. 
The  strength  of  the  former  was  twenty-five, 
that  of  the  latter  only  fourteen  decided  mem- 
bers. The  author  correctly  points  out  as  the 
mcst  likely  successor  to  the  popedom  him  who 
was  afterwards  actually  chosen,  Alexander 
Medici.  It  was  not  known  how  he  stood  with 
the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  but  he  was  plainly 
high  in  favour  with  Clement,  "per  patriae 
contbrmita  di  huniore,"  [from  community  of 
country  and  humour,]  as  much  as  if  he  were 
the  pope's  own  creature. 

Baronius,  the  historian  of  the  church,  is  not 
unfavourably  portrayed  :  "  molto  amato  per 
la  dottrina  bontti  e  semplicita  sua  :  si  dimostra 
tutto  spirito,  tutto  risegnato  in  dio :  si  burla 
del  mondo  e  della  propria  esaltatione  di  se 
stesso"  [much  beloved  for  his  learning,  good- 
ness, and  simplicity:  he  appears  all  s-pirit, 
wholly  resigned  to  God :  he  mocks  at  the 
world  and  all  self-exaltation.] 


70.  Relatione  di.  Roma  delV  Ill^o  Sig^  Gioan 
Dtljlno  K^  e  Pro''  ritnrnnto  ambascialore 
sottn  il  ponlijiciilo  di  Clemente  VIII. 
(1000.)  [Report  by  Delfino,  ambassador 
to  Rome  during  the  pontificate  of  Clement 
VIII.] 

This  is  another  of  the  reports  that  have  got 
into  more  general  circulation ;  it  is  very  cir- 
cumstantial (my  copy  consists  of  ninety-four 
qu;irto  leaves)  and  very  instructive. 

I.  Delfino  begins  with  describing  the  pope 
(il  nascimento,  la  natura  e  la  vita  del  papa) 
and  his  nephews. 

"  Delli  due  cardinali  (Aldobrandino  e  S. 
Giorgio)  reputo  quasi  necessario  parlarne  uni- 
tamente,  Qiiesto  di  eta  d'anni  45,  di  gran 
spirito,  altiero,  vivace,  e  di  buona  cognizione 
nelli  affari  del  mondo :  ma  temo  assai  che  sia 
di  mala  natura,  overo  che  gli  accidenti  nel 
mondo  occorsi,  che  I'hanno  levato  dalle  gran 
speranze  in  che  si  e  posto  nel  principio  del 
pontificate,  le  fanno  esser  tale,  cioe  dimostrarsi 
con  tutti  non  solo  severo  ma  quasi  disperato. 
Q,uesto  era  grandemente  amato  e  grande- 
mente  stimato  dal  papaavanti  che  fosse  salito 
al  pontificato,  e  doppo  per  gran  pezzo  ebbe  la 
cura  principale  de'  negotii,  e  si  credeva  da 
ogn'  uno  ciie  egli  avesse  da  esser  il  primo 
nipote,  perche  I'altro  era  piii  giovane,  assai  di 
poca  prosperita  e  di  pochissima  cognizione: 
ma  0  sia  stato  la  sua  poca  prudenza  nel  non 
essersi  saputo  governare  come  averebbe  disog- 
nato,  sendosi  rotto  con  I'ambasciatore  di  Spag- 
na  qiiando  gitto  la  beretta,  con  I'ambasciator 
di  'J'oscana  quando  li  disse  che  il  papa  doveria 
cacciarlo  di  corte,  oltre  i  disgusti  che  ha  dato 
a  tutti  in  mille  occasion!,  o  pur  la  gran  pru- 
denza e  destrezza  dell'  altro,  o  la  forza  natu- 
ral del  sangue,  questo  ha  perduto  ogni  giorno 
tanto  di  autorita  e  credito  che  non  ha  chi  lo 
seguiti  e  non  ottiene  cosa  alcuna  che  dimandi. 
Ha  pero  il  carico  di  tutti  li  nogotii  d'ltalia  e 
Germania,  se  bene  li  ministri  publici  traltino 
li  medesimi  con  Aldobrandino,  e  nelle  cose 
brusche  tutti  ricorrono  a  lui.  In  con  esse 
sigr  card'e  di  S.  Giorgio  nel  principio  ho  pas- 
sato  qualche  borasca,  anzi  nella  prima  audi- 
enza  f'ui  astretto  a  dolermi  apertamente  per 
dignita  della  republica,  e  doi  o  tre  volte  mi 
sono  lasciato  intendere  liberamente,  in  modo 
iale  che  so  che  e  stato  frutto  appresso  di  lui, 
et  il  papa  I'ha  avuto  a  carro,  e  particularmente 
neli'  ultima  occasione  di  Ferrara :  ma  doppo 
sempre  e  passato  tra  noi  ogni  sorte  di  dimoa- 
tratione  d'amore,  et  io  I'Jio  onorato  sempre 
come  si  conveniva.  Credo  veramente  che  sia 
mal  alletto  alia  Serenita  Vostra  per  natura  e 
per  accidente  :  la  sua  natura  I'ho  descritta, 
ma  diro  solo  delli  accidenti.  Prima  sappia 
che  da  un  pezzo  in  qua  s'e  buttato  aff'atto  in 
braccio  de'  Spagnuoli,  e  si  e  dimostrato  poco 
amico  di  quelii  che  sono  uniti  con  Frances! : 


502 


APPENDIX. 


ha  cresciuto  ancora  quel  mal  animo  suo  il  ve- 
dere  che  il  cardinal  Aldobrandino  habbi  in 
tutte  le  occasion!  protetto  li  affari  dell'  EE. 
VV.,  quasi  che  non  sia  possibile  che  concor- 
rino  ambidue  in  alcuna  operatione,  per  giusta 
e  raggionevole  che  sia.  Da  che  si  puo  conos- 
cere  la  miseria  de'  poveri  ambasciatori  et  rap- 
presentanti  publici."  [Of  the  two  cardinals 
(Aldobrandino  and  S.  Giorgio)  I  think  it  al- 
most necessary  to  speak  collectively.  The 
latter  is  aged  forty-five,  of  a  great  and  lofly 
spirit,  of  a  sanguine  disposition,  and  well 
versed  in  worldly  matters ;  but  I  rather  fear 
he  is  a  man  of  evil  nature,  or  that  the  course 
of  events,  which  swept  from  him  the  great 
hopes  he  enjoyed  in  the  commencement  of  the 
pontificate,  has  made  him  such,  so  that  he 
bears  himself  towards  all  men  not  only  with  se- 
verity, but  as  it  were  with  desperate  harshness. 
He  was  greatly  beloved  and  greatly  esteemed 
by  the  pope  before  his  accession,  and  since 
then  he  had  in  a  great  measure  the  principal 
share  in  the  management  of  business,  and  it 
was  universally  believed  that  it  was  his  lot  to 
be  the  first  nephew,  because  the  other  was 
younger,  but  moderately  prosperous,  and  of 
very  scanty  knowledge.  But  whether  it  was 
his  own  want  of  prudence  to  govern  himself 
as  he  ought,  having  broken  with  the  ambas- 
sador of  Spain  when  he  flung  the  cap,  and 
with  the  Tuscan  ambassador  when  he  told 
him  that  the  pope  ought  to  expel  him  from 
court,  besides  the  offence  he  gave  to  all  per- 
sons on  a  thousand  occasions,  or  else  from  the 
great  prudence  and  dexterity  of  the  other,  or 
from  the  natural  force  of  blood,  he  has  day  by 
day  so  much  declined  in  influence  and  credit 
that  no  one  follows  him,  and  he  obtains  not 
one  thing  he  demands.  Still  he  has  charge 
of  all  the  affairs  of  Italy  and  Germany,  al- 
though the  public  functionaries  treat  of  them 
with  Aldobrandino,  and  in  all  trying  matters 
every  one  has  recourse  to  him.  I  had  some 
sharp  passages  with  this  cardinal  di  S.  Gior- 
gio at  first,  and  in  my  first  audience  I  was 
constrained  by  my  regard  for  the  dignity  of 
the  republic  to  express  my  displeasure  openly, 
and  two  or  three  times  I  spoke  so  freely,  that 
I  know  it  wrought  to  some  purpose  with  him, 
and  the  pope  took  him  to  task,  particularly  on 
the  last  occasion  of  Ferrara  :  but  subsequently 
every  demonstration  of  regard  has  been  inter- 
changed between  us,  and  I  have  always  ho- 
noured him  as  was  befitting.  I  verily  believe 
he  is  ill-disposed  to  your  Serenity  by  nature 
and  by  circumstances;  his  nature  I  have  al- 
ready described,  and  will  now  only  speak  of 
circumstances,  In  the  first  place  you  must 
know,  that  for  some  time  past  he  has  thrown 
himself  wholly  into  the  hands  of  the  Spani- 
ards, and  shown  himself  little  in  favour  of 
those  who  are  joined  with  the  French :  this 
his  unfriendly  disposition  has  been  still  more 
increased  by  seeing  that  cardinal  Aldobran- 


dino has  on  all  occasions  protected  the  affairs 
of  your  excellencies,  for  it  would  almost  seem 
impossible  that  these  two  should  concur  in 
any  proceeding,  however  just  and  reasonable 
it  may  be.  'J'his  may  serve  to  show  the  piti- 
able sufferings  of  poor  ambassadors  and  public 
representatives.] 

The  second  chapter,  at  least  that  which  is 
formally  distinguished  as  such  in  our  copies, 
relates  to  the  form  of  government,  the  fi- 
nances, and  the  military  forces.  Delfino  is 
surprised,  as  well  he  might  be,  at  some  points 
in  the  financial  administration.  "AJentre 
I'entrate  della  chiesa  sono  impegnate  all'  in- 
grosso  ordinariamente  e  straoidinariamente  ; 
e  quello  ch'e  peggio,  si  comprano  castelli  e 
giurisdittioni  de'  sudditi  a  IJ  o  2  per  cento  e 
SI  pagano  censi  a  9  o  10  per  cento,  parendo 
strano  agli  uomini  savj  che  in  tante  strettezze 
si  fanno  queste  compre,  e  piii  e  che  se  si 
vogliono  far  certe  spese,  non  si  facciano  per 
vita  delli  danari  del  castello,  per  non  ci  andar 
debitando  e  consumando  del  tutto."  [Mean- 
while the  revenues  of  the  church  are  pledged 
in  the  mass  ordinarily  and  extraordinarily: 
and  what  is  worse,  boroughs  and  jurisdictions 
are  bought  of  subjects  at  a  rate  returning  IJ 
or  2  per  cent.  (I  take  this  to  mean,  the  pro- 
ceeds of  which  are  so  much),  and  mortgages 
are  paid  at  the  rate  of  9  or  10  per  cent.  It 
seems  strange  to  wise  men  that  these  pur- 
chases should  be  made  under  the  pressure  of 
such  embarrassments,  and  it  is  still  more 
strange  that  if  they  will  incur  certain  ex- 
penses, they  do  not  defray  them  with  the 
moneys  in  the  castle,  and  not  go  on  thus  con- 
tracting debt  and  exhausting  every  resource.] 
Even  at  that  time  we  see  there  were  persons 
who  were  startled  by  the  idea  of  hoarding 
borrowed  money.  Much  dissatisfaction  had 
ensued  upon  the  first  short-lived  contentment 
in  Ferrara.  "Nobili  e  popolo  si  darebbero 
volentieri  a  qual  principe  si  voglia,  per  uscir 
dalle  mani  dove  so  trovano."  [Nobles  and 
people  would  gladly  cast  themselves  upon 
any  sovereign  whatever,  to  escape  the  hands 
into  which  they  have  fallen.] 

III.  Intelligenze. —  We  are  told  on  what 
bad  terms  the  pope  stood  with  the  emperor 
and  Philip  II. :  he  awaited  the  kmg's  death 
with  a  kind  of  painful  longing;  how  ill  with 
Florence,  for  it  was  well  remembered  that  the 
house  of  the  Aldobrandini  belonged  to  the 
emigrant  families,  "(le  cose  passano  peggio 
che  con  ogn'  altro,  ricordandosi  d'esser  andato 
il  papa  e  la  sua  casa  ramingo  per  il  mondo); 
how  much  better  on  the  other  hand,  with 
France  and  Poland,  especially  with  the  latter, 
with  which  he  had  a  community  of  interests 
and  plans  ("  concorrendo  e  dall'  una  e  dall' 
altra  parte  interessi  nel  presente  e  disegni 
nel  tempo  a  venire").  But  for  no  one  was 
Clement  more  interested  than  for  the  sove- 
reign of  Transylvania.      "Col   prencipe  di 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


503 


Transilvania  ha  trattato  il  papa  con  tanlo 
aniore,  e  con  toner  un  mintio  apostolico  ap- 
presso  di  lui  e  con  aveili  dato  in  mio  tempo 
60  m.  scudi  e  tre  volte  e  con  infiniti  officii 
fatti  fare  con  I'lrnperatore  per  servitio,  che 
quasi  poteva  dirsi  interessato  et  oldiirnto  alia 
contiima  ciua  protettione  :  e  credo  clie'i  povero 
prencipe  la  meritava,  perche  s'c  ritfoliito  alia 
guerra  con  fbndamento  principale  del  consi- 
glio  et  delle  prornesse  di  S.  b'^ :  quanto  nel 
principio  gia  tre  anni  e  gia  due  ancora  esal- 
tava  la  virtu  e  valor  di  questo  prencipe  fino 
al  cielo,  avendo  detto  a  me  piu  volte  ch'egli 
solo  fiiceva  la  guerra  al  Turco,  tanto  piu  ulti- 
mamente  con  la  cessione  che  gli  fece  de'  suoi 
stati  reslava  inolto  chiarit<i,  et  il  predicava  un 
gran  da  poco  :  onde  si  vede  che  se  bene  aveva 
promesso  all'  imperatore  di  farlo  cardinale  et 
a  lui  ancora,  non  averebbe  pero  osservato 
cosa  alcuna,  e  percio  crelo  che  essendo  tor- 
nato  al  governo  de'  suoi  stati  abbia  sentito  S. 
gta  gran  consolatione." 

[The  pope  has  dealt  towards  the  prince  of 
Transylvania  with  so  much  love,  keeping  an 
apostolic  nuncio  at  his  court,  thrice  in  my 
time  bestowing  on  him  6ii,000  t-cudi,  and  ren- 
dering him  immense  services  with  the  empe- 
ror, that  he  might  be  said  almost  to  be  inte- 
rested, and  pledged  to  afford  him  continual 
protection.  And  I  believe  that  the  poor 
prince  deserved  it,  because  he  resolved  on 
war  principally  on  the  strength  of  the  advice 
and  the  promises  of  his  holiness  :  this  was  evi- 
dent, both  from  the  way  in  which  in  the  be- 
ginning he  lauded  this  prince's  virtue  and 
worth  to  the  skies  three  years,  and  again  two 
years  ago,  having  told  me  several  times  that 
he  made  war  singly  against  the  Turks,  and 
still  more  so  recently  from  the  cession  he 
made  him  of  his  states,  when  he  made  a  great 
talk  of  little;  whence  it  appears  that  if  even 
he  had  promised  the  emperor,  and  himself  too, 
that  he  would  make  him  a  cardinal,  he  still 
would  nut  have  kept  any  such  promise,  and 
therefore  I  believe  that  his  holiness  was 
greatly  rejoiced  when  he  returned  to  the 
government  of  his  dominions.] 

IV.  Cardinali. — They  are  all  gone  through 
in  succession,  and  judged  more  or  less  I'a- 
vourably. 

V.  "  De'  soggetti  che  cascano  in  maggior 
consideratione  per  lo  pontificato." 

VI.  "  Interessi  con  Venetia."  —  A  thou- 
sand disputes  are  already  on  foot.  "  Quando 
non  si  proveda  alle  pretensioni  et  ai  disordini, 
un  giorno  si  entrera  in  qualche  travaglio  di 
gran  memento,  massime  di  questi  novi  ac- 
qnisti  che  sempre  vi  ponso  per  cognitione 
che  ho  della  natura  de'  preti  e  della  chiesa 
mi  fa  temere."  [If  measures  be  not  taken  to 
check  these  pretensions  and  disorders,  there 
will  one  day  be  some  very  serious  trouble,  parti- 
cularly about  these  new  acquisitions  (con- 
cerning the  navigation  of  the  Po; ;  and  as 


often  as  I  think  on  the  subject  I  am  alarmed, 
from  the  knowledge  I  possess  of  the  nature  of 
priests  and  of  the  church.] 

This  anticipation  was  but  too  soon  ful- 
filled. 


71.    Venier :  Relatione  ai  Roma.  1601. 
port  on  Rome.] 


Re- 


The  disputes  between  the  pope  and  Venice 
had  by  this  time  risen  to  a  high  pitch.  The 
Venitians  refused  to  send  their  patriarch  to 
Rome  for  examination.  Rancorous  quarrels 
had  begun  about  the  Goro  mouth  of  the  Po. 
It  was  on  account  of  these  dispatches  that 
Venier  was  dispatched  to  Rome. 

He  remained  there  but  a  short  while ; 
nevertheless  the  sketch  he  gives  of  Clement 
is  most  useful. 

"Della  natura  etpensieri  del  pontefice,  per 
quello  che  a  me  tocca  di  considerare  nella 
presente  congiuntura  per  li  negotii  che  giornal- 
mente  tratta  V.  Serenita  con  S.  Beatitudine, 
diro  che  il  papa  in  questa  eta  sua  di  65  anni  e 
pill  sanno  e  piii  gagliardo  di  quello  che  sia  stato 
negli  anni  adietro,  non  havendo,  indispositione 
alcuna  fuoriche  quella  della  chiragra  o  gotta, 
che  pero  li  serve,  come  vogliono  li  medici,  a 
tenerlo  preservato  da  altre  indispositioni,  e 
questa  molto  piii  di  rado  e  molto  meno  che 
per  I'inanzi  le  da  molestia  al  presente,  per  la 
bona  regola  particolarmente  del  viver,  nel 
quale  da  certo  tempo  in  qua  precede  con 
grandissima  riserva  e  con  notabile  astinenza 
nel  here  :  6he  le  giova  anco  grandemente  a 
non  dar  fomento  alia  grassezza,  alia  quale  e 
molto  inclinata  la  sua  complessione,  usando 
anco  per  questo  di  frequentare  I'esercitio  di 
camminar  longamente  sempre  che  senza 
sconcio  de  negotii  conosce  di  poterlo  fare,  ai 
quali  nondimeno  per  la  sua  gran  capacita 
supplisce,  intanto  che  le  resta  comoda  parte 
di  tempo  che  dispensa  admettendo  persone 
private  et  altri  che  secondo  il  solito  ricor- 
rono  a  S.  S^a,  A  negotii  gravi  si  applica  con 
ogui  suo  spirito,  et  persiste  in  essi  senza 
mostrarne  mai  alcuna  fiachezza,  et  quando 
li  succede  di  vederli  conclusi,  gode  et  fruisce 
mirabilmente  il  contento  che  ne  riceve.  Ne 
di  cosa  maggiormente  si  compiace  che  di 
esser  stimato,  et  che  sia  rispettata  la  sua 
reputatione,  della  quale  e  gelosissimo.  Et 
quanto  per  la  complessione  sua  molto  san- 
guigna  e  colerica  e  facile  ad  accendersi,  pro- 
rompendo  con  grandissima  vehementia  in 
esagerationi  piene  di  escandescenza  et  ascer- 
bita,  tanto  anco  mentre  vede  che  altri  tace 
con  la  lingua  seben  s'attrista  nel  sembiante, 
si  ravede  per  se  stesso  et  procura  con  gran 
benignita  di  raddolcire  ogni  amaritudine :  la 
qual  cosa  e  cosi  nota  horrnai  a  tutti  li  cardi- 
nali che  ne  danno  cortese  avvertimento  agli 
amici  loro,  sicome  lo  diode  anco  a  me  nel 
prime  congresso  I'illustressimo  sig'  card'^  di 


504 


APPENDIX. 


Verona  per  mia  da  lui  stimata  molto  utile 
conformatione.  Ha  Sua  Sti^  volti  li  pensieri 
suoi  alia  gloria,  ne  si  puo  iinaginare  quanto 
acquisto  facciano  li  principi  della  gratia  sua, 
mentre  secondano  la  sua  inclinatioue.  Onde 
Spagnoli  in  particolare,  che  sempre  miraiio 
a  conservarsi  et  ad  aumentar  la  gran  parte 
che  hanno  nella  corte  di  Roma,  non  trascu- 
rano  punto  Toccasione :  et  pero  con  tanlo 
maggior  prontezza  hanno  applicato  I'animo  a 
far  qualche  impresa  contra  Turchi,  come  hora 
si  vede,  et  con  andar  soflerendo  non  mediocri 
durezze,  che  provano  ancor  loro  nelli  negotii 
important i,  particolarmente  per  causa  di 
ginrisditione,  che  vivono  alia  corte  di  Roma, 
si  vanno  sempre  piu  avanzando  nel  riportare 
in  moke  cose  non  piccole  soddisfattioni.  E 
tenuto  generalmente  il  pontefice  persona  di 
gran  virtii  bonta  et  religioner  di  che  egli  si 
compiace  far  che  del  continuo  se  ne  veggano 
segni  et  important!!  effetti.  Et  se  ben  li 
cardinal!  si  vedono  nel  presente  pontefice 
ecemata  molto  quella  autorita  che  ne'  tempi 
passati  sono  stati  sol  it!  d'havere,  restando 
quasiche  del  tutto  esclusi  dalla  partecipatione 
de  negotii  piii  important!,  poiche  ben  spesso 
fino  air  ultima  conclusione  di  ess!  non  hanno 
delle  trattationi  la  gia  solita  notitia,  mostrano 
nondimeno  di  stimare  il  pontifice,  lodano  la 
iS^^  S.  con  termini  di  somma  riverenza,  cele- 
brando  la  prudenza  et  I'altre  virtii  sue  con 
grand'  esageratione,  affirmando  che  se  fosse 
occasione  hora  di  aligere  pontefice,  non  ele- 
gerebono  altro  che  questo  medesimo,  seben 
son  molto  recondit!  et  profondi  i  loro  pensieri, 
et  le  parole  et  le  apparenze  sono  volte  a! 
proprj  disegni  forse  a  roma  piii  che  al- 
Irove." 

[As  to  the  character  and  disposition  of  the 
pope,  as  far  as  my  attention  has  been  called 
thereto  in  the  present  conjuncture,  in  the 
course  of  the  daily  transactions  between  your 
serenety  and  his  holiness,  I  will  mention  that 
the  pope,  at  his  present  age  of  65,  is  in  better 
health  and  strength  than  he  enjoyed  in  past 
years,  having  no  indisposition  except  the 
chiragra  or  gout,  which  however  is  of  use  to 
him,  as  the  physicians  allege,  in  keeping  him 
from  other  disorders :  its  attacks  are  now 
much  less  frequent  and  troublesome  than 
formerly,  particularly  in  consequence  of  his 
very  regular  living,  in  which  he  has  persisted 
for  a  certain  time  with  extreme  reserve  and 
with  notable  abstinence  in  his  drink  :  more- 
over, he  gladly  avoids  encouraging  corpulence, 
to  which  his  constitution  is  very  prone,  where- 
fore he  makes  it  a  practice  to  take  long 
walks  whenever  he  finds  he  can  do  so  without 
interruption  to  business,  though  he  readily 
makes  up  for  any  lost  time  by  liis  extraordi- 
nary capacity,  so  that  he  has  a  convenient 
share  of  leisure,  which  he  employs  in  receiv- 
ing private  persons  and  others  who  habitually 


wait  upon  his  holiness.  He  applies  with  all 
his  soul  to  serious  business,  and  persists  in  it 
without  displaying  any  signs  of  flagging;  and 
when  he  sees  it  brought  to  an  issue,  he 
wonderfully  enjoys  the  pleasure  thence  af- 
forded him.  There  is  nothing  he  is  so  fond 
of,  as  being  esteemed  and  having  his  reputa- 
tion respected,  of  which  he  is  most  jealous. 
And  whereas,  by  reason  of  his  very  sanguine 
and  choleric  temperament,  he  is  easily  exas- 
perated, breaking  out  with  huge  vehemence 
into  anger  and  bitter  tirades;  yet  if  he  per- 
ceives that  the  person  he  addresses  keeps 
silence  with  his  tongue,  though  his  counte- 
nance displays  vexation,  he  checks  himself, 
and  endeavours  with  great  kindness  to  re- 
move all  feeling  of  bitterness.  This  circum- 
stance is  now  so  well  known  to  all  the 
cardinals  that  they  courteously  warn  their 
friends  of  it,  as  was  done  to  myself  on  my 
first  audience  by  the  cardinal  di  Verona,  by 
way  of  giving  me  what  he  thought  a  very 
useful  hint  for  my  conduct.  His  holinesss 
has  his  thoughts  turned  upon  glory,  nor  can 
it  be  conceived  how  much  sovereigns  gain 
in  his  favour  by  seconding  his  inclination. 
Hence  the  Spaniards  in  particular,  who  are 
always  on  the  watch  to  preserve  and  augment 
the  great  interest  they  possess  at  the  court  of 
Rome,  fail  not  in  the  least  point  to  act  ac- 
cordingly; and  so  they  have  the  more 
promptly  applied  themselves  to  efl'ect  some 
enterprise  against  the  Turks,  as  at  present 
seen  :  and  though  they  are  obliged  to  put  up 
with  no  slight  hardships,  which  they  too 
experience  who  live  at  the  court  of  Rome  on 
account  of  important  business,  especially 
judicial  matters,  still  they  are  continual- 
ly gaining  ground,  and  obtaining  in  many 
things  no  slight  satisfactions.  The  pope  is 
generally  esteemed  a  person  of  great  virtue, 
goodness  and  piety,  of  which  he  delights 
continually  to  give  striking  proof  And 
though  the  cardinals  find  themselves  in  the 
present  pontificate  curtailed  of  much  of  that 
authority  they  were  used  to  possess  in  times 
past,  being  almost  totally  excluded  from  par- 
ticipating in  the  more  important  matters,  for 
very  often  it  is  not  till  these  are  concluded 
that  they  receive  notice  of  their  being  under 
consideration,  nevertheless  they  appear  to 
esteem  the  pope,  praise  his  holiness  in  the 
most  reverential  terms,  celebrate  his  prudence 
and  other  virtues  in  the  largest  style,  affirm- 
ing that  if  they  had  now  to  choose  a  pope 
they  would  choose  none  other  than  this  same : 
their  thoughts  though  are  very  secret  and 
deep,  and  words  and  appearances  are  shaped 
to  fit  private  designs  oftener  perhaps  in  Rome 
than  elsewhere.] 

The  ambassador  succeeded  in  once  more 
allaying  the  disputes,  though  the  pope  already 
talked  of  excommunication.     On  the  whole, 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


505 


however,  Venier  considered  him  well  dis- 
posed. Venice  consented  to  send  the  patri- 
arch to  Rome. 

72,  Instruttione  aV  iU"'o  et  ccc^"  marchese  di 
Vie^licnno  ambasciatore  cntlolico  in  Roma 
1603.  {Informalt.  politt.  n.  26.)  [In- 
struction to  the  marchese  di  Viglienna, 
catholic  ambassador  to  Rome.] 

Viglienna  was  Sessa's  successor.  Our 
author  reasonably  enough  leaves  it  to  the 
departing  ambassador  to  give  information 
respecting  the  pope  and  those  immediately 
belonging  to  him.  He  himself  give  us 
accounts  of  the  cardinals.  His  object  is  to 
point  out  the  faction  to  which  each  belonged. 
We  can  perceive  that  the  state  of  things  was 
very  much  altered  since  1599.  But  ten  car- 
dinals are  enumerated  as  decidedly  Spanish. 
Formerly  there  had  been  but  little  mention  of 
French  cardinals :  there  were  now  nine  of 
them  ;  the  others  belonged  to  no  party. 

This  author  is  also  deeply  impressed  with 
the  importance  of  the  curia.  "  Qui  le  dit- 
ferenze,  le  pretensioni,  le  paci,  le  guerre  si 

maneggiano Le  condition!  invitano  i 

piu  vivaci  e  cupidi  di  grandezza,  di  maniera 
che  non  e  meraviglia  che  qui  tioriscano  i 
piu   acuti  ingegni."     [In  it  are  disposed  of 

disputes,  pretensions,  peace  and  war 

Its  circumstances  invite  the  most  spirited  and 
the  most  covetous  of  greatness,  so  that  it  is 
no  wonder  that  the  most  acute  intellects 
flourish  there.] 

73.  Dialogo  di  mons'^  Malaspina  sopra  la  sta- 
te spiriiuale  e  politico  delV  imperio  e  delle 
provincie  iiifette  dlieresie.  {Vallic.  n. 
17.  142  leaves.)  [Dialogue  by  monsignor 
Malaspina,  on  the  spiritual  and  political 
state  of  the  empire  and  the  provinces  in- 
fested with  heresy.] 

A  dialogue  between  monsieur  Malaspina, 
the  archbishop  of  Prague,  and  the  bishops  oi' 
Lyons  and  Cordova,  churchmen  belonging 
severally  to  the  four  principal  nations;,  some- 
where about  the  year  1600.  Mention  is  made 
in  it  of  the  escheat  of  Ferrara. 

Its  object  is  specially  to  compare  what  had 
had  been  done  by  former  popes  and  by  Clem- 
ent VIII.  respectively,  for  the  advancement  of 
Catholicism. 

Under  the  former  popes:  "  1.  La  reduttione 
delle  Indie,  2.  la  celebratione  del  concilio,  3. 
la  lega  santa  e  la  vittoria  navale,  4.  I'eret- 
tione  de'  collegii,  5.  I'offerta  dagli  heretici  del 
primato  di  Pietro  al  patriarcha  Constantino- 
politano  ,..(!?)  5.  la  constantia  del  re  catto- 
lico  in  non  concedere  agli  heretici  nei  paesi 
bassi  cose  in  pregiudicio  della  religione." 
[1.  The  reduction  of  the  Indies;  2.  The  cel- 
ebration of  the  council ;  3.  The  holy  league 
61 


and  the  nnval  victory;  4.  The  erection  of  the 
colleges ;  5.  The  ofler  by  the  heretics  of  the 
primacy  of  Peter  to  the  patriarch  of  Constan- 
tinople .  .  .  (!)  5. 'J"he  firmness  of  the  catho- 
lic king  in  not  yielding  to  tiie  heretics  in  the 
Low  Countries  things  prejudicial  to  religion.] 

By  pope  Clement  VIII.:  "1.  II  governo 
pastorale  et  universale,  2.  il  governo  partico- 
lare  dei  dominii  del  state  ecclesiastico,  3.  la 
vita  di  S.  Boatitudine,  4.  il  Tiirca  bora  per 
opera  di  S.  Beatitudine  fatlo  apparire  di  potersi 
vincere,  5.  Ferrara  occupata,  6.  I'essersi  fatto 
cattolico  il  christianissimo  re  di  Francia." 
[1.  The  pastoral  and  universal  government; 
2.  The  particular  government  of  the  domi- 
nions of  the  ecclesiastical  states  ;  3.  The  life 
of  his  holiness ;  4.  The  Turk  now,  by  means 
of  his  holiness,  shown  to  be  vanquishable;  5. 
Ferrara  occupied  ;  6.  The  most  Christian  king 
of  France  become  catholic] 

Malaspina  concludes  that  this  is  of  more 
importance  than  all  that  the  others  had  effect- 
ed. Quite  natural.  The  work  is  dedicated 
to  the  pope's  nephews. 

I  have  only  been  able  to  find  one  solitary 
passage  worthy  of  note  in  this  long  paper. 

The  author  was  present  at  the  electoral 
diet  of  Ratisbon  in  the  year  1.575,  where  he 
conferred  with  the  elector  Augustus  of  Saxo- 
ny. This  prince  was  still  far  from  exciting 
the  hopes  of  the  catholics  that  he  would  re- 
cant. On  the  contrary,  he  declared  he  made 
no  account  of  the  pope,  whether  as  pope  or  as 
sovereign  of  Rome,  nor  yet  in  consideration 
of  his  wealth  ;  the  papal  treasury  was  rather 
a  cistern  than  a  living  spring  ;  the  only  thing 
that  gave  him  concern  was,  that  a  monk  like 
Pius  V.  should  "have  united  such  mighty  sove- 
reigns in  a  war  against  the  Turks ;  he  might 
repeat  the  same  thing  against  the  protestants. 
In  fact,  Gregory  XIII.  actually  conceived  such 
a  scheme.  Seeing  that  France  withdrew  from 
any  share  in  the  Turkish  war  from  its  fear  of 
the  Huguenots,  he  deemed  a  general  confed- 
eracy at  once  against  the  Turks  and  the  pro- 
testants  to  be  necessary.  Negotiations  were 
immediately  set  on  foot  on  the  subject  with 
the  emperor  and  with  the  archduke  Charles 
of  Styria. 

74.  Relatione  delle  chiese  di  Sassonia.  Fe- 
licibus  auspiciis  ill'^  comitis  Frid.  Bor- 
romei.  1603.  (Bibl.  Ambros.  H.  179) 
[Report  on  the  churches  of  Saxony.] 

Another  of  the  numerous  schemes  of  Ca- 
tholicism to  recover  possession  of  Germany. 

The  author  is  persuaded  that  Germany  is 
gradually  becoming  weary  of  protestantism. 
Already  parents  took  little  interest  in  hav- 
ing their  children  educated  in  their  own  faith. 
"  Li  lasciano  in  abandono,  perche  sio  gl'in- 
spiri,  come  essi  dicono,  a  quel  che  sia  per  sa- 
lute deir  anime  loro."     [They  leave  them 


506 


APPENDIX. 


alone,  in  order,  as  they  say,  that  God  may  in- 
spire them  with  what  may  be  for  the  good  of 
their  souls.] 

Under  this  persuasion,  he  forms  projects 
against  two  leading  protestant  countries,  Sax- 
ony and  the  Palatinate. 

In  Saxony  the  administrator  had  already 
extirpated  Calvinism.  He  must  be  gained 
over  by  the  hopes  of  recovering  the  electorate. 
("Mettergli  inanzi  speranza  di  poter  per  la 
via  della  conversione  farsi  assoluto  patrone 
dell'  elettorato.")  The  provincial  nobility 
too  would  be  well  pleased  if  they  had  a  pros- 
pect of  again  getting  hold  of  the  bishoprics. 

He  expresses  himself  in  the  following  way 
respecting  the  Palatinate.  "  II  Casimiro  ave- 
va  una  sorella  vedova,  che  fu  moglie  d'un 
landgravio  d'Hassia,  la  quale  suol  vivere  in 
Braubach,  terra  sopra  il  Rheno,  e  si  dimostra 
plena  di  molte  virtii  moral!  e  di  qualche  lume 
del  cielo :  snol  esercitare  I'opere  di  charita 
per  molto  zelo,  facendo  molte  elemosine  e 
consolando  gl'  infermi  di  quel  contorni  con 
provederli  di  medicine :  conversa  volentieri 
con  alcuni  padri  del  Giesii  e  con  I'arcivescovo 

di  Treveri E  opinione  di  molti  che 

mediante  una  piii  diligenza  o  di  qualche  pa- 
dre del  Giesvi  amato  da  lei  o  di  qualche  prin- 
cipe  cattolico  o  vescovo  saria  facil  cosa  di  ri- 
durla  lotalmente  alia  vera  fede :  .  .  ,  .  di 
che  se  dio  benedetto  desse  la  gratia  c  che  la 
cosa  passasse  con  conveniente  segretazza, 
sarebbe  ella  ottimo  instrumento  per  conver- 
tire  poi  il  nipote  con  la  sorella  di  lui  et  un  al- 
tra  figlia  che  resta  del  Casimiro."  [Casimir 
had  a  widowed  sister,  wdio  had  been  the  wife 
of  a  landgrave  of  Hesse  ;  she  resides  in  Brau- 
bach, a  country  on  the  Rhine,  and  she  ap- 
pears possessed  of  many  moral  virtues,  and  of 
some  illumination  from  heaven:  she  is  wont 
to  perform  works  of  charity  with  much  zeal, 
distribute  many  alms,  and  comforting  the  in- 
firm of  those  regions  by  procuring  them  me- 
dicines. She  is  fond  of  conversing  with  some 
Jesuit  fathers  and  with  the  archbishop  of 
Trier It  is  supposed  that  with  some- 
what more  diligence  on  the  part  of  some  Je- 
suit father  liked  by  her,  or  of  some  catholic 
prince  or  bishop,  it  would  be  easy  to  bring  her 
over  wholly  to  the  true  faith :  .  .  .  .  which 
if  God  in  his  grace  would  vouchsafe  to  grant, 
it  would  be  the  best  means  towards  afterwards 
converting  her  nephew  and  his  sister,  and 
another  surviving  daughter  of  Casimir.] 

The  author  alludes  in  this  to  Anna  Eliza- 
beth of  the  Palatinate,  the  wife  of  Philip  of 
Hesse  Rheinfels,  who  died  in  the  year  1583. 
She  had  previously  incurred  suspicion  of  Cal- 
vinism, and  had  even  been  wounded  in  conse- 
quence in  a  riot.  We  see  that  subsequently, 
when  living  in  Braubach,  her  widow's  estate, 
which  she  beautified,  she  was  suspected  of  an 
opposite  leaning  to  Catholicism. 

It  is  upon  this  combination  of  circumstances 


that  our  author  builds.  He  is  of  opinion,  that 
were  the  young  count  palatine  to  be  married 
to  a  Bavarian  princess,  the  whole  country 
would  become  catholic.  And  what  an  advan- 
tage would  it  be  to  gain  over  an  electorate ! 

75.  Instruttione  a  V  S'^'^  Moris'^  Barberino 
arcivescovo  di  Nazaref.  destinato  nuntio 
ordinario  di  N.  Sig^^  al  re  christianissi- 
mo  in  Francia  1603.  {MS.  Rom.)  [In- 
struction to  monsignor  Barberini,  arch- 
bishop of  Nazareth,  on  his  going  as  nuncio 
to  France.] 

Drawn  up  by  cardinal  P.  Aldobrandino, 
who  makes  frequent  mention  of  his  own  for- 
mer embassy  to  the  French  court:  it  has  in 
view  the  furthering  of  the  impulse  already 
given  to  Catholicism  in  France  by  the  conver- 
sion of  Henry  IV. 

Let  us  observe  some  of  the  charges  given 
to  the  nuncio,  afterwards  Pope  Urban  VIII. 

"  Ella  fara  si  con  il  re  ch'  egli  mostri  non 
solamente  di  desiderare  che  gli  eretici  si  con- 
vertino,  ma  che  dopo  che  si  sono  convertiti, 
gli  ajuti  e  favorisca.  ...  II  pensare  a  bilan- 
ciare  le  cose  in  manierache  si  tenghi  amiche 
ambidue  le  parti  e  una  propositione  vana,  fal- 
sa et  erronea,  e  non  potrii  esser  suggerita  a 
S.  Mi^  che  da  politici  e  mal  intentionati  c  da 
chi  non  ama  la  suprema  autoritii  del  re  nel 
regno.  .  .  .  N.  Sigre  non  vuol  lasciar  di  porli 
(the  king)  in  consideratione  una  strada  facile 
e  senza  che  possa  partorir  tumulto  e  che  si 
eseguisca  facilmente  e  fa  il  suo  efletto  senza 
coltivatione,  et  e  quella  che  altre  volte  ha  S. 
St'^  ricordato  alia  M^^  S.  et  addotto  I'esempio 
di  Polonia  cioe  di  non  dar  gradi  ad  eretici: 
.  .  .  ricorda  a  S.  Mi^  di  dar  qualche  sbarbat- 
ezza  alle  volte  a  costoro  (the  Huguenots,) 
perche  e  turba  ribelle  et  insolente.  ...  V. 
yriadovra  dire  liberamente  al  re  che  deve  fug- 
gire  gli  economati  et  il  dar  vescovati  e  badie 
a  soldati  et  a  donne."  [He  will  so  proceed 
with  the  king  that  his  majesty  shall  not  only 
manifest  his  desire  for  the  conversion  of  the 
heretics,  but  also  countenance  and  favour 
them  after  their  conversion.  .  .  .  The  thought 
of  balancing  matters  so  that  the  two  parties 
shall  remain  friends,  is  a  vain,  false,  and  er- 
roneous proposition,  and  can  only  be  suggest- 
ed to  his  majesty  by  crafty  and  evil-intention- 
ed  persons,  and  by  those  wiio  do  not  like  the 
king's  supreme  authority  ni  the  kingdom.  .  .  . 
His  holiness  would  by  all  means  have  an  easy 
course  submitted  to  the  king's  consideration 
(for  getting  rid  of  the  protestants)  one  that 
cannot  produce  any  commotion,  is  easy  of  ex- 
ecution, and  will  produce  its  effect  spontane- 
ously and  without  any  special  exertion  :  it  is 
the  same  which  his  holiness  has  on  other  oc- 
casions suggested  to  his  majesty,  adducing  the 
example  of  Poland,  and  that  is,  not  to  give 
promotion  to  heretics :  ...  let  him  put  his 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


507 


majesty  in  mind  to  fjive  the  Huguenots  some 
smart  rap  or  another  on  all  occasions,  for  they 
are  a  rebellious  and  insolent  pack.  .  .  .  Your 
e.xccllency  must  tell  the  king-  plainly  that  he 
Gught  to  abolish  the  economati  (stewardships) 
and  the  practice  of  bestowing  bishoprics  and 
abbeys  on  soldiers  and  women.] 

In  these  economali  consisted  the  origin  of 
tlie  regale,  which  at  a  later  period  caused 
such  serious  disputes.  "II  re  nomina  I'eco- 
nomo,  il  quale  in  virtu  d'un  arresto,  inanzi  sia 
fatta  la  ispeditione  apostolica,  amministra  lo 
spirituale  e  temporale,  conferisce  beneficii, 
constituisce  vicarii  che  giudicano,  assolvono, 
dispensano."  [The  king  nominates  the  eco- 
nonio,  who  by  virtue  of  an  arret,  without 
waiting  for  the  determination  of  the  apostolic 
see,  administers  spiritualities  and  temporali- 
ties, confers  benefices,  and  appoints  vicars, 
who  judge,  absolve,  and  dispense.] 

The  nuncio  was  also  to  strive  to  confirm 
the  king  himself  in  the  catholic  faith  ;  during 
the  war  his  majesty  had  not  had  an  opportu- 
nity of  receiving  sound  instruction;  he  should 
insist  on  the  nomination  of  good  bishops,  see 
to  the  reform  of  the  clergy,  and  as  far  as  pos- 
sible effect  the  publication  of  the  decrees  of 
the  council  of  Trent,  which  the  king  had  pro- 
mised the  cardinal  on  his  departure  to  set  on 
foot  within  two  months,  but  which  he  still, 
after  the  lapse  of  several  years,  delayed  to 
do  ;  he  was  to  counsel  the  destruction  of  Ge- 
neva "  (di  tor  via  il  nido  che  hanno  gli  ereti- 
ci  in  Ginevra,  come  quella  che  e  asilo  di 
quanti  apostati  fuggono  d'ltalia)"  [to  sweep 
away  that  nest  the  heretics  have  in  Geneva, 
as  being  the  asylum  of  all  the  fugitive  apos- 
tates of  Italy.] 

Italy  was  above  all  the  subject  that  lay 
nearest  the  pope's  heart :  he  declares  it  past 
endurance  that  a  Huguenot  commander 
should  be  sent  to  Castel  Delfino  on  the  Ita- 
lian side  of  the  Alps ;  the  example  was 
deadly. 

Clement  was  full  of  the  idea  of  a  Turkish 
war.  Each  sovereign  should  attack  the  Turks 
at  a  separate  point;  the  king  of  Spain  was 
ready  to  do  his  part,  and  only  required  the  as- 
surance that  the  king  of  France  would  not  in 
the  meanwhile  molest  him  in  any  quarter. 

76.  Pauli  V.  pontificis  maxima  vita  com- 
pendiose  scripta. — {Bibl.  Barb.)  [An  epi- 
tome of  the  life  of  pope  Paul  V.] 

A  panegyric  of  no  great  value. 

The  judicial  functions,  administration,  and 
architectural  schemes  of  this  pope  are  praised 
at  length. 

"  'i'acitus  plerumque  et  in  se  receptus ; 
ubique  locorum  et  temporum  vel  in  mensa 
meditabatur,  scribebat,  plurima  transigebat. 

"  NuUus  dabatur  facinorosis  receptui  locus. 
Ex  aulis  primariis  Romae,  exsedium  nobilissi- 


marum  non  dicam  atriis  sod  penetralibus  no- 
centis  ad  supplicium  armato  sattellitio  educe- 
bantur. 

"Cum  principatus  initio  rerum  singularum, 
pra:>cipue  pecuniarum  difficultate  premeretur, 
cum  jugiter  aimis  XVI  tantum  auri  tot  largi- 
tionibus,  substructionibus,  ex  integro  ffidifica- 
tionibus,  prsesidiis  e.xterorumque  subsidiis  in- 
sumpserit,  rem  frumentariam  tanta  impensa 
expediverit,  .  .  .  nihil  de  arcis  iElise  thesau- 
ro  ad  publicum  tutamen  congesto  detra.xerit, 
subjectas  provinciassublevaverit :  tot  immen- 
sis  tamen  operibus  non  modo  ffis  alienum  de- 
nuo  non  contraxit,  sed  vetus  imminuit ;  non 
modo  ad  inopiam  non  est  redactus,  sed  prseter 
publicum  utidequaque  locupletatum  privato 
asrario  novies  centena  millia  nummum  aureo- 
rum  congessit." 

[He  was  generally  silent  and  engrossed 
with  his  own  thoughts,  in  all  times  and  places  ; 
even  at  table  he  used  to  meditate,  write,  and 
transact  a  multitude  of  things. 

[No  asylum  was  granted  to  malefactors. 
From  the  foremost  palaces  of  Rome,  not 
merely  from  the  halls  but  from  the  very  in- 
most receptacles  of  the  noblest  mansions  in 
Rome,  culprits  were  brought  out  by  armed 
force  for  punishment. 

[Whereas  in  the  beginning  he  was  embar- 
rassed in  every  respect,  above  all  by  want  of 
money  ;  and  whereas,  during  a  space  of  six- 
teen years,  he  expended  so  much  in  presents, 
repairs,  or  entire  construction  of  buildings, 
military  charges,  and  subsidies  of  foreign 
states,  was  at  such  cost  for  supplies  of  corn, 
.  .  .  took  nothing  from  the  fund  accumulated 
in  St.  Angelo  for  the  public  safeguard,  and 
relieved  the  subject  provinces;  with  all  these 
vast  sources  of  expenditure  still  he  contracted 
no  new  debt,  but  diminished  the  old;  and  so 
far  from  being  reduced  to  penury,  besides 
enriching  the  public  treasury  from  all  quar- 
ters, he  added  to  the  private  treasury  900,000 
scudi.] 

Apparently  this  panegyrist  did  not  regard 
the  creation  of  so  many  new  luoghi  di  monte 
in  the  light  of  a  loan, 

77.  Relatione  dello  stato  infelice  della  Ger- 
mania  cum  propositione  delli  rimedii  op- 
portuni,  mandala  dal  nuntio  Ferrer o  ves- 
covo  di  Vercelli  alia  S"^  di  N.  Sig^e  papa 
Paolo  V.—{Bibl.  Barb.)  [Report  of  the 
unhappy  state  of  Germany,  with  a  propo- 
sal of  the  proper  remedies,  addressed  by 
the  nuncio  Ferrero,  bishop  of  Vercelli,  to 
his  holiness  pope  Paul  V.] 

Probably  one  of  the  first  circumstantial 
reports  that  came  into  the  hands  of  Paul  V. 
The  nuncio  mentions  the  revolt  of  the  impe- 
rial troops  against  their  general  Basta  in 
May  1005,  as  an  event  that  had  just  occurred. 

The  unfortunate  course  taken  by  the  war 


5D8 


APPENDIX. 


from  jealous  apprehension  that  they'intend  to 
avail  themselves  of  these  seditions,  or  for  some 
other  cause,  that  he  takes  no  thought  either 
for  his  house,  or  for  his  dominions,  or  for  him- 
self.} 

Many  other  remarkable  facts  are  also 
brought  to  light,  e.  g.  the  designs  even  then 
entertained  by  the  house  of  Branderiburg 
against  Silesia.  "  II  Brandeburgh  non  dispera 
con  gli  stati  che  ha  in  Slesia  e  le  sue  proprie 
forze  in  tempo  di  revolutione  tirar  a  se  quella 
provincia."  [Brantlenkirg  does  not  despair, 
with  the  states  he  has  in  Silesia  and  his  ovi^n 
forces,  to  be  able  to  appropriate  that  province 
to  himself  in  time  of  revolution.] 

78.  Relatione  delV  ill^"  S^  Franc.  Molino 
caV  e  pro^  ritornato  da  Roma  con  rill'"^ 
sig'>'i  Giovanni  Mocenigo  cav^,  Piero 
Duodo  cav'^  e  Francesco  Contarini  caV, 
mandati  a  Roma  a  congratulursi  conpapa 
Paolo  V.  delta  sua  assontione  al  po)iteJi- 
cato,  letla  in  senato  25  Genu.  1605  (1606), 
[Report  by  Francesco  IMolino  of  his  joint 
embassy  with  Giov.  Mocenigo,  &c.,  to  con- 
gratulate pope  Paul  V.  on  his  accession.] 

The  outbreak  of  the  troubles  was  already 
foreseen.  The  ambassador  observed  Paul  V. 
as  closely  as  possibly. 

"  Sicome  pronunliato  Leone  XI  penarono 
doi  hore  a  vestirlo  pontificalmente,  cosi  il  pre- 
sente  pontefice  fu  quasi  creduto  prima  vestito 
ch'eletto  et  pur  da  altri  cardinali:  che  non  fu 
of  Austria.  The  archdukes  Matthias  and  j  cosi  presto  dichiarato  che  in  niomento  dimos- 
Maximilian  had  made  up  their  quarrels  and  |  tro  continenza  et  gravita  pontificia  tanta  nell' 
united  ngainst  the  ernperor.  "  Hora  I'arci- j  aspelto,  nel  moto,  nelle  parole  et  nelli  fatti, 
duca  Maitia  e  Massimiliano  si  sono  uniti  in  j  che  restarono  tutti  pieni  di  stuporeet  meravi- 
amore,  vedendo  che  con  la  loro  disunione  face- '  glia  et  molti  forse  pentiti,  ma  tardi  et  senza 
vano  il  gioco  che  I'imperatore  desidera,  essen- !  giovamento  :  perche  diversissimo  dalli  altri 
dosi  risokito  il  secondo  a  cedere  al  primo  come  [  precessori,  che  in  quel  calore  hanno  tutti  assen- 
a  quelle  ohe  per  ragione  di  primogenitura  toe-  i  tito  alle  richieste  cosi  de'  cardinali  come  d' 
cava  il  regno  d'Ungaria,  Boemia  e  stati  d'Aus- j  altri  et  fatte  infinite  gratie,  cosi  il  presente 
tria,  et  Alberto  ha  promessso  di  star  a  quello  j  stette  continentissimo  et  sul  serio,  tanto  che 
che  se  ne  fara,  e  di  comun  concerto  solleci- 
tano  I'imperatore  con  lettere  a  prendere  riso- 
lutione  al  stabilimento  della  casa  :  ma  egli  e 
caduto  in  tanta  maliuconia,  o  sia  per  questa 
lor  uuiono,  e  gelosia  che  non  siano  per  valersi 
di  queste  sedizioni,  o  per  altro,  che  non  pro- 
vede  alia  casa  ne  agli  stati  ne  a  se  stesso." 
[The  archdukes  Matthias  and  Maximilian  are 
now  united  and  friendly,  for  they  saw  that 
their  disunion    was    playing    the   emperor's 


under  these  circumstances,  and  the  progress 
of  the  Turks  and  the  rebels  in  arms  against 
the  emperor,  were  doubtless  his  chief  grounds 
for  calling  Germany  unhappy. 

For  in  other  respects  he  did  not  fail  to  per- 
ceive the  numerous  conquests  made  by  the 
catholic  church  in  Germany. 

"  Di  questi  frutti  ne  sono  stati  prossima 
causa  gli  alunni  cosi  di  Roma  come  delle  va- 
rie  citta  e  luoghi  della  Germania  dove  la 
pieta  di  Gregorio  XIII  alle  spese  della  camera 
apostolica  gl'  institui,  giunti  li  collegii  e 
scuole  delli  padri  Giesuiti,  alii  quali  vanno 
misti  cattolici  et  heretici ;  perche  li  alunni 
sudetti  si  fanno  prelati  o  canonici." 

[The  proximate  cause  of  these  results  are 
the  pupils  both  of  Rome  and  of  the  various 
cities  and  places  of  Germany,  where  the  piety 
of  Gregory  XIII.  afforded  them  the  means  of 
education  at  the  charge  of  the  apostolic  trea- 
sury, added  to  the  schools  and  colleges  of  the 
Jesuit  fathers,  which  are  attended  by  catho- 
lics and  heretics  promiscuously;  because  the 
"Aforesaid  pupils  become  prelates  or  canons.] 

He  repeatedly  asserts  that  the  Jesuit  schools 
had  gained  over  a  great  multitude  of  young- 
people  to  Catholicism.  Only  he  finds  in  Bo- 
hemia in  particular  an  extraordinary  dearth 
of  catholic  parish  clergy. 

He  enters  also  into  the  political  state  of 
Germany  :  he  considers  the  danger  to  be  ap- 
prehended from  the  Turks  very  alarming, 
seeing  the  ill-prepared  condition  of  the  empe- 
ror, and  the  internal  dissensions  of  the  house 


si  dichiari  risoluto  a  non  voler  assentire  et  pro- 
mettere  pur  minima  cosa,  dicendo  ch'  era  con- 
veniente  aver  prima  sopra  le  richieste  et  gratie 
che  le  erano  dimandate  ogni  debita  cl  matura 
consideratione  :  onde  pochissimi  furono  quelli 
che  dopo  qualche  giorno  restassero  in  qualche 
parte  gratiati.  JN'e  tuttayia  si  va  punto  allar- 
gando,  anzi  per  la  sua  sempre  maggior  riser- 
vatezza  dubitando  la  corte  di  veder  anco  sem- 
pre poche  gratie  et  maggior  strettezza  in  tutte 


game.  iMaximilian  has  resolved  to  give  way  i  le  cose,  se  ne  sta  molto  mesta.  Fra  li  ear- 
to  Matthias,  since  to  him  by  right  of  primo- j  dinali  non  v'e  alciino  che  si  possi  gloriar  di 
geniture  belong  the  kingdom  of  Hungary, ;  aver  avuto  tanto  d'intrensichezza  o  familiarita 
Bohemia,  and  the  states  of  Austria  ;  and  Al-  j  seco  che  di  certo  si  possi  promettere  di  ottener 
bert  has  promised  to  acquiesce  in  whatever:  prontamente  alcuna  cosa  da  lui,  e  tutti  proce- 
shall  be  done,  and  they  have  written  in  con-!douo  con  tanto  rispetto  che  si  smarriscono 
cert  to  the  emperor,  recjuesling  him  to  adopt  quando  sono  per  andarli  a  parlar  et  negotiar 
measures  for  the  stability  of  the  house.  Butt  seco  :  perche  oltre  che  lo  trovauo  star  sempre 
the  emperor  is  lallen  into  such  melancholy,  i  sul  serio  et  dar  le  risposte  con  poche  parole, 
whether  in  consequence  of  their  union,  and  |  si  vedono  incontrar  in  risolutionifondate  quasi 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


509 


sempre  sopra  il  rigor  dei  termini  legali:  per- 
che    non    admottcndo    consuetiulini,   ch'eg-Ii 
chiama  abusi,  no  esempj  di  con?en.so  d'  ponte- 
fici  passati,  ai  quali  non  solamente  dice  che 
non  saperia  accomodar  la  sua  conscientia,  ma 
che  po8Sono  aver  fatlo  male  el  potriano  render 
conto  a  dio  o  che  saranno  stati  ingannati,  o  che 
la  cosa  ?ar;i  stata  diversa  da  qiiella  che  a  lui 
viene  portata,  li  lascia  peril  piii  malcontenti. 
Non  ha  caro  che  si  parli  seco  lungo  per  via  di 
contesa  o  di  disputatione,  et  se  ascolta  pur 
una  0  doi  repliche,  quelle  stimando  di  aver 
risoluto  con  le  decisioni  de'  leggi  o  dei  canoni 
o  de'  concilj  che  lor  porta  per  risposta,  si  torce 
se  passano  inanzi,  overo  egli  entra  in  altro, 
volendo  che  sappino  che  per  le  fatiche  fatte 
da  lui  il  spatio  di  trenta  cinque  anni  continuo 
nel  studio  delle  leggi  et  practicatele  con  per- 
petui  esercitii  nelli  officii  di  corte  in  Roma  et 
fuori,   possi   ragionevolmente   pretendere,  se 
bene  questo  non  dice  tanto  espressamente,  ni 
aver  cosi  esatta  cognitioue  di  questa  profes- 
sione  che  non  metti  il  piede  a  fallo  nelle  riso- 
lutioni  che  da  et  nelle  determinationi  che  fa, 
dicendo  bene  che  nelle  cose  dubbie  deve  I'ar- 
bitrio  et  interpretatione  particolarmente  nelle 
materie  ecclesiastiche  esser  di  lui  solo  come 
pontefice,     Et  per  questo  li  cardinali,  che  per 
i'ordinario  da  certo  tempo  in  qua  non  contra- 
dicono,  come  solevano,  anzi  quasi  non  consi- 
gliano,  et  se  sono  ricercati  et  comandati  di 
parlar  liberamente,  lo  fanno  conforme  a  quell' 
intentione  che  vedono  esser  nelli  pontefici,  se 
ben  non  la  sentono,  col  presente  se  ne  asten- 
gono  piu  di  quello  che  habbino  fatto  con  alcun 
dei  suoi  precessori :  et  averanno  ogni  di  tanto 
maggior  occasione  di  star  in  silentio,  quanto 
che  manco  delli  altri  ricerca  il  parere  di  loro 
o  di  alcuno  a  parte,  come  soleva  pur  far  papa 
Clemente  et  altri :  fa  fra  se  stesso  solo  le  riso- 
lutioni  et  quelle  de  improvise  publica  nel  con- 
cistoro :  in   cui  hora  si  duole  dei  tempi  pre- 
sent!, hora  si  querela  de'  principi  cnn  parole 
pungenti  come    fece   ultimamente  in    tempo 
nostro  per  la  deditionedi  Strigonia,  condolen- 
dosi  et  attribuendo  la  colpa  all'  imperatore  et 
ad  altri  principi  con   parole  aculeate  et  pun- 
genti; hora  rappresentandoa' cardmali  li  loro 
obblighi,  li  sfodra  protest!  senza  alcun  prece- 
dente   ordine   o   coinandamento,  con   ciie    li 
mette  in  grandissima  confusione,   come  fece 
significandoli  I'obbligodella  residenza  et,  come 
ho  detto,  non  per  via  di  comando,  come  face- 
vano  li  altri  pontefici,  li  quali  prefigevano  loro 
ancor  stretto  tempo  di  andar  alle  lor  chiese, 
ma  con  solamente  dirli  che  non  escusarebbe  li 
absenti  da  esse  da  peccato  rnortale  et  da  rice- 
vere  i  frutti,  fondando  la  sudetta   conclusione 
Bopra  li  canoni  et  sopra  il  concilio  di  Trento: 
col  qual  termine  solo  cosi  stretto  et  inaspetta- 
tamente  con  molta  flamma  pronunciato  mette 
tanta  confusione   nelli  cardinali  vescovi   che 
conoscendo  loro  non  potersi  fermare  in  Roma 
piu  lungamente   senza   scrupolo  et  rimorso 


grandissimo  della  conscientia,  senza  dar  scan- 
dalo  et  senza  incorrer  in   particolar  concetto 
presso  il  papa  di  poco  curanti  li  avvertimenti 
della  St^  Sua,  di  poco  timorati  di  dio  et  di  poco 
honore  ancor  presso  il  mondo,  hanno  preso  riso- 
lutione  chi  di  andar  alia  residenza,  et  gia  se 
ne  sono  partiti  alquanti,  chi  di  rinuiiciare,  et 
chi  di  aver  dispensa  fin  che  passi  la  furia  dell' 
inverno   per  andarvi  alia   primavera:  ne  ha 
admesso  per  difesa  che  salvino  le  legation! 
della  provincie  e  delle  citta  del  state  eccle- 
siastico  :  solo  doi  poteano  essere  eccettuati,  il 
cardll  Tarasio  arcivescovo  di  Siena  vecchis- 
simo  et  sordo,  che  non  sara  percio  salvato  da 
restar  astretto  dalla  renoncia,  et  il  sig""  cardl 
di  Verona,  medesimamente  per  I'eta  grandis- 
sima et  per  aver  gia  moiti  anni  monsr  sue 
nipote  ch'  esercita  la  coadjutoria  et  ottima- 
mente  supplisce  per  il  zio."     [Whereas  on 
Leo  XI.  being  pronounced  elected,  tliey  delay- 
ed two  hours  to  clothe  him  in  the  pontifical 
vestments;  the   present   pope,   on  the  other 
hand,  was  thought  to  have  been  robed  almost 
before  his  election,   and  while  on  a  footing 
with  the  other  cardinals.     For  no  sooner  was 
he  declared,  than  he  instantly  displayed  the 
reserve  and  gravity  of  a  pope  in  his  counten- 
ance, gestures,  words,  and  actions,  so  that  all 
were  mled  with  amazement  and  wonder,  and 
some  perhaps  repented,  though  too  late  to  help 
themselves  :  for  quite  ditferently  from  his  pre- 
decessors, who  all  in  the  first  flush  of  their 
success  consented  to  the  requests  of  the  car- 
dinals and   others  and   granted  favours,  the 
present  pope  was  for  his  part  most  reserved 
and  grave,  insomuch  that  he  declared  his  reso- 
lution not  to  grant  the  most  trifling  request, 
saying  that  it  was  expedient  he  should   first 
duly  and  maturely  consider  all   the  requests 
that  were  addressed  to  him  ;  hence  they  were 
extremely  few  who  at  the  end  of  a  few  days 
received  favours  of  some  kind.     Nor  does  his 
liberality  enlarge  a  jot;  on  the  contrary,  his 
increasing  reserve  makes  the  court  apprehend 
a  contmued  restriction   of  favours  and  aug- 
mented straitness  in  all  things,  whereat  it  is 
very  sad.     Among  the  cardinals,  there  is  not 
one  that  can  boast  of  having  had  so  much  inti- 
macy or  familiarity  with  him  as  to  make  sure 
of  promptly  obtaining  any  thing  of  him  ;  and 
they  all  stand  in  such  awe  of  him,  that  they 
are  disconcerted  when  they  have  to  wait  upon 
him  and  transact  business  with  him  :  for  be- 
sides that  they  find  he  always  stands  upon  his 
dignity  and  gives  his  answers  in  few  words, 
they  are  met  by  him  with  conclusions  founded 
almost  always  on  the  strict  letter  of  the  law; 
for  making  no  allowance  for  customs  which  he 
calls  abuses,  nor  precedents  of  past  popes,  say- 
ing, not  only  that  he  cannot  accommodate  hig 
conscience  to  their  dictates,  but  also  that  they 
may  have  done  ill,  and  perhaps  have  to  render 
an  account  to  God,  or   that  they  may  have 
been  deceived,  or  that  the  case  shall  have  been 


510 


APPENDIX. 


different  from  that  set  before  him,  he  leaves 
them  in  the  utmost  discontent.  He  does  not 
like  being  talked  to  long  in  the  way  of  con- 
tention and  argument,  and  if  he  does  listen  to 
one  or  two  replies,  after  having  as  he  thinks 
refuted  tliem  by  decisions  of  law,  or  of  the 
canons  or  of  the  councils,  he  winces  if  they 
are  pushed  any  further,  or  he  changes  the 
subject,  for  he  would  have  them  to  know,  that 
in  consequence  of  his  continual  study  of  the 
laws  for  the  space  of  five  and  thirty  years,  and 
his  practice  of  them  in  offices  pertaining  to  the 
court  of  Rome  and  abroad,  he  may  reasonably 
pretend,  though  he  does  not  say  so  much  ex- 
pressly, to  be  so  accurately  versed  in  that 
profession  as  not  to  make  any  false  step  in  the 
judgmeitts  he  forms  and  the  decisions  he  takes ; 
alleging,  that  to  him  alone  as  pope  it  should 
belong  to  judge  and  interpret  in  doubtful 
matters,  particularly  ecclesiastical.  Hence, 
customary  as  it  has  been  with  the  cardinals 
for  a  certain  time  past  not  to  contradict  as 
they  used  to  do,  not  even  to  advise,  and  when 
requested  and  commanded  to  speak  freely,  to 
do  so  only  in  accordance  with  what  they  know 
to  be  the  sentiments  of  the  pope  for  the  time 
being,  whether  they  really  agree  with  them 
or  not,  with  the  present  pope  they  aj^  more 
guarded  than  ever  they  were  with  aiiy  of  his 
predecessors:  and  every  day  they  will  have 
more  and  more  occasion  to  keep  silence,  inas- 
much as  less  than  other  popes  he  inquires 
after  their  opinions,  as  pope  Clement  and 
others  used  to  do  :  he  adopts  all  resolutions  of 
himself,  and  suddenly  divulges  them  in  the 
consistory,  where  sometimes  he  complains  of 
the  present  times,  sometimes  inveighs  against 
sovereigns  with  bitter  words,  as  he  did  recently 
in  our  time  on  the  surrender  of  Strigonia, 
lamenting  and  attributing  the  blame  to  the 
emperor  and  the  sovereigns  with  pointed  and 
caustic  language  ;  sometimes  he  represents  to 
the  cardinals  their  duties  to  him,  and  makes 
protests  against  them  without  any  precedent, 
order,  or  commandment,  whereby  he  throws 
them  into  great  confusion,  as  he  did  when  he 
signified  to  them  their  obligation  to  residence, 
and  that,  as  I  iiave  said,  not  by  way  of  com- 
mand, as  the  other  popes  did,  who  assigned 
them  a  specified  time,  and  short  too,  to  go  to 
their  churches,  but  telling  them  merely  that 
he  would  not  excuse  the  absentees  from  mortal 
sin,  or  permit  them  to  receive  the  revenues, 
founding  the  said  determination  on  the  canons 
and  on  the  council  of  Trent :  by  which  so 
strict  decision,  unexpectedly  pronounced  with 
much  heat,  he  caused  sucii  dismay  among  the 
cardinal  bishops,  tiiat  knowing  tliey  could  not 
remain  longer  in  Rome  without  extreme  scru- 
ples and  remorse  of  conscience,  without  causing 
scandal,  and  without  in  particular  incurring 
suspicion  on  the  pope's  part  of  being  careless 
of  the  warnings  of  his  holiness,  regardless  of 
God's  fear  and  of  their  own  honour  m  the  eyes 


of  the  world,  they  took  the  resolution,  some  of 
going  to  reside  on  their  preferments,  and  a 
few  of  them  have  already  set  out,  some  of  re- 
signing, and  some  of  procuring  a  dispensation 
to  remain  till  the  rigour  of  the  winter  is  past, 
and  then  setting  out  in  the  spring.  Nor  has 
he  allowed  them  in  recompense  to  keep  the 
legations  of  the  provinces  or  of  the  cities  of 
the  ecclesiastical  states  :  two  only  have  been 
able  to  procure  exception  in  their  favour, 
namely  cardinal  Tarasio,  archbishop  of  Siena, 
who  is  very  old  and  deaf,  but  even  he  will  not 
be  exempted  from  the  necessity  of  resigning; 
and  cardinal  di  Verona,  likewise  on  account 
of  his  great  age,  and  because  for  many  years 
his  nephew  has  acted  as  his  coadjutor,  and  has 
extremely  well  filled  his  uncle's  place.] 

Notwithstanding  this  severity,  the  ambassa- 
dors in  reality  got  on  remarkably  well  with 
Paul  V.  He  dismissed  them  in  the  most 
friendly  manner,  nor  could  the  best  disposed 
pope  have  expressed  himself  more  favourably. 
They  were  themselves  astonished  that  things 
should  so  soon  after  have  taken  such  a  con- 
trary and  so  formidable  a  turn. 

79.  Instruttione  a  monsi"^  il  vescovo  di  Ri- 
mini (C  Gessi)  destinato  nunlio  alia 
republica  di  Venetia  dalla  Saniita  di  N. 
S.  P.  Paolo  V.  1607  4  Giugno.  {Bibl 
Alh.)  [Instruction  to  cardinal  Gessi, 
appointed  nuncio  to  Venice  from  pope 
Paul  v.] 

Immediately  following  the  termination  of 
the  disputes,  yet  not  very  pacific. 

The  pope  complains  that  the  Venetians 
endeavour  to  conceal  the  act  of  absolution ; 
in  a  declaration  to  their  clergy  a  hint  was 
thrown  out  that  the  pope  had  revoked  the 
censures,  because  he  recognized  the  purity 
of  their  intentions  "  (che  S.  Beat""  per  haver 
conosciuta  la  sincerit;\  negli  animi  e  delle 
operationi  loro  havesse  levate  le  censure)." 

Nevertlieless  Paul  V.  goes  so  far  as  to  con- 
ceive hopes  that  the  consultors  and  even  fra 
Paolo  would  be  given  up  to  the  inquisition. 
The  passage  is  very  remarkable.  "  Delle 
persone  di  fra  Paolo  Servita  e  Gio.  Marsilio 
e  degli  altri  seduttori  che  passano  sotto  nome 
di  theologi  s'e  discorso  con  V^a  Sig^'a  in  voce: 
la  quale  doveria  non  aver  difficulla  in  ottener 
che  fossero  consignati  al  sant'  officio,  non  che 
abbandonati  dalla  republica  e  privati  dello  sti- 
pendio  che  s'e  loro  constituito  con  tanto  scan- 
dalo."  [Your  excellency  has  been  discoursed 
with  orally  respecting  fra  Paoli  Servita  and 
Gio.  Marsilia  and  tlie  other  seducers  who 
pass  under  the  name  of  tiieologians ;  and  you 
ought  not  to  meet  with  any  difficulty  in  hav- 
ing them  given  up  to  the  holy  office,  not  to 
say  abandoned  by  the  republic,  and  deprived 
of  the  stipend  which  has  been  so  scandalously 
conferred  on  them.]     Such  proposals  could 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


511 


not  but  exasperate  the  animosity  of  fra  Paolo 
and  make  it  implacable.  The  pope  knew  not 
what  a  foe  he  had  in  him.  Ail  his  monsig-- 
nori  and  illustrissimi  are  forgotten:  the  spirit 
of  fra  Paolo  survives  to  this  day  in  a  part 
at  least  of  the  opposition  within  the  catholic  \ 
church.  I 

The  resistance  the  pope  hud  encountered  i 
on  the  part  of  Venice  had  made  the  deepest 
impression  on  him.  "  Vuole  N.  sig-'e  che 
I'autorita  e  giurisdittione  ecclesiastica  sia 
difesa  virilmente  da  V.  8"^,  la  quale  averte 
non  dinieno  di  non  abbracciar  causa  che  possa 
venire  in  contesa  dove  non  abbia  rag-ione, 
percke  forse  e  minor  mule  il  contendere  che 
il  perdere."  [It  is  the  desire  of  his  holiness 
that  the  ecclesiastical  authority  and  jurisdic- 
tion be  manfully  defied  by  your  excellency, 
and  you  shall  at  the  same  time  be  no  less 
cautious  to  avoid  taking  up  any  matter  that 
may  end  in  an  unnecessary  contest ;  for  per- 
haps there  is  less  mischief  in  not  contending, 
than  in  being  defeated.^ 

80.  Ragguaglio  dclla  dieta  imperiale  fatta 
in  Ra.iisbona  Vunno  del  S^  1008,  nella 
quale  hi  luogo  dell  ecc"">  e  rev""'  monsr 
Antonio  Gaetano,  arcivescovo  di  Capua, 
nuntio  apostoHco,  rimaslo  in  Prago  ap- 
presso  la  M'"  Cesarea,  fa  residente  il 
padre  Filippo  Milensio  maestro  Agostino 
licrio  generale  sopra  le  provincie  uquilo- 
narie.  AW  ccc'>">  e  rev'""  sig^^  e  principe 
il  sig^  card''  Francesco  Barberiai. — [Ac- 
count of  the  imperial  diet  at  R;itisbon,  at 
which  padre  Filippo  Milensio,  vicar-gene- 
ral of  the  Augustines,  &-c.,  filled  the  place 
of  monsignor  Gaetano,  nuncio,  &c.,  who 
remained  at  Prague  with  tlie  emperor. 
Addressed  to  cardinal  Francesco  Barbe- 
rini.] 

At  the  time  the  emperor  summoned  a  diet 
in  the  year  1607,  Antonio  Gaetano  was  nun- 
cio at  his  court. 

Gaetano  was  charged  with  the  tas^kof  more 
fully  introducing  the  decrees  of  the  council 
of  Trent,  eftecting  the  adoption  of  the  Gre- 
gorian calendar  (to  which  the  temporal  elect- 
ors were  already  inclined,  especially  tSaxony, 
who  had  already  given  instructions  to  his 
ambassador  to  that  effect,)  and  protecting  the 
catholic  interests  in  the  Kammergericht.  The 
interruption  caused  in  the  proceedings  of  that 
court  was  accounted  for  in  the  instruction  in 
the  following  manner. 

"  Di  questo  tribunal  essendo  presidente  su- 
premo I'intruso  Magdeburgese  heretico,  e 
volendo  egli  esercitare  il  suo  officio,  non  fu 
ammesso,  e  da  quel  tempo  in  qua  non  essendo 
state  reviste  le  cause  et  essendo  moltiplicati 
gli  aggravii  fatti  particolarmente  alii  catolici, 
protestando  li  hereiici  di  volere  avere  luogo 
nella  detta  camera  indifi'erentemente,  come 


hanno  li  catolici,  hanno  atteso  continuamente 
ad  usurpare  i  beni  ecclesiastici."  [The  su- 
preme president  of  that  tribunal  being  the 
Magdeburg  heretic  intruder,  and  he  desiring 
to  exercise  his  functions,  he  was  not  admitted, 
and  from  that  time  till  now  no  causes  have  been 
heard,  and  the  grievances  particularly  against 
the  catholics  having  become  multiplied,  the 
heretics  protesting  that  they  would  have  ad- 
mission to  the  said  chamber  precisely  as  have 
the  catbolics,  they  have  aimed  continually  at 
usurping  the  ecclessiatical  possessions.] 

It  w'as  to  be  foreseen  that  this  matter  would 
be  warmly  discussed  at  the  diet :  nevertheless 
the  nuncio  could  not  attend  that  assembly. 
The  emperor  sent  the  archduke  Ferdinand 
thither  as  his  commissioner,  and  would  have 
regarded  it  as  an  afiVont  if  the  nuncio  had  left 
him. 

Gaetano  sent  in  his  stead  the  vicar  of  the 
Augustines,  fra  Milensio.  As  the  latter  had 
passed  several  years  in  Germany,  he  must 
have  been  in  some  degree  acquainted  with 
the  mutual  bearings  of  parties.  But  further- 
more the  nuncio  referred  him  to  Matthew 
Welser — "per  esatta  cognitione  delle  cose 
deir  imperio  " — and  to  that  same  bishop  of 
Ratisbon,  a  letter  from  whom  just  then  pro- 
duced such  great  excitement  among  the  pro- 
testants.  He  was  also  to  put  himself  in 
connexion  with  father  Wilier,  the  emperor's 
confessor. 

Unfortunately,  it  was  not  till  many  years 
afterwards,  that  this  Augustinian  recorded 
his  own  proceedings  in  this  matter.  Still 
v^hat  he  mentions  of  his  own  personal  opera- 
tions is  in  the  highest  degree  deserving  of  at- 
tention: we  have  already  inserted  it  in  the  text. 

He  refers  all  the  disorders  which  had  then 
broken  out  in  the  empire  to  the  doubtful  suc- 
cession :  "  essendo  fama  che  Ridolfo  volesse 
adotiarsi  per  figliuolo  Leopoldo  arciduca, 
minor  fratello  di  Ferdinando,  e  che  poi  a 
Ferdinando  stesso  inchinasse"  [there  being  a 
report  that  Rodolf  was  disposed  to  adopt  the 
archduke  Leopold,  the  younger  brother  of 
Ferdinand,  and  that  he  afterwards  inclined  to 
Ferdinand].  Matthias  was  exceedingly  dis- 
pleased at  this.  But  he  found  faithful  and 
influential  adherents  in  Klesel  and  prince 
Lichtenstein,  who  was  so  powerful  in  Moravia. 

According  to  this  account,  Dietrichslein 
and  Gaetano  had  a  great  share  in  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  treaty  between  the  brothers. 

81.  Relatione  di  Roma  delV  illustrissimo  S' 
Giovan  Mocenigo  Kav^  Amb''  a  quella 
corte  Vanno  1612.  Inff.  Polilt.  tom.  xv. 
— [Report  of  the  embassy  of  Giovan.  Mo- 
cenigo to  Rome.] 

The  first  ambassador  after  the  settlement 
of  the  disputes  was  Francesco  Contarini, 
1607 — 1609.     Mocenigo  speaks  in  high  com- 


512 


APPENDIX. 


mendation  of  the  advantage  he  derived  from 
Contarini's  sensible  conduct.  He  himself 
having  been  already  eighteen  years  engaged 
in  embat^sies,  remained  in  Rome  from  16!]9  to 
1611.  The  quiet  tone  of  his  report  is  the 
best  proof  that  he  too  was  successful  in  main- 
taining a  good  understanding  at  that  court. 
It  is  not  his  purpose  in  this  report  to  repeat 
generalities  or  well  known  matters,  but  merely 
to  set  forth  the  personal  qualities  of  the  pope, 
and  his  disposition  towards  Venice.  "  la  qua- 
lita,  volonta,  dispositione  del  papa  e  della  re- 
publica  verso  questa  republica.  Trattero  il 
tutto  con  ogni  brevitti  tralasciando  le  cose  piu 
tosto  curiose  che  necessarie." 

1.  Pope  Paul  V. — "Maestoso,  grande,  di 
poche  parole  :  nientedimeno  corre  voce  che 
in  Roma  non  sia  alcuno  che  lo  possa  agi^ua- 
gliare  nelli  termini  di  creanza  e  buoni  officii : 
veridico,  innocente,  di  costumi  esemplari." 
[Sombre,  tall,  of  few  words;  nevertheless  it 
is  currently  stated  in  Rome,  that  there  is  no 
one  can  compare  with  him  in  point  of  civility 
and  good  offices :  he  is  veracious,  pure,  and 
of  exemplary  habits.] 

2.  Cardinal  Borghese:  "di  bella  presenza, 
cortese,  benigno :  porta  gran  riverenza  al 
papa:  rende  ciascuno  sodisfatto  almeno  di 
buone  parole:  e  stimatissimo  e  rispettato  da 
ogn'uno. "  [Of  fine  presence,  courteous, 
kind ;  he  entertains  great  reverence  for  the 
pope ;  he  makes  every  one  contented,  as  far 
at  least  as  good  words  go ;  he  is  highly  es- 
teemed and  respected  by  every  one.]  His 
income  already  amounted  in  the  year  1611  to 
150,000  scudi. 

3.  Spiritual  power. — He  remarked  that 
former  popes  had  made  it  their  glory  to  con- 
fer favours ;  those  of  that  day  rather  to  re- 
tract those  that  had  already  been  granted : 
"  (rigorosamente  studiano  d'annullare  et  ab- 
bassarele  gia  ottenute  gratie)."  Nevertheless 
sovereigns  sought  to  stand  well  with  them, 
believing  that  the  obedience  of  the  people 
was  built  on  religion. 

4.  Temporal  power. — He  finds  the  people 
of  the  ecclesiastical  states  still  very  warlike 
in  their  inclinations;  "  prontissimi  alle  fatti- 
oni,  alii  disagi,  alle  battaglie,  all'  assalto  et  a 
qualunque  attione  militare  ;"  the  papal  forces 
nevertheless  in  complete  decay.  Formerly 
there  had  been  650  light  horse  maintained, 
chiefly  against  the  banditti ;  but  these  having 
been  vanquished,  the  cavalry  had  been  sent 
to  serve  in  the  Hungarian  war,  and  its  place 
had  not  been  supplied. 

5.  Form  of  government,  absolute. — The 
cardinal  nephew,  the  datario,  and  Lanfranco 
had  some  influence:  otherwise  the  cardinals 
were  only  consulted  when  the  pope  wished 
to  secure  their  ac(piiescencc.  Even  when 
they  were  consulted,  they  answered  rather  in 
accordance  with  the  pope's  inclination  than 
as  their  own  judgment  dictated.     "(Se  pure 


dimanda  consiglio,  non  e  alcuno  che  ardisca 
proferir  altra  parola  che  d'applauso  e  di  laude, 
sicche  tutto  viene  terrninato  dalla  prudenza 
del  papa)."  And  after  all  this  was  best,  since 
tiie  factions  of  the  court  had  made  it  a  mere 
assemblage  of  partisans. 

6.  Relation  to  Spain  and  France.— The 
pope  endeavoured  to  maintain  a  neutral  posi- 
tion. "  Quando  da  qualcheduno  dipendente 
da  Spagnoli  e  state  tenuto  proposito  intorno 
alia  validila  et  invaliuita  del  matrimonio  della 
regina,  si  e  stato  mostrato  risoluto  a  soste- 
nere  le  ragioni  della  regina.  Li  poco  buoni 
Francesi  nel  medesimo  regno  di  Francia  non 
hanno  mancato  d'oflerirsi  pronti  a  prender 
I'arnii,  purche  havessero  avuto  qualche  favore 
del  papa  e  del  re  di  Spagna. 

"II  re  di  Spagna  e  piu  rispettato  di  qualsi- 
voglia  altro  principe  dalla  corte  Romana. 
Cardinali  e  principi  sono  consolatissimi,  quan- 
do possono  havere  da  lui  danari  et  essere  suoi 
dependenti. — II  papa  fu  gia  stipendiato  da 
lui,  e  dair  autoria  di  S.  M.,  come  soggetto 
confidente,  favorite  all'  assuntione  del  ponti- 
ficate con  singolare  etincomparabile  beneficio. 
— Procura  di  dar  sodisfattione  al  duca  di 
Lerma,  accio  questo  le  serva  per  instrumento 
principalissimo  di  suoi  pensieri  presso  S.  M^^ 
catiolica."  [When  the  validity  or  invalidity 
of  the  queen's  marriage  was  mooted  by  some 
dependent  of  tiie  Spaniards,  he  showed  his 
determination  to  uphold  the  queen's  cause. 
The  few  good  Frenchmen  in  the  realm  itself 
of  France  failed  not  to  evince  their  readiness 
to  take  up  arms,  had  they  received  any  favour 
from  the  pope  and  the  king  of  Spain. 

[The  king  of  Spain  is  more  respected  by 
the  court  of  Rome  than  any  other  sovereign. 
Cardinals  and  princes  are  delighted  Vviien 
they  can  have  money  from  him  and  become 
his  dependents.  The  pope  was  formerly  pen- 
sioned by  him,  and  was  singularly  and  with 
unprecedented  favour  aided  by  him,  as  a  fa- 
vourite candidate,  towards  obtaining  the  pope- 
dom.— He  strives  to  give  satisfaction  to  the 
duke  of  Lerma,  accordingly  the  latter  serves 
as  his  chiefest  intermediary  with  his  majesty.] 

7.  His  council :  "  temporeggiare  e  dissimu- 
lare  alcune  volte  con  li  pontetici. — Vincitori 
essercitano  le  vittorie  a  modo  loro,  vinti  con- 
seguiscono  che  conditioni  vogliono"  [lo  tem- 
porize and  dissemble  occasionally  with  the 
popes.  Victors,  they  exercise  the  victory 
after  their  own  way ;  vanquished,  they  sub- 
mit to  any  conditions]. 

82.  Relatione  della  nunziatura  de'  Suizzcri. 
Informationi  Politt.  torn.  ix.  fol.  1 — 137. 
[Report  of  the  nunciature  in  Switzerland.] 

Informalione  iiiandala  dul  S''  C^  Aquino  a 
Mons^  Fcliciano  Silva  vescovo  di  Foligno 
per  il  paesc  di  Suizzerie  Grisonl.  ibid, 
fol.  145 — 212.  [Information  sent  by  car- 
dinal d' Aquino  to  iMonsr.  Feliciano  Silva, 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


513 


bishop  of  Foligno,  as  to  the  country  of 
the  Swiss  and  the  Orisons.] 

In  Lebret's  Magazin  zum  Gebrauch  der 
Staatenund  Kirchengeschichte,  Bd.  vii.  p. 
445,  there  are  extracts  from  the  letters  dis- 
patched from  the  court  of  Rome  in  the  years 
1609  and  1614  to  the  nuncios  in  Switzerland. 
It  cannot  be  said  they  are  very  interesting; 
standing  alone,  as  they  do,  without  answer  or 
explanation,  they  are  not  very  intelligible. 

The  tirst  of  these  nuncios  was  the  bishop  of 
Venafro,  the  same  whose  report  on  Switzer- 
land is  mentioned  by  Haller  (Bibliothek  der 
Schweizergeschichte,  Bd.  v.  nr.  783.)  "The 
papal  nuncio,"  he  says,  "Lad.  Gr.  of  Aquino, 
bishop  of  Venafro,  has  in  this  work  given  a 
proof  of  his  discernment  and  his  ability,  and  it 
highly  deserves  to  be  printed."  Haller  copied 
it  in  Paris  with  his  own  hand,  and  deposited 
it  in  the  library  of  Zurich. 

This  report  is  identical  with  ours  ;  but  we 
have  it  in  a  more  complete  form  than  that  in 
which  it  was  known  to  Haller. 

When  the  bishop  of  Venefra  retired  from 
the  nunciature  which  he  had  filled  from  1608 
to  1612,  he  not  only  communicated  to  his  suc- 
cessor, the  bishop  of  Fuligno,  the  instruction 
he  had  received  from  cardinal  Borghese,  but 
he  also  made  known  to  him  in  a  circumstan- 
tial instruction  how  he  had  himself  conducted 
the  office  ("di  quanto  si  e  eseguito  sino  al 
giorno  d'hoggi  nelli  negotii  in  essa  raccom- 
mandatimi.")  This  is  the  second  of  the  above 
named  MSS.  h  begins  with  a  description  of 
the  internal  dissensions  in  Switzerland. 

"  E  seguitando  I'istesso  ordme  dell'  instrut- 
tione  sopradetta,  dico  che  da  molti  anni  in  qua 
si  e  fatta  grau  mutatione  ne'  canton  i  cattohci 
e  particolarmonte  nella  buona  amicitia  e  Con- 
cordia che  anticamente  passava  fra  di  loro : 
perche  hoggidi  non  solo  per  causa  delle  fat- 
tioni  Spagnuole  e  Francesi  e  delle  pensioni, 
ma  ancora  per  altri  interessi,  emolumonti  e 
gare  vi  e  fra  alcuni  tanto  poca  amicitia  che 
col  tempo  potrebbe  partorire  molti  danni  se 
tosto  non  si  prende  buon  rimedio  con  procu- 
rare  una  dieta  particolare  non  ad  altro  efletto 
che  a  rinuovare  le  leghe  antiche,  I'amicitia, 
fratellanza  et  amorevolezza,  come  io  moite 
volte  ho  proposto  con  grandissimo  applauso,  se 
bene  sin'hora  non  ho  potnto  vederne  I'effetto. 
Altorfo  e  antico  emulo  di  Lucerna,  e  tira 
seco  gli  altri  due  cantoni  Schwitz  et  Under- 
valdo,  e  vede  mal  volontieri  preminenza  e 
primo  luogho  de'  signori  Lucernes!,  e  pero 
spesse  volte  contradice  in  atlioni  publiche  non 
ad  altro  fine  che  di  gara  e  di  poca  intelli- 
genza:  Lucerna  tira  seco  Friburgo  e  Solo- 
turno  e  ancora  Zug,  e  fa  un'  altra  partita, 
Zug  e  diviso  fra  se  stesso,  essendo  in  gravi 
controversie  li  cittadini  con  li  contadini,  vo- 
lendo  ancora  essi  essere  conosciuti  per  pa- 
troni:  e  cosi  in  ogni  cantone  cattoiico  vi  so.io 
65 


molte  publiche  e  private  dissensione  con  pre- 
giudicio  delle  deliberationi  e  con  pericolo  di 
danni  assai  maggiori  se  non  vi  si  rimed ia, 
come  io  procuro  con  ogni  diligenza." 

[And  following  the  same  order  as  in  the 
aforesaid  instruction,  I  say  that  for  many 
years  past  from  the  present  time  a  great  alte- 
ration has  taken  place  in  the  catholic  cantons, 
and  particularly  in  the  good  friendship  and 
concord  anciently  subsisting  between  them; 
for  now-a-days,  not  only  in  consequence  of  the 
Spanish  and  French  factions  and  the  pensions, 
but  also  on  account  of  other  interests,  emolu- 
ments, and  contentions,  there  is  among  some 
so  little  friendship,  that  in  time  it  may  give 
birth  to  great  mischief,  if  a  sound  and  speedy 
remedy  be  not  adopted  by  effecting  a  special 
diet  to  no  other  end  than  that  of  renewing  the 
ancient  leagues,  friendship,  fraternity,  and  af- 
fection, as  I  have  many  times  proposed  with 
extreme  applause,  though  hitherto  I  have  not 
seen  any  effect  come  of  it.  Altorf  is  the  an- 
eient  rival  of  Lucern,  and  carries  with  it  the 
two  other  cantons,  Schwytz  and  Unterwalden, 
and  it  sees  with  dislike  the  pre-eminence  of 
the  Lucernese,  for  which  reason  it  frequently 
withstands  them  in  public  transactions  from 
no  other  motive  than  a  contentious  spirit,  and 
want  of  good  understanding.  Lucern  carries 
with  it  Friburg  and  Solothurn,  and  also  Zug, 
and  constitutes  another  party.  Zug  is  divided 
within  itself,  there  being  serious  disputes  be- 
tween the  townsfolk  and  the  peasantry,  these 
too  wishing  to  be  known  as  masters.  And 
thus  in  every  catholic  canton  there  are  many 
public  and  private  dissensions,  to  the  preju- 
dice of  calm  discussion,  and  to  the  hazard  of 
considerable  mischief  if  a  remedy  be  not  ap- 
plied, as  I  am  striving  to  do  with  all  dili- 
gence.] 

In  transmitting  this  information,  the  nuncio 
promises  a  still  more  circumstantial  report. 
("  Fra  pochi  giorni  spero  di  mandarle  copia 
d'una  piena  e  piii  diffusa  relatione  di  tutti  li 
negotii  della  nimtiatura.") 

This  is  the  first  of  the  above  MSS. ;  it  was 
known  to  Haller. 

The  nuncio  goes  somewhat  methodically  to 
work  in  it.  "  Cap.  I.  Della  grandezza  della 
nuntiatura."  He  first  describes  the  range  of 
the  nunciature,  which  was  as  large  as  the 
kingdom  of  Naples,  and  extended  besides  over 
people  speaking  the  most  dissimilar  languages. 
Nor  does  he  forget  the  romance  dialect:  "  una 
favella  stravagantissima,  composta  di  otto  o 
dieci  idiomi"  [a  very  preposterous  jargon  made 
up  of  eight  or  ten  idioms.] 

"II.  Degli  ambasciatori  de'  principi  che 
resiedono  appresso  Suizzeri  e  de'  loro  fini. 

"  ill.  Delle  diete  e  del  modo,  tempo  e  luogo 

dove  si  congregano  fra  Suizzeri. 

I      "  IV.  Delli  passi  che  sono  nella  nuntiatura 

de'  Suizz  ri."  For  the  passes  were  the  most  im- 

,  portant  subject  of  dispute  between  the  powers. 


514 


APPENDIX. 


"V.  Stato  epirituale  della  nuntiatura  de' 
Suizzen."  The  most  important,  therefore 
very  probably  the  longest  chapter,  p.  28 — 104, 
in  which  an  account  is  given  of  certain  dio- 
ceses, and  also  of  the  abbeys. 

"VI.  Officio  del  nuntio  perajutare  lo  stato 
epirituale  e  de'  modi  piii  fruttuosi  di  farlo. 

"  VII.  Che  debbia  fare  il  nuntio  per  dare 
sodisfattione  in  cose  temporali  nella  nuntia- 
tura." 

We  see  how  carefully  the  most  important 
points  were  distinguished  and  gone  through. 
The  execution  displays  knowledge  no  less  of 
the  past  than  of  the  present,  zeal,  ability,  and 
discernment.  The  report,  as  is  natural,  re- 
peats most  of  what  is  contained  in  the  infor- 
rnation. 

Nevertheless,  even  this  was  not  enough  for 
our  nuncio.  He  added  to  the  report  a  "  Com- 
pendio  di  quanto  ha  fatto  mons^e  di  Venafro 
in  esecutione  dell'  instruttione  datali  nel  par- 
tire  di  Roina,"  which  he  had  already  composed 
on  another  occasion,  and  which  must  have 
been  almost  identical  with  the  information. 
He  remarks  as  much  himself,  but  still  appends 
this  little  document.  In  the  copies  it  has  been 
omitted,  no  doubt  quite  properly. 

Instead  of  it  there  follows  an  "  Appendice 
de'  Grisoni  e  de'  Vallesani,"  no  less  remarka- 
ble than  the  former  one. 

"  E  questo,"  says  the  author  at  the  conclu- 
sion of  his  voluminous  work,  "  e  il  breve  sum- 
mario  promesso  da  me  del  stato  della  nuntia- 
tura Suizzera  con  le  parti  che  a  quella  sog- 
giaciono.     Deo  Gratias.     Amen." 

With  all  this  he  thought  he  had  given  but 
a  brief  outline  of  what  was  worthy  of  note : 
so  little  does  the  world  admit  of  being  repre- 
sented in  words. 

I  have  (p.  270,  271)  made  use  of  the  con- 
tents of  these  documents  only  so  far  as  they 
apply  to  my  own  purpose.  The  publication 
of  the  remainder  must  be  left  to  the  industry 
of  the  (Swiss. 

83.  Instruttione  data  a  moils'"  Diotallevi  ves- 
covo  di  S.  Ande.lo  destinato  dalla  S'^<^  di 
iV'"''  Sig^^  pupa  Poalo  V  nuntio  al  re  di 
Polonia  1614.  [Instruction  to  Monsignor 
Diotallevi,  bishop  of  S.  Andelo,  nuncio 
from  Paul  V.  to  the  king  of  Poland.] 

A  general  admonition  to  further  the  catho- 
lic religion,  the  introduction  of  the  decrees  of 
Trent,  and  thcappoinlnient  of  sound  catholics 
to  offices,  and  never  to  suffer  anything  that 
should  be  advantageous  to  the  protestants. 

Traces  however  are  discernible  of  a  certain 
misunderstanding.  The  pope  had  refused  the 
king's  request  to  nominate  the  bisiiop  of  Reo-- 
gio  a  cardinal.  The  nuncio  was  to  endeavour 
to  appease  the  king. 

He  is  particularly  cDJoined  never  to  pro- 
mise money. 


"  Perche  o  non  intendendosi  o  non  veden- 
dosi  le  strettezze  pur  troppo  grandi  della  sede 
apostolica,  sono  facili  i  potentati  particolar- 
mente  oltramontani  a  cercar  ajuto,  e  se  ei 
desse  ogni  picciola  speranza,  si  offenderebbero 
poi  grandemente  dell'  esclusione." 

[For  the  excessive  embarrassments  of  the 
apostolic  see  not  being  understood  or  per- 
ceived, foreign  princes,  particularly  the  ultra- 
montanes,  are  very  ready  to  ask  for  assistance, 
and  if  the  least  hope  were  held  out  to  them, 
they  would  afterwards  take  great  offence  at 
being  disappointed.] 


We  meet  with  fewer  ecclesiastical  docu- 
ments relating  to  the  last  years  of  Paul  V. 
Let  us  employ  the  space  thus  left  unfilled  in 
touching  upon  certain  others  that  bear  on  the 
administration  of  the  state  in  that  period. 

84.  Informatione  di  Bologna  del  1595.  (Ato- 
bros.  Bibl.  Milan  F.  D.  181.) 

The  position  and  constitution  of  Bologna, 
and  the  kind  of  independence  it  maintained, 
were  so  remarkable  and  important,  that  pa- 
pers and  documents  relating  to  that  provincial 
city  were  also  admitted  into  the  collections. 

In  the  22nd  vol.  of  the  Informationi,  we  find 
a  multitude  of  letters  of  the  year  1580,  to 
Monsignor  Cesi,  legate  of  Bologna,  which  re- 
late to  his  administration. 

They  are  almost  all  letters  of  recommenda- 
tion, chiefly  intercessional. 

The  grand  duke  and  grand  duchess  of  Tus- 
cany entreat  on  behalf  of  count  Ercole  Benti- 
vogiio,  whose  crops  had  been  sequestered ; 
soon  after  the  grand  duchess  returns  thanks 
for  the  compliance  with  her  requests:  the 
duke  of  Ferrara  recommends  an  actress  of  the 
name  of  Vittoria ;  cardinal  San  Sisto  pleads 
tor  some  turbulent  students  of  the  university. 
"  We  too,"  he  says,  "  have  been  students." 
Giacomo  Buoncompagno,  the  pope's  son,  re- 
commends a  professor  who  had  been  deprived 
of  his  place :  the  cardinal  of  Como,  who  al 
that  time  had  the  chief  conduct  of  affairs, 
pleads  for  some  monks  who  were  disturbed  in 
their  privileges;  he  speaks  by  no  means  in  an, 
authoritative  tone.  13ut  we  meet  too  with 
intreaties  of  a  different  kind.  A  father,  whose 
son  had  been  murdered,  urgently,  nay,  im-. 
ploringly,  petitions  that  justice  should  be  done 
upon  his  murderer,  who  was  already  impri- 
soned in  Bologna. 

It  was  principally  in  the  administration  of 
justice  the  governor  had  influence ;  in  all 
things  else  the  city  was  very  independent. 

"  I  senatori,"  says  our  report,  "  conferiscono 
ogni  cosa  importante  col  superiore,  et  havendo 
in  mano  tutti  li  datii  et  entrate  della  citta, 
del  datio  del  sale  e  vino  in  poi,  che  e  del  papa, 
dispensano  li  denari  public!  mediante  un  scru- 
tinio,  che  si  fa  presente  il  superiore  con  le 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


515 


mandate  sottoscritte  dal  detto  superiore,  dal 
gonfaloniere  et  assunti  deputati  secondo  li 
negotii.  Hanno  cura  della  impositioni,  e  gra- 
vezze  imposte  a  contadini,  reali  e  personal!, 
come  per  li  buoi  e  teste :  ,  .  attendono  alle 
tasse  chc  pagano  li  contadini,  alle  muraglie, 
porta  e  serragli,  a  conservare  il  numero  de' 
soldati  del  contado  :  .  .  provedono  cli'  altri  non 
usurpi  il  publico  e  si  conservi  la  bellezza  della 
citta:  .  .  han  cura  della  fiera  della  seta:  .  . 
eleggono  ogni  mese  per  la  ruota  civile  4  dot- 
tori  forastieri,  che  bisogna  siano  almeno  dot- 
tori  di  X  anni,  e  questi  veggono  e  determi- 
nano  ogni  causa  civile." 

[The  senators  confer  on  every  important 
matter  with  the  superior;  and  having  in  their 
hands  all  the  customs  and  revenues  of  the 
city,  except  the  customs  on  salt  and  wine, 
which  belong  to  the  pope,  they  dispose  of  all 
the  public  moneys,  taking  an  account  of  the 
same,  which  is  made  in  the  presence  of  the 
superior,  with  the  warrants  signed  by  him,  by 
the  gonfaloniere  and  persons  specially  ap- 
pointed. They  regulate  the  impositions  and 
burdens  upon  the  peasantry,  real  and  personal, 
as  the  tax  on  oxen  and  the  capitation  tax  :  .  . 
they  attend  to  the  taxes  paid  by  the  pea- 
santry, to  the  walls,  gates,  and  inclosures, 
and  to  keeping  up  the  number  of  soldiers  in 
each  district:  .  .  they  guard  against  all  en- 
croaciiments  on  the  public  rights,  and  see  that 
the  beauty  of  the  city  is  preserved  :  .  .  they 
have  ciiarge  of  the  silk  market:  .  .  they  elect 
every  month  for  the  rota  civile  four  foreign 
doctors,  who  must  be  doctors  of  at  least  ten 
years'  standing,  and  these  hear  and  decide  all 
civil  causes.] 

The  question  is  now,  to  what  extent  under 
this  state  of  things  had  the  representatives  of 
the  papal  government  any  influence.  It  was 
displayed,  as  we  have  already  said,  chiefly  in 
the  affairs  of  justice.  "  Un  auditore  generale 
concorre  nelle  cognitioni  delle  cause  con 
la  ruota,  et  un'  altro  particolare  delle  cause 
che  avoca  a  se,  et  uno  criminale  chiamato 
auditore  del  torrione  del  luogo  ove  risiede, 
qual  tiene  due  sottoaudifori  per  suoservitio,  e 
tutti  quelli  sono  pagati  dal  publico."  [An 
auditor-general  is  associated  with  the  ruota  in 
the  hearing  of  causes,  and  another  special  au- 
ditor for  causes  which  he  evokes  before  him- 
self: there  is  also  a  criminal  auditor,  called 
auditor  of  the  great  tower  of  the  district 
where  he  resides,  who  has  two  sub-auditors  un- 
der him,  and  all  these  are  paid  by  the  public] 

There  follow  some  statistical  details.  "  Con- 
tado circa  miglia  180  :  semina  intorno  a  corbe 
120  m.,  raccoglie  un  anno  per  I'altro  550  m.  a 
660  m.  corbe.  Fa  da  130  m.  anime  (la  citta 
70  m.,  che  avanti  le  carestie  passava  90  m.) 
16  m.  fuochi,  consuma  corbe  200  m.  di  for- 
mento  (la  corba  160  libre,)  60  rn.  costolate  di 
vino,  18  m.  corbe  di  sale,  1700  m.  libre  d'olio, 
aramazza  8  ni.  vaccine,  10  m.  vitelli,  13  m. 


porchi,  8  m.  castrati,  6  m.  agnelli,  et  abrugia 

400  m.  libre  di  candele Si  fa  conto  che 

un  anno  per  I'altro  moreno  nella  citta  3  m. 
persone  e  ne  nascono  4  m.,  che  si  faccino  500 
spose  e  60 — 70  monachi,  che  siano  portati  a' 
poveri  bastard ini  300  putti  I'anno.  Ha  400 
fra  carrozze  e  cocchi.  Vengnno  nella  citta 
ogni  anno  da  600  m.  libre  de  foil icelli  da  quali 
si  fi  la  seta,  e  se  ne  mette  opera  per  uso  della 
citta  100  m.  libre  I'anno."  [Surface  of  the 
country  about  180  miles:  seed  sown  about 
120,000  bushels;  produce  one  year  with  an- 
other 550,000  to  660,000  bushels.  Popula- 
tion 130,000  souls  (the  city  70,000,  having 
been  before  the  dearth  upwards  of  90,000;) 
hearths  16,000 ;  consumption  200,000  bushels 
of  corn  (160  lbs.  to  the  bushel,)  60,000  costo- 
late of  wine,  18,000  bushels  of  salt,  1,700,000 
pounds  of  oil:  there  are  killed  8000  cows 
and  oxen,  10,000  calves,  13,000  swine,  8000 
wethers,  6000  lambs,  and  400,000  pounds  of 
candles  are  burned.  It  is  calculated  that 
there  die  one  year  with  another  in  the  city 
3000  persons,  and  there  are  born  4000 ;  that 
500  marriages  take  place,  and  00 — 70  become 
monks,  and  that  there  are  born  to  the  poor 
300  bastards  yearly.  There  are  400  coaches 
and  carriages.  There  enter  the  city  yearly 
600,000  pounds  of  silk  cocoons,  100,000  pounds 
of  which  are  yearly  wrought  for  the  use  of 
the  city.] 

85.  Instruttione  per  un  legato  di  Bologna. 
{Vallic.)  [Instruction  for  a  legate  of  Bo- 
logna.] 

Of  a  somewhat  later  period.  We  remark 
the  following  points  of  advice: — 

"  Invigilare  sopra  gli  avvocati  cavillosi  et  in 
particolare  quelli  che  pigliano  a  proteggere 
a  torto  i  villani  contro  li  cittadini  e  gentilhu- 
omini,  .  .  .  accarezzare  in  apparenza  tutti  li 
magistrati,  non  conculcare  i  nobili."  [To  keep 
watch  upon  the  captious  advocates,  and  in 
particular  those  who  take  it  upon  them  wrong- 
fully to  protect  the  peasants  against  the  city 
people  and  the  gentlemen,  ...  to  caress  in 
appearance  all  the  magistrates,  not  to  trample 
on  the  nobles.]  The  monstrous  evil  of  the 
bravi  was  risen  to  such  a  pitch,  that  some  of 
were  to  be  found  even  among  the  umatricula- 
ted  students. 

Other  papers  carry  us  into  the  campagna  di 
Roma,  showing  us  how  the  unfortunate  peas- 
ant was  harassed,  what  the  barons  appropria- 
ted to  themselves,  and  how  the  land  was  cul- 
tivated. 

S6.  Dichiaratione  di  txilto  quello  che  pagano  i 
vassalli  de  haroni  Rn/nani  al  pupa  e  ag- 
gravj  che  pagano  ad  essi  baroni.  [Dec- 
laration of  all  that  the  vassals  of  the  Ro- 
man barons  pay  to  the  pope,  and  the  im- 
posts they  pay  to  those  barons.] 


516 


APPENDIX. 


"  I.  Paga  menti  d  iversi  che  si  fanno  da  vas- 
salli  de  baroni  Romani  al  papa.  Pagano  il 
sale,  pagano  un  quattrino  per  libra  di  carne, 
pagano  I'impositione  per  il  mantenimento 
delle  galere  posta  da  Sisto  quinto,  pagano  i 
sussidii  triennali,  pagano  i  cavalli  niorti  cioe 
per  alloggiamento  di  cavalleria,  pagano  una 
certa  impositione  che  chiama  de  soldati,  pa- 
gano una  certa  impositione  ciie  si  chiama  I'ar- 
chivio,  pagano  un'  altra  impositione  che  si 
chiama  S.  Felice,  pagano  la  foglietta  messa 
da  Sisto  quinto,  pagano  una  certa  impositione 
che  si  chiama  sale  forastico. 

"II.  Pagamenti  che  fanno  li  medesimi  vas- 
salli  a  baroni.  Pagano  poi  al  barone,  ove 
sono  molina,  tanto  grano  perche  e  somma 
molto  grave,  pagano  risposta  di  vino,  pagano 
risposta  d'olio  ove  ne  fa,  pagano  di  mandare  i 
porci  nei  castagneti  e  querceti  fatta  la  raccolta 
chechianianoruspare,  pagano  tassed'hosterie, 
pagano  tasse  de  pizigaroli,  pagano  tasso  de  for- 
nari,  pagano  de  bichierari,  pagano  quelli  che 
vanno  a  spigolare  come  e  secato  il  grano,  pa- 
gano dei  bestiami  che  vanno  a  pascere,  pa- 
gano risposta  di  grano,  pagano  risposta  di 
biada.  Mon tanto  tutti  questi  aggravii,  come 
si  vuol  vedere  dall'  entrate  del  duca  Altemps, 
computata  la  portione  del  molino  della  molara 
che  si  trahe  de  vassalli,  2803  sc. ;  questo  si 
cava  da  vassalli  del  Montecapuri  (1)  del  duca- 
to  Altemps,  che  sono  de  180  e  190  fuochi,  e 
cio  si  mette  per  esempio,  onde  si  possa  vedere 
appresso  come  sono  aggravati  i  vassalli  de 
baroni  Romani  dellostatoecclesiastico.  Aver- 
tasi  che  qui  non  ci  e  quello  che  si  paga  alia 
camera." 

[I.  Various  payments  which  are  made  by 
the  vassals  of  tlie  Roman  barons  to  the  popes. 
They  pay  for  salt,  they  pay  a  quattrino  the 
pound  for  meat ;  they  pay  the  ta.x  imposed  by 
Sixtus  V.  for  keeping  up  the  galleys ;  they 
pay  for  dead  horses,  that  is  for  lodging  the 
cavalry;  they  pay  a  certain  impost  called 
soldiers'  money ;  they  pay  another  called  S. 
Felice ;  tiiey  pay  the  pint  due  imposed  by 
Sixtus  V. ;  they  pay  a  certain  impost  called 
sale  forastico. 

[II.  Payments  which  the  said  vassals  make 
to  the  barons.  They  pay  besides  to  the 
barons,  where  there  are  mills,  so  much 
corn,  a  very  heavy  amount;  tiiey  pay  a  re- 
turn on  wine ;  they  pay  a  return  on  oil  where 
it  is  made;  they  pay  tbr  sending  their  swine 
to  the  chestnut  and  oak  woods,  when  the 
gathering  is  made,  which  they  call  ruspare ; 
they  pay  dues  on  inns  ;  they  pay  on  chandlers' 
shops;  they  pay  bakers;  they  pay  g!a.ssblowers' 
dues ;  those  w'ho  go  a  gleanmg  pay  ;  they  pay 
on  their  cattle  that  go  to  pasture;  they  pay 
.a  return  on  grain  ;  they  pay  a  return  on  oats. 
All  these  burthens  amount,  as  may  be  seen 
from  the  revenues  of  duke  Altcmp.--,  including 
the  portion  of  grist  from  the  mill  drawn  from 
tiie  vassals,  to  2803  sc. :  tliis  is  drawn  from 


the  vassals  of  Montecapuri  (?),  of  the  duchy 
of  Altemps,  who  reckon  from  180  to  190 
hearths;  and  this  may  serve  as  an  example 
to  sliow  nearly  how  the  vassals  of  the  barons 
on  the  ecclesiastical  estates  are  burthened. 
It  must  be  observed,  that  herein  is  not  inclu- 
ded what  is  paid  to  the  treasury.] 

87.  Nota  della  entrata  di  molti  signori  e  du- 
chi  Romani.  [Note  of  the  income  of  many 
Roman  signers  and  dukes.] 

Like  the  former,  unquestionably  belonging 
to  the  times  of  Clement  VIII.,  who  is  called 
simply  the  pope. 

The  Colonna  family  are  distinguished  by 
having  vassals  :  other  families  possess  rather 
allodial  estates.  The  income  of  the  contesta- 
bile  Colonna  is  estimated  at  25,000,  that  of 
Martio  Colonna  of  Zagarolo  at  23,000  sc. 

We  have  seen  that  the  public  system  of 
debt  was  imitated  by  the  barons.  The  family 
of  Sermoneta  had  about  the  year  1600  an  in- 
come of  27,000  sc,  but  their  debts  were 
300,000  sc. ;  the  duke  of  Castel  Gandolfo  pos- 
sessed 14,000  sc.  income,  his  debts  were 
30,000  sc.  The  house  of  Montalto  surpassed 
the  others,  its  debts  were  600,000  sc.  The 
whole  united  revenues  of  the  Roman  barona 
were  estimated  at  271,747  scudi,  and  their  es- 
tates were  valued  at  nine  millions  of  gold. 

The  author  finds  the  estates  by  no  means 
neglected.  "  Questi  terreni  di  campagna, 
contrario  all'  opinione  commune  e  a  quel  che 
io  pensavo,  sono  tenuti  con  grandissima  cura 
e  diligenza:  perche  si  arano  quattro,  sei  e 
sette  volte,  si  nettano  d'erbe  due  o  tre,  tra  le 
quali  una  d'inverno,  si  levano  I'erbe  con  la 
mano,  si  seminano,  ragguagliati  li  quattro  an- 
ni,  li  due  a  grano  nei  sodi  luoghi :  dove  non  si 
semina,  vi  si  fidano  le  pecore.  Le  spighe  si 
tagliano  alte,  onde  rimane  assai  paglia :  e 
quella  poi  si  ubbrugia,  che  fa  crescere.  E  li 
aratri  con  che  si  arano  questi  terreni,  general- 
mente  non  vanno  molto  profondo :  e  questo 
avviene  perche  la  maggior  parte  di  questi  ter- 
reni, non  son  molto  fondati  e  tosto  si  trova  il 
pancone.  Questa  campagna  e  lavorata  tutta 
per  punta  di  danaro  (by  day  labourers,)  segata 
seminata  e  sarchiata;  insomnia,  tutti  li  suoi 
bisogni  si  fanno  con  forastieri :  e  genti  che  la- 
vorano  detia  campagna,  sono  nutriti  della 
robba  che  si  porta  lorocon  lecavalle.  Questa 
campagna  computati  i  terreni  buonie  cattivi  e 
ragguagliato  un'  anno  per  I'altro,  si  puo  dir 
che  faccia  ogni  uno  sei,  avverlendo  che  nei 
luoghi  di  questi  signori  dove  sono  i  lore  cas- 
telli  molte  fiate  non  fanno  far  lavorare,  ma  li 
danno  a  risposta  a'  vassalli  secondo  che  con- 
vengono.  E  questo  basti  quanto  alia  campag- 
na di  Roma.  S'affittera  ragguagliato  il  rub- 
bio  di  questo  terrene  50  giuij,  onde  a  farli  . 
grassa  verra  il  rubbio  del  terrene  cento  sciidi 
e  dieci  giulj."  [These  lands,  contrary  to  the 
common  opmion,  and  to  what  I  myself  sup- 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


517 


posed,  are  cultivated  with  extreme  care  and 
diligence :  for  they  plough  four,  six,  or  seven 
times,  and  clear  from  weeds  twice  or  thrice, 
one  of  which  weedings  is  in  winter;  weeds 
are  plucked  out  by  hand  :  grain  is  sown  two 
years  out  of  four  m  the  fallows  ;  where  there 
is  none  sown  the  cattle  are  let  in.  The  ears 
of  corn  are  cut  off  high,  which  leaves  a  good 
deal  of  straw;  this  is  afterwards  burned,  and 
increases  the  growth  of  the  crop.  The 
ploughs  used  in  these  lands  do  not  in  general 
go  very  deep ;  and  this  is  because  the  greater 
part  of  these  lands  are  not  very  deep,  and  the 
subsoil  is  soon  found.  This  country  is  all  culti- 
vated by  day  labourers,  reaped,  sown,  and 
weeded ;  in  short,  all  the  operations  of  the 
field  are  performed  by  strangers.  The  people 
who  work  in  the  fields  are  maintained  by  the 
profits  they  make  of  their  mares.  This 
country,  good  and  bad  land  included,  and  tak- 
ing one  year  with  another,  may  be  considered 
to  yield  six  for  one,  it  being  understood  that 
these  signors  frequently  do  not  cultivate  the 
grounds  round  their  castles,  but  let  them  out 
to  their  vassals  upon  terms  agreed  on.  So 
much  for  the  campagna  of  Rome.  This  land 
is  let  on  average  for  50  giulj  the  rubbio;  hence, 
to  render  it  productive,  it  will  stand  the  agri- 
culturist in  a  hundred  scudi  ten  giulj  the  rub- 
bio  (!).] 

There  were  then  computed  to  be  in  the 
campagna  79,504  rubbia  of  land,  and  that  they 
yielded  318,016  scudi,  four  scudi  the  rubbio : — 
of  these  there  belonged  to  the  barons  some- 
what above  21,000  rubbia,  about  23,000  to  the 
religious  houses,  above  4000  to  the  foreigners, 
and  31,000  to  the  rest  of  the  Roman  popula- 
tion. The  proportion  was  afterwards  changed, 
when  the  Roman  citizens  sold  so  many  of 
their  lands. 

But  let  us  pass  on  to  more  general  matters. 

88.  Per  sollevare.  la  camera  aposlolica.  Dis- 
corso  di  moils'^  Malvasia.  1606.  [Propo- 
sals for  the  relief  of  the  apostolic  treasury, 
by  monsieur  Malvasia.] 
It  was  remarked  with  dismay,  that  with  all 
the  taxes  the  state  possessed  nothing.  The 
interests,  exclaims  our  author,  eat  up  almost 
the  whole  revenue  :  the  government  is  con- 
tinually perplexed  how  to  cover  the  current 
expenses ;  if  any  extraordinary  demand  oc- 
curs, they  know  not  which  way  to  turn.  It 
is  impossible  to  impose  new  taxes;  new  re- 
trenchments are  not  even  expedient,  "  mag- 
num vectigal  parsimonia ;"  nothing  remains 
but  to  reduce  the  rate  of  interest,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  draw  upon  the  funds  in  the 
castle.  Instead  of  all  the  monti  with  such 
various  rates  of  interest,  there  ought  to  be  but 
one,  a  papal  monte,  paying  four  or  at  most 
five  per  cent. ;  all  the  others  must  be  paid 
off.  It  would  be  perfectly  just  to  do  this  at 
the    nominal  price :  the    apostolic  see   had 


usually  reserved  that  right  to  itself,  at  the  in- 
stitution of  the  several  monti :  former  popes, 
e.  g.  Paul  IV.,  had  been  obliged  to  sell  some- 
times even  at  fifty  per  cent.  Clement  VIII. 
himself  had  realized  but  96^.  The  author 
hereupon  sets  forth  how  far  this  would  be 
practicable. 

"  Succedera  che  stante  la  larghezza  ed  ab- 
bondanza  del  denaro  che  al  presente  si  trova 
nella  piazza  di  Roma  con  I'accrescimentoche 
fara  il  millione  estratto,  aggiunta  la  difficolta 
e  pericolo  di  mandar  fuori  la  moneta  e  1'  ore 
per  la  prohibitione  sudetta — che  la  maggior 
parte  di  quelli  che  hanno  monti  ed  ofiizj  es- 
tinti,  volentieri  entreranno  in  questo  monte 
papale,  ed  a  quelli  che  vorranno  i  lor  denari 
contanti,  se  gli  potranno  pagare  del  detto  mil- 
lione e  del  prezzo  del  monte  papale  che  si 
andra  vendendo.  Si  puo  anche  considerare 
che  ne'  monti  non  vacabili  ne  sono  gran  parte 
vinculati  ed  obbligati  a  reinvestimento  per 
sicurta  di  eccezione  di  dote,  di  luoghi  pii  ed 
altri  obblighi,  che  necessariamente  entreran- 
no in  questo  monte  papale,  e  si  tardera  assai 
a  ricevere  il  dinaro,  per  ritrovare  altro  rein- 
vestimento o  dare  altra  sodisfattione  ed  ad- 
empimento  alle  conditioni  ed  obblighi  a  quail 
sono  sottoposti,  il  che  anco  apportera  molto 
comodo  e  facilita  a  questo  negolio. 

"  Potra  anco  la  camera  accollarsi  tutti  i 
monti  delle  communita  e  de'  particolari,  e 
ridurli  come  sopra,  e  godere  quel  piu  sino  cheda 
esse  communita  e  particolari  saranno  estinti. 

"  A  tutti  quelli  che  in  luogo  di  altri  monti 
e  officj  vorranno  del  detto  monte  papale,  se 
gli  deve  dare  la  spedizione  e  la  patente  per 
la  prima  volta  gratis  senza  spesa  alcuna. 

"  In  questa  maniera  puo  la  S^^  V.  in  breve 
tempo  sollevare  e  liberare  la  sede  e  la  camera 
apostolica  da  tanti  debiti  e  tanta  oppressione  : 
perche  con  I'avanzo  che  si  fara  dalla  detta 
estinzione  e  riduzione  di  frutti  ed  intcresse, 
che  secondo  il  calcolo  dato  alia  S'^  V.  dal  suo 
commissario  della  camera  ascende  almeno  con 
far  la  reduzione  a  5  per  cento  a  sc.  quattro 
cento  trentunmlla  ottocento  cinque  Tanno, 
potra  estinguere  ogni  anno  scudi  trecento 
trentunmila  ottocento  cinque  di  debito,  oltre 
alii  sc.  centomila  che  saranno  assegnati  per 
rimettere  in  castello  il  millione  estratto  a  com- 
pire  la  meta  del  terzo  millione  che  manca." 
[Taking  into  account  the  abundance  of  money 
to  be  found  at  present  in  Rome,  and  the  addi- 
tion that  will  be  made  to  it  by  the  million 
drawn  out;  and  considering,  furthermore,  the 
difficulty  and  danger  of  sending  corn  and 
bullion  abroad,  in  consequence  of  the  aforesaid 
prohibition  (which  he  had  proposed),  it  will 
happen  that  the  greater  part  of  those  whose 
luoghi  and  offices  are  extinguished  will  gladly 
purchase  into  the  papal  monte  ;  and  those  who 
shall  choose  to  have  cash  for  their  monti  may 
be  paid  out  of  the  said  million,  and  out  of  the 
price  to  be  realized  by  the  sale  of  the  papal 


518 


APPENDIX. 


monte.  It  may  also  be  considered  that  of  the 
"  monti  von  vacabili"  a  great  part  are  tied 
down  and  conditioned  to  reinvestment,  for 
security  of  reserved  dowries,  'Muoghi  pii" 
and  other  pious  claims;  these  will  necessarily 
be  transferred  to  the  "  monte  papale,"  and  the 
holders  will  be  loth  enough  to  receive  the 
money,  and  so  be  obliged  to  look  about  for 
another  investment,  or  means  of  satisfying 
and  fulfilling  the  conditions  and  obligations  to 
which  they  are  subject;  this  will  further 
greatly  facilitate  the  transaction. 

[The  treasury  may  also  take  to  itself  all  the 
monti  of  corporations  and  individuals,  and  re- 
duce them  as  above,  and  enjoy  the  profit  till 
they  are  extinguished  by  the  said  corporations 
or  individuals. 

[All  those  who  shall  wish  for  the  said 
"monte  papale,"  in  lieu  of  other  monti  and 
offices,  ought  to  have  their  patents  made  out 
for  the  first  time  free  of  all  charge. 

[In  this  manner  your  holiness  may  in  a 
short  while  relieve  the  apostolic  chamber,  and 
free  it  from  such  heavy  debts  and  embarrass- 
ments :  for  with  the  gain  which  will  ensue 
from  the  said  extinction  and  reduction  of 
interest,  which,  according  to  the  calculation 
furnished  your  holiness  by  your  commissioner 
of  the  treasury,  amounts  (upon  a  reduction  of 
interest  to  five  per  cent.)  to  at  least  431,805 
sc.  a  year,  there  may  every  year  be  extin- 
guished 331,805  scudi  of  debt,  besides  100,000 
which  shall  be  set  apart  to  replace  the  mil- 
lion which  shall  be  borrowed  from  the  castle 
to  make  up  the  amount  of  the  third  million 
that  is  wanting.] 

It  is  enough  that  we  here  remark  how  ear- 
nestly people  were  bent  on  devising  a  sound 
system  of  finance ;  but  it  is  not  necessary  to 
produce  the  calculations.  The  court  of  Rome 
did  not  adopt  any  proposals  of  the  kind,  but 
followed  the  easier  and  more  convenient  course. 

89.  Nota  di  danari  officii  e  mobili  donati  da 
papa  Paolo  V.  a  suoi  parenti  e  concessioni 
fatteli.  [Note  of  moneys,  offices,  and 
efl^ects  bestowed  by  pope  Paul  V.  on  his 
relations,  and  grants  made  them.] 

The  pope  had  been  counselled  to  call  in  the 
officii  and  monti  bearing  interest :  We  have 
here,  1.  "  Nota  officiorum  concessorum  ex- 
cellmo  domino  M.  Antonio  Burghesio  tempore 
pontificatus  felicis  recordationis  Pauli  V." 
There  are  altogether  120  offices,  the  value  of 
which  is  stated  at  the  customary  market 
price;  2.  "Nota  di  molte  donationi  di  monti 
fatte  alii  sig"  Francesco  Gioan  Battista  e  M. 
A.  Borghese  da  Paolo  V.,  con  le  giustifica- 
tioni  in  margine  di  qualsivoglia  partite." 
That  is  to  say,  extracts  are  adduced  from  the 
official  books  which  make  us  acquainted  with 
these  donations.  Lists  are  given  under  simi- 
lar rubrics,  of  what  was  bestowed  on  them  in 
cash  or  valuables,  and  of  the  privileges  that 


were  granted  them.  The  authentications  are 
in  the  following  style.  "  Nel  libro  della  the- 
soreria  secreta  d'Alessandro  Ruspoli  fol.  17  e 
da  doi  brevi,  uno  sotto  la  data  delli  26  Genn. 
160S  et  I'altro  delli  11  Marzo,  registrati  nel 
libro  primo  signaturarum  Pauli  V  negli  atti 
di  Felice  de  Totis  fol.  116  et  fol.  131.^A  di 
23  Dec.  1605  sc.  36  m.  d'oro  delle  stampe 
donati  al  sig  GB  Borghese  per  pagar  il  pa- 
lazzo  et  il  restante  impiegarli  nella  fabrica  di 
quello,  quali  scudi  36  m.  d'oro  delle  stampe 
provenivano  del  prezzo  del  chiamato  di  mons"^ 
Centurioni  ridotti  a  24  moneta  a  ragione  di 
Giulii  12  per  scudo  sono  46800  sc." 

I  have  already  stated  to  what  enormous 
sums  these  presents  amounted,  and  what  was 
the  influence  exercised  by  the  rise  of  the  papal 
families  on  the  capital  and  the  provinces. 

90.  Relatione  dello  slato  ecclesiastico  dove  si 
contengono  molti  particolari  degni  di 
consider atione.  (1611.)  Inform.  Politt. 
XI.  f.  1  27.  [Report  on  the  ecclesiastical 
state,  wherein  are  contained  many  things 
worthy  of  consideration.] 

It  is  stated  in  the  beginning  that  the  author 
was  asked  in  the  morning  for  his  report,  and 
that  he  now  sends  it  in  the  evening.  It 
would  be  truly  wonderful  if  he  had  been  able 
within  a  few  hours  to  dictate  .so  circumstan- 
tial a  report,  which  is  really  not  ill  done,  and 
contains  much  that  is  deserving  of  note.  The 
admission  is  here  made,  that  the  number  of 
inhabitants  was  on  the  decrease  in  many 
parts  of  Italy,  whether  in  consequence  of 
plague  and  famine,  or  of  the  murders  com- 
mitted by  the  banditti,  or  because  the  taxes 
had  been  inordinately  increased ;  it  was  no 
longer  possible  to  marry  at  a  suitable  age,  and 
to  rear  up  children.  Moreover,  the  very 
blood  was  wrung  from  the  inhabitants  by  the 
taxes,  and  at  the  same  time  their  spirits  were 
crushed  by  the  endless  restrictions  on  trade. 

The  anonymous  author  betrays  himself 
once.  He  remarks  that  he  had  written  a 
book,  "  Ragione  di  stato."  "  Ho  diffusamente 
trattato  nella  ragione  de  stato,"  he  says  some- 
where. 

By  this  we  get  a  clue  to  discover  him.  In 
the  year  1589,  appeared  in  Venice,  "  Delia 
ragion  di  stato  libri  X  con  tre  libri  delle  cause 
della  grandezza  delle  citta."  The  book  is 
dedicated  to  that  same  Wolf  Dietrich  von 
Raittenau,  archbishop  of  Salzburg,  who  was 
the  first  of  the  Roman  princes  to  introduce  a 
more  rigid  system  of  government  modelled  on 
the  Italian.  Its  author  is  the  well  known 
John  Botero,  whose  "  Relationi  universal!" 
enjoyed  the  widest  circulation   in   their  day. 

Of  course  these  Relationi  must  be  searched 
into,  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  they  include 
ours. 

It  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  main  work,  in 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION.  519 


which  the  ecclesiastical  state  is  mentioned  in 
a  summary  manner ;  but  there  is  besides  a 
smaller  work,  which  is  frequently  appended 
to  the  former,  "  Relation!  del  sigr  Giov.  Bo- 
lero Benese,  .  .  di  Spagna,  dello  stato  della 
chiesa,  del  Piamonte,  della  contoa  di  Nizza, 
dell'  isola  Taprobana,"  the  dedication  of  which 
is  dated  1011 :  in  this  it  is  to  be  found  verba- 
tim. 

Only  the  opening  is  different.  The  report 
bears  the  title  :  "  Discorso  intorno  alio  stato 
della  chiesa  preso  della  parte  dell'  ufficio  del 
cardinale  che  non  e  stampata."  It  belonged, 
we  see,  to  a  work  on  the  duties  of  the  cardi- 
nals. I  leave  the  question  to  the  reader, 
whether  the  introduction  to  the  report  men- 
tioned above  ougJit  to  deceive  the  most  cre» 
dulous. 

91.  Tarqu,  Pitaro  sopra  la  negotiatione  ma- 
ritima.  17  Oit.  1612.  {Vallic.)  [On 
maritime  commerce.] 

Botero  recommends  among  other  things 
encouraging  the  commerce  of  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal states.  In  fact,  there  was  then  a  plan  in 
contemplation  to  sink  a  flew  harbour  for  the 
town  of  Fano.  It  was  expected  that  the 
commerce  of  the  towns  of  Urbino  would  be 
drawn  thither. 

Our  author,  however,  opposes  this  plan  on 
the  most  cogent  grounds.  He  thniks  that  a 
lesson  might  .be  taken  from  Ancona,  w  hich  he, 
like  the  Venetians  shortly  after  him,  repre- 
sents as  having  fallen  very  much  into  decay. 
"  J\e  sono  partiti  li  mercanti  forastieri,  i  na- 
tivi  falliti,  le  genti  gl'uomini  impoveriti,  gli 
artigiani  ruinati  e  la  plebe  quasiche  dispersa." 
[The  foreign  merchants  have  quitted  it,  the 
native  merchants  are  bankrupt,  the  gentry 
impoverished,  the  artizans  ruined,  and  the 
populace  almost  dispersed.]  It  might  rather 
prove  the  ruin  of  Fano  if  it  constructed  the 
harbour  with  borrowed  money.  So  it  had 
fared  with  Ascoli,  which  had  raised  a  consi- 
derable loan  to  make  its  Maremma  capable  of 
cultivation,  but  had  not  succeeded  in  the 
attempt. 

In  fact,  it  was  not  advisable,  on  other 
grounds,  to  enter  upon  the  plan,  since  the 
towns  of  Urbino  were  soon  to  fall  in  by  escheat 
to  Rome. 

92.  Relatione  della  Romagna  {All.) 

Belonging  to  the  year  1615,  or  thereabouts. 
The  year  1612  is  expressly  mentioned;  but 
it  is  highly  important  for  the  whole  period 
since  the  times  of  Julius  III.  The  parties 
that  divided  the  province  are  described  ;  the 
transfer  of  estates,  which  took  place  espe- 
cially in  consequence  of  the  rise  of  the  papal 
families,  is  very  well  explained.  I  liave  fre- 
quently made  use  of  this  work:  I  shall  here 
insert  a  passage  relating  to  San   Marino, 


which  in  those  early  times  was  gradually 
rising  by  progressive  exemptions  into  inde- 
pendence. 

"  La  republica  di  S.  Marino  si  presume  li- 
bera, se  non  in  quanto  e  raccommaiidata  al 
duca  d'Urbino.  Del  1612  si  propose  e  si 
ottenne  in  quel  consiglio  che  succedendo  la 
mancanza  della  linea  delle  Rovere  si  dichia- 
ravano  sotto  la  protettione  dello  sede  aposto- 
lica,  della  quale  per  cio  ottennero  alcuni 
privilegii  et  in  particolare  dell'  estrattione  de 
grani  e  di  grascia.  Fa  questa  terra,  compre- 
sovi  due  altri  castelli  annessi,  circa  700  fuo- 
chi.  E  situata  in  monti,  e  luogo  forte  et  e 
custodita  la  porta  da  soldati  proprii.  Hanno 
la  libera  amministratione  della  giustizia  e 
della  grazia.  Si  elegono  tra  di  loro  ad  tem- 
pus  i  magistrati  maggiori  chiamati  conserva- 
tori,  a  quali  tra  di  loro  si  da  il  titolo  dell' 
illustrissimo.  In  qualche  grave  eccesso  so- 
gliono  condurre  otficiali  forestieri  per  fare 
processi  e  cause,  et  in  particolare  li  ministri 
deir  Altezza  del  duca  d'Urbino,  con  quella 
autorita  che  loro  pare.  II  publico  e  povero, 
che  non  arriva  a  500  scudi  d'entrada.  Ma  li 
particolari  alcuni  sono  comodi  et  alcuni  ricchi 
rispetto  alia  pochita  del  paese.  Solevano 
affittare  banditi  d'ogni  sorte;  ma  perche  alle 
volte  ne  nascevano  scandali,  e  stato  da  loro 
decretato  che  non  si  possino  affittare  banditi 
se  non  certe  conditioni :  ma  non  si  ne  puo  ha- 
vere  facilmente  salvocondotto."  [The  repub- 
lic of  San  Marino  is  presumed  to  be  free, 
except  in  so  far  as  it  is  under  the  protection 
of  the  duke  of  Urbino.  In  1612  it  was  pro- 
posed and  decreed  in  the  council,  that  failing 
the  line  of  Rovere,  the  republic  should  declare 
Itself  under  the  protection  of  the  apostolic 
see,  from  which  it  in  consequence  obtained 
some  privileges,  particularly  that  of  drawing 
corn  and  provisions.  This  district,  including 
two  other  boroughs  annexed  to  it,  contains 
about  700  hearths.  It  is  situated  in  the 
mountains;  it  is  a  fortified  place,  and  the 
gates  are  guarded  by  its  own  soldiers.  The 
inhabitants  possess  the  free  administration  of 
justice  and  grace.  They  elect  from  among 
Ihem,  ad  tempiis,  the  chief  magistrates  called 
conservatori,  who  have  the  title  among  them 
of  illustrissimo.  In  any  grave  emergency 
they  are  accustomed  to  procure  official  per- 
sonages from  abroad  to  hold  trials,  and  parti- 
cularly the  ministers  of  his  highness  the  duke 
of  Urbino,  with  such  authority  as  seems  good 
to  them.  The  state  is  poor,  having  not  so 
much  as  500  scudi  of  revenue.  But  private 
persons  among  them  are  some  of  them  in  easy 
circumstances,  and  some  of  them  rich  in  pro- 
portion to  the  scantiness  of  the  country.  'J'hey 
are  accustomed  to  hire  bandits  of  every  kind  : 
but  as  this  occasionally  gives  rise  to  scandal, 
it  has  been  decreed  that  bandits  must  not  be 
hired  except  on  certain  conditions :  but  it  ia 
not  easy  to  have  safe  conduct  from  them.] 


520 


APPENDIX. 


93.  Parole  universali  dello  governo  ecclesi- 
aslico,  per  far  una  greggia  et  iin  pastore. 
Secreto  al  papa  solo. — Informatt.  xxiv. 
(26  leaves.) — [Universal  words  of  the 
ecclesiastical  government,  to  make  one 
fold  and  one  shepherd.  For  the  pope's 
sole  privity.] 

In  spite  of  the  condition  of  the  country, 
which  was  gradually  becoming  so  visibly 
worse,  there  were  still  people  who  cherished 
the  boldest  projects. 

But  never  perhaps  were  any  stranger  or 
more  extravagant  than  those  set  forth  by 
Thomas  Campanella  in  the  little  work  before 
us. 

For  undoubtedly  that  unfortunate  philoso- 
pher, who  fell  under  the  suspicion  of  design- 
ing to  wrest  Calabria  from  the  Spanish  mo- 
narchy, and  of  having  taken  part  in  the  wild 
scheme  of  the  duke  of  Ossuna,  was  the  author 
of  this  production.  "  Questo  e  il  compendio," 
he  says,  "  del  libro  intitolato  il  governo  eccle- 
siastico,  il  quale  resto  in  mano  di  Don  Lelio 
Orsino,  et  io  autore  tengo  copia  in  Stilo  pa- 
tria  mia ;"  [This  is  a  compendium  of  the 
book  entitled  "  II  governo  Ecclesiastico," 
which  remained  in  the  hands  of  Don  Lelio 
Orsino,  and  I  the  author  have  a  copy  in  Stilo 
my  native  place.]  To  this  he  adds :  "  Hsec 
et  longe  plura  explicantur  in  Monarchi  Mes- 
sias."  Campanella  was  from  Stilo;  this  Mo- 
narchia  Messise  is  his  work.  We  cannot 
doubt  that  he  either  composed  or  revised  the 
document  before  us. 

We  may  leave  the  date  undetermined. 
Probably  he  was  possessed  all  his  life  long 
with  ideas  of  this  sort. 

He  remarks  that  the  pope  had  very  warlike 
subjects.  "  Li  Romagnuoli  e  Marchiano  sono 
per  natura  inclinatiall'  armi:  onde  servono  e 
Venetiani,  Francesi,  Toscani  e  Spagnuoli, 
perche  il  papa  non  e  guerriero."  [The  inha- 
bitants of  Romagna  and  of  the  March,  are  by 
nature  inclined  to  arms,  whence  they  serve 
the  Venetians,  French,  Tuscans,  and  Span- 
iards, because  the  pope  is  not  a  warrior.] 
But  he  advises  the  pope  too  to  become  mar- 
tial. There  was  still  the  material  for  Cice- 
ros,  Brutuses  and  Catos.  Nature  was  not 
wanting,  but  art. 

He  is  of  opinion  that  the  pope  ought  to 
form  two  armies,  the  one  that  of  S.  Pietro  at 
sea,  the  other  that  of  S.  Paolo  on  land,  some- 
what after  the  manner  of  the  janissaries. 
Never  had  an  armed  religion  been  conquered, 
especially  when  it  had  also  been  well  preach- 
ed. 

For  he  by  no  means  disregards  the  latter 
point.  He  recommends  that  the  ablest  men 
should  be  selected  from  all  the  orders,  reliev- 
ed from  monastic  duties,  and  allowed  to  apply 
themselves  to  sciences. 

Law,  medicine,  and  the  liberal  arts  should 


be  prosecuted  in  the  monasteries  equally  with 
theology.  The  people  should  be  preached  to 
of  the  golden  age,  when  there  should  be  one 
fold  and  one  shepherd,  of  the  bliss  of  the  libe- 
rated Jerusalem,  of  the  patriarchal  innocence : 
their  longings  after  those  things  should  be 
awakened. 

But  when  would  so  blessed  a  state  of  things 
come  to  pass!  " 'J'hen,"  he  replies,  "  when 
all  secular  sovereignties  shall  be  done  away, 
and  Christ's  vicar  shall  rule  over  the  whole 
earth."  "  Sara  nel  mondo  una  greggia  et  un 
pastore,  e  si  vedra  il  secol  d'oro  cantato  da 
poeti,  I'ottima  republica  descritta  da  philoso- 
phi,  e  lo  state  dell'  innocenza  de'  patriarch!,  e 
la  felicita  di  Gerusalemme  liberata  da  mano 
degli  eretici  et  infideli.  E  questo  fia  quando 
saranno  evacuati  tulti  li  principati  mondani  e 
regenera  per  tutto  il  mondo  solo  il  vicario  di 
Christo." 

The  doctrine,  as  he  advises,  should  be 
preached,  that  the  pope  was  lord  also  in  tem- 
poral things,  a  priest  like  Abimelech,  not  like 
Aaron. 

Such  notions  were  still  entertained  towards 
the  end  of  the  16th  century  or  in  the  early 
part  of  the  17th — for  I  will  not  pretend  to  de- 
cide in  which.  We  already  know  the  un- 
common progress  the  Roman  power  was  then 
making.  Before  I  return  to  the  documents 
bearing  on  that  topic,  let  me  be  allowed  to 
add  a  word  on  the  historians  of  the  Jesuits, 
whose  influence  was  just  then  at  its  height. 


REMARKS  ON  SOME  HISTORIANS  OF    THE  ORDER 
OF  JESUITS. 

Self-conceit  and  leisure  gradually  induced 
most  of  the  orders  to  narrate  their  own  histo- 
ries in  detail. 

But  none  of  them  all  did  this  so  systemati- 
cally as  the  Jesuits.  Their  aim  was  to  give 
to  the  world  under  their  own  hands  a  connect- 
ed and  comprehensive  history  of  all  their 
order  had  done. 

In  fact,  the  Historia  Societatis  Jesu,  \vhich 
is  known  to  us  under  the  names  of  Orlandi- 
nus  and  his  continuers,  is  a  work  of  the  high- 
est importance  for  the  history  of  the  order, 
nay,  we  may  say  for  that  of  the  century  in 
general. 

Nicolaus  Orlandinus,  a  native  of  Florence, 
had  for  a  while  presided  over  the  college  of 
Nola  and  the  novices  of  Naples,  when  in  1.599 
he  was  summoned  to  Rome  by  Acquaviva, 
and  named  historiographer  of  the  order.  He 
was  no  less  in  his  style  than  in  the  business 
of  life  careful,  very  accurate,  and  wary  ;  but 
he  had  very  bad  health.  VVith  difficulty  he 
brought  his  work  down  to  the  death  of  Igna- 
tius.    He  died  in  1606. 

His  successor  in  this  task  was  Franciscua 
Sacchinus,  of  the  district  of  Perugia,  clearly 
the  most  distinguished  of  the  historians  of  the 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


521 


Jesuits.     He  was  the  son  of  a  peasant :  his 
father  sometimes  visited  him  in  the  Collegium 
Romanum,  where  he  taught  rhetoric,  and  it 
is  counted    to   his    honour  that  he  was  not 
ashamed  of  his  birth.     After  this  he  devoted 
himself  for  eighteen  years  to  the  composition 
of  his  history  in   the  probationary  house  upon 
the  Monte  Quirinale,  which  he  hardly  ever 
quitted.     But  he  nevertheless  passed  his  life 
in  the  contemplation  of  the  great  events  of 
the  world.     The  restoration   of  Catholicism 
was   still   in    the    most    vigorous    progress. 
What  can  be  more  inviting  to  an  historian 
than  to  describe  the   first   beginning   of  an 
event,  the  development  and  effects  of  which 
he  has  before  him  in  living  reality  ?     Sacchi- 
nus  felt  distinctly  the  one  grand  peculiarity 
of  his  subject — the  universal  battle  fought  in 
the  enthusiasm  of  orthodoxy.      "  I   narrate 
wars,"  he  says,  *'  not  those  of  nations  with 
each  other,  but  of  the  human  race  with  the 
monsters  and  the  powers  of  hell ;  wars  that 
embrace  not  single  provinces,  but  all  lands 
and  seas ;  wars  in  fine,  wherein  not  earthly 
power,  but  the  heavenly  kingdom  was  the 
prize  of  victory."     In  this  tone  of  Jesuitical 
exultation  he  has  described  the  generalship 
of  Lainez  1556 — 1564,  of  Borgia  up  to  1572, 
and   of   Everardus    Mercurius    up   to   1580, 
each  in  one  volume  containing  eight  books, 
and  the   first   ten   years  of  Aquaviva's  rule 
in   the  same   number  of  books.     His   work 
makes  altogether  four  rather  thick  and  close- 
ly  printed    folio   volumes ;    nevertheless    he 
apologizes  for  being  so  brief     Nor  can  he  in- 
deed be  said  to  fail  into  prolixity,  or  to  weary 
his  reader.     As  a  matter  of  course  he  is  par- 
tial, in  the  highest  degree  partial ;  he  passes 
over  what  does  not  suit  him;  of  the  materials 
before  him  he  often  takes  up  only  what  makes 
for  the  honour  of  his  order,  and  so  forth  ;  but 
notwithstanding   all    this,    we   learn  a  very 
great  deal  from  his  books.     I   have  compared 
him  here  and   there  with  his  authorities, — 
for  instance,  in  the  Litterse  Annua;,  so  far  as 
they  are  to  be  come  at  in  print — (books  of 
this  kind   are  very  rare  in  this  part  of  the 
world  ;  I  have  been  obliged  to  have  recourse 
to  the  libraries  of  Breslau  and  Gottingen; — 
and  in  every  instance,   I   have  found  his  ex- 
tracts made  with  judgment,  with  a  sense  of 
what  was  characteristic,  nay,  with  talent.  In 
the  execution  of  this  work  Sacchinus  acquired 
so  extensive  and  accurate  a  knowledge  of  the 
affairs  of  the  society,  that  the   general  him- 
self, Mutio  Vitellericiii,  called   him   to   take 
part  in  them.     It  were  desirable  for  us  that 
this  had  not  been  so  ;  for  then  Sacchini  would 
have  completed    the   history  of  Acquaviva's 
administration,  and  one  of  the  most  importatil 
epoch's  would  have  been  better  investigated 
than   it   afterwards   was.     Sacchini   died    m 


But  enthusiasm  passed  away  with  the  pro- 
gress of  time.  The  Imago  primi  sscnli  in 
the  year  1640  is  far  less  rich  in  matter,  more 
credulous  of  miracles,  more  quaint  and  un- 
couth:  it  was  not  till  1710  that  a  continua- 
tion of  Sacchini  by  Jouvency  appeared,  com- 
prising the  last  fifteen  years  of  Acquaviva. 
Jouvency,  too,  has  talent ;  his  narrative  is 
perspicuous  and  fluent,  though  with  some- 
what of  pretension;  but  the  misfortune  is, 
that  he  took  the  word  Historio  too  literally, 
and  would  not  write  annals  as  Sacchini  had 
done.  He  therefore  cut  up  his  materials  and 
distributed  them  under  different  heads :  "  So- 
cietas  domesticis  motibus  agitata — societas 
externis  cladibus  jactata — vexata  in  Anglia 
— oppugnata — aucta  etc."  Now  the  conse- 
quence of  this  was,  that  he  did  not  give  due 
attention  to  what  was  undoubtedly  the  most 
important  point,  the  revived  spread  of  Cathol- 
icism throughout  the  protestant  countries. 
The  method  of  annals  was  clearly  much  more 
suitable  to  such  a  subject.  With  all  his  his- 
torical efforts,  Jouvency  produces  nothing  but 
fragments. 

And  the  success,  too,  of  his  work  was  but 
small.  The  order  even  entertained  the  inten- 
tion at  one  time  of  having  that  whole  period 
re-written  upon  the  model  of  Sacchinus. 
Julius  Cordara,  who  continued  the  history 
from  1616  to  1625  adhered  closely  to  that 
model.  But  the  spirit  of  the  earlier  times 
was  irrecoverably  lost.  Cordara's  volume  is 
very  useful,  but  not  to  be  compared  in  free- 
dom or  power  with  its  older  predecessors,  or 
even  with  Jouvencius.  It  appeared  in  1750. 
Since  then  the  society  had  to  struggle  too 
hard  for  very  existence  to  think  of  any  con- 
tinuation of  its  history.  Moreover,  had  any 
such  been  produced,  it  would  have  displayed 
a  greatly  diminished  splendour. 

Besides  these  general  histories  there  are, 
as  is  well  known,  a  great  number  of  provin- 
cial histories  of  the  order.  For  the  most  part 
they  have  the  general  history  for  their 
croundwork  ;  frequently  it  is  copied  literally. 
This  is  most  strikingly  the  case  in  Socher's 
Historia  provincia;  Austrise,  which  otlen 
copies  Sacchinus,  even  in  particular  turns  of 
expression,  reproducing,  for  instance,  the 
"  pudet  referre"  of  the  original,  as  "  pudet 
sane  referre."  (Sacchin.  iv.  vi.  78.  Socher 
vi.  No.  'Xi.) 

I  will  not,  however,  enter  upon  a  criticism 
of  these  authors.  The  field  is  too  wide,  and 
they  are  assuredly  not  likely  to  exercise  any 
seiuctive  influence  in  our  times;  we  are 
rather  disposed  to  believe  them  too  little  than 
too  much:  only  I  may  be  allovvel  one  ob- 
servation on  the  history  of  Ignatius  Loyola 
himself. 

When  we  compare   Orlandiniis  with  the 


1625.     His  last  volume  was  finished  and  ed-  other  two  more  importmt  historians  of  Loyo- 
ited  by  Petrus  I'ossinus.  '  la,  it  strikes  us  that  he  agrees  much  more 

66 


522 


APPENDIX. 


with  one  of  them,  MafFei,  (De  vita  et  moribus 
D.  lirnatii  Loiolte)  than  with  the  other,  Pie- 
tro  Ribadeneira.  The  manner,  too  of  that 
agreement  is  remarkable.  Maflei's  book  ap- 
peared as  early  as  15b'5;  it  was  not  till  fifteen 
years  later  that  Orlandinus  composed  his,  and 
seeing  the  great  similitude  between  tiie  two, 
it  might  be  supposed  that  Matfei's  had  served 
as  an  original  for  the  other.  Nevertheless 
Maflei  is  thoroughly  more  elaborate  and  arti- 
ficial in  his  style  ;  Orlandinus  more  natural, 
more  simple,  and  likewise  more  graphic. 
The  enigma  is  solved  when  we  advert  to  the 
fact,  that  both  drew  from  the  same  source, 
the  notes  of  Polanciis.  Maffei  does  not  name 
him,  but  we  learn  from  a  special  treatise  by 
Sacchinus,  "  Cujus  sit  auctoritatis  quod  in  B. 
Cajetani  vita  de  b.  Ignatio  traditur,"  to  be 
found  in  the  later  editions  of  Orlandinus,  that 
Everardo  Mercuriano  laid  the  MSS.  of  Polan- 
cus  before  him.  According  to  that  authority, 
Orlandinus  drew  ciiiefly  from  the  same  Po- 
lancus.  It  is  no  wonder  if  he  and  Maflei 
agree.  Only  we  have  the  original  notes  in  a 
more  authentic  form  in  Orlandinus  than  in 
Maffei ;  the  former  is  more  industrious,  more 
circumstantial,  and  richer  in  documentary 
proofs  ;  the  latter  seeks  his  renown  in  histori- 
cal ornaments  and  in  good  Latin. 

But  whence  come  Ribadeneira's  variations "? 
— he  drew  chiefly  from  another  MS.  author- 
ity, the  notes  of  Ludoricus  Consalvus. 

I3oth  Consalvus  and  Polancus  derived  their 
information  from  Loyola's  oral  communica- 
tions; thus  much,  however,  is  obvious,  that 
Polancus  rather  gathered  up  the  casual  and 
incidental  expressions  of  the  general,  whilst 
Consalvus  knew  how  to  bring  him  at  once  to 
a  circumstantial  narrative,  particularly  of  his 
first  spiritual  awakening. 

The  result  is,  that  we  have  here  to  discri- 
minate a  two-fold  tradition,  tl\e  one,  that  ot 
Polancus,  repeated  by  Maflei  and  Orlandinus, 
the  other,  that  of  Consalvus,  reproduced  by 
Ribadeneira. 

Consalvus  is  by  far  the  more  worthy  of 
note:  he  really  gives,  so  far  as  this  can  be 
conceived  in  such  a  case,  an  authentic  ac- 
count derived  from  the  lips  of  Ignatius  him- 
self. 

But,  as  happens  in  all  narrations  at  second- 
hand, we  are  soon  aware  even  here,  of  an  en- 
largement of  the  original  simple  material. 
Ribadeneira  already  began  this.  For  instance, 
he  took  from  the  narratives  of  Donna  Isabella 
Rosel  of  Barcelona  the  story  of  the  eight  days' 
extasy  which  Ignatius  had  at  Manresa,  out  of 
which  he  awoke  with  the  word  Jesus.  Exa- 
men  Ribadeneiraj  in  comment,  prsev.  AA.  SS. 
Julii,  t.  vii.  p.  590. 

But  people  were  far  from  being  satisfied 
with  him.  He  took  no  not.ce  of  many  of  the 
miracles  that  were  already  cuire  tly  Lelieved. 
"Nescio,"  says  iSacchinus,  "  c^uje  mens  inci- 


dit  Ribadeneirae,  ut  multa  ejus  generis  mira- 
cula  pvaiteriret."  This  was  the  very  reason 
why  Polancus  made  his  collection,  and  why 
Mercuriano  had  it  wrought  up  by  Mafl^ei, 
whence  it  passed  into  the  work  of  Orlandi- 
nus. 

But  even  the  latter  narratives  did  not  satis- 
fy the  miracle-craving  Jesuitism  of  the  17th 
century.  As  early  as  the  year  1606,  a  cave 
near  Manresa  began  to  be  esteemed  holy, 
upon  its  beingf  conceived  that  the  Exercitia 
spiritualia  of  Ignatius  were  composed  there, 
— although  not  a  word  of  this  appears  in 
either  the  one  tradition  or  the  other,  and  the 
Dominicans  stated,  no  doubt  with  entire  truth, 
that  the  spelunca  of  Ignatius  was  in  their  con- 
vent. The  most  violent  disputes  between  the 
Dominicans  and  Jesuits  were  just  then  in  full 
play, — motive  enough  for  the  Jesuits  to  seek 
another  theatre  for  the  original  foundation  of 
their  order. 


And  now  let  us  return  to  our 
Gregory  XV.  and  Urban  VIIL 


MSS. 


94.  Relatione  delli  ecc"'*  <S'"'  Hieron.  Giusti- 
nian  A'*"  Procr,  Ant.  Griwani  /i''.  Franc. 
Conlarini  FroC,  Hieron.  Soranzo  K'^, 
amb^i  estraord.  al  sommo  pontcjice  Gre- 
gorio  XV  Vanno  1621  H  mese  di  Mag- 
gio.  [Report  of  .  .  .  .  the  ambassadors 
extraordinary  to  pope  Gregory  XV.  in  May 
1621.] 

Of  little  importance,  like  all  reports  of  this 
kind. 

The  description  of  the  new  pope  and  his 
government  could  be  but  a  hasty  sketch,  after 
so  short  a  stay  ;  a  few  remarks  on  tlie  jour- 
ney, the  conclave,  the  descent  and  past  histo- 
ry of  the  newly  elected  pontifl^,  and  the  first 
course  of  his  administration,  commonly  con- 
stitute the  whole  matter. 

On  this  occasion,  however,  something  more 
might  fairly  have  been  expected,  since  the 
ordinary  ambassador,  Hieronimo  iSoranzo, 
who  had  resided  five  years  at  the  court  of 
Rome,  made  one  in  the  extraordinary  em- 
bassy, and  gave  his  report  conjointly  with  the 
other  three. 

The  interest  felt,  however,  by  the  Venetian 
senate  was  not  like  ours  ;  it  was  political  not 
historical.  The  personal  character  and  the 
court  history  of  a  deceased  sovereign  had  no 
longer  any  attraction  or  any  essential  impor- 
tance. iSoranzo  contents  himself  with  a  few 
observations.  "  Non  debbo  tralasciare  di  nar- 
rare  qualche  cosa  delle  piii  gravi  che  mi  sono 
occorse  di  maneggiare  in  si  lunga  et  impor- 
tante  legatione." 

The  point  of  most  moment  is,  that  he  inves- 
tigates the  position  assumed  towards  the  see 
ol  Rome  by  Venice  in  the  recent  negocations 
willi  Spain. 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


623 


"Cli  Spagmioli  facevano  considerar  a  S. 
Sti^  quelle  si  opportune  congiuriture  cli  ravvi- 
var  le  rairioni  della  chiesa  in  (rolfo.  L'amb 
si  atfiitico  di  mostrare  il  giusto,  antico  et  in- 
dubitato  possesso  del  golfo,  a«r£[iiingendo  che 
la  repc:»  per  difenderlo  ricorrerebbe  ad  ajuti 
stranieri,  si  valerebhe  di  InnJesi,  Olandeai  e 
di  Tnrchi  med""  ,  e  se  S  S^^  havesse  fomen- 
tato  riug-insteet  indebite  pretension!  di  Spagf- 
nuoli,  arebbe  posta  tutta  la  A'^^  in  grand^o 
scompiglio.  Un  giorno  S.  S'^  mi  disse  '  Sti- 
miaino  necessario  che  le  cose  del  golfo  non  si 
alterino :  le  novita  segiiite  in  esso  ci  son  spi- 
acciiite  grandemente  :  lo  abbiamo  detto  a  chi 
ne  ha  parlato.'  " 

[The  Spaniards  drew  the  attention  of  his 
holiness  to  that  so  favourable  opportunity  of 
revivinsT  the  rights  of  the  church  in  the  Gulf 
of  Venico.  The  ambassador  laboured  to  show 
the  just,  ancient,  and  indubitable  possession 
of  the  gulf,  adding  that  the  republic  would 
recur  to  foreign  aid  to  defend  it ;  that  they 
would  avail  themselves  of  the  assistance  of 
the  English,  the  Dutch,  and  of  the  Turks 
themselves,  and  if  his  holiness  fostered  the 
unjust  and  improper  pretensions  of  the  Span- 
iards, he  would  throw  all  Christendom  into 
great  disorder.  One  day  his  holiness  said  to 
me  :  "  We  think  it  necessary  that  the  affairs 
of  the  gulf  be  not  changed  :  the  innovations 
in  this  matter  have  greatly  displeased  us;  we 
have  said  so  to  those  who  have  spoken  on  the 
subject."] 

We  see  that  there  was  reason  to  appre- 
hend another  outbreak  of  the  old  diflerences 
into  open  hostilities. 

Soranzo  only  strove  to  persuade  Paul  V. 
that  the  republic  had  no  le:ining  to  the  pro- 
testants.  "  Lo  resi  al  pieno  capace  della 
bonta  e  del  puro  zelo  della  republica."  [I 
made  him  fully  sensible  of  the  goodness  and 
pure  zeal  of  the  republic] 

The  ambassador  felt  assured,  too,  that  the 
new  pope  would  not  incline  to  the  Spanish 
party.  The  manner  of  his  election  seemed  to 
promise  this. 

"  i\ella  elettione  di  Gregorio  XV  si  mostro 
I'eftetto  del  spirito  santo.  Borghese,  che 
aveva  per  far  il  papa  a  sua  voglia  sei  voti  ol- 
tre  il  bisogno,  era  risoluto  di  far  eleggere 
Campori :  ma  tre  delle  sue  creature  dissen- 
tendovi,  nascendo  piii  aliri  inconvenienti,  piii 
per  motive  et  istigatione  d'altri  che  per  incli- 
nation propria  venne  alia  nominatione  di  Lu- 
dovisjo  sua  creatura.  Questo  cardinale  ave- 
va I'arnore  di  Aldobrandino,  fu  tenuto  da 
Spagnuoli  di  placidi  pensieri,  Frances!  suo 
confide  ate  I'aveano." 

[The  elfect  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  seen  in 
the  election  of  Gregory  XV.  Borghese,  who 
had  the  disposal  of  six  votes  more  than  were 
necessary  to  determine  the  contest,  was  re- 
Eolved  to  have  Campori  elected  ;  but  three  of 
his  or  eatures  dissenting  from  this  choice,  and 


further  inconveniences  arising,  ho  was  induc- 
ed, rather  at  the  instigation  of  others  than  of 
his  own  accord,  to  nominate  Ludovisio,  his 
creature.  This  cardinal  was  liked  by  Aldo- 
brandino, was  thought  placidly  disposed  by 
the  SpmiarJs,  and  was  held  for  their  own 
trusty  friend  by  the  French.] 

The  nephew,  too,  seemed  to  keep  himself 
still  free.  "  Mostra  sinora  genio  alieno  da 
Spagnoli."  [Up  to  this  time  he  seems  averse 
to  the  Spaniards]  say  the  ambassadors. 

This,  however,  was  but  too  soon  changed. 

95.  Vita  efatti  di  Ludovico  Ludovisi,  di  S. 
R.  Ch.  vicecanc.  nepote  di  papa  Gretforia 
XV,  scritto  da  Luc.  Antonio  Giunti  suo 
servitore  da  Urbino.  (Cors.  1*22  leaves.) 
[Life  and  acts  of  Ludovico  Ludovisi,  vice- 
chancellor  of  the  holy  Roman  church, 
nephevvof  pope  Gregory  XV.,  written  by 
his  servant,  Luc.  x\ntonio  Giunti  of  Ur- 
bino.] 

"  Ludovico,  ch'e  poi  stato  il  cardi  Ludovisi, 
nacque  in  Bologna  dal  conte  Oratio  della  fa- 
miglia  di  Ludovisi  e  dalla  contessa  Lavinia 
Albergat!  I'anno  1595  a  27  d'Ottobre."  [Lu- 
dovico, who  afterwards  became  cardinal  Lu- 
dovisi, was  born  in  Bologna,  to  count  Oratio, 
of  the  family  of  Ludovisi,  and  the  countess 
liivinia  Albergat!,  on  the  27th  of  October, 
1595.]  He  was  educated  in  the  Jesuit  col- 
lege in  Rome,  made  doctor  in  1615,  began  his 
career  in  the  prelacy  in  1619,  and  on  the  day 
after  his  uncle's  coronation,  February  16, 
1621,  was  made  a  cardinal,  and  thereby  ac- 
quired the  promment  political  station  which 
we  have  already  noticed. 

"  Daro,"  says  the  author,  "  qualche  cenno 
delle  cose  parte  da  lui  proposte,  parte  da  lui 
coadjuvate  o  promosse  nel  pontificate  del  suo 
zio  Gregorio."  [I  will  touch  lightly  on  the 
things  partly  proposed  by  him,  partly  aided  or 
promoted  by  him  during  the  pontihcate  of  his 
uncle  Gregory.] 

1.  Traits  of  character. — "  Ascoltava  tutto 
con  flemma  piii  che  orJinaria  :  gli  ambascia- 
tori  ma!  si  rendevano  satii  di  trattarseco,  .  .  . 
si  dava  a  tutti,  accioche  tutti  si  da^sero  a  lui. 
Mostfava  giustitia  e  misericordia  insieme, 
senza  passiono  o  doppiezza."  [He  used  to 
listen  to  every  thing  with  more  than  common 
phlegm  :  the  ambassadors  were  never  satia- 
ted with  transacting  business  with  him,  .  .  . 
he  gave  himself  up  to  all,  so  that  all  gave 
themselves  up  to  him.  He  displayed  jus- 
tice and  mercy  combined,  without  passion  or 
excess.] 

2.  Promotions, — of  the  cardinals  who  had 
helped  his  uncle's  election  to  various  lega- 
tions, of  Orsinoto  Romagna,  Pio  to  the  March, 
Ubaldini  to  Bologna,  Capponi  to  the  archbish- 
opric of  Ravenna.  Thus  their  good  services 
were  rewarded.     Nuncios  were  sent  out  to 


524 


APPENDIX. 


every  court;  Massimi  to  Tuscany,  Pamfili  to 
Naples,  Corsini  to  France,  Sangro  to  Spain, 
Carafia  to  the  emperor,  Montorio  to  Cologne. 
Aldobrandino  served  as  general,  Pino  as  pay- 
master, in  Germany.  The  greater  part  of  the 
instructions  to  these  nuncios  have  come  down 
to  us,  which  makes  the  following  account  of 
the  manner  in  which  they  were  framed  so 
much  the  more  interesting  to  us.  *'  Qnan- 
tunque  fossero  distese  da  ni''  Agucchia  prela- 
to  Bolognese,  nondimenoil  card'®  fece  in  esse 
particolar  fatica  nelle  annotationi  di  capi,  di 
motivi,  del  senso  di  S.  Beatn^j  de'  ripieghi  e 
consigli  snggeriti  dal  suo  proprioavvedimento 
e  sapere."  [Though  they  were  made  out  by 
monsigneur  Agucchia,  a  Bolognese  prelate, 
nevertheless  the  cardinal  particularly  contri- 
buted to  them  notes  of  the  purposes,  motives, 
and  sentiments  of  his  holiness,  and  of  the  re- 
medies and  counsels  suggested  by  his  own 
foresight  and  wisdom.]  The  plan  was  sketch- 
ed, we  see,  by  the  cardinal  nephew;  the  fill- 
ing up  of  it  was  undertaken  by  Agucchia,  a 
countryman  of  Ludovisi. 

3.  Bulls  on  the  papal  elections. — The  forms 
that  had  previously  been  followed  were 
changed;  secret  scrutiny  was  introduced,  the 
adoration  was  abolished.  Giunti  states  the 
disadvantages  arising  out  of  the  adoration. 
"  Rendeva  i  cardinali  piii  timidi  nel  dire  il 
parer  loro,  partoriva  e  fomentava  gravi  dis- 
gusti  tra  gli  escludenti  e  gli  esclusi,  cagiona- 
va  che  il  pontefice  si  eleggesse  senza  la  debi- 
ta  premeditatione,  mentre  i  capi  delle  faltioni 
manifestavano  le  loro  volunta,  faceva  che  la 
Bomma  delle  elettioni  fosse  per  il  piu  appog- 
giata  a  cardinali  giovani."  [It  rendered  the 
cardinals  more  timid  in  expressing  their  opin- 
ions; it  produced  and  fomented  serious  anti- 
pathies between  the  excluders  and  the  exclu- 
ded ;  it  occasioned  the  pope  to  be  elected 
without  due  premeditation,  upon  the  heads  of 
the  factions  displaying  their  wishes;  it  was 
the  cause  of  making  the  result  of  the  elec- 
tions depend  essentially  on  the  junior  cardi- 
nals.] There  is  good  reason  to  suppose  that 
Ludovisi  had  other  motives  for  effecting  the 
change  ;  but  these  are  not  given. 

4.  Establishment  of  the  Propaganda.  Ca- 
nonization of  the  saints. — We  have  already 
treated  of  these  topics. 

5.  Transfer  of  the  electorate. — Investiga- 
tion of  Ludovisi's  personal  share  in  this  trans- 
action. 

6.  Acquisition  of  the  Heidelberg  library  : 
— "per  la  quale  (la  biblioteca  Palatina)  si 
opero  moltoil  cardie  Ludovisio,  atteso  che  ri- 
putava  uno  degli  avvenimenti  piu  felici  del 
pontificato  del  zio  di  poterla  conseguire.     Fu 


quisition  one  of  the  most  auspicious  events  of 
his  uncle's  pontificate.  Doctor  Leon  Allac- 
cio,  Greek  writer  in  the  said  Vatican  library, 
was  deputed  to  go  and  receive,  and  convey  it 
to-Rome.] 

7.  Protection  of  the  Capuchins,  whom  Lu- 
dovisio esteemed  very  highly,  and  in  a  mark- 
ed manner  of  the  Jesuits. — Vitelleschi  says, 
that  through  the  special  protection  God  was 
pleased  to  extend  to  that  society,  it  had  al- 
ways some  great  cardinal  for  its  patron ; 
Alexander  Farnese,  Odoardo  Farnese,  and 
now  Ludovico  Ludovisi.  He  richly  endowed 
the  Jesuit  churches  in  Rome  and  in  Bologna 
out  of  his  private  fortune ;  and  finally  be- 
queathed in  his  will  200,000  sc.  for  the  com- 
pletion of  the  former,  having  already  in  his 
lifetime  bestowed  on  them  every  year  6000  sc. 
The  author  includes  this  sum  in  the  alms  he 
distributed,  and  which  he  sets  down  at  32,882 
sc.  exactly  every  year. 

8.  The  election  of  Urban  VIII.— It  is  here 
ascribed  to  the  cardinal,  "  superando  con  la 
sua  destrezza  le  difficolta  che  si  traponevano" 
[overcoming  by  his  dexterity  the  difficulties 
that  lay  in  the  way.]  His  departure  from 
Rome  to  his  archiepiscopal  see  of  Bologna 
was  entirely  spontaneous. 

9.  His  after-life. — He  preached  sometimes 
in  Bologna;  he  induced  the  Bolognese  to  add 
Ignatius  and  Xavier  to  the  number  of  their 
heavenly  protectors  ;  but  the  main  thing  was 
that,  consistently  with  the  mode  in  which  he 
had  himself  conducted  the  administration,  he 
set  himself  in  vehement  opposition  to  the  va- 
cillating policy  of  Urban  VIII.  When  the 
victories  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  occurred  in 
1631,  he  offered  the  court  of  Spain  100,000 
scudi,  and  the  proceeds,  during  the  continu- 
ance of  the  war,  of  his  Spanish  abbeys,  of 
which  he  held  ten.  Giunti  gives  the  letter  in 
which  Ludovisi  made  this  offer,  founded  upon 
the  "  preseuti  bisogni  della  Germania  e  dell' 
augustissima  casa  di  S.  M^^,  base  e  sostegno 
della  religione  cattolica"  [the  present  wants 
of  Germany  and  of  his  majesty's  most  august 
house,  the  base  and  support  of  the  catholic 
religion.]  The  offer  was  not  accepted  in 
Spain.  Olivarez  replied  to  him,  that  though 
the  king  declined  the  offer,  that  should  not 
hinder  his  majesty  from  bestowing  on  the  car- 
dinal all  the  favour  he  could  desire,  in  which 
the  king  might  be  thought  interested  if  he 
accepted  his  proposal. 

We  find  nothing  here  of  the  purpose  im- 
puted to  the  cardinal  by  a  Venetian,  of  calling 
a  council  against  pope  Urban  VIII. 

For,  on  the  whole,  this  biography  is  com- 
posed  in  the  tone  of  an  official  panegyrist. 


destinato   il   dottor    Leon   Allaccio,  scrittore  I  Though  it  contains  much  useful  and  credible 


Greco  dell'  istessa  biblioteca  Vaticaua,  che 
andasse  a  riceverla  ot  accompagnaria"  [for 
which  (the  Palatine  library)  cardinal  Ludovi- 
sio exerted  himself  much,  considering  its  ac- 


infbrmation,  it  mentions  nothing  of  a  more  du- 
bious character. 

The   cardinal   died    shortly    after.       "  La 
cui  anima,"  says  Giunti  in  conclusion,  "ri_ 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


525 


posi  in  cielo."     [May  his  soul  repose  in  hea- 
ven.] 

9G.  Instruttione  a  mons^  vescovo  d'Aversa. 
nuntio  destinato  da  N.  Slg^'  alia  M'<^ 
Crsurea  di  Ferdinando  II  Imperatore. 
Roma  12  Apr.  1621.  [Instruction  to  the 
bishopofAversa,  nuncio  elect  to  the  em- 
peror Ferdinand  II.] 

We  have  seen  how^  important  were  Caraf- 
fa's  exertions ;  this  alone  would  give  weight 
to  the  instruction  communicated  to  him  by 
Gregory  XV.  on  his  entering  on  his  nuncia- 
ture. But  it  is  further  deserving  of  attention, 
as  (lisclo.^ing  the  views  which  were  enter- 
tained in  Rome  after  the  battle  of  Prague. 

(Jregory  assumes,  in  the  first  place,  that  it 
had  bpen  the  intention  of  the  protestants  to 
extirpate  the  house  of  Austria,  to  wrest  the 
imperial  power  to  themselves,  and  then  to 
make  their  way  into  Italy  to  rob  and  plunder 
that  noblest  portion  of  the  world.  God,  how- 
ever, had  given  events  a  different  turn  ;  it 
must  now  be  considered  how  best  this  might 
be  taken  advantage  of 

He  enjoins  the  nuncio  to  direct  his  atten- 
tion to  the  following  points  : — 

I.  The  strengthening  of  the  empire  by  the 
catholics.  He  promises  the  emperor  aid,  and 
urges  him  to  follow  up  the  victory  with 
speed. 

II.  Re-establishment  of  the  catholic  reli- 
gion.— The  pope  rejoices  at  the  prosperous 
course  it  is  taking  in  Austria  and  Moravia.  It 
is  consolatory  to  him  that  in  Silesia  the  Cal- 
vinists  at  least  are  not  tolerated  ;  but  it  would 
not  meet  his  approbation  if  the  Hungarians 
would  sanction  even  the  Augsburg  confession, 
though  the  most  nearly  approaching  to  Catho- 
licism, "  la  confessione  che,  quantunque  rea, 
si  dilunga  assai  meno  dalla  professione  catto- 
lica  di  quello  che  facciano  le  piii  sette  cattoli- 
che."  But  Bohemia  is  the  object  of  his  greatest 
solicitude.  He  points  out  the  following 
means  for  the  restoration  of  Catholicism  in  that 
country. 

1.  "  Fondare  in  Praga  un'  universita  catto- 
lica ;"  [To  found  a  catholic  university  in 
Prague  ;] 

2.  "  Rimettere  nelle  antiche  parrochie  i  par- 
rochi  cattolici  e  per  le  citta  i  maestri  di  scola 
parimente  cattolici ;"  [To  replace  the  catholic 
parochial  clergy  in  the  ancient  parishes;  and 
in  the  city  schools,  masters  likewise  catholic  ;] 

3.  "  L'uso  dei  catechismiedi  buoni  libriper 
tutto,  ma  per  li  fanciulli  et  idioti  I'antiche 
canzoni  spirituali  in  lingua  Bohemia;"  [The 
use  of  the  catechisms  and  of  good  books  gene- 
rally ;  but  for  children  and  simple  folk,  the 
ancient  spiritual  songs  in  the  Bohemian  lan- 
guage;] 

4.  "  Librarj  e  stampatori  cattolici,  facendo 
visitare  le  librerie  e  stampe  degli  eretici ;" 


[Catholic  booksellers  and  printers,  the  book- 
shops and  presses  of  the  heretics  being  sub- 
jected to  visitation  ;] 

5.  "  L'opera  de'  padriGcsuiti  edialtri  reJi- 
giosi ;  [The  labours  of  the  Jesuit  fathers  and 
of  other  orders;] 

6.  "  Ritornare  in  piedi  li  collegii  di  poveri, 
assegnando  a  quelli  li  beni  ecclesiastici  alie- 
nati."  [To  set  on  foot  again  the  colleges  of 
the  poor,  assigning  them  the  alienated  eccle- 
siastical estates.] 

All  means  of  instruction  and  education.  But 
besides  this,  the  nuncio  is  also  directed  to  resist 
the  appointment  of  protestant  officers.  "  Las- 
ciandosi  le  menti  humane  piu  consigliare  dal 
proprio  interesse  che  da  altro,  incominceranno 
a  poco  a  poco  massimamente  i  giovani  a  pie- 
gare  I'animo  alia  religione  cattolica,  se  non 
per  altro,  per  partecipare  di  publici  honori." 
[Since  men's  minds  are  more  swayed  by  in- 
stinct than  by  any  thing  else,  they  will  begin 
by  degrees,  especially  the  young  men,  to  turn 
to  the  catholic  religion,  if  not  for  any  thing 
else,  at  least  to  participate  in  public  honours.] 

III.  Ke-estahlishment  of  the  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction. — The  pope  has  a  vast  deal  to  com- 
plain of  on  this  head.  The  bishops  are  still 
repugnant  to  submit  to  the  maxims  of  the 
council  of  Trent ;  the  canons  are  given  to 
corrupt  practices  ;  the  chapters  make  a  bad 
disposal  of  the  places  in  their  gift ;  the  empe- 
ror too  takes  too  many  liberties.  "  L'impera- 
tore  istesso  sotto  varii  pretesli  di  spogli,  di 
juspatronati,  di  concessioni  apostoliche,  di  avo- 
carie,  di  incamerationi  e  di  pienezza  di  potesta 
trattiene  le  chiese  gli  anni  vacanti,  et  m  quel 
mentre  se  ne  prende  per  se  I'entrate." 

IV.  Restoration  of  the  papal  authority. — 
The  emperor  appears  to  be  glad  to  see  that 
the  pope  no  longer  dares  venture  on  excom- 
munications and  bulls.  The  papal  court  too 
has  sustained  immense  reductions  in  its  re- 
ceipts from  Germany,  which  formerly  amount- 
ed to  200,000  scudi.  Gregory  will  not  sanction 
the  proceedings  with  Klesel,  but  he  expresses 
himself  very  moderately  on  the  subject,  "  non 
e  mai  piaciuto  troppo  quel  fatto."  Verospi  the 
the  auditor  di  rota  was  sent  over  to  carry  on 
the  suit. 

V.  The  emperor's  relation  to  Italy. — It 
might  be  made  useful,  particularly  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Valtelline.  In  Spain  they  did 
not  yet  consent  to  the  demolition  of  the  con- 
quered fortresses.  "  Pare  che  il  duca  di  Feria 
et  altri  ministri  di  S.  M^^  Ces.  in  Italia  si  op- 
ponghino  a  quel  consiglio,  come  coloro  che 
vorrebbero  ritenere  i  forti  e  con  essi  la  gloria 
di  quell'  acquisto."  [It  seems  that  the  duke 
of  Feria  and  other  ministers  of  his  imperial 
majesty  in  Italy  are  opposed  to  this,  as  wish- 
ing to  retain  tue  fortresses,  and  therewith  the 
glory  of  this  acquisition  ]  But  he  is  fully 
aware  how  dangerous  this  would  be  ;  the  pro- 
testants   in   Germany  would  desire  nothing 


526 


APPENDIX. 


better  than  to  see  the  sword  unsheathed  in 
Italy. 

VI.  Deportment  of  the  nuncio. — He  is  of 
course  recommended  in  the  first  place  to  Ec- 
kenbero^ ;  but  it  is  especially  remarkable  that 
the  nephew  expresses  himself  but  very  cauti- 
ously respecting  the  Jesuits.  "  Terra  gran 
conto  del  padre  Beccanoconfessore  di  Cesare, 
e  si  valera  con  destrezza  dell'  opera  sua,  non 
lasciando  intanto  di  osservare  i  suoi  discorsi  e 
consigli  per  scorprirne  meglio  i  fini  et  avvisar- 
megli.  E  parimente  a'  padri  Gesuiti  ricorrera 
con  avve.iuta  confidenza."  [He  will  make 
great  account  of  father  Beccanothe  emperor's 
confessor,  and  will  adroitly  avail  himself  of  his 
aid,  not  failing  meanwhile  to  watch  his  lan- 
guage and  counsels,  the  better  to  discover  his 
ends  and  to  acquaint  me  with  them.  And 
in  like  manner  he  will  recur  to  the  Jesuit 
fathers  with  provident  confidence.]  With 
provident  confidence  !  An  excellent  piece  of 
advice. 

We  see  meanwhile  what  brilliant  designs 
were  already  conceived  by  the  pope.  He  even 
then  contemplated  a  restitution  of  all  church 
property.  VVilh  this  remarkable  passage  we 
shall  close  our  extracts.  "  Secondo  che  s'an- 
deranno- acquistando  de  paesi  tenuti  avanti 
dagli  eretici,  ella  faccia  grandissuna  istanza 
con  S.  M'^  ricuperare  i  beni  ecclesiastici  occu- 
pati  da  loro  e  di  renderli  alle  chiese  et  alii 
veri  patroni.  Qucsto  oificio  si  fece  per  ordine 
di  papa  Paolo  V,  quando  il  marchese  Spinola 
s'impossesso  del  palatinato,  e  I'iniperatore  ris- 
pose  che  non  era  ancor  tempo  di  trattarne." 
[In  proportion  as  possession  shall  be  obtained 
of  territories  previously  possessed  by  the  here- 
tics, you  shall  press  most  urgently  with  his 
majesty  for  the  recovery  of  the  ecclesiastical 
properly  seized  by  them,  and  for  its  restoration 
to  the  churches,  and  to  the  true  patrons.  This 
application  was  made  by  order  of  pope  Paul  V., 
when  the  marquis  Spinola  took  possession  of 
the  Palatinate,  and  the  emperor  replied  that 
it  was  not  yet  time  to  treat  of  it.] 

We  see  that  the  idea  of  the  edict  of  restitu- 
tion was  conceived  by  Paul  V.  in  the  year 
1620,  but  was  rejected  at  that  time  by  the 
emperor  as  inopportune. 

The  nuncio  was  now  to  urge  it  anew,  and 
to  repressent  to  the  emperor  the  merit  he  would 
acquire  by  it. 

97.  Instrutlione  a  mons^  Sangro,  patriarcha 
d' Alessandria  et  arcivescovo  di  Beneven- 
to,  per  andar  nunzio  di  S.  S^'^  al  re  cal- 
tolico.  lt')21.  [Instruction  to  monsigr  San- 
gro, patriarch  of  Alessandria  and  archbi- 
shop of  Benevento,  on  his  proceeding  as 
nuncio  to  the  catholic  king.] 

Sangro  is  reminded  that  the  power  of  Spain 
is  now  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  Uzeda  and  of 
the  grand  inquisitor.     He  was  therefore  par- 


ticularly to  recal  his  spiritual  duties  to  the 
latter's  mind. 

In  order  to  discover  secrets,  he  is  directed 
to  attach  himself  to  the  ambassadors  of  Venice 
and  Tuscany,  "de'quali  si  suol  cavare  molto" 
[from  whom  there  is  usually  much  to  be  got.] 

The  questions  of  immunity,  of  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction,  and  of  collettoria,  are  then  enter- 
ed into  with  some  minuteness.  I  must  con- 
fess, however,  that  the  defective  and  ille«fible 
copy  I  found,  prevented  me  from  going  further 
into  these  points. 

The  main  thing  is  the  exposition  of  the 
political  relations. 

The  nuncio  was  above  all  things  to  demand 
a  renewal  of  the  war  with  Holland. 

He  was  to  remind  the  court  that  prince 
Maurice  was  now  old,  and  that  his  death  was 
daily  to  he  expected;  that  the  division  between 
the  Arminians  and  the  Gomarists  enfeebled 
the  provinces :  count  Henry  hoped  with  the 
aid  of  the  former,  count  Ernest  with  the  aid  of 
the  latter,  to  obtain  the  supreme  authority : 
that  the  Zealanders  were  poor,  the  Hollanders  / 
hated  for  their  arrogance.  "  Laonde  il  re  non 
puo  voltare  le  sue  fbrze  contra  di  loro  in 
meglior  tempo  ovvero  opporlunita."  [Hence 
there  could  not  be  a  more  favourable  time  or 
opportunity  for  the  king  to  turn  his  arms 
against  them.] 

98.  Insiruttione  a  V.  Sig^'i'^  M"-  di  Torres, 
arcivescovo  di  Antrinopoli,  nuntio  desti- 
nato  da  N.  Sig'^^  in  Polonia.  30  Maggie 
1621. — [Instruction  to  archbishop  Torres 
of  Antrinopoli,  nuncio  elect  to  Poland.] 

The  misunderstanding  between  Paul  V.  and 
Sigismund  III.  was  not  altogether  insignificant. 
"  Se  la  pieta  del  re,"  says  Gregory  XV^.  in  this 
instruction  which  he  commenced  to  his  first 
nuncio,  "  e  la  riverenza  che  a  questa  sede  egli 
porta,  non  havesse  ammorzato  del  tutto  o  al- 
meno  coperte  le  scintille  de'  dispiaceri  loro,  se 
ne  sarebbe  per  il  soffioni  altrui  acceso  alcun 
fuoco  di  disordia  manifesta."  [Had  not  the 
piety  of  the  king,  and  the  reverence  he  bears 
this  see,  wholly  stifled  or  at  least  covered  the 
sparks  of  their  displeasure,  they  would  have 
been  blown  up  by  others  into  an  open  flame  of 
discord.] 

Gregory  now  labours  to  smooth  over  every 
thing.  He  is  penetrated  by  the  sense  of  the 
merits  of  this  king,  who  could  not  have  been 
made  a  better  catholic  in  Rome  itself 

The  nuncio  is  enjoined  above  all  things  to 
bear  himself  blameless  in  his  conduct :  "  per- 
che  tutti  gli  pongono  gli  occhi  adosso  e  pren- 
dono  ancora  esempio  da  santi  costumi  di  lui, 
et  il  re  medesimo  il  propone  a  suoi  prelati  per 
norma"  [for  the  eyes  of  all  will  be  fixed  on 
him,  and  they  will  take  example  of  holy 
manners  from  him,  and  the  king  himself  will 
propose  hhn  as  a  model  to  his  prelates.]     To 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


527 


be  a  seilnlnus  frequenter  of  the  banquets  of 
the  trreat  wonlil  be  in  it?elf  no  bad  means  of 
acquirinsj  influence,  but  it  would  end  in  wea- 
kening' the  respect  which  ought  to  be  enter- 
tained for  a  nuncio. 

It  would  be  well  if  the  nuncio  would  as 
formerly  visit  the  churches  in  person. 

The  main  thing  is  still  education.  The 
institution  of  the  Dottrina  Christiana,  as  sub- 
sisting in  Italy,  should  be  introduced  likewise 
into  Poland.  Catechisms  and  spiritual  books 
must  be  provided,  and  worldly  or  protestant 
songs  superseded  by  catholic. 

99.  Iiistrvtlione  a  V.  S"'^  M^  Lancellotti, 
vencovo  di  Nnla,  destinato  da  N.  *S''«  suo 
nitntio  in  Folonia. — [Instruction  to  mon- 
sieur Lancelloiti,  bishop  of  Nola,  nuncio 
elect  to  Poland.) 

I  know  not  whether  belonging  to  the  year 
16'2t2  or  162.'^,  but  certainly  during  the  reign 
of  (ireoory  XV. 

The  instruction  given  to  Torres  is  com- 
municated to  the  nuncio.  Since  that  tinje, 
by  order  of  the  Propaganda,  all  bishops  had 
been  required  to  give  in  reports  of  their  dio- 
ceses :  these  two  were  to  be  consulted  by  the 
nuncio. 

Politics  come  forward  somewhat  more  pro- 
minently. The  nuncio  should  do  his  utmost 
to  uphold  the  good  understanding  between 
Poland  and  the  house  of  Austria.  This  would 
bridle  the  Turks  and  the  enemies  of  the  em- 
peror. 

The  Poles  would  gladly  have  concluded 
peace,  or  at  least  a  truce  for  twenty  years, 
with  Gustavus  Adolphus:  the  latter  repre- 
sented too  that  the  Polish  line  should  succeed 
him  il'  he  died  childless  ;  but  Sigismund  reject- 
ed all  overtures.  "Benche  Gustavo  per  con- 
ditione  espressa  ofl^'risse  che  morendo  lui  senza 
figliuoli  gli  avesse  asuccedere  S.  AP^  e  la  sua 
stirpe,  s'oppose  a  questi  consigli."  It  was 
only  out  ot' deference  to  the  Poles  that  he  con- 
sented to  a  short  armistice. 

The  afiairs  of  the  united  Greeks  had  been 
already  investigated  in  the  instruction  to  Tor- 
res, but  they  were  treated  more  distinctly  and 
thoroughly  in  this  document. 

"  I  Greci  commossi  a  tempo  di  Clemente 
Ottavo  per  opera  di  Rupaccio  Pacciorio,  che 
fu  prima  vescovo  overo  vladica  di  Vladimiera 
8  poi  metropolitanodi  (>hiovia,  si  contentarono 
i  vescovi  o  vladici  lore,  eccettuati  quelli  di 
Leopoli  e  di  Premisla,  che  nella  loro  ostina- 
tione  si  rimasero,  d'unirsi  alia  chiesa  Romana, 
e  di  riconoscere,  come  fecero  I'anno  1595,  il 
papa  per  loro  capo  secondo  la  forma  e  profes- 
sione  di  lede  nel  concilio  Florentine  contenuta. 
Ma  tante  discordie  ne  nacquero,  e  cosi  si  posero 
nelle  diete  a  inipiignarequella  uniono  li  nobili 
Greci,  dagli  heretici  favoriti,  che  s'e  havuto 
a  nietlere  soosopra  il  regno  :  imperocche  pochi 


del  clero  e  molto  meno  del  popolo  I'hanno  vo- 
lute abbracciare,  aftermando  tutti  essere  per 
privati  disegni  e  per  ambitione  di  pochi  stata 
fatta   e  senza  loro  partccipatione.     Onde  si 
conservano  bene  li  vescovi  e  pastori  cattolici, 
ma  questi  soli  se  ne  stanno,  senza  trovare  pe- 
corelle  che  seguitare  li  vogliano,  e  di  piu  cor- 
rono  gran  rischio   d'essere  dalle   sedie    loro 
cacciati  e  che  vengana  ancor  ad  esi<i   levate 
quelle  chiese  che  tolte  gia  alii  scismatici  furon- 
gli  concedute.     Onde  in  tutte  le  diete  se  ne 
fa  lo  strepito  grande:    e  nell'  anno  passato 
avvenne   che   un  vescovo  o  fosse  il  patriarca 
scismatico  di  Gerusalemme  mandate  in  Mos- 
covia  etin  Russia  dal  patriarca  dK^onstantino- 
poli,  si  fermo  fra  Russi,  e  vi  creo  tanti  scis- 
matici quantisono  gli  uniti,  et  eccito  li  cosac- 
chi,  che  sono  tutti  Greci  scismatici,  ad  addi- 
mandare  nella  dieta  con  ofterte  grandissime, 
perche  il  regno  per  la  guerra  col  Turco  ha  vesse 
bisogno  di  loro,  che  all'  antiche  loro  pretensioni 
si  sodisfacesse :  ma  il  vescovo  di  Santo  Angelo, 
air  hora  nuntio,  ne  divert!  I'impeto,  siche  tra 
per   questo  e  per  publiche   necessita,  che  a 
nuove  contese  non  lasciavano  luogo,  si  pose 
con  I'autorita  del  re   il  negotio  in  silentio. 
Si  vive  non  di  meno  dagli  uniti  nel  medesimo 
timore  :  e  li  piii  prudenti  prelati  ne  pronosti- 
cano  alia  fine  de'  mali  eventi  se  alcun  pro- 
vedimento  non  vi  si  piglia:  onde  havrebbero 
alcuni  havuto  per  lo  migliore  che  I'unione 
non  si  fosse   mai  fatta,  apportando  essi  che 
sarebbe  state  piu  agevole  il  ridurre  li  nobili 
siugolarmente  e  di  famiglia  in  famiglia  alia 
chiesa  cattolica,  perche  si  vede  per  prova  che 
tutti  colore  che  ad   uno  abbandonano  il  rito 
Greco  e  lo  scisma,  stanno  nella  nostra  chiesa 
perseveranti."     [The  Greeks,  moved  in  the 
lime  of  Clement  VIH.  by  Rupaccio  Pacciorio, 
who  was  first  bishop  or  vladica  of  Wladimir, 
and  afterwards  metropolitan  of  Chiovia,  were 
content,  they  and  their  bishops  or  vladici,  ex- 
cept those  of  Leopoli  and  Premisla,  who  re- 
mained obstinate,  to  unite  themselves  to  the 
Roman  church,  and  to  recognize  the  pope  for 
their  head,  as  they  did  in  the  year  1595,  ac- 
cording to  the  tbrm  and  profession  of  taith 
contained    in   the  Florentine   council.      But 
such  discords  ensued  in  consequence,  and  the 
Greek  nobles,  backed  by  the  heretics,  so  set 
themselves  to  impugn  this  union  in  the  diet, 
that  the  kingdom  had  like  to  have  been  turned 
upside  down ;  because  few  of  the  clergy,  and 
much   fewer   of  the   common    people,    were 
willing  to  embrace  it,  all  of  them  affirming 
that  the  thing  was  done  for  private  designs, 
'and  to  further  the  ambition  of  a  few  without 
I  any  participation  of  theirs.     Hence  the  catho- 
lic bishops  and  pastors  still  subsist,  but  they 
stand  alone,  and  find  no  flocks  that  will  follow 
them  ;  moreover  they  run  great  risk  of  being 
expelled  from  their  places,  and  of  losing  also 
those  churches  which,  having  been  already 
i  taken  from  the  schismatics,  were  conferred 


528 


APPENDIX. 


on  them.  Accordingly  there  is  a  great  nr.ise 
about  the  matter  in  every  diet:  and  last  year 
it  happened  that  a  bishop,  or  it  might  be  th^ 
schismatic  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  sent  into 
Moscovy  and  Russia  by  the  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, establisfied  himself  among  the 
Russians,  and  created  amongst  them  schisma- 
tics as  numerous  as  the  united  Greeks,  and 
excited  the  Cossacks,  who  are  all  Greek 
schismatics,  to  demand  in  the  diet,  with  very 
large  offers,  because  the  kingdom  had  need 
of  them  on  account  of  the  war  with  the 
Turks,  that  their  ancient  pretensions  should 
be  satisfied.  But  the  bishop  of  Santo  An- 
gelo,  then  nuncio,  parried  the  blow,  so  that, 
what  with  his  exertions,  and  what  with  the 
public  necessities,  which  would  not  admit  of 
fresh  contests,  the  matter  was  silenced  by  the 
royal  authority.  Notwithstanding  this,  the 
same  fear  is  continually  entertained  on  the 
side  of  the  united,  and  the  most  intelligent 
prelates  prognosticate  that  matters  will  end 
badly  if  some  provision  be  not  made.  Some 
therefore  are  of  opinion  it  were  better  the 
union  had  never  taken  place,  arguing  that  it 
would  have  been  easier  to  bring  over  the  no- 
bles singly,  and  family  by  family,  to  the  catho- 
lic church ;  for  it  is  proved  by  experience, 
that  all  those  who  individually  abandon  the 
Greek  ritual  and  the  schism  persist  in  their 
attachment  to  our  church.] 

100.  Relatione  fatta  alia,  congregations  de 
propaganda  fide  da  Dionysio  Lazari  so- 
pra  alcune  cose  che  possono  essere  di 
servitio  alia  santa  fede  cattolica.  16'2'2. 
[Heport  made  to  the  congregation  "de 
propaganda  fide,"  by  Dionysio  Lazari,  on 
some  things  which  may  be  of  service  to 
the  holy  catholic  faith.] 

Dion.  Lazari  had  been  for  a  while — "molti 
mesi "  is  his  own  expression — in  England,  and 
in  this  paper  states  the  means  by  wiiich  Ca- 
tholicism might  be  restored  in  that  country. 

The  means,  he  thinks,  were  three:  nego- 
tiation with  one,  or  with  many,  or  violent 
measures. 

But  he  is  of  opinion  that  much  might  be 
done  with  king  James  personally  :  that  king 
was  indifferent  in  his  opinions  and  timorous. 
"  Per  la  pratica  che  ho  di  lui,  lo  stimo  indif- 
ferente  in  qualsivoglia  religione."  It  would 
be  well  to  foster  his  suspicions,  by  means 
even  of  supposititious  letters.  "  Far  artificio- 
eamente  avisar  qualche  suo  ministro  fuori  del 
regno  di  persona  da  loro  creduta  fedele,  e 
neir  istesso  regno  far  trovar  qualche  lettera  a 
nome  supposito  che  rnittasse  m  forme  segrete 
queste  materie."  [To  have  some  minister  of 
his  in  foreign  parts  craftily  advised  by  a  per- 
son he  supposed  trustworthy;  and  to  cause 
sone  letter  in  a  feigned  name  to  be  discovered 
in  the  kingdom  itself,  trcatmg  of  these  mat- 


ters with  a  show  of  secresy.]  Buckingham 
too  might  well  be  gained  over;  his  wife  was 
the  daughter  of  a  catholic,  and  was  her.-;elf 
privily  catholic;  "e  segreta  cattolica  figlia 
anche  di  scgreto  cattolico."  Buckingham 
laid  great  weight  on  alliances  with  foreign 
powers;  he  could  be  most  gained  through 
thenj,  especially  as  he  was  always  in  peril 
from  the  parliament.  "Essendo  composto  il 
parlamento  quasi  per  la  maggior  parte  di  pu- 
ritani,  stimarebbe  egli  specie  d'efficace  ven- 
detta I'indurre  il  re  al  catlolicismo."  [The 
parliament  being  composed  for  the  most  part 
of  puritans,  he  would  deem  it  a  kind  of 
effective  vengeance  to  make  the  kmg  ca- 
tholic] 

Influence  on  the  common  people. — It  would 
be  very  advantageous,  could  freedom  of 
preaching  be  obtained.  "  II  che  si  potrebbe 
fare  per  via  di  danaro,  proponendo,  per  cosi 
dire,  una  gabella  di  predicatori  et  auditori, 
inducendosi  il  re  molte  volte  per  I'interesse  a 
cose  contrarie  a  sua  volonta."  [Which  might 
be  done  by  way  of  money,  proposing,  so  to 
speak,  a  toll  on  preachers  and  hearers,  for 
the  king  is  often  induced  by  interest  to  things 
contrary  to  his  inclination.] 

Violent  measures  he  says  were  not  to  be 
thought  of  But  we  see  that  even  those  of  a 
pacific  nature  which  he  proposes  were  not 
practicable. 

Lazari  belonged  to  that  class  of  people 
who  think  to  influence  the  course  of  society 
by  intrigues  and  dexterious  machinations, 
which  however  can  never  be  the  case. 

He  has  no  hopes  from  the  rising  genera- 
tion ;  it  was  reared  wholly  in  protes^tant  sen- 
timents :  the  prince  alone,  afterwards  Charles 
I.,  seems  to  hold  out  some  promise.  "  lo  v'ho 
grandissima  speranza,  per  vederlo  d'iu'lole 
molto  ingeima,  di  costumi  assai  generosi, 
molto  sobrio  nel  detestar  li  cattolici."  [[ 
have  great  hopes  of  him,  seeing  that  he  is  of 
a  highly  ingenuous  nature,  of  rather  generous 
principles,  and  very  temperate  in  his  hatred 
of  the  catholics.] 

101.  Inslrultione  al  dottor  Leone  Allatio  per 
andare  in  Germania  per  la  Ubreria  del 
Palatino.  1622.  {Court  libr.  in  Vienna, 
MS.  Hohenb.)  [Instruction  to  doctor 
Leone  Allatio  to  go  into  Germany  for  the 
Palatine  library.] 

The  instruction  by  which  Leo  Allatius, 
then  scriptor  in  the  Vatican,  was  empowered 
to  receive  possession  of  the  Heidelberg  li- 
brary. 

It  is  to  be  found  not  only  in  Vienna,  but 
also  in  many  other  libraries,  for  instance  in 
the  Chigi  library  in  Home,  among  the  coUec- 
lectious  of  instructions  by  Gregory  XV.  The 
literary  interest  of  the  subject  has  also  caused 
it  to  be  known  in  Germany.     Quade,  Baurn- 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


529 


garten,  and  Gerdes,  one  after  the  other,  had 
it  printed  in  Latin. 

Having  once  come  within  the  range  of 
protestant  erudition,  it  necessarily  became 
the  subject  of  discussion.  In  his  history  of 
the  formation,  plunder,  and  destruction  of  the 
old  Heidelberg  collections,  (Heidelberg,  1817) 
p.  285,  our  learned  fellow  citizen  and  friend, 
G.  R.  Fr.  Wilken,  has  raised  formidable  ob- 
jections against  its  authenticity. 

The  Latin  translation  is  executed  indeed  in 
a  manner  that  must  provoke  suspicion.  For- 
tunately however,  this  is  dissipated  when  we 
obtain  sight  of  the  original  MS. 

In  the  Latin  for  instance  it  is  said,  in  re- 
ference to  the  consecrated  medals  which  were 
given  to  Allatio  for  Tilly's  soldiers,  "  Unum 
adhuc  R.  T.  D.  suppeditamus  stratagema,  ut 
scilicet  sibi  magnam  nummorum  comparet 
copiam,  quos  a  Sanctis  canonisatos  esse  fin- 
gat."  [We  suggest  one  stratagem  to  the  re- 
verend doctor,  that  he  should  get  together  a 
great  quantity  of  coins,  and  pretend  that  they 
are  canonized  by  the  saints.]  Surely  it  is 
incredible  that  the  Roman  court  should  have 
expressed  itself  in  this  fashion  to  one  of  its 
servants. 

Upon  turning  to  the  original,  we  find  it 
really  runs  quite  differently.  "  E  qui  soggi- 
ungero  a  V.  S.  che  se  le  dara  un  grosso 
numero  di  medaglie  con  I'indulgenza  della 
canonizzatione  de'  santi  fatta  da  N.  S."  [And 
there  I  will  mention  to  you,  that  you  shall  be 
furnished  with  a  great  number  of  medals, 
with  the  indulgence  of  the  canonization  of 
the  saints  made  by  his  holiness.]  I  under- 
stand by  this,  medals  commemorative  of  the 
canonization  of  the  saints,  which  Gregory  XV. 
had  determined  on,  with  an  indulgence. 

As  little  is  it  to  be  found  in  the  original, 
that  Allatio  was  to  address  the  duke  of  Ba- 
varia in  German,  as  the  Latin  version  asserts : 
"  tradito,"  it  is  said  in  Baumgarten :  "  brevi 
a  Sancto  Patre  fidei  ipsius  concredito,  Ger- 
mancio  idiomate  eum  aftiindi."  [On  present- 
ing to  him  the  holy  father's  brief  committed 
to  his  charge,  to  address  him  in  the  German 
tongue.]  The  original  on  the  other  hand 
says,  "  presentando  a  Sua  Altezza  il  breve  di 
N.  S^e,  le  parlera  a  nome  di  Sua  S^^  contbrme 
al  tenore  di  esso."  [On  presenting  our  lord's 
letter  to  his  highness,  he  shall  speak  in  the 
name  of  his  holiness  conformably  with  the 
tenor  of  the  same.] 

The  translation  outrages  the  Italian  original 
and  all  probability. 

But  when  we  see  that  the  original  is  far 
more  rationally  composed,  and  under  circum- 
stances that  admit  of  no  doubt,  we  can  no 
longer  be  sceptical  of  its  authenticity. 

One  thing,  however,  is  certainly  true,  that 
Allatio  was  to  spread  the  report  that  the  li- 
brary was  to  be  transferred  to  Munich,  not  to 
Rome.  "In  ogni  caso  sara  bene  di  metter 
67 


voce  che  si  abbia  da  condurre  solamente  a 
Monaco  e  non  a  Roma."  We  have  repeatedly 
seen  how  the  most  extreme  wariness  was  in- 
culcated upon  the  papal  envoys.  Similar 
instructions  were  given  to  Allatio.  For  in- 
stance :  "  Massimamente  per  i  paesi  sospetti 
sara  sempre  meglio  di  andare  in  habito  corto, 
come  persona  negotiante  del  dominio  Veneto." 
[Particulary  in  suspected  countries  it  will 
always  be  advisable  to  wear  a  short  coat,  like 
a  commercial  individual  of  the  Venetian  do- 
minions.] So  much  dissimulation  was  thought 
necessary. 

We  need  not  wonder  at  such  directions 
being  given  in  writing.  They  were  fond  of 
writing  at  that  court,  particularly  in  Ludo- 
'visio's  chancery.  The  instructions  drawn  up 
by  Agucchia  are  not  wanting-  in  important 
political  views,  but  they  are  also  full  of  trifles 
of  this  kind.  The  author  wished  to  have  the 
credit  of  thinking  of  every  thing. 

Furthermore,  there  was  good  reason  to 
apprehend  the  fury  of  the  reformed  party, 
especially  at  this  loss  to  their  metropolis. 
The  library  was  to  be  escorted  by  a  detach- 
ment of  cavalry. 

102.  Instruttione  al  padre  Don  Tobia  Co- 
rona de'  chierici  regolari  mandato  da 
papa  Gregorio  XV  al  re  di  Francia  e 
prima  al  duca  di  Savoia  per  Vimpressa 
della  citta  di  Ginevra.  1622.  (Libr.  of 
Frankfurt  on  Main.  MSS.  Glauburg. 
Tom.  39,  n.  1.  26  leaves.)  [Instruction 
to  father  Don  Tobia  Corona,  of  the  chierici 
regolari,  sent  by  Gregory  XV.  to  the  king 
of  France,  and  first  to  the  duke  of  Savoy, 
respecting  the  enterprise  against  the  city 
of  Geneva.] 

Beginning:  "L'ltalia  che  dall'  eterna  pro- 
videnza  e  stata  eletta  a  reggere  hora  I'imperio 
temporale,  hora  lo  spirituale  del  mondo." 
[Italy,  which  has  been  elected  by  eternal 
Providence  to  sway  now  the  temporal,  now 
the  spiritual  empire  of  the  world.] 

Geneva  is  pre-eminently  odious  to  this 
spiritual  government,  "  non  solo  come  plena 
di  huom^ni  appestati,  ma  come  catedra  di 
pestilenza  "  [not  only  as  full  of  plague-struck 
men,  but  as  the  high  seat  of  pestilence]. 

To  chastise  it,  to  destroy  it,  belonged  be- 
fore all  others  to  the  pope,  the  vicar  of  Christ, 
and  to  the  duke  of  Savoy,  who  still  wore  the 
name  of  count  of  Geneva.  The  pope  and  the 
duke  had  often  made  the  attempt,  but  were 
always  frustrated  by  the  protection  afforded 
by  France  to  that  city. 

Now,  however,  the  position  of  things  is 
altered.  "  La  Francia  tratta  il  soggetto  di 
domare  i  ribellati  heretici,  et  ha  da  ricever 
piacere  che  per  togliere  loro  le  forze  e  la  ri- 
putatione  si  faccia  il  medesimo  senza  suo 
costo  in  altre  parti."  [France  is  engaged  in 


530 


APPENDIX. 


the  task  of  subduing  the  heretic  rebels,  and 
must  be  gratified  to  see  them  deprived  of 
Btrenglh  and  reputation,  by  the  prosecution 
of  the  same  course  in  another  quarter  without 
any  cost  to  herself] 

The  pope  had  devised  a  plan  from  the  be- 
ginning of  his  reign,  and  thought  to  prepare 
the  way  for  its  execution  by  the  mission  of  a 
regular  ecclesiastic.  "  Poiche  habbiamo  un' 
argumento  di  religione,  si  conviene  fuggen- 
done  il  rumore  coprirlo  piu  che  si  puote: 
vuole  inviarvi  un  religioso.  La  P.  V'"^  por- 
tera  da  per  tutto  questo  negotio  come  nato 
nell'  aninio  di  Sua  fe^^senza  altra  origine  che 
dello  spirito  santo." 

He  was,  in  the  first  place,  to  excite  the 
warlike  propensities  of  the  duke  of  Savoy7 
and  if  he  asked  for  aid,  he  was  to  represent 
to  him  how  much  the  assistance  afibrded  to 
the  emperor  and  the  League  had  exhausted 
the  apostolic  see,  what  large  claims  the  Poles 
put  forward,  and  what  expense  Avignon  occa- 
sioned; at  the  same  time  holding  out  by  all 
means  a  hope  of  some  help:  "che  Sua  S^^ 
non  sara  strelta  a  S.  A.  di  tutti  quelii  ajuti 
che  dalle  picciole  forze  uscir  potranno."  'I'he 
nuncio  will  also  request  the  requisite  informa- 
tion 8S  to  the  rights  of  Savoy  to  Geneva. 

But  the  chief  thing  is  what  representations 
he  is  to  make  to  the  king  of  France:  1.  That 
he  should  not  bring  upon  himself  the  suspi- 
cion that  he  persecuted  the  protestants  solely 
for  motives  of  state ;  2.  That  even  these, 
rightly  understood,  demanded  the  destruction 
of  Geneva.  "  Se  Ginevra  non  fosse  stata 
ricovero  di  Calvino,  la  M^^  S.  non  havvrebbe 
di  presente  da  portare  I'armi  coutro  I'ostinati 
e  perversi  suoi  popoli  Ugonotti,  non  si  ved- 
rebbe  nascere  le  republiche  contro  la  monar- 
chia.  .  .  .  Sono  republiche  popolari  che  in 
ogni  palmo  di  terreno  e  fino  nell'  istessa  corte 
e  forse  nella  camera  del  rehanno  lor  cittadini 
e  seguaci.  .  .  .  Gia  la  republica  loro  (Ugon- 
otti) e  piantata,  gia  ne  sono  publicate  le  leggi, 
e  gia  in  ogni  provincia  hanno  costituiti  i  nia- 
gistrati,  i  consigli  et  i  governatori  dell'  armi : 
piu  non  hanno  da  fare  che  da  andare  eglino  a 
muovere  I'armi  al  re  per  cacciarlo  di  casa." 
[Had  not  Geneva  afforded  an  asylum  to  Cal- 
vin, his  majesty  would  not  now  be  forced  to 
have  recourse  to  arms  against  his  obstinate 
and  perverse  Huguenot  subjects ;  republics 
would  not  be  seen  springing  up  against  mon- 
archy .  .  .  They  are  popular  republics  (those 
of  the  Huguenots,)  that  have  their  citizens 
and  adherents  on  every  loot  of  ground, 
and  in  the  very  court,  and  perhaps  closet  of 
the  king.  .  .  .  The  republic  of  the  Huguenots 
is  already  founded,  already  its  laws  are  pub- 
lished, already  in  every  province  they  have 
appointed  magistrates,  councils,  and  military 
commanders;  there  remains  nothing  for  them 
to  do  but  to  take  up  arms  of  their  own  accord 
against  the  king,  and  to  turn  him  out  of  doors.]  I 


We  see  how  prominently  the  monarchical 
principle  showed  itself  in  the  efforts  of  Catho- 
licism. Geneva  was  to  be  destroyed,  as  the 
mistress  and  adviser  of  the  Huguenot  repub- 
lics. She  could  now  receive  no  succour,  as 
all  the  other  protestants  had  their  hands  full, 
and  the  English  were  bound  by  treaties. 

And  what  would  this  augmentation  of  Sa- 
voy signify,  in  comparison  with  the  power  of 
France  ]  The  pass  could  not  be  defended 
against  the  Swiss  since  the  king  possessed 
Bresse.  "  I  cantoni  cattolici,  con  quali  la 
corona  e  piu  congiunta,  ne  riceveranno  e  ser- 
vitio  e  piacere :  certo  che  il  cantone  di  Fri- 
burgo  circondato  da  Bernesi  heretici,  benche 
sia  valoroso  e  di  loro  non  tema,  havera  non- 
dimeno  piu  caro  di  confinare  per  via  del  lago 
con  quella  citta  divenuta  cattolica  e  posta 
sotto  il  dominio  di  un  principe  amico  e  cat- 
tolico,  che  libera  et  heretica  remanente." 
[The  catholic  cantons,  with  which  the  crown 
IS  most  connected,  will  derive  advantage  and 
gratification  from  the  measure.  It  is  certain 
that  the  canton  of  Friburg,  surrounded  by  the 
heretic  Bernese,  though  it  be  valorous  and 
fear  them  not,  will  nevertheless  prefer  to 
touch,  through  the  medium  of  the  lake,  upon 
their  city,  become  catholic,  and  placed  under 
the  government  of  a  friendly  and  catholic 
prince,  than  remaining  free  and  heretical.] 

Cardinal  Retz,  the  constable  (Luines,)  and 
Pere  Arnoux,  are  named  as  those  from  whom 
father  Tobia  might  particularly  look  to  re- 
ceive support. 

We  shall  presently  speak  of  the  result  of 
this  mission. 

103.  Relatione  di  Roma  fatta  net  senato 
Veneto  dalV  amhasciador  Rainiero  Zeno 
alii  "22  di  Nov.  Informal.  PoUtt.  tom.  xvi. 
101  leaves.  [Report  on  Rome  made  to 
the  Venetian  senate  by  the  ambassador 
Rainiero  Zeno.] 

The  returned  ambassadors  usually  express 
themselves  with  modesty  and  deference,  both 
with  regard  to  the  sovereigns  whose  courts 
they  have  left  and  to  their  hearers.  Rainiero 
Zeno  is  the  first  who  displays  a  great  deal  of 
self-sufiiciency.  Not  only  he  declares  that 
belays  before  the  senate  a  schedule  of  the 
papal  revenue  and  expenditure,  which  he  had 
drawn  up  with  scrupulous  industry  (f  80,)  but 
he  also  reminds  his  hearers  in  what  lively 
colours  he  had  depicted  this  cardinal  or  that 
in  his  dispatches  (,f  111 :)  he  says  outright  of 
pope  Urban,  "  In  two  words  I  demolished  his 
arguments :"  he  broadly  asserts  that  the  Di- 
vine Majesty  had  given  him  the  talent  to 
penetrate  into  the  innermost  thoughts  of  the 
closest  men  ;  and  he  puts  into  the  mouth  of 
cardinal  Ludovisio  an  encomium  on  the  re- 
public, because  she  always  chose  as  her  am- 
bassadors to  Rome  men  of  the  most  tried 
ability. 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


531 


Rainier  Zeno  re-appears  a  few  j'ears  after- 
wards, in  the  Venetian  troubles  of  the  year 
1628 ;  everythinnf  that  issues  from  him  on  that 
occasion  bears,  like  the  report  before  us,  the 
stamp  of  self-sufficiency  that  characterizes  so 
many  Italians  and   Spaniards  of  that  century. 

Now  between  men  of  this  character  bicker- 
ings could  not  fail  to  arise  :  Rainier  Zeno  ac- 
cordingly met  with  the  most  unpleasant  inci- 
dents in  tlie  course  of  his  embassy. 

The  greater  part  of  it  fell  upon  the  times 
of  Gregory  XV.  Ludovisio  exacted  a  rever- 
ence and  obsequiousness  that  Zeno  would  not 
accord  him  :  they  very  soon  came  into  violent 
collision  with  each  other. 

Zeno  describes  these  disputes  in  the  last 
part  of  his  report.  He  boasts  that  he  often 
made  the  nephew  keen  answers  and  put  him 
to  silence.  He  is  particularly  delighted  with 
the  recollection  that  he  otlten  got  news  by 
private  means  of  things  the  nephew  thought 
enveloped  in  deep  secresy,  and  then  let  the 
latter  perceive  that  he  was  aware  of  them  : 
he  rejoices  at  the  annoyance  this  occasioned 
Ludovisio  "  Vedeva,"  he  says,  "  die  appres- 
so  di  me  non  poteva  restare  in  quel  gran  con- 
cetto di  sapere  ch'egli  con  tutti  ascosamente 
ambiva."  [He  saw  that  with  me  he  must  give 
up  his  mighty  conceit  of  dealing  impenetra- 
bly with  every  one.]  But  he  would  not  have 
any  one  suppose  that  this  had  done  mischief; 
on  the  contrary,  it  had  rather  tended  to  aug- 
ment the  reputation  of  the  republic.  When 
it  was  thought  of  leaving  the  Vallelline  in  the 
hands  of  the  Spaniards  as  a  deposit,  there  was 
nothing  Ludoviso  dreaded  so  much  as  the  up- 
roar of  the  Venetian  protests  "  (il  fracasso 
che  era  per  far  io,  il  rimbombo  delle  raie  pro- 
teste.") 

These  times  were  now  passed.  Urban  VIII. 
had  ascended  the  papal  throne,  and  Rainier 
Zeno  makes  it  his  chief  business  to  describe 
his  personal  character,  his  court  and  adminis- 
tration, so  far  as  they  were  then  known. 

He  repeatedly  says,  that  the  cardinals  had 
no  other  thought  than  to  say  what  might 
please  the  pope:  he  thinks  it  a  very  good 
thing  that  no  one  thought  of  setting  the  papal 
finances  in  order.  There  is  no  instrument, 
he  says,  more  specially  adapted  for  bewilder- 
ing all  Christendom  than  the  head  of  a 
pope. 

Upon  this  he  gives  a  sketch  of  Urban  VIII. : 
"  E'  prencipe  d'aspetto  grave  e  venerabile,  di 
statura  grande,  di  colore  olivastro,  di  linea- 
menti  nobili,  di  pel  nero  che  comincia  a  tirar 
al  canuto,  d'attillatura  piu  che  ordinaria,  e  di 
gratia  singolare  ne'  gesti  e  ne'  moti  del  corpo. 
Parla  per  eccellenza  bene,  et  in  qualsivoglia 
discorso  che  s'entra  seco,  ha  da  difendersi 
quanto  vuole,  d'ogni  materia  mostra  d'haver 
peritia  straordinaria.  Ha  mostrato  sin  hora 
diletto  grande  della  poesia,  I'uso  della  quale 
non  ha  mai  intermesso,  ne  pure  nelle  occupa. 


tioni  e  nelli  studii  piu  serii :  pericio  gl'inten- 
denti  di  questa  arte  e  delle  lettere  che  chia- 
mano  di  humanitasonp  stati  sempre  benveduti 
da  lui,  et  gli  ha  favoriti  cortesemente  in  quello 
che  ha  potuto  :  non  I'a  pero  questo  dilelto  as- 
tratto  da  quello  che  importava  piii  e  che  era 
piu  necessario  per  li  carichi  che  euccessiva- 
mente  li  sono  passati  per  le  mani,  dico  dallo 
studio  delle  leggi,  nel  quale  ha  faticato  inces- 
santemente  dalla  prima  gioventii  sino  a  qiicsti 
ultimi  anni  con  tanta  maggiore  applicatione, 
perche  cosi  richiedeva  la  carica  del  perfetto 
della  signatura  di  giustitia,  magistrate  che 
richiede  studio  et  acutezza  grandissima  et 
esattissima  per  la  varieta  delle  materie  che 
vi  concorrono.  Delli  affari  del  mondo  e  degl' 
interesside'  prencipi  e  intendentissimo,  quan- 
to che  se  nelle  scuole  politiche  havesse  fatto 
continua  dimora."  [He  is  a  prince  of  grave 
and  venerable  aspect,  tall,  of  an  olive  com- 
plexion, noble  featutes,  black  hair  which  be- 
gins to  turn  grey,  of  more  than  ordinary  neat- 
ness in  his  attire,  and  of  singular  grace  in  the 
gestures  and  movements  of  his  body.  He 
speaks  exceedingly  well,  and  whatever  be  the 
subject  of  discourse,  he  has  arguments  at  will, 
and  displays  extraordinary  proficiency  in 
every  matter.  He  has  hitherto  manifested 
great  delight  in  poetry,  which  he  has  never 
ceased  to  cultivate  even  in  the  midst  of  busi- 
ness and  of  the  most  serious  studies.  Accord- 
ingly the  proficients  in  this  art  and  in  what 
is  called  humane  literature  have  always  been 
well  received  by  him,  and  he  has  courteously 
favoured  them  as  far  as  he  could.  This  taste, 
however,  has  not  withdrawn  him  from  mat- 
ters of  more  importance,  and  from  such  as 
were  more  necessary  to  the  various  offices 
which  have  successively  fallen  into  his  hands. 
I  allude  to  the  study  of  the  laws,  in  which  he 
has  laboured  incessantly  from  his  earliest 
youth  up  to  these  late  years,  with  all  that  ex- 
traordinary application  required  by  the  office 
of  prefet  of  the  segnatura  of  justice,  an  office 
which  requires  study  and  extreme  and  most 
exact  acuteness,  seeing  the  variety  of  matters 
with  which  it  has  to  deal.  He  is  exceedingly 
well  acquainted  with  the  affairs  of  the  world, 
and  with  the  interests  of  sovereigns,  as  though 
he  had  passed  all  his  life  in  the  school  of  poli- 
tics.] 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  extract  further ; 
the  resemblance  is  only  general.  We  do  not 
perceive  the  more  delicate  lines  of  that  intel- 
lectual physiognomy,  whether  it  was  that  they 
did  not  show  themselves  till  a  later  period,  or 
that  Zeno  had  not  the  art  to  catch  them. 

It  is  the  same  with  his  descriptions  of  the 
pope's  kinsmen,  and  of  the  cardinals,  whom 
the  author  goes  through  in  detail. 

This  only  is  to  be  noticed,  tliat  he  advises 
his  countrymen  not  to  expect  any  kind  of  ser- 
vice from  the  Venetian  cardinals.  »  Priuli," 
he  says,  "  languido  di  spirito  come  di  corpo." 


532 


APPENDIX. 


[Priuli  is  feeble  in  spirit  as  in  body.]  So  con- 
temptuously does  he  treat  them.  Of  Venier 
he  will  say  nothing,  to  avoid  quarrelling  with 
his  relations. 

He  then  proceeds  to  politics.  He  is  glad 
that  this  time  a  pope  has  been  elected  who  is 
not  in  love  with  the  Spaniards.  Albuquerque 
had  found  the  ground  uncommonly  hard,  and 
his  demands  had  not  been  complied  with.  The 
relations  of  Urban  VIII.  to  France  are  thus 
represented  by  Zeno. 

"  Non  e  da  dubitarsi  che  il  pontefice  verso 
11  regno  di  Francia  habbi  molta  propensione 
d'affetto,  additandocelo  molte  congetture  pro- 
babilissime :  hebbero  a  quella  corte  principio 
le  sue  grandezze,  alle  quali,  se  bene  ascese 
per  meriti  proprii,  non  nega  pero  egli  medesi- 
mo  che  di  grande  ajuto  li  fossero  le  attesta- 
tion! d'Henrico  quarto  della  sodisfattione  che 
haveva  del  suo  modo  di  negotiare  et  del  gusto 
che  sentirebbe  di  vederli  partecipato  I'honor 
solito  a  conferirsi  alli  altri  residenti  in  quella 
carica ;  quadra  benissimo  a  Sua  S'^  il  tratare 
de'  Francesi  ingenuo  et  libero,  lontano  dalli 
artificii,  lontano  dalle  duplicita  proprie  delle 
altre  nationi ;  ha  una  carta  conformita  di 
genio  alle  qualita  de'  studii  alli  quali  s'appli- 
cano  et  de'  quali  si  dilettano  piu  li  Francesi, 
ch'e  la  pulitezza  delle  lettere,  I'eruditione  piii 
acconcia,  la  poesia,  lacognitione  delle  lingue, 
in  che  per  quanto  le  permettono  le  sueattioni, 
s'e  pigliato  niolto  piacere.  Stima  quel  regno, 
quanto  si  possa  dire,  per  reputarlo  equilibrio 
dell'  ambitione  d'altri,  licui  fini  miranosenza 
dubbio  alia  monarchia  universale." 

[It  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  the  pope  is 
warmly  inclined  towards  the  kingdom  of 
France,  many  very  probable  motives  strength- 
ening this  conjecture.  His  greatness  took  its 
first  rise  at  that  court ;  and  though  uplifted 
by  his  own  merits,  he  does  not  himself  deny 
that  he  was  greatly  assisted  by  the  attesta- 
tions of  Henry  IV.  to  the  satisfaction  his  mode 
of  transacting  business  gave  that  king,  and  to 
the  pleasure  with  which  his  majesty  saw  him 
made  partaker  of  the  honours  usually  confer- 
red on  those  who  filled  the  office  he  held.  The 
ingenuous  and  open  dealings  of  the  French, 
remote  from  the  artifices,  remote  from  the  du- 
plicity, peculiar  to  other  nations,  square  ex- 
ceedingly well  with  the  disposition  of  his  ho- 
liness. The  kind  of  studies  to  which  the 
French  apply  themselves,  and  in  which  they 
most  delight,  are  in  a  manner  congenial  to 
his  nature,  namely  polite  literature,  a  more 
graceful  erudition,  poetry,  and  the  knowledge 
of  languages,  in  which,  as  far  as  his  active 
pursuits  allowed  him,  he  has  taken  great  plea- 
sure. He  esteems  tijis  kingdom  in  the  high- 
est possible  degree,  as  thinking  it  the  counter- 
poise to  the  ambition  of  the  others,  which  no 
doubt  aim  at  universal  monarchy.] 

The  pope  was  displeased  with  the  Venetians 
for  their  connexion  with  heretics  and  unbeliev- 


ers ;  he  thought  they  might  surely  find  other 

assistance. 

Zeno  concludes  with  once  more  recalling 
to  mind  the  sweat  and  labour  his  office  had 
cost  him,  his  repeated  vigils,  and  the  bitter 
vexations  that  had  impaired  his  health, 
"  Nevertheless,"  he  says,  "  I  am  better  pleased 
to  have  worn  out  my  life  in  the  service  of  my 
country,  than  if  I  had  lived  a  whole  century 
in  prosperity,  but  unemployed. 

104.  Relatione  degli  ecC^i  signori  amb^  stra- 
ordinarii  Corner,  Erizzo,  Soranzo  e 
Zeno  ritornati  ultimamente  da  Roma, 
letta  air  ecc^o  senato  25  Febr.  1624. 
(i.  e.  M.  V.  1625.)  [Report  of  the  ex- 
traordinary embassy  of  Corner,  Erizzo, 
Soranzo,  and  Zeno,  &c.] 

When  pope  Gregory  XV.  declared  he  would 
have  no  more  dealings  with  Rainer  Zeno,  the 
Venetians  sent  Geronimo  Soranza  to  take  his 
place.  Nevertheless,  as  we  have  seen,  Zeno 
was  still  in  Rome  when  Urban  VIII.  was 
elected.  Both  of  them  were  appointed  to  con- 
gratulate the  new  pope ;  Corner  and  Erezzo 
were  added  to  complete  the  embassy. 

The  report  they  drew  up  in  common  is  free 
from  those  effusions  of  personal  vanity,  to 
which  Zeno  alone  gave  way  :  it  derives  a  cer- 
tain importance  from  the  fact,  that  the  affairs 
of  the  republic  had  again  become  complicated 
through  the  Valtelline  question. 

Pope  Urban  appeared  very  much  displeased 
that  the  Venetians  had  taken  part  with  the 
French  in  tiie  attack  on  the  papal  garrisons : 
"  che  i  cannoni  della  republica  si  fossero  vol- 
tati  contra  i  luoghi  tenuti  in  deposito  della  S. 
St^,  che  chiamo  luoghi  dell'  istessa  chiesa." 

"  Ne  mancano,"  continue  the  ambassadors, 
"  in  Roma  soggetti  d'ogni  grade  et  d'ogni 
qualita  che  proponevano  a  S.  S^^,  come  ella 
medesima  ci  disse,  ad  usare  contra  quell 
ecc'""  senato  le  censure  ecclesiastiche." 
[There  are  not  wanting  in  Rome  persons  of 
every  kind  and  degree,  who  proposed  to  his 
holiness,  as  he  himself  told  us,  that  he  should 
inflict  the  censures  of  the  church  on  this  most 
excellent  senate.] 

They  did  their  best  to  excuse  themselves: 
they  stated  that  it  was  the  design  of  the  Span- 
iards to  make  themselves  all  powerful :  "  ren- 
ders! patroni  di  quelli  passi,  per  facilitarsi  la 
monarchia  di  questa  provincia ;"  [to  make 
themselves  masters  of  these  passes,  and  there- 
by help  themselves  towards  the  sovereignty 
of  this  province;]  that  religion  need  run  no 
hazard ;  their  having  entered  into  alliance 
with  the  ultramontanes  could  the  less  be  ob- 
jected to  them,  inasmuch  as  the  pope  himself 
had  prohibited  them  from  raising  troops  in  the 
territories  of  the  church. 

Urban  VIII.  had  thought  that  they  would 
make  him  some  conciliatory  offers  in  relation 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


533 


to  that  matter ;  but  they  had  no  orders  to  that 
effect.  On  his  side,  therefore,  he  was  inac- 
cessible to  their  requests  ;  they  had  to  be  sat- 
isfied with  merely  assuaging  his  animosity — 
"  non  si  impetrava  altro  che  mitioamento  dell' 
acerbita  mostrata  del  suo  animo." 

This  could  not  have  proved  a  very  difficult 
matter.  Urban's  antipathy  to  the  Spaniards 
already  showed  itself.  He  declared,  "  che 
non  poieva  parlar  alto,  perche  troppo  era  cir- 
condato  da'  Spagnoli  e  che  a  Madrid  lo  chia- 
mavano  heretico,  ma  che  armato  si  havrebbe 
fatto  rispettare"  [that  he  could  not  speak 
aloud  because  he  was  too  much  surrounded  by 
Spaniards,  and  that  at  Madrid  they  called 
him  a  heretic ;  but  were  he  armed  he  would 
make  them  respect  him.] 

These  words  contain  the  germs  of  hie  sub- 
sequent opinions  and  conduct. 

Our  report  is  chiefly  occupied  with  inte- 
rests of  this  kind  ;  but  besides  this  it  also  at- 
tempts to  depict  the  state  of  things  generally. 
Let  us  see  how  it  describes  the  heads  of  the 
administration  in  the  commencement  of  Ur- 
ban's pontificate. 

"  Quelli  che  di  presente  sono  in  maggior 
autorita  presso  il  pontefice  nella  essentia  de- 
gli  afiari,  si  ristringono  nel  sig""  cardinale  Ma- 
galotti  e  nell  sigr  Don  Carlo  Barberino,  fra- 
tello  della  Beatne  Sua.  Mostrano  pero  am- 
bidue  di  non  conoscere  e  non  havere  questa 
autorita :  schifano  i  congress!,  parono  non 
esser  informati  dei  negotii,  non  gustano  di 
esser  frequentemente  visitati,  e  con  questa 
maniera  di  procedere,  ditferente  assai  dal  cos- 
tume dei  parenti  dei  pontefici  passati,  conser- 
vano  in  maggior  riputatione  la  Santitii  Sua, 
volendo  dar  ad  intendere  che  tutto  dipende 
dai  soli  cenni  di  lei. 

"  Era  eolita  la  Beatne  Sua  alle  volte  nelle 
occorrenze  piii  gravi  chiamare  anche  a  se  li 
cardinali  Bandino,  Melini,  Scaglia,  Santa  Su- 
sanna et  qualche  altro,  perche  conoscendoli  di 
natura  molto  severa,  procurava  con  tale  appa- 
renza  dar  segno  di  stima  verso  il  sacro  colle- 
gio  e  verso  le  persone  loro,  non  giii  perche 
volentieri  inclini  o  molto  si  fidi  delle  loro 
opinioni :  e  di  q^iesto  concetto  della  S"-^  Sua, 
ben  noto  a  detti  cardinali  et  ad  altri,  tutti  se 
ne  dogliono,  dicendo  che  dopo  fatte  le  delibe- 
ration! delle  cose  ella  le  communica  per  non 
admettere  il  loro  consiglio.  Et  si  sente  anco 
che  va  ogni  giorno  piii  tralasciando  queste 
comunicationi,  anz!  omettendo  in  tutto  e  per 
tutto  le  consultation!  con  cardinali,  cos!  per 
conservare  in  se  medesimo  il  solo  despotico 
dominio  et  autorita,  come  anco  perche  conos- 
cendoli dipendenti  et  interessati  ch!  per  I'uno 
chi  per  I'altro  principe,  giudica  cosi  convenire 
al  suo  servitio  maggiormente. 

"  Nelle  occorrentie  della  Repi^a  sono  inter- 
venuti  nelle  consulte  m^  Gessi  e  mr  di  Monte- 
fiascone,  come  stati  nontii  in  questa  citta  e 
bene  informati  delle  cose.     E  talvolta  si  e  in- 


trodotto  anche  Anzolo  Badoer,  che  sotto  altro 
nome  e  cognome  pur  si  trattiene  in  Roma  po- 
sitivamente :  e  fatto  sacerdote,  et  habita  per 
sua  maggior  sicurezza  una  casa  congiunta 
con  il  monasterio  de'  frati  della  scalla,  nella 
cui  chi'esa  e  solito  celebrare  la  messa.  Ma 
come  habbiamo  detto,  il  card'  Magalotti  et  il 
sigf  Carlo  Barberino  sono  le  stelle  fisse  di  quel 
firmamento :  et  i  negotii  ridotti  in  queste  due 
sole  teste  passano  con  molta  secretezza,  sicche 
quelle  che  non  si  puo  penetrare  con  la  con- 
gettura  ovvero  che  non  viene  riferito  dal  me- 
desimo pontefice,  difficilmente  si  puo  sapere 
per  altra  via. 

"  II  sigf  Don  Carlo  mostra  la  islessa  indi- 
pendenza  da  principi  nella  quale  professa  con- 
servarsi  Sua  S^^.  E  in  eta  di  58  anni,  ben 
complessionato  e  forte.  E  inclinato  alia  sod- 
disfatione  de'  popoli  per  conservare  la  citta 
abbondante  di  tutte  le  cose.  Nella  sua  casa 
e  buon  economo,  et  ha  mira  di  far  dcnari  assai, 
sapendo  egli  molto  bene  che  I'oro  accresce  la 
riputatione  agli  huomini,  anzi  I'oro  gli  inalza 
e  li  distingue  vantaggiosamente  nel  conspetto 
del  mondo:  oltre  che  si  tiene  per  massima 
comune  non  esser  conveniente  ne  ragionevole 
che  chi  una  volta  e  stato  parente  del  papa, 
rest!  dopo  la  sua  morte  in  angusta  fortuna. 
E  huomo  di  poche  parole,  ma  sensitive.  Ha 
mostrato  somma  riverenza  verso  la  sorenis- 
sima  Republica,  et  havendo  no!  nel  complir 
seco  detto  che  auguravamo  lunghi  anni  a  Sua 
Beatne,  ci  rispose  egli  con  qualche  acerbita 
che  quando  il  papa  havesse  ad  essere  rispet- 
tato  et  honorato  come  papa,  alludendo  alle 
cose  correnti  della  Valtellina,  li  desiderava 
vita  lunga,  ma  che  quando  havesse  dovuto 
seguir  altrimenti,  pregava  il  sig^  dio  a  chia- 
marlo  a  se  quanto  prima. 

"II  cardi  Magalotti  professa  egli  ancora 
vivere  indipendeiite.  E  huomo  sagace  et  ac- 
corto:  mostra  grande  vivacita  di  spirito  e 
d'inquietezza,  et  e  in  concetto  di  poter  esser 
guadagnato.  Crescendo  in  eta  et  esperienza 
il  cardi  nepote  si  crede  che  non  passeranno 
d'accordo  insieme  e  che  il  papa  pensera  pero 
di  valersene  in  qualche  legatione  opportuna- 
mente." 

[As  for  those  who  at  present  have  most 
weight  with  the  pope  in  essential  matters, 
their  numbers  are  confined  to  cardinal  Maga- 
lotti and  Don  Carlo  Barberino,  the  brother  of 
his  holiness.  They  both  of  them  however  af- 
fect not  to  know  of,  or  to  possess  this  influ- 
ence ;  they  avoid  official  meetings,  appear  not 
to  be  informed  of  business,  and  are  not  fond  of 
being  frequently  visited  :  and  by  this  way  of 
proceeding,  so  unlike  that  oLthe  relations  of 
past  popes,  they  better  sustam  the  reputation 
of  his  holiness,  wishing  it  to  be  understood 
that  every  thing  depends  solely  on  his  com- 
mands. 

[His  holiness  was  used  at  times,  in  matters 
of  greater  moment,  to  summon  to  him  also  the 


534 


APPENDIX. 


cardinals  Bandino,  Melini,  Scaglia,  Santa  Su- 
sanna, and  some  others ;  because  knowing 
them  to  be  of  very  rigid  character,  he  tried  in 
that  way  to  make  show  of  esteem  for  the  sa- 
cred college  and  for  their  persons :  not  that 
he  acted  from  any  natural  inclination,' or  that 
he  put  much  trust  in  their  opinions.  This 
device  of  his  holiness  is  well  known  to  the 
said  cardinals  and  to  others,  and  they  all  com- 
plain of  it,  saying,  tliat  after  matters  are 
weighed  and  determined,  he  communicates 
them  without  intending  to  adopt  their  advice. 
And  it  is  perceived  that  he  grows  daily  more 
remiss  in  making  these  communications,  ne- 
glecting too  altogether  to  hold  consultations 
with  the  cardinals,  as  well  to  retain  to  him- 
self sole  despotic  rule  and  authority,  as  also 
because,  knowing  them  to  be  dependent  upon 
this  prince  or  that,  and  engaged  in  their  inte- 
rests, he  thinks  that  such  a  course  will  best 
serve  his  own  advantage.] 

[Monsignor  Gessi  and  monsignor  de  Mon- 
teiiascone  have  been  admitted  to  the  consulta- 
tions on  the  affairs  of  the  republic,  as  having 
been  formerly  nuncios  in  this  city,  and  well 
acquainted  with  matters  pertaining  to  it. 
Sometimes  too  admission  has  also  been  given 
to  Anzolo  Badoer,  who  lives  modestly  in  Rome, 
but  under  another  name  and  surname :  he  is 
become  a  priest,  and  resides,  for  his  greater 
security,  in  a  house  adjoining  the  monastery 
of  the  frati  della  scalla,  in  whose  church  he  is 
accustomed  to  celebrate  mass.  But,  as  we 
have  said,  cardinal  iMagalotti  and  signer  Carlo 
Barberino  are  the  fixed  stars  of  the  firmament ; 
and  all  business  being  confined  to  their  two 
heads  proceeds  with  great  secrecy;  so  that 
where  conjecture  fails,  or  where  the  pope  him- 
self does  not  speak  out,  it  is  difficult  to  come 
at  a  knowledge  of  it  in  any  other  way. 

[Don  Carlo  displays  the  same  independence 
as  his  holiness  prol'esses.  He  is  fifty-eight 
years  of  age,  strong  and  of  good  constitution. 
He  is  disposed  to  give  the  people  satisfaction, 
by  keeping  the  city  abundantly  supplied  with 
all  things.  He  is  a  good  economist  in  his 
household,  and  aims  at  making  money,  know- 
ing very  well  that  gold  increases  men's  repu- 
tations, exalting  and  advantageously  distin- 
guishing them  in  the  eyes  of  men  :  besides,  it 
is  a  commonly  admitted  maxim,  that  it  is  not 
seemly  or  reasonable  that  a  man,  who  has 
once  been  on  the  footing  of  a  pope's  relation, 
should  after  the  death  of  the  latter  be  reduced 
to  straitened  circumstances.  He  is  a  man  of 
few  words,  but  sensitive:  he  has  shown  the 
highest  respect  for  the  most  serene  republic. 
Upon  our  saying  to  him  that  we  augured  his 
holiness  a  long  reign,  he  replied,  with  some 
tartness,  that  should  the  pope  be  respected 
and  honoured  as  a  pope  (alluding  to  the  current 
affairs  of  the  Valtelline,)  he  wished  him  a  long 
life  ;  but  if  it  were  to  be  otherwise,  he  prayed 
God  to  take  him  to  himself  as  soon  as  possible. 


[Cardinal  Magalotti  likewise  professes  to 
maintain  his  independence.  He  is  a  saga- 
cious and  prudent  man  ;  he  shows  a  very  rest- 
less vivacity  of  spirit,  and  it  is  thought  he 
might  be  gained  over.  As  the  cardinal  ne- 
phew increases  in  age  and  experience,  it  is 
thought  that  they  two  will  not  agree  together, 
and  that  the  pope  will  take  the  opportunity 
of  some  legation  to  relieve  himself  from  in- 
convenience.] 

105.  Inslrultione  a  M'^  Sacchetti  vescovo  di 
Gravina,  nunzio  di  N.  S''^  per  la  M'<» 
catf^".  162^.  jBarft. /oZ.  "26  leaves.)  [In- 
struction to  monsignor  Sacchetti,  bishop 
of  Gravina,  nuncio  elect  to  his  catholic 
majesty.] 

Sacchetti's  orders  related,  T.  to  the  internal 
affairs  of  Spain,  II.  to  those  of  Europe  at  large. 
1.  There  were  always  manifold  subjects  of 
strife  between  Rome  and  Spain.  At  this  par- 
ticular juncture  the  court  of  Rome  had  taken 
it  amiss,  that  a  cardinal  such  as  Lerma  had 
been  despoiled  of  his  revenues,  and  summoned 
before  a  temporal  tribunal.  While  the  pope 
endeavours  to  put  a  stop  to  that  proceeding, 
he  warns  Lerma  at  the  same  time  to  give  up 
all  hopes  of  temporal  greatness ;  nothing  more 
was  to  be  done  since  (Jlivarez  was  so  high  in 
favour  ;  and  he  had  better  make  up  his  mind, 
after  having  lived  so  long  for  others,  to  live 
now  for  himself  and  for  God.  On  the  other 
liand  the  nuncio  is  referred  to  Olivarez,  with 
whom  the  court  of  Rome  was  at  this  time  on 
good  terms.  The  following  remarkable  pas- 
sage occurs  in  relation  to  this  matter.  "  E 
avvenuto  che  la  gelosia  della  regina  per 
qualche  sospetto  d'altri  amori  del  re  I'ha  pro- 
vocata  a  dolersene  col  re  di  Francia  suo  fra- 
tello,  a  segno  tale  che  venne  pensiero  a  questo 
di  far  doglianze  e  querele  pubbliche  contro  il 
cognato.  Di  cio  scrisse  I'antecessore  di  V. 
S"a.  e  che  vi  haveva  posto  rimedio  con  far  con- 
fidente  della  regina  il  conte  Olivares  di  diffi- 
dentissimo  che  era  prima."  [It  has  happened 
that  the  queen's  jealousy  at  some  suspected 
amours  of  the  king's  has  provoked  her  to  com- 
plain to  her  brother  the  king  of  France,  so 
that  the  latter  has  taken  it  into  his  head  to 
declare  himself  aggrieved,  and  publicly  to 
quarrel  with  his  brother-in-law.  Your  excel- 
lency's predecessor  wrote  on  this  subject  stat- 
ing that  he  had  remedied  it  by  establishing  a 
confidence  between  the  queen  and  count  Oli- 
varez, the  very  opposite  of  which  had  existed 
before.] 

The  nuncio  is  also  referred  to  the  inquisitor- 
general,  whom  he  is  to  incite  to  increased 
vigilance  against  the  introduction  of  heretical 
books  into  Spain  and  the  Indies. 

II.  The  idea  liad  been  conceived  in  Spain 
of  securing  the  German  line  in  more  quiet 
possession  of  their  recent  acquisitions  by  two 
new  matrimonial  alliances.     The  hereditary 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


535 


prince  palatine  and  Bethlem  Gabon  were  to 
marry  two  imperial  princesses  ;  by  this  means 
it  was  iioped  that  the  Hungarian,  and  still 
more  ihe  German,  troubles  would  be  allayed. 
At  first  they  would  not  believe  this  report  at 
Rome,  but  further  intelligence  confirmed  it 
beyond  all  doubt.  The  pope  hastened  to 
remonstrate  with  the  king  against  the  design. 
It  appeared,  he  said,  from  letters,  that  it  was 
by  no  means  the  intention  of  the  English, 
even  if  the  prince  palatine  were  sent  to  the 
imperial  court,  to  allow  him  to  become  catho- 
lic. And  who  could  think  of  trusting  a  man 
BO  unworthy  of  confidence  as  Gabor  ?  He, 
the  pope,  could  not  believe  it  or  sanction  it, 
He  enjoins  his  nuncio  to  oppose  the  scheme 
with  all  his  might.  "  V.  S'''^*,  ma  con  destrez- 
za  et  a  tempo,  facci  per  imped irli  (quesli  due 
matrimonj)  tutto  tjuello  che  umanamente  puo." 
We  know  that  pope  Urban  himself  had  a 
part  in  frustrating  these  well  meant,  however 
tiir-fetched,  plans.  Rota's  mission,  which  we 
have  mentioned,  is  accounted  for  by  these 
expressions. 

106.  Instruttione  e  V.  S""  arcivescovo  di  Da- 
?niala  e  chiarico  di  camera  per  la  nuntia- 
tura  ordinaria  al  re  crist'"".  23  Genn. 
1624 — [Instruction  to  the  archbishop  of 
Damiata,  ordinary  nuncio  to  his  most 
Christian  majesty.] 

The  counterpart  to  Sacchetti's  instructions. 

Here  too  the  pope  most  vehemently  con- 
demns the  plan  for  the  restitution  of  the  pala- 
tinate, and  invokes  the  king's  influence  with 
Saxony  to  prevent  the  latter  from  opposing 
the  progress  of  the  Bavarian  power.  More- 
over, he  wishes  for  nothing  more  than  for  the 
destruction  of  Oranges,  which  was  only  a 
rendezvous  for  the  heretics. 

The  most  important,  however,  are  the  in- 
ternal affairs.  King  Louis  XIII.  is  thus 
depicted.  "II  re  e  fuori  di  modo  virtuoso  et 
abborrisce  tutti  quel  vitii  che  sogliono  accom- 
pagnarsi  alia  dominatione  :  non  e  altiero,  ma 
hiimanissimo :  non  e  amatore  della  propria 
opinione,  ma  piii  volentieri  crede  a  buoni  con- 
eigli:  non  ama  il  riposo,  ma  e  dedito  alle 
fatiche  e  le  toUera  fortemente,  senza  conos- 
cere  altro  piacere  che  quello  della  caccia : 
non  nutrisce  pensieri  dimessi,  ma  e  avidissimo 
di  gloria,  senza  dilungarsi  punto  dalla  piela. 
Con  la  M''^  S.  possono  i  ministri  di  stato  et  i 
Berventi  nelle  caccie,  a  quali  volentieri  s'ac- 
costa  per  godere  la  liberta,  che  non  concede 
la  stretta  pratica  de'  grandi.  II  pivi  caro  di 
quelli  che  hanno  I'adito  a  S.  M'-''  con  occa- 
sione  delle  caccie  e  il  signore  di  Toiras,  huo- 
mo  cauio  e  prudente,  che  non  si  rimescola 
negli  affari  di  stato  per  ascondere  la  sua  auto- 
rita,  ma  ne  e  capace."  [The  king  is  surpass- 
ingly virtuous,  and  abhors  all  those  vices  that 
commonly  accompany  sovereignty ;  he  is  not 


haughty,  but  most  courteous ;  he  is  not  a  lover 
of  his  own  opinion,  but  more  readily  confides 
in  good  caunsels ;  he  docs  not  love  ease,  but 
is  devoted  to  labour  and  bears  it  bravely, 
knowing  no  other  pleasure  than  that  of  the 
chase;  he  cherishes  no  grovelling  tiioughts, 
but  is  most  covetous  of  glory,  without  in  the 
least  swerving  from  piety.  Ilis  ministers  of 
state,  and  his  attendants  in  the  chase,  whom 
he  readily  accosts,  may  enjoy  that  freedom 
with  his  majesty  which  is  not  allowed  by  the 
strict  usage  of  the  great.  Of  those  who  have 
access  to  his  majesty  on  occasions  of  sports- 
manship, the  greatest  favourite  is  monsieur 
de  Toiras,  a  cautious  and  prudent  man,  who 
does  not  meddle  in  state  afiairs,  in  order  to 
conceal  his  influence,  but  who  has  a  capacity 
for  them.] 

Catholicism  was  making  brilliant  progress 
under  that  monarch.  The  nuncio  is  directed 
to  aid,  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  all  the  mis- 
sions, particularly  those  in  the  south  of 
P'rance,  and  to  support  their  cause  at  the 
king's  court. 

But^t  the  same  time  an  insuperable  and 
ever  recurring  opposition  started  up  out  of  the 
Galilean  principles. 

A  portion  at  least  of  the  members  of  the 
Sorbonne  promulgated  the  doctrines  of  the 
independence  of  the  temporal  power,  and  of 
the  divine  right  of  the  bishops.  Some  even 
went  the  length  of  insisting  that  the  parish 
clergy  were  as  potential  in  their  parishes  as 
the  bishops  in  their  dioceses.  The  pope  con- 
siders these  opinions  abominable.  He  was 
sorely  vexed  that  Richer,  who  maintained 
them  with  peculiar  zeal,  though  excommuni- 
cated, cared  nothing  for  that,  but  continued 
to  read  mass  as  usual. 

Meanwhile  the  parliaments  were  actively 
endeavouring  to  limit  the  ecclesiastical  juris- 
diction. The  appeals  comrne  d'abus,  the 
inquiries  into  the  business  of  the  dataria,  and 
the  encroachments  on  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
bishops,  are  regarded  by  the  pope  as  so  many 
usurpations.  "Faveriscono  chiunque  ad  essi 
ricorre,  et  in  questa  maniera  procurano  di 
soggiogare  le  provincie  a  loro  non  sogette, 
come  la  Bretagna,  la  Provenza  e  la  Borgem- 
brescia."  [They  favour  whoever  has  recourse 
to  them,  and  in  this  way  they  contrive  to 
extend  their  authority  over  provinces  not 
subject  to  them,  as  Bretagne,  Provence,  and 
Bourg-en-BresseJ. 

The  parliament  also  interfered  with  the 
prohibition  of  books.  The  nuncios  would  faia 
have  prohibited  the  works  of  De  Thou  and 
Richer,  but  they  found  it  impossible.  The 
new  nuncio  is  directed  rather  to  anticipate 
than  to  wait  for  the  appearance  of  mischiev- 
ous books.  "  Le  stampe  de'  libri  sono  il 
foinite  delle  false  dottrine :  et  e  necessario 
che  ella  procuri  di  tenersi  amorevoli  i  librari, 
accioche  I'avisino  di  mano  in  mano  de'  libri 


536 


APPENDIX. 


che  si  stampano:  imperoche  stampati  che 
sono,  porta  seco  difficolta  di  ottenere  la  prohi- 
bitione."  [The  printing-presses  are  hot-beds 
of  false  doctrines:  it  will  be  necessary,  there- 
fore, to  keep  on  friendly  terms  with  the  book- 
sellers, so  that  they  may  give  you  notice  from 
time  to  time  of  what  books  are  in  press :  for 
when  they  are  once  printed  there  is  a  diffi- 
culty in  ejecting  a  prohibition.] 

VVe  see  that  the  war  between  the  curia 
and  Galiicanism  had  already  commenced,  that 
war,  which  under  a  variety  of  phases  kept  the 
periods  ot  the  old  Bourbon  dynasty  in  constant 
commotion. 

107.  Insfrutlione  a  V.  S^i^  mons^  Campeggi. 
vescovo  di  Cesena,  destinalo  da  N.  Sig''^ 
suo  nuatio  id  S"^"  Sig^  diica  di  Savoia. 
1624. — [Instruction  to  monsignor  Cam- 
peggi, bishop  of  Cesena,  nuncio  elect  to 
the  duke  of  Savoy.] 

Interesting,  as  further  acquainting  us  with 
the  result  of  the  mission  of  Don  Tobia  Corona. 
We  see  that  the  design  against  Geneva  was 
frustrated  by  the  resistance  of  Luines  and  of 
Rohan,  who  was  still  powerful,  and  by  the 
imposing  force  of  the  Huguenot  party  in  gene- 
ral ;  but  that  still  it  was  by  no  means  aban- 
doned. 

"Da  chi  venisse  il  motivo  di  tal  impresa, 
dal  papa  o  dal  duca,  non  si  sa  bene  :  perche  il 
pontefice  lascio  brevi  e  lettere  di  esortatione 
al  medesimo  sig""  duca  et  al  principe  del  Pie- 
monte,  donde  poteva  farsi  congettura  che  il 
papa  ne  fosse  autore:  ma  nel  ricevere  I'esor' 
tatione  si  mostro  tanto  pronta  I'A.  S.  che  non 
parve  lontano  dal  vero  il  credere  che  havesse 

iadotto  il  papa  a  scrivergli Le  difficulta 

che  incontro  il  padre  Corona,  non  furono  dalla 
parte  del  re  e  della  regina,  che  piegarono  su- 
bito  alle  persuasioni  ponteiicie,  ma  dalla  parte 
del  contestabile  Luines,  seguitato  da  princi- 
pali  ministri,  o  per  proprio  iuteresse  o  per 
adulatione,  e  da  alcuni  grandi  del  partito 
Ugonotto.  A  Luines  si  crede  che  instillasse 
questa  avversione  all'  impresa  il  duca  di 
Koano,  e  cercandosi  della  cagione  che  ha 
potuto  spigiiere  questo  ad  opporvisi,  altra  non 
se  ne  treva  fuori  della  propria  inclinatione  al 
mantenimento  degli  eretici,  essendo  egli  tale, 
ed  il  thuore  di  perdere  il  seguito  dentro  alia 
Francia,  inentro  che  i  seguaci  suoi  havessero 
havuto  a  soccorrere  i  Genevrini.  II  tratato 
del  padre  Tobbia  resto  a  segno  che  non  sola- 
mente  il  re  non  rimase  offeso  di  questa  mis- 
sione,  ma  niuno,  etiandio  di  quelli  che  I'inten- 
dessero  bene,  hebbe  ardire  di  biasimarla:  e 
solamente  dissero  alcuni  che  non  era  quello  il 
tempo  di  intrapendere  un  tanto  atfare,  altri, 
che  non  doveva  il  duca  mettcre  in  queste 
strette  il  re  se  non  dopo  il  fatto,  impercioc- 
che  allora  S.  iVl'^  non  havrebbe  potuto  non 
dar  lode  alia  pietii  e  generositu  del  duca,  ma 


che  antecedentemente  non  doveva  la  M'^  S. 
violare  quella  fede  sotto  la  quale  pensano  di 
riposare  sicuri  i  Genevrini,  Dall'  bora  in  qua 
si  e  creduto  che  il  sig""  duca  pensi  a  tentare 
la  via  d'una  sorpresa,  e  adesso  non  se  ne  ha 
piii  dubbj,  imperciocche  S.  A.  se  n'e  dichia- 
rata  con  la  S^^^  di  N.  Sig-''^',  supplicandola  a 
volerlo  assistere.  La  S'^  S.  ha  risposto  che 
volentieri  e  con  quel  medesimo  modo  che  fece 
papa  Gregorio :  ma  perche  il  necessario  se- 
greto  della  sorpresa  non  e  capace  di  questa 
via,  S.  A.  si  e  rivoltata  a  contentarsi  che  N. 
Sigre  gli  prometta  di  fare  tali  ufficii  col  re 
christianissimo  dopo  il  fatto  che  la  jM'^^  S.  non 
habbi  a  sdegnarsene."  [Who  was  the  first 
suggester  of  such  an  enterprise,  the  pope  or 
the  duke,  is  not  very  well  knov/n :  for  the 
pope  sent  briefs  and  letters  of  exhortation  to 
the  said  duke,  and  to  the  prince  of  Piedmont, 
whence  it  might  be  conjectured  that  his  holi- 
ness was  the  author  of  tiie  plan ;  but  his 
highness  displayed  such  prompt  alacrity  in 
receiving  the  exhortation,  that  it  does  not 
appear  very  wide  of  the  truth  to  suppose  he 

had  induced  the  pope  to  write  to  him 

The  difficulties  father  Corona  encountered, 
did  not  originate  on  the  part  of  the  king  or  j 
the  queen,  who  instantly  yielded  to  the  papal 
arguments,  but  on  that  of  the  constable  Luines, 
tbliowed  by  the  principal  ministers,  either 
from  private  interest  or  courtly  obsequious- 
ness, and  by  some  grandees  of  the  Huguenot 
party.  It  is  thought  that  Luines  had  this 
aversion  to  the  enterprise  instilled  into  him 
by  the  duke  de  Rohan ;  and  if  we  seek  to 
ascertain  the  motives  that  could  urge  the 
latter  on  to  this  opposition,  we  can  discover 
none  other  than  his  personal  disposition  to  up- 
hold the  heretics,  he  himself  being  one,  and 
his  fear  of  losing  his  train  of  adherents  in 
France,  since  they  would  have  to  succour  the 
Genevese.  The  upshot  of  father  Tobia's  ne- 
gociation  was  this,  that  not  only  the  king  was 
not  displeased  at  the  mission,  but  no  one,  even 
of  those  who  in  their  hearts  disliked  it,  ven- 
tured openly  to  find  fault  with  it:  only  some 
said  it  was  not  a  time  to  undertake  so  great 
an  affair;  others,  that  the  duke  ought  not  to 
implicate  the  king  in  these  straits  till  after 
the  thing  was  done,  because  in  that  case  his 
majesty  could  not  but  bestow  praise  on  the 
piety  and  magnanimity  of  the  duke :  whereas 
antecedently  his  majesty  ought  not  to  violate 
that  faith  under  which  the  Genevese  thought 
they  rested  secure.  From  that  time  till  now 
it  has  been  supposed  that  the  duke  meditates 
a  surprise;  and  at  present  this  is  beyond 
doubt,  because  his  highness  has  declared  as 
much  to  our  lord,  and  has  besought  his  aid. 
Ills  holiness  replied  tiiat  he  would  willingly 
grant  it,  and  in  the  same  way  as  pope  Gre- 
gory :  but  as  this  way  is  inconsistent  with  the 
necessary  secrecy,  his  highness  has  preferred 
that  our  lord  should  promise  him  his  good 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


537 


offices  with  the  most  Christian  king  after  the 
event,  so  that  his  majesty  may  not  be  indig- 
nant at  what  shall  have  been  done.] 

The  document  furthermore  makes  mention 
of  some  special  Piedmontese  matters.  The 
causes  were  in  preparation  for  the  disputes 
that  broke  out  at  a  later  period.  The  duke 
made  pretensions  to  the  right  of  nominating 
to  the  episcopal  sees;  the  pope  recognized 
only  his  right  to  recommend ;  he  also  ex- 
pressed his  displeasure  at  some  burthens  im- 
posed on  the  clergy. 

108.  Ragguaglio  dello  stato  di  religione  nel 
regno  di  Boemia  e  sue  provincie  incor- 
porate. 1624. — [Report  on  the  state  of 
religion  in  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia  and 
the  provinces  incorporated  with  it.] 

Carlo  Carafta  arrived  in  Prague  in  May, 
1621,  and  immediately  proceeded  to  the  chief 
task  imposed  on  him  by  pope  Gregory  XV., 
the  restoration  of  Catholicism  in  Bohemia. 

Eighteen  months  afterwards,  as  he  tells  us 
himself,  consequently  in  November,  1622,  he 
drew  up,  under  the  title  "  Relatio  Bohemica," 
a  report  of  his  proceedings,  which  he  sent  in 
to  the  newly  established  Propaganda.  I  saw 
the  original  copy  which  circulated  among  the 
members  of  the  congregation:  these  were 
cardinals  Sauli,  Bandini,  Barberini,  (after- 
wards Urban  VIII.)  Borgia  (afterwards  Ur- 
ban's  vehement  opponent),  Ubaldini,  Santa 
Susanna,  Valerio  iSagrato,  Zollern,  and  the 
prelates  Vivos,  Agucchi,  and  Scala.  Zollern 
was  to  take  a  copy  and  make  a  report  on  it. 

Fourteen  months  afterwards,  that  is  to  say, 
in  January,  1624,  Caraffa  enlarged  his  hrst 
report,  and  sent  it  under  the  above  title  to 
Urban  VIII.,  "  in  order,"  as  he  said,  "  to  kin 
die  his  fatherly  zeal  to  still  greater  love 
towards  the  Bohemians." 

We  have  an  elaborate  printed  work  by 
CarafFa,  "  Commentaria  de  Germania"  sacra 
restaurata,  one  of  the  most  important  autho- 
rities for  the  history  of  the  first  third  of  the 
thirty  years'  war.  It  was  not  possible  for 
him,  however,  to  enter  so  fully  in  this  work 
as  in  a  more  special  treatise  into  the  details 
of  his  labours  in  Bohemia,  of  which  he  always 
thought  with  decided  preference ;  moreover, 
a  printed  work  demanded  a  peculiar  degree 
of  circumspection  in  its  composition.  The 
report,  on  the  other  hand,  speaks  out  at  full 
length  and  without  reserve. 

It  is  true  it  embraces  only  the  beginning  of 
the  changes  effected  in  Bohemia,  but  it  is  real- 
ly very  important  with  respect  to  these. 

I  have  already  made  use  of  it  in  the  text, 
but  necessarily  with  great  limitation.  I  will 
here  add  only  a  few-particulars,  from  which 
it  will  appear  under  what  difficulties,  created 
chiefly  by  the  provincial  administration,  the 
nuncio  set  about  carrying  his  views  into  effect. 
68 


1. — Introduction  of  the  Latin  ritual. 

"  Ilavendo  io  tenuto  sopra  cio  proposito  col 
Plateis  e  considerando,  sicome  quel  pochi  Bo- 
emi  che  erano  cattolici  frequentavano  in  ogni 
modo  le  chiese  di  nostro  rito,  dove  pure  ascol- 
tavano  i  divini  ufficj  in  lingua  latina,  giudicai 
non  essere  disperabile  che  I'istesso  potessero 
tare  anche  quelli  che  di  nuovo  si  convertisse- 
ro,  insinuandosi  massime  loro  da  predicatori 
che  questa  lingua  sia  quasi  in  un  certo  modo 
d'essenza  ne'  divini  ufRcj  in  tutti  li  paesi  cat- 
tolici e  particolarmente  in  quelle  chiese  che 
si  comprendono  sotto  I'imperio  occidentale, 
per  segno  delta  superiorita  e  maggioranza 
della  chiesa  Romana  sopra  tutte  le  altre : 
pero  diedi  ordine  ad  esso  Plateis,  che  quanto 
prima  havesse  potuto,  usasse  ogni  suo  studio 
per  restituire  I'uso  del  predetto  idioma  in 
quelle  chiese  che  gia  si  erano  levate  di  mano 
agli  eretici.  Onde  il  giorno  de'  santi  apostoli 
Simone  e  Giuda  dell'  anno  1621,  con  I'occa- 
sione  di  essere  stata  provista  dall'  arcivescovo 
di  parroco  cattolico  la  chiesa  di  Santo  Stefa- 
no,  principale  parrocchia  di  terra  nuova, 
habitata  dal  piii  minuto  volgo,  tra  il  quale 
sono  pochissimi  cattolici,  fu  celebrata  alia 
presenza  di  numero  grandissimo  di  heretic! 
nella  predetta  chiesa  I'immaculatissimo  sacri- 
ficio  della  messa  in  lingua  latina  con  I'asper- 
sione  deir  acqua  benedetta,  con  I'invocatione 
de'  santi  e  con  tutti  i  riti  Romani,  due  secoli 
dopo  che  n'era  stata  esclusa  la  lingua  latina, 
e  che  per  molti  anni  non  vi  si  era  celebrato  ne 
neir  uno  ne  nell'  altro  idioma.  II  quale  esem- 
pio  hanno  poi  seguito  con  le  chiese  della  cit- 
ta  tutti  i  luoghi  del  regno  senza  sentirsi 
romore  o  strepito  alcuno  nel  populo :  et  io 
essendo  in  Praga  ho  visto  detto  popolo  stare 
con  molta  attentione  alle  funtioni  divine." 

[Having  discussed  this  matter  with  Plateis, 
and  considering  how  those  few  Bohemians 
wlio  were  catholics  by  all  means  frequented 
tlie  churches  of  our  ritual,  where  they  heard 
the  divine  offices  in  the  Latin  tongue,  I 
thought  it  not  hopeless  that  the  same  should 
also  be  done  by  those  newly  converted,  parti- 
cularly if  it  were  insinuated  by  the  preachers 
that  this  language  is  as  it  were  in  a  certain 
sort  essentially  appropriate  to  the  divine  of- 
fices in  all  catholic  countries,  and  particularly 
in  those  churches  which  are  comprised  within 
the  range  of  the  western  empire,  in  token  of 
the  superiority  and  primogeniture  of  the  Ro- 
man church  above  all  the  others.  Accord- 
ingly I  gave  orders  to  the  said  Plateis,  that  he 
should,  as  soon  as  possible,  employ  all  his  dil- 
igence towards  restoring  the  use  of  the  afore- 
said language  in  those  churches  which  had 
already  been  wrested  from  the  hands  of  the 
heretics.  Hence  on  the  festival  of  the  holy 
apostles  Simon  and  Jude,  in  tlie  year  1621, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  archbishop  inducting  a 
catholic  pastor  into  the  church  of  St.  Stephen, 
the  chief  parish  of  Terra  Nuova  (1),  inhabited 


538 


APPENDIX. 


by  the  lowest  common  people,  among  whom 
there  are  very  few  catholics,  there  was  cele- 
brated in  presence  of  a  vast  number  of  here- 
tics, in  the  aforesaid  church,  the  most  imma- 
culate sacrifice  of  the  mass  in  Latin,  with  as- 
persion of  holy  water,  with  invocation  of  the 
saints,  and  all  the  Roman  rites,  two  centuries 
having  elapsed  since  the  Latin  language  had 
been  laid  aside,  and  many  years  since  the 
mass  had  been  celebrated  in  that  or  in  any 
other  tongue.  This  example  was  afterwards 
followed  by  the  other  churches  of  the  city,  and 
by  those  throughout  the  whole  kingdom,  with- 
out any  objection  or  noise  on  the  part  of  the 
people  ,  and  when  1  was  in  Prague  I  saw  the 
said  people  very  orderly  in  their  attendance  on 
divine  vvorthip.j 

2.  Abolilionof  the  cupin  the  Lord's  supper. 

"Inteslo  poi  da  me  il  senso  della  sacra 
congregatione  del  santo  ufficio  per  le  lettere 
e  scritture  all'  hora  mandatemi,  risolvei  di 
vietarlo  (il  calice)  onninamente,  e  non  dar 
pill  orecchie  alle  ciance  e  preghiere  di  detti 
regnicoli,  argomentando  che  se  havessero 
voluto  essere  obbedienti  figli  di  santa  chiesa, 
catnminerebbcro  c<isi  in  questa  come  in  ogni 
altra  cosa  di  concerto  col  I'estante  del  corpo 
cattolico :  ma  se  sfuggissero  di  recedere  da 
questo  abuse  radicato  anche  negli  animi  de' 
catlolici  per  la  pretesa  concessione  di  Pio 
Quarto,  tenerlo  per  segno  di  superbia  et 
ostinatione  e  per  indicio  di  non  veri  catlolici: 
onde  tralasciato  ogni  altro  rispetto  e  tiniore 
allegato  da  politici,  i  quali  da  questa  novila 
immaginavano  soUevatiuni  o  ruine  irremedia- 
bili,  feci  prohibire  a  tutti  li  parochi  che  non 
porgessero  ad  alcuna  persona  la  specie  del 
vino,  commandando  loro  che  a  chumque  le 
domandava  ambedue,  chiedessero  se  era  cat- 
tolico, e  confessandosi  tali  gli  enunciassero  la 
necessita  di  ubbedire  al  rito  Romano  il  quale 
esclude  i  laici  dal  calice.  Cosi  moiti  che  non 
erano  tocchi  da  vero  zelo,  sentendo  questo  si 
rimanevano  nella  loro  ostmatione,  non  com- 
municando  ne  nel'  una  ne  nel'  altra  forma, 
e  noi  intanto  conseguivamo  I'lntento  nostra, 
che  non  si  porgeva  il  calice  :  ma  non  fu  pero 
niuno  di  quel  preti  tornati  all'  obbedienza  che 
havevano  in  cura  le  chiese  reconciliate  il 
quale  havesse  I'aniino  di  porgere  la  sola 
epecie  del  pane  in  faccia  degli  heretic!  che 
frequentavaiio  delte  chiese :  sine  che  il 
caiicelliere  Plateisdiede  intrepidamente  prin- 
ciple a  questa  santa  impresa  nella  parrocchia 
di  !San  Marlmo,  come  di  sopra  si  e  notato. 
II  quale  uso  introdotto  poi  a  laude  di  Dio  nell' 
altre  chiese  si  osserva  con  intera  quiete, 
ancorche  mi  habbiano  in  cio  dato  assai  che 
fare  i  politici.  Perciocche  vedendosi  gli 
heretici  svanito  il  disegno  falto  di  dovere  m 
ogni  mode  conscguire  da  veri  sacerdoti  cat- 
tolici  il  santissiuio  sacramento  sotto  I'una  e 
I'altre  specie,  habbero  i'aiino  passato  1022 
ricorso  da  politici:  e  qualunque  maniera  con 


loro  si  tennessero,  a  me  per  adesso  non  im- 
porta  riferirlo :  basta  che  estorsero  una  lettera 
del  principe  Liechtestain,  che  all'  hora  si 
trovava  qui,  in  virtu  della  quale,  come  se 
fosse  per  ordine  di  iSua  M*^^,  chiamando  i  due 
parrochi  della  madonna  del  Tein  _e  di  Santo 
Enrico,  stati  gia  predicanti,  comandarono  loro 
che  nella  solennita  della  pasqua  porgressero 
indifFerenteinente  a  ogn'  uno,  di  qualunque 
rito  fosse,  la  communione  sotto  Tuna  e  I'altra 
specie.  Cosi  il  giovedi  in  csena  domini  per 
mera  perfidia  di  detti  politici  nella  chiesa 
del  Tein  fu  commessa  grandissima  abomina- 
tione,  ricevendo  il  venerabile  corpo  del  sig- 
nore  consacrato  sotto  le  due  specie  del  pane 
e  del  vino  da  legittimo  sacerdote  piii  di  niiUe 
scellerati  heretici,  dandosi  in  tale  guisa  per 
culpa  d'huomini  catlolici  il  santo  a  cani.  A 
questo  non  inanco  il  Plateis  di  fare  I'opposi- 
tione  che  se  li  aspettava,  ma  nienle  pote 
contro  la  temerita  loro:  onde  egli  per  soste- 
nere  la  prohibitione  del'  uso  del  calice  deli- 
bero  fare  aniino  e  distribuire  il  sacramento, 
come  tre  giornidipoi  fece,  publicamente  sotto 
la  sola  specie  del  pane,  nella  parrochia  di 
San  Martino.  Ma  havendo  io  havuto  notitia 
di  queslo  empio  attentate,  fui  subito  a  fame 
acerba  lamentatione  con  sua  M^\  dolendomi 
con  ogni  piu  efficace  maniera  che  i  suoi  mi- 
nistri  si  voiessero  ingerire  in  quelle  cose  che 
concernono  la  reverenza  verso  il  tremendo 
sacramento  dell'  altare,  che  meramente  rigu- 
ardano  lo  spirituale  e  la  salute  dell'  aniine, 
e  che  senza  rispetto  niuno  s'intromettevano 
negli  affari  di  religione,  non  moslrando  segno 
alcunodi  obbedienzu  verso  dio  e  la  santa  sede 
Romana,  della  quale  la  Maesta  Sua  si  era 
sempre  mostrata  tanto  ossequente.  Da  che 
I'uori  di  inodo  commosso  i'nnperatore  diede 
subito  rigidissimi  ordini  a  detti  politici,  accio 
lasciassero  la  cura  delle  cose  ecclesiastiche  e 
di  religione  agli  huomini  di  chiesa,  facendo 
loro  grave  riprensione  per  la  temerita  com- 
messa :  onde  essi  gagliardamenle  si  incitarono 
contro  di  me  e  del  Plateis,  come  quelli  da 
quali  si  persuasero  essere  proceduto  il  rab- 
buflb  fattoli  da  Sua  M^*^:  et  oltre  al  minac- 
ciare  aspramente  il  Plateis,  non  si  astennero 
dal  inanomeltere  anche  I'aulorita  inia,  insi- 
nuando  a  monsr  arcivescovo  che  egli  s'lo  non 
li  mostravo  sopra  cio  special  breve  di  Sua 
Beat"e^  non  fosse  tenuto  ad  obbedirmi  in  una 
cosa  di  tanto  relievo  come  il  sopprimere  in 
Praga  I'uso  del  calice  :  e  non  tralasciando  di 
sollevare  i  preditti  parrochi  e  tarii  animo, 
persuadendo  loro  che  non  havessero  timore 
alcuno  di  me  ne  dell'  arcivescovo,  perche  dal 
governo  politico,  al  quale  in  quel  regno  per 
antiquato  stile  devono  soggiacere  gli  ecclesi- 
astiche, sariano  sempre  proletti  e  sostenuti, 
operarono  che  il  curato  del  Tein  facendo 
nuova  prevaricatione  si  ridusse  in  aperta 
disubbidienza,  e  piese  ardire  di  predicare  al 
popolo  che  non  volesse  tollerare  che  i  papisti, 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


539 


chc  miravano  tiranpccgiare  il  tutto,  li  tnijli- 
essero  I'liso  del  calice,  e  preijasspro  dio  per 
lui  vern  difensore  del  patei-nn  antico  rito:  di 
modo  che  quel  volg^o  fece  un  poco  di  tumiilto, 
rappresentandosi  quella  sera  sino  al  numero 
di  mille  alia  caso  di  detto  ctirato  come  in  sua 
difesa.  II  che  veniito  a  mia  notitia,  cavai 
subito  da  Sua  M^^  Cesarea  indiffnalione  e 
comandamento  che  il  dette  prete  fosse  snbito 
arrestato  e  conseanato  a  mons''p  arcivescovo: 
come  fa  senza  dilatione  alcuna  eseg-uito  :  e 
quel  popolo,  che  prima  si  era  mostrato  cosi 
ardente  per  la  sua  indennita,  non  foce  motivo 
alcuno,  perche  lo  vedcsse  condurre  prigione 
in  faccia  del  giorno  e  di  tutta  la  gent.e.  Et 
egli  dopn  alcune  settimane  di  carcere  se  ne 
mori  dentro  di  quella,  supplendosi  alia  cura 
di  delta  chiesa,  che  e  la  principale  di  terra 
vecchia,  con  altro  parroco  cattolico  e  con  la 
predica  del  canonico  Rottna,  soggetto  insigne 
per  dottrina  e  zelo,  il  quale  amministra  tutta- 
via  qupsta  carica  con  molto  profitto  e  con 
grandissimo  concorso  cosi  di  cattolici  come  di 
heritici,  i  quali  volentieri  ascoltano  leprediche 
di  questo  buon  sacerdote  per  la  sua  efficace  e 
grata  maniera  di  dire." 

[On  learning  from  the  letters  and  papers 
sent  me  the  views  of  the  sacred  congregation 
of  the  holy  office,  I  resolved  to  forbid  the  cup 
altogether,  and  no  longer  to  listen  to  the  idle 
talk  or  the  prayers  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
said  kingdom,  arguing,  that  had  they  been 
disposed  to  be  obedient  sons  of  the  holy 
church,  they  would  in  this,  as  in  every  other 
matter,  have  walked  in  concert  with  the  rest 
of  the  catholic  body;  whereas  if  they  refused 
to  give  up  this  abuse,  which  has  been  rooted 
even  in  catholic  minds  by  the  pretended  con- 
cession ofPiousIV.,  it  must  be  held  as  a  sign 
of  pride  and  obstinacy,  as  a  token  that  they 
were  not  true  catholics.  Accordingly,  put- 
ting aside  every  other  consideration  and 
alarm  suggested  by  politicians,  who  appre- 
hended insurrections  and  irremediable  mis- 
chiefs from  this  innovation,  I  gave  orders  to 
all  the  parish  priests,  forbidding  them  to  offer 
the  wine  to  any  one,  and  commanding  them, 
if  any  one  called  for  the  two  kinds,  to  ask 
him  if  he  was  a  catholic,  and  if  he  declared 
himself  such,  to  proclaim  to  him  the  necessity 
of  submitting  to  the  Roman  ritual,  which 
excludes  the  laity  from  participation  in  the 
cup.  Upon  this,  many  who  were  not  affected 
with  true  zeal  persisted  in  their  obstinacy, 
not  communicating  in  either  the  one  form  or 
the  other,  whilst  we  equally  persevered  in  our 
course,  not  offering  the  cup :  nevertheless 
there  was  not  one  of  those  priests  who  had 
returned  to  their  allegiance,  and  who  had  the 
cure  of  the  reconciled  churches,  who  would 
have  had  the  courage  to  offer  the  bread 
singly  in  the  face  of  the  heretics  who  fre- 
quented the  said  churches,  had  not  the 
chancellor  Plateis  intrepidly  commenced  this 


holy  enterprise  in  St.  Martin's  parish,  as 
has  been  above  stated.  This  usage  being 
afterwards  introduced  to  the  honour  of  God 
into  the  other  churches,  was  retained  in  them 
with  perfect  quiet,  although  statesmen  gave 
me  trouble  enough  in  the  matter.  For  the 
heretics,  seeing  themselves  entirely  baffled 
in  their  design  of  forcing  the  administration 
of  the  sacrament  in  both  kinds  by  genuine 
catholic  priests,  had  recourse  in  the  past  year, 
1622,  to  statesmen  ;  but  what  measures  tiiey 
adopted  with  them  it  is  not  incumbent  on  me 
to  report.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  they  extort- 
ed from  prince  Lichtenstein,  who  was  then 
there,  a  letter,  by  virtue  of  which,  as  though 
it  were  by  order  of  his  majesty,  summoning  the 
two  parish  priests  of  our  Lady  ofTeinand  St. 
Henry,  who  were  already  preaching,  they  com- 
manded them,  that  in  the  solemnities  of  Easter 
they  should  present  indifferently  to  every  one, 
to  whatever  ritual  he  belonged,  the  comnm- 
nion  in  both  kinds.  Thus,  on  Thursday,  in 
ca?na  domini  there  was  committed  a  monstrous 
abomination  in  the  church  of  Tein,  by  the 
rank  perfidy  of  the  said  politicians,  the 
venerable  body  of  the  Lord,  consecrated 
under  the  two  forms  of  bread  and  wine 
by  the  legitimate  priest,  being  received 
by  more  than  a  thousand  wicked  heretics, 
the  holy  thing  being  thus  flung  to  the  dogs 
through  the  fault  of  catholic  men.  Plateis 
failed  not  to  make  the  opposition  to  this  that 
was  to  be  expected  of  him,  but  nothing  couW 
avail  against  their  audacitj' :  hence  to  uphold 
the  prohibition  of  the  cup  he  determined  to  take 
courage  and  distribute  the  sacrament,  as  he  did 
three  days  afterwards,  publicly  in  the  form  of 
the  bread  alone  in  the  parish  of  St.  Martin. 
But  I,  having  had  notice  of  this  impious  at- 
tempt, immediately  addressed  a  keen  remon- 
strance to  his  majesty,  complaining  in  the 
strongest  manner  that  his  ministers  should 
thinkof  thrusting  themselves  into  tliose  mat- 
ters which  concerned  the  awful  sacrament  of 
the  altar,  which  related  purely  to  spiritual 
matters  and  the  weal  of  souls,  and  that  with- 
out the  least  reverence  they  interfered  in  af- 
fairs of  religion,  showing  no  sign  of  obedience 
to  God  and  to  the  holy  Roman  see,  to  which 
his  majesty  had  always  proved  so  obsequious. 
The  emperor  being  exceedingly  moved  by  this, 
gave  the  most  strict  orders  to  the  said  states- 
men, enjoining  them  to  leave  the  affairs  of 
the  church  and  of  religion  to  churchmen,  and 
severely  reproving  them  for  the  indecency 
they  had  committed.  In  consequence  of  this 
they  were  violently  excited  against  me  and 
Plateis,  as  thinking  us  tiie  originators  of  the 
rebuff  they  had  received  from  his  majesty ; 
and  besides  rudely  threatening  Plateis,  they 
did  not  abstain  from  assailing  my  authority 
too,  insinuating  to  the  archbishop,  that  unless 
I  showed  him  a  special  brief  of  the  pope  to 
that  effect,  he  was  not  bound  to  obey  me  in  a 


540 


APPENDIX. 


matter  of  such  weight  as  the  suppression  of 
the  use  of  the  cup  in  Prague  :  and  not  omit- 
ting to  stir  up  the  aforesaid  parish  priests,  and 
to  encourage  them,  persuading  them  that 
they  need  have  no  fear  of  me  or  of  the  arch- 
bishop, because  they  would  always  be  upheld 
and  protected  by  the  government,  to  which 
by  ancient  usage  ecclesiastics  were  bound  to 
submission  in  that  kingdom,  they  brought  it 
about  that  the  curate  of  Tein,  prevaricating 
anew,  broke  into  open  disobedience,  and  be- 
gan to  preach  vehemently  to  the  people  that 
they  should  not  suffer  the  catholics,  who  had 
a  mind  to  tyrannize  in  everything,  to  deprive 
them  of  the  use  of  the  cup,  and  that  they 
should  pray  to  God  for  him  the  true  defender 
of  the  antique  ritual  of  their  fathers :  so  that 
the  populace  made  some  tumult,  assembling 
that  evening  to  the  number  of  a  thousand  at 
the  house  of  the  said  curate,  as  if  to  defend 
him.  When  this  was  made  known  to  me,  I 
immediately  obtained  from  his  imperial  ma- 
jesty his  indignant  orders  that  the  said  priest 
should  be  instantly  arrested  and  consigned  to 
the  archbishop ;  this  was  done  without  any 
delay ;  and  the  populace,  which  at  first  had 
shown  so  much  eagerness  for  his  impunity, 
never  moved,  but  saw  him  taken  to  prison  in 
the  face  of  day  and  of  all  men.  There,  after 
some  weeks'  imprisonment,  he  died,  and  his 
place  in  the  curacy  of  that  church,  which  is 
the  principal  one  of  Old  Land,(])  was  filled 
up  by  another  catholic  priest,  and  by  the 
preaching  of  the  canon  Rottua,  an  individual 
distinguished  for  doctrine  and  zeal,  who  still 
discharges  the  duties  of  that  office  with  great 
advantage,  and  is  attended  by  a  vast  con- 
course both  of  catholics  and  heretics,  who 
gladly  listen  to  the  preaching  of  that  good 
priest,  by  reason  of  his  efficacious  and  attrac- 
tive eloquence.] 

3.  General  proceedings. 

"  Per  decreto  di  Sua  M'^  in  conformita, 
delle  risolutioni  prese  nella  congregatione 
prefati  tenuta  in  Vienna  si  sono  dipoi  rifor- 
mate  tutte  le  citta  del  regno,  cacciando  da 
esse  e  da  loro  contorni  li  ministri  e  predicanti 
heretici.  In  ciascuna  di  esse  oltre  il  parroco 
ei  sono  messi  il  capitano,  il  giudice,  il  primate 
del  consiglio  et  un  cancelliere  cattolico,  res- 
tandone  in  eterno  bandito  I'esercitio  heretico 
havendo  I'imperatore  per  prova  conosciuto, 
coir  esempio  della  fedelta  di  Budueis  e  con 
la  perfidia  di  quasi  tutte  le  altre,  quanto  im- 
port! che  le  citta  siano  heretiche  o  cattoliche. 
Et  ancorche  il  principe  Liechtestain  soprase- 
desse  gia  dalla  incominciata  riforma  rispetto 
a  gran  rumori  che  si  spargevano  del  disgusto 
di  Sassonia,  poi  la  prosegui,  havendogliene  io 
fatto  reiterare  I'ordine:  ma  pero  se  li  sospese 
circa  li  circoli  di  Egra  e  Culma  per  essere 
contigui  alia  Sassonia  e  pretenders!  che  la 
proprietii  loro  sia  dell'  imperio  e  non  della 
corona  di  Bohemia.     Con  tutto  cio  resta  per 


ancora  nel  regno  qualche  predicante  protetto 
da  baroni  heretici  o  da  poco  buoni  cattolici,  e 
particolarmente  ne  sono  nel  circolo  di  Leit- 
meriz  spalleggiati  da  un  barone  cattolico,  che 
professando  grande  strettezza  e  fratellanza 
con  I'elettore  di  Sassonia  si  persuade  farli  in 
questa  maniera  cosa  gratissima  :  et  havendo- 
lo  io  esortato  a  cacciarli  e  fattogliene  parlare 
ancora  da  altri,  ha  promesso  mandarli  via,  ma 
dubito  che  ritenuto  dalla  moglie,  che  e  here- 
tica,  non  vorra  farlo  se  non  forzatamente.  Ne 
sono  anco  rimasti  in  quelle  citta  nelle  quali  si 
trovano  acquartierate  militie  heretiche,  non 
havendo  voluto  li  commissarj  regj  esporsi  col 
riformarli  a  pericolo  di  tumulto :  ma  hora  che 
i  sospetti  di  guerra  vanno  scemando,  si  dara 
licenza  alii  soldati  heretici,  ovvero  se  li  as- 
segneranno  altri  quartieri,  accio  habbia  luo- 
gho  la  riforma.  Ne  resta  uno  ancora  nella 
citta  di  Kuttembergh,  scusando  il  principe  di 
Liechtestain  di  non  poter  cacciarlo,  perche 
quegli  huomini  non  vorrebbero  poi  lavorare 
nelle  miniere  che  ivi  sono:  tuttavia  col  ritor- 
no  deir  imperatore  a  Praga  spero  in  dio  che 
si  rimediara  da  ogni  cosa.  Ne  devo  tralasci- 
are  che  nel  mio  passaggio  da  Ratisbona  a 
Praga,  havendo  traversato  una  gran  parte  del- 
la Bohemia,  e  cosi  da  Praga  a  Vienna  ho  tro- 
vato  in  ogni  luogo  la  riforma  effi^ttuata,  eccet- 
toche  nella  citta  di  Jaromir,  dove  erano  in 
alloggio  alcune  fanterie  del  colonnello  duca 
di  Sassonia  :  ma  dipoi  ho  mandate  stretto  or- 
dine  di  Sua  Maesta,  accio  sia  riformata,  et  in 
ciascuna  di  esse  citta  s'istruiscano  i  figliuoli 
nella  dottrina  Christiana,  insegnandoseli  orare 
in  lingua  latina. 

"  Sono  state  sotto  rigide  pene  prohibite 
dentro  e  e  fuori  di  Praga  le  conventicole  deg- 
li  heretici,  sotto  qualunque  pretesto  le  faces- 
sero,  la  qual  commissione  fu  data  molti  mesi 
addietro  a  mia  richiesta  :  ma  non  ostante  che 
io  pill  volte  n'habbia  reclamato  col  governo  di 
Praga,  non  era  stata  mai  eseguita. 

"  Dal  senate  della  citta  di  Praga  si  sono 
levati  tutti  gli  heretici,  supplendo  i  loro  luo- 
ghi  di  persone  cattoliche,  e  se  li  e  tolta  ogni 
essentiale  autorita,  lasciandogliene  solamente 
qualche  apparenze  nelle  cose  che  non  sono  di 
molto  rilievo,  annullando  in  specie  tutti  li  pri- 
vilegj  pregiudiciali  alia  religione  cattolica 
concessi  da  re  passati,  potendo  benissimo  farlo 
I'imperatore  havendosi  per  forzad'armi  rigua- 
dagnato  questo  regno  gia  apertamente  ribel- 
latoseli.  L'accademia  o  collegio  di  Carlo  IV 
a  gloria  divina  e  della  religione  cattolica  si  e 
rcstituita  alia  sua  primiera  istitutione  sotto  la 
cura  de'  padri  Gesuiti,  li  quali  hanno  ancora 
la  sopraintendenza  di  tutte  le  scuole  del  reg- 
no, et  a'  medesimi  I'usare  diligenza  che  non  si 
stampino  e  vendano  libri  contrarj  alia  veritii 
cattolica,  essendosi  sottoposti  alia  loro  censura 
i  librarj  e  gli  stampatori.  Si  e  havuto  inter- 
ne alia  predetta  accademia  qualche  difficolta, 
volendocisi  deputare  un  presidente   laico,  H 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


541 


che  da  me  non  veniva  bene  inteso,  ma  final- 
mente  spero  che  sara  lasciata  questa  cura  a 
mons'"  arcivescovo,  pretendendo  egli  per  suoi 
antichi  privilegj  esser  crincelliero  del  regno. 

"  Alia  casa  de'  poveri  istituita  in  Praga  da 
Ferdinando  Terzo  si  sono  di  piu  assegnati  4 
m.  talleri  annui :  onde  si  e  accresciuto  il  nu- 
mero  loro  da  ottanta,  che  prima  vi  sene  ali- 
mentavano,  fino  a  ducento.  A  padri  Gesuiti 
si  sono  dati  per  una  volta  20  mila  talleri  da 
spendersi  nella  fabbrica  del  loro  collegio :  et 
in  questo  non  e  occorso  che  si  impieghino  li 
miei  ufficj,  non  havendo  bisogno  di  alcun  mez- 
zo appresso  dell'  imperatore  Tevidenti  utilita 
che  dalle  loro  attioni  si  traggono.  Per  augu- 
mento  dell'  entrate  capitolari  della  cattedrale 
sono  stati  assegnati  beni  che  rendono  6  m. 
talleri  anniii  e  per  le  archiepiscopali  24  mila  : 
ma  perche  questi  beni  sono  assai  guasti  e  ro- 
vinati,  monsignore  arcivescovo  desidera  rite- 
nersi  per  qualche  tempo  il  mons""  d'Ossegg, 
assegnato  gia  alia  mensa  archiepiscopale  sot- 
to  Ridolfo  in  vece  della  pensione  camerale 
che  veniva  difRcilmente  pagata.  Nell'  arbi- 
trio  di  monsignor  arcivescovo  si  e  riposta  la 
provincia  delle  parrocchie  di  Praga  e  di  tutto 
il  regno,  etiam  che  prima  fossero  possedute  da 
signori  particolari  che  erano  tutti  ribelli,  es- 
sendosi  riserbato  I'imperatore  questo  jus,  men- 
tre  si  sono  venduti  li  beni  di  essi  ribelli,  ha- 
vendosi  anche  havuto  riguardo  che  per  molte 
leghe  intorno  a  Praga  siano  tutti  comprati  da 
cattolici."  • 

[By  decree  of  his  majesty,  in  conformity 
with  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  aforesaid 
congregation  held  in  Vienna,  all  the  towns  in 
the  kingdom  were  subsequently  reformed, 
and  the  heretic  ministers  and  preachers  were 
driven  out  from  them  and  from  the  surround- 
ing districts.  In  each  of  them,  besides  the 
catholic  priest,  there  were  placed  the  captain, 
the  judge,  the  president  of  the  council,  and  a 
chancellor,  all  catholic,  the  heretical  worship 
being  banished  from  them  forever ;  for  the 
emperor  had  learned  by  experience,  from  the 
example  of  the  fidelity  of  Budueis,  and  the 
perfidy  of  almost  all  others,  how  important  a 
consideration  it  was  whether  the  towns  were 
heretic  or  catholic.  And  although  prince 
Lichtenstein,  who  had  already  fallen  off  from 
the  reform  that  had  begun,  in  consequence  of 
reports  spread  of  the  great  displeasure  con- 
ceived by  Saxony,  afterwards  prosecuted  it 
upon  my  causing  the  order  to  be  repeated  to 
him  ;  still  he  was  in  suspense  about  it  as  re- 
garded the  circles  of  Egra  and  Cnlma,  as  be- 
ing contiguous  to  Saxony,  and  pretending  that 
they  belonged  to  the  empire  and  not  to  the 
crown  of  Bohemia.  The  upshot  of  all  this  is, 
that  there  still  remain  in  tJie  kingdom  some 
preachers  protected  by  the  heretic  barons  or 
by  bad  catholics,  and  in  particular  there  are 
some  of  them  in  the  circle  of  Leitmeriz  back- 
ed by  a  catholic  baron,  who,  professing  great 


intimacy  and  fraternity  with  the  elector  of 
Saxony,  feels  assured  of  greatly  pleasing  him 
in  this  way.  Upon  my  exhorting  him  to  ex- 
pel them,  and  making  others  also  speak  to 
him  to  the  same  purpose,  he  promised  he 
would  send  them  away ;  but  I  doubt  that, 
prevented  by  his  wife,  who  is  a  heretic,  he 
will  not  be  induced  to  do  so  otherwise  than 
by  force.  Preachers  have  also  remained  in 
those  towns  where  there  are  heretic  troops 
quartered,  the  royal  commissioners  not  having 
been  willing  to  incur  the  danger  of  riots  by 
reforming  them  :  but  now  that  the  prospect 
of  war  is  passing  away,  the  heretic  soldiers 
will  be  disbanded,  or  they  will  be  assigned 
other  quarters,  so  that  there  will  be  an  oppor- 
tunity of  carrying  out  reforms.  One  still 
remains  in  the  town  of  Kuttemberg,  prince 
Lichtenstein  alleging  in  his  excuse  that  he 
cannot  expel  him,  as  in  that  case  the  people 
would  not  work  in  the  mines  at  that  place : 
nevertheless,  on  the  return  of  the  emperor  to 
Prague,  I  trust  in  God  that  everything  will 
be  remedied.  I  must  not  omit  to  mention, 
that  in  my  journey  from  Ratisbon  to  Prague, 
having  passed  through  a  great  part  of  Bohe- 
mia, and  likewise  on  my  way  from  Prague  to 
Vienna,  I  found  the  reform  accomplished  in 
every  place,  except  in  the  town  of  Jaromir, 
where  there  were  in  garrison  some  infantry 
under  the  colonel  duke  of  Saxony  ;  but  since 
then  I  have  sent  strict  orders  from  his  majes- 
ty that  the  town  should  be  reformed  :  and  in 
every  one  of  these  towns  the  young  people 
are  instructed  in  Christian  doctrine,  and  are 
taught  to  pray  in  the  Latin  language. 

[The  conventicles  of  the  heretics  have  been 
prohibited,  under  every  pretence  whatever, 
both  within  and  without  Prague;  the  order 
was  given  many  months  since  at  my  request : 
but  notwithstanding  that  I  frequently  de- 
manded its  enforcement  of  the  governor  of 
Prague,  it  was  never  carried  into  effect. 

[All  the  heretics  have  been  removed  from 
the  senate  of  the  city  of  Prague,,  their  places 
being  supplied  by  catholics,  and  they  have 
been  deprived  of  all  essential  authority,  no- 
thing being  left  them  but  some  show  of  influ- 
uence  in  matters  of  no  great  consequence ; 
and  all  the  privileges  prejudicial  to  the  catho- 
lic religion  granted  by  former  kings  have 
been  formally  annulled,  a  thing  which  the 
emperor  was  in  a  very  good  condition  to  do, 
having  reconquered  the  kingdom  which  was 
in  open  rebellion  by  force  of  arms.  The  aca- 
demy or  college  of  Charles  IV.  has  been  re- 
stored to  the  primitive  principles  of  the  insti- 
tution, to  the  glory  of  God,  and  of  the  catholic 
religion,  under  the  care  of  the  Jesuit  fathers, 
who  have  also  the  superintendance  of  all  the 
schools  in  the  kingdom,  and  they  are  also 
charged  with  the  duty  of  seeing  that  no  books 
contrary  to  catholic  truth  are  printed  or  sold, 
booksellers  and  printers  being  subjected  to 


542 


APPENDIX. 


their  ceriForship.  There  has  been  some  diffi- 
culty with  regpect  to  the  said  academy,  a  lay 
president  beinsr  proposed  for  it  whoin  I  did 
not  approve  of;  but  finally  I  hope  that  this 
cbarg-e  will  be  left  to  the  archbishop,  who  lays 
claim  on  account  of  his  ancient  privileges  to 
be  chancellor  of  the  kinp-dom. 

[There  lias  been  assia^ned  to  the  poor  house 
founded  in  Prague  by  Ferdinand  III.  a  fur- 
ther sum  of  four  thousand  dollars  yearly,  so 
that  the  number  of  persons  supported  by  the 
esfablishement  has  been  increased  from 
eighty  to  two  hundred.  The  Jesuit  fathers 
have  been  given  in  one  sum  twenty  thousand 
dollars  to  expend  on  the  building  of  their  col- 
lege :  there  has  been  no  occasion  for  my  in- 
terference with  respect  to  this  institution,  the 
evident  utility  arising  from  the  acts  of  the 
fathers  needing  no  mediator  between  them 
and  the  emperor.  For  the  augmentation  of 
the  chapter  revenues  of  the  cathedral,  there 
have  been  assigned  estates  yielding  six  thou- 
sand dollars  yearly,  and  for  the  archiepisco- 
pal,  twenty-four  thousand  ;  but  as  these  estates 
are  considerably  injured  and  decayed,  the 
archbishop  wishes  for  some  time  tu  keep  mon- 
signor  d'Ossegg,  now  assigned  to  the  archi- 
episcopal  revenue  under  Ridolfo,  instead  of  the 
treasury  pension  which  there  was  a  dithculty 
in  paying.  The  province  of  the  parishes  of 
Prague  and  of  the  whole  kingdom  had  been 
placed  again  at  the  disposal  of  the  archbishop, 
whereas  they  were  formerly  possessed  by  lords 
who  were  all  rebels,  the  emperor  having 
reserved  that  right  to  himself;  whilst  the 
estates  of  these  rebels  have  been  sold,  it  hav 


the  infanta  and  the  army  of  the  Liga ;  in  Min- 
den  they  had  hopes  of  making  an  archduke 
their  bishop  ;  in  Bremen,  too,  special  missions 
had  laboured  to  induce  the  members  of  the 
chapter  to  elect  a  catholic  coadjutor,  but  a 
Danish  prince  had  been  successful  on  this 
occasion.  The  nuncio  hoped,  however,  that 
toleration,  at  least,  would  he  granted  to  the 
catholic  religion  in  all  the  Hans  towns;  it  ap- 
peared to  him  that  the  emperor  could  directly 
command  it,  particularly  as  those  towns  deriv- 
ed great  advantages  from  the  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  trade.  A  church  was  already 
opened  in  Altona.  from  which  there  was  much 
to  be  expected  for  the  North,  "  per  potere  in 
qualche  tempo  fondarsi  un  seminario,  onde 
possino  pigliarsi  operaj,  dopo  che  avranno 
appreso  la  lingua  Danica  e  Norvegica,  per  ri- 
durre  al  lume  della  vera  fede  quei  pnpoli  piu 
settentrionali"  [promising  the  possibility  of 
some  time  or  other  founding  a  seminary, 
whence  labourers  may  be  procured,  who,  after 
they  shall  have  learned  the  Danish  and  Nor- 
wegian languages,  may  brinsr  those  more  nor- 
thern nations  to  the  light  of  the  true  faith.] 

Along  with  this  progress  Montorio  thought 
an  internal  reform  of  the  German  church  indis- 
pensable. The  prelates  dressed  like  laymen, 
and  did  not  scruple  to  go  to  the  wars;  concu» 
binage  prevailed  quite  openly,  and  once  the 
nuncio  prevented  one  Hornberg,  an  otherwise 
very  proper  candidate,  from  obtaining  the 
bishopric  of  Wl'irzburg  on  account  of  this  fault. 
The  German  bishops  too  thought  little  of  the 
pope;  they  appointed  to  vacancies  in  the  re- 
served months,  and  they  presumed  to  do  many 


ing  also  been  seen  to,  that  in  accordance  with   illegitimate    things    through    their    officers. 


many  laws  relating  to  Prague  they  should  be 
all  purchased  by  catholics.] 

109.  Relatione  alia  S'a  di  N.  S^"  papa  Ur- 
bano  VIII.  delle  cose  ajipurtenenli  alia 
nuntiatnra  di  Colonia  per  M'"  Montorio 
vescovo  di  Nicastro  rilornato  niintio  di 
quelle  parti  Vanno  di  N.  S'^  1624. — 
[Report  made  to  pope  Urban  VIII.  of  the 
nunciature  to  Cologne  discharged  by  M^ 
Montorio,  bishop  of  Nicastro.] 

Montorio  arrived  in  Germany  in  the  midst 
of  the  disorders  of  war.  He  sets  forth  the 
danger  in  which  the  catholics  would  have  been 
placed  if  Mansfeld,  who  commanded  the  Upper 
Rhine  from  Strasburg  to  Mainz,  and  the  bishop 
of  Halberstadt,  who  was  master  of  Westphalia, 
had  succeeded  in  ibrming  a  junction  with 
Baden  Durlach.  But  all  these  leaders  were 
defeated.  He  then  describes  the  advantages 
that  had  accrued  from  those  victories,  and  the 
condition  at  which  the  German  church  had 
arrived. 

The  counter-reformation  had  again  set  in 
in  full  force  in  Fulda  :  the  catholic  party  had 
made  its  way  into  Osnabriick  with  the  aid  of 


Dispensano  ne'  gradi  matrimoniali  prohibiti, 
ad  sacros  ordines  et  beneficia  vacata,  super 
defectu  natalium,  concedono  extra  tempera, 
dispensano  super  defectu  setatis,  anche  talvolta 
hanno  dispensato  con  persone  institute  in  sacris 
di  prender  moglie."  [They  grant  dispensa- 
tions to  marry  within  the  forbidden  degrees, 
for  holy  orders  and  vacant  benefices,  supra 
defectu  natalium,  they  grant  concessions  extra 
tempera,  they  give  dispensations  with  regard 
to  deficiency  of  age,  and  they  have  even  at 
times  granted  dispensations  to  persons  in  holy 
orders  to  marry.]  They  styled  themselves 
bishops  by  God's  grace,  without  any  mention 
of  the  apostolic  see,  and  treated  their  eccle- 
siastical possessions  almost  as  though  they 
were  their  private  property.  Things  were  no 
better  in  the  convents.  The  abbots  conducted 
themselves  like  absolute  lords.  In  the  towns 
there  was  nothing  but  banqueting  and  mixed 
societies  of  men  and  women  :  in  the  country 
convents  they  followed  the  chase,  and  nothing 
was  to  be  seen  but  dogs  and  huntsmen. 

The  nuncio  would  willingly  have  set  a  re- 
form on  foot,  but  he  was  prevented  by  conta- 
gious diseases,  the  disorders  of  war,  and  poli- 
tical occupations. 


SECOND  EPOCH  OP  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


543 


He  treats  also  very  ably  of  the  latter.  I 
have  not  been  able  to  admit  into  the  text  all 
he  says  of  the  transfer  of  the  electorate,  and 
will  therefore  quote  it  here. 

"  Poisono  esser  note  a  S.  Heaths  le  cose  all' 
hora  occorse,  ed  io,  benche  mi  tbssero  giuati 
assai  (arJi  i  brevi  chc  mi  mandava  papa  Gre- 
gorio,  acciocche  intcrveiiissi  alia  dieta  per  tale 
etfetto  adun.ita  in  Ratisbona,  mi  mo?-si  mondi- 
meno  nel  maggior  rigore  dell'  inverno  con 
grandissime  sjxjse,  disagi  e  pericoli  per  com- 
panrvi:  e  coiidottonii  sino  ad  llerbipoli  da 
niinistri  di  S.  S^^  e  da  principi  elettori  ivi  con- 
gregati,  a  quali  avevo  dato  avviso  delta  mia 
mossa,  mi  fu  signiticato  non  esser  piu  neces- 
saria  la  mia  persona,  poiclie  la  conclusione  del 
negotio  era  ritardata  da  piu  alta  cagione  che 
dal  mancamenlo  del  consenso  de'  principi  ivi 
adunali,  e  che  il  vedersi  ivi  compuriti  tanti 
ministri  apostolici  havrebbe  accresciute  le  dif- 
ficolia,  metlendosi  in  gelossia  li  protestanti, 
come  che  quella  traslatione  fu  tratlata  piu 
tosto  come  materia  di  religione  clie  di  stato. 
Mi  riinasi  percio  d'andarvi,  tanto  pm  che  il 
Magontmo,  che  come  degano  del  collegio  elet- 
torale  era  quasi  arbitro  del  negotio,  praticato 
da  me  alcuni  inesi  prima,  slava  costaiile  nell' 
offerla  tktlami  di  voler  secondare  la  mente  del 
papa  e  dell'  imperatore.  Li  deputati  di  Tre- 
veri  havevano  ordine  dal  suo  principe,  datoli 
a  mia  istanza,  di  non  iscostarsi  dalle  delibe- 
rationi  del  Alagontino  e  del  Colonicense.  Io 
non  staro  qui  a  divisare  a  V.  Beaine  le  ditii- 
colta  che  incontrai  per  disporre  il  Magontino 
a  consentire  a  delta  traslatione  :  perclie  hora 
diceva  abborrire  la  citta  di  Ratisbona  come  d' 
aria  nein.ca  alia  sua  saniia,  hora  diceva  tro- 
varsi  esausto  di  denari  e  da  non  potere  sup- 
plire  alle  spese  che  ivi  gli  saria  convenuto  di 
fare,  hora  ciie  il  negotio  non  era  maturo,  non 
essendoci  il  coiisensodi  Spagnae  di  8assonia, 
hora  temeva  le  minacce  del  re  d'lnghilterra, 
di  Dania  e  di  altri  settarj,  hora  alfermava  che 
quella  traslatione  havrebbe  accesa  nuova  e 
pill  cruda  guerra  in  Gennania,  con  danno  evi- 
dente  della  religione  cattolica,  mentre  i  prin- 
cipi eccleaiastici,  che  havevano  portato  fiiio 
air  hora  e  dovevano  portare  per  I'avvenire  il 
peso,  esausti  per  le  conlributioni  passate  alia 
lega,  spogliati  d'ogni  loro  havere  dall'  inso- 
lenze  e  rubamenti  non  meno  de'  noslri  che  de' 
nemici  soldati,  non  solo  non  potevano  ne  have- 
vano modo  di  apparecchiarsi  a  nuova  guerra, 
ma  erano  ridotti  ad  eslremita  tali  che  erano 
costretti  licentiare  le  propric  fainiglie  a  vivere 
quasi  privatamenLe  :  non  lasciva  di  porre  in 
consideralione  il  duca  di  Noeburgh,  come  piii 
prossimo  di  sangue  al  palalino,  la  cui  persona 
non  havrebbe  recata  tanta  gelosia  a  protes- 
tanti, che  temeano  la  giandczza  del  Bavaro,  a 
cui  conioruie  le  costituuoni  imperiali  secondo 
la  bolla  aurea  come  a  pm  prossimo  doveasi 
quella  dignita,  nella  quale  il  medesimo  duca 
haveva  protestato  non  voiere  conseatire  siuo 


air  ultimo  spirito  che  altri  fosse  a  se  preferito : 
basta  che  in  qiiattro  o  cinque  giorni  che  mi 
trattenni  con  lui  in  AcciatTeinburgo,  dopo 
lunghi  discorsi  fatti  in  voce  et  in  iscritto,  ot- 
tenni  la  risolulfone.  che  io  desiderava.  La 
traslatione  fu  fatta,  et  ancora  si  mantiene.  II 
palatinate  e  in  parte  occupUo  dal  Bavaro,  in 
parte  da  .Spagnuoli,  ne  aitro  resta  al  pa  latino 
che  la  cilta  di  Franchnithal  dep)s.iata  in 
certo  tempo  in  mano  della  serenissima  infanta 
di  Fiandra  con  concerto  del  re  Inglese. 

"  Mentre  per  delto  negotio  io  ero  in  Acciaf- 
femburgo,  giunse  ivi  la  nuova  della  presa  di 
Adelbergh  :  et  havendo  io  gia  fatto  officio  per 
commissione  di  Sua  S^^  col  sigi'duca  di  Bivi- 
era  per  la  libreria  Palatina  et  haveulone 
havuto  ofFerta,  mandai  stibito  un'  espresso  al 
sigr  conte  di  Tilly,  facendoli  istanza  per  la 
conservatione  di  essa,  poiche  mi  veniva  afFer- 
mato  per  la  qualita  e  quantita  de'  libri  mas- 
sime  manoscritti  esseredi  valore  inestimabile  : 
e  mi  rispose  S.  E.  che  il  tutto  era  in  poter  suo 
ben  conservato  per  eseguirne  I'ordine  del  sig' 
duca  :  di  che  havendo  dato  coiito  a  patroni, 
havendo  essi  mandata  persona  a  pigliarlo,  fu 
detta  libreria  dopo  alcuni  mesi  condotta  a 
Roma." 

[Your  holiness  may  be  aware  of  the  affairs 
that  have  occurred  up  to  this  tune,  and  though 
it  was  somewhat  late  when  the  briefs  of  pope 
Gregory  reached  me,  directing  that  I  should 
attend  at  the  diet  assembled  tor  that  purpose 
in  Ratisbon,  I  nevertheless  set  out  in  the 
utmost  inclemency  of  winter,  at  extreme  ex- 
pense, pains,  and  peril ;  and  having  reached 
Herbipoli,  it  was  signified  to  me  by  the  minis- 
ters of  his  holiness  and  the  electoral  princes 
assembled  there,  to  whom  I  had  announced 
my  movements,  that  there  was  no  longer  need 
of  my  presence,  since  the  conclusion  of  the 
atfiir  was  delayed  by  a  graver  cause  than  the 
want  of  agreement  between  the  princes  assem- 
bled ;  and  that  the  sight  of  so  many  apostolic 
ministers  collected  there  would  but  increase 
the  ditticulty,  by  exciting  the  jealousy  of  the 
protestants,  and  setting  them  on  supposing 
that  this  transference  was  treated  rather  as  a 
inalter  of  religion  than  of  state.  I  abstained 
therefore  from  going  thither,  the  more  because 
the  bishop  of  Mainz,  who  as  dean  of  the  elec- 
toral college  was  as  it  were  the  arbiter  of  the 
business,  when  solicited  by  me  some  months 
before,  was  resolute  in  his  pledges  to  me  that 
he  would  second  the  wishes  of  the  pope  and 
the  emperor.  The  delegates  from  Trier  had 
orders  from  their  prince,  given  at  my  instance, 
not  to  dissent  from  the  bishops  of  Mainz  and 
of  Cologne.  I  will  not  pause  here  to  enume- 
rate to  your  holiness  the  dilhculties  I  in:;t  with 
in  disposing  Mainz  to  consent  to  the  said  trans- 
lation: for  one  time  he  said  he  detested  the 
city  of  Ratisbon,  the  air  of  tlie  place  being 
unfavourable  to  his  health  ;  aujther  time  he 
said  the  business  was  not  ripe,  the  consent  of 


544 


APPENDIX. 


Spain  and  of  Saxony  not  having  been  announ- 
ced ;  another  time  he  feared  the  threats  of  the 
kings  of  England,  of  Denmark,  and  of  other 
sectarians ;  another  time  he  alleged  that  this 
transference  would  kindle  a 'new  and  more 
cruel  war  in  Germany,  to  the  manifest  injury 
of  the  catholic  religion,  whilst  the  ecclesias- 
tical princes,  who  hitherto  had  borne,  and  for 
the  future  would  have  to  bear,  all  the  burthen, 
exhausted  by  their  former  contributions  to  the 
Liga,  despoiled  of  all  their  property  by  the 
insolence  and  robbery  of  our  soldiers  no  less 
than  those  of  the  enemy,  were  not  only  alto- 
gether unable  to  provide  for  a  new  war,  but 
were  reduced  to  such  extremities  that  they 
were  compelled  to  dismiss  their  own  families 
to  live  almost  privately.  He  did  not  fail  to 
suggest  the  duke  of  Neuburg,  as  nearer  in 
blood  to  the  palatine,  and  one  who  would  not  so 
much  excite  the  jealousy  of  the  protestants, 
who  feared  the  greatness  of  the  elector  of 
Bavaria,  to  whom,  in  conformity  with  the  im- 
perial constitutions,  according  to  the  golden 
bull,  belonged  as  the  nearest  claimant  that 
dignity,  wherein  the  said  duke  had  protested 
that  to  his  last  breath  he  would  never  suffer 
any  one  to  be  preferred  before  himself.  Suffice 
it  to  say,  that  after  four  or  five  days'  negotia- 
tion with  him  in  Aschaffenburg,  after  long  dis- 
courses by  word  of  mouth  and  in  writmg,  I 
elicited  the  resolution  I  desired.  The  trans- 
ference was  effected  and  is  still  maintained. 
The  palatinate  is  in  part  occupied  by  Bavaria, 
in  part  by  the  Spaniards ;  and  nothing  remains 
to  the  palatine  but  the  city  of  Franchendal, 
deposited  for  a  certain  time  in  the  hands  of 
the  most  serene  infanta  of  Flanders  in  concert 
with  the  king  of  England. 

[While  I  was  in  AschatTenburg  on  this  busi- 
ness, the  news  arrived  of  the  capture  of  Hei- 
delberg ;  and  I  having  already  executed  the 
commission  of  his  holiness  to  the  duke  of 
Bavaria,  respecting  the  palatine  library,  and 
having  received  the  offer  of  it,  immediately 
sent  an  express  to  count  Tilly,  entreating  him 
to  preserve  it ;  since  I  was  assured  that  it  was 
of  intestimable  value  both  for  the  quality  and 
the  quantity  of  the  books  contained  in  it,  chiefly 
manuscript:  and  his  excellence  returned  me 
for  answer,  that  the  whole  was  in  his  power 
in  good  preservation,  and  at  the  duke's  orders  : 
having  reported  this  to  the  masters,  and  hav- 
ing sent  a  person  to  take  possession  of  it,  the 
said  library  was  some  months  afterwards  con- 
veyed to  Rome.] 

110.  Instruttione  a  V.  S.  Moris'"  Caraffa  ves- 
covo  di  Tricarico  deslinato  da  N.  S.  suo 
nuntio  in  Colonia.  26  Giugno  1624. 
[Instruction  to  monsignor  Carafta,  bishop 
of  Tricarico,  nuncio  elect  to  Cologne.] 

Ludovico  CarafFa  was  Montorio's  successor : 
he  was  nuncio  at  Cologne  at  the  same  time 


that    Carlo     Caraffa    filled    that    office    at 
Vienna. 

The  pope  communicates  to  him  his  views  on 
the  affairs  of  Germany  in  a  very  circumstantial 
instruction. 

He  examines  in  it  all  those  points  relating 
to  the  internal  discipline  of  the  church  which 
Montorio  had  suggested.  Seeing  the  great 
losses  in  revenue  and  consideration  the  apos- 
tolic see  had  already  sustained,  the  nuncio  was 
to  attempt  to  retrieve  them.  "  V.  S.  stia  at- 
tentissima  a  tutto  quelle  che  puo  sostentare 
I'autorita  apostolica  e  specialmente  procurare 
che  da  essa  eschino  le  dovute  provisioni  bene- 
ficiali."  It  is  worthy  of  note,  that  orders  were 
given  in  this  document  to  the  nuncio,  directly 
founded  on  the  advice  of  Minuccio  Minucci. 
For  instance,  he  is  directed  to  send  to  Rome  a 
list  of  the  German  ecclesiastics  most  deserving 
of  promotion :  "  de'  piu  costumati,  de'  piii 
dotti,  de'  piu  nobili,  de'  meglio  appoggiati  all' 
autoritii  d'alcun  principe  cattolico. — Cosi  noi 
aremo  notizie  tali  che  sollecitamente  la  sede 
apostolica  potra  provedere  prima  che  scorra  il 
suo  tempo."  Literally  the  very  thing  recom- 
mended by  Minucci  in  1558.  Time,  however, 
had  suggested  other  measures  likewise :  of 
these  the  most  important  was  the  associating  a 
catholic  coadjutor  with  a  bishop,  who  was 
growing  old,  in  the  lifetime  of  the  latter.  This 
had  already  been  done  with  the  best  effect  in 
Paderborn  and  in  Mimster. 

But  the  grand  matter  of  consideration  was 
the  further  diffusion  of  Catholicism. 

The  Liga  was  to  be  supported  most  strenu- 
ously; the  nuncio  was  to  look  narrowly  to  it, 
that  every  one  paid  his  quota.  An  ecclesi- 
astical society  for  the  conversion  of  protestants 
had  been  founded  at  Cologne,  in  which  the 
princes  of  the  houses  of  Austria  and  Bavaria 
took  part,  and  which  possessed  ample  funds : 
the  nuncio  was  not  to  suffer  it  to  fall  into  de- 
cay. Some  princely  houses  were  singled  out 
as  offering  hopes  of  speedy  conversion,  parti- 
cularly Darmstadt  and  Saxony.  The  nuncio 
was  to  stimulate  this  disposition.  "  So  that 
these  princes  might  not  withstand  the  grace 
which  God  was  willing  to  bestow  on  them." 
He  was  especially  to  promote  the  establish- 
ment of  seminaries,  and  the  introduction  of 
the  Jesuits.  This  passage  is  perhaps  the 
most  remarkable  in  the  whole  instruction, 
and  may  be  quoted  in  full. 

"  Sara  opera  degnissima  di  S.  S"=^  I'impie- 
garsi  a  coltivare  i  seminarj  gie  fatti  et  a  pro- 
curare che  altri  se  ne  faccino  di  nuovo:  e  per 
queste  simili  opere  chi  non  vede  che  i  padri 
della  compagnia  di  Gesu  sono  maravigliosi  1 
Laonde  il  predecessore  di  S.  S^'a  diede  prin- 
cipio  a  pratticare  I'introduttione  di  quelli  in 
Franchfbrt,  scrivendo  sopra  di  cio  caldissime 
lettere  a  Cesare,  e  voleva  fare  altrettanto 
I'elettore  di  Colonia.  M.  S'"^,  per  sollecitare 
I'effettuatione  di  questo  buon  pensiero,  fece 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


545 


scrivere  al  nuntio  presso  rimperatore  die  non 
si  riscaldi:  col  quale  S.  S"''  s'intendera  per 
quello  die  restasse  da  fare,  avvisandone  le 
speranze  e  i  successi.  L'elettore  di  JVIagonza 
ha  fatto  rappresentare  alia  S^i^  di  N.  S'^,  die 
per  propagare  la  religione  cattolica,  die  col 
favors  divino  piglia  piede  nel  palatinate  in- 
feriore,  niuna  cosa  viene  giudicata  piu  spedi- 
ente  quanto  I'erettione  de'  seminarj  e  delle 
case  dove  possino  convenire  i  nobili  del  Reno  : 
e  per  cio  fare,  propone  a  S.  B^e  che  si  potreb- 
bono  comodamente  applicare  i  beni  d'alcuni 
monasterj  e  specialmente  di  Germershaim, 
Spanhaim  et  Odernhaim,  posti  nella  diocesi 
di  Magonza  et  altre  volte  occupatida  principi 
Palatini  del  Reno :  la  quale  proposta  e  stata 
stimata  da  S.  fine  di  molto  rilievo,  e  prima  di 
risolvere  voleva  die  I'antecessore  di  V.  S'"'^ 
presane  diligente  informatione  avvisasse  dis- 
tintamente  lo  state  di  detti  monasterj  col  suo 
parere :  ma  perche  la  brevita  del  tempo  non 
gli  havra  permesso  eseguir  tutto,  S,  B"e  vuole 
che  ella  supplisca  al  rimanente  con  ogni  sel- 
lecitudine  et  accuratezza. 

"  L'elettore  di  Colonia  ancora  vuole  insti- 
tuire  un'  universita  nella  sua  citta  di  Muns- 
tero :  e  di  cio  e  state  ragionato  nella  sagra 
congregatione  de  propaganda  fide,  inclinando 
la  St^  di  N.  SI'S  die  si  facci  detta  universita, 
con  conditione  pero  che  oltre  alle  scienze  vi 
si  insegnino  le  leggi  canoniche  e  civili.  Serva 
a  S.  S^ia-  per  avviso,  accioche  ella  tratti  in 
questa  forma  con  detto  elletore,  quando  S.  A. 
le  parlerad'havere  ottenuto  per  detta  erettione 
il  beneplacito  apostolico." 

[It  will  be  a  task  most  becoming  your  ex- 
cellency to  promote  the  prosperity  of  tiie 
seminaries  already  founded,  and  to  cause  new 
ones  to  be  established  :  and  who  is  there  but 
sees  that  the  fathers  of  the  company  of  Jesus 
are  admirable  for  labours  of  this  kind"! 
Hence  your  excellency's  predecessor  set  the 
example  of  causing  their  introduction  into 
Frankfort,  writing  very  earnestly  on  the 
subject  to  the  emperor,  and  the  elector  of 
Cologne  was  willing  to  do  as  much.  His 
holiness,  to  further  this  good  design,  caused 
letters  to  be  written  to  his  nuncio  at  the 
emperor's  court,  that  he  be  not  incensed  : 
your  excellency  will  advise  with  him  as  to 
what  remains  to  be  done,  and  will  report  what 
progress  is  made  and  what  hopes  appear. 
The  elector  of  Mainz  has  represented  to  his 
holiness,  that  nothing  appears  more  expedient 
towards  the  propagation  of  the  catholic  reli- 
gion, which  by  divine  favour  is  obtaining  a 
footing  in  the  lower  Palatinate,  than  the 
erection  of  seminaries  and  of  houses  where 
the  nobility  of  the  Rhine  may  come  together; 
and  to  this  end  he  suggested  to  his  holiness, 
that  the  property  of  some  monasteries  may 
very  suitably  be  applied,  particularly  those 
of  Germersheim,  Spanheim,  and  Odernheim, 
situated  in  the  diocese  of  Mainz,  and  formerly 
69 


occupied  by  princes  palatine  of  the  Rhine. 
The  proposal  appeared  to  his  holiness  one  of 
great  moment,  and  before  resolving  upon  it, 
he  wished  that  your  excellency's  predecessor 
should  diligently  inquire  and  distinctly  re- 
port the  state  of  the  said  monasteries,  accord- 
ing to  his  opinion :  but  as  want  of  time  did 
not  allow  him  to  effect  this  fully,  his  holiness 
desires  that  you  should  supply  what  has  been 
left  undone,  with  all  diligence  and  accuracy. 
[The  elector  of  Cologne  also  wishes  to 
foimd  an  university  in  his  city  of  Munster; 
the  matter  has  been  discussed  in  the  sacred 
college  "  de  propaganda  fide,"  and  his  holi- 
ness is  disposed  to  allow  of  the  establishment 
of  the  said  college,  on  condition  however,  that 
besides  the  sciences  there  be  taught  in  it  the 
canon  and  civil  law.  This  for  your  excel- 
lency's notification,  to  treat  accordingly  with 
the  said  elector,  when  his  highness  shall  tell 
you  that  he  has  obtained  the  apostolic  license 
for  the  establisiiraent  of  the  said  university.] 

111.  Relatione  delV ill'no  et  ecC"'-"  sig^  Pietro 
Contarini  K^  retornato  deW  amhasceria 
ordinaria  di  Roma,  presentata  alii  22 
Giugno  1627  e  letta  il  medesimo  giorno 
nelV  ecC'o  senato."  [Report  read  to  the 
Venetian  senate  by  Pietro  Contarini,  ordi- 
nary ambassadoir  to  Rome.] 

P.  Contarini  had  passed  more  than  three 
years  and  a  half  (44  months)  at  the  court  of 
Urban  VIII.  when  he  wrote  this  report. 

He  treats  in  it,  in  four  separate  sections,  of 
the  temporal  and  spiritual  administration,  of 
the  most  important  affairs,  and  of  the  most 
influential  members  of  the  court. 

He  is  particularly  circumstantial  and  in- 
structive respecting  the  extension  of  the 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.  According  to  him, 
it  had  never  been  exercised  with  such  strict- 
ness in  Italy ;  the  Roman  court  was  very 
formidable  to  sovereigns  from  its  double  pur- 
pose of  maintaining  an  immediate  domination 
over  the  clergy,  and  an  unlimited  power  of 
disposing  of  ecclesiastical  property.  Urban 
Vllt.  often  said,  that  were  a  Venetian  noble- 
man seated  on  the  papal  throne,  he  could  not 
be  more  favourably  disposed  to  the  Venetians 
than  he  himself  was :  notwithstanding  this, 
the  most  trifling  favour  was  never  obtained 
from  him. 

Altogether,  Contarini  had  a  bad  opinion  of 
the  whole  Roman  system.  The  principle  of 
the  entire  administration  was  nepotism. 

"  L'inclinatione  dei  papi  di  far  grandi  i 
nepoti  da  in  questi  tempi  il  primo  moto  all' 
attioni,  dichiarationi  e  dipendenze  con  altri 
principi.  Prima  si  pensa  ad  imprcse  contra 
infideli,  ad  acquisto  di  stati,  ma  come  gli  anni 
son  brevi,  le  difficolta  molte,  cosi  si  ferma  il 
concetto  senz'  efFettuatione  alcuna:  doppo 
altra  strada  si  prende  piu  facie,  accumulando 


546 


APPENDIX. 


gradi  richezze,  comprando  stati."  [The  in- 
clination of  the  popes  to  aggrandize  their 
nephews  is  in  the  present  times  the  prime 
mover  to  all  actions,  declarations,  and  con- 
nexions with  other  princes.  First  they  be- 
think them  of  enterprises  against  the  infidels, 
and  of  territorial  acquisitions;  but  as  the 
years  are  few  and  the  difficulties  many,  the 
idea  stops  short  of  any  realization:  another 
course  is  easier  to  follow,  that  of  accumula- 
ting great  wealth  and  buying  up  estates.] 

He  gives  the  following  description  of  those 
immediately  about  Urban. 

"Per  ordinario  si  consiglia  il  pontefice  con 
il  cardie  Magalotti,  cognato  del  fratello,  e  che 
tiene  anco  il  carico  di  segretario  di  stato,  per 
le  cui  niani  passano  tutte  I'espeditioni.  E 
cardinaie  d'ingegno  grande,  vivace  :  lo  stima 
assai  il  papa:  I'ha  voluto  sempre  appresso  di 
se,  et  in  particolare  nella  legatione  di  Bo- 
logna, dove  le  diede  la  viceregenza  di  quel 
governo.  E  se  vi  e  alcuno  che  arrivi  ad  ha- 
vere  predominio  nell'  animo  della  S^^  Sua, 
quest'  e  I'una,  ne  si  sa  se  per  proprio  affetto 
et  inclinatione  di  lei  o  se  per  la  grande  accor- 
tezza  del  cardinaie,  che  bene  conoscendo  il 
genio  di  chi  cosi  lungamente  si  e  servito  di 
lui  sa  valersi  delli  mezzi  proprj  per  condursi 
a  questo  segno:  e  puo  dirsi  che  negli  affari 
di  momento  di  esso  solo  si  vale.  Egli  pero 
s'affatica  d'aggiustarsi  alle  inclination!  del 
pontefice,  le  contradice  meno  che  puo,  e  nelli 
suoi  sensi  procura  d'incamminare  le  proprie 
attioni  per  conservare  il  posto,  la  confidenza 
e  la  riputatione  che  le  apporta  I'esser  adope- 
rato  nelli  maneggi  piu  gravi.  Procura  con 
allontanarsi  da  tutte  le  apparenze,  fuggendo 
I'audienze  ordinarie  de'  ministri  di  principi, 
de'  cardinali  e  quasi  d'ogni  altro  (ma  solo 
tratta  i  negotii  ch'espressamente  gli  sono  in- 
caricati),  di  non  acquistar  I'odio  che  per  I'ordi- 
nario  suole  cader  sopra  quelli  che  si  veggono 
piu  vicini  e  partecipano  dell' autoritji  o  gratia 
del  principe :  e  lo  fa  maggiormente  per  non 
ingelosire  il  card^*^  Barberino,  che  da  principio 
non  mostro  di  ricevere  intiero  gusto  di  vederlo 
avanzarsi  tanto,  e  pivi  valersi  il  pontefice  di 
lui  che  della  sua  persona :  e  percio  bene 
spesso  per  questa  causa  s'udirono  da  Barbe- 
rino parole  che  dinotavano  il  suo  sentimento. 
Hora  nondimeno  lascia  correr  le  cose  come 
vanno,  e  mostrar  confidar  nel  zio,  o  per  solle- 
vai-si  del  peso  degli  affari,  o  perche  non  sa  o 
conosce  di  non  poter  fermare  il  corso  alia  for- 
tuna  di  questo.  II  tutto  pure  si  partecipa  col 
medesimo  cardinal  Barberino,  con  S.  Onofrio 
e  Don  Carlo. 

"  II  primo,  come  nipote,  e  veramente  amato. 
Vorrebbe  la  S^^  Sua  che  con  piu  applicatione 
attendesse  alii  negotii :  ma  egli  v'apparisce 
alieno  assai,  no  il  suo  naturale  punto  si  vede 
inclinato,  et  pare  che  quasi  a  forza  assista  solo 
dove  per  il  carico  che  tiene  non  puo  far  altri- 
menti,  scaricando  il  peso  degli  afliiri  piu  gravi 


sopra  I'istesso  cardie  Magalotti,  contentandoai 
di  spogliarsi  di  quello  che  dovrebbe  esser  suo 
particolare  per  vestirne  il  zio,  contro  la  pra- 
tica  degli  passati  pontefici,  sia  o  per  propria 
debolezza,  o  per  non  saper  valersi  di  quella 
autorita  che  gode  chi  arriva  a  posto  tanto 
eminente.  E  di  ottimi,  virtuosi  e  lodevoli 
costumi,  di  soave  natura,  e  con  esempio  unico 
non  vuole  ricever  donativi  o  presente  alcuno. 
Sara  nondimeno  videndo  il  pontefice  al  pari 
d'ogni  altro  cardinaie  grande  e  ricco.  Hor 
deve  haver  intorno  80  m.  scudi  d'entrata  di 
beneficj  ecclesiastici,  e  con  li  governi  e  lega- 
tion! che  tiene  deve  avvicinarsi  a  100  m. 
scudi,  e  tutto  il  meglio  che  cava,  sara  suo, 
principiando  a  farsi  delle  investite  di  mo- 
mento. E  poco  spendendosi  in  breve  tempo, 
verrassi  ad  accumular  richezze  immense. 

"  II  card'  S.  Onofrio  essendo  vissuto  del 
continuo  nei  Cappuccini,  seguito  tuttavia  in 
una  vita  religiosissima,  non  s'ingerisce  se 
non  in  quello  le  viene  commesso,  e  degli  affari 
del  mondo  poco  ne  sa  e  meno  n'intende:  e 
bene  si  e  conosciuto  la  sua  inabilita  in  questo 
nell'  absenza  di  Barberino,  mentre  fa  ne- 
cessario  di  trattare  e  negotiar  seco.  Hora 
si  ritrova  alia  residenza  della  sua  chiesa  di 
Sinigaglia. 

"  II  sigr  Don  Carlo  pure,  fratello  del  pon- 
tefice, e  generale  di  santa  chiesa,  e  tutto 
quello  che  appartiene  alia  militia,  alle  for- 
tezze,  alle  galere,  e  sotto  il  suo  comando. 
E  signore  d'intelligenza,  prudente,  cauto 
nello  discorrere  e  trattare,  e  la  cura  dell'  en- 
trate  e  maneggi  della  camera  ottimamente 
I'intende,  essendo  stato  huomo  di  negotio  e 
versato  in  queste  materie.  Qualche  cosa  ha 
rilasciato  dalla  sua  prima  applicatione  agli 
aftari,  per  non  aggravar  maggiormente  li  suoi 
anni,  essendo  il  piu  vecchio  delli  fratelli,  e 
per  qualche  sua  dispositione  ancora. 

"  Due  altri  nipoti  tiene  la  S^^  Sua.  II  sig"" 
Don  Taddeo,  nel  quale  si  pensa  di  stabilire  la 
casa,  giovane  di  anni  23  incirca,  di  nobilissi- 
me  maniere,  di  grande  ingenuita,  et  e  som- 
mamente  amato  da  tutta  la  corte.  Qualche 
disegno  vi  e  nel  pontefice  di  farlo  prefetto 
della  citta  dopo  la  morte  del  duca  di  (Jrbino, 
che  hora  gode  questo  titolo,  carico  degnissimo, 
che  a  tutti  precede  e  dura  in  vita  e  dopo  la 
morte  anco  del  pontefice  tiene  luogo  nel  solio. 
E  don  Antonio,  commendatore  di  Malta,  di 
anni  18.  Ha  intorno  14  m.  scudi  di  cora- 
meude.  E  di  uno  spirito  pronto,  vivace,  et  a 
suo  tempo  vi  vorra  esser  per  la  sua  parte: 
desidera  egli  parimente  il  cardinalato,  e  si 
crede  lo  compiacera  la  S'^  Sua.  Molti  che 
non  amano  il  cardie  Magalotti,  lo  vedreb- 
bono  volentieri  quanto  prima  promosso  a 
quella  dignitii,  con  opinione  possa  egli  arrivar 
dove  non  giugne  il  fratello  a  farle  contrast© 
et  oppositione." 

[The  pope's  ordinary  adviser   is  cardinal 
Magalotti,  his  brother's  brother-in-law,  who 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


547 


is  also  charged  with  the  secretaryship 
of  state,  and  through  whose  hands  pass 
all  orders  and  arrangements.  The  cardi- 
nal is  a  man  of  large  and  vigorous  intel- 
lect; he  is  much  esteemed  by  the  pope,  who 
has  always  wished  to  have  Iiim  near  himself, 
particularly  in  the  legation  of  Bologna,  where 
he  gave  him  the  viceregency  of  that  govern- 
ment. If  any  man  possess  paramount  influ- 
ence with  his  holines,  he  is  tliat  one;  nor  is 
it  known  whether  this  proceeds  from  the  spon- 
taneous affection  of  the  pope,  or  from  the  great 
address  of  the  cardinal,  who,  very  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  temper  of  one  he  has  served 
so  long,  knows  how  to  use  the  proper  means 
conducive  to  this  end  ;  at  any  rate  he  may  be 
considered  as  having  the  sole  disposal  of  all 
matters  of  importance.  He  takes  pains  to 
adapt  himself  to  the  pope's  inclinations,  con- 
tradicts him  as  little  as  possible,  and  shapes 
his  conduct  in  accordance  with  the  senti- 
ments of  his  holiness  to  preserve  his  place, 
and  the  confidence  and  the  credit  he  derives 
from  being  employed  in  the  most  weighty 
transactions.  By  abstaining  from  all  outward 
show  of  power,  avoiding  regular  audiences  of 
foreign  ministers,  cardinals  and  all  others,  in- 
terfering directly  only  in  such  matters  as  are 
expressly  committed  to  him,  he  endeavours  to 
escape  the  enmity  that  usually  falls  on  those 
who  are  nearest  to  the  person  of  the  sovereign, 
and  who  partake  of  his  authority  or  favour : 
and  he  does  this  more  particularly  to  avoid 
exciting  the  jealousy  of  cardinal  Barberino, 
who  at  first  did  not  seem  altogether  pleased 
at  seeing  him  so  much  advanced,  and  more 
considered  by  the  pope  than  himself;  and  very 
frequently  Barberino  was  heard  to  express  his 
feelings  in  words  to  this  effect.  At  present, 
however,  Barberino  lets  matters  take  their 
course,  and  appears  to  confide  in  his  uncle, 
either  to  relieve  himself  from  the  burthen  of 
business,  or  because  he  cannot  contrive,  or 
knows  it  to  be  impossible,  to  check  the  career 
of  the  latter's  fortune.  Everything,  however, 
is  shared  between  the  said  cardinal  Barberino, 
S.  Onofrio,  and  Don  Carlo. 

[The  first  of  these,  as  nephew,  is  truly 
loved.  The  pope  could  wish  that  he  applied 
himself  more  diligently  to  business ;  but  he 
appears  very  averse  to  it,  nor  does  his  cha- 
racter seem  at  all  inclined  to  it,  and  it  ap- 
pears that  he  attends  almost  by  force,  and 
only  when,  consistently  with  tlie  office  he 
holds,  he  cannot  do  otherwise,  throwing  the 
burthen  of  the  weightiest  affairs  on  the  said 
cardinal  Magalotti,  being  content  to  strip  him- 
self of  what  ought  to  be  his  own,  and  to  put  it 
on  his  uncle,  contrary  to  tlie  custom  in  former 
pontificates,  whether  it  be  from  feebleness,  or 
from  not  knowing  how  to  avail  himself  of  that 
influence  which  is  enjoyed  by  all  those  who 
reach  so  high  a  station.  He  is  of  excellent, 
virtuous,  and  laudable  morals,  of  a  gentle  na- 


ture, and  sets  a  solitary  example  of  refusing  . 
all  donatives  and  presents.  Notwithstanding 
this,  he  will  be,  if  the  pope  lives,  equal  to  any 
other  cardinal  in  grandeur  and  wealth.  He 
must  now  have  an  income  of  about  80,000 
scudi  from  ecclesiastical  benefices,  which, 
with  the  governments  and  legations  he  holds, 
must  approach  to  100,000,  and  when  investi- 
tures of  moment  begin  to  be  made,  the  best 
will  fall  to  his  share.  As  he  spends  but  little, 
he  will  soon  see  himself  in  possession  of  im- 
mense wealth. 

[Cardinal  S.  Onofrio,  having  lived  con- 
stantly among  the  capuchins,  and  always  led 
a  most  devout  life,  never  interferes  with  any- 
thing that  is  not  directly  committed  to  him, 
and  knows  little  and  thinks  less  about  the  af- 
fairs of  the  world  :  and  though  his  inability  in 
this  department  be  well  knov/n,  nevertheless 
it  was  necessary  to  treat  and  negotiate  with 
him  during  the  absence  of  Barberino.  He  is 
at  present  resident  in  his  diocese  of  Sini- 
gafflia. 

[Don  Carlo,  the  pope's  brother,  is  general 
of  the  holy  church;  and  all  that  pertains  to 
the  troops,  the  fortresses,  and  the  galleys,  is 
under  his  command.  He  is  intelligent,  pru- 
dent, cautious  in  discussing  and  transacting 
business,  and  he  is  very  well  acquainted  with 
the  management  of  the  revenue  and  the  busi- 
ness of  the  treasury,  having  been  a  practical 
man  and  versed  in  this  matter.  He  has  in 
some  degree  relaxed  from  his  first  applica- 
tion to  business,  partly  in  consideration  of  his 
years,  he  being  the  eldest  of  the  brothers, 
and  partly,  too,  in  accordance  with  his  incli- 
nation. 

[His  holiness  has  two  other  nephews — Don 
Taddeo,  in  whose  person  he  thinks  of  found- 
ing the  house,  a  young  man  of  about  twenty- 
three,  of  very  noble  manners,  of  a  highly  in- 
genuous nature,  and  exceedingly  beloved  by 
the  whole  court.  The  pope  has  some  thought 
ofmaking  him  prefect  of  the  city  after  the  death 
of  the  duke  of  Urbino,  who  now  holds  the  title, 
a  very  lionourable  appointment,  which  takes 
precedence  of  all  others,  lasts  the  pope's  life- 
time, and  even  after  his  death  retains  an  ho- 
norary position.  The  other  nephew  is  Don  An- 
tonio, commendator  of  Malta,  aged  eighteen. 
His  commandatory  brings  him  in  about  14,000 
scudi.  He  is  of  a  quick  and  lively  temper, 
and  has  a  mind  to  secure  his  own  share  of  his 
house's  fortunes  in  good  time.  He  too  de- 
sires to  be  made  a  cardinal,  and  it  is  thought 
his  holiness  will  comply  with  the  desire. 
Many  who  do  not  like  cardinal  Magalotti 
would  gladly  see  him  promoted  as  soon  as 
possible  to  that  dignity,  thinking  that  he  may 
do  what  his  brother  fads  to  do,  namely  coun- 
terpoise and  oppose  Magalotti.] 

The  affairs  of  the  VaUelline  are  here  dis- 
cussed in  all  tlieir  bearings. 

"  L'altro  importante  negotio  e  quello  della 


548 


APPENDIX. 


Valtellina,  intorno  al  quale  pure  grandemente 
vi  travaglio  la  Santita  Sua,  ma  con  fortuna 
diversa,  se  bene  nel  principio  vog-liono  che 
potesse  applicarvi  maggiori  e  piu  risoluti 
rimedj.  L'esser  entrato  in  affare  taiilo  arduo 
li  primi  giorni  del  ponteficato,  uscito  e  non 
ben  ancora  rimesso  da  una  grave  indisposi- 
tione,  con  il  pensiero  piu  applicato  al  prime 
che  a  questo  negotio,  causo  forse  che  si  lascio 
correr  molte  cose,  che  allora  il  provedervi  non 
era  difficile,  sicome  il  remediarvi  poi  dopo 
riusci  impossibile.  Fu  il  deposito  della  Val- 
tellina fatto  dai  Spagnoli  in  manodi  Gregorio 
XV,  e  Chiavenna  con  il  sue  contado  la  conseg- 
narono  con  le  medesime  conditioni  al  presente 
pontefice.  Le  prime  negotiationi  passarono 
per  inano  del  commendatore  Silleri  con  tanta 
cautela  e  secretezza  che  il  certo  d'esse  non 
solo  si  comunicava  alii  ministri  di  V.  Serenita, 
che  pure  ne  doveano  aver  tanta  parte,  ma  con 
fatica  veniva  a  loro  notitia  il  vero  di  quanto 
si  trattava.  In  niuna  altra  cosa  premeva  il 
pontefice  che  nel  ricevere  soddisfattione  per  i! 
pagamento  delli  presidj  ch'egli  teneva  nelli 
forti  deila  Valle,  e  dopo  infinite  doglianze  et 
instanze  consegui,  credo,  fra  I'uno  e  I'altro  re 
intorno  200  m.  scudi.  Questo  danaro  ando 
diminuendo  il  dispiacere  del  deposito,  che 
prima  e  dopo  anche  danno  sempre  grande- 
mente, stimando  non  esser  sollevato  dall'  in- 
teresse  niuno  pregiudicio  potesse  apportarle 
la  longhezza  et  irresolutione  di  tal  maneggio. 
"  Quelli  del  Valtellina  s'offerivano  al  papa 
per  vassalli,  assicurandolo  che  li  datii  che  po- 
trebbe  imporre  sopra  li  vini  e  formaggi  baste- 
rebbono  a  mantener  li  presidj  ordinarj  per 
difesa  di  quella  Valle.  Molti  consideravano 
al  pontefice  che  il  ritornar  la  Valtellina  alii 
Grisoni  e  rimetter  in  mano  degli  heretici  li 
cattolici  non  si  poteva  da  esso  ne  si  dovea  se 
non  con  grandissimoscandalo  e  danno  eseguire 
che  dark  ai  Spagnoli  niuno  n'havrebbe  assen- 
tito,  et  ai  Frances!  o  ad  altri  quelli  non  lo  per- 
metterebbono :  ne  meglio  vi  fosse  che  si  con- 
servasse  alia  chiesa  la  Valtellina,  non  conte- 
nendo  alcun'  altra  conditione  di  memento 
quel  paese  che  dei  passi,  che  si  possono  ha- 
vere  o  pretender  per  venirsene  et  andarsene 
oltre  ai  menti :  questi  restando  in  petesta  del 
pontefice  patre  comune,  gli  havrebbe  aperti  e 
concessi  sempre  secondo  il  bisegno  e  neces- 
sita  d'egn'uno.  Le  ragioni  se  bene  poco  fen- 
date  non  lasciano  di  far  impressione,  e  tal- 
volta  anche  persuadono  dove  apparisce  alcana 
speranza  di  coinoJo  et  utile.  Del  concetto  se 
ne  lascio  intender  la  S^^  Sua,  et  aggiunse 
anco,  quando  vi  fosse  qualclie  difficolta  nel 
restar  alia  chiesa,  ne  si  potrebbe  investir  un 
sue  nipote.  Era  promosso  dai  Spagnoli  il  par- 
tite, a  loro  pero  ne  ai  Francosi  piaceva :  in 
fine  si  ferrao  da  Silleri  il  trattaio  ben  note  a 
V.  Serenita,  che  non  fu  in  Francia  approvato 
dai  re,  in  particolare  nella  parte  che  Spagnoli  j 
avessero  il  passo  per  le  genti  che  andassero  in  > 


Fiandra  e  per  le  medesime  solo  che  ritornas- 
sero:  poiche  il  fermar  della  Valtellina  una 
quarta  lega,  che  tanto  pretesero  Spagnoli, 
mene  il  pontefice  v'assenti.  Fu  mutate  per 
questa  causa  I'ambasciatore,  o  fosse  per  laca- 
duta  del  cancelliere  e  di  Puysieux  segreta- 
rie,  I'uno  fratelle  e  I'altro  nipote  del  medesi- 
me Silleri.  E  giunse  in  Roma  mons^  di  Bet- 
tune,  ministro  di  miglior  consiglio,  di  pivi 
generosi  e  risoluti  partiti,  disautorizzo  il  ne- 
gotiate del  sue  precessore,  insiste  e  parlo  sem- 
pre per  il  trattato  di  Madrid,  nego  assoluta- 
mente  il  permettere  per  qualsivoglia  maniera 
a'  Spagnoli  il  passe,  e  sollecito  in  frequenti 
audienze  il  pontefice  a  riselvere  alcuna  cosa, 
poiche  ne  a  maggiori  lunghezze  ne  a  piii 
tarde  dilationi  potea  la  lega  assentire. 

"  II  pontefice,  che  non  stiino  mai  tanta  riso- 
lutione  nelli  collegati  ne  da  questa  causa  fos- 
sere  per  condursi  all'  armi,  massime  che'l  suo 
nuntio  in  Francia  e  quello  di  Suizzeri  affer- 
marono  del  continue  alia  S^^  Sua  con  lettere 
che'l  marchese  di  Cevre  mai  havrebbe  pre- 
sentate  I'armi  del  re  dove  vi  fossero  le  insegne 
della  Beatne  Sua,  s'ando  pure  continuando 
nelle  irresolutieni,  e  quanto  piii  accrescevano 
et  apparivano  le  difficolta,  tanto  maggior- 
mente  veniva  ella  a  persuaders!  (ne  vi  man- 
cava  ch!  la  cenfermava  in  queste)  che  in  fine 
nelle  contese  essa  ne  restarebbe  posseditrice. 
E  benche  Bettune  per  ultimo  signified  al  papa 
che  il  re  e  la  lega  insieme  la  supplicavane  di 
rimettere  ai  Spagnoli  1!  forti  conforme  alio 
ebbligo  del  deposito,  accieche  essendov!  ne- 
cessita  d!  mover  rarmi  non  s'attribuisca  a 
poco  rispetto  I'andar  centre  quelle  della  S'^ 
Sua,  e  se  all'  hora  il  pontefice  s!  riselvea  e 
prendea  partito  come  dovea,  efferendo  ai  Spag- 
noli li  forti,  !1  tutto  veniva  ad  aggiustarsi  con 
la  riputatione  sua  e  seddisfatione  degli  altri, 
poiche  non  gli  havrebbeno  ricevuti  li  Spagnoli 
non  trovandesi  in  termine  di  peterli  difendere, 
e  cessava  la  causa  di  delersi  mentre  in  tempo 
eseguiva  il  pontefice  le  conditioni  del  deposito, 
ne  poteva  alcuno  centradire  lasciandoli  a  Gri- 
soni :  corsero  alcuni  giorni :  in  fine  surprese 
il  marchese  di  Cevre  Plata  Mala:  allora  il 
pontefice  pretese  et  adimando  tre  mesi  di 
tempo,  e  dope  si  ristrinse  a  tanto  che  bastasse 
di  scriver  in  Spagna  e  fame  I'eshibitione,  di- 
cendo  che  li  ministri  d'ltalia  non  tenevano 
facelta  di  li  forti.  Ma  essendo  di  gia  avan- 
zate  et  ogni  giorno  procedente  di  bene  in  me- 
glio I'intraprese  di  Cevre,  non  fu  stimato  a 
proposite,  anzi  sarebbe  riuscito  dannoso  il  sus- 
pender i  progress!,  per  attender  poi  di  Spagna 
rispeste  incerte :  e  cosi  ando  il  pontefice  a  poco 
a  poco  perdendo  tutte  quello  teneva  in  deposito, 
solo  restandele  Riva  e  Chiavenna,  che  sole 
furono  soccorse  dai  Spagnoli.  Si  doleva  S^^ 
Sua  che  questi,  se  ben  ricercati  alio  prime 
difese,  mai  vennere  al  soccorse,  e  ess!  d!  non 
essere  stati  chiatnati  in  tempo,  di  modo  che, 
mai  soddisfatti  Spagnoli,  non  content!  Fran- 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION 


549 


cesi,  ella  sommamente  disgustata  stimando 
poco  rispctto  s'havessa  portato  alle  sue  insegne, 
del  coiitinuo  e  grandemente  con  ognuno  sene 
querelava  :  ne  altrimenti  facevano  Spagnoli, 
nientrc  attribuivano  tutti  gl'inconvenienti  a 
lei,  e  di  lei  piii  d'ogni  altro  si  dolevano :  et 
ancorche  dopo  spedisse  il  nipote  legato  in 
Francia  et  in  Spagna  col  fine  ben  note  a  V. 
Serenita,  e  conoscendo  haver  preso  altra  mag- 
gior  mossa  le  armi  d'ltalia,  piu  gravi  si  ren- 
dessero  i  pericoli  se  vi  applicasse  da  dovero, 
con  tutto  cio  non  si  e  potuto  levare  il  primo 
concetto  die  dagli  antecedenti  mal  incammi- 
nati  principj  non  siano  derivati  gl'inconveni- 
enti che  si  sono  dopo  visti.  Ugalmente  Fran- 
cesi  come  Spagnoli  attribuivano  le  durezze  e 
difficolla  che  si  sono  incontrate  in  questa  nego- 
tiatione,  alle  pretensioni  del  pontefice  volendo 
che  ad  esso  fbssero  consignati  li  forti,  senza 
dichiararsi  quello  che  n'havrebbe  fatto,  ne- 
gando  pero  assolutamente  di  volerli  demolire. 
Da  che  si  ha  reso  sopramodo  difficil  il  trovar 
ripiego  conveniente,  si  e  consumato  tanto 
tempo,  fatte  tante  speditioni,  et  in  fine  portato 
il  negotio  in  Spagna,  che  in  Roma  difficil- 
mente  s'havrebbe  terminato." 

[The  other  important  matter  is  that  of  the 
Valtelline,  with  respect  to  which  his  holiness 
indeed  took  great  pains,  but  with  various  for- 
tune ;  though  they  will  have  it  that  in  the  be- 
ginning he  might  have  had  recourse  to  more 
effective  and  determined  measures.  His  en- 
gaging in  so  arduous  a  matter  in  the  first  days 
of  his  pontificate,  when  hardly  convalescent 
from  a  severe  illness,  with  his  mind  more  en- 
gaged with  the  former  than  with  this  busi- 
ness, may  have  occasioned  many  things  to 
have  been  allowed  to  take  their  course  which 
it  would  not  have  been  difficult  to  provide 
against,  though  it  proved  impossible  to  remedy 
them  afterwards.  Valtellina  was  deposited 
by  the  Spaniards  in  the  hands  of  Gregory  XV., 
and  they  consigned  Chiavennaand  its  district 
to  the  present  pope  under  the  same  conditions. 
The  first  negotiations  were  carried  on  through 
the  medium  of  the  commendator  Sillery,  with 
so  much  caution  and  secrecy,  that  the  mere 
fact  of  their  existence  was  not  communicated 
to  the  ministers  of  your  serenity,  though  they 
were  to  take  so  large  a  part  in  them ;  and  it 
was  with  difficulty  they  came  to  know  the 
truth  of  what  was  done.  The  pope  pressed 
for  nothing  else  but  to  receive  satisfaction  for 
the  payment  of  the  garrisons  he  had  in  the 
forts  of  the  Valley,  and  after  many  complaints 
and  urgent  remonstrances  he  succeeded,  I 
believe,  in  obtaining  from  both  kings  about 
200,UOO  scudi.  This  money  served  to  dimin- 
ish his  displeasure  at  the  deposit,  which  both 
before  and  afterwards  he  always  greatly  con- 
demned, thinking  it  was  not  for  his  interest, 
and  that  the  procrastination  of  the  business 
could  not  be  to  his  prejudice. 

[The  people  of  the  Valtelline  offered  them' 


selves  as  vassals  to  the  pope,  assuring  him 
that  the  taxes  he  might  impose  on  wine  and 
cheese  would  be  sufficient  to  maintain  the  or- 
dinary garrisons  for  the  defence  of  the  Valley. 
Many  suggested  to  the  pope,  that  to  restore 
the  Valtellini  to  the  Grisons,  and  to  put  the 
catholics  into  the  hands  of  the  heretics,  was 
not  to  be  thought  of,  and  could  not  be  done 
without  extreme  scandal  and  injury ;  that  no 
one  would  consent  to  its  being  given  up  the 
Spaniards,  nor  would  these  allow  of  its  being 
delivered  to  the  French  or  any  other  power  ; 
that,  in  short,  there  was  nothing  better  than 
that  the  Valtelline  should  be  preserved  to  the 
church,  there  being  nothing  worth  having  or 
disputing  for  in  that  country,  besides  the  pas- 
ses leading  to  and  fro  through  the  mountains  : 
should  these  remain  in  the  power  of  the  pope, 
the  common  father,  he  would  always  open 
them  according  to  the  wants  and  necessities 
of  every  power.  Arguments,  however,  slight 
their  foundation,  fail  not  to  make  an  impres- 
sion, and  sometimes  they  even  convince, 
where  there  appears  some  prospect  of  advan- 
tage. The  pope  gave  into  the  scheme,  and 
added  too,  that  should  there  be  any  difficulty 
made  as  to  the  Valley  remaining  attached  to 
the  church,  he  might  invest  one  of  his 
nephews  with  it.  The  plan  was  put  forward 
by  the  Spaniards,  and  yet  it  did  not  please 
either  them  or  the  French  :  finally  there  was 
concluded  by  Sillery  that  treaty  which  is  well 
known  to  your  serenity,  and  which  was  not 
approved  of  in  France  by  the  king,  particularly 
that  clause  of  it  which  stipulated  that  the 
Spaniards  should  have  the  right  of  passage  for 
the  troops  proceeding  to  Flanders,  and  for  the 
same  exclusively  returning.  As  for  the  for- 
mation of  the  Valtelline  into  a  fourth  league, 
which  the  Spaniards  urged  so  strongly,  the 
pope  was  still  more  opposed  to  it.  For  this 
reason  the  ambassador  was  changed  ;  or  per- 
haps on  account  of  the  fall  of  the  chancellor 
and  of  Pnysieux  the  secretary,  the  one  the 
brother,  the  other  the  nephew,  of  the  said 
Sillery.  Monsignor  de  Betthune  arrived  in 
Rome,  a  minister  of  more  wisdom,  of  nobler 
and  more  resolute  designs;  he  anntjlled  the 
measures  of  his  predecessor,  insisted  upon  and 
always  spoke  for  the  treaty  of  Madrid,  refused 
absolutely  in  any  way  to  allow  the  Spaniards 
the  pass  ;  and  he  solicited  the  pope  in  frequent 
audiences  to  come  to  some  resolution,  because 
the  league  could  not  consent  to  longer  dalli- 
ance and  procrastination. 

[The  pope,  who  never  thought  there  was  so 
much  determination  among  the  confederates, 
nor  that  they  would  for  this  reason  have  re- 
course to  arms,  (particularly  as  his  nuncios  in 
France  and  Switzerland  continually  assured 
his  holiness  by  letter,  that  the  marquis  de 
Covre  would  never  carry  the  king's  arms 
against  the  standard  of  his  holiness,)  went  on 
in  his  irresolution,  and  the  greater  and  more 


550 


APPENDIX. 


■"1 


manifest  the  difficulties  of  the  case  became, 
the  more  he  persuarled  himself,  (nor  were 
there  vvantini^  those  who  confirmed  him  in 
this,)  that  with  all  these  struggles  he  would 
finally  remain  in  possession.  And  though 
Betthune  signified  as  his  ultimatum  to  the 
pope,  that  the  king  and  the  league  jointly 
supplicated  him  to  return  the  forts  to  the  Spa- 
niards, conformably  with  the  terms  of  the  de- 
posit, so  that  if  it  were  necessary  to  have  re- 
course to  arms  they  might  not  be  chargeable 
with  irreverence  in  advancing  against  those 
of  his  holiness;  and  if  the  pope  had  not  taken 
his  resolution  as  he  ought,  and  ofl^ered  the  fort- 
resses to  the  Spaniards,  every  thing  would 
have  been  arranged  to  his  own  honour  and  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  other  parties ;  for  the 
Spaniards  would  not  have  recovered  them, 
not  being  in  a  condition  to  defend  them  ;  and 
their  grounds  of  complaint  would  have  disap- 
peared, since  the  pope  would  have  in  due  time 
fulfilled  the  conditions  of  the  deposit,  nor  could 
any  one  have  gainsayed  their  being  left  to  the 
Grisons.  Some  days  elapsed  :  at  length  the 
marchese  di  Covre  surprised  Plata  Mala  :  the 
pope  then  made  pretexts,  and  demanded  three 
months'  time ;  afterwards,  abating  his  de- 
mand to  as  much  as  would  be  sufficient  to 
write  to  Spain  and  make  the  offer,  saying  that 
the  Spanish  ministers  in  Italy  were  not  em- 
powered to  receive  the  fortresses.  But  Covre's 
enterprise  being  already  advanced,  and  pro- 
ceeding daily  better  and  better,  it  was  not 
thought  expedient,  and  it  would  even  have 
been  mjnrious,  to  wait  for  the  arrival  of  un- 
certain replies  from  Spain :  accordingly  the 
pope  lost  by  degrees  all  he  held  in  deposit, 
there  remaining  to  him  only  Riva  and  Chia- 
venna,  which  were  all  that  received  succours 
from  the  Spaniards.  His  holiness  complained 
that  these,  though  applied  to  on  the  first  de- 
feats, never  came  to  the  aid  of  his  forces ;  and 
the  latter  complained  that  they  had  not  been 
called  on  in  time ;  so  that  the  Spaniards  were 
ill  satisfied,  the  French  displeased,  and  he 
himself,  highly  indignant,  thinking  that  little 
respect  had  been  paid  to  his  colours,  complain- 
ed loudly  and  continually  of  it  to  every  one : 
nor  did  the  Spaniards  do  less,  attributing  every 
disaster  to  him,  and  blaming  him  more  than 
any  one  else.  And  although  he  afterwards 
sent  his  nephew  as  legate  into  France  and 
Spain,  with  a  purpose  well  known  to  your  se- 
renity, and  though  he  knew  that  the  Italian 
arms  h  id  taken  another  great  movement,  and 
the  danger  would  be  more  serious  if  due  exer- 
tions were  made,  with  all  this  he  never  could 
get  rid  of  his  first  notion,  that  from  the  for- 
mer ill-contrived  beginnings  followed  all  the 
disasters  that  were  subsequently  experienced. 
The  French  and  Spaniards,  on  their  part,  both 
attributed  the  vexations  and  the  difficulties 
encountered  in  this  negotiation  to  the  preten- 
sbns  of  the  pope,  who  required  that  the  fort- 


resses should  be  given  up  to  him,  without  his 
declaring  what  he  would  do  with  them,  whilst, 
however,  he  absolutely  denied  all  intention  of 
demolishing  them.  Hence  it  became  enor- 
mously difficult  to  discover  any  suitable  expe- 
dient, so  much  time  was  wasted,  so  many  ex- 
peditions were  made,  and  finally  the  matter 
was  carried  to  Spain,  there  being  little  hope 
that  it  could  be  terminated  in  Italy.] 

112.  Relatione  dello  stato  delV  imperio  e  del- 
la  Germania  falta  da  mons''  Caraffa  nel 
tempo  che  era  nuntio  alia  corte  delV  im- 
peratore  Vanno  1628. — [Report  of  the  state 
of  the  empire  and  of  Germany  made  by 
monsignor  Carafl^a,  whilst  he  was  nuncio 
at  the  imperial  court.] 

This  is  the  most  circumstantial  of  all  the 
reports  I  have  met  with :  in  a  Roman  copy  it 
numbered  1080  folio  pages.  Nor  is  it  rare  in 
Germany;  I  bought  a  copy  in  Leipsig,  and 
there  is  another  in  a  private  library  in  Berlin 
in  a  handsome  folio  volume,  which  a  certain 
Wynman  presented  to  the  bishop  of  Eichstadt 
in  the  year  1655  with  a  pompous  dedication. 

It  consists  of  four  parts.  In  the  first,  the 
German  troubles  are  generally  described ;  in 
the  second,  the  position,  the  possessions,  and 
the  relations  of  Ferdinand  II. ;  in  the  third, 
the  German  principalities  according  to  the 
circles  ;  in  the  fourth,  the  alliances  that  sub- 
sisted in  Germany,  particularly  in  latter  times. 

The  author  declares  he  would  set  nothing 
down  which  he  had  not  himself  seen  or  learn- 
ed upon  credible  authority.  "  Protestandomi 
che  tutto  quello  che  scrivero,  parte  n'ho  pra- 
ticato  e  visto  io  stesso  per  lo  spatio  di  8  anni 
che  sono  stato  in  Germania,  parte  n'ho  inteso 
di  persone  degne  di  fede,  parte  n'ho  cavato 
della  lettura  de'libri  communi  e  delle  lettere 
e  cancellarie  tanto  d'amici  quanto  d'inimici, 
che  sono  state  intercette  in  diversi  tempi,  de' 
quali  alcune  sono  date  alle  stampe,  altre  no." 
[Protesting  that  all  I  shall  write  will  be  partly 
matter  in  which  I  was  an  actor  and  a  specta- 
tor during  eight  years  I  passed  in  Germany, 
partly  what  I  have  heard  irom  persons  worthy 
of  credit,  partly  derived  from  reading  common 
books  and  letters  and  official  papers,  both  of 
friends  and  of  enemies,  which  have  been  in- 
tercepted at  various  times,  some  of  which 
have  been  given  to  the  press,  others  not.] 

We  see  that  from  the  first  he  contemplates 
a  systematic  compilation. 

Carafl^a's  printed  commentaries  follow  the 
order  of  time:  this  work  is  composed  more  in 
the  shape  of  a  report.  It  is  only  in  the  first 
part  that  events  are  arranged  chronologically. 

I  will  not,  however,  conceal  that  I  have  fre- 
quently entertained  doubts  of  its  authenticity. 

It  is  put  together  in  a  very  slovenly  way. 
First  we  are  given  the  Bohemian  re()ort  over 
again  with  some  slight  omissions;  then  we 
meet  with  a  very  remarkable  piece  on  the 


I 


SECOND  EPOCH  OP  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION 


551 


royal  election  of  Hungary  in  1685,  but 
inserted  out  of  its  proper  place ;  lastly,  we 
come  to  what  is  of  still  greater  importance,  a 
report  of  the  year  1629  on  Germany,  the  em- 
peror, and  the  princes,  respecting  which  there 
is  not  a  trace  of  evidence  to  show  that  it  was 
by  Caraffa  himself,  and  which  is  here  enlarged 
indeed,  but  otherwise  literally  copied.  Many 
other  portions  too  are  manifestly  borrowed. 
King  James  I.  of  England  is  spoken  of  as  the 
"  presente  re  d'Inghilterra,"  which  could  not, 
however,  be  said  in  1628. 

One  would  think  that  some  compiler  had 
put  these  documents  together  without  a  pro- 
per conception  of  their  import. 

But  on  further  investigation  this  does  not 
appear  probable. 

To  the  old  ragguaglio  by  Caraffa  there  are 
here  added  some  exceedingly  important  and 
searching  observations  pertaining  to  the  sub- 
sequent period,  which  a  compiler  could  never 
have  dreamed  of. 

Facts  are  stated  that  could  never  have  oc- 
curred to  any  one  who  was  not  intimately 
conversant  with  his  subject.  For  instance, 
the  author  mentions  the  negotiations  of  Urban 
VIII.  in  England,  through  the  capuchin  Rota, 
which  were  kept  so  very  secret. 

The  nuncio  frequently  speaks  too  in  the 
first  person. 

I  conclude  that  this  work  is  really  by  Ca- 
raffa, but  that  it  was  not  fully  completed  by 
him,  whether  it  was  that  the  author  wanted 
time,  or  inclination,  or  even  power  to  do  so  ; 
for  his  Bohemian  report  too,  to  say  the  least 
of  it,  is  somewhat  diffuse  and  unfashioned.  He 
may  perchance  on  his  return  to  Aversa  have 
filled  up  some  leisure  hours  with  the  putting 
together  of  his  materials. 

At  any  rate  the  work,  even  in  its  present 
shape,  is  deserving  of  all  attention. 

The  reports  it  embodies  with  more  or  less 
modification  are  of  high  value.  The  historical 
remarks,  too,  differ  considerably  from  those  in 
the  printed  commentaries. 

I  will  extract  a  few  notices  that  appear  to 
me  especially  deserving  of  consideration. 

I. — Decay  of  the  German  principalities, — 
for  of  course  German  and  Austrian  matters 
are  much  more  largely  discussed  here  than  Ro- 
man or  ecclesiastical. 

"  Per  il  passato  era  tanta  I'abbondanza  che 
li  principi  di  Germaniaa  pena  potevano  saper 
la  quantita  de  regali,  datii,  argenti  et  altre 
dovitie  venule  da  ogni  parte,  et  hora  a  pena 
ritrovano  il  principio  per  haverle,  e  pare  che 
vivano  solo  alia  giornata,  c  quello  che  da  una 
giornata,  I'altra  lo  consuma.  JNon  vi  e  rac- 
colta  grande  di  danaro,  se  non  di  cose  refiu- 
tate  da'  creditori  e  che  sono  piu  di  titolo  che 
di  realta.  Di  tal  negligenzae  si  poca  econo- 
mia  e  di  si  fatto  errore  varie  s'assegnano  le 
cause :  chi  dice  cio  venire  per  la  liberalita  de' 
principi,  chi  per  le  conditioni  de'  tempi  iniqui, 


chi  per  le  frequenti  guerre,  chi  per  le  sedi- 
tioni  de'  cittadini,  altri  finalmente  assegnano 
la  causa  a'  ministri,  prefetti  e  vicarii:  vera- 
mente  si  vede  tali  officii  haver  voluto  abbrac- 
ciare  piu  di  quello  che  potevano  stringere  et 
essere  arrivate  troppo  oltre  le  comodiia  press 
da  governatori :  con  questo  il  poco  consiglio, 
I'interesse  proprio  anteposto  al  commune,  cose 
che  poterono  estinguere  il  gran  Romano  impe- 
rio,  perche  non  ponno  estinguere  il  Germano] 
Nasce  anco  la  rovina  di  Germania  dalT  otio  de' 
principi  e  dal  loro  troppo  delitiare,  odalla  poca 
forza  d'ingegno,  o  da  una  precipitosa  vecchia- 
ja,  o  pure  per  esser  tanto  nemici  del  governo 
che  pill  si  contentano  di  dare  in  mano  d'un'- 
altro  il  maneggio  delle  cose  pubiiche,  benche 
riconoschino  spesso  la  poca  idoneita  di  colui, 
e  quasi  a  foggia  di  alcuni  antichi  Eritrei  farli 
secondi  principi,  da  loro  solo  differenti  per 
nome,  ma  pari  nel  total  maneggio,  come  fu 
Joab  appresso  David  et  altri  appresso  altri 
principi.  I  quali  maneggiatori,  come  presi 
dalla  plebe,  abusavano  et  abusano  la  loro  data 
potesta,  e  piu  con  la  passione  che  con  la  mod- 
eratione  della  virlii  governandosi  e  dati  in 
preda  a  parasiti  et  adulatori  constituivano  e 
constituiscono  altri  sottoministri  indegni,  che 
con  prezzo  e  ragione  di  parentela  et  ambitione 
corrompevano  e  corrompono  la  giustitia,  et  a 
tale  esempio  dietro  a  se  tirando  altri  principi 
circonvicini  facevano  commune  giustitia  cio 
ch'era  proprio  interesse." 

[In  times  past  there  was  such  abundance, 
that  the  princes  of  Germany  could  hardly  tell 
the  quantity  of  royalties,  dues,  silver,  and 
other  wealth  that  accrued  to  them  from  all 
sides ;  and  now  they  hardly  know  how  to  set 
about  procuring  these,  and  it  seems  that  they 
live  only  from  day  to  day,  the  receipts  of  each 
day  being  consumed  by  the  next.  There  is 
no  great  receipt  of  money,  only  of  things  re- 
nounced by  creditors,  and  which  are  of  nomi- 
nal rather  than  real  value  For  such  negli- 
gence, such  want  of  economy,  and  errors  so 
committed,  various  are  the  causes  assigned : 
some  impute  it  all  to  the  liberality  of  the 
princes,  some  to  the  bad  times,  some  to  the 
frequent  wars,  some  to  the  seditions  of  the 
townsfolk,  others,  lastly,  lay  the  blame  to  the 
ministers,  the  prefects,  and  their  deputies. 
In  good  truth  there  have  been  known  official 
personages  who  have  sought  to  grasp  more 
than  they  could  hold,  and  the  advantages 
taken  by  governors  have  been  carried  inordi- 
nate lengths  ;  add  to  this  the  lack  of  discre- 
tion, and  the  preference  of  private  interests 
to  those  of  the  community,  things  that  sufficed 
to  extinguish  the  great  Roman  empire,  why, 
then,  should  they  not  the  German  f  The 
ruin  of  Germany  has  birth  also  from  the  in- 
dolence of  the  princes,  and  from  their  exces- 
sive luxury,  or  from  the  feebleness  of  their 
talents,  or  from  a  premature  senility,  or 
because  they  are  so  averse  to  governing,  that 


552 


APPENDIX. 


they  prefer  committing  the  management  of 
public  affairs  to  the  hands  of  others,  though 
frequently  they  know  their  incapacity ;  and 
after  the  fashion  as  it  were  of  some  ancient 
Eritrei  to  make  these  persons  second  sove- 
reigns, different  from  those  of  old  only  in 
name,  but  like  them  in  their  entire  manage- 
ment of  the  state,  like  Joab  under  David,  and 
others  under  other  princes.  These  managers, 
as  taken  from  the  plebeians,  abused  and  do 
abuse  the  power  granted  them,  and,  ruled 
more  by  passion  than  by  the  moderation  of 
virtue,  and  a  prey  to  parasites  and  flatterers, 
they  appointed  and  do  appoint  other  unworthy 
subordinate  ministers,  wlio  for  lucre  and  for 
kinship,  and  for  ambition,  corrupted  and  do 
corrupt  justice,  and  inducing  neighbouring 
princes  to  follow  their  example,  made  common 
justice  of  that  which  was  private  interest.] 

II.  Election  of  a  king  of  Hungary. 

"Sopragiungendo  alladieta  li  voti  del  reg- 
no di  Schiavonia  e  di  Croatia,  che  erano  quasi 
tutti  cattolici,  e  superando  con  questa  giunta 
la  parte  de'  cattolici  et  adherenti  di  Sua 
Maesta  di  non  poco  la  parte  degli  heretici  e 
non  confidenti,  la  voce  sparsa  della  volonta  di 
S.  M^^  dell'  elettione  veniva  giornalmente 
meglio  intesa.  Tuttavia  li  deputati  dell'  im- 
peratore,  per  meglio  assicurarsi  delii  voti 
della  dieta,  volsero  prima  di  proporre  I'elet- 
tione  deir  arciduca  fame  esperienza  con 
I'elettione  de  palatino,  che  si  doveva  fare  per 
la  morte  del  Thurzo,  desiderando  S.  M'-'^  che 
si  facesse  un  cattolico  e  particolarmente  il 
sopradetto  conte  Esterhasi,  ancorche  secondo 
le  leggi  e  costitutioni  di  quel  regno  havesse 
proposto  alii  stati  quattro  soggetti,  due  catto- 
lici e  due  heretici :  et  il  negotio  riusci  felicis- 
simamentQ,  poiche  detto  conle  fu  eletto  con 
150  voti,  non  havendo  havuto  il  contrario  piu 
che  60.  Fatta  questa  prova  e  con  essa  rin- 
corati  maggiormente  li  confidenti  et  amici 
deir  imperatore,  parve  nondimeno  alii  minis- 
tri  di  S.  JVl^^  che  oltre  alii  sopradetti  voti  150 
saria  stato  bene  a  superare  qualclie  buona 
parte  delli  60  contrarj  con  presenti  e  con  doni 
accio  riuscisse  I'elettione  con  maggior  sodis- 
fattione  del  regno,  e  collo  spendere,  per  quan- 
to  fu  detto,  da  20  m.  fiorini  si  hebbe  I'iniento 
della  maggior  parte  di  loro,  come  si  esperi- 
mento  nell'  altri  negotii  della  dieta.  Li  Bet- 
leniani  e  suoi  adherenti,  ancorche  non  fosse 
air  hora  publicata  la  volonta  dell'  imperatore, 
sebbene  si  teneva  per  sicuro  che  volesse  fare 
eleggere  re  I'arciduca,  non  mancavano  di 
conlrariare  al  possibile. 

"  Soggiungero  un'  esempio  dell'  ardire  di 
una  donna  in  questo  proposito,  dal  quale,  si 
come  e  straordinario,  si  conosceranno  le  forze 
di  detti  contrarii.  La  madre  del  barone  Ba- 
thiani,  che  e  de'  piu  principali  signori  di 
qualita  e  di  stato  e  di  adherenza  d'Ungaria, 
hebbe  ardire  di  mettere  in  consideratione  all' 
imperatrice  che  non  doveva  permettere  che  si 


facesse  questa  elettione,  perche  si  veniva  a 
pregiudicare  a  S.  JVI''^  stessa  poiche  se  fosse 
venuta  qualche  disgratia  alia  vita  dell'  impe- 
ratore, lei  per  I'interregno,  come  coronata 
regina  d'Ungaria,  finche  fosse  stato  eletto  un 
nuovo  re,  haveria  governato  quel  regno.  Ma 
I'imperatrice,  con  somma  prudenza  dissimu- 
lando,  le  rispose  che  la  ringratiava  dell'  affetto, 
ma  che  lei  doppo  la  morte  dell'  imperatore,  se 
fosse  sopravissuta,  non  voleva  pensare  ad  al- 
tro  che  all'  utile  delli  figli  di  Sua  M'^^  sue 
marito :  al  quale  subito  diede  parte  della 
sopradetta  proposta. 

"  Ma  ancorche  il  negotio  dell'  elettione  si 
stimasse  gia  sicuro,  I'impedi  tuttavia  molti 
giorni  il  contrasto  grande  nato  tra  ministri 
pivi  supremi  di  Sua  M^*^,  includendosi  ancora 
monsr  arcivescovo  di  Strigonia  et  il  nuova 
palatino  con  monsr  cancelliere  et  altri  che  vi 
havevano  interessi,  come  era  I'ambasciatore 
di  Spagna  et  io  come  indegno  ministro  apos- 
tolico.  11  contrasto  fu,  se  seguita  detta  elet- 
tione si  doveva  far  subito  la  coronatione. 
Alcuni  dicevano  di  si:  perche  con  questa 
veniva  I'arciduca  ad  assicurarsi  totalmente 
nel  regno,  il  che  non  saria  stato  se  fosse  stato 
solamente  eletto,  per  I'accennata  di  sopra 
elettione  del  Gabor,  essendo  gli  Ungari  huo- 
mini  volubilissimi  e  per  lo  piu  infedeli ;  2° 
dicevano  che  la  coronatione,  se  si  fosse  fatta, 
haveria  giovata  assai  nel  la  prima  dieta  impe- 
riale,  se  I'imperatore  havesse  voluto  far  eleg- 
gere Sua  Altezza  in  re  de'  Romani :  3°  per 
il  matriraonio  dell'  infanta  di  Spagna,  essen- 
dosi  cola  dichiarato  di  volere  I'arciduca  prima 
eletto  e  coronato  re  di  Ungaria.  Altri  per  il 
contrario,  tra  quali  ero  io  et  il  padre  confes- 
sore  deir  imperatore,  dicevano  che  questa 
coronatione  non  si  doveva  fare  all'  hora,  per- 
che li  stati  di  quel  regno  non  haveriano  mai 
permesso  che  seguisse  detta  coronatione  se 
Sua  Altezza  non  havesse  promesso  loro  e 
giurato,  tanto  nelli  punti  politici  come  di 
religione,  tutto  quello  che  promise  il  padre 
stando  nelli  maggiori  pericoli :  onde  non  vi 
essendo  all'  hora  detti  pericoli  e  potendo  con 
il  tempo  niigliorarsi  assai  le  cose  di  S.  A.,  o 
per  la  morte  del  Gabor  o  per  li  felici  success! 
dell'  imperio  o  per  altro,  non  era  bene  intri- 
gare  la  conscienza  di  questo  principe  giovane 
con  serrarli  la  porta  a'  progressi  della  reli- 
gione et  impedirgli  insieme  I'acquisto  di  mag- 
giore  autorita  politica  e  dominio  nel  regno: 
2°  dicevano,  e  questo  per  lo  pivi  li  camerali, 
che  nella  coronatione  vi  saria  andata  una 
buona  spesa,  come  ancora  nell'  accrescimento 
della  corte  di  Sua  Altezza,  onde  stando  all' 
hora  imminente  la  spesa  grossa  del  viaggio 
d'Ulma,  si  saria  potuto  differire  in  altro  tem- 
po, non  potendo  probabilmente  apportare  alcun 
detrimento  detta  dilatione,  perche  se  il  Gabor 
havesse  voluto  pigliare  prctesti,  venendo  qual- 
che accidente  di  morte  all'  imperatore,  tanto 
I'haveria   pigliato  ancorche  I'arciduca  fosse 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


553 


stato  coronato,  come  fece  contro  I'imperatore 
ancorche  fusse  eletto  e  coronato:  che  per 
elettione  in  re  de'  Romani  e  per  il  matrimo- 
nio  deir  infanta  di  Spajj^na  bastava  che  I'arci- 
duca  fusse  vero  re  d'Ungaria,  e  come  tale  si 
potosse  intitolare  per  la  sola  elettione.  Stan- 
dosi  dunque  in  questo  contrasto,  ancorche 
I'ambasciatore  di  Spagna  facesse  nuove  in- 
stanze  per  la  coronatione,  dicendo  che  in 
Spagna  non  haveriano  fatto  il  matrimonio  dell' 
infanta  con  I'arciduca,  stimandosi  altrimenti 
la  successione  nel  regno  non  sicura,  Sua  M^^ 
con  la  solita  sua  pieta  si  dichiaro  che  non 
voleva  che  si  facesse,  stimando  secondo  il 
consiglio  del  suo  padre  confessore  che  fosse 
contro  conscienza  se  I'arciduca  havesse  giu- 
rato,  come  non  poteva  far  di  meno,  quello  che 
era  stata  forzala  giurare  Sua  M^^  nelli  peri- 
coli  grandi,  quali  all'  hora  non  vi  erano." 

[The  votes  of  the  kingdom  of  Sclavonia 
and  of  Croatia  coming  into  the  diet,  almost 
all  of  them  catholic,  which  addition  gave  the 
party  of  the  catholics  and  of  the  adherents  of 
his  majesty  no  small  majority  over  the  here- 
tics and  the  disaffected,  the  rumours  spread  of 
his  majesty's  wishes  respecting  the  election 
were  every  day  better  received.  The  empe- 
ror's envoys,  however,  to  make  themselves 
the  more  sure  of  the  votes  of  the  diet,  be- 
thought them,  before  proposing  the  election 
of  the  archduke,  to  make  an  experiment  with 
the  election  of  the  palatine,  which  was  ren- 
dered necessary  by  the  death  of  Thurzo,  it 
being  his  majesty's  wish  that  a  catholic  should 
be  elected,  and  particularly  the  above-named 
Esterhazy  ;  although,  according  to  the  laws 
and  constitutions  of  that  kingdom,  he  had  pro- 
posed to  the  estates  four  candidates,  two 
catholics  and  two  heretics.  The  affair  turned 
out  most  auspiciously ;  for  the  said  count  was 
elected  by  150  votes,  his  opponent  not  having 
had  more  than  60.  After  this  trial  had  been 
made,  whereby  the  friends  and  adherents  of 
the  emperor  were  still  more  encouraged,  his 
majesty's  ministers  thought,  however,  that  it 
would  have  been  well  to  have  gained,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  before-named  150  votes,  a  good 
part  of  the  other  60  by  presents,  so  that  the 
election  might  have  turned  out  to  the  greater 
satisfaction  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  by  expending 
20,000  florins,  as  it  was  said,  the  greater  part 
of  them  could  have  been  brought  round,  as 
was  experienced  in  the  other  affairs  of  the 
diet.  The  Bethlem  party,  it  being  known  for 
certain,  though  not  yet  publicly  announced, 
that  the  emperor  desired  to  have  the  archduke 
elected,  did  not  fail  to  counteract  this  as  much 
as  possible. 

[I  will  mention  an  instance  of  a  lady's 
eagerness  in  this  matter,  from  the  extraordi- 
nary character  of  which  an  idea  may  be 
formed  of  the  violence  of  the  opposition.  The 
mother  of  baron  Bathiany,  who  is  one  of  the 
principal  lords  in  point  of  quality,  estate,  and 
70 


number  of  retainers,  was  very  earnest  in 
representing  to  the  empress  that  she  ought 
not  to  permit  the  election  to  take  place,  be- 
cause it  was  to  the  prejudice  of  her  majesty, 
since  if  any  thing  unhappily  befel  the  life  of 
the  emperor,  she  as  crowned  queen  of  Hun- 
gary would  have  the  government  of  that  king- 
dom during  the  interregnum  until  a  new  king 
should  be  elected.  But  the  empress,  dissem- 
bling with  consummate  prudence,  replied, 
that  she  thanked  her  for  her  kindness,  but 
that  after  the  emperor's  death,  should  she  sur- 
vive him,  she  would  think  of  nothing  but 
what  would  be  for  the  advantage  of  the  sons 
of  his  majesty  her  husband,  and  she  immedi- 
ately acquainted  the  latter  with  the  sugges- 
tion that  had  been  offered  her. 

[But  though  the  affair  of  the  election  was 
now  thought  secure,  it  was  nevertheless  im- 
peded for  many  days  by  the  serious  disagree- 
ment between  his  majesty's  supreme  minis- 
ters, including  also  the  archbishop  of  Strigonia, 
and  the  new  palatine,  with  the  chancellor  and 
others  who  were  interested  therein,  such  as 
the  Spanish  ambassador  and  myself  as  the 
unworthy  apostolic  minister.  The  dispute 
was  as  to  whether,  upon  the  election  taking 
place,  the  coronation  should  immediately  fol- 
low. Some  were  for  it ;  because  in  this  way 
the  archduke  would  be  completely  secured  in 
the  kingdom,  which  would  not  be  the  case 
were  he  merely  elected,  from  the  pretence  of 
the  previous  election  of  Gabor,  the  Hungari- 
ans being  extremely  fickle  men,  and  for  the 
most  part  unfaithful :  2ndly,  they  said  that  the 
coronation,  shQuld  it  take  place,  would  be  of 
considerable  assistance  in  the  first  imperial 
diet,  should  the  emperor  desire  to  have  his 
highness  elected  king  of  the  Romans:  3rdly, 
they  advised  it  with  a  view  to  the  marriage 
with  the  infanta  of  Spain,  it  being  required 
by  the  Spanish  court  that  the  archduke  should 
first  be  elected  and  crowned  king  of  Hungary. 
Others  on  the  contrary,  among  whom  were 
myself  and  the  emperor's  father  confessor, 
said,  that  the  coronation  ought  not  to  take 
place  for  the  present,  because  the  estates  of 
the  kingdom  would  never  permit  it,  unless 
his  highness  promised  them  on  oath,  both  as 
to  political  and  religious  points,  all  that  his 
father  had  promised  when  in  a  more  danger- 
ous and  critical  position :  therefore  as  those 
dangers  no  longer  subsisted,  and  as  the  affairs 
of  his  highness  might  assume  a  better  aspect 
in  the  course  of  time,  whether  from  the  death 
of  Gabor  or  from  the  prosperity  of  the  empire, 
or  otherwise,  it  was  not  advisable  to  embar- 
rass the  conscience  of  that  young  prince,  and 
to  shut  out,  as  far  as  he  was  concerned,  the 
further  progress  of  religion,  and  to  hinder  liim 
at  the  same  time  from  acquiring  a  more  en- 
larged political  authority  and  dominion  in  the 
kingdom  :  2ndly,  they  said,  more  particularly 
members  of  the  treasury,  that  there  would  be 


654 


APPENDIX. 


a  considerable  expense  incurred  by  the  coro- 
nation, and  also  in  the  augmentation  of  his 
highncss's  court ;  therefore  as  the  heavy  ex- 
pense of  the  journey  to  Ulm  was  to  be  speedily 
defrayed,  it  would  be  well  to  put  off  the  mat- 
ter to  another  time,  nor  would  this  delay  be 
likely  to  prove  injurious,  for  if  Gabor  were 
disposed  to  set  up  any  claim  upon  the  empe- 
ror's death,  he  would  do  so  just  as  much  even 
though  the  archduke  had  been  crowned,  as  he 
had  done  against  the  emperor,  notwithstand- 
ing he  was  elected  and  crowned  ;  they  said, 
too,  that  for  the  election  as  king  of  the 
Romans,  and  for  the  marriage  with  the  infanta 
of  Spain,  it  was  enough  that  the  archduke 
should  be  really  king  of  Hungary,  and  that 
he  could  entitle  himself  such  by  virtue  of  his 
election  alone.  The  parties  being  thus  at 
variance,  although  the  Spanish  ambassador 
insisted  afresh  upon  the  coronation,  saying, 
that  in  Spain  they  would  not  consent  to  the 
marriage  of  the  infanta  with  the  archduke 
without  that  ceremony,  since  they  thought 
that  without  it  the  succession  to  the  kingdom 
was  not  secure,  his  majesty,  with  his  accus- 
tomed piety,  declared  that  he  would  not  have 
it  take  place,  thinking,  in  accordance  with 
the  advice  of  his  father  confessor,  that  it 
would  be  against  conscience  if  the  archduke 
were  forced,  as  he  would  assuredly  be,  to 
swear  what  his  majesty  himself  had  been 
forced  to  make  oath  to  in  great  dangers, 
which  now  no  longer  existed.] 

113.  Relatio  status  ecclesicB  et  totius  dicecesis 
AugustancEy  1629.  [Report  of  the  state 
of  the  church  and  entire  diocese  of  Augs- 
burg.] 

Of  no  special  importance.  It  relates  chiefly 
to  the  affairs  of  the  city  of  Augsburg. 

The  labours  and  final  banishment  from  Augs- 
burg of  the  protestants  "  pseudo-doctors"  con- 
stitute the  author's  principal  topic. 

He  hopes  that  this  measure  having  obtained 
the  emperor's  sanction  chiefly  through  the 
instrumentality  of  Hieronymus  Imhof  and 
Bernhard  Rehlingen,  the  whole  city  would 
shortly  become  catholic  again. 

114.  Legatio  apost<^'^  P.  Aloys.  Carqfre  epis- 
copi  Tricaricensis  sedente  Urbano  VIII 
Pont.  M.  ad  tractum  Rheni  et  ad  prov. 
inferioris  GermanicE  obila  ub  anno  1624 
usque  ad  annum  16:34.  Ad  O^"'  Franc. 
Barberinum.  [Legation  of  P.  Aloys 
Caraffa  to  the  Rhine  and  Lower  Germany 
between  the  years  1624  and  1634.] 

A  very  full  report  in  204  leaves;  some- 
what prolix,  indeed,  but  containing  some  good 
things. 

The  journey  is  first  described,  and  a  great 
deal  of  room  is  occupied  with  what  is  insigni- 


ficant. The  nuncio,  among  other  places,  goes 
to  Fulda.  He  makes  a  merit  of  it  that  he  re- 
duced to  the  number  of  eight  the  sixteen  quar- 
terings  that  every  one  was  required  to  show 
who  aspired  to  the  rank  of  abbot  of  Fulda. 

He  is  particularly  copious  respecting  the 
dispute  between  Liege  and  the  bishop,  in 
which  he  himself  took  an  active  part ;  he  trans- 
ferred the  seat  of  the  nunciature  from  Cologne 
to  Liege. 

The  most  remarkable  part  of  the  report  is 
undoubtedly  the  description  of  the  catholic 
universities  of  that  day  within  the  range  of  his 
nunciature. 

We  see  from  it  how  completely  the  higher 
walk  of  education  was  at  that  time  under  the 
control  of  the  Jesuits.  They  were  the  mas- 
ters in  Trier  and  Mainz  ;  Paderborn,  Miinster, 
and  OsnabriJck,  where  universities  had  but 
recently  been  founded,  were  entirely  in  their 
hands.  But  they  taught  only  the  humaniora, 
philosophy  and  theology ;  jurisprudence  was 
altogether  neglected.  In  Cologne,  which  was 
always  the  first  of  these  universities,  medicine 
was  lectured  upon  only  by  two  teachers,  who 
had  but  few  hearers.  The  chief  evil  in  Co- 
logne had  been  that  the  teachers  were  too  well 
provided  for  with  rich  prebends.  "  Earum  opi- 
bus  ad  vitam  clementem  et  suavem  instructi, 
raro  aut  nunquam  ipsi  sacram  doctrinam  tra- 
debant,  sed  aliorum  vicaria  opera  passim  ute- 
bantur.  Hinc  sine  pondere  et  melhodo  instrue- 
bantur  academici,  et  anni  quindeni  facile  cir- 
cumagi  solebant  priusquam  universam  illi 
theologiam  audirent.  Ea  res  vero  antehac 
non  parum  incommoda  ferat  archidioscesi 
Coloniensi  et  prsesertim  ditionibus  Julise,  Cli- 
viae,  ac  Montium,  quod  pro  adeunda  in  iis 
animarum  procuratione  reparandisque  religio- 
nis  catholicae  ruinis  parochi  et  sacerdotes 
idonei  hoc  pacto  nisi  post  longissimum  diem 
non  instiluebantur."  [The  wealth  of  these 
enabling  them  to  pass  their  lives  in  ease  and 
comfort,  they  seldom  or  never  personally  ex- 
pounded the  doctrines  of  religion,  but  on  all 
occasions  employed  deputies.  Hence  there 
was  neither  solidity  nor  method  in  the  instruc- 
tion given  to  the  students,  and  fifteen  years 
were  commonly  passed  before  they  h^d  gone 
through  the  whole  course  of  theology.  Now 
this  had  formerly  been  very  prejudicial  to  the 
archdiocese  of  Cologne,  particularly  to  the  dis- 
tricts of  Juliers,  Cleves,  and  Mons,  because  it 
was  not  till  after  an  inordinate  delay,  that  fit 
parish  clergy  and  priests  were  appointed  in 
them  for  the  cure  of  souls,  and  to  rebuild  the 
ruins  of  the  catholic  religion.]  The  Jesuits 
abolished  this  abuse;  the  college  of  the  three 
crowns,  which  was  transferred  to  them,  enjoy- 
ed a  high  reputation,  and  in  1634  had  upwards 
of  120U  students.  But  the  spirit  of  luxury 
was  not  so  easily  eradicted.  The  feasts  of  the 
masters  increased  luxury  and  the  costs  of  pro- 
motion.    "  Tota  quadragesima  sunt  quotidie 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION, 


555 


academicorum  symposia."  [All  through  Lent 
there  are  daily  drinking  parties  among  the 
members  of  the  university.]  Our  author's 
account  of  the  Catholicism  and  the  good  living 
of  the  Colognese  is  by  no  means  amiss.  "  Po- 
pulus  Coloniensis  religionis  avitse  retinentis- 
simus  est,  quam  utique  semel  susceptam  nun- 
quam  deseruit.  Tolerantur  quidem  in  civitate 
femiliffi  aliquse  sectariorum,  sed  vetitum  eis 
est  exercitium  omne  sectarum  suarum,  et  cere 
gravi  mulctantur  si  qui  clam  habere  privates 
conventus  et  audire  Lutheri  aut  Calvini  buc- 
cinatores  deprehendantur.  Insenatum  ipsum 
nulji  cooptantur  qui  catholici  non  fuerint ;  et 
quotquot  in  eo  conscripti  ad  curiam  veniunt, 
sententiam  dicere  aut  ferre  suflragium  non 
possunt  nisi  prius  eodem  die  intervenerint  rei 
sacrte  in  proximo  palatii  senatorii  sacello. 
Noctu  ipsi  cives  excubias  habent  in  potioribus 
plateis  civitatis,  nee  vis  aut  injuria  metueri 
potest,  quia  strepitu  quovis  exciti  adsunt  et 
opitulantur,  grassatores  vero  ac  sicarios  in 
vincula  conjiciunt.  Sed  et  plateas  omnes  ca- 
tensis  ferreis  noctu  vinciuntur,  ne  pateant 
liberis  excursionibus,  ideoque  populus  maxinie 
in  tranquillo  agit.  Inter  alia  plebis  commoda 
illud  imprimis  commemorari  debet,  licere  cui- 
que  ineunte  hieme  boves  et  sues  emere  eosque 
fumo  arefacere  ac  in  escam  anni  consequentis, 
qua  vesctintur  avide,  domi  servare.  Spatium 
vero  ejusdem  anni  eisconcedi  solet  ad  pretium 
reprsesentandum,  dum  interim  aliqui  a  senatu 
constituti  mercatoribus  solvunt:  nee  unquam 
opifices  uUi,  quamvis  inopes,  patiuntur  suam 
lidem  in  ea  re  desiderari,  quia  deinceps  baud 
foret  integrum  eis  rursus  ejusmodi  annonam 
rei  cibaria  illo  tam  insigni  subsidio  aeris  publici 
coemere.  Sunt  et  triclinia  tribuum  commu- 
nia,  in  eisque  possunt  omnes  iis  diebus  quibus 
feriantur  in  hebdomade,  constitute  pretio  ad- 
modum  facili,  convivari." 

[The  people  of  Cologne  are  most  tenacious 
of  the  religion  of  their  fathers,  from  which  as 
once  adopted  they  have  never  swerved.  A  few 
families  of  sectarians,  indeed,  are  tolerated  in 
the  city;  but  all  demonstrations  of  their  tenets 
are  forbidden  them,  and  they  are  heavily  fined 
if  any  of  them  are  detected  holding  private 
meetings,  and  listening  to  the  trumpeters  of 
Luther  or  Calvin.  None  are  elected  to  the 
senate  itself  wlio  are  not  catholics  ;  and  all  the 
members  of  that  body  that  enter  the  court  are 
debarred  from  uttering  their  opinions  or  deli- 
vering their  votes,  unless  they  liave  previously 
attended  divine  worship  the  same  day  in  the 
adjoining  chapel  of  the  senatorial  palace.  Tiie 
citizens  themselves  keep  watch  and  ward  in 
the  principal  streets  of  the  city,  and  none  need 
be  apprehensive  of  wrong  or  violence,  since 
upon  any  alarm  they  are  ready  with  their  aid, 
and  take  all  assailants  and  cutthroats  into  cus- 
tody. Moreover  the  streets  are  all  closed  by 
night  with  iron  chains  preventing  free  passage, 
a  measure  peculiarly  conducive  to  the  quiet 


and  security  of  the  inhabitants.  Among  other 
advantages  enjoyed  by  the  populace,  it  is  par- 
ticularly worthy  of  mention  that  each  man  has 
the  privilege  of  purchasing  oxen  and  swine  in 
the  beginning  of  winter,  smoke-drying  them 
and  storing  them  up  for  the  next  year's  con- 
sumption, when  they  are  highly  relished. 
They  are  allowed  a  year  to  pay,  the  price 
being  meanwhile  advanced  to  the  venders  by 
certain  persons  appointed  by  the  senate  :  nor 
does  it  ever  occur  that  artisans,  however  poor, 
fail  to  keep  their  engagements  in  this  matter, 
for  the  consequence  would  be  that  they  could 
never  again  avail  themselves  of  so  signal  an 
assistance  offered  them  by  the  public  funds  in 
the  purchase  of  their  provisions.  There  are 
also  district  ordinaries,  where  all  may  be  en- 
tertained at  a  very  moderate  fixed  price  on 
those  days  of  the  week  on  which  they  are  held.] 

But  not  only  towns  and  universities,  but 
princes  and  events  too  are  portrayed.  Fer- 
dinand of  Cologne  "  gravitate  morum,  profes- 
sione  pietatis  et  ingenii  maturitate  nulli  secun- 
dus"  [inferior  to  none  in  exemplary  morals, 
manifest  piety,  and  mature  intellect.]  Fre- 
derick of  Wurzbuvg:  "  linguarum  etiam 
exterarum  peritia,  morum  suavi  quadam  gra- 
vitate, prudentissima  dexteritate  omnibus  ca- 
rus,"  [skilled  in  foreign  languages,  and  dear 
to  all  for  a  certain  gentle  worth  and  moral 
dignity,  and  a  most  happy  practical  wisdom.] 
Casimir  of  Mainz  :  "  eloquens  vir  in  Germa- 
nico  idiomate,  legationibus  functus"  [an  elo- 
quent German  speaker,  he  had  filled  the  office 
of  legate.] 

Of  the  events  too  of  the  period,  L.  Caraffa 
mentions  .many  remarkable  particulars.  I 
know  not  what  were  the  grounds  for  believing 
that  Wallenstein  might  have  taken  Stralsund, 
"si,  quod  multi  existimant,  pecuniam  quam 
urbem  capere  non  maluisset."  [If,  as  many 
supposed,  he  had  not  been  more  desirous  of 
taking  money  than  the  city.]  He  considers 
it  a  great  misfortune,  that  upon  the  first  move- 
ment of  Saxony,  Tilly  could  not  have  thrown 
his  troops  into  the  country.  His  description 
of  the  state  of  Cologne  after  the  battle  of  Leip- 
sig,  and  of  the  views  which  the  French  mani- 
fested at  that  moment  is  very  remarkable. 

"  Ex  accepta  clade  ad  Lipsiam  fractse  vires 
fuerant  et  fracti  catholicorum  animi)  et  tunc 
repente  imperitia  vel  metus  in  propugnandis 
arcibus  aditum  hosti  victori  magnum  aperue- 
runt,  ut  viscera  imperii  mox  infestis  armis 
invaderet,  ex  quo  Fulda,  Herbipolis,  Bam- 
berga,  Moguntia,  Wormatia,  Spira,  aliseque 
urbes  atque  oppida  fuerunt  exiguo  tempore  vel 
expugnata  vel  dedita.  Colonia  superfuit  prin- 
cipum  exulum  perfugium,  et  hi  thesauros  qua 
sacros  qua  laicos  in  eam  civitatem  importa- 
verant,  si  quibus  licuerat  tamen  illos  avehere 
antequam  ingrueret  ea  belli  vehemens  et  su- 
bita  tempestas.  Ibidem  anxia?  curce  principum 
et  dubia  consilia  erant,  an,  sicut  proposuerat 


556 


APPENDIX. 


orator  Gallus,  expediret  deinceps  neutri  parti, 
seu  Caesaris  seu  Gustavi  regis,  tarn  arma  prin- 
cipum  eorumdem  quam  arma  ipsiusmetcivita- 
tis  Coloniensis  favere.  Id  Colonise  suadebat 
orator  christianissimi  regis :  sed  necessarium 
fore  affirmabat  ut  in  earn  urbem  pariter  atque 
in  alias  ditiones  principum  electorurn  cohortes 
prassidiariorum  ex  regis  sui  legionibus  intro- 
ducerentur :  tunc  enim  reveritus  Coloniam 
Gustavus  rex  alio  arma  convertisset,  aut  si 
venire  hostis  nihilominus  deliberasset,  provo- 
casset  merito  christianissimum  regem,  ac  foe- 
dere  extincto  inimicitiam  et  iram  ejus  experiri 
coepisset.  Gravis  nimirum  videbatur  ea  con- 
ditio admittendi  cohortes  prsesidiarias  regis 
externi  in  civitates  ac  ditiones  imperii :  sed 
graviores  multo  erant  conditiones  alias,  quibus 
ut  neutri  parti  faverent  deinceps  proponebatur ; 
quia  in  bello  tam  ancipili  Cffisarem  non  juvare 
sed  quasi  deserere  videbatur  maxiine  aiienum 
a  professione  pervetere  civitatum  ac  princi- 
pum ipsiusmet  imperii.  Hoc  superesse  tamen 
consilii  et  eum  portum  securitatis  unice  adeun- 
dum  esse  judicabat  pariter  apostolicus  nuntius 
Parisiensis,  ad  quern  scripseram  de  ingenti 
clade  religioni  catholicae  templisque  et  aris 
illata  per  Gustavum  regem." 

[The  blow  received  at  Leipsig  had  broken 
alike  the  strength  and  the  spirits  of  the  catho- 
lics, and  forthwith  want  of  skill  or  timidity  in 
the  defence  of  their  positions,  opened  a  wide 
door  to  the  victorious  foe,  enabling  him  speed- 
ily to  infest  the  very  bowels  of  the  empire, 
whereof  Fulda,  Wiirzburg,  Bamberg,  Mainz, 
Worms,  Spires,  and  other  cities  and  towns, 
were  in  brief  time  either  stormed  or  surren- 
dered, Cologne  remained  the  place  of  refuge 
of  the  outcast  princes,  and  thither  had  been 
carried  whatever  treasure,  cleric  or  lay,  there 
had  by  any  chance  been  opportunity  of  carry- 
ing off  before  the  outburst  of  that  fierce  and 
sudden  storm  of  war.  Here  it  was  anxiously 
and  dubiously  debated  among  the  princes, 
whether  it  was  expedient,  as  the  French  envoy 
had  proposed,  that  thenceforth  neither  the  said 
princes  nor  the  city  itself  should  lend  their 
arms  in  favour  of  either  party,  whether  the 
emperor  or  king  Gustavus.  Such  was  the 
advice  of  his  most  Christian  majesty's  envoy  ; 
but  he  averred  that  it  would  be  necessary  to 
introduce  into  that  city,  and  also  into  other 
strongholds  of  the  electoral  princes,  garrisons 
furnished  from  his  own  king's  troops:  for  so 
king  Gustavus  being  in  awe  of  Cologne  would 
turn  his  arms  elsewhere,  or  if  he  yet  deter- 
mined to  assault  it,  he  would  incur  the  just 
indignation  of  the  most  Christian  king,  and 
upon  the  termination  of  the  alliance  begin  to 
experience  his  disfavour  and  resentment. 
Onerous  indeed  appeared  that  proposition  of 
receiving  garrisons  of  a  foreign  king's  troops 
into  the  cities  and  strongholds  of  the  empire  ; 
but  much  more  onerous  appeared  the  other 
proposition,  namely,  that  for  the  future  they 


should  favour  neither  party;  because  in  so 
critical  a  war  not  to  assist  the  emperor,  but  to 
desert  him  as  it  were,  seemed  altogether  at 
variance  with  the  immemorial  principles  of 
the  cities  and  princes  of  the  empire  itself. 
The  apostolic  nuncio  at  Paris  however,  to 
whom  I  had  written  touching  the  direful  blows 
inflicted  on  the  catholic  religion,  its  temples, 
and  its  altars  by  king  Gustavus,  was  likewise 
of  opinion  that  this  was  the  only  remaining 
course,  and  the  only  door  of  safety  left  yet 
open.] 

There  follows  a  detailed  account  of  the  fate 
of  Wallenstein,  which  I  shall  give  elsewhere. 

115.  Relatione  della  corte  di  Roma  del  Sig^ 
K^  Aluise  Contarini  delV  anno  1632  al 
1635.  (Arch.  Ven.)  [Report  on  the 
court  of  Rome  by  Aluise  Contarini  from 
1632  to  1635.] 

A  very  circumstantial  report  in  thirty-five 
chapters  comprising  140  pages :  it  is  the  more 
important,  as  Aluise  Contarini  had  come  direct 
from  France  to  Rome,  and  was  therefore  the 
more  capable  of  estimating  the  very  peculiar 
political  position  which  Urban  VII.  had  assum- 
ed at  that  period. 

He  describes  in  the  first  place  the  spiritual 
and  the  temporal  government  of  the  pope. 

He  finds  it  quite  monarchical.  Of  all  the 
old  congregations  only  one,  that  of  the  inqui- 
sition, assembled  regularly:  the  cardinals  en- 
joyed no  other  prerogatives  than  that  carriages 
drew  up  on  meeting  them,  that  they  wore  the 
purple  and  voted  in  the  election  of  popes  :  the 
pope  had  so  little  liking  for  them,  that  in  im- 
portant matters  he  had  recourse  to  inferior 
prelates,  whose  hopes  more  immediately  de- 
pended on  himself,  rather  than  to  the  cardi- 
nals, who  were  more  independent. 

But  the  tighter  the  rein  is  drawn,  the  more 
does  natural  authority  decline.  "  L'antica 
veneratione  sta  oggidi  molto  diminuita." 
[The  ancient  reverence  is  now-a-days  much 
decreased.] 

The  inhabitants  of  Urbino  were  particular- 
ly dissatisfied.  "  Quei  sudditi  si  aggravano 
molto  della  mutatione,  chiamando  il  governo 
di  preti  tirannico,  i  quali  altro  interesse  che 
d'arricchirsi  e  d'avanzarsi  non  vi  tengono." 
[They  complain  much  of  the  change,  calling 
the  government  of  the  priests  tyrannical,  be- 
cause they  have  no  other  objects  but  to  enrich 
and  aggrandize  themselves.]  The  author 
constantly  laments  that  Urbino  had  fallen  into 
the  pope's  hands,  and  thinks  it  a  great  loss  to 
Spain  and  Venice. 

In  a  second  part  he  enters  into  personal 
descriptions : 

"  Nacque  il  papa  Urbano  VIII  del  1567 
(others  say  68)  d'Aprile,  onde  camina  per  li 
69  di  sua  eta,  conservato  dal  vigore  della 
complessione  non  soggetta  a  qualsivoglia  ma- 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


557 


lattia,  e  dalla  vivacita  dell'  ino^egno.  La 
statura  mediocre,  il  color  bruno,  il  pelo  bian- 
co, I'occhio  vivo,  il  parlar  pronto,  la  tempera- 
tura  sanguigna  e  biliosa.  Vive  con  gran  re- 
gola.  Regola  in  gran  parte  le  sue  attioni  coi 
moti  del  cielo,  dei  quali  e  molto  intelligente, 
ancorche  con  censure  grandissime  a  tutti  gli 
n'habbia  prohibito  lo  studio.  Li  suoi  moti 
sono  subiti  e  vehementi,  tali  che  alcuna  volta 
confinano  con  la  pazzia,  non  potendo  con  la 
patienza  frenarli,  se  ben  egli  dice  che  questa 
commotione  della  bile  di  quando  in  quando 
vaglia  molto  eccitando  il  calore  alia  preserva- 
tione  di  sua  salute.  Cavaica,  villeggia,  cam- 
raina,  ama  I'escercito.  Non  s'affligge  per  le 
cose  molests :  e  tutte  queste  parti  concorrono 
a  prederii  qualche  anno  di  vita  ancora,  non 
ostante  che  nel  tempo  del  mio  soggiorno  assai 
decaduto  sia. 

"  E  arrivato  al  papato  con  un  servitio  con- 
tinue di  30  e  piu  anni  alia  corte.  Fu  prima 
prelate  di  segnatura  e  poi  governatore  di 
Fano.  Poco  appresso,  per  opera  di  Francesco 
Barberini  suo  zio  paterno,  prelate  d:  poco  gri- 
do  ma  di  gran  richezze  accumulate  con  parsi- 
monia  Fiorentina,  compro  ufficii  in  corte  e 
final menteil  chiericatodi  camera,  Clemente 
VIII  lo  impiego  in  diverse  cariche,  ma  parti- 
colarmente  sopra  quella  del  novo  taglio  del 
Po,  dacche  sono  arrivate  in  gran  parte  le  dif- 
ferenze  present!  dei  confini  con  la  republica, 
per  la  cognitione  che  professa  di  quell'  affare 
8  per  il  disgusto  che  allora  non  si  eseguisse  a 
mode  suo.  Fu  poi  dall'  istesso  Clemente  man- 
date nuntio  in  Francia,  prima  estraordinario 
per  tenere  a  battesimo  il  re  presente,  e  poi 
ordinario  di  Enrico  IV  suo  padre,  dove  si  mos- 
tro  zelantissimo  dell'  immunita  ecclesiastica. 
Paolo  V  successore  d  Clemente  lo  confermo 
nella  medesima  legatione  di  Francia :  poi  lo 
fece  cardinale,  legato  di  Bologna,  e  ritornato 
a  Roma  prefetto  della  signatura  di  giustitia, 
carico  d'onore  et  impiego  ben  grande.  Fi- 
nalmente  del  1623  fu  in  luogo  di  Gregorio 
XV  con  pratiche  molto  artificiose  assonto  al 
pontificate  nell'  eta  sua  di  56  anni :  et  oggi 
corre  il  XIII  anno,  con  disgusto  di  tutta  la 
corte,  alia  quale  non  meno  che  ai  principi 
torna  conto  i  pontificati  brevi,  perche  tanto 
piu  tengono  conto  di  tutti,  abbondano  nelle 
gratie,  non  temporalizzano  come  se  fossero 
hereditarj  del  papato,  e  finalmente  la  corte  in 
generale  trova  impiego  e  fortuna  nella  fre- 
quenza  delle  mutationi. 

"  In  ogni  stato  hebbe  il  papa  di  se  stesso 
grande  opinione  con  affetii  di  dominio  sopra 
gli  altri  e  disprezzo  al  consiglio  di  tutti.  Par 
ch'egli  esercita  oggidi  tanto  piu  liberamente 
quanto  che  si  ritrova  in  posta  sopra  a  tutti 
eminente.  Ha  ingegno  grande,  ma  non  giu- 
dicio :  ingegno,  perche  nelle  cose  che  da  lui 
solo  dipendono  e  che  riguardano  la  sua  per- 
sona e  casa,  si  e  sempre  condotto  ove  ha  desi-  j 
derato,  senza  omettere  gl'inganni  e  gli  artifi- 


cii  di  lui  molto  connaturali,  come  si  vide  par- 
ticolarmente  nelle  pratiche  del  suo  papato, 
nelle  quali  seppe  far  convenire  nella  sua  per- 
sona le  due  fattione  contrarie  di  Borghese  e 
Ludovisio,  solo  col  far  credere  all'  una  d'esser 
inimico  dell' altra :  negli  aifari  poi  generali, 
nei  quali  si  richiede  il  giudicio  di  saper  ben 
congiungere  gl'interessi  della  sede  apostolica 
con  quelli  degli  altri  principi,  si  e  osservato 
il  papa  esserne  per  sempre  stato  manchevole. 
Tale  lo  dichiarano  il  negotiodi  Vallellina:  la 
guerra  di  Mantova,  che  non  sarebbe  seguita 
se  il  papa  si  fosse  dichiarito  conlro  il  primo 
innovatore:  la  perdita  di  Mantova,  attribuita 
ai  viveri  che  riceverono  gli  Alemani  dalle 
stato  ecclesiastico,  senza  quali  conveniva  lore 
o  disassediarle  o  morirsi :  la  prefettura  di 
Roma  data  al  nipote,  privando  la  sede  aposto- 
lica dell'  assistenza  di  tanti  ministri  di  princi- 
pi che  sono  il  piii  bel  fregio  di  lei,  et  aggra- 
vando  lo  stesso  nipote  d'invidia,  di  riguardi  e 
d'un  posto  assolutamente  insostentabile  dopo 
la  morte  del  pontefice  :  il  mal  termine  usato- 
si  contro  I'ambasciatore  di  V.  Serenita  mio 
precessore,  lasciandolo  partire  senza  soddis- 
tattione  :  I'ultima  comprotettione  di  Francia 
nel  cardinale  Antonio  nipote  prima  persuasa 
et  acconsentita,  poi  ritrattata  e  prohibita,  con 
nota  appresso  il  mondo  di  grande  artificio,  per 
non  dire  inganno,  e  con  divisione  della  pro- 
pria casa.  Tralascio  il  gran  detrimento  che 
sotto  il  presente  pontefice  hafattola  religione 
cattolica  in  Fiandra  el  Alemagna ;  i  pericoli 
all'  Italia  per  la  negata  dispensa  al  cluca  di 
Mantova,  e  molto  piii  per  aversi  partato  il  pa- 
pa in  mode  che  ha  disgustato  tutti  i  principi 
grandi  e  piccioli,  che  nessuno  glieamico: 
onde  si  e  reso  incapace  di  poter  esercitar  con 
essi  lore  quelle  parti  di  autorita  e  di  paterno 
consiglio  che  potrebbe  pacificarli  et  unirii  in- 
sieme  alia  difesa  della  religione  :  parti  che 
sono  state  cosi  esattamente  maneggiate  e 
conusciute  proprie  de'  pontefici  che  persoste- 
nere  il  nome  di  padre  comune,  dal  quale  pro- 
viene  lore  ogni  veneratione,  e  per  mantenere 
I'unione  tra  i  principi  christiani,  che  cagiona 
in  essi  molta  autorita,  si  sono  espostiad  azzar- 
di,  a  viaggi,  a  pericoli,  non  militando  nel 
nome  di  padre  quel  puntigli  che  nell'  intro- 
missione degli  altri  prmcipi  possono  facilmente 
incontrarsi. 

"  Si  e  sempre  professato  il  papa  presente 
neutrale,  attribuendo  a  sua  gloria  I'aver  arric- 
chila  et  ingrandita  la  sua  sasa  senza  comprar 
stati  in  regno  di  Napoli  ne  sottomeltersi  a  fa- 
vori  dei  principi  grandi.  Nell'  interno  perd 
suo  egli  e  affettionato  a  Francesi,  le  loro  pron- 
tezze  e  risolutioni  essendo  piu  conformi  al 
genio  di  S.  S^^,  in  ordine  di  che  ha  fatto  le 
maggiori  dimostrationi  quando  segui  I'acquis- 
to  della  Rosceila.  Persuase  la  pace  con  In- 
glesi,  affinche  la  Francia  potesse  accorrer  al 
soccorso  di  Casale  allora  assediata  dai  Spag- 
noli:  consiglio  ai  medesimi   I'acquisto  e   1& 


558 


APPENDIX. 


conservatione  di  Pinarolo  per  necessario  equi- 
librio  alle  cose  d'ltalia :  trovo  sempre  pretesti 
di  diferir  o  diminuir  i  soccorsi  in  Alemagna, 
con  opinione,  la  qual  vive  tuUavia,  che  a  S. 
Si^  sia  dispiacciuta  la  niorte  del  re  di  Suezia 
e  che  pill  goda  o  per  dir  meglio  manco  tema  i 
progressi  de'  protestanti  che  degli  Austriaci. 
Anzi  e  opinion  comune  che  quando  anche  fosse 
portato  il  papa  dal  cardl  Barberino  tutto  Spag- 
nolo  a  qualche  unione  con  essi,  tornerebbe  fa- 
cilmente  a  maggior  rottura  di  prima.  E  la 
causa  e  questa :  perche  governandosi  il  papa 
con  artificio  e  credendo  che  Spagnoli  faccia- 
no  il  medesimo,  saranno  sempre  tra  di  loro 
anzi  gelosie  d'inganni  che  confidenza  di  ben 
vera  unione." 

[Pope  Urban  VIII.  was  born  in  April  1567, 
(others  say  68)  whence  he  is  going  on  for  69  ; 
he  has  preserved  the  vigour  of  his  constitution 
unsubject  to  any  malady,  and  the  vivacity  of 
his  intellect.  He  is  of  middle  height,  his 
complexion  brown,  his  hair  white,  his  eye 
quick,  his  speech  rapid,  his  temperament  san- 
guine and  bilious.  He  lives  strictly  by  rale. 
He  regulates  his  actions  in  a  great  measure 
by  the  movements  of  the  heavens,  with  which 
he  is  very  well  acquainted,  though  he  has 
forbidden  the  study  of  them  by  others  under 
the  severest  censures.  His  gestures  are  sud- 
den and  vehement,  sometimes  even  to  the 
verge  of  absurdity,  for  he  cannot  have  pa- 
tience and  restrain  them,  but  even  says  that 
this  commotion  of  the  bile  from  time  to  time 
is  of  much  use  in  exciting  the  natural  heat 
for  the  preservation  of  his  health.  He  rides, 
makes  excursions  into  the  country,  walks, 
and  is  fond  of  exercise.  He  does  not  distress 
himself  about  unpleasant  matters ;  and  all 
these  circumstances  combine  to  promise  him 
some  years  more  of  life,  notwithstanding  that 
he  broke  very  much  during  my  sojourn  in 
Rome. 

[He  arrived  at  the  papacy  after  a  continual 
career  of  court  service  of  thirty  years  and 
more.  He  was  first  a  prelate  di  signatura, 
and  afterwards  governor  of  Fano.  Shortly 
afterwards,  through  the  aid  of  Francesco  Bar- 
berini  his  maternal  uncle,  a  prelate  who 
made  no  great  noise  in  the  world,  but  of  great 
wealth,  accumulated  with  Florentine  parsi- 
mony, he  purchased  offices  at  court,  and  final- 
ly a  clerkship  of  the  camera.  Clement  VHI. 
employed  him  in  various  posts,  particularly 
about  the  new  cut  of  the  Po,  and  hence  in  a 
great  measure  have  arisen  the  present  dis- 
putes about  the  boundaries  between  the  Ro- 
man states  and  the  republic,  in  consequence 
of  the  knowledge  he  professes  to  have  of  the 
matter,  and  his  displeasure,  because  his  own 
conclusions  were  not  adopted  at  that  time. 
He  was  afterwards  sent  by  Clement  as  nun- 
cio to  France,  first  as  nuncio  extraordinary  to 
baptize  the  present  king,  and  afterwards  as 
ordinary  nuncio  to  the  father  of  the  latter. 


Henry  IV.,  in  which  post  he  displayed  the 
greatest  zeal  for  the  ecclesiastical  immuni- 
ties. Paul  v.,  Clement's  successor,  confirm- 
ed him  in  the  same  nunciature  to  France; 
next  he  made  him  cardinal,  legate  of  Bologna, 
and  on  his  return  to  Rome  prefect  of  the  sig- 
natura of  justice,  a  post  of  honour  and  a  very 
important  employment ;  finally  in  1623,  by 
means  of  very  crafty  practices,  he  became 
pope  in  the  place  of  Gregory  XV.  in  the  fifty- 
sixth  year  of  his  age.  It  is  now  the  thir- 
teenth year  since  then,  to  the  annoyance  of 
the  whole  court,  which,  no  less  than  the  sove- 
reigns, finds  its  account  in  short  pontificates, 
because  in  these  there  is  more  regard  paid  to 
every  one,  a  more  abundant  bestowal  of  fa- 
vours, and  the  popes  do  not  behave  as  though 
they  held  their  see  by  hereditary  succession ; 
and  in  fine  the  court  finds  occupation  and  for- 
tune in  the  frequency  of  change. 

[In  every  situation  the  pope  always  had  a 
high  opinion  of  himself,  affecting  to  rule  over 
others,  and  undervaluing  the  counsel  of  all 
men.  He  seems  to  indulge  this  disposition  at 
present  the  more  freely,  as  his  position  is  pre- 
eminent above  all.  He  has  great  talents,  but 
not  judgment :  talents,  because  in  those 
things  which  depend  on  him  alone,  and  which 
pertain  to  his  own  person  and  family,  he  has 
always  accomplished  his  ends,  without  omit- 
ting the  tricks  and  artifices  most  congenial  to 
him  ;  of  which  a  particular  instance  was  giv- 
en in  his  canvass  for  the  papacy,  in  which  he 
contrived  to  unite  in  his  own  favour  the  two 
opposite  factions  of  Borghese  and  Ludovisio, 
only  by  making  each  believe  that  he  was  hos- 
tile to  the  other:  but  in  general  affairs,  in 
which  judgment  was  required  aptly  to  make 
the  interests  of  the  apostolic  see  coalesce  with 
those  of  the  other  sovereigns,  the  pope  has 
been  always  found  deficient  in  that  quality. 
Such  he  proved  in  the  affair  of  the  Valtelline; 
in  the  war  of  Mantua,  which  would  not  have 
taken  place  if  the  pope  had  declared  against 
the  first  innovator;  in  the  loss  of  Mantua,  at- 
tributed to  the  supplies  the  Germans  received 
from  the  ecclesiastical  state,  and  without 
which  they  must  have  raised  the  siege  or  pe- 
rished ;  in  the  bestowal  of  the  prefecture  of 
Rome  on  his  nephew,  depriving  the  apostolic 
see  of  the  presence  of  so  many  ministers  of 
sovereigns  who  constitute  its  finest  ornament, 
and  loading  his  nephew  himself  with  envy, 
with  watchful  care,  and  with  a  place  abso- 
lutely untenable  after  the  death  of  the  pope ; 
in  the  ill-treattnent  of  your  serenity's  ambas- 
sador my  predecessor,  and  allowing  him  to 
depart  without  satisfaction;  in  the  last  joint 
protection  of  France,  first  advised  and  con- 
sented to  through  his  nephew  cardinal  Anto- 
nio, and  afterwards  retracted  and  prohibited, 
to  the  flagrant  exposure  of  his  very  artful,  not 
to  say  fraudulent  conduct,  and  to  the  division 
of  his  own  house.     I  pass  over  the  great  in- 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


559 


jury  the  catholic  religion  has  sustained  under 
the  present  pope  in  Flanders  and  Germany, 
the  dantrers  to  Italy  from  tlie  refusal  of  the 
dispensation  to  the  duke  of  Mantua,  and  still 
more  in  consequence  of  the  pope  having  con- 
ducted himself  in  a  manner  which  has  dis- 
gusted all  princes  great  and  small,  so  that  no 
one  is  friendly  to  him,  whence  he  is  become 
incapable  of  exercising  with  them  those  offi- 
ces of  authority  and  of  paternal  counsel  which 
might  pacify  them,  and  unite  them  together 
in  the  defence  of  religion  ;  offices  which  have 
been  so  sedulously  exercised,  and  recognised 
as  peculiarly  their  own  by  the  pontiffs,  that 
to  uphold  the  title  of  common  father,  from 
which  they  derive  all  reverence,  and  to  main- 
tain union  among  Christian  princes,  which  is 
a  great  source  of  authority  to  themselves, 
they  have  exposed  themselves  to  hazards, 
journeys,  and  perils  ;  those  punctilios  having 
no  force  under  the  name  of  father,  which 
might  present  themselves  upon  the  interfer- 
ence of  other  sovereigns. 

[The  present  pope  has  always  professed 
neutrality,  esteeming  it  to  his  glory  that  he 
has  enriched  and  aggrandized  his  house 
without  purchasing  estates  in  the  kingdom 
of  Naples,  or  submitting  to  receive  favours 
from  great  princes.  Inwardly,  however, 
he  has  a  leaning  to  the  French,  whose 
promptness  and  determination  are  more  con- 
genial to  the  character  of  his  holiness,  in 
accordance  with  which  he  made  the  greatest 
demonstrations  on  the  capture  of  Rochelle. 
He  advised  peace  with  the  English,  in  order 
that  France  might  be  able  to  succour  Casale, 
which  was  then  besieged  by  the  Spaniards : 
he  recommended  to  the  same  power  to  take 
and  keep  Pinarolo,  in  order  to  the  necessary 
equilibrium  of  the  affairs  of  Italy  :  he  always 
formed  pretexts  for  postponing  and  diminish- 
ing the  succours  to  Germany,  tliereby  coun- 
tenancing the  opinion,  which  still  prevails, 
that  his  holiness  was  sorry  for  the  death  of  the 
king  of  Sweden,  and  that  he  is  better  pleased 
with,  or  rather  is  less  afraid  of,  the  progress 
of  the  protectants  than  that  of  the  Austrians. 
It  is  also  the  common  opinion,  that  even 
though  the  pope  were  induced  by  cardinal 
Barberini,  who  is  wholly  for  Spain,  to  some 
union  with  that  power,  it  would  be  very 
likely  to  end  in  a  more  decided  rupture  than 
before.  The  reason  is  this,  that  the  pope 
pursuing  a  system  of  stratagem,  and  thinking 
that  the  Spaniards  do  the  same,  there  will 
always  be  more  of  jealous  apprehension  found 
between  them,  than  of  confidence  such  as 
belongs  to  a  sincere  union.] 

It  is  not  necessary  to  quote  the  description 
given  of  the  nephews  by  Aluise  Contarini. 
Even  Francesco  Barberini,  though  he  was 
the  most  loved  by  the  pope,  and  though  he 
devoted  himself  entirely  to  public  business, 
was  nevertheless  wholly  dependent  on  his 


uncle.  "  Nessuno  nipote  di  papa  fu  giamai 
alle  fatiche  del  negotio  assiduo  come  egli  e 
non  avenda  minimo  divertimento:  ma  egli  e 
anche  vero  che  nessuno  inanco  di  lui  ha 
operate."  [No  pope's  nephew  was  ever  so 
assiduous  in  business  as  he  is,  not  taking  the 
least  recreation  ;  yet  it  is  true  that  none  has 
ever  effected  less  than  he.] 

He  ceases  to  portray  the  cardinals  indivi- 
dually. He  finds  a  general  tone  of  hypocrisy 
prevading  the  body.  "  Sara  tal  Cardiff  sanis- 
simo  che  per  facilitarsi  il  papato  vorra  esser 
creduto  infermo :  caminando  zoppica,  discor- 
rendo  tosse,  uscendo  si  sta  tutto  in  una 
seggietta  racchiuso.  Tal  altro  che  sara  buon 
politico,  si  mostrera  lontano  da  ogni  negotio, 
nei  discorsi  s'ammutisce,  ne'  quesiti  si  stringe 
le  spalle,  nolle  risposte  generallizze."  [Such 
a  cardinal  shall  be  in  perfect  health,  yet  to 
facilitate  his  attainment  of  the  papacy  he  will 
endeavour  to  be  thought  infirm  :  he  will  limp 
as  he  walks,  cough  in  speaking,  and  when  he 
goes  out  he  will  be  shut  up  close  in  his  litter. 
Another  who  is  an  able  statesman  will  feign 
to  have  no  familiarity  with  business,  in  con- 
versation he  will  be  dumb,  when  questions 
are  asked  he  will  shrug  his  shoulders,  and  if 
he  answers  it  will  be  in  general  terms.]  The 
thought  strikes  us  that  this  is  the  original, 
from  which  the  fabulous  account  of  the  eleva- 
tion of  Sixtus  V.  was  derived. 

The  third  part  relates  to  the  political  rela- 
tions of  Rome ;  it  is  full  of  acute  and  vivid 
observations ;  it  is,  as  I  have  said,  for  us  the 
most  important  portion  of  the  document. 

Strongly  as  was  Urban's  leaning  to  the 
French,  the  ecclesiastical  demands  of  the 
latter  were  not  always  complied  with.  "  Bi- 
sogna  anche  confe.ssare,  ch'  essi  hanno  addi- 
mandato  delle  gratie  difficili,  come  la  disposi- 
tione  del'  abbazie  di  Lorena,  la  nullita  de' 
matrimonj  tanto  del  duca  Carlo  di  Lorena 
come  di  monsieur  et  altre  simili."  [It  must 
be  confessed  too  that  they  have  demanded 
favours  not  easy  to  grant,  such  as  the  right  to 
dispose  of  the  abbeys  of  Lorraine,  the  annul- 
ling the  marriages  of  Duke  Charles  of  Lor- 
raine, and  of  monsieur,  and  others  like  these.] 
Francesco  Barberini  was  not  so  much  attach- 
ed to  the  French  party  as  his  uncle.  The 
French  no  longer  hoped  for  any  striking 
declaration  in  their  favour,  but  they  knew 
too  that  the  pope  would  not  be  against  them ; 
it  was  in  itself  a  great  advantage  for  them  that 
he  was  reputed  a  friend  to  France,  and  that 
the  opposite  party  did  not  trust  him. 

The  Spaniards,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
highly  discontented.  They  made  it  a  matter 
of  reproach  against  cardinal  Borgia  that  he 
had  suffered  Urban  VIII.  to  be  elected,  and 
it  was  asserted  that  the  cardinal  could  only 
have  been  gained  over  by  promises  and  mani- 
fold favours.  They  pretended  to  see  the  in- 
fluence of  the  pope's  ill-will  in  the  negotia- 


560 


APPENDIX. 


tions  respecting  the  Valtelline,  in  the  policy 
of  the  French,  and  the  position  assumed  by 
Bavaria.  On  the  other  hand,  Barberini  on 
his  part  asserted  that  the  concessions  he  had 
made  them,  had  been  met  by  no  return  of 
gratitude.  The  misunderstanding  we  see 
was  mutual. 

Contarini  is  most  copious  on  the  relations 
of  Rome  and  Venice ;  he  imputes  the  differ- 
ences between  them  chiefly  to  this,  that 
whilst  other  states  were  feared  by  Rome  as 
more  powerful,  or  neglected  as  less  so,  Venice 
was  regarded  and  treated  as  an  equal. 

Some  soreness  was  felt  at  Rome,  because 
the  English  and  the  Dutch  enjoyed  some 
privileges  there.  But  if  once  the  temporal 
jurisdiction  laid  hands  on  a  clerical  person  a 
general  storm  burst  out. 

The  ambassador  nevertheless  is  of  opinion 
that  his  countrymen  must  beware  of  being 
duped.  The  nuncio's  orders  were  to  main- 
tain the  closest  intercourse  with  those  Vene- 
tian priests  above  all  who  were  most  popular, 
and  who  had  most  penitents  to  shrive,  "  E 
VV  EE  tengano  per  constante,  die  col  mezzo 
di  questi  tali  vengono  i  nuncii  a  risapere  il 
midollo  deili  arcani."  [And  your  excellence 
may  be  assured,  that  by  means  of  such  men 
the  nuncios  contrive  to  suck  out  the  marrow 
of  secrets.]  So  much  the  more  necessary  was 
it  that  the  public  should  not  surrender  its 
authority  over  them. 

But  besides  this,  there  were  continual  dis- 
putes about  the  boundaries.  Urban  VIII.  is 
by  no  means  regarded  as  a  patron  of  the  Vene- 
tians. In  particular  he  sought  to  advance 
Ancona  to  the  pejudice  of  Venice. 

116.  Discorso  della  mallattia  e  morte  del  card^ 
Jppolyto  Aldobrandino  camerlengo  di  <S''" 
Chiesa  col  fine  della  grandezza  dalpapa 
Clemente  VIII.  1638.  [Discourse  on  the 
illness  and  death  of  cardinal  Ippolyto 
Aldobrandino,  chamberlain  of  the  holy 
church  and  the  extinction  of  the  greatness 
of  pope  Clement  VIII.] 

The  rapid  downfall  of  the  family  of  Aldo- 
brandino, so  recently  founded,  produced  an 
extraordinary  sensation  in  Rome. 

The  little  work  before  us  is  written  under 
these  feelings.  "  E  stato  superato  della 
morte  quel  gran  ingegno !"  it  begins.  There 
survived  of  the  whole  house  only  the  daughter 
of  John  George  Aldebrandino,  who  would 
necessarily  inherit  enormous  wealth. 

The  following  passage  gives  no  bad  idea  of 
the  state  of  Roman  society  :  "  II  marchese 
Lodovico  Lanti,  il  conte  Gio  Francesco  da 
Bagni,  Berlingieri  Gessi  e  Bernardino  Biscia, 
aspettando  tutti  quatro  a  gara  il  pontificato 
de'  loro  zii,  ambivano  le  nozze  della  princi- 
pessa  Aldobrandina."  In  the  hope  of  their 
uncle's  promotion  to  the  papacy,  these  nephews 


presumptive  vied  for  the  hand  of  the  wealthi- 
est heiress. 

But  not  one  of  them  attained  either  to  this 
match  or  to  the  power  of  a  nipole. 

Ippolyta  married  a  Borghese.  Our  author 
is  in  the  utmost  amazement.  Paul  V.  had 
persecuted  the  Aldobrandini,  and  had  even 
imprisoned  the  father  of  Ippolyta ;  and  now 
she  wedded  his  grand-nephew. 

But  subsequently,  as  is  well  known,  she 
was  actually  united  to  the  nephew  of  a  reign- 
ing pope,  Innocent  X.,a  match  which  was  de- 
termined by  the  circumstances  and  conven- 
iences of  the  court  of  Rome. 

117.  Relatione  di  q.  Znanne  Nani  K^  Proc^ 
ritornato  di  ambasciatore  estraordinario 
da  Roma  1641  10  Luglio. — {Arch.  Ven.) 
[Report  of  Zuanne  Nani,  late  extraordi- 
nary ambassador  to  Rome.] 

There  were  numerous  and  incessant  disa- 
greements between  Rome  and  Venice ;  anew 
one  of  the  most  peculiar  kind  arose  in  the 
year  1635. 

A  magnificent  inscription  in  pompous  terms, 
set  up  in  the  Sala  regia  of  the  Vatican,  re- 
corded a  fact  of  the  Venetians  of  which  their 
annals  boasted,  and  on  which  they  always 
prided  themselves  much  ;  this  was  a  victory 
over  Frederick  Barbarossa,  by  which  they 
affirmed  that  they  had  saved  pope  Alexander 
III.  from  destruction. 

In  Rome,  however,  the  terms  used  in  this 
inscription  were  gradually  conceived  to  be 
inadmissible.  The  words  "  Pontifici  Veneta? 
reipublicae  beneficio  sua  dignitas  restituta," 
were  pronounced  by  the  increasing  rigour  of 
Roman  orthodoxy,  to  be  something  of  an  in- 
sult. The  spirit  of  captious  contention  for 
rank  which  ruled  the  world  fastened  on  this 
obselete  and  almost  forgotten  incident.  But 
besides  this,  doubts  began  to  be  started  as  to 
the  truth  of  the  story,  as  it  was  set  forth  in  the 
Venetian  books  of  history.  Writings  ap- 
peared on  both  sides  of  the  question. 

It  is  one  that  has  been  constantly  revived 
even  up  to  this  da)'. 

I  cannot  imagine  that  there  can  be  any 
doubt  about  the  matter,  for  any  one  who  has 
the  least  idea  of  historical  criticism. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  it  was  at  any  rate  not 
merely  historical  conviction,  but  also  political 
jealousy,  that  induced  Urban  VIII.  first  to 
change  the  inscription,  and  at  last  to  oblite- 
rate it  entirely. 

The  republic,  too,  viewed  the  matter  in  the 
same  light;  and  as  the  disputes  about  the 
boundaries,  and  about  the  precedence  of  the 
new  prefetto,  were  at  that  very  time  becom- 
ing more  and  more  rancorous,  Venice  for  a 
while  sent  no  regular  ambassadors  to  Rome. 

Nani,  who  went  thither  in  the  year  1631, 
was  only  an  extraordinary  ambassador.     He 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


561 


remained,  however,  nearly  three  years  and 
a  half,  and  his  report  proves  that  he  had  made 
himself  well  acquainted  vvitii  that  court. 

The  main  object  of  his  mission  was  to  in- 
duce the  pope  to  aid  the  republic  in  case  they 
were  attacked  by  the  Turks,  a  contingency 
which  then  seemed  very  probable. 

Strange  to  say,  this  request  was  even  wel- 
come to  tlie  pope.  He  could  setoff  this  need 
of  the  republic  against  the  continued  calls  for 
help  on  the  part  of  the  house  of  Austria, 
which  was  pressed  so  hard  by  the  protestants 
and  the  French. 

The  ambassador  would  also  have  gladly 
induced  the  pope  to  use  his  mediation  between 
the  militant  powers,  but  he  did  not  possess  the 
general  confidence  requisite  to  that  end. 
"Pullulando  tante  amarezze  coUe  corone, 
restava  fiacca,  per  non  dir  quasi  odiosa  I'au- 
torita  del  pontefice." 

Nani  also  remarks  Urban's  disposition  to 
display  military  strength.  Those  who  wished 
to  stand  well  with  him  found  it  expedient  to 
talk  with  him  about  his  fortifications.  He 
often  mentioned  them  himself  He  said,  that 
within  twenty  days  he  would  bring  together 
more  than  twenty  thousand  men.  He  rec- 
koned up  the  treasures  he  possessed.  For 
immediate  necessities  he  had  put  by  400,000 
scudi ;  it  was  thought  that  there  still  remained 
in  the  castle  three  out  of  the  five  millions 
amassed  by  Sixtus. 

Let  us  see  how  Nani  portrays  the  person 
and  the  government  of  Urban  VIII. 

"  II  pontefice  e  nel  principio  del  settantesi- 
mo  terzo  della  sua  eta  e  nel  fine  del  XVII  del 
pontificate,  dopo  un  spatio  di  324  anni  che 
altro  papa  non  ha  goduto  cosi  longo  governo. 
E  di  forze  robusto  e  gagliardo,  e  per  tale  li 
piace  di  esser  creduto:  et  in  effetto,  levato 
qualche  dubbio  di  flussioni  e  d'accidenti  im- 
provisi  ai  quali  pare  sottoposto,  e  in  tale  cos- 
titutione  di  buoua  salute  che  puo  mantcnersi 
piu  anni.  Usa  governo  esquisito  nella  sua 
cura.  Al  presente,  ch'6  piu  grave  I'eta,  man- 
co  s'applica  elle  faccende,  delle  quali  non 
suole  pero  prendersi  piii  disturbo  di  quelle  che 
vuole.  La  mattina  e  dispensata  in  audienze 
et  in  negotii,  il  dopo  pranzo  e  riservato  alia 
quiete  et  alia  conversatione  domestica,  nella 
quale  e  allegro  e  faceto,  come  in  ogni  altro 
discorso  erudito  e  facondo,  e  nelle  audienze 
stesse  passa  volentieri  dal  negotiare  al  parlare 
di  cose  piacevoli  e  di  studio,  al  quale  e  dedito 
assai.  Possede  gran  talenti  e  gran  qualita. 
Ha  memoria  meravigliosa,  petto  e  vigore  che 
lo  rende  alJe  volte  troppo  costante  nclli  suoi 
eensi.  Ha  spiriti  grandi  accresciuti  dall'  es- 
perienza  del  governo  e  dei  negotii.  Deferisce 
assai  al  suo  proprio  parere,  percio  non  ama 
di  consultare  ne  cura  le  qualita  die  ministri, 
che  possino  maggiormente  far  risplendere  le 
sue  risolutioni.  Non  moltoinclina  al  gratiar. 
E  ardente,  et  alle  volte  con  li  ministri  nie- 
71 


desimi  dei  principi  non  ha  potuto  dissimulare 
il  suo  fervore.  Ama  che  sia  trattato  seco 
con  destrezza  e  soavita  :  e  se  vi  e  strada  di 
poter  far  declinare  dai  suoi  sensi  I'animo  di 
Sua  St^i^  questa  e  sola,  la  quale,  se  pure  alle 
volte  non  puo  profittare,  avanza  certo,  che  se 
non  si  peiga,  almeni  non  si  rompe 

"  Nel  governo  presente  e  desiderate  mag- 
gior  e  miglior  conaulta,  perche  dove  manca  il 
discorso,  suole  mancar  la  ragione :  e  vera- 
mente  pochissimi  sono  li  ministri  e  pochi 
quelli  che  habbino  autorita  e  confidenza  a 
palazzo.  Appresso  il  pontefice  non  si  sa  al- 
cuno  che  possi,  e  preponendo  S.  S^^  il  proprio 
parere  a  qnello  di  tutti,  sogliono  li  altra  o 
lodarlo  o  secondarlo.  Si  uso  in  altri  tempi 
che  havevano  i  papi  appresso  di  se  tre  e 
quattro  cardinali  e  con  la  lore  discussione  ri- 
solvevano  i  piii  gravi  negotii,  e  si  teneva  per 
arcane  dei  nepoti  medesimi  introdurre  suoi 
dipendenti  nella  confidenza  del  zio,  per  con- 
durlo  poi  e  guadagnarlo  dove  o  non  potevano 
essi  spuntare  o  non  volevano  scoprire  gli 
aSetti  lore  proprj. 

"  Barberino  non  ha  volute  circuire  in  tal 
mode  la  liberta  del  papa  :  ma  riservando  a  se 
solo  il  posto  pill  vicino  alle  orecchie  di  S. 
Si^,  obbliga  gli  altri  a  stare  ritirari  et  al  solo 
parer  di  lui  sottoponere  le  proprie  opinioni, 
non  mostrando  gusto  che  da  chi  si  sia  si  parli 
al  pontefice  di  negotio  senza  sua  precedente 
participatione.  Non  si  serve  pero  ne  anco  di 
questa  autorita,  che  gode  solo  con  quella  li- 
berta che  per  avventura  complirebbe  al  ben 
publico  et  al  suo  proprio  interesse:  ma  non 
osando  respirare  contro  le  risolutioni  e  li 
sensi  del  papa,  prende  molte  volte  I'habito 
della  costanza  medesima  di  S.  S^^,  e^sendosi 
in  tal  maniera  sottoposto  al  disgusto  delle  co- 
rone e  d'altri  principi  e  di  lore  ministri  per 
non  divertire  e  non  sopire  molti  strani  acci- 
denti. 

"  Appresso  di  questo  li  cardinali  pur  si  do- 
gliono  e  massime  le  creature  di  non  haver 
apertura  ne  confidenza.  Di  pochissimi  mini- 
stri si  serve  il  sig''  card^^,  mentre  la  mole 
dei  negotii  et  altre  circostanze  di  molti  lo 
possono  render  bisognevole.  Pancirola  e 
Ricchi,  auditor!  di  rota,  sono  li  piu  domestici 
e  li  pill  adoperati. 

Pancirola  e  soggetto  mature  e  di'  molta 
esperienza,  che  fci  impiegato  in  Piemonte  per 
la  pace  sin  nel  principio  delle  guerre  di  Man- 
tova.  Serve  per  li  negotii  del  governo  dello 
stato  ecclesiastico,  e  non  havendo  havuto  che 
irattar  meco,  non  mi  resta  che  dire  delle  sue 
conditioni. 

Ricchi  e  di  gran  spirito,  pronto  et  sagace: 
dirige  quasi  tutti  li  negotii  dei  principi,  e  par- 
ticolarmente  ha  in  mano  quelli  della  Repub- 
lica.  Edipendentissimoda  Barberino,  qualita 
che  lo  rende  oltre  mode  grato  al  sig""  cardi- 
nale.  Ha  incontrato  disgusto  di  molti  minis- 
tri de'  principi,  neraeno  e  amato  dall'  univer- 


562 


APPENDIX. 


sale.  Non  ha  altra  esperienza  che  quella 
che  ]i  concede  I'impiego  presente,  che  e 
grande.  Ha  egli  sempre  trattato  meco,  e 
relle  mie  lettere  e  neJla  forma  dei  suoi  officii 
I'averanno  pivi  volte  veduto  descritto  W  EE. 
Tratta  con  destrezza  e  con  flemma  e  con 
altrettanto  ingegno  e  solertia.  Delia  serenis- 
eima  Republica  parla  con  tutte  le  espressioni 
di  riverenza  e  divotione.  Tiene  a  cuore 
certo  interesse  di  peasioni  del  cardinal  sue 
fratello,  del  quale  ho  scritlo  alire  volte. 

"  A  questi  aggiungcro  mons''  Cecca,  segre- 
tario  di  stato,  perche  assiste  al  presente  alia 
trattatione  della  lega.  Non  ha  egli  talenti 
piu  che  ordinarj :  ma  per  la  lunga  esperienza 
della  sua  carica  tiene  buona  informatione  de' 
negotii.  E  vecchio  assai,  e  si  crede  vicino  al 
cardinalato,  se  ben  dalli  nepoti  e  poco  amato, 
ma  molto  rispettato  per  I'affetto  che  li  porta 
la  S'^  Sua.  Servi  il  segretario  del  pontefice 
mentre  fu  nuntio  in  Francia,  e  con  passaggio 
mostruoso  di  fortuna  ma  solito  della  corte  oc- 
cupo  il  luogo  del  padrone  medesimo,  e  mentre 
questo  vive  ancora  con  poco  buona  sorte, 
Cecca  gode  carico,  rendite  e  speranze  piu 
che  ordinarie.  Appresso  Barberino  non  vi 
sono  altri  di  credito  e  di  talenti  che  meritino 
d'esser  osservati. 

"  Per  il  govcrno  dello  stato  vi  e  consulta  dei 
cardinal!  e  dei  prelati,  che  in  due  giorni  della 
eettimana  discute  diverse  occorrenze.  Ahre 
congregationi  sono  dell'  inquisitione,  de  propa- 
ganda fide,  del  concilio,  de'  regolari  de'  riti  e 
d'altri  simili  interessi.  Tutto  pero  serve  a  dis- 
corso,  perche  la  risolutione  reita  al  gusto  di  S. 
S^^  e  del  nipote.  Una  congregatione  di  stato  si 
tiene  di  quando  in  quando  avanti  il  papa  per 
le  occorrenze  piu  gravi,  e  non  v'intervengono 
che  le  creature  e  i  piu  confidenti  che  hanno 
servito  nelle  nuntiature :  ma  anco  questa 
suole  servire  ad  accreditare  le  deliberation! 
piu  che  a  risolverle,  perche  ne  si  discorre  ne 
ei  forma  il  decreto  che  per  quell'  opinione 
nella  quale  si  sottragge  o  si  lascia  intendere 
esser  tS.  S^^,  et  in  etfetto  si  querelano  i  pon- 
tefici  di  non  haver  di  chi  confidare,  perche 
tutti  li  cardinal!  vivono  con  1!  loro  interessi  e 
rispett!  verso  !  principi  stranieri." 

[The  pope  is  in  the  beginning  of  his 
seventy-third  year,  and  is  drawing  to  the 
close  of  the  seventeenth  of  his  pontificate,  the 
longest  that  has  been  enjoyed  by  any  pope  for 
the  last  324  years.  He  is  robust  and  active, 
and  likes  to  be  thought  so;  and  indeed,  with 
the  exception  of  fluxes  and  sudden  attacks  to 
which  he  appears  liable,  his  constitution  is  so 
hale  that  he  may  last  several  years.  He  uses 
the  utmost  refinement  in  the  regulation  of  his 
health.  At  present,  being  more  burtliened 
with  years,  he  applies  less  to  business,  though 
indeed  he  is  not  used  to  let  them  trouble  hmi 
more  than  he  has  a  mind.  The  morning  is 
spent  in  audiences  and  in  business;  the  after-! 
noon  is  reserved  for  quiet  and  domestic  con-i 


verse,  in  which  he  is  cheerful  and  witty,  aa 
in  all  other  discourse  he  is  erudite  and  elo- 
quent; and  in  his  audiences  even  he  gladly 
passes  from  negotiating,  to  talk  of  interesting 
matters  and  subjects  of  study,  to  which  he  is 
much  devoted.  He  possesses  great  talents 
and  great  qualities.  He  has  a  marvellous 
memory,  and  a  courage  and  energy  that 
render  him  at  times  too  fixed  to  his  own 
notions.  He  has  great  powers  of  mind,  in- 
creased by  experience  in  government  and  in 
state  affairs.  He  is  somewhat  wedded  to  his 
own  opinion,  wherefore  he  is  not  fond  of 
taking  counsel,  nor  does  he  regard  the  quali- 
ties of  ministers  who  can  give  greater  brilli- 
ancy to  his  own  measures.  He  is  not  much 
inclined  to  bestow  favours.  He  is  impetuou.s, 
and  at  times  he  has  not  been  able,  even  with 
the  ministers  of  sovereigns,  to  conceal  his 
warmth.  He  likes  to  be  dealt  with  with  ad- 
dress and  smoothness,  and  if  there  is  any  way 
of  bending  the  mind  of  his  holiness  from  his 
own  way  of  thinking,  it  is  this  alone;  and 
though  it  is  not  always  successful,  it  is  sure 
of  this  good  result,  that  if  the  pope  does  not 
yield,  at  least  he  does  not  break  with  the 
speaker. 

[The  present  government  has  need  of  more 
frequent  and  better  consultation,  for  where 
there  is  lack  of  discussion  there  is  usually 
lack  of  reason ;  and  in  truth  the  ministers 
are  very  few,  and  they  are  few  who  have  in- 
fluence in  the  palace.  No  one  is  known  to 
have  any  weight  with  the  pope;  but  as  his 
holiness  prefers  his  own  opinion  to  that  of  all 
the  others,  they  do  nothing  but  praise  or  se- 
cond his  suggestions.  In  other  times  it  was 
customary  for  the  popes  to  have  about  them 
three  or  four  cardinals,  with  whom  they  dis- 
cussed and  determined  the  most  important 
matters;  and  it  was  a  secret  device  of  the 
nephews  themselves  to  introduce  their  own 
dependents  into  their  uncle's  confidence,  so 
as  to  gain  him  over  to  such  things  as  they 
could  not  bring  about  by  themselves,  or  such 
as  they  did  not  like  to  be  seen  in. 

[Barberino  has  not  chosen  thus  to  circum- 
vent the  pope's  freedom ;  but  reserving  to 
himself  alone  the  immediate  approach  to  the 
ear  of  his  holiness,  he  obliges  all  others  to 
stand  aloof,  and  to  submit  their  opinions  to 
his  own  solo  will,  not  liking  that  any  one 
should  speak  t'o  the  pope  on  business  without 
his  own  previous  knowledge.  Nevertheless 
he  does  not  use  even  thnt  influence  which  he 
possesses  alone  with  that  freedom  which 
would,  perhaps,  be  conductive  to  the  public 
good  and  to  his  own  interest ;  but,  not  ventu- 
ring to  utter  a  breath  in  opposition  to  the 
pope's  decisions,  he  frequently  identifies  him- 
self in  appearance  with  the  obstinacy  of  his 
holiness,  and  in  this  way  has  incurred  the 
aversion  of  the  crowned  heads,  the  other 
princes,  and  their  ministers,  for  not  warding 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


563 


off  or  suppressing  many  unpleasant  occur- 
rences. 

[The  other  cardinals,  particularly  those  of 
the  present  pope's  creation,  complain  that 
they  liave  not  access  to  Barberino  or  credit 
with  him.  He  employs  very  few  ministers, 
whereas  the  mass  of  business  and  other  cir- 
cumstances seem  to  require  that  he  should 
have  many.  Pancirola  and  Ricchi,  auditors 
of  the  rota,  are  most  in  his  intimacy,  and  most 
employed. 

[Pancirola  is  a  man  of  mature  and  large 
experience,  who  was  employed  in  Piedmont, 
about  the  peace  from  the  beginning  of  the 
wars  of  Mantua.  He  is  employed  in  the  in- 
ternal affairs  of  the  ecclesiastical  state,  and, 
as  I  had  no  occasion  to  transact  business  with 
him,  I  have  nothing  to  say  respecting  his 
personal  qualities. 

[Ricchi  is  a  man  of  great  talents,  prompt 
and  sagacious;  he  has  the  management  of 
almost  all  affairs  connected  with  foreign 
princes,  and  particularly  those  pertaining  to 
the  republic.  He  is  very  obsequious  to  Bar- 
berino, a  quality  which  renders  him  very 
acceptable  to  that  cardinal.  He  has  met 
with  unfavourable  treatment  from  many  fo- 
reign ministers,  nevertheless  he  is  liked  in 
general.  He  has  had  no  other  experience 
than  that  derived  from  his  present  employ- 
ment, which  is  considerable.  He  has  always 
transacted  business  with  me,  and  your  excel- 
lencies will  have  frequently  seen  him  des- 
cribed in  my  letters.  In  his  official  dealings 
he  displays  address  and  coolness,  and  no  less 
capacity  and  diligence.  He  speaks  with  all 
reverence  and  devotion  of  the  most  serene 
republic.  He  has  at  heart  a  certain  matter 
touching  his  brother  the  cardinal's  pensions, 
of  which  I  have  written  on  other  occasions. 

[To  these  I  will  add  monsignor  Cecca,  se- 
cretary of  state,  because  he  assists  at  pre- 
sent in  the  affairs  of  the  league.  His  talents 
are  not  above  the  common  order ;  but,  from 
his  long  experience  in  his  post,  he  is  well  ac- 
quainted with  business.  He  is  somewhat 
aged,  and  is  thought  to  be  near  the  cardinal- 
ship,  though  he  is  little  liked  by  the  nephews; 
but  he  is  much  respected  on  account  of  the 
regard  borne  him  by  his  holiness.  He  was 
in  the  service  of  the  pope's  secretary  during 
his  nunciature  in  France,  and  by  a  prodigious 
vicissitude  of  fortune,  though  a  common  one 
at  the  court,  he  supplanted  his  master,  and 
whilst  tiie  latter  still  lives  in  no  very  prosper- 
ous a  condition,  Cecca  enjo3's  his  place,  and 
revenues,  and  expectances  more  than  com- 
mon. There  are  no  other  persons  about  Bar 
berino  whose  credit  and  talents  are  worth 
mentioning. 

[For  the  administration  of  the  state  there 
is  a  consulta  of  the  cardinals  and  prelates, 
which  meets  twice  a  week  to  discuss  sundry 
occurrences.     Other  congregations  are  those 


of  the  inquisition,  of  the  propaganda,  of  the 
council,  of  the  monastic  orders,  of  rites,  and 
so  forth.  But  all  tends  only  to  talking;  for 
the  determination  of  all  measures  is  at  the 
discretion  of  his  holiness  and  the  nephew. 
A  congregation  of  state  is  held  from  time  to 
time  in  presence  of  the  pope,  upon  occasions 
of  greater  magnitude,  in  which  none  others 
take  part  than  the  pope's  creatures,  and 
those  persons  of  trust  who  have  served  in 
nunciatures.  But  even  this  assembly  serves 
more  to  ratify  resolutions  taken,  than  to  ar- 
rive at  them  by  discussion ;  because  nothing 
is  argued  or  embodied  in  the  form  of  a  decree 
except  in  conformity  with  what  his  holiness 
proposes,  or  gives  to  be  understood  as  his 
opinion  :  and,  in  fact,  the  popes  complain  that 
they  have  none  in  whom  they  can  confide,  for 
all  the  cardinals  have  their  own  interests  and 
schemes  in  view  in  connexion  with  foreign 
princes.] 

118.  Racconto  delle  cose  piu  considerabili 
die  soiio  occorse  nel  governo  di  Roma  in 
tempo  di  mons^  Gio.  Batf^  Spada.  [Ac- 
count of  the  matters  of  most  note  which 
occurred  in  the  government  of  Rome  in 
the  time  of  monsignor  Gio.  Battista 
Spada.] 

Belonging  to  the  latter  times  of  Urban 
VIII.,  full  of  traits  of  life  and  manners,  such 
as  fall  within  the  range  of  police  and  justice, 
and  which  are  here  related  in  the  most  au- 
thentic and  unquestionable  manner. 

The  contests  between  the  old  families  still 
continued, — for  instance,  between  the  Gaetani 
and  the  Colonnesi:  it  was  not  only  difficult  to 
effect  an  accommodation  between  them,  but 
it  even  took  several  days  to  draw  up  a  docu- 
ment, wherein  the  requisite  narrative  of  their 
quarrels  should  be  set  forth  in  a  manner  at 
which  the  one  or  the  other  did  not  take 
offence. 

Quarrels  between  the  French  and  the 
Spaniards.  They  meet  in  hostelries;  each 
party  drinks  to  the  prosperity  of  its  own 
king;  insults  are  given,  still  the  weaker 
party  behaves  with  tolerable  moderation ; 
but  as  soon  as  it  has  received  an  accession  of 
strength,  as  soon  as  the  two  parties  meet  in 
tiie  open  streets,  they  come  to  blows.  The 
bargello  has  the  greatest  difficulty  in  separa- 
ting them. 

But  if  they  quarrel  among  themselves,  on 
the  other  hand  they  vie  with  each  other  in 
opposing  the  court  and  the  police  of  Rome. 

The  ambassadors  were  particularly  hard  to 
deal  with.  They  gradually  put  forward  those 
pretensions  which  let  to  such  serious  disputes 
at  a  subsequent  period.  Not  only  did  they 
declare  their  palaces  free  and  privileged  pla- 
ces, and  allowed  forbidden  games  to  take 
place  in  them,  but  they  even  claimed   the 


564 


APPENDIX. 


right  of  taking  the  neighbouring  houses  under 
their  protection,  Monsignor  Spada  was  na- 
turally opposed  to  this.  "  Che  se  si  era  usata 
cortesia  con  i  S"  ambasciatori  di  non  entrare 
nelle  case  loro  e  delle  loro  tamiglie,  era  una 
troppo  grande  estensione  quella  che  volevano 
introdiirre  hora,  che  ne  anche  nelle  case  vicini 
e  comprese  nella  medesima  isola  si  potesse  far 
esecutione." 

The  most  important  incidents  in  a  historical 
point  of  view  are  two  attempts  on  the  life  of 
Urban  VIII.,  which  are  here  related  with  all 
desirable  authenticity. 

"  1.  Del  processo  di  Giacinto  Centini,  ne- 
pote  del  cardi  d'Ascoli,  e  d'alcuni  complici 
....  la  sostanza  era,  ch'essendo  stato  pro- 
nosticato  ch'al  presente  pontefice  doves- 
se  succedere  il  cardinal  d'Ascoli,  invag- 
hito  Giacinto  del  pronostico  e  desiderando  di 
vederne  prestamente  I'effetto  havesse  trattato 
con  fra  Serafino  Cherubini  d'Ancona  minor 
osservante,  fra  Pietro  da  Palermo  eremita, 
che  si  faceva  chiamare  fra  Bernardino,  e  fra 
Domenico  da  Fermo  Agostiniano,  di  procu- 
rare  con  arte  diabolica  d'abbreviare  la  vita  a 
N.  S  e,  et  a  quest'  effetto  fu  risoluto  di  fare 
una  statua  di  cera  rappresentante  il  papa, 
come  si  essequi,  e  dopo  molte  invocationi  di 
demonii  e  sacrificii  fattigli  la  fluire,  distrug- 
gere  e  consumare  al  fuoco,  con  ferma  creden- 
za  che  distrutta  quella  dovesse  terminare  la 
vita  di  papa  Urbano  e  farsi  loco  alia  succes- 
sione  del  cardi  d'Ascoli  zio  di  Giacinto. 

2.  "  La  confessione  di  Tomaso  Orsolini  da 
Recanate.  Che  per  instigatione  di  fra  Do- 
menico Brancaccio  da  Bdgnarea  Augustini- 
ano  era  andato  a  Napoli  per  scoprire  al  vicere 
un  supposto  trattato  di  principi  d'invadere  il 
regno  di  Napoli  con  interessarsi  ancora  S.  S^^, 
e  ch'il  rimedio  era  di  far  morire  uno  de'  col- 
legati  o  il  papa  :  al  che  fare  s'offeriva  il  padre 
Bagnarea  sudotto,  mentre  se  li  dessero  sc. 
3000,  qiiali  voleva  dare  al  sagrista  di  N.  S^e, 
gia  reso  inhabile,  e  succedendo  egli  in  quel 
carico,  li  haverebbe  postoil  velenonell' hostia 
ch'avesse  dovuto  consegrare  S.  S^^  nella  mes- 
sa,  o  pure  quando  non  fosse  succeduto  sagris- 
ta, haverebbe  operate  che  lo  speciale  Carcura- 
sio  suo  parente,  mentre  medicava  le  fontan- 
elle  a  S.  S'^,  vi  ponesse  il  veleno  :  non  passo 
pcro  ad  esprimere  al  vicere  questi  particolari, 
poiche  havendogli  accennato  di  dover  far 
morire  il  papa,  vide  ch'il  vicere  non  si  appli- 
ed." 

[1.  Of  the  trial  of  Giacinto  Centini,  nephew 
of  Cardinal  d'Ascoli,  and  of  some  accomplices. 
.  .  .  The  substance  was,  that  it  having  been 
prognosticated  that  cardinal  d'Ascoli  would 
be  Ihe  successor  of  the  present  pope,  Giacinto, 
fired  by  the  prophecy  and  desiring  to  see  its 
immediate  lulfilmeiit,  made  arrangements 
with  fra  Seraphino  Cherubini  of  Ancona,  a 
minorite,  fra  Pietro  of  Palermo,  a  hermit,  who 
went  by  the  name  of  fra  Bernardino,  and  fra 


Domenico  of  Ferma,  an  Augustine,  to  abridge 
by  diabolical  art  the  life  of  his  holiness;  and 
to  this  end  it  was  resolved  to  make  a  wax 
statue  representing  the  pope,  as  was  actually 
done ;  and  after  many  invocations  of  demons 
and  sacrifices  performed,  to  melt,  destroy,  and 
consume  it  in  the  flames,  with  the  firm  belief 
that  when  it  was  destroyed,  the  life  of  pope 
Urban  would  terminate,  and  room  would  be 
made  for  the  succession  of  cardinal  d'Ascoli, 
the  uncle  of  Giacinto. 

[2.  The  confession  of  Tomaso  Orsolini  of 
Recanate.  That  at  the  instigation  of  fra  Do- 
menico Brancaccio  of  Bagnarea,  an  Augus- 
tinian,  he  went  to  Naples,  to  disclose  to  the 
viceroy  a  supposed  plot  of  the  princes  to  at- 
tack the  kingdom  of  Naples  with  the  co-ope- 
ration of  his  holiness ;  and  that  the  remedy 
was  to  put  to  death  one  of  the  confederates  or 
the  pope  ;  and  this  the  aforesaid  father  Bag- 
narea offered  himself  to  do,  provided  there 
were  given  him  3000  sc,  which  he  would 
give  to  the  pope's  sacristan,  who  was  now  be- 
come incapacitated,  and  upon  himself  succeed- 
ing to  that  post  he  would  put  poison  in 
the  host,  his  holiness  would  have  to  con- 
secrate in  the  mass ;  or  if  he  could  not  get 
the  place  of  sacristan,  he  would  contrive  that 
his  relation  the  apothecary  Carcurasio  in  dress- 
ing his  holiness's  issues  should  put  poison  in 
them.  He  did  not,  however,  proceed  to  state 
these  particulars  to  the  viceroy,  because  he 
saw  that  when  he  hinted  at  the  expediency  of 
putting  the  pope  to  death,  the  viceroy  did  not 
attend  to  the  hint.] 

119.  Hislorica  relatione  delV  origine  e  pro- 
gressi  delle  rott.ure  nate  tra  la  casa  Bar- 
berina  et  Odoardo  Farnese  duca  di  Par- 
ma  e  Piacenza.  ( Vieima  library.)  His- 
toria  Prof.  n.  899. 224 leaves.  [Historical 
report  of  the  origin  and  progress  of  the 
breach  between  the  Barberini  family  and 
Odoardo  Farnese,  duke  of  Parma  and 
Piacenza.] 

A  partisan  work  in  the  form  of  a  letter,  in 
which  the  origin  of  these  disputes  is  attributed 
entirely  to  the  bad  will  of  the  Barberini.  This 
author  too  couples  the  barons'  monti  with 
those  of  the  state  :  the  pope  had  readily  gran- 
ted the  required  permission  ;  he  thereby  made 
the  barons  but  more  subservient  to  him.  "  Nel- 
la erettione  di  simili  monti  il  principe  era 
mallevadore,  riservatosi  il  beneplacito  di  po- 
terne  dimandare  I'estintione  asuo  piacimento." 
[On  the  establishment  of  such  monti  the  sove- 
reign made  himself  bondsman,  reserving  to 
himself  the  right  of  calling  for  their  extinc- 
tion whenever  he  pleased.] 

I  do  not  find  that  this  work,  notwithstanding 
its  bulk,  gives  any  very  remarkable  clue  to 
the  events  of  the  time  ;  and  as  we  do  net  in 
this  case  happen  to  want  any  such,  it  docs  not 
appear  to  me  of  much  value.     The  most  re- 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


565 


markable  of  its  contents  are  the  accounts  it 
gives  of  the  anti-Austrian,  and  in  a  certain 
sense,  anti-catholic,  tendencies  of  pope  Urban 
VIII. 

"  Si  lasciava  tal  volta  intendere,  essergli 
ben  grati  li  progress!  de'  cattolici  contra  li 
heretic i,  nia  esservi  insieme  da  temere  che 
un  giorno  queste  prosperila  cadessero  a  danno 
e  precipitio  de'  medesimi  per  le  gelosie  che  si 
sarebbero  svegliate  in  tutto  il  mondo,  che  il 
imperio  dovesse  assorbir  ogni  residue  di  liber- 
ta  che  vi  rimaneva.  Corse  fama  per  tutte  la 
corti  che  dalli  impulsi  d'Urbano  originassero 
quelle  ombre  del  duca  Massimiliano  di  Bavie- 
ra,  che  apersero  una  gran  scisma  nell'  unione 
de'  principi  cattolici  posti  su  i  sbaizi,  che  do- 
mati  li  heretici  fosse  per  convertirsi  lo  stbrzo 
delle  armi  Austriache  a  danni  diquei  medesi- 
mi che  erano  stati  ministri  delle  grandezze  di 
quella  casa :  e  per  dir  tutto,  vi  fu  chi  in  quel 
tempi  si  vanto  di  sapere  che  la  missione  di 
Ceva,  confidente  ministro  della  casa  Barberi- 
na,  in  Francia  con  titolo  di  nontio  straordina- 
rio,  havesse  ne'  suoi  pivi  reconditi  arcani  se- 
crete commissioni  d'eccitare  il  re  di  Francia 
a  mischiarsi  nelle  turbulenze  di  Germania,  a 
fine  che  intendendosi  con  Baviera  si  pensasse 
al  mododi  alzare qualche argineaila crescente 
potenza  della  casa  d'Austria."  [Expressions 
dropped  from  him  at  times  to  the  effect  that 
he  rejoiced  at  the  progress  of  the  catholics 
against  the  heretics ;  but  that  at  the  same 
time  there  was  reason  to  fear  that  one  day 
this  prosperity  would  turn  to  their  own  down- 
fall, from  the  jealousies  that  would  be  excited 
throughout  the  world,  lest  the  empire  should 
absorb  every  remnant  yet  left  of  liberty.  The 
report  was  current  at  all  the  courts,  that  it 
was  at  the  suggestion  of  Urban  that  duke 
Maximilian  of  Bavaria  conceived  those  suspi- 
cions, which  caused  a  great  schism  in  the  union 
of  the  catholic  princes;  namely,  that  when  the 
heretics  were  put  down,  the  Austrian  arms 
were  to  be  turned  against  those  very  powers 
that  had  ministered  to  the  greatness  of  that 
house  ;  and,  to  say  the  whole  truth,  there  were 
some  in  those  days  who  boasted  their  know- 
ledge, that  the  mission  of  Ceva,  the  confiden- 
tial minister  of  the  house  of  Barberino,  with 
the  title  of  nuncio  extraordinary  to  France, 
had  for  one  of  its  most  secret  objects  to  excite 
the  king  of  France  to  mingle  in  the  disturb- 
ances of  Germany,  so  that  in  concert  with  Ba- 
varia he  might  devise  means  of  throwing  up 
some  dam  to  stem  the  increasing  power  of  the 
house  of  Austria.] 

This  is  evidence,  at  least,  that  such  views 
prevailed  at  that  period. 

120.  Della  vita  di  papa  Urbano  VIII.  e  his- 
toria  del  sua  pontijicato  scritta  da  Andrea 
Nicoletti.  8  vols,  folio  MS.  [Life  and 
pontificate  of  pope  Urban  VIII.  by  Andrea 
Nicoletti.J 


It  is  very  much  to  be  regretted  that  there 
are  so  few  good  or  even  available  biographies 
of  eminent  historical  personages. 

This  defect  is  not  to  be  imputed  to  any  in- 
difference for  their  memory,  which  we  usually 
find  highly  esteemed,  if  not  overrated,  by 
those  connected  with  them  :  it  is  rather  to  be 
ascribed  to  the  following  causes. 

In  the  beginning,  when  the  memory  of  the 
deceased  is  yet  fresh,  and  materials  are  still 
to  be  had,  regard  is  had  to  contemporaries ; 
the  whole  truth  cannot  be  spoken  out ;  a  mul- 
titude of  individuals  would  be  compromised, 
and  a  thousand  animosities  aroused  against 
the  subject  of  the  memoir  himself. 

At  a  later  period,  when  the  contemporaries 
are  also  departed,  and  when  a  writer  may 
think  himself  free  to  speak  out,  the  memory 
too  of  the  individual  has  faded  away,  the  ma- 
terials are  dispersed,  the  interest  even  of  the 
subject  has  declined,  and  only  awakes  in  those 
who  wish  to  investigate  it  in  the  way  of  his- 
torical research. 

The  following  expedient  therefore  was  often 
adopted  in  Italy. 

The  materials  for  a  biography  were  com- 
mitted to  a  confidential  friend  or  servant  of 
the  family,  who  had  been  privy  to  and  was 
well  acquainted  with  every  thing  pertaining 
to  the  subject :  he  put  them  together,  and  ar- 
ranged them  into  a  connected  narrative,  which 
however  was  not  intended  for  the  press,  but 
was  preserved  in  MS.  in  the  family  archives. 

In  this  way  the  susceptibility  of  contempo- 
raries was  spared,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
possibility  was  attained  of  the  revival  of  a  fast- 
fading  memory  in  full  truth  at  some  future  time. 

The  work  of  Andrea  Nicoletti  belongs  to 
this  class. 

It  contains  the  family  reminiscences  re- 
specting the  per?onal  hittory  and  the  public 
transactions  of  Urban  VIII.  ;  but  that  which 
makes  up  its  chief  bulk  is  the  entire  corres- 
pondence between  the  pope  and  the  ambassa- 
dors during  the  twenty-one  years  of  his  ponti- 
ficate. 

The  biography  consists  essentially  of  a 
compilation  of  the  despatches  of  the  nuncia- 
tures. 

Its  contents  are  not  the  final  reports,  the 
so-called  relationi,  but  the  despatches  them- 
selves, as  is  fitting  in  a  biography:  the  pope 
alway  appears  therein  as  personally  directing, 
determining,  and  acting. 

I  saw  that  similar  compilations  had  also 
been  attempted  in  Venice :  but  as  the  doings 
of  the  republic  are  thrown  into  the  back- 
ground, and  nothing  is  put  before  us  but  the 
bulk  of  the  received  reports,  whilst  we  have 
no  evidence  of  any  effect  produced,  the  atten- 
tion soon  wanders  and  grows  weary. 

In  the  case  before  us  it  is  quite  otherwise. 
The  vocation  of  the  papacy,  the  complicated 
political  position  of  Urban  VIII.,  the  iinmedi- 


566 


APPENDIX. 


ate  significance  of  every  particular  as  to  some 
great  point  in  history,  produce  unity  and  ex- 
cite interest. 

It  is  manifest  how  surpassing-ly  important, 
as  regards  the  period  of  the  thirty  years'  war 
in  Germany,  are  all  the  particulars  here  rela- 
ted.    They  elucidate  it  in  every  point. 

Where  the  author  pronounces  an  opinion, 
or  reports  a  fact  on  his  own  authority,  we  can- 
not indeed  follow  him  implicitly.  Here  and 
there  he  lacked  authentic  information :  tJie 
official  complexion  is  apparent  in  the  origin 
and  first  conception  of  such  a  work.  I  will 
only  give  one  example.  In  the  3rd  vol.  of 
his  work,  p.  673,  Nicoletti  asserts  that  Urban 
VIII.  heard  with  poignant  grief  (il  rammarico 
fu  acerbissimo)  of  the  conclusion  of  a  peace 
between  England  and  France,  in  the  year 
1629;  yet  we  learn  from  Aluise  Contarini, 
who  had  a  personal  share  in  all  the  negocia- 
tions,  that  the  pope  had  even  recommenced 
those  negociations,  and  the  conclusion  of  the 
treaty.  JN'icoletti's  error  arose  from  this,  that 
this  tact  escaped  his  observation  amidst  the 
enormous  mass  of  the  correspondence  before 
him,  and  that  he  judged  of  the  pope  in  con- 
formity with  his  ecclesiastical  position.  Tiiere 
are  many  other  instances  of  the  kind.  This, 
however,  need  not  prevent  our  believing  our 
author  where  he  only  makes  extracts. 

His  practice  is  to  insert  the  papers  in  their 
full  extent,  only  with  such  alterations  as  the 
form  of  a  narrative  required.  The  most,  then, 
he  can  have  done  in  any  instance  is  to  have 
omitted  or  misplaced  something.  But  from 
the  nature  of  his  task,  which  only  consisted 
in  compiling  what  was  put  before  him,  and 
from  the  character  of  his- work,  which  was  not 
intended  for  the  public,  this  is  not  necessarily 
to  be  anticipated,  and  I  have  not  found  any 
trace  of  it. 

Although  I  have  gone  diligently  through  all 
these  volumes,  and  have  not  neglected  the 
opportunity  of  making  myself  acquainted  with 
such  important  historical  materials,  yet  it 
would  be  impossible  to  give  any  further  ac- 
count of  them  in  this  place.  Whoever  has 
had  to  examine  correspondences  knows  how 
much  it  is  necessary  to  read  through,  in  order 
to  come  clearly  to  the  truth  of  any  fact.  I 
may,  however,  extract  the  description  of  the 
last  moments  of  Urban  VIII.,  which  is  very 
deserving  of  attention,  and  of  his  personal 
character  as  received  by  our  author. 

Tonio  ottavo  at  the  conclusion.  "  Erano  in 
quel  giorni  nel  fine  di  Giugno  caldi  eccessivi 
in  Roma  e  molto  piu  del  solito  pericolosi: 
nondimeno,  parendo  al  papa  di  essersi  alquan- 
to  rihavuto,  e  sapendo  che  diciasette  chiese 
erano  senza  i  loro  vescovi,  e  non  havere  il 
cardinale  Grimaldi,  tornato  dalla  nuntiatura 
di  Francia,  ricevuto  il  capello  cardinalizio,  si 
dichiaro  di  volere  tenere  il  concistoro  nel 
prossimo  lunedi.    II  cardinale  Barberino  cre- 


dette  di  poterlo  indurre  anche  alia  promotione 
de'  cardinali:  percio  non  gli  oppose  la  peri- 
colosa  sua  debolezza  e  la  febbre  leiUa  che  se 
gli  poteva  raddoppiare,  anzi  lodo  il  pensiero  e 
confortoUo,  che  fosse  quasi  in  sicuro  della 
sanitii.  Divulgatasi  la  voce  del  futuro  con- 
cistoro, mentre  si  teneva  il  papa  da  alcuni 
moribondo  e  da  altri  indubitamenle  morto  ma 
che  per  alcuni  giorni  si  fosse  la  morte  di  lui 
occultata,  si  vide  la  maggiore  parte  di  Roma 
impaurita,  benche  ciascuno  fingesse  nel  viso 
allegrezza  e  contento  per  la  ricuperata  salute. 
Accortosi  dapoi  il  cardinale  Barberino  che  il 
papa  non  voleva  venire  alia  promotione  di 
alcun  cardinale,  giacche  ne  mancavano  otto 
nel  sacro  collegio,  o  perche  non  rimanesse 
sodisfatto  de'  sogetti  che  se  gli  propone vano, 
o  perche  lasciar  voleva  al  successore  queila 
cura,  fece  con  ragioni  efficacissime  e  con  pre- 
ghiere  I'ultima  pruova  di  dissuadergli  in  quel 
giorni  il  concistoro,  e  tanto  piu  si  adopero 
quanto  vedeva,  oltre  il  danno  del  papa,  che 
egli  sarebbe  rimasto  in  discapito  della  slima 
e  del  credito  suo,  perche  non  facendosi  i  car- 
dinali si  sarebbe  conferraata  I'opinione  che 
universalmente  correva,  che  egli  per  cagione 
delle  guerre  fosse  caduto  dalla  potenza  che 
haveva  appresso  il  papa,  e  che  se  havesse  la 
St'^  Sua  alJungata  la  vita,  havrebbe  dominato 
il  cardinale  Antonio.  Non  essendosi  a  quelle 
preghiere  e  ragioni  mosso  il  papa,  monsignor 
Roscioli,  conoscendo  di  dare  gusto  al  cardi- 
nale Barberino  e  di  giovare  alia  vita  di  Sua 
St^  col  rimuoverlo  dalla  detta  deliberatione, 
confidato  nella  benevolenza  di  Sua  fine  verso 
di  se,  stabili  di  adoperarsi  con  ogni  efficacia 
possibile,  anche  a  nome  publico  de'  cardinali  e 
della  citta  di  Roma,  di  volerlo  dissuadere  dal 
concistoro.  Preso  adunque  il  tempo  oppor- 
tune, entro  dal  papa,  e  postosegli  inginoc- 
chioni  gli  disse  di  non  volerlo  supplicare  a 
nome  de'  suoi  ministri  ne  per  parte  de'  suoi 
nipoti  ne  della  casa  Barberina,  ma  della  citta 
tntta  di  Roma  :  imperciocche  essendo  la  S^^ 
Sua  stata  eletta  per  la  salute  de'  popoli  e  per 
governare  la  chiesa,  abbandonando  la  cura  di 
se  medesima  con  esporsi  inferma  a  pericoloso 
accidente  veniva  insieme  a  lasciare  in  abban- 
dono  la  citta  et  il  governo  commessole  della 
chiesa,  non  senza  grandissimo  dolore  di  tutti : 
iinportare  pivi  it  suo  bene  o  il  suo  male  alia 
christianita  che  alia  casa  Barberina  o  alia 
Si=^  Sua  medesima:  che  percio  se  non  voleva 
differire  queila  fatica  alle  preghiere  de'  nipoti, 
lo  facesse  almeno  per  I'istanze  della  citta  di 
Roma,  che  la  supplicava.  II  papa  dopo  di 
essere  stato  alquanto  pensoso  rispose  di  non 
curar^i  di  prolungare  piii  la  vita,  conoscendo 
il  pontificato  non  esser  piii  peso  delle  sue 
ferze,  et  iddio  havrebbe  proveduto  alia  sua 
chiesa.  Dopo  questa  risposta  essendosi  al- 
quanto traltenuto,  si  accorse  nionsignore  Ros- 
cioli che  il  papa  haveva  gli  occhi  pieni  di 
lagrime  e  sospirando  si  rivolto  al  cielo  e  pro- 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


567 


ruppe  in  ferventi  preghiere  a  dio  accioche  la 
maesta  sua  divina  lo  volesse  liberate  da'.la 
vita  presente,  mcstrandosene  grandemente 
annojato. 

Venuto  fiiialmente  il  lunedi  determinato 
per  tenere  il  coiicistore,  concorso  al  palazzo 
gran  moltitudine  di  popolo  curioso  di  vedere 
il  papa,  che  poco  avanti  havova  creduto  per 
morto.  Appena  entrato,  i  cardinali  si  accor- 
sero  havere  egli  hormai  finita  la  vita,  imper- 
ciocche  comparve  laiiguido,  pal  lido  e  quasi 
smarrito  nelle  parole,  e  particolarmente  nel 
fine  del  concistoro  mostrava  di  essere  rimasto 
quasi  senza  intendimento.  Fu  data  la  cagione 
air  eccessivo  caldo  della  stagione  accresciuto 
dalla  calca  della  gente  penetrata  dentro:  e 
non  andarono  senza  biasimo  i  ministri  piu 
intimi  del  palazzo  et  anche  il  cardinale  Bar- 
berino  per  non  havere  impedito  il  papa  da 
qnella  si  faticosa  funtione,  non  sapendo  il 
popolo  le  manifatture  che  si  erano  tatte  per 
distornelo:  imperciocche  ognuno  dal  vederlo 
in  cosi  grande  squallcre  et  abbattimento  di 
forze  si  sarebbe  mosso  a  pieta,  poiche  chiara- 
mente  cono.-cevasi  che  il  male  gli  haveva 
ingombrata  la  mente  et  il  vero  sentimento  del 
governo  delle  cose.  Dopo  la  propoiitione 
delle  chiese  e  dopo  havere  dato  il  cappello  al 
cardinale  Grimaldi  partissi  dal  concistoi'o  soni- 
mamente  aggravato  dal  male,  come  gli  fu 
predetto. 

"  Nel  di  seguente  fece  un'  attione  con  la 
quale  si  acquisto  fama  di  gran  pieta  e  degna 
di  rimanore  per  esempio  a  tulti  i  principi 
ecclesiastici.  Questa  fu  di  chiamare  alia  sua 
presenza  alcuni  theologi  in  quella  scienza  e 
nella  probita  riguardevolissimi  e  dal  i)apa 
creduti  lontani  dall'  adulatione,  a  quali  tatta 
prima  dare  piena  cognitione  di  tutti  li  beui  et 
entrate  ecclesiastiche  delle  quali  in  tempo  dei 
suo  pontificate  haveva  arricchita  la  casa  Bar- 
berina,  ordino  che  gli  rifcrissero  se  in  alcuna 
cosa  egli  haveva  trapassato  il  potere  e  I'auto- 
rita  sua  :  perche  era  preparato  a  ripigliare  da' 
nepoti  tutto  cio  che  aggravare  gli  poteva  la 
coscienza  avanti  al  tribunale  di  dio.  Li  theo- 
logi furono  il  cardinale  de  Lugo,  il  padre  Tor- 
quato  de  Cupis  della  compagnia  di  Gesii,  et 
alcuni  altri.  E  si  animo  il  papa  a  fare  questa 
attione  dal  sereno  che  vide  in  fronte  al  cardi- 
nale Barberiuo,  quando  ciiiamatolo  prima  di 
tutti  lo  fece  partecipe  di  questo  suo  pensiero, 
che  non  ostanti  I'ombre  passate  quasi  voile 
parere  di  volere  da  lui  prenderne  consiglio. 
Lodo  il  cardinale  la  pieto  della  S^^  Sua,  e 
mostro  di  haverne  particolare  contento,  spe- 
rando  maggiori  felicita  dalla  mano  liberalis- 
sima  di  dio,  mentre  solo  per  sodisfare  a  Sua 
Divina  Maesta  tutto  cio  si  faceva.  Dicesi  che 
il  parere  uniforme  de'  theologi  fu,  che  havendo 
Sua  Si^  arricchiti  li  suoi  nipoti,  poteva  con  si- 
cura  coscienza  lasciarli  godere  tulti  li  beni  che 
haveva  loro  conceduti,  e  cio  per  due  ragioni : 
I'una  perche  havendo  promossi  al  cardinalato 


una  quantita  di  soggetti  quali  non  haveva  pro- 
voduti  di  entrate  secondo  il  loro  grando,  li 
medesimi  nipoti  havessero  comodita  di  acco- 
modarli  secondo  il  loro  bisogno :  I'altro  jnotivo 
per  quietare  la  coscienza  del  papa  fu,  che  ha- 
vendo li  sopradctti  nipoti  in  si  lungo  princi- 
pato  e  nelle  passate  guerre  contralto  I'odio  e 
I'inimicitie  con  diversi  principi,  era  ragione- 
vole  di  lasciarli  ben  comodi  per  mantenere  il 
loro  grado,  anche  per  riputatione  della  sode 
apostolica,  e  non  essere  vilipesi,  come  suole 
accadera  a  quelli  che  dalla  cima  del  dominare 
si  riducono  a  stato  inferiore:  onde  I'essere 
bene  provisti  di  ricchezze  e  di  beni  di  fortuna 
gli  havrebbe  falti  maggiormente  rispettare : 
et  oltre  di  cio  li  medesimi  nepoti  havevano  di 
loro  natura  tali  viscere  di  Christiana  pieta  che 
havrebbe  erogate  I'entrate  in  beneficio  de' 
poveri  et  in  altri  usi  pii.  E  con  queste  et 
altre  ragioni  mostro  il  papa  di  quietarsi. 

"  Si  andava  dunque  preparando  alia  morte, 
che  da  se  stesso  conosceva  essergli  vicina: 
ma  fra  questi  pensieri  e  dispositioni  si  mos- 
trava in  tutti  i  ragionamenti  pieno  di  giusto 
sdegno  contro  i  principi  d'ltalia,  sentendo 
immenso  dolore  che  havesse  a  restare  memo- 
ria  che  in  tempo  del  suo  pontificate  si  fossero 
collegati  contro  di  lui  et  havessero  assalito 
con  esercili  lo  stato  della  chiesa:  onde  talvolta 
prorompeva  in  parole  acerbe,  come  se  fossero 
stati  senza  pieta,  senza  religione  e  senza 
legge,  et  implorava  dal  cielo  giusta  vendetta 
per  vederli  da  dio  gastigati  prima  di  morire  o 
almeno  pentiti.  Gia,  come  altrove  si  e  detto, 
si  era  con  loro  fatla  la  pace,  firmata  dalla  S^* 
Sua  e  sottoscritta:  ma  in  essa  non  venivano 
li  due  cardinali  Barberini  ne  compresi  ne 
nomiuati :  onde  le  creature  piu  fedeli  giudica- 
rono  che  mentre  la  casa  Barberina  era  per  la 
vita  del  papa  ancora  temuta,  si  dovesse  impie- 
gare  ogni  industria  perche  i  principi  Itaiiani 
li  dichiarassero  inclusi  nella  medesima  pace, 
Et  il  cardinal  Bicchi,  che  agli  stessi  principi 
ando  plenipotentiario  per  parte  di  Francia, 
atfermo  che  per  non  essere  certi  della  morte 
del  papa  non  sarebbero  stati  lontani  dal  trat- 
larla  e  dall'  accettarla.  Ma  il  cardinal  Bar- 
berino  con  ordini  precisi  vietollo,  ordinando  al 
Bicchi  che  di  cio  non  ne  trattasse  punto, 
ancorche  i  principi  spontaneamente  gliel' 
havessero  offerto :  ne  voile  mai  sopra  di  cio 
sentire  consigli  di  alcuno,  allegando  per  ragi- 
one  che  il  volere  loro  essere  inclusi  ne'  capi- 
toli  della  pace  e  nominati  in  essa  altro  non 
era  che  un  farsi  dichiarare  per  autori  di 
havere  mossa  la  guerra,  conciossiacosache  ne' 
trattali  di  pace  non  sia  mai  solito  ne  si  costu- 
mi  di  nommare  i  ministri,  ma  i  principi  e  capi 
che  a  parte  della  guerra  sono  venuti. 

"  Vacavano  in  quel  tempo,  come  dianzi  fu 
detto,  otto  luoghi  nel  sacro  collegio  de'  cardi- 
nali :  onde  grande  era  I'agitatione  in  che  stava 
la  corte,  potendo  cosi  gran  numero  cagionare 
non  picciola  mutatione  nelle  cose  de'  capi  di 


568 


APPENDIX. 


fattioni  g'lk  stabilife.  II  papa,  come  piu  volte 
disse  a  noi  i!  cardinale  Barberino,  desiderando 
clie  i  cardinali  fossero  in  maggior  estimatione 
meglio  proveduti  di  entrate,  penso  di  ridurre 
con  particolare  constitutione  tutlo  il  sacro 
coUegio  al  niimero  di  cinquanto:  onde  stava 
fisso  in  non  fare  altra  proniotione.  Barberino 
pero,  conoscendo  che  col  lasciare  tanti  luoghi 
vacanti  non  havrebbe  il  papa  ottenuto  Tintento 
et  havrebbo  servito  d'ingrandimento  alia  fat- 
tione  del  successore,  piu  volte  supplicoUo  che 
si  lasciasse  vincere  dal  consentimento  comune 
in  promuovere  tanti  soggetti  che  vi  erano 
meritevoli  della  porpora.  Ma  il  tutto  gli 
riusci  vano,  rispondendogli  il  papa  di  non 
volere  che  alcuni  de'  suoi  successori  col  sno 
esempio  potessero  nel  fine  della  vita  privata- 
mente  senza  decoro  e  stando  in  letto  creare 
cardinali,  e  che  questo  esempio  da  Gregorio 
Decimoquinlo  ricevuto  haveva  e  voleva  con 
uguale  gloria  lasciare  a'  posteri.  Vi  si  ado- 
perarono  altri  personaggi  e  particolarmente  il 
cardinale  de  Lugo,  il  quale  per  render  efficaci 
I'istanze  del  cardinale  Barberino  suggeri  al 
papa  il  decreto  consistoriale  delli  tre  cardinali 
fatti  gia  spedilo  dopo  il  concistoro  in  cui  fu 
fatta  Tultima  promotione,  e  che  il  cardinale 
Barberino  come  vicecancelliere  era  obbiigalo 
a  ricordarlo  a  Sua  Si^,  non  perche  promo- 
vesse,  come  fu  il  caso  di  Gregorio,  ma  solo 
accioche  dichiarasse  i  cardinali  gia  creati  e 
riservati  in  petto,  la  quale  publicatione  a  tutto 
il  sacro  collogio  pareva  ragionevole,  ne  vi  era 
bisogno  di  altro  concistoro.  Ma  il  papa,  o  che 
fosse  sdegnato  perche  il  cardinale  Barberino 
gli  haveva  proposti  alcuni  soggetti  che  non 
erano  di  sodisfattione  di  Sua  Si^^,  o  credesse 
di  lasciare  piii  gioriosa  la  menioria  di  se, 
stette  saldo  o  tutte  le  istanze,  ordinando 
che  niuno  piii  ardisse  di  parlargli  di  promo- 
tione  

"Era  I'aspetto  di  papa  Urbano  giocondissi- 
mo,  ma  pieno  di  maesta:  e  sebbene  nel  sno 
temperamento  vi  era  alquanto  di  malinconico, 
sicche  quando  si  veniva  all'  emissione  del 
sangue,  che  per  I'ordinario  era  ne'  tempi  di 
primavera,  gli  uscivano  dalle  vene  pezzetti 
come  gelati  di  quell'  humore,  ne  senza  questo 
havrebbe  poluto  profittare  tanto  nelle  lettere, 
dicendo  il  filosofo  che  la  malinconia  contri- 
buisce  assai  per  apprendere  le  scienze  e  rite- 
nerle  impresse  nell'  animo.  La  dispositione 
poi  del  corpo  e  delle  membra  era  nobilmente 
compartita.  La  statura  piutosto  grande  che 
mediocre :  le  carni  di  colore  olivastro  e  piu 
tosto  piene  di  succo  che  grasse :  il  capo  grande, 
che  dinotava  un  maraviglioso  ingegno  et  una 
vivacissima  memoria :  la  fronte  spatiosa  e 
Serena :  gli  occhi  di  colore  fra  I'azzuro  et  il 
bianco :  il  naso  proportionato :  le  guancie 
rotonde,  ma  negli  ultimi  anni  notabilmente 
eslenuate  :  la  bocca  plena  di  gratia  :  la  voce 
Bonora,  ma  soave,  onde  con  la  favella  Toscana, 
che  sempre  ritenne  finche  visse,  uscivano  da 


essa  dolcissime  parole  piene  di  eloquenza  e 
sparse  di  fiori  di  buone  lettere  e  di  eruditioni 
sacre  e  di  antichi  esempj :  nutri  infino  da  pre- 
late la  barba  honestamente  lunga  e  riquadrata, 
la  quale  con  la  canitie  rendeva  il  suo  aspetto 
pill  venerabile 

"  Veramente  era  tanto  amabile  che  da  una 
troppa  apertura  in  poi  che  dimostrava,  se  pure 
I'importanza  del  negotio  non  lo  ratteneva,  non 
vi  era  altro  che  da  critici  bene  attenti  vi  fosse 
da  tacciare.  E  se  talvolta  saliva  in  collera, 
ben  presto  tornava  alia  giocondita  di  prima. 

L'opinione  de'  saggi  era  che  con  esso 

lui  stimavasi  necessario  di  essere  o  di  altro 
sapere  o  di  niuno  o  di  poco :  poiche  sicome  non 
isdegnava  di  essere  guadagnato  dalla  saviezza 
dell'  uno,  cosi  compativa  tanto  all'  altro  che 
egli  stesso  lo  soccorreva  e  sollevava,  se  pero 
questo  non  fosse  state  presuntuoso  o  orgogli- 
oso,  abusandosi  della  humanita  e  buona  condi- 
tione  del  papa,  il  quale  dure  et  inflessibile  fu 
sempre  con  gli  orgogliosi  et  arroganti,  sicome 
altrettanto  amorevole  e  benigno  mostravasi 

verso   i   rispettosi   e  modesti Verso  i 

sopradetti  servitori  e  verso  anche  i  parenti 
proprj  era  discretissimo  in  scegliere  i  tempi 
per  valersene  piu  comodi  a  quelli  che  a  se 
stesso,  non  isdegnando  talvolta  di  udire  con 
patienza  qualche  parola  o  atlo  di  sentimento 
o  di  doglienze  lore.  E  nelle  sue  malattie  pa- 
reva che  pigliasse  piu  dispiacere  de'  patimenti 
e  vigilie  degli  assistenti  a  lui  che  del  proprio 
male  o  de'  suoi  dolori.  Cosi  anche  non  era 
facile  a  sfogamenti  o  lamenti  delle  persone  : 
ma  gli  era  grave  il  negare  o  vedere  partire 
da  se  alcuno  discontento.  Coi  suoi  piii  confi- 
denti  servitori  era  giocondissimo,  e  talvolta 
con  essi  usava  de'  motti  o  come  si  suoi  dire 

de'  sali  ingegnosi Non  si  scordo  mai  de 

gli  amici  antichi,  o  fossero  assenti  o  morti,  et 
in  questo  fu  ammirabile  la  sua  benevolenza : 
onde  ordino  al  cardinale  Biscia  sua  creatura, 
che  era  stato  uno  di  quelli  suoi  piu  contidenti, 
accioche  havesse  la  cura  di  dargli  spesso 
nuova  di  lore,  e  se  fossero  morti,  che  pigliasse 
nota  de'  lore  discendenti  per  provederli  all' 
occasioni 

"Priori  in  Roma  nel  suo  tempo  grandissima 
abbondanza  di  tutte  le  cose  :  e  soleva  dire  che 
egli  da  Firenze  haveva  havuto  il  suo  nasci- 
mento,  ma  da  Roma  tutta  la  sua  grandezza,  et 
havrebbe  voluto  che  ogni  persona  godesse  la 
felicita  del  suo  pontificate,  che  gli  ufficj  venali 
della  cancelleria  fruttassero  copiosamente,  e 
percio  egli  era  gratiossimo  nelle  speditioni 
della  dataria,  che  gli  artigiani  nelle  loro  fac- 
cende  facessero  grossi  ma  leciti  guadagni,  e 
lo  stesso  facessero  anche  i  mercanti  di  ogni 
sorte :  e  quindi  era  che  nel  suo  pontificato 
correva  tanto  il  danaro  che  ogn'uno  di  qualsi- 
voglia  professione  rimaneva  sodisfatto  e  con- 
tento.  Diede  tali  ordini  per  I'annona  che  per- 
doni  a  spesa  per  mantenere  I'abbondanza. 
Cosi  il  suo  maggiore  godimento  era  che  gli 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


569 


agricoltori  non  restassero  privi  di  quei  gua- 
dagni  che  a  lui  pareva  si  richiedessero  dal 
pericolo  della  vita  e  della  facoita  che  impie- 
gavand  nella  vastita  delle  campagne  di  Roma 
e  neir  acre  insalubre  :  e  quando  quasi  a  niun' 
altro  impiego  pareva  att.a  la  maritiina  che 
delia  agricoltura,  quivi  fisso  il  pensiero,  e 
tenne  piii  volte  pioposito  di  seccare  le  paludi 
Pontine,  per  guadagnare  quelle  immensita 
de'  paesi  che  hora  sono  sott'  acqua,  e  cio  per 
beneficio  publico:  ma  allre  cure  gravi  non 
gli  lasciarono  godere  I'eftetto  di  si  glorioso 
disegno.  Ne  voile  niai,  per  mantenere  la 
detta  abbondanza,  che  si  stabilisse  il  prezzo 
del  grano  e  dell'  altre  vittovaglie,  ma  che 
ogni  cosa  fosse  libera,  ovviando  in  questo 
modo  ai  monopolj :  onde  i  mercanti  rieih- 
piendo  i  granari,  ciascuno  faceva  a  gari  di 
venderlo  a  buon  mercato,  e  cosi  la  citta  di 
Roma  diveniva  opulenta. 

"  Se  poi  ne!  suo  poritificato  fiorirono  le  let- 
tere,  non  e  meraviglia:  poiche  non  haveva 
migliore  divertimento  che  coi  letterati,  quali 
accolse  sempre  con  benignita  e  rimuneroUi. 
Cosi  anche  dell'  altre  professioni  nobili  fu 
amantissimo,  come  della  pittura,  scoltura  et 
altre  buone  arti,  sicchenon  isdegno  piu  volte, 
e  particolarmente  un  giorno,  andando  alia 
visita  delle  setle  chiese  con  tiitto  il  sacro  col- 
legio,  giunto  a  Santa  Maria  Maggiore,  doppo 
havere  fatta  oratione  in  quella  basilica,  di  en- 
trare  con  la  stessa  comitiva  de'  cardinali  in 
casa  del  cavaliere  Giovanni  Lorenzo  Bernino 
cola  vicina,  per  vedere  alcuni  lavori  di  cele- 
bre  scoltura  del  suo  scalpello. 

"  L'essere  egli  stato  necessitato  per  la  me- 
desima  cagione  d'imporre  loro  le  gravezze  e 
le  gabelle  :  onde  tal  volta  a  tali  avvisi  si  vide 
piangere,  dicendo  che  volontieri  havrebbe  dato 
il  propriosangue  o  de'  suoi  congiunti  pivi  toslo 
che  di  sentire  le  afflittioni  de'  popoli  e  di 
Roma  e  gl'incomodi  dolla  camera  apostolica. 
Et  a  monsignore  Lorenzo  Raggi,  tesoriere  di 
essa,  il  quale  in  tempo  della  sua  ultima  infer- 
mita  ando  alia  udienza,  disse  che  desiderava 
di  vivere  ancora  due  soli  mesi  per  tre  cagioni : 
I'unaper  havere  piu  lungo  tempo  di  penitenza 
e  chiedere  a  dio  il  perdono  de'  suoi  peccati : 
I'altra  per  finire  di  rimettere  in  castel  Sant' 
Angelo  tutto  il  denaro  che  fu  levato  per  la 
guerra  di  Castro:  la  terza  per  vedere  finita 
la  fabbrica  delle  mura  di  Borgo  e  di  Traste- 
vere  et  assicurata  la  citta  di  Roma. 

"Se  le  azioni  eroiche  del  papa  per  debo- 
lezza  della  mia  penna  saranno  senza  eloquen- 
za,  senza  nobilta  di  stile,  et  in  somma  impro- 
portionate  per  un  pontefice  si  grande,  nondi- 
meno  sono  state  scritte  con  pura  e  sincera 
verita  :  il  che  particolarmente  mi  fu  imposto 
et  inculcate  da  chi  teneva  sopra  di  mc  su- 
prema  autorita,  cioe  che  io  scrivessi  sernpli- 
cemente  da  istorico,  e  rni  tencssi  Ivtulmente 
lontano  da  ogni  adulatione  e  vanita  e  da  rtt- 
72 


tor  let  ingrandimenti,  attendendo  piu  alle  cose 
che  (die  parole. 

"  Ma  tornando  alia  sua  applicatione  intorno 
alle  cose  sacre,  oltre  I'havere  fatto  emendare 
e  ristampare  il  ceremonial e  Romano,  non 
manco  di  dare  molti  ordini  per  la  cappella 
pontificia  :  pero  o  per  negligenza  de'  ministri 
o  per  distrattione  ad  altri  gravi  affari  solo  al- 
cune  cose  principali  sono  rimaste  in  osser- 
vanza.  Vero  si  fu  che  riformo  anche  I'uso 
delle  indulgenze  per  chiudere  la  bocca  agli 
heretici. 

"  Finalmente  se  Urbano  non  havesse  in- 
trapesa  la  guerra,  o,  per  meglio  dire,  se  non 
vi  fosse  stato  provocate  e  tirato  a  forza,  il  che 
gli  accelero  anche  notabilmente  la  morte,  non 
si  poteva  desiderare  ne  pontefice  piii  glorioso 
ne  principe  di  piii  egregie  (jualita,  per  mezzo 
delle  quali  per  molti  anni  del  suo  pontificato 
conservo  verso  di  se  I'amore  universale  di 
tutto  il  christianesimo,  sicche  fino  ad  hora  si 
benedice  dai  popoli  la  sua  rimembranza  per 
quegli  anni  felici  ne  quali  godettero  la  tran- 
quillita  e  la  pace." 

[Towards  the  end  of  June  in  those  days  the 
heat  was  excessive  in  Rome,  and  much  more 
dangerous  than  usual  ;  nevertheless  the  pope, 
thinking  himself  somewhat  better,  and  know- 
ing there  were  seventeen  churches  without 
their  bishops,  and  that  cardinal  Grimaldi,  who 
had  returned  from  the  nunciature  in  France, 
had  not  received  the  cardinal's  hat,  declared 
his  intention  of  holding  a  consistory  on  the  fol- 
lowing Monday.  Cardinal  Barberino  e.xpect- 
ed  also  to  induce  him  to  the  promotion  of  the 
cardinals:  for  this  reason  he  did  not  oppose 
his  design  nor  represent  to  him  his  danger- 
ous debility  and  the  risk  of  increasing  his 
slow  fever ;  but  even  praised  his  intention, 
and  encouraged  him  in  it,  as  though  he  were 
in  sound  health.  The  rumour  spreading  of 
the  intended  consistory,  whilst  the  pope  was 
thought  by  some  to  be  dying,  and  by  some 
actually  dead,  but  that  his  death  was  kept 
concealed  for  some  days,  alarm  seized  upon 
the  greater  part  of  Rome,  though  every  one 
feigned  in  his  countenance  joy  and  delight  at 
the  recovery  of  his  holiness's  health.  When 
cardinal  Barberinosubsequently  became  aware 
that  the  pope  would  not  proceed  to  the  pro- 
motion of  any  cardinal,  there  being  now  want- 
ing eight  in  the  sacred  college,  either  because 
he  was  not  satisfied  with  those  who  were  pro- 
posed to  him,  or  because  he  wished  to  leave 
that  duty  to  his  successor,  the  cardinal,  with 
the  most  cogent  arguments  and  entreaties, 
made  a  last  effort  to  dissuade  him  from  going 
then  to  the  consistory;  and  he  strove  the 
harder,  because  he  saw  that,  in  addition  to  the 
mii^chief  to  the  pope,  his  own  credit  would 
suft'er  much  ;  tor,  if  the  cardinals  were  not 
created,  it  would  confirm  the  universally  pre- 
vailing opinion  that  he  had  loit  the  influence 


670 


APPENDIX. 


he  had  possessed  with  his  holiness  in  conse- 
quence of  the  war,  and  that  had  the  latter 
lived  longer,  cardinal  Antonio  would  have 
obtained  supremacy.  As  the  pope  was  not 
moved  by  these  arguments  and  entreaties, 
Monsignor  Roscioli,  thinking  to  gratify  cardi- 
nal Barberirio,  and  to  aid  in  prolonging  the 
life  of  his  holiness  by  dissuading  him  from  his 
purpose,  confiding  in  the  pope's  good  will  to- 
wards him,  determined  to  use  every  effort  in 
the  name  of  the  cardinals  and  of  the  whole 
city  to  dissuade  him  from  holding  the  con- 
sistory. Taking,  then  a  fit  opportunity,  he 
presented  himself  to  the  pope,  and  kneeling 
before  him,  he  told  him  that  he  was  come  to 
supplicate  him,  not  in  the  name  of  his  minis- 
ters, nor  on  the  part  of  his  nephews,  or  of  the 
house  of  Barberini,  but  in  the  name  of  the 
whole  city  of  Home ;  because  his  holiness, 
having  been  elected  for  the  good  of  the  na- 
tions and  to  govern  the  church,  if  he  neglected 
the  due  care  of  his  own  person,  and  exposed 
himself  in  his  weak  state  to  great  risk,  he 
would  in  so  doing  abandon  the  city  and  the 
government  committed  to  him  by  the  church, 
to  the  extreme  grief  of  all ;  his  weal  or  ill  was 
of  more  moment  to  Christendom  than  to  the 
house  of  Barberini  or  to  his  holiness  himself; 
if  therefore  he  would  not  forego  that  danger- 
ous effort  at  the  entreaties  of  his  nephews,  he 
should  at  least  do  so  for  the  urgent  prayers  of 
the  city  of  Rome.  The  pope,  after  pondering 
somewhat  for  a  while,  replied,  that  he  was 
not  desirous  of  prolonging  his  life,  knowing 
that  the  papacy  was  a  burthen  no  longer 
adapted  to  his  strength,  and  that  God  would 
provide  for  his  church.  Having  made  this  re- 
ply he  conversed  a  little,  and  Monsignor  Ros- 
cioli perceived  that  his  eyes  were  full  of  tears; 
and  raising  his  eyes  to  heaven  with  a  sigh, 
he  burst  into  fervent  prayer  to  God  that 
He  would  be  plensed  to  release  him  from 
this  life,  with  which  he  seemed  sorely  dis- 
gusted. 

[At  last  the  Monday  appointed  for  holding 
the  consistory  being  arrived,  a  great  multi- 
tude flocked  to  the  palace,  curious  to  see  the 
pope,  who  shortly  before  had  been  thought 
dead.  No  sooner  was  he  entered  than  the 
cardinals  perceived  his  days  were  numbered, 
for  he  appeared  languid,  pale,  and  almost 
wandering  in  his  speech;  and  particularly 
towards  the  close  of  the  consistory  he  seemed 
almost  insensible.  This  was  attributed  to  the 
excessive  heat  of  the  place,  increased  by  the 
crowd  that  had  forced  their  way  in  ;  nor  did 
the  more  intimate  ministers  of  the  palace,  and 
even  cardinal  Barberino,  escape  blame  tor  not 
having  hindered  the  pope  from  going  through 
such  a  trying  scene,  the  people  not  being 
aware  of  the  endeavours  that  had  been  made 
to  dissaude  him  ;  for  no  one  could  behold  him 
so  haggard  and  so  broken  down  without  being 
moved  to  pity,  for  it  was  manifest  that  disease 


had  impaired  his  intellects  and  deprived  him 
of  all  real  judgment  in  business.  After  the 
propositions  of  the  churches,  and  after  having 
given  the  hat  to  cardinal  Grimaldi,  he  left  the 
consistory  with  his  disorder  excessively  aug- 
mented, as  it  was  foretold  him  would  be  the 
case. 

[On  the  following  day  he  did  an  act  where- 
by he  acquired  the  fame  of  great  piety,  and 
one  which  deserves  to  remain  for  an  example 
to  all  ecclesiastical  princes.  This  was  to  call 
before  him  some  theologians  deeply  versed  in 
that  science,  and  of  scrupulous  piety,  and 
whom  the  pope  believed  incapable  of  adula- 
tion: having  first  caused  a  full  statement  to 
be  made  to  them  of  all  the  estates  and  eccle- 
siastical revenues  wherewith  in  his  time  he 
had  enriched  the  house  of  Barberini,  he  or- 
dered them  to  declare  whether  he  had  in  any 
particular  overstepped  his  power  and  autho- 
rity ;  for  he  was  prepared  to  take  back  from 
his  nephews  all  that  might  lie  heavy  on  his 
conscience  before  God's  judgment-seat.  The 
theologians  were  cardinal  de  Lugo,  padre 
Torquato  de  Cupis,  of  the  society  of  Jesus, 
and  some  others.  And  the  pope  was  cheered 
on  to  do  this  by  the  serenity  displayed  in  the 
countenance  of  cardinal  Barberino,  when  on 
summoning  him  first  of  all  he  made  known  to 
him  that  intention  of  his,  on  which,  notwith- 
standing the  past  umbrage,  he  seemed  as  it 
were  disposed  to  ask  his  nephew's  advice. 
The  cardinal  extolled  the  piety  of  his  holiness, 
and  manifested  his  particular  satisfaction, 
hoping  for  greater  blessings  from  the  bounti- 
ful hand  of  God,  since  all  this  was  done  solely 
to  please  his  Divine  majesty.  It  is  said  that 
the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  theologians  was, 
that  his  holiness,  having  enriched  his  nephews, 
might  with  a  safe  conscience  leave  them  to 
enjoy  all  the  wealth  he  had  bestowed  on  them; 
and  this  for  two  reasons,  the  one  because  hav- 
ing promoted  to  the  cardinalship  a  number  of 
persons  whom  he  had  not  provided  with  in- 
comes suitable  to  their  rank,  his  nephews 
themselves  would  be  in  a  condition  to  supply 
them  according  to  their  need  ;  the  other  argu- 
ment to  quiet  the  pope's  conscience  was,  that 
the  said  nephews  having,  during  so  long  a 
reign  and  in  past  wars,  incurred  the  hatred 
and  hostility  of  various  princes,  it  was  reason- 
able to  leave  them  sufficient  means  to  main- 
tain their  rank  suitably  to  the  credit  of  the 
apostolic  see,  and  not  to  be  scorned  as  com- 
monly happens  to  those  who  are  reduced  from 
the  highest  command  to  an  inferior  station  ; 
hence  their  being  well  provided  with  wealth 
and  with  the  goods  of  fortune  would  make 
them  more  respected :  and  besides  this,  the 
said  nephews  had  by  nature  such  bowels  of 
Christian  compassion,  that  they  would  expend 
their  incomes  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  and 
in  other  pious  uses.  These  and  other  argu- 
ments appeared  to  quiet  the  pope. 


SECOND  EPOCH  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  RESTORATION. 


571 


[He  proceeded  then  to  prepare  for  his  death, 
which  he  knew  to  be  near  at  hand  ;  hut  amidst 
all  these  thouirhts  and  considerations  he  show- 
ed himself  filled  with  just  indignation  against 
the  princes  of  Italy,  and  was  intensely  grieved 
to  think  it  should  remain  on  record,  that,  dur- 
ing his  pontificate,  they  had  confederated 
against  him,  and  had  assailed  the  states  of  the 
church  with  their  armies  :  hence  he  sometimes 
broke  out  into  bitter  language  against  them  as 
men  without  piety,  without  religion,  and  with- 
out laws,  and  he  implored  the  just  vengeance 
of  Heaven  that  he  might  see  them  chastised 
before  he  died,  or  at  least  penitent.  Already, 
as  has  been  said  elsewhere,  peace  had  been 
made  with  them,  and  ratified  and  subscribed 
by  his  holiness ;  but  there  were  not  included 
or  named  in  it  eitherof  the  two  cardinals  Bar- 
berini:  whence  the  most  trusty  of  the  pope's 
creatures  judged  that  whilst  the  house  of  Har- 
berini  was  still  feared  during  the  pope's  life- 
time, every  efibrt  should  be  used  to  make  the 
Italian  princes  include  the  cardinals  in  the 
said  treaty.  And  cardinal  Bicclii,  who  went 
as  plenipotentiary  to  the  said  princes  .on  the 
part  of  France,  averred,  that  not  being  certain 
of  the  pope's  death  they  would  not  be  averse 
to  treat  of  the  matter  and  to  concede  it.  But 
cardinal  Barberino  forbade  it  in  strict  terms, 
ordering  Bicchi  not  to  move  in  the  matter  at 
all,  even  though  the  princes  should  oiFer  it  of 
their  own  accord  ;  nor  would  he  ever  listen  to 
any  advice  on  this  topic,  alleging  as  his  rea- 
son, that  to  have  them  two  included  by  name 
in  the  treaty  would  be  nothing  less  than  de- 
claring them  to  have  been  instigators  of  the 
war,  since  it  is  not  usual  or  customary  in  trea- 
ties of  peace  to  name  ministers,  but  only  the 
princes  and  leaders  who  have  taken  part  in 
the  war. 

[There  were  at  this  time,  as  before-men- 
tioned, eight  vacancies  in  the  college  of  car- 
dinals ;  great,  therefore,  was  the  excitement 
at  court,  since  so  great  a  number  of  creations 
might  cause  no  slight  change  in  the  establish- 
ed position  of  parties.  The  pope,  as  cardinal 
Barberino  repeatedly  told  us,  desnous  that  the 
cardinals  should  enjoy  higher  consideration 
and  better  incomes,  thought  of  reducing  the 
whole  sacred  college  by  a  special  constitution 
to  the  number  of  fifty  ;  hence  he  was  resolute 
in  his  determination  not  to  make  any  promo- 
tion. But  Barberino,  knowing  that  to  leave  so 
many  places  vacant  would  not  be  the  means  of 
effecting  the  pope's  intention,  and  would  serve 
to  aggrandize  the  faction  of  his  successor,  re- 
peatedly besought  him  that  he  would  yield  to 
the  general  desire,  and  promote  as  many  can- 
didates as  were  worthy  of  the  purple.  But  it 
was  all  to  no  purpose,  the  pope  making  answer 
that  he  would  not  have  any  of  his  successors 
allege  his  example  for  privately  and  indecor- 
ously creating  cardinals  on  his  death-bed; 
that  he  himself  followed  the  example  set  by 


Gregory  XV.,  and  would  transmit  with  equal 
lustre  to  posterity.  Other  personages  lent 
their  aid,  particularly  cardinal  de  Lugo,  who, 
to  give  force  to  the  arguments  of  cardinal  Bar- 
berino, suggested  to  the  pope  the  consistorial 
decree  of  the  three  already  elected  cardinals, 
which  had  been  made  out  since  the  consistory 
in  which  the  last  promotion  had  been  made, 
saying,  that  cardinal  Birberino,  as  vice-chan- 
cellor, was  bound  to  lay  it  before  his  holiness, 
not  that  he  might  make  a  promotion,  as  was 
Gregory's  case,  but  only  that  he  might  declare 
the  cardinals  who  had  been  already  elected, 
and  who  were  kept  in  reserve,  which  publica- 
tion appeared  reasonable  to  the  whole  college, 
nor  did  it  require  another  consistory.  But, 
whether  it  \\*as  that  the  pope  felt  indignant 
that  cardinal  Barberino  had  proposed  to  him 
some  persons  unsatisfactory  to  his  holiness,  or 
that  he  thought  he  would  leave  behind  him  so 
much  the  more  glorious  a  memory,  he  was 
proof  against  importunity,  and  ordered  that 
no  one  should  venture  to  say  another  word  to 
him  on  the  subject  of  promotion 

[Pope  Urban's  aspect  was  very  pleasing  but 
full  of  majesty,  although  there  was  somewhat 
of  melancholy  in  his  temperament,  so  that 
when  he  was  let  blood,  which  was  usually  in 
the  spring  time,  there  issued  from  his  veins 
small  congealed  pieces  as  it  were  of  that 
humour.  Nor  could  he  but  for  this  have  made 
such  advance  in  letters,  philosophers  telling  us 
that  melancholy  contributes  much  to  the  ap- 
prehension of  the  sciences,  and  to  the  retain- 
ing of  them  in  the  memory.  The  symmetry 
of  his  body  and  his  limbs  was  nobly  adjusted. 
His  stature  was  rather  tall  than  otherwise  ; 
his  flesh  was  of  a  colour  inclining  to  olive,  and 
lymphatic  rather  than  fat ;  his  head  was  large, 
which  denoted  a  marvellous  intellect  and  a 
very  lively  memory ;  his  forehead  was  ample 
and  serene ;  the  colour  of  the  eyes  was  be- 
tween blue  and  white  ;  his  nose  was  well  pro- 
portioned ;  his  cheeks  round,  but  in  his  latter 
years  much  thinner ;  his  voice  was  sonorous 
but  mellow,  so  that,  with  the  Tuscan  accent, 
wliich  he  retained  all  through  his  life,  there 
issued  from  it  the  sweetest  words,  full  of  elo- 
quence, and  interspersed  with  flowers  of  polite 
letters,  of  sacred  erudition,  and  of  antique 
examples:  from  the  time  he  became  a  prelate 
he  wore  his  beard  of  a  respectable  length  and 
squared,  which  with  his  white  hair  gave  him 
a  most  venerable  aspect 

[In  truth  he  was  so  amiable,  that,  except  a 
too  great  openness,  unless  when  checked  by 
the  importance  of  the  affair,  there  vvas  nothing 
in  his  character  to  conceal  from  the  keenest 
critic.  And  if  at  times  he  broke  out  in  a  pas- 
sion, he  very  soon  resumed  his  former  good 
humour.  ...  It  was  the  opinion  of  sagacious 
persons,  that  with  him  a  man  should  be  either 
profoundly  learned  or  not  at  all  so  :  for  wliereas 
he  did  not  disdain  to  be  won  by  a  man's  know- 


572 


APPENDIX. 


ledge  in  the  former  case,  so  he  had  such  com- 
passion for  a  person  in  the  latter  condition, 
that  he  himself  aided  and  assisted  him,  pro- 
vided the  latter  were  not  presumptuous  or 
proud,  abusing  the  conduct  and  good  nature  of 
the  pope,  who  was  always  stern  and  inflexible 
with  the  proud  and  the  arrogant,  whilst  he 
was  equally  friendly  and  benevolent  to  the 
respectful  and  the  modest.  .  .  .  Towards  the 
aforesaid  servants,  and  also  towards  his  own 
relations  he  was  very  courteous,  in  choosing 
times  to  employ  them,  more  with  regard  to 
their  convenience  than  his  own;  not  disdain- 
ing at  times  to  listen  patiently  to  what  they 
had  to  say,  either  as  to  their  feelings  or  their 
troubles.  And  in  his  illness  he  seemed  more 
afflicted  at  the  fatigue  and  the  sleepless  nights 
of  his  attendants  than  at  his  own  disorder  and 
sufferings.  He  was  not  indulgent  withal  to 
those  who  were  clamorous  in  their  complaints 
and  lamentations;  but  it  went  hard  with  him 
to  deny,  or  to  see  any  one  leave  his  presence 
dissatisfied.  Among  his  most  intimate  servants 
he  was  very  cheerful,  and  would  sometimes 
jest  with  them,  and  utter  ingenious  witti- 
cisms  He  never  forgot  his  old  friends, 

whether  absent  or  dead,  and  his  benevolence 
in  this  respect  was  admirable  :  accordingly  he 
gave  orders  to  cardinal  Biscia  his  creature, 
who  had  been  one  of  his  most  intimate  friends, 
to  give  him  frequent  news  of  them,  and  if  they 
were  dead  to  take  note  of  their  descendants, 
in  order  to  provide  for  them  as  opportunity 
occurred. 

[The  greatest  plenty  of  all  things  prevailed 
in  Rome  at  his  time  ;  he  was  used  to  say  that 
he  had  derived  his  birth  from  Florence,  but 
from  Rome  all  his  greatness,  and  that  he  wish- 
ed every  one  to  enjoy  the  prosperity  of  his 
pontificate ;  that  the  vendible  offices  of  the 
chancery  should  bring  in  large  profits  to  the 
purchasers,  and  he  was  therefore  highly  gra- 
tified in  the  contracts  of  tiie  dataria  ;  that  ihe 
artisans  should  make  large  but  legitimate 
gains  by  their  employments,  and  that  the 
merchants  too  of  every  kind  should  do  the 
same :  hence  it  was  that  during  his  reign 
there  was  so  much  money  in  circulation,  that 
every  body  of  every  calling  was  content  and 
happy.  His  orders  respecting  the  annona 
were  such,  that  he  excused  expense  with  a 
view  to  maintain  plenty.  It  was  his  greatest 
pleasure  that  the  agriculturists  should  not  be 
deprived  of  those  gains  which  he  thought  were 
demanded  by  their  dangerous  way  of  life,  and 
by  the  capital  employed  on  the  great  extent 
of  the  Roman  lands,  and  in  an  unwholesome 
atmosphere.  And  as  the  sea  coast  seemed  fit 
to  him  for  nothing  else  than  agriculture,  he 
fixed  his  thoughts  on  this,  and  frequently  en- 
tertained the  design  of  draining  the  Pontine 
marshes,  to  recover  tliat  immense  tract  of  land 
which  is  now  under  water,  and  that  for  the 
public  benefit ;  but  other  weighty  cares  did 


not  allow  him  an  opportunity  to  enjoy  the  ex- 
ecution of  so  glorious  a  design.  To  maintain 
the  said  plenty,  he  would  never  consent  that 
the  price  of  grain  or  of  other  provision  should 
have  a  fixed  standard  ;  but  that  every  thing 
should  be  free,  to  the  avoidance  of  monopoly. 
Hence  the  merchants  filling  their  granaries, 
every  one  vied  in  selling  cheap,  and  thus  the 
city  of  Rome  became  wealthy. 

[It  is  no  wonder  if  letters  flourished  in  his 
pontificate,  for  he  had  no  more  favourite  re- 
creation than  the  company  of  men  of  letters, 
whom  he  always  received  with  kindness  and 
munificence.  In  like  manner  he  was  very 
fond  of  the  other  noble  professions,  such  as 
painting,  sculpture,  and  the  other  fine  arts ; 
so  that  he  did  not  disdain  frequently,  and  in 
particular  one  day,  as  he  went  to  visit  the 
seven  churches  with  the  whole  said  college, 
on  coming  to  Santa  Maria  Maggiore,  after 
praying  in  that  church,  to  enter  with  the  same 
retmue  of  cardinals  into  the  house  of  the  cava- 
lier Giovanni  Lorenzo  Bernino,  which  was 
near  that  spot,  to  see  some  celebrated  produc- 
tions of  his  chisel. 

[He  was  compelled  by  the  same  cause  to 
impose  taxes  and  burthens  upon  them :  where- 
fore he  was  sometimes  seen  to  weep  at  such 
news:  saying  that  he  would  willingly  give 
his  own  blood  and  that  of  his  relations,  rather 
than  hear  of  the  affliction  of  the  people  of 
Rome,  and  the  distresses  of  the  apostolic 
treasury :  and  he  said  to  monsignor  Lorenzo 
Raggi,  the  treasurer,  who  had  an  audience  of 
him  in  his  last  illness,  that  he  wished  to  live 
only  two  months  longer  for  three  reasons : 
first,  to  have  a  longer  time  for  repentance,  and 
to  implore  God's  pardon  on  his  sins  ;  secondly, 
to  complete  the  redeposit  in  the  castle  of  St. 
Angelo  of  all  the  money  that  had  been  taken 
from  it  for  the  war  of  (Castro;  and  thirdly,  to 
see  the  completion  of  the  walls  of  the  Borgo 
and  of  Trastevere,  and  the  city  of  Rome 
secured. 

[If  the  heroic  acts  of  the  pope  be  described 
by  my  feeble  pen  without  eloquence,  without 
grandeur  of  style,  and  in  a  manner  altogether 
disproportioned  to  the  greatness  of  such  a  pon- 
tiff, nevertheless  they  will  have  been  recorded 
with  pure  and  sincere  truth :  this  was  parti- 
cularly enjoined  and  inculcated  upon  me,  by 
those  who  had  supreme  authority  over  me  ; 
namely,  that  I  should  write  simply  as  a  his- 
torian, and  should  totally  abstain  from  all 
adulation  and  vanities,  and  from  rhetorical 
amjylifications,  attending  more  to  the  matter 
than  to  the  language. 

[But  to  speak  of  his  application  to  sacred 
matters,  besides  his  having  caused  the  Roman 
ritual  to  be  corrected  and  reprinted,  he  did 
not  neglect  to  give  many  orders  respecting 
the  papal  chapel  :  only  a  few  however  of  the 
chief  of  these  have  been  carried  into  effect, 
whether  from  the  inattention  of  the  ministers. 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


573 


or  from  the  interference  of  other  serious  mat- 
ters. It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  he  reformed 
the  customs  of  indulgences,  to  stup  the  rnouths 
of  the  heretics. 

[Finally,  if  Urban  had  not  engaged  in  war, 
or  rather  if  he  had  not  been  provoked  and 
dragged  into  it  by  force, — which,  moreover, 
conduced  in  a  great  measure  to  hasten  his 
death, — there  could  not  be  desired  a  more  glori- 
ous pope  or  a  prince  of  more  exalted  qualities, 
through  which,  for  many  years  of  his  ponti- 
ficate he  won  the  love  of  all  Christendom,  so 
that  to  tliis  day  his  memory  is  blessed  by  na- 
tions for  those  happy  years  in  which  they 
enjoyed  peace  and  tranquillity.] 


SECTION  VI. 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


We  have  in  the  preceding  section  collected 
all  that  relates  directly  to  Urban  VIII. ;  there 
remain  some  writings  that  connect  his  times 
with  those  that  succeeded  them. 

121.  Relatione  della  vita  del  card^  Cecchini 
composta  da  lui  medesimo.  (Barb.  275 
pages.)  [Life  of  Cardinal  Cecchini  by 
himself] 

Personal  memoirs,  which  do  not  exactly 
throw  much  light  on  important  matters  of 
state,  but  which  certainly  give  a  very  instruc- 
tive example  of  the  private  life  of  an  eccle- 
siastic, passed  under  remarkable  circum- 
stances. 

Tiie  author  hints  that  he  composed  them  for 
his  own  amusement.  "  Tra  tuttc  le  cose  che 
apportano  all'  uomo  sommo  piacere,  una  e  la 
memoria  delle  cose  passate." 

When  fifteen  years  of  age  Cecchini  went, 
in  the  year  16U4,  from  Perugia  to  Rome. 

He  had  built  his  hopes  on  the  Aldobrandini, 
to  whom  he  was  distantly  related ;  but  Clement 
VIII.  died  too  soon  for  his  welfare,  and  after 
his  death  the  Aldobrandini  had  no  longer  any 
power.  Cecchini  indeed  might  at  once  have 
formed  new  hopes ;  he  had  already  been  ac- 
quainted in  Perugia  with  Scipioni  Cafarelli, 
the  same  who  made  such  a  profitable  use  of  his 
position  as  nephew  under  Paul  V. ;  but  Ca- 
farelli would  not  remember  his  former  acquain- 
tance, and  the  young  man  was  obliged  to  look 
elsewhere  for  a  patron. 

It  was  now  his  good  fortune  to  attach  him- 
self to  two  monsignori,  who  both  of  them  after- 
wards attained  to  supreme  dignity — Ludovisio 
and  Pa m hi  10. 

The  opinion  very  early  prevailed  in  Rome 
that  Ludovisio  would  obtain  the  tiara.  When 
Ludovico  the  latter's  nephew  entered  the  pre- 
lature  in  1619,  many  looked  on  him  as  the 


future  cardinal  padrone.  All  eyes  were  turn- 
ed upon  him  ;  his  friends  and  servants  begun 
to  strive  to  oust  each  other.  Cecchini  himself 
complains  that  attempts  were  made  to  displace 
him  ;  but  he  contrived  to  stand  his  ground  : 
he  was  even  able  to  render  his  master  impor- 
tant service  ;  being  a  relation  of  the  Aldobran- 
dini family,  he  was  able  to  effect  a  junction 
between  tlie  two  houses.  Cardinal  Aldobran- 
dino  promised  his  vote  to  Ludovisio. 

All  measures  were  soon  taken  in  anticipa- 
tion of  that  cardinal's  election.  Cardinal 
Ludovisio  for  a  long  while  scrupled  to  accept 
a  Spanish  pension  of  1200  scudi,  offered  him 
after  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  with  Savoy: 
he  was  afraid  lest  he  should  thereby  incur  the 
enmity  of  the  French.  Cecchini  was  obliged 
to  speak  to  the  French  ambassador,  and  allay 
any  suspicion  he  might  have  conceived  from 
that  cause. 

Under  these  circumstances  cardinal  Ludo- 
visio came  to  the  conclave  in  Rome,  after  the 
death  of  Paul  V.,  with  the  full  expectation  of 
being  elected.  Cecchini  hastened  to  meet 
him."  "  I  conduct  the  pope  to  Rome,"  he  said 
in  the  gladness  of  his  zeal.  "  Only  let  us  be- 
ware of  cardinal  d'Aquino,  and  all  will  be 
well,"  replied  Ludovisio.  "  Ludovisio  aveva 
tal  sicurezza  del  pontificato  che  domandommi 
per  burla  chi  saria  stato  papa:  rispondendog- 
li  che  il  papa  non  era  in  Roma  e  che  io  I'av- 
rei  condotto,  con  gran  fiducia  mi  soggiunse 
queste  parole:  Guardatemi  del  cardi  d'Aqui- 
no, che  faremo  bene." 

Everything  succeeded  to  their  wishes  :  Lu- 
dovisio was  actually  elected.  The  nephew 
embraced  Cecchini  in  his  joy,  and  made  him 
his  auditor. 

The  latter  was  now  thus  brought  in  con- 
tact with  the  supreme  authority.  He  was 
not  without  some  share  in  business  of  state,  at 
least  he  was  privy  to  it  to  some  extent ;  but 
his  chief  occupation  was  the  management  of 
the  cardinal's  money  matters.  The  revenues 
from  Avignon  and  Fermo  passed  through  his 
hands :  the  cardinal  did  not  choose  it  to  be 
generally  known  how  much  he  spent,  for  he 
was  exceedingly  sumptuous.  When  Ludovi- 
sio obtained  the  chainberlainship,  Cecchini 
was  made  auditor  of  that  office. 

Strange  are  the  abuses  that  are  here  made 
known  to  us.  Orders  were  issued  in  the 
name  of  the  cardinal  nephew,  called  "  non 
gravetur."  Whoever  possessed  them  was  not 
to  be  molested  by  the  officers  of  justice.  Peo- 
ple sought  to  secure  themselves  from  their 
creditors  by  a  "non  gravetur;"  there  were 
even  working  men  so  protected.  But  our  au- 
thor relates  still  worse  things.  Suits  were 
instituted  under  pope  Paul  V.  agamst  the 
prior  and  the  prince  Aldobrandini.  Cecchini 
asserts  that  the  fiscal  general  employed  false 
testimony  to  obtain  a  conviction  against  them. 
Their  death,  however,  had  not  been  intended: 


574 


APPENDIX. 


the  object  had  only  been  to  compel  the  Aldo- 
brandini  to  cede  certain  castles  to  the  Bor- 
ghesi.  Tlie  fiscal  general  was  imprisoned 
for  this  nnder  Gregory  XV.  "Eravivente 
Gregorio  stato  carcerato  Pier  Maria  Cirocchi, 
che  vivente  papa  Paolo  fu  fiscale  generale, 
per  molte  imputationi,  tra  le  quali  la  princi- 
pale  era  die  nella  causa  criminale  intentata 
al  principe  e  priore  Aldobrandino,  nella  quale 
furono  condannati  in  pena  della  vita  e  della 
robba,  egli  avesse  procurato  di  far  esaminar 
testirnonj  falsi,  sicoine  in  eftetto  fece.  La 
detta  sentenza  non  fu  data  per  altro  se  non 
perche  il  cardl  Pietro  Aldobrandino  si  dispo- 
nesse  a  cedere  al  cardl  Borghese  li  castelli  di 
IVIontetiirtino  e  di  Olevano,  che  aveva  com- 
prati  dal  duca  di  Zagarolo,  sicome  se  volse  la 
gratia  della  detta  condennatione  delli  nepoti, 
lo  convenne  fare,  con  farli  anco  constituir 
prio-ioni  in  castello,  dove  stettero  qnattro  me- 
si."  Detet^table  vilianies  these.  Historical 
truth  forbids  us  to  suppress  them  :  at  the 
same  time  we  must  remark,  that  Cecchini 
was  naturally  an  adherent  of  the  Aldobran- 
dini. 

After  Gregory  XV.  Urban  VIII.  was  elect- 
ed. Cecchini  had  already  had  an  opportunity 
of  doing-  him  a  great  service,  though  merely 
by  keeping  silence.  When  cardinal.  Urban 
had  once  said  in  a  moment  of  violent  anger, 
that  something  should  be  borne  in  mind  against 
cardinal  Ludovisio,  and  nothing  was  calculat- 
ed to  do  him  more  hurt  in  the  conclave  than 
the  threat,  since  Ludovisio  had  so  much  power 
in  it :  but  at  xMagalotto's  request  Cecchini 
kept  silence. 

Urban  appears  very  characteristically  on 
another  occasion  in  this  biography. 

Urban  VIII.  was  deeply  offended  at  Bor- 
gia's protest :  he  imputed  a  participation  in  it 
to  cardinals  Ubaldmi  and  Ludovisio,  and 
wished  to  punish  them  for  it.  Ubaldini  would 
have  been  thrown  into  prison,  had  not  the  fis- 
cal strenuously  opposed  the  act ;  but  at  any 
rate  that  cardinal  was  obliged  to  quit  Rome, 
nor  would  the  pope  sufl^er  Ludovisio  to  remain 
there.  He  sent  on  that  account  for  Cecchini, 
who  was  still  in  the  service  of  Ludovisio,  and 
ordered  him  to  tell  the  cardinal  he  must  be- 
take himself  within  fourteen  days  to  his  arch- 
bishopric of  Bologna.  He  accompanied  this 
command  with  violent  demonstrations  of  an- 
ger. "  1  had  to  listen  to  him  for  a  good  hour," 
says  Cecchini,  "  while  he  threatened  with  all 
Borts  of  abuse  to  punish  Borgia  also  :  I  did  not 
venture  to  interrupt  him:  he  then  repeated 
that  Ludovii^io  must  withdraw,  or  he  should 
be  forced  to  do  so  by  the  sbirri."  Cecchini 
would  have  done  better  to  have  held  his  peace 
on  this  occasion  too  ;  but  he  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  report  what  had  passed  to  his  master. 
It  marks  very  strongly  the  character  of  the 
court,  that  he  thus  ruined  himself  with  all 
parties.      Ludovisio  thought   that    Cecchmi 


should  not  have  endured  the  pope's  language, 
but  should  rather  have  come  to  an  open  rup- 
ture with  him.  Cardinal  Barberino  was  in- 
censed that  Cecchini  had  not  first  spoken 
with  him,  the  cardinal  nephew.  But  the 
most  furious  of  all  was  Urban  himself,  parti- 
cularly as  the  matter  was  reported  in  a  some- 
what disfigured  shape.  He  sent  once  more 
for  poor  Cecchini,  and  made  a  scene  in  which 
his  old  rage  against  his  enemies,  and  regret 
for  his  expressions — at  what  he  had  done  and 
what  he  wished  undone — his  conviction  of 
his  omnipotence  as  pope,  and  his  feeling  that 
others,  after  all,  had  not  done  wrong,  were 
curiously  mixed  up  together.  But  Urban 
VIII.  was  one  who  came  to  himself  at  last. 
Ludovisio  had  left  Rome,  and  died  soon  after ; 
Cecchini  had  indeed  lost  his  former  place,  but 
he  had  got  a  new  one,  which  even  gave  him 
an  opportunity  of  sometimes  seeing  the  pope. 
"  Monsieur  Cecchini,"  said  the  latter  to  him 
one  day,  "forgive  us ;  we  went  too  far  in  our 
conduct  towards  you."  Cecchini  says,  that 
tears  rushed  into  his  eyes  at  this,  and  that  he 
replied  with  deep  emotion.  The  pope's  ma- 
jor domo  visited  him  in  the  course  of  the  same 
day,  and  told  him  that  the  pope  had  for  four 
years  looked  forward  to  that  hour,  and  was 
heartily  glad  it  had  come  at  last. 

Cecchini  now  adhered  as  before  to  the  Al- 
dobrandini ;  we  find  liim  very  actively  con- 
cerned about  the  marriage  of  the  rich  heiress 
of  that  house,  Olimpia.  Cardinal  Ippolito 
died  without  having  made  any  definite  ar- 
rangement on  the  subject,  and  it  was  feared 
that  the  Barberini  would  not  let  so  large  an 
inheritance  escape  them.  Olimpia  was  oblig- 
ed to  feign  sickness.  With  the  aid  of  the 
general  of  the  Jesuits,  with  whom  it  was  ne- 
cessary to  consult  on  the  whole  matter,  it  was 
contrived  to  effect  the  marriage  with  young 
Borghese,  which  the  cardinal  had  finally  de- 
sired, six  days  after  his  death. 

The  Barberini  did  not  however  drop  Cec- 
chini on  this  account :  after  they  had  inquired 
whether  or  not  he  had  any  connexion  with 
the  Farnesi,  they  employed  him  in  the  arm- 
ing of  Rome. 

Cecchini  immediately  found  that  the  tax 
upon  the  wine  of  the  country  was  unpopular. 
He  explained  to  cardinal  Barberino  that  it 
was  a  tax  the  Romans  had  never  endured, 
and  for  which  they  had  revolted  against  Eu- 
genius  IV.,  and  he  actually  succeeded,  al- 
though a  monte  had  already  been  founded  on 
the  proceeds  of  the  tax,  in  having  the  con- 
tractor forthwith  summoned.  The  latter  rea- 
dily abandoned  the  contract,  as  he  found  it 
exceedingly  difficult  to  levy  the  tax.  Cec- 
chini hastened  to  the  capitol,  where  the  Ro- 
manists were  holding  an  assembly,  and  com- 
municated this  news  to  them.  At  first  they 
would  not'  believe  him,  but  he  had  the  con- 
tractor called,  who  confirmed  his  statement. 


latfr  epochs. 


575 


Every  one  shouted  "  Viva  papa  Urbane,  viva 
monsignor  Cecchini  I"  and  they  kissed  his 
hand  and  his  garments. 

But  Cecchini  had  not  yet  reached  his 
highest  promotion.  He  had  the  further  good 
fortune  to  see  one  of  his  oldest  patrons, 
and  perhaps  the  warmest  of  theui  all, 
cardinal  Pamfili,  ascend  the  pontifical 
throne. 

At  first  the  Barberini  were  in  favour  with 
Innocent  X.  :  Cecchini  was  invited  to  present 
himself  with  the  two  cardinals  before  the 
pope.  "  Has  cardinal  Barberino  said  any- 
thing to  you  1"  Innocent  asked  him — "  No." 
— The  pope  then  turned  first  to  Francesco 
and  then  to  Antonio,  and  desired  them  to 
speak.  They  declined  to  do  so.  At  last  the 
pope  said,  "  We  will  not  keep  you  longer  in 
suspense  :  we  have  made  you  our  datario ; 
for  this  you  are  indebted  to  the  cardinals  Bar- 
berini, who  have  made  the  request  of  us:  we 
have  cheerfully  complied  with  it." 

This  place  was  accompanied  however  with 
much  that  was  unpleasant.  The  pope  was 
unstable,  obstinate,  and  distrustful.  "We  know 
from  other  sources  that  Cecchini's  adminis- 
tration did  not  altogether  escape  censure. 
Donna  Olimpia  Maidalchina  could  not  bear 
him,  if  it  were  only  because  her  sister-in-law 
Donna  dementia  also  received  presents  from 
him :  but  I  have  already  alluded  to  these 
matters :  they  are  of  a  certain  importance  as 
regards  the  administration  of  Innocent  X.  : 
the  most  disgusting,  scandalous  scenes  en- 
sued :  Cecchmi  was  rejoiced  when  Donna 
Olimpia  was  finally  expelled  from  court.  It 
was  during  her  disgrace,  shortly  after  the  de- 
cease of  Fanzirolo,  who  died  in  November, 
1561,  consequently  about  the  year  1562,  that 
he  wrote  this  work. 

It  strikes  me,  that  not  only  in  its  sentiments, 
but  even  in  its  several  expressions,  there  pre- 
vails quite  a  modern  character,  the  tone  of 
daily  life  among  the  Roman  prelates  of  the 
present  or  very  recent  times. 

122.  Diario  veridico  e  spassionato  delta  citta 
e  corte  di  Roma,  dove  si  legge  tulti  li  sue- 
cessi  della  suddetta  citta  incominciando 
dal  primo  </'  Agosto  IQ'iOfino  alV  ultimo 
deir  anno  1644,  notato  e  scrilto  fedel- 
mente  da  Deone  hora  Temi  Dio,  e  copia- 
to  dal  proprio  originale.  Informatt.  Po- 
litt.  torn.  xl.  to  the  end  of  1642 :  torn, 
xlvii.  to  the  end  of  1644;  torn.  xlii.  con- 
tinuation 1645—1647;  torn,  xliii.  164S— 
1650.  (Altogether  more  than  21)00  leaves.) 
[A  veracious  and  dispassionate  diary  of 
the  city  and  court  of  Rome,  wherein  are 
set  down  all  the  events  of  the  said  city 
from  the  1st  of  August  1640,  to  the  clo^e 
of  the  year  1644,  noted  and  faithfully  re- 
corded by  Deone,  now  Temi  Dio,  and  co- 
pied from  his  own  original.] 


I  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  any  further 
account  of  the  author  of  this  unusually  volu- 
minous diary,  besides  what  he  himself  gives 
here  and  there. 

It  appears  that  he  was  in  the  Spanish  ser- 
vice, and  that  he  was  employed  in  the  affairs 
between  the  Netherlands  and  Rome,  particu- 
larly those  connected  with  the  dataria.  I 
should  think  he  was  really  a  Spaniard  and  not 
a  Netherlander.  He  translated  comedies  for 
the  carnival  from  Spanish  into  Italian,  and 
had  them  performed  by  young  persons  before 
a  very  brilliant  audience.  He  entertained  a 
religious  reverence  for  the  Spanish  monarchy, 
to  which  he  belonged  ;  he  speaks  frequently 
of  "  the  holy  monarchy,"  but  for  which  Pe- 
ter's bark  would  soon  founder.  He  manifests 
vehement  and  undisguised  hatred  to  its  oppo- 
nents and  deserters.  He  declares  the  Cata- 
lans, who  for  a  while  remained  independent, 
to  be  a  barbarous  nation  :  somebody  had  soli- 
cited from  him  a  recommendation  to  the  data- 
ria ;  he  told  them  they  must  first  become 
good  subjects  again  to  their  king.  Still  less 
could  he  endure  that  the  Portuguese  had  even 
set  up  for  themselves  another  king  ;  his  book 
is  full  of  invectives  against  that  nation.  He 
states,  that  at  least  all  of  them  who  were  set- 
tled in  Rome  were  inclined  to  lapse  into  Ju- 
daism. Bad  as  matters  were,  however,  he 
did  not  lose  courage.  He  still  hoped  tliat 
Holland  would  in  his  own  day  submit  again 
to  the  king :  heresy  had  its  periods ;  only 
wait  and  they  would  come  to  an  end.  He  was 
a  most  enthusiastic  and  orthodox  believer  in 
the  Spanish  monarchy  ! 

Every  fourteen  days  the  earnest  servant  of 
Philip  IV,  dictated  a  letter  or  report  of  what- 
ever had  happened  worthy  of  note  during  that 
interval,  and  then  dispatched  it  to  some  gran- 
dee of  Spain.  These  were  originally  avvisi, 
such  as  were  so  common  at  that  time;  col- 
lected together  they  formed  a  journal. 

Thus  the  whole  work  is  composed  in  the 
spirit  natural  to  the  author.  The  leaning  of 
pope  Urban  VIH.  to  France,  and  the  entire 
political  position  he  had  assumed,  are  regard- 
ed in  an  evil  light  by  him.  Pope  innocent  X. 
on  the  other  hand,  who  had  struck  into  a  dif- 
ferent line  of  policy,  is  looked  on  by  him  with 
a  much  more  favourable  eye. 

The  author  left  no  subject  untouched ;  ec- 
clesiastical and  literary  matters;  histories  of 
the  orders  and  of  the  court;  domestic  affairs 
and  politics;  general  political  considerations 
and  accounts  of  cities. 

If  we  inquire  more  closely  into  the  sources 
of  his  information,  I  think  we  shall  find  them 
to  be  principally  as  follows. — All  who  had 
any  business  in  the  palace  used  to  assemble 
on  the  appointed  days  in  the  antechamber  of 
the  cardinal  nephew  ;  a  general  conversation 
took  place  ;  every  one  related  his  news  ;  there 
I  was  nothing  that  could  arretit  attention  that 


576 


APPENDIX. 


was  not  mentioned  there  ;  as  far  as  I  can  con- 
clude from  some  hints,  it  was  in  these  meet- 
ings that  our  author  collected  the  chief  part 
of  his  intelligence. 

He  goes  to  work  with  great  honesty  in  the 
matter  :  he  endeavours  to  come  accurately  at 
the  truth ;  he  frequently  adds  information 
received  at  a  later  period. 

Sometimes,  however,  he  saw  the  pope  too, 
the  nephews,  and  the  most  influential  states- 
men :  he  is  most  careful  in  marking  what  he 
collected  from  their  discourse;  occasionally 
this  is  remarkable  enough. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  the  reading  of  so  dif- 
fuse a  work  is  precisely  speaking  very  inter- 
esting ;  still  it  now  and  then  makes  us  ac-^ 
quainted  with  persons  and  things  ahnost  as  if 
we  saw  them,  they  are  set  before  us  so  fre- 
quently and  in  such  diversified  lights. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  make  anything 
like  a  satisfactory  abstract  of  so  voluminous  a 
work  ;  we  must  be  content  with  those  passa- 
ges to  which  I  have  already  referred. 

»  I.  Una  delle  piu  belle  memorie  di  questa 
gia  dominatrice  del  mondo  e  un  monumento 
antico  in  forma  rotonda  di  circonferenza  gran- 
dissima  e  di  bellissimo  marmo  presso  a  San 
Sebastiano  detto  Capo  di  bove.  II  Bernio, 
etatuario  famosissimo  del  papa  per  suo  utile, 
ha  posto  in  consideratione  di  fare  una  faccjata 
sontuosaair  Acqua  Vergine  detta  di  Trevi: 
ottenne  un  breve  di  poter  buttare  a  terra  quel- 
la  machina  si  bella,  et  incomincio  a  a  metterlo 
in  esecutione:  ma  fu  dal  popolo  Romano  av- 
vedutosene  impedito,  e  I'opera  cessa  per  non 
cagionare  rumori. 

"2.  Martedi  mattina  tenne  concilio  gene- 
rale  in  Campidoglia  il  popolo  Romano,  che  fu 
numerosissimo  piu  che  mai,  alteso  che  vi  con- 
corsero  molli  titolati,  che  per  il  passato  non 
mai  intervennero.  La  proposta  fu  che  sendo 
il  popolo  Romano  suppresso  dalle  gabelle  im- 
poste  da  papa  Urbano  si  dovesse  supplicare 
Sua  St^  per  levare  almeno  la  gabella  della 
macina,  tanto  pivi  che  fu  imposta  fin  che  du- 
rasse  la  guerra  all'hora  in  piedi,  la  quale  hog- 
gi  e  terminata.  Passo  il  partite,  e  furono 
deputati  sei  gentilhuomini  Romani  per  esporre 
al  papa  la  petitione  incontinente.  Comparve 
Don  Cesarc  Colonna,  zio  del  principe  di  Gal- 
licano,  il  quale  dimando  udienza  da  popolo 
Romano  da  parte  della  signora  Donna  Anna 
Barberina.  Gli  fu  risposto  che  venisse,  e 
postosi  alio  scabelletto  trasse  dal  seno  un  me- 
moriale,  dicendo  che  era  di  Donna  Anna  Col- 
onna, e  chiedeva  che  si  legesse.  Fu  letto,  e 
diceva  che  non  si  dovesse  mandare  al  papa 
per  levar  gabelle  giundiche  e  con  legitima 
causa  imposte  da  papa  Urbano,  il  cui  zelo 
verso  la  giustitia  e  meriti  che  ha  con  questa 
citia  non  peimettono  che  si  ritratti  il  di^posto 
di  lui.  Resto  ogn'uno  meravigiiato  da  simil 
dimandita,  volenle  impedire  il  sollevamento 
del  popolo :  ma  fu  pero  eubito  penetrate  che 


la  buona  signora  haveva  perinteso  che  si  le« 
varebbe  la  gabella  colli  beni  de'  Barberini. 
Fu  risposto  al  Colonna  che'l  senato  e  popolo 
non  faceva  altro  che  esporre  alia  Sua  Si^  il 
bisogno  della  citta.  Questa  risposta  il  Col- 
onna porto  correndo  a  Donna  Anna,  che  stava 
aspettando  per  quest'  eftetto  alia  chiesa  d'Ara- 

celi Mercordi  il  cardinal  Colonna 

havendo  inteso  la  disorbitante  proposta  della 
sorella,  mando  al  senato  Romano  a  iarli  sapere 
ch'egli  non  hebbe  in  quella  sciocchezza  parte 
alcuna,  ma  che  era  pronto  di  assistere  alia 

giusta  petitione  del  popolo Ven- 

erdi  mattina  il  popolo  Romano  di  nuovo  con- 
voco  consiglio  pieno,  e  fu  riferito  che  S.  S^^ 
s'era  contentato  di  levar  la  gabella  della  mac- 
ina con  I'efi^ecto  di  Don  Taddeo  Barberini, 
di  modo  che  fu  ben  divisata  la  pretensione  di 
Donna  Anna  Barberina." 

[1.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  monuments 
of  this  city,  formerly  the  mistress  of  the  world, 
is  an  ancient  monument  of  a  round  form,  of 
vast  circumference  and  of  very  beautiful  mar- 
ble (an  error  uudoubtedly,  for  the  monument 
isof  Travertine)  near  San  Sebastiano,  called 
the  Capo  di  bove.  Bernino,  a  very  famous 
and  able  statuary  of  the  pope,  has  proposed  to 
to  make  a  sumptuous  facade  to  the  Acqua 
Vergine  named  di  Trevi :  he  obtained  a  brief 
from  the  pope  authorizing  him  to  pull  down 
that  beautiful  structure,  and  he  began  to  do  so; 
but  on  the  Roman  people  perceiving  it,  he 
was  interrupted  by  them,  and  the  work  is 
stopped  to  avoid  disturbances. 

[2.  On  Tuesday  morning  the  Roman  people 
held  a  general  council  in  Campidoglio,  which 
was  exceedingly  thronged,  more  so  than  ever, 
seeing  that  many  titled  persons  went  thither 
who  on  former  occasions  had  never  been  pres- 
ent. The  subject  for  consideration  was,  that 
the  Roman  people  being  borne  down  by  the 
taxes  imposed  by  pope  Urban,  they  should 
supplicate  his  holiness  to  take  ofl^'at  least  the 
tax  on  grist,  the  more  as  it  was  imposed  for 
the  duration  of  the  war  then  waged,  which 
had  now  ceased.  The  resolution  was  carried, 
and  six  Roman  gentlemen  were  deputed  im- 
mediately to  lay  the  petition  before  the  pope, 
Don  Cesare  Colonna,  nephew  of  the  prince  di 
Gallicano,  presented  himself,  and  demanded  to 
be  heard  by  the  Roman  people  on  behalf  of 
signora  Donna  Anna  Barberina.  He  was  di- 
rected to  come  forward,  upon  which  he  ad- 
vanced, and  drawing  out  a  memorial  which 
he  said  was  from  Donna  Anna  Colonna,  he 
asked  permission  to  read  it.  It  was  read,  and 
its  tenour  was,  that  the  pope  should  not  be 
asked  to  take  otf  lawful  taxes  imposed  for  a 
legitimate  cause  by  pope  Urban,  whose  zeal 
in  the  cause  of  justice,  and  whose  deserts 
towards  this  city,  forbade  the  repeal  of  his 
arrangements.  Every  one  was  amazed  at 
at  such  a  proposal  to  hinder  the  relief  of  the 
people :  but  it  was  immediately  seen  through, 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


577 


that  the  good  lady  had  understood  that  the  tax 
was  to  be  taken  off  at  the  expense  of  the  es- 
tates of  the  Barberini.  Answer  was  made  to 
Colonna,  that  the  senate  and  people  did  no 
more  than  lay  the  wants  of  the  city  before 
his  holiness.  Colonna  ran  with  this  reply  to 
Donna  Anna,  who  remained  waiting  at  the 
church  of  Araceli. — On  Wednesday  cardinal 
Colonna,  having  heard  of  his  sister's  extrava- 
gant proposition,  sent  to  acquaint  the  Roman 
senate  that  he  had  no  part  in  that  absurdity, 
but  that  he  was  ready  to  aid  the  just  petition 

of  the  people On  Friday  morning  the 

Roman  people  again  convoked  a  full  assembly, 
and  it  was  reported  that  his  holiness  was  plea- 
sed to  take  off  the  tax  on  grist  at  the  cost  of 
Don  Taddeo  Barberini,  so  that  Donna  Anna 
Barberina's  scheme  was  shrewd  enough.] 

123.  Del  stato  di  Roma  presente.  (MS. 
Vindob.  Fosc.  n.  147,)  also  under  the 
title,  Relatione  di  Roma  fatta  daW  Alma- 
den.  [Report  of  the  present  state  of 
Rome.] 

I  will  not  pretend  to  determine,  whether 
this  belongs  to  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of 
Urban  VIII.,  or  to  the  beginning  of  that  of 
Innocent  X. :  it  is  very  important  as  to  the 
internal  affairs  of  Rome  during  that  period, 
the  Tiber  and  the  Anio,  the  increase  of,  the 
aria  cattiva,  the  incomes  of  the  Romans, 
money  matters  in  general,  and  the  condition 
of  families.  It  is  not  impossible  that  this  lit- 
tle work  may  have  been  composed  by  the  au- 
thor of  the  diary:  some  indications  seem  to 
point  to  this  conclusion. 

I  will  not,  however,  make  any  lengthened 
extracts  from  it,  since,  if  I  am  not  mistaken, 
I  have  seen  an  old  printed  copy  of  it  in  the 
possession  of  the  late  Fea.  I  will  only  quote 
one  passage,  to  which  I  have  alluded  above, 
at  page  5360. 

"  Gregorio  XIII  considerando  che  quantita 
grande  di  danaro  usciva  da  Roma  e  dallo  stato 
per  prezzodi  grani  che  venivano  per  mare  da 
Barberia  ed  altri  luoghi,  spesse  volte  riscaldati 
e  guasti,  e  tal  volta  non  giungevano  a  tempo 
o  si  restavano  affatto,  per  sostrarsi  da  tutti 
questi  mancamenti,  fece  smacchiare  per  molte 
miglia  riducendo  la  campagna  a  coltura,  sic- 
che  Roma  da  quel  tempo  di  rado  ha  havuto 
bisogno  di  grano  forestiero :  ed  il  buon  ponte- 
fice  Gregorio  ha  conseguito  il  suo  intento: 
ma  lo  smacchiare  ha  aperto  il  passo  a'  venti 
cattivi,  da  quali  nasce  ogni  intemperie,  che 
cagiona  certo  morbo  chiamato  daAlessandro 
da  Civita  medico,  trattando  de  morbide'  Ro- 
mani,  capiplenium,  cosa  sopra  modo  fastidiosa 
e  piu  alli  forestieri  ch'alli  nativi,  morbo  anco 


XIII  smacchio  la  campagna  sotto  Roma  verso 
il  mare  grassa  ed  attissima  per  la  coltivatione 
del  grano,  cosi  SistoQuinto  smacchio  la  cam- 
pagna sopra  Roma  meno  fertile,  per  torre  il 
ricovero  a'  masnadieri  che  infestavano  le 
strade,  e  ben  riusciva  il  disegno,  perche  11 
sradico  affatto." 

[Gregory  XIII.  taking  into  consideration 
that  a  great  deal  of  money  was  sent  out  from 
Rome  and  from  the  state,  in  payment  of  the 
corn  imported  by  sea  from  Barbary  and  other 
places,  which  was  frequently  healed  and  spoil- 
ed, and  sometimes  did  not  arrive  in  time  or  at 
all,  to  prevent  all  these  inconveniences  caused 
many  miles  of  country  to  be  cleared  and  put  in 
cultivation,  so  that  since  that  time  Rome  has 
rarely  needed  foreign  corn ;  and  the  good  pope 
Gregory  obtained  his  object.  But  the  clear- 
ing the  country  opened  a  passage  for  the  un- 
wholesome winds,  which  occasion  all  kinds 
of  atmospheric  evils,  and  a  certain  disease 
called  by  Alessandro  da  Civita  the  physician, 
in  his  treatise  on  the  diseases  of  the  Romans, 
Capiplenium,  a  most  distressing  complaint, 
and  more  so  to  foreigners  than  to  natives,  and 
one  which  has  increased  since  the  formation 
of  so  many  water  works,  by  which  Rome, 
which  by  its  position  is  low  and  humid,  is  ren- 
dered still  more  moist  with  the  abundance  of 
water  flowing  from  the  fountains.  As  Greg- 
ory XIII.  cleared  the  country  below  Rome 
towards  the  sea,  which  was  rich  and  very  fit 
for  the  cultivation  of  corn,  so  Sixtus  V.  clear- 
ed that  above  Rome  which  was  less  fertile,  to 
destroy  the  haunts  of  the  robbers  who  infested 
the  roads.  And  he  fully  succeeded,  for  he 
completely  extirpated  them.]  The  author  ap- 
proves of  the  proceeding  of  Sixtus  V.,  because 
it  gave  more  free  passage  to  the  Tramontana  : 
but  how  many  evils  have  been  attributed  to 
this  Tramontana  in  latter  times!  (Cancellieri 
sopra  il  tarantismo  p.  88.) 


124.  Compendia  delli  casi  piu  degni  e  mem- 
orandi  occorsi  nelli  pontificati  da  Greg- 
orio  XIII.  fino  alia  creatione  di  Cle- 
mente  IX.  (50  leaves.)  [Compendium 
of  the  most  memorable  events  in  the  pon- 
tificates from  Gregory  XIII.  up  to  the 
election  of  Clement  IX.] 

The  author  asserts  he  saw  the  clouds  that 
obscured  the  Quirinal  at  the  death  of  Sixtus  V. 
(Aug.  1590.)  As  this  little  work  extends  to 
the  year  1667,  it  is  plain  it  cannot  be  the  pro- 
duction of  one  writer ;  it  must  have  been  con- 
tinued at  a  later  period  in  a  similar  style  to 
that  in  which  it  was  begun,  that  is,  as  a  col- 
lection of  Roman  memorabilia  and  anecdotes. 
For  instance  we  read  in  it  that  the  French 


cresciuto  dopo  la  condotta  di  tanti  fonti,  dalli !  monks  in  Trinita  di  Monte  quarrelled  with 
quali  Roma,  sendo  bassa  et  umida  di  sua  pos- 1  those  from  Calabria  and  elsewhere,  and  drove 
itura,  vien  resa  piii  umido  per  la  moltitudine  them  out,  so  that  the  latter  built  Andrea  della 
deir  acque  delle  fontane.  Siccome  Gregorio  I  Fratte,  which  was  then  situated  among  gar- 
73 


578 


APPENDIX. 


dens ;  how  the  Jesuits  roused  all  the  other 
orders  ag^ain  to  do  their  duty ;  the  miracles 
that  took  place ;  accounts  of  the  buildings  of 
the  popes. 

We  meet,  however,  with  many  thing-s  wor- 
thy of  remark,  for  instance,  the  following'  ac- 
count of  the  death  of  Bianca  Capello:  "Vol- 
endo  la  granduchessa  di  Toscana  Bianca  Ca- 
pelli  avvelenare  il  cardi  Ferdinando  suo  cog- 
nato  in  certa  confezione,  ilGD  Francesco  suo 
raarito  ne  mangio  prima :  il  che  inteso  da  lei, 
ne  mangio  ossa  ancora,  e  tutti  due  morirono 
subito,  et  il  cardl  si  fece  graduca :"  [Bianca 
Capello,  grand  duchess  of  Tuscany,  wishing 
to  poison  her  brother-in  law  cardinal  Ferdi- 
nando with  a  certain  confection,  the  grand 
duke  Francesco  her  husband  ate  of  it  first. 
Upon  her  discovering  this,  she  also  ate  of  it, 
and  they  both  died  immediately,  and  the  car- 
dinal became  grand  duke:]  and  this  of  the  dis- 
missal of  cardinal  Clesel  from  Vienna,  which 
the  Jesuit  confessor  of  Ferdinand  11.  would 
never  consent  to:  "  Verospi  ebbe  un  giorno 
commodita  d'essere  coll'  imp^e  senza  il  Giesu- 
ita,  e  con  bella  maniera  fece  capace  I'impre 
che  non  poteva  ritenere  detto  cardie  e  solo  il 
papa  esser  suo  vero  giudice,  e  talmente  com- 
mosse  Cesare  che  lo  fece  piangere  e  glielo 
fece  consignare."  [Verospi  found  one  day  an 
opportunity  to  be  with  the  emperor  without 
the  presence  of  the  Jesuit,  and  he  cleverly 
persuaded  the  emperor  that  he  could  not  re- 
tain the  said  cardinal,  and  that  the  pope  alone 
was  his  proper  judge;  and  he  so  wrought  on 
the  emperor  that  he  made  him  weep,  and 
caused  the  cardinal  to  be  consigned  to  him.] 
Traits  of  manners  too.  A  rich  prelate  intro- 
duces a  clause  into  his  will,  that  his  nephew 
shall  inherit  his  property  only  in  case  he  dies 
a  natural  death,  otherwise  it  should  be  devo- 
ted to  pious  purposes.  Duke  Cesarini  never 
paid  any  one  till  preparations  were  made  for 
putting  up  to  auction  the  pledge  that  had  been 
taken  from  him.  An  Orsino  threatened  to 
fling  a  troublesome  creditor  out  of  the  window: 
the  creditor  begged  he  would  let  him  confess 
first;  Orsino  replied  that  no  one  had  any  busi- 
ness to  come  to  him  unshriven  (che  bisognava 
venirci  confessata.)  A  necromancer  rode  into 
Rome  in  a  carriage  drawn  by  two  dogs  :  it 
was  said  they  were  two  fiends  that  carried 
him  wherever  he  pleased.  The  courier  from 
Milan  asserted  that  he  had  left  him  in  that 
city,  and  found  him  in  Rome  on  his  arrival. 
The  supposed  wizard  was  seized  and  put  to 
death. 

Had  these  notices  but  been  written  by  a 
man  of  somewhat  more  ability,  they  would 
have  been  invaluable;  they  would  have 
brought  manners  and  times  vividly  before 
us,  without  such  wearisome  research  as  we 
are  forced  to  by  the  above  mentioned  diary. 

Let  us  now  proceed  to  the  works  immedi- 
ately relating  to  Innocent  X. 


REMARKS   ON   GUALDI  VITA  DI  DONNl   OLIMPIA 
MALDACHINA,   1666. 

When  we  learn  that  Gregorio  Leti,  with 
whom  we  have  become  sufficiently  acquainted, 
is  the  author  of  this  work,  we  have  hardly  an 
inducement  to  go  into  the  question  of  its  cre- 
dibility; there  is  the  strongest  presumption 
against  it. 

But  as  there  appeared  a  French  translation 
of  it  in  1770,  and  a  German  in  1783,  and  as 
Schrockh  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that  its  main 
facts  at  least  may  be  relied  on,  since  they 
never  were  disputed,  it  will  not  perhaps  be 
superfluous  to  say  a  word  on  the  subject. 
The  author,  be  it  observed,  boldly  avers  he 
will  relate  nothing  he  had  not  himself  seen, 
or  of  which  he  had  not  obtained  the  most 
certain  evidence. 

At  the  very  first  start  he  tells  the  tale  that 
the  Maldachini  family,  which  he  considered 
Roman,  once  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Loreto, 
and  they  met  at  Borgheto  with  young  Pamfili, 
who  fell  in  love  with  Donna  Oliuipia,  the 
daughter  of  the  house,  and  after  the  return 
from  the  pilgrimage  he  married  her :  but  very 
soon  Olimpia  became  more  familiar  with  his 
brother,  the  subsequent  pope,  then  a  young 
abbate,  than  with  her  husband.  On  this  con- 
nection was  founded  the  influence  which 
Donna  Olimpia  possessed  over  Innocent  X. 

Now  we  may  confidently  assert,  that  there 
is  not  a  word  of  truth  in  this. 

The  Maldachini  family  was  not  Roman,  but 
from  Acquapendente.  Donna  Olimpia  was  a 
widow  when  she  married  Pamfili.  Her  first 
husband  was  Paolo  Nini  of  Viterbo,  the  last 
of  that  family ;  as  she  inherited  his  property 
she  brought  a  rich  dower  into  the  house  of 
Pamfili.  Upon  this,  and  not  upon  an  imagi- 
nary intimacy  witli  the  pope,  was  founded  the 
influence  she  enjoyed  in  the  family.  When 
the  marriage  took  place.  Innocent  X.  was  far 
from  being  a  young  abbale.  In  an  inscription 
set  up  by  the  senior  of  the  house  in  the  Villa 
Maldachina  at  Viterbo,  it  is  stated  that  he 
had  decorated  that  villa  in  the  year  1625, 
before  his  sister  married  into  the  house  of 
Pamfili.  "  Marchio  Andreas  Maidaichinus 
.  .  .  villam  banc  ante  nuptam  sororem  suam 
Olympiam  cum  Innocentii  X  germano  fra- 
tre  .  .  .  extruxit  ornavitque  anno  Domini 
MDCXXV."  The  entire  mscription  is  given 
in  Bussi's  Istoria  di  Viterbo,  p.  'SS2.  Hence 
the  marriage  could  not  have  taken  place  till 
about  the  year  16'26,  at  which  period  Giam- 
battista  Pamfili,  afterwards  Innocent  X.,  was 
already  fifty-four  years  of  age,  and  no  longer 
an  abbate,  but  a  prelate  of  twenty  years' 
standing.  Just  then  he  was  engaged  in  nu- 
merous nunciatures.  If  we  may  draw  any 
conclusion  from  some  expressions  of  his, 
Donna  Olimpia's  claims  on  his  gratitude  will 
have  consisted  in  her  aiding  him  on  these 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


579 


occasions  as  well  as  subsequently  out  of  her 
private  fortune.  He  was  enabled  by  her  to 
maintain  the  splendour  which  was  required  in 
those  days  for  the  success  of  an  aspirant. 
The  whole  tenour  of  their  intercourse  was  in 
keepin;^  with  this  beginning  of  Donna  Olim- 
pia,  wlio  as  she  had  aided  the  prelate,  and 
contributed  in  a  certain  extent  to  his  attain- 
ment of  the  papacy,  was  resolved  to  have  her 
share  in  the  advantages  of  that  dignity. 

In  the  minute  journal  already  spoken  of, 
which  keeps  pace  step  by  step  with  Donna 
Olimpia's  proceedings,  and  in  which  mention 
is  made  of  all  the  secrets  of  the  papal  house- 
hold, there  is  not  a  hint  of  any  illegitimate 
intimacy  between  the  pope  and  his  sister-m- 
law. 

This  little  work  of  Leti's  is  another  ro- 
mance put  together  from  apocryphal  tales 
and  chimerical  fictions. 

125.  Relatione  degli  ambasciatori  estraordi- 
narj  a  Roma  al  sommo  pontefice  Inno- 
centio  X.  Pietro  Foscarini  Kr,  Zuanne 
Nani  K^  Proc^,  Aluise  Mocenigo  I  fu 
di  q.  Aluise,  e  Bertucci  Valier  K^.  1645. 
3  Ott.  [Report  of  the  ambassadors  ex- 
traordinary to  Innocent  X.,  Pietro  Fos- 
carini, &c.] 

A  complete  change  ensued  after  the  death 
of  Urban.  Innocent  X.  was  disliked  by  the 
French  ;  he  would  gladly  succour  the  emperor 
if  he  could  ;  he  was  a  friend  to  the  Venetians. 
It  was  possible,  however,  that  he  wavered  in 
his  measures  from  natural  indecision  of  cha- 
racter. The  ambassadors  thought  it,  there- 
fore, doubly  necessary  not  to  break  with  him 
on  private  grounds,  nor  to  forfeit  the  good 
will  of  the  pope  for  the  sake  of  a  dissolute 
monk. 

The  previous  history  of  Innocent  X.  is  thus 
represented. 

"  Nasce  il  presente  sommo  pontefice  Inno- 
centio  X,  chiamato  prima  Gio.  Batt.  cardie 
Pamfilio,  della  famiglia  de'  Pamfilj  originata 
gia  in  Ugubbio  citta  dello  stato  d'Urbino. 
Questa  venne  habitare  in  iioma  sotto  il  ponti- 
ficato  d'Innocentio  VIII,  si  apparento  con  le 
prime  case  della  citta,  visse  sempre  in  molta 
riputatione  et  honorevolezza.  La  madre  di 
S.  B"e  tU  della  famiglia  de'  marchesi  dal 
BufFolo,  nobile  e  principale,  della  quale  ne  fa 
il  papa  hoggidi  molto  conto,  ritrovandosene 
pill  d'uno  al  suo  servitio  in  palazzo.  Fu  la 
S^^  Sua  allevata  dal  cardie Gerolamo  Pamfilio, 
suo  zio  paterno,  che  visse  in  gran  concetto  e 
fu  vicino  ad  esser  papa  e  che  fu  fatto  card'e 
da  Clemente  VIII,  mentre  si  trovava  auditor 
decano  della  rota  chiaro  per  la  virtu  et  inno- 
cenza  de'  suoi  costumi.  Si  trova  la  S^^  Sua 
in  eta  di  72  anni,  di  statura  piii  che  ordinaria, 
ben  proportionata,  maestosa  nella  persona, 
piena  di  grande  mansuetudine  e  benignita: 


onde  sempre  che  esce  dalle  sue  stanze  per 
occasione  di  concistorj,  capelle  o  altre  occa- 
sioni,  da  prontamente  e  volentieri  audienza  a 
tutti  di  ogni  conditione,  benche  poveri  e  mise- 
rabili,  che  se  gli  fanno  innanzi,  riceve  i  lor 
memoriali,  e  con  molta  patienza  e  carita  pro- 
cura  di  sollevare  ognuno,  consolar  tutti  con 
grande  acclamation  dei  sudditi  e  con  gran 
diflferenza  dal  pontificate  antecedente.  Fu  il 
papa  prima  avvocato  concistoriale,  poi  auditor 
di  rota  elletto  da  Clemente  VIII.  Fu  da 
Gregorio  XV  mandate  noncio  a  Napoli  e  da 
Urbano  VIII  impiegato  nelle  legationi  di 
Franza  e  Spagna  del  cardl  Barberino  con 
titolo  di  datario,  fu  dallo  stesso  Urbano  eletto 
patriarca  d'Antiochia,  mandate  nuncio  in 
Spagna,  e  poi  promosso  al  cardinalato  li  9 
Novembre  1627.  Come  cardinale  e  stato  in 
concetto  di  natura  severa,  inclinato  al  rigore, 
puntuale  nelle  cose  ecclesiastiche.  E  stato 
sempre  adoperato  in  tutte  le  congregationi 
principali,  e  si  puo  dire  che  ha  esercitate  tutte 
le  congregationi  principali,  e  si  puo  dire  che 
ha  esercitate  tutte  le  cariche  piii  principali 
di  Roma  con  universale  sodisfattione,  havendo 
neir  animo  suo  fatta  sempre  particolar  sede 
la  modestia,  la  patienza,  I'integrita,  la  virtu, 
la  mira  di  non  disgustare  alcuno,  accarezzan- 
do  tutti  e  condonando  le  ingiurie.  Gode  una 
buona  salute,  ha  complessione  assai  robusta, 
va  sobrio  nel  cibo,  fa  volentieri  esercitio, 
assiste  alle  capelle  et  altre  funtioni  con  gran 
maesta,  e  fa  tutte  le  cose  ecclesiastiche  con 
pompa,  decoro,  particolar  godimento  suo  e 
punlualita.  Va  pesato  assai  in  tutti  li  negotii 
gravi,  vuol  tempo  ad  esaminarli  e  risolverli. 
E  stato  solito  nella  sua  passata  fortuna  andar 
tardi  e  tardi  levarsi  dal  letto,  osserva  il  me- 
desimo  stile  nel  pontificato,  onde  rare  volte  e 
retirato  avanti  la  mezza  notte  ne  lavato  la 
mattina  avanti  qualche  hora  del  gionie.  He 
nei  tempi  andati  fatta  molta  stima  dei  prin- 
cipi :  ha  desiderate  le  loro  giuste  sodisfattioni: 
si  dichiara  preservare  ne'  stessi  concetti,  non 
voler  esser  partiale  d'alcuna  delle  due  corone, 
ma  padre  universale  amorevole  di  tutti :  si 
risente  non  incontrar  bene  ne  con  I'una  ne 
con  I'altra  di  esse  al  presente,  e  se  n'e  esalata 
con  grande  confidenza  piii  d'una  volta  con 
noi :  crede  pero  che  ognuno  si  dolga  per 
avvantaggiare  i  proprj  interessi,  non  perche 
ambedue  non  conoscano  la  necessita  della  sua 
indipendenza,  e  come  che  sia  arnica  della 
pace  naturalment  e  la  obblighi  a  questa  il 
posto  di  pontefice  in  cui  si  trova  constituito. 
Va  nutrendosi  con  simili  concetti  ricevendo  a 
grande  alimento  suo  la  confidenza  con  la 
Serenissima  Republica,  come  questa  con 
I'autorita,  consigli  et  amor  suo  possa  esserle 
del  maggior  presidio:  anzi  soggetto  di  grand' 
eminenza  e  della  maggior  confidenza  nostra 
ha  confidato  ad  alcuno  di  noi,  forse  d'ordine 
della  St^  Sua,  la  intentione  cli'  ella  havrebbe 
di  stringersi  con  I'EE  VV  con  particolare  al- 


580 


APPENDIX. 


leanza,  quando  credesse  incontrare  la  publica 
dispositione :  sopra  di  che  con  termini  gene- 
ral! ufficiosi  fu  risposto,  nessun  nodo  poter 
mag-giormente  legare  i  principi  che  la  sin- 
cerita  e  corrispondenza  de'  cuori  e  la  unifor- 
mita  de'  fini  et  interessi." 

[Pope  Innocent  X.,  formerly  Gio.  Batt., 
cardinal  Pamfilio,  is  sprung  from  the  family 
of  Pamfili,  originally  of  Ugubbio,  a  town  in 
the  state  of  Urbino.  The  family  migrated  to 
Rome  nnder  the  pontificate  of  Innocent  VIII., 
intermixed  with  the  first  houses  of  the  city, 
and  always  lived  in  much  repute  and  honour. 
The  mother  of  his  holiness  was  of  the  family 
of  the  marquises  of  Bufl:blo,  a  noble  and  ex- 
alted race,  of  which  the  pope  now  makes 
much  account,  having  more  than  one  mem- 
ber of  it  in  his  service  in  the  palace.  His 
holiness  was  brought  up  by  cardinal  Gerolamo 
Pamfilio,  his  paternal  uncle,  who  was  in  high 
consideration,  was  near  to  being  made  pope, 
and  was  created  cardinal  by  Clement  VIII., 
and  who,  when  auditor  dean  of  the  rota,  was 
renowned  for  his  virtues  and  guileless  morals. 
His  holiness  is  aged  seventy-two,  in  stature 
below  the  middle  height,  of  a  well  propor- 
tioned and  majestic  person,  and  of  exceeding 
gentleness  and  benignity.  Accordingly  when- 
ever he  quits  his  apartments,  on  occasions  of 
consistories,  chapels,  or  others,  he  readily  and 
cheerfully  gives  audience  to  all  of  every  con- 
dition, however  poor  and  miserable,  who 
present  themselves  tb  him,  receives  their  me- 
morials and  strives  with  great  patience  and 
charity  to  relieve  every  one,  and  to  comfort 
all,  to  the  loudly  expressed  admiration  of  his 
subjects,  and  with  a  marked  difference  from 
the  preceding  pontificate.  The  pope  was 
first  consistorial  advocate,  then  auditor  di 
rota,  elected  by  Clement  VIII.  He  was  sent 
as  nuncio  to  Naples  by  Gregory  XV.  and 
employed  by  Urban  VIII.  in  the  legations  of 
France  and  Spain  of  cardinal  Barberino  with 
the  title  of  datary ;  he  was  elected  by  the 
same  Urban  patriarch  of  Antioch,  sent  as 
nuncio  into  Spain,  and  afterwards  promoted 
to  the  cardinalship,  Nov.  9,  1627.  As  cardi- 
nal he  was  reputed  of  a  stern  character, 
inclined  to  rigour,  punctual  in  ecclesiastical 
matters.  He  was  always  employed  in  all  the 
principal  congregations,  and  it  may  be  as- 
serted that  he  has  filled  all  the  most  important 
posts  in  Rome  with  universal  satisfaction ; 
his  mind  having  always  been  the  special 
abode  of  modesty,  patience,  integrity,  virtue, 
careful  to  avoid  ofibnding  any,  caressing  all, 
and  pardoning  injuries.  He  enjoys  good 
health,  has  a  very  robust  constitution,  is  mo- 
derate in  his  diet,  is  fond  of  exercise,  attends 
chapels  and  other  public  duties  with  great 
majesty,  and  performs  all  ecclesiastical  mat- 
ters with  pomp,  decorum,  punctuality,  and 
special  personal  satisfaction.  He  proceeds 
very  ploddingly  in  all  serious  matters  of  busi- 


ness, and  requires  time  to  examine  and  de- 
termine them.  In  his  past  way  of  life  he 
was  accustomed  to  go  late  to  bed  and  rise 
late;  he  pursues  the  same  course  in  his  pon- 
tificate, seldom  retiring  before  midnight  or 
rising  before  the  day  is  some  hours  old.  In 
past  times  he  made  much  esteem  of  the  sove- 
reigns ;  he  wished  them  all  reasonable  satis- 
faction; he  declares  his  persistence  in  the 
same  feelings,  and  that  he  does  not  wish  to 
be  partial  to  either  of  the  two  crowns,  but 
to  be  the  common  loving  father  of  all.  He 
feels  that  he  is  not  favourably  regarded  by 
either  at  present,  and  he  has  given  vent  to 
his  thoughts  on  the  subject  very  frankly  to 
us  more  than  once :  still  he  thinks  that  each 
complains  with  a  regard  only  to  his  own 
interests,  not  that  both  do  not  know  the  ne- 
cessity of  his  independence,  and  how,  besides 
his  natural  inclination  to  peace,  he  is  further 
bound  to  it  by  his  position  as  pope.  He  feeds 
his  mind  on  such  thoughts,  receiving  to  his 
great  sustenance  the  confidential  regard  of 
the  most  serene  republic,  as  thinking  it  capa- 
ble by  its  weight,  its  counsels,  and  its  love, 
of  proving  his  greatest  safeguard :  accord- 
ingly a  person  of  great  eminence,  and  one  on 
very  confidential  terms  with  us,  has  confided 
to  one  of  us,  perhaps  by  order  of  his  holiness, 
that  he  would  be  disposed  to  bmd  himself  to 
your  excellencies  in  a  special  alliance,  if  he 
though  it  would  meet  with  public  approbation. 
To  this  we  replied  in  courteous  general  terms, 
that  no  bond  could  more  strictly  unite  princes 
than  sincerity,  reciprocity  of  feeling,  and 
unanimity  in  aims  and  interests.] 

126.  Relatione  delV  amhasciatore  Veneto 
Aluise  Contarini  fatta  al  senato  dopo  il 
ritorno  della  sua  ambasceria  appresso 
Iiinocentio  X.  164S.  (22  leaves.)  [Re- 
port of  the  Venetian  ambassador,  Aluise 
Contarini,  after  his  return  from  the  court 
of  Innocent  X.] 

This  pontificate  too  for  a  long  time  turned 
out  by  no  means  so  advantageous  as  had  been 
expected.  To  the  first  rather  honourable 
report  Aluise  Contarini,  the  son  of  Nicolo, — 
the  former  Aluise  was  a  son  of  Tommaso, — 
adds  many  far  less  favourable  passages. 

In  his  youth  Innocent  had  preferred  knight- 
ly exercises  and  amorous  pastimes  (passatem- 
pi  amorevoli)  to  study ;  he  had  gained  little 
respect  in  his  nunciature  in  France,  where  he 
was  nicknamed,  on  account  of  his  perpetual 
refusals,  "  Monsignor  Itc  an't  be"  (Mr  Non  si 
puol).  In  Spain,  on  the  other  hand,  his 
chariness  of  words  gained  him  the  reputation 
of  a  wise  man. 

What  made  him  pope?  Answer:  these 
three  things, — that  he  talked  little,  dissem- 
bled much,  and  did  nothing  at  all.  "  Da 
corteggiani  fu  detto  che  tre  cose  I'avevano 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


581 


fatto  papa,  il  parlar  poco,  simulare  assai,  e 
non  far  niente." 

"  Si  fa  conoscere  hora  poco  inclinato  alle 
gratie,  delicate  e  vetriolo,  (?)  riputato  da 
tutti  ri'lno-egno  tardo  nell'  apprendere  e  poco 
capace  di  gran  machine,  ma  ostinato  nell' 
apprensioni :  procura  di  non  farsi  conoscere 
partiale  di  alcana  corona: — [He  shows  little 

disposition  at  present  to  confer  favours 

he  is  considered  by  every  body  to  be  of  slow 
apprehension,  and  of  small  capacity  for  great 
combinations,  but  obstinate  in  his  conceptions ; 
he  endeavours  to  avoid  the  appearance  of 
partiality  to  any  crown.]  He  was  a  friend  to 
quiet  and  justice,  not  bloodthirsty,  and  was  a 
good  economist. 

Persons  immediately  about  the  pope. — Don- 
na Olimpia,  a  favourite  with  him,  because  she 
had  brought  a  large  fortune  into  the  house, 
and  assisted  him  with  it:  " donna d'ingegnoe 
spirito  virile,  solo  si  fa  conoscere  donna  per 
la  superbia  e  I'avaritia"  [a  woman  of  mascu- 
line mind  and  feelings, — she  proves  herself  a 
woman  only  by  her  pride  and  avarice] ;  Pan- 
cirolo  :  "  di  tratti  manierosi,  d'ingegno  vivace, 
cortese  di  viso  e  di  parole"  [of  polished  man- 
ners, of  quick  understanding,  courteous  in  his 
bearing  and  his  speech] ;  Capponi :  "  a  bocca 
ridente  ricuopre  la  sua  malitiosa  industria" 
[he  hides  his  active  malevolence  under  a 
mask  of  smiles  ];  Spada :  "  si  pavoneggia 
delli  suoi  stimabili  talenti"  [he  plumes  him- 
self on  his  estimable  talents].  Our  author, 
as  we  see,  does  not  express  himself  in  very 
respectful  terms.  With  a  pope  of  such  a 
character,  the  want  of  a  nephew  was  doubly 
felt. 

Some  traits  of  his  administration  are  re- 
corded. "  Tra  li  corteggiani  si  suol  dire  che 
chi  trattacol  papa  d'alcuno  affare,  nelle  prime 
audienze  lo  reputa  quasi  perfettionato,  nella 
seconda  conosce  esser  total mente  da  farsi,  e 
nella  terza  si  scuopre  con  stupore  sconcluso. 
— Crede  disprezzabile  quel  principe  che  non 
conserva  appresso  di  se  un  buon  numero  di 
contanti  da  valersene  in  un'  urgente  bisogno. 
Per  non  spendere  si  contenta  di  soffrire  dell' 
avversa  fortuna  ogni  piii  opprobrioso  stra- 
pazzo. — Trovandosi  I'annata  di  Roma  spog- 
liata  di  quelli  assegnamenti  de'  quali  si  valse 
in  altri  tempi,  come  proprii  per  essere  stati 
dissipati  nella  guerra  Barberina,  Sua  S^^^  con- 
oscendo  I'annata  presente  penuriosa  di  grano 
ha  piu  volte  assegnato  di  esser  pronto  di 
sovveniria  di  grossa  somma  di  contanti:  ma 
ripugnando  la  sua  natura  alio  sborso,  ha 
cercato  aggiustarlo  in  altra  forma,  sebene  non 
a  sufficienza. — Tutte  le  communita  si  trovano 
talmente  esauste  e  ruinate  per  cagione  della 
guerra  Barberina  che  gl'e  impossibiie  giam- 
mai  risorgere  e  rihaversi. — Particolare  en- 
trata  del  papa  di  800  m.  scudi  consistente 
negli  emolumenti  delle  componende  della 
dataria  e  nelle  vacabilita  degli  officii  di  quella 


e  della  cancelleria,  come  ancora  di  una  sorte 
di  monti  vacabili  dell'  auditore  e  tesoriere  di 
camera,  chiericati  di  essa,  et  altri  simili  officii, 
di  tutta  questa  somma,  che  entra  nella  borsa 
secreta  e  non  nella  publica,  ne  e  assoluto 
patrone  S.  S"-^,  potendone  disporre  al  suo 
arbitrio  e  donorla  a  chi  piii  li  place  senza 
temere  che  siano  richieste  dal  successore." 
[It  is  a  common  saying  among  courtiers,  that 
whoever  treats  with  the  pope  about  any  affair, 
at  the  first  audience  thinks  it  all  but  com- 
pleted, in  the  second  he  perceives  that  his 
work  is  all  before  him,  in  the  third  he  finds 
to  his  consternation  that  his  suit  is  rejected. 
— He  thinks  that  sovereign  contemptible  who 
does  not  keep  by  him  a  good  sum  in  ready 
money  to  be  used  upon  an  emergency.  To 
avoid  expenditure,  he  is  content  to  submit  to 
the  most  contumelious  buffetings  of  adverse 
fortune.  The  yearly  supplies  of  Rome  hav- 
ing fallen  short  of  those  assignments  enjoyed 
in  former  years,  in  consequence  of  the  Bar- 
berini  war,  and  his  holiness  finding  the  sup- 
ply of  corn  deficient  this  year,  has  frequently 
announced  his  intention  of  advancing  a  large 
sum  of  ready  money  to  make  up  the  deficien- 
cy ;  but  being  by  nature  adverse  to  disbursing' 
money,  he  has  endeavoured  to  arrange  the 
matter  in  another  way,  though  imperfectly. 
— All  the  corporations  are  so  exhausted  and 
ruined  by  the  effects  of  the  Barberini  war, 
that  it  is  impossible  they  can  ever  recover 
themselves. — Private  revenue  of  the  pope, 
800,000  scudi,  consisting  of  the  gains  on  the 
compositions  of  the  datario,  and  the  vacan- 
cies occurring  in  that  office,  and  in  the  chan- 
cery, as  also  on  a  sort  of  monti  vacabili  of  the 
auditor  and  treasurer  of  the  camera,  the 
chiericati  of  the  camera,  and  other  like  posts. 
Of  this  entire  sum  which  enters  the  privy 
purse,  not  the  public,  his  holiness  is  absolute 
master,  being  able  to  dispose  of  it  at  his  plea- 
sure, and  to  give  it  to  whomsoever  he  pleases, 
without  fearing  that  any  account  of  it  shall 
be  called  for  by  his  successor.]  His  build- 
ings :  on  the  capitol,  in  St.  Peter's,  in  the 
Lateran,  "  in  cui  rinnovandosi  con  nuovo 
modello  le  tre  navate  della  chiesa,  rimane 
nel  suo  essere  I'adornamento  di  quel  vago  e 
ben  inteso  soffitto;"  in  the  Piazza  Navona, 
"  con  il  gettato  di  alcune  case  per  la  parte  di 
S.  Giacomo  de'  Spagnuoli  restando  in  quadro 
la  piazza." 

Notwithstanding  the  unfavourable  impres- 
sion he  had  conceived  of  the  court,  we  see  that 
Contarini  is  on  the  whole  impartial  and  in- 
structive. 

127.  Memoriale  presentato  alia  S^"  di  N. 
S''«  papa  Innocenzo  X  dai  depvtati  della 
cilia  di  Fermo  per  ill  lumultu  ivi  se- 
guilo  alii  6  di  Luglio,  1648.  [Memo- 
rial presented  to  pope  Innocent  X.  by  the 
deputies  of  the  city  of  Florence,  with  re- 


582 


APPENDIX. 


gard  to  the  riots  there  on  the  6th  of  July, 
1648. 

In  Majolino  Bisaccioni's  "  Historia  delle 
guerre  civili  di  questi  ultimi  tempi,"  Ven. 
1664,  along  with  the  most  important  events, 
along  with  the  history  of  Charles  I.  and 
Cromwell,  and  the  insurrections  of  Portugal 
and  Catalonia,  there  is  likewise  given  a  "  His- 
toria della  guerra  civile  di  Fermo,"  that  is 
the  history  of  a  riot,  in  which  Visconti,  the 
papal  governor,  was  killed 

The  document  before  us  is  the  memorial 
with  which  two  deputies — Lorenzo  Nobile 
and  Lucio  Guerrieri — presented  themselves 
before  the  pope  to  solicit  his  pardon  for  the 
deed. 

According  to  their  account,  which  is  much 
more  authentic  and  graphic  than  that  of 
Bisaccioni,  and  which  gives  us  a  glimpse  into 
the  internal  economy  of  the  towns  in  those 
times,  the  crops  had  failed,  and  bread  was 
unusually  dear;  notwithstanding  this,  the 
governor  resolved  on  exporting  grain  from 
the  district  of  Fermo.  He  listened  to  no 
warning.  With  his  carbine  by  his  side,  and 
pistols  on  his  table,  he  declared  he  would 
rather  die,  as  became  a  governor  and  a  sol- 
dier, than  give  way.  He  prohibited  the 
consiglio,  deputies  to  which  arrived  even 
from  tlie  neighbouring  boroughs,  and  he 
assembled  troops.  But  his  soldiers  "  came 
from  the  fields  where  they  reaped,  from  the 
barns  where  they  thrashed  :"  they  knew  the 
want  under  which  the  land  laboured,  and 
instead  of  withstanding  the  riotous  populace, 
they  took  part  with  them.  In  spite  of  his 
bravadoes,  the  governor  found  himself  com- 
pelled to  give  way,  and  to  suffer  his  corn  to 
remain  within  the  limits  of  the  state. 

But  hardly  was  tranquillity  restored,  when 
Corsican  troops,  summoned  by  the  governor, 
appeared  before  the  gates.  The  people  fully 
believed  that  Visconti  intended,  with  their 
assistance,  to  carry  his  purpose  through.  A 
riot  ensued  :  the  mob  cried,  "  We  are  betray- 
ed,— to  arms !"  The  bells  were  rung,  the 
palace  was  stormed,  and  the  governor  kill- 
ed. 

The  deputies  protested  their  fidelity,  and 
bewailed  this  event,  ....  at  which  the 
nobles  were  above  all  distressed  "di  vedere, 
senza  potervi  rimediare,  da  persone  del  popolo 
ucciso  il  prelate  di  ¥■■=*  S^^  datogli  per  suo 
governo"  [to  see,  without  any  help  for  it, 
the  prelate  appointed  by  your  holiness  as 
their  governor  slain  by  individuals  of  the 
populace.] 

128.  Relatione  della  corte  di  Roma  del  Cav^o 
Giustiniani  data  in  senato  Vanno  1652. 
[Giustiniani's  report  on  Rome.]  {Copy 
in  the  Magliabechiana  in  Florence.  24. 
65.) 


Under  Innocent,  too,  admiration  and  expec- 
tation changes  first  into  doubt  and  disappro- 
bation, and  finally  into  clamour  and  execra- 
tion. 

Zuan  Zustinian — for  so  the  Venitians  write 
and  pronounce  his  name — after  having  filled 
many  other  embassies,  proceeded  from  Vienna 
to  Rome,  where  he  resided  from  1648  to 
1651.  The  events  of  these  years  fill  up 
his  despatches,  and  form  the  matter  of  his 
report. 

The  description  he  gives  of  the  court  is  not 
very  cheering. 

Whatever  there  is  good  in  the  pope,  he 
says,  turns  to  the  advantage  of  the  city  of 
Rome,  and  at  the  very  most  of  the  ecclesias- 
tical state ;  his  bad  qualities  are  injurious  to 
all  Christendom.  But  even  in  the  states  of 
the  church  the  remission  of  the  severest 
punishments  for  money  is  a  great  evil.  "  Mi 
si  afferma  per  massima  indubitata  che  in  sette 
anni  di  pontificato  habbia  estratto  dalle  com- 
positioni  di  persone  processate  come  ree  il 
valore  di  1200  m.  scudi,  che  s'accosta  a  due 
milioni  di  ducati."  [It  has  been  affirmed  to 
me,  on  the  most  unquestionable  authority, 
that  in  the  seven  years  of  his  pontificate  he 
has  extracted,  by  way  of  composition,  from 
persons  prosecuted  as  criminals,  the  value 
of  1,200,000  scudi,  which  is  nearly  two  mil- 
lions of  ducats.]  The  influence  of  Donna 
Olimpia  Maldichina  is  here  represented  as 
a  kind  of  public  calamity.  "  Donna  di  gran 
spirito,  prepotente  per  solo  titolo  di  esatta 
econoraia.  Se  vacavano  officj  nella  corte, 
niente  si  deliberaba  senza  il  beneplacito  di 
lei :  se  vi  erano  beneficj  da  distribuire,  i  mi- 
nistri  della  dataria  tenevano  ordine  di  trat- 
tenere  ogni  spedizione  sinche  dalagli  notizia. 
della  qualita  delle  vacanze  scegliesse  a  sua 
disposizione  cio  che  piii  tenesse  di  gusto :  se 
vi  erano  chiese  episcopali  da  provedere,  ad 
essa  ricorrevano  i  pretendenti :  e  quelle  che 
rendeva  nausea  a  tutti  gli  uomini  onorati,  era 
il  vedere  che  orano  preferati  quelli  che  piii 
allargavano  la  mano  a  donativi."  [A  very 
clever  woman,  whose  paramount  power  is 
founded  solely  on  her  rigid  economy.  If 
offices  were  vacant  at  court,  nothing  was  de- 
cided without  her  consent ;  if  there  were  be- 
nefices to  bestow,  the  ministers  of  the  dataria 
had  orders  to  delay  all  appointments  to  them 
till  notice  had  been  given  to  her  of  the  nature 
of  the  vacancies,  so  that  she  might  select  for 
her  own  disposal  such  as  were  most  to  her 
taste  ;  if  there  were  bishoprics  to  be  filled  up, 
the  candidates  applied  to  her  ;  and  what  nau- 
seated all  honourable  men  was,  to  see  that 
those  were  preferred  who  were  most  liberal 
of  gifts.] 

So  he  goes  on :  but  I  am  not  certain  whe- 
ther the  report  is  genuine. 

It  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  Venetian  archives. 
There  are  two  copies  in  the  Magliabechiana 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


563 


in  Florence,  but  they  do  not  agree  throughout. 
I  have  kept  to  the  more  moderate  of  the  two. 
Fortunately  1  was  not  forced  to  have  re- 
course to  this  report,  since  the  diary  of  Deone, 
and  the  notices  given  by  Pallavicina  in  his 
life  of  Alexander  VII.,  afforded  me  far  better 
information. 

129.  Relatione  delV  ambasceria  estraordina- 
riafatla  in  Roma  alia  S^<^  di  N.  S^«  Al- 
lesandro  VII  dagli  Ecc'ni  SS^*  Pesaro, 
Contarini,  Valiero  e  Sagredo  per  renders 
a  nome  della  Ser^'^Republica  di  Venetia 
la  solila  obedienza  al  sommo  pontefice 
Vanno  1656.  [Report  of  the  extraordinary 
embassy  to  pope  Alexander  VIL,  to  tender 
him  the  customary  obedience  on  the  part 
of  the  most  serene  republic] 

The  same  Pasero — during  whose  embassy 
occurred  the  breach  between  Urban  VIII.  and 
the  republic,  and  who  ever  since  then  had 
been  regarded  rather  as  inimical  to  the 
clergy — was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  em- 
bassy of  congratulation,  and  was  left  by  his 
colleagues  to  draw  up  their  joint  report. 
Whether  it  be  that  his  tone  of  thought  was, 
as  he  says,  very  moderate  from  the  tirst,  or 
that  the  lapse  of  years  had  produced  a  change 
in  it,  certain  it  is  his  report  is  very  rational, 
well-meaning  and  instructive. 

He  expresses  his  disapprobation  of  the 
government  of  Innocent  X.,  but  not  in  terms 
of  such  strong  reprobation  as  others.  "  Oltre 
la  cupidita  insatiubile  ch'e  regnata  in  quella 
casa,  vi  si  e  aggionto  che  essendo  mancato  di 
ministri  valevoli  al  sostentamento  di  cosi 
gran  principato,  non  havendo  luogo  nell' 
animo  suspicace  di  quel  pontefice  la  fede 
di  chi  si  sia,  ogni  cosa  per  lo  piii  si  regolana 
secondo  gli  appetiti  immoderati  di  una  donna, 
che  ha  aperto  largo  cam poalle  penne  satiriche 
di  fare  comparire  i  disordini  di  quel  governo 
niaggiori  ancora  di  quel  che  in  fatti  si  fbssero." 
[Besides  the  insatiable  cupidity  which  reign- 
ed in  that  house,  there  was  a  want  of  minis- 
ters competent  to  uphold  so  great  a  sove- 
reigniy,  there  being  no  place  in  the  suspicious 
mind  of  that  pope  tor  trust  in  any  one  :  so  that 
every  thing  almost  was  regulated  by  the 
immoderate  cravings  of  a  woman,  whereby 
ample  scope  was  afforded  satirical  pens  lo 
make  the  disorders  of  that  government  appear 
even  greater  than  they  really  were.] 

Little  as  this  sounds  like  a  panegyric,  still, 
as  we  have  seen,  it  is  a  very  mild  judgment, 
in  comparison  with  the  violent  exclamations 
of  others. 

But  the  most  important  subject  of  this  report 
is  the  new  pope,  Alexander  VII. 

It  is  Pesano's  opinion,  and  indeed  the  rest 
of  the  world  was  convinced  of  the  fact,  that 
the  belief  in  Fabio  Chigi's  virtues,  and  the 
fame  of  his  nunciature,  liad  effected  his  pro- 


motion, though  the  Medici  were  in  reality  not 
well  pleased  to  witness  the  elevation  of  one  of 
their  subjects.  "  Piu  santa  elettione  non  si 
poteva  aspettare  da  un  senate  di  soggetti  che 
per  quanto  havessero  distratta  la  volonta  da 
mondani  interessi,  non  potevano  di  meno  di 
non  lasciarsi  in  fine  guidare  da  quel  spirito 
santo  che  essi  presumono  assistere  ad  un'  at- 
tione  di  tanta  rilevanza."  [A  holier  election 
could  not  have  been  expected  from  a  senate  of 
persons  who,  however  their  minds  may  be 
bewildered  by  worldly  interests,  could  not  yet 
fail  in  the  end  to  be  guided  by  that  Holy 
Spirit  whom  they  believe  to  be  present  at  an 
act  of  so  great  moment.] 

He  sketches  his  rise  and  the  general  cha- 
racter of  his  first  proceedings :  "  he  appeared 
to  undej;stand  but  little  of  financial  matters, 
but  much  more  of  ecclesiastical,  and  was  not 
inflexibly  wedded  to  his  own  opinions."  He 
also  describes  his  retainers;  but  it  is  not  ne- 
cessary to  repeat  his  statements,  for  things 
soon  took  a  different  turn  from  what  had  been 
expected. 

"  Troppo  per  tempo  parmi,"  says  Pesaro, 
"  che  il  mondo  canonizzi  questi  sentimenti  del 
papa,  e  che  per  fame  piu  ascertato  giudizio 
faccia  di  mestiere  osservarsi  quanto  con  il 
tratto  del  tempo  si  sia  per  mostrarsi  costante 
nel  resistere  alle  mantellate  dell'  affetto." 
[The  world  seems  to  me  premature  in  canoniz- 
ing these  sentiments  of  the  pope  ;  to  judge 
more  certainly  of  them,  methinks  it  were  ex- 
pedient to  observe  what  firmness  he  shall  dis- 
play in  the  course  of  time  in  resisting  the 
simulations  of  affection.]  Already  so  many 
representations  were  made  to  the  pope  from 
all  sides,  it  seemed  inevitable  that  his  con- 
stancy would  be  shaken. 

The  mission  had  by  no  means  for  its  sole 
object  to  congratulate  the  pope,  but  further- 
more to  solicit  aid  towards  the  Candian  war. 

The  ambassador  enlarged  upon  the  efforts 
Venice  had  made  to  resist  the  foe, — above  all 
to  defray  the  immediate  expenses  of  the  war; 
taking  up  loans  at  heavy  interest  in  the  way 
of  annuities,  or  permanently,  selling  allodial 
or  feudal  estates,  imparting  to  a  great  number 
the  dignities  of  the  state,  which  had  previously 
been  confined  to  a  narrow  circle, — nay,  even 
the  honours  of  Venetian  nobility,  though  its 
value  was  the  greater  the  less  it  was  rendered 
common.  But  the  means  of  the  republic  were 
now  quite  exhausted  ;  nothing  was  to  be  ex- 
pected from  the  other  potentates  of  Europe, 
since  there  were  too  many  mutual  quarrels 
among  them :  the  only  refuge  was  to  the  see 
of  Rome. 

The  pope  listened  to  them  not  without  some 
show  of  sympathy,  and  in  reply  pronounced  a 
splendid  eulogium  on  the  republic  which  re- 
sisted the  savage  rage  of  the  barbarians,  not 
only  with  iron,  but  also  with  gold;  but  as  to 
I  main  point,  he  told  them  it  was  out  of  his 


584 


APPENDIX. 


power  to  help  them.  The  papal  treasury  was 
so  exhausted,  he  did  not  even  know  how  he 
should  provide  the  city  with  bread. 

The  ambassadors  did  not  give  up  their 
cause ;  they  represented  that  the  danger  was 
such  as  fairly  to  justify  having  recourse  to  the 
old  treasure  of  Sixtus  V.  :  "  prima  che  I'ur- 
genza  degli  accidenti  che  possono  sopravenire, 
maggiormente  stringa,  e  per  sostentamento 
della  religione  e  per  sicurrezza  del  proprio 
dominio  ecclesiastico"  [before  events  reach  a 
more  disastrous  pitch,  and  for  the  maintenance 
of  religion,  and  the  safety  of  the  territory  of 
the  church  itself]  The  pope  was  particularly 
impressed  by  the  argument,  that  the  enemy 
would  be  animated  to  still  more  boldness  when 
he  saw  that  a  new  pope  also  refused  the  aid 
which  was  so  urgently  required.  Alexander 
saw  plainly  that  something  must  be  done :  he 
proposed  a  confiscation  of  church  property. 

It  is  most  remarkable  that  the  Roman  court 
was  the  first  to  suggest  measures  of  this  kind. 
Already  Innocent  X.  had  proposed  to  the 
Venetians  the  suppression  of  two  orders,  the 
Canonici  di  S.  Spirito  and  the  Cruciferi :  it 
was  his  intention  to  found  secular  canonicates 
with  their  funds.  But  in  the  first  place,  the 
Venetians  were  afraid  that  the  court  of  Rome 
would  arrogate  to  itself  the  patronage  of  those 
canonicates,  and  besides  this,  it  looked  on  the 
institutions  in  question  as  provisions  for  poor 
nobili.  This  proposal  was  now  renewed  by 
Alexander. 

"  II  papa  postosi  in  atto  di  volerci  rappre- 
sentare  cosa  di  nostro  sollievo,  prese  a  dire 
che,  da  qualche  tempo  in  qua  essendosi  dalla 
sede  apostolica  fatto  riflesso  non  meno  all' 
abondanza  che  alia  superfluita  degl'  instituti 
religiosi,  haveva  trovato  che  alcuni  di  essi 
degenerando  dalla  primiera  intentione  de'  loro 
fondatori  erano  trascorsi  in  una  total  rilassa- 
tione  di  costumi :  che  compliva  non  meno  al 
servitio  della  chiesa  che  de'  medesimi  seco- 
lari  il  pigliare  quegli  espedienti  che  sogliono 
usare  gli  accorti  agricoltori  quando  vendono 
in  modo  lussuriar  la  vite  che  la  copia  de  ram- 
polli  serve  piti  tosto  ad  isterilirla  che  a  ren- 
derla  piii  fruttifera :  che  a  cio  s'era  dato  in 
qualche  parte  principio  con  la  soppressione  di 
alcune  religion!,  ma  che  cio  non  bastava,  con- 
oscendosi  in  tutto  necessario  restringer  questo 
gran  numero  a  quei  solamente  che  ritengono 
o  che  meglio  possono  ridursi  a  ritenere  la 
prima  forma  della  loro  institutione :  che  per 
larsi  strada  a  cio  s'era  soppresso  un  numero 
grande  di  conventini  piccioli  ove  con  minor 
riguardo  si  rallentava  il  freno  alia  ritiratezza 
regolare,  e  che  si  persisteva  nel  primo  pen- 
siero  di  procedere  alia  finale  abolitione  d' 
alcuni  altri  ordini  che  con  il  loro  licentioso 
xnodo  di  vivere  riempivano  il  mondo  anzi  di 
scandoli  e  di  mormorationi  che  di  buon  esem- 
pio  e  di  edificatione,  ma  che  si  camminava 
lentaraente,  perche  in  negotio  di  tal  rilevanza 


s'haverebbe  voluto  incontrare  anche  nella  so- 
disfattione  de  principi,  i  quali,  non  ben  esami- 
nati  i  veri  motivi  che  inducevanola  sede  apos- 
tolica in  questa  risolutione,  havevano  dato 
segno  di  qualche  repugnanza  all'  esecutione 
de  brevi  ponteficii :  ma  che  sperandosi  ad  ogni 
modo  che  in  fine  havesse  ogn'uno  a  dar  mano 
al  proseguimento  di  cosi  ben  ponderata  risolu- 
tione, li  metteva  intanto  in  consideratione  alia 
Serenissima  Republica  che  abondando  il  domi- 
nio Veneto  di  questa  qualita  di  religioni,  s'a- 
priva  un  modo  facile  che  venisse  dato  luogo 
alia  retta  intentione  di  chi  ha  la  suprema 
direttione  degli  aftari  ecclesiastici  et  insieme 
a  poter  somministrare  un  considerabile  ajuto 
in  soccorso  della  presente  guerra  contro  gl' 
infideli :  che  nessuno  meglio  di  noi  poteva 
sapere  a  che  estremitji  di  dissolutezza  e  di 
scandoli  siano  gionti  li  canonici  di  San  Spirito 
di  Venezia,  essendosi  la  Serenissima  Repu- 
blica veduta  in  necessita  di  metier  freno  alle 
scorretioni  di  quel  convento,  che  non  contento 
d'haver  postergata  ogni  osservanza  regolare 
abusava  anco  si  sconciamente  delle  ricchezze 
che  haverebbono  potuto  servire  a  comodi  ali- 
menti  di  un  numero  quintuplicamente  mag- 
giore  di  religiosi,  che  sempre  grossamente  si 
trovava  indebitato  :  che  il  simile  si  poteva  dire 
de'  Cruciferi,  ne'  quali  apena  si  discerneva 
vestigio  di  vita  claustrale  :  che  per  tanto  ante- 
poneva  che  procedendosi  alia  soppressione  di 
queste  due  religioni,  s'haverebbe  potuto  andar 
pensando  al  modo  di  passare  alia  vendita  de' 
beui  da  esse  possessi,  et  il  ritratto  si  conver- 
tisse  in  sostentamento  di  questa  guerra,  giac- 
che  era  diretta  contro  il  nemico  fierissimo  del 
nome  christiano." 

[The  pope,  casting  about  for  means  to  re- 
lieve us,  stated,  that  for  some  time  past,  the 
apostolic  see,  having  reflected  not  only  on  the 
abundance  but  even  superfluity  of  religious 
institutions,  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
some  of  these  had  degenerated  from  the  first 
intention  of  their  founders,  and  had  fallen  into 
a  total  relaxation  of  discipline:  that  it  was  no 
less  for  the  benefit  of  the  church  than  of  the 
laity  themselves  to  adopt  the  course  pursued 
by  judicious  agriculturists,  when  they  see 
their  vines  becoming  so  luxurious  that  the 
multitude  of  their  shoots  serves  rather  to  im- 
poverish than  to  render  them  fruitful ;  that  a 
beginning  had  been  partially  made  in  this 
respect  by  the  suppression  of  some  orders,  but 
that  this  was  not  enough,  it  being  absolutely 
necessary  to  curtail  that  great  number,  and 
limit  it  to  such  only  as  retained,  or  were  in  a 
condition  to  recur  more  nearly  to  the  primitive 
form  of  their  institution  ;  that  to  make  way  for 
this,  a  great  number oflesser  convents  had  been 
suppressed,  in  which  the  strictness  of  monastic 
seclusion  had  been  negligently  sufl^ered  to  re- 
lax ;  and  that  he  persisted  in  his  original  inten- 
tion of  proceeding  to  the  final  abolition  of  some 
other  orders,  which,  by  their  licentious  lives, 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


585 


filled  the  world  rather  with  scandal  and  mur- 
muring' than  with  good  examples  and  edifica- 
tion :  but  that  he  proceeded  slowly,  because 
in  a  matter  of  so  great  import  he  could  have 
wished  to  meet  with  the  consent  of  sove- 
reigns, who,  not  having  well  examined  into  the 
true  motives  that  induced  the  apostolic  see 
to  adopt  this  resolution,  had  shown  some  symp- 
toms of  repugnance  to  execute  the  pontifical 
briefs  ;  but  that  as  he  confidently  hoped,  that 
in  the  end  all  would  assuredly  lend  a  hand  to 
the  prosecution  of  so  well  weighed  a  design, 
he,  therefore,  submitted  it  to  the  consideration 
of  the  most  serene  republic,  that  as  the  Vene- 
tian territory  abounded  with  religious  orders 
of  this  character,  an  easy  way  presented  itself 
of  giving  effect  to  the  upright  intentions  of 
him  who  had  the  supreme  direction  of  the 
affairs  of  the  church,  and  at  the  same  time  of 
supplj"ing  a  considerable  succour  towards  the 
present  war  against  the  infidels ;  that  none 
better  than  ourselves  knew  the  scandalous  and 
profligate  extremes  at  which  the  Canonici  di 
San  Spirito  of  Venice  had  arrived,  the  most 
serene  republic  having  been  forced  to  bridle 
the  disorders  of  that  convent,  which,  not  con- 
tent with  casting  behind  it  ail  monastic  obser- 
vance, had-  so  indecently  abused  the  wealth 
which  might  have  sufficed  for  the  ample  main- 
tenance of  five  times  the  number  of  monks, 
that  it  was  always  heavily  in  debt:  that  the 
same  thing  might  be  said  of  the  Cruciferi,  in 
whom  hardly  a  trace  of  monastic  life  was  dis- 
cernible ;  that  accordingly  he  thought  it  pre- 
ferable that  these  two  orders  should  be  sup- 
pressed, and  that  it  should  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration how  their  possessions  might  be  sold, 
and  the  proceeds  applied  to  the  expenses  of 
this  war,  since  it  was  waged  against  the  fier- 
cest enemy  of  the  Christian  name.] 

This  time  the  ambassadors  thought  that 
such  a  proposal  was  not  to  be  rejected.  They 
calculcated  how  large  a  capital  would  accrue 
from  the  sale  of  these  estates,  compared  with 
the  small  interest,  which  would  moreover  soon 
drop,  and  what  advantage  the  secularization 
of  such  considerable  estates  might  afl'brd  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  country.  Their  reflections 
on  a  scheme  which  was  then  so  novel,  and 
which  afterwards  became  so  general,  are  also 
worthy  of  being  considered  in  their  own  words. 

"  In  realta  fatti  anche  congrui  assegnamenti 
a'  frati  esclusi  per  il  loro  vivere,  che  non  as- 
cenderanno  mai  fra  I'una  e  I'aitra  religione  10 
m.  ducati  all'  anno,  se  de'  loro  beni  ascendenti 
alia  summa  di  26  m.  ducati  se  ne  ritrarranno 
600  mila  nella  vendita,  come  verisimilmente 
si  puo  credere,  non  sentira  il  publico  maggiore 
interesse  di  due  per  cento  vitalitii  e  qualclie 
cosa  meno :  et  ogni  altro  motivo  altre  volte 
portato  in  dissuasione  di  negotio  simile  va  per 
bene,  supposti  gli  alimenti  che  annualmente 
si  prestaranno  a  superstiti :  e  cosi  smembran- 
dosi  dair  ordine  ecclesiastico  questa  grossai 
74 


somma  di  portione  di  fondi  collocati  ne'  mig- 
liori  siti  di  questo  dominio,  vengono  li  laici  a 
rimettere  in  possesso,  senza  far  torto  alia  pieta 
di  quelle  anime  grandi  che  hebbero  cuore  di 
spropriare  le  descendenze  lorodi  cosi  opulenti 
patrimonii,  per  fondare  e  slabilire  in  questo 
state  la  religione  :  che  se  hora  veder  potes- 
sero  quanto  ella  sia  ben  radicata,  altra  inter- 
pretatione  non  darebbonoa'loro  sentimenti  se 
non  che  se  gli  fu  grato  di  esser  fondatori  di 
tanti  monasteri  per  ricovero  di  persone  sacre, 
niente  meno  goderebbono  che  I'istesse  ric- 
chezze,  giache  sovrabondano,  si  convertissero 
in  propulsare  I'impieta  minacciante  la  distrut- 
tione  di  quella  pieta,  che  con  le  proprie  sos- 
tanze  cercarono  di  promovere." 

[In  fact,  even  allowing  the  ejected  monks 
suitable  pensions  for  their  subsistence,  which 
for  both  orders  can  never  exceed  on  the  whole 
10,000  ducats  a  year,  if  their  estates  of  the 
yearly  value  of  26,000  ducats  realize  on  being 
sold  600,000,  as  may  reasonably  be  expected, 
the  public  will  not  have  to  pay  more  than  two 
per  cent,  in  annuities,  or  rather  less.  All  the 
arguments  too  that  have  been  alleged  on  other 
occasions,  against  such  a  measure,  go  for  no- 
thing, supposing  an  annual  provision  be  thus 
made  for  the  incumbents  during  their  lifetime. 
Now,  when  upon  this  vast  amount  of  landed 
property,  situated  in  the  best  part  of  the  repub- 
lic's dominions,  being  severed  from  the  eccle- 
siastical body,  the  laity  shall  enter  into 
possession  thereof,  they  may  do  so  without 
wronging  the  piety  of  those  great  souls  who 
chose  to  divest  their  descendants  of  such  opu- 
lent patrimonies,  for  the  foundation  and  per- 
manent establishment  of  religion  in  this  state. 
For  could  those  generous  persons  now  see 
how  well  rooted  it  is  among  us,  none  other 
exposition  would  they  give  to  their  sentiments 
than  this,  that  if  it  was  grateful  to  their  feel- 
ings to  be  the  founders  of  such  great  monas- 
teries for  the  reception  of  holy  persons,  no  less 
would  it  delight  them  that  the  same  wealth, 
now  become  superabundant,  should  be  turned 
to  the  repulsion  of  the  impiety  which  threat- 
ens destruction  to  that  piety  they  sought  to 
promote  with  their  substance.] 

After  the  affairs  of  Venice,  which  on  this 
occasion  were  once  more  of  higher  interest, 
those  of  Europe  in  general  are  discussed. 

The  enterprises  of  Charles  X.  and  Gusta- 
vus  produced  the  greatest  sensation  in  Rome, 
and  money  was  collected  to  aid  king  Casimir, 

But  the  court  of  Rome  felt  it  still  more 
sorely  that  the  French  not  only  showed  a  dis- 
inclination to  peace  with  Spain,  but  that  car- 
dinal Mazarin  even  entered  nito  a  league  with 
England — a  cardinal  with  a  protestant,  the 
most  Christian  king  with  an  usurper,  who  had 
expelled  the  legitimate  monarch — and  that  he 
did  this  without  any  necessity,  without  having 
been  impelled  to  it  by  any  alarming  danger. 

Had  it  not  been  for  these  sources  of  uuea- 


586 


APPENDIX. 


siness  the  pope  would  have  turned  his  whole 
attention  to  bring  Germany,  where  his  per- 
sonal reputation  stood  so  high,  back  to  Catho- 
licism. The  conversion  of  the  queen  of 
Sweden  excited  all  his  hopes. 

The  ambassadors  saw  the  splendid  prepa- 
rations that  were  made  for  the  reception  of 
that  queen.  They  could  not  reconcile  them- 
selves to  the  vagrant  life  she  led  ("  fuori  forse 
della  convenienza  dell'  eta  e  dello  state  vir- 
ginale"  [hardly  consistent  with  her  age  and 
lier  maiden  state]  as  they  modestly  express 
it)  but  they  do  full  justice  to  the  vigour  and 
boldness  of  her  resolution. 

*'  Ecco  in  compendio  cio  che  ci  e  parso  di 
poter  riferire"  says  Pesaro  at  this  point. 

To  this  closing  phrase  he  subjoins  the  good 
advice,  always  to  maintain  the  best  possible 
understanding  with  the  pope. 

The  pope  had  spoken  at  full  length  on  the 
satisfaction  it  would  afford  him  if  at  his  re- 
quest the  Jesuits  were  again  received  in 
Venice.  The  ambassador  is  in  favourof  con- 
ceding this  point.  "Parmi  che  sia  gionto  il 
tempo  di  decidere  se  s'habbia  a  dar  luogo  a 
questo  regresso,  o  pure,  per  non  haver  di 
quando  in  quando  ad  urtare  per  questa  causa 
in  male  sodisfattioni  con  i  pontefici,  s'habbia 

da  imporvi  perpetuo  silentio A  sodisfare 

intorno  a  cio  al  desiderio  del  papa  par  che 
possa  esser  motive  il  conoscersi  che  essendo 
questi  huomini  grandi  istromenti  a  sostenere 
le  ragioni  della  chiesa,  i  papi  pro  tempore 
rinnoveranno  le  medisime  istanze,  le  quali 
rejette  daranno  ne'  principj  de'  pontihcati 
materia  a  male  sodisfattioni."  [It  appears  to 
me  that  the  time  is  come  for  deciding  whe- 
ther the  return  of  the  order  is  to  be  permitted, 
or  whether  the  proposal  is  to  be  silenced  for- 
ever, to  avoid  continually  falling  into  dis- 
agreements with  the  pope  from  time  to  time 

on  this  subject It  may  be  a  motive  for 

satisfying  the  pope's  wishes  in  this  respect  to 
consider  that  these  men  being  highly  instru- 
mental in  upholding  the  cause  of  the  church, 
the  popes  will  be  likely  successively  to  renew 
the  same  request,  the  rejection  of  which  in 
the  beginning  of  each  pontificate  will  give 
occasion  of  ill  will. J 

130.  Vita,  attioni  et  operationi  di  Alessandro 
VJI,  opera  del  Ci  PaUavicini.  2  vols. 
folio.  (Bibl.  Cors.)  [Life  and  actions  of 
Alexander  VII.  by  cardinal  PaUavicini.] 

A  MS.  was  one  day  put  into  my  hands  in 
the  Barberini  libraiy  in  Rome  with  the  title 
"  Alexandri  VII  de  vita  propria  liber  primus 
et  terlius  cum  fragmenlis  libri  secundi ;"  it 
consisted  of  about  300  leaves,  as  full  of  cor- 
rections as  any  autograph  could  possibly  be, 
but  by  an  unfortunate  accident  in  utter  con- 
fusion. The  binder  had  arranged  the  sheets, 
which  were  to  have  been  read  separately,  in 


quinterns.  It  was  hardly  possible  to  make 
anything  of  it. 

The  beginning  runs  thus,  "  Res  sue  tem- 
pore gestas  Uteris  commendare,  quamvis  et 
nunc  et  olim  usitatum,  plerisque  tamen  eo 
nomine  minus  probatur  quod  arduum  scriptori 
sit  procul  habere  spem,  metum,  amorem,  odium 
animi,  nubes  quse  historiam,  lucem  veritatis, 
infuscant."  [Although  the  habit  of  recording 
the  events  of  one's  own  day  has  always  been 
frequent,  such  works  are  generally  looked 
on  with  suspicion,  on  the  ground  that  it  is 
difficult  for  the  writer  to  divest  his  mind  of 
hope,  fear,  affection,  and  hatred,  clouds  that 
obscure  history,  that  light  of  truth.]  Wher- 
ever I  opened  the  book,  I  met  with  interesting 
particulars,  derived  from  good  authority,  con- 
cerning Alexander's  youth,  the  summons  of 
his  nephews  to  Rome,  the  arrival  of  Christina. 
.  .  .  .  Can  it  really  have  been  that  the  pope 
found  time,  amidst  the  occupations  incident  to 
the  highest  spiritual  authority,  to  write  the 
history  of  his  life,  and  to  correct  the  style 
throughout  with  such  extreme  care! 

It  was  soon  apparent,  in  spite  of  the  title, 
that  this  could  not  have  been  the  case. 

The  author  declares  among  other  things 
that  he  had  been  induced  to  undertake  this 
work  by  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
pope.  "  Fortunce  obsecundantis  beneficium 
fuit  ut  cum  hoc  principe  inferiores  gradus 
obtinente  singularis  intercesserit  mihi  animo- 
rum  consensio  et  mutua  tum  ore  turn  Uteris 
consiliorum  communicatio."  [It  was  my  good 
fortune  that  there  subsisted  between  me  and 
this  pontiff,  when  he  occupied  a  lower  rank, 
a  remarkable  congeniality  of  mind,  and  an 
interchange  of  opinions  both  by  word  of  mouth 
and  by  letter.] 

The  question  was,  who  was  this  intimate 
friend,  nay  confidant,  of  Alexander's. 

Muraton  relates,  at  the  date  1656,  that  in 
the  beginning  of  Alexander's  reign,  which 
awakened  such  brilliant  hopes,  the  Jesuit 
PaUavicini  had  set  about  writing  the  life  of 
that  pope,  but  that  after  the  call  of  the  ne- 
phews to  court,  and  the  changes  which  thence 
ensued,  the  pen  fell  from  his  hand.  PaUavi- 
cini was  certainly  on  terms  of  personal  inti- 
macy with  Alexander  VII.:  in  the  beginning 
of  the  latter's  pontificate  he  saw  him  daily. 
It  appeared  possible  that  this  fragment  might 
be  the  work  of  PaUavicini. 

After  some  further  research  I  met  in  the 
same  library  with  a  biography  of  Alexander 
VII.  which  was  attributed  to  cardinal  PaUa- 
vicini. It  was  in  Italian  indeed,  but  the  thing 
was  worth  the  trouble  of  collation. 

The  first  glance  showed  me  that  the  Ita- 
lian was  identical  with  the  Latin  work.  The 
first  .sentence  runs,  "E  opinione  di  molti  che 
non  si  debba  scrivere  historic  se  non  delle 
cose  antiche,  intorno  alje  quali  la  speranza  e 
la  paura,  I'amore  e  Fodio  verso  le  pcrsone 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


587 


commemorate  non  habbian  luog^o  ne  possono 
infoscare  la  verita."  The  second  passage  I 
have  quoted,  is  in  the  Italian  version,  "Inipe- 
roche  m'e  toccato  a  sorte  d'haber  con  questo 
principe  nella  sua  minor  fortuna  una  singolare 
e  corrispondenza  d'afFetto  e  confidenza  di 
communicationi  hor  con  la  lingua  hor  con  la 
penna  per  lo  spatio  gia  di  30  anni." 

So  it  goes  on.  The  Latin  copy  turned  out 
to  be  manifestly  a  translation  from  the  Italian, 
somewhat  free  indeed,  with  a  slight  difference 
in  the  tone  of  thought. 

Unfortunately,  however,  the  resemblance 
was  stronger  than  I  could  have  wished.  As 
the  Latin  copy  was  a  fragment,  as  its  title 
bespoke,  so  the  Italian  too  was  quite  frag- 
mentary. After  some  account  of  his  early 
youth,  the  narrative  passed  abruptly  to  the 
election  and  first  pontifical  proceedings  of 
Alexander. 

An  unsatisfied  search  only  whets  desire:  I 
made  inquiries  in  every  direction.  I  found 
another  copy  in  the  Albini  library,  but  this 
was  likewise  fragmentary. 

And  now  I  thought  I  must  rest  satisfied, 
since  I  found  in  an  anonymous  biography  of 
Pallavicini  only  a  fragment  of  this  history 
cited,  the  very  books  I  already  knew.  At 
last  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  fall  in  with  a 
more  complete  copy  in  the  Corsini  library,  the 
same  of  which  I  have  given  the  title  above, 
in  two  thick  folio  volumes. 

The  work  here  bears  the  name  of  Pallavi- 
cini on  its  front,  and  continues  without  inter- 
ruption to  the  second  chapter  of  the  sixth 
book.  It  is  of  course  from  this  copy  alone 
that  we  can  learn  the  value  of  this  v^fork  for 
the  history  of  the  period. 

The  first  book  contains  the  early  history  of 
Alexander  VII.,  "  Stirpe,  parentelle,  natali, 
fanciuUezza  di  Fabio  Chigi:  ....  studj,  av- 
venimenti  della  pueritia :  .  .  .  .  studj  filosofici 
e  legali:  ....  amicitieparticolari:"all  which 
chapters  I  found  in  the  first  copies,  both  the 
Latin  and  the  Italian,  but  to  which  the  Cor- 
sini copy  adds:  "azioni  et  esercitii  pii :  .  .  .  . 
vicelegatione  di  Ferrara  sotto  Sacchetti :  .  .  . 
nuntiatura  di  Colonia." 

In  the  second  book  the  administration  of 
Innocent  X.,  and  the  part  taken  in  it  by  Chigi, 
are  related  in  fourteen  chapters  up  to  the 
conclave. 

The  third  book  contains  the  beginning  of 
the  pontificate  :  general  account  of  the  posi- 
tion of  Europe,  of  the  ecclesiastical  estates, 
and  of  the  first  financial  measures,  also  of 
those  relating  to  the  monti  vacabili;  conver- 
sion of  queen  Christina  of  Sweden,  a  subject 
handled  with  minuteness  and  special  good 
will.  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  assertion, 
made  for  instance  by  Arckenholtz  in  his  "  Me- 
moires  de  Christine,"  iv.  39,  that  Pallavicini 
wrote  a  Historia  di  Christina  regina  di  Sue- 
zia,  was  founded  on  an  obscure  report  of  these 


fragments.  The  motives  of  the  queen's  con- 
version are  thus  set  forth  ia  the  Latin  copy, 
"In  libris  Tullii  de  Natura  Deorum  animad- 
vertensveram  religionem  nonnisiunam,omnes 
falsas  esse  posse,  super  hac  parte  diu  multura- 
que  cogitando  laboravit.  Sollicita  quoque 
fuit  dubitare  de  liberorum  operum  bonorum 
pravorumque  discrimine,  nisi  quantum  alia 
salubria  mundo  sunt,  alia  perniciosa,  cujus- 
modi  naturalia  sunt,  et  de  divinse  providentiee 
cura  qel  incuria  circa  humanas  actiones,  de- 
que voluntate  divina  num  certum  cultum 
et  statutam  fidem  requirat.  NuUus  fuit  nobi- 
lis  autor  qui  ea  de  re  scripsisset,  quem  ilia 
non  perlustraret,  non  vir  apprime  doctus 
harura  in  borealibus  plagis  cum  quo  sermoci- 
nari  non  studeret.  Et  proclivis  interdum  fuit 
ad  opinandum,  satis  esse  suae  regionis  palam 
colore  religionem,  cceterum  vivere  convenien- 
ter  naturse.  Ad  extremum  in  banc  venit 
sententiam,  Deum,  hoc  est  optimum,  tyranno 
quovis  pejorem  fore  si  conscientiae  morsibus 
acribus  sed  falsis  humanum  genus  universum 
cruciaret,  si  mortalibus  ab  eodum  insita  no- 
tione  communi  grata  sibi  esse  eorum  sacrifi- 
cia,  eorumque  votis  annuere  nihil  ea  cuncta 

curaret." [See  page  353.] 

In  the  fourth  book,  of  which  but  a  part  is 
given  in  the  Latin  and  in  the  older  copies, 
the  author  begins  with  the  invitation  of  the 
nephews  to  Rome.  "  Raggioni  che  persua- 
sero  a]  papa  di  chiamare  i  nepoti.  Discorsi  di 
Roma."  So  far  from  its  being  true  that  the 
pen  dropped  from  Pallavicini's  hand  when 
this  event  took  place,  on  the  contrary  he  nar- 
rates the  matter  circumstantially  and  states 
all  the  opinions  that  were  entertained  res- 
pecting it  in  Rome,  Next  he  speaks  of  the 
position  of  queen  Christina  in  Rome,  and  the 
support  granted  her  by  the  pope.  "  La  reina, 
ch'era  vissuta  con  quella  prodigalitii  la  quale 
impoverisce  senza  il  piacere  e  I'honore  di 
spendere  e  che  si  esercita  non  in  dare  ma  in 
lasciarsi  rubare,  nel  tempo  della  sua  dimora 
haveva  impegnato  tutte  le  gioje  con  la  spe- 
ranza  delle  future  rimesse,  ne  per  cio  li 
restava  un  scudo  onde  provedere  al  destinato 
viaggio.  Pero,  sicome  la  necessita  vince  la 
vergogna,  convenne  che  ella  si  facesse  vio- 
lenza  in  dimandar  soccorso  al  pontefice,  ma 
nolle  maniere  piii  lontane  che  seppe  dal  limo- 
sinare :  e  perche  la  lettera  non  arrossisce,  il 
pregno  per  mezzo  di  questa  a  fare  che  alcun 
mercante  le  prestasse  danaro  con  promessa 
d'intera  restitutione."  [The  queen,  who  had 
lived  with  that  prodigality  which  impove- 
rishes without  affording  the  pleasure  or  the 
credit  of  expenditure,  and  which  is  displayed 
not  in  giving,  but  in  suffering  oneself  to  be 
robbed,  durmg  the  period  of  her  stay  had 
pledged  all  her  jewels  and  mortgaged  her 
future  remittances,  so  that  she  had  not  a  scudo 
left  to  defray  the  expenses  of  her  intended 
journey.     But  as  necessity  is  stronger  than 


588 


APPENDIX. 


shame,  she  was  forced  to  do  herself  violence 
and  to  ask  aid  of  the  pope,  but  in  the  most 
remote  way  she  could  devise  from  beo-o'ing' : 
and  as  a  paper  cannot  blush,  she  asked  him  by 
letter  to  cause  some  merchant  to  advance  her 
the  money  under  her  promise  that  it  should  be 
fully  repaid.]  The  pope  did  not  think  it  very 
proper  to  take  upon  himself,  as  surety,  the 
whole  weight  of  her  debts  without  any  advan- 
tage to  himself  Accordingly  he  sent  her 
through  a  confidential  ecclesiastic,  probably 
Pallavicini  himself,  along  with  some  gold  and 
silver  medals  then  struck  in  honour  of  the 
queen's  entry  into  Rome,  a  purse  with  a  thou- 
sand scudi  as  a  present,  " '  con  escusarne  la 
pochezza  per  I'angustia  dell'  erario.'  La 
reina  nel  ringratiare  pianse  alle  volte  per 
quella  mistura  d'affetti  che  sorgono  in  questi 
casi."  [Excusing  himself  for  the  smallness 
of  the  sum  by  reason  of  the  low  state  of  the 
treasury.  The  queen,  on  returning  thanks, 
wept  more  than  once  from  that  mixture  of 
feelings  which  arises  in  such  cases.]  Palla- 
vicini also  enters  into  detailed  explanations 
respecting  the  restoration  of  the  Jesuits  in 
Venice,  written  quite  in  the  spirit  manifested 
in  his  history  of  the  council  of  Trent. 

In  the  fifth  book  is  given  the  history  of 
the  year  1657.  Promotions  to  cardinalates. — 
Buildings  in  S.  Maria  del  Popolo,  and  della 
Pace,  and  on  the  piazzi  di  S.  Pietro. — Queen 
Christina  in  France. — Monaldeschi,  whose 
tragic  end  is  thus  described.  "  Mentre  la  re- 
gina  si  tratteneva  in  Fontanablo,  Ludovico,  il 
fratello  di  lui,  emulo  nella  gratia  deiia  pa- 
drona  di  Gian  Rinaldo  Monaldeschi  principal 
gentil'huomo  di  questi  paesi,  per  notitie,  come 
si  disse,  mandateglidi  Roma  del  prenominato 
fratello,  scoperse  a  lei  alcuni  trattati  del  Mo- 
naldeschi per  cui  le  appariva  poco  fedele  : 
onde  ella  dopo  haverlo  convinto  e  tratane 
dalla  sua  bocca  la  confessione  gli  diede  un'- 
liora  solamente  di  spatio  per  provedere  alia 
coscienza  con  I'opera  d'un  sacerdote,  e  di  poi, 
cio  che  appena  le  sarebbe  stato  permesso  in 
Stockholm  quando  vi  dominava,  il  fe  uccidere 
per  mano  dell'  istesso  suo  emulo."  [While 
the  queen  resided  at  Fontainbleau,  Ludovico, 
his  brother,  the  rival  in  his  mistress's  favour 
of  Gian  Rinaldo  Monaldeschi,  principal  gen- 
tleman from  these  parts,  communicated  to  her 
intelligence,  sent  him,  as  he  said,  from  Rome 
by  his  brother,  respecting  some  negotiations 
of  Monaldeschi's  that  showed  him  guilty  of 
breach  of  faith.  Upon  this  she  having  con- 
victed him  and  extracted  a  confession  from 
his  own  lips,  gave  him  but  one  hour  to  set  his 
conscience  in  order  with  the  aid  of  a  prie.st, 
and  then  what  would  hardly  have  been  per- 
mitted her  in  Stockholm  when  she  reigned 
there — she  caused  him  to  be  put  to  death  by 
his  rival's  own  hand.] 

In  the  sixth  book  the  author  returns  to  the 
internal  affairs  of  Rome,     He  concludes  with 


the  arrangements  respecting  the  prelature  for 
which  Alexander  demanded  a  specific  portion 
of  the  revenues. 

Even  this  the  most  complete  copy  of  this 
biography  is  far  from  containing  the  whole 
life  of  Alexander. 

131.  PfloZo  Casati  ad  Alessandro  VII  sopra 
la  regina  di  Suecia. — Bibl.  Alb.)  [Paolo 
Casati  to  Alexander  VII.  respecting  the 
queen  of  Sweden.] 

Malines  and  Casati  were  the  two  Jesuits 
who  were  dispatched  to  Stockholm  by  the  ge- 
neral of  the  order  to  convert  the  queen. 

There  is  a  private  letter  of  Malines  on  this 
subject  in  Arckenholtz,  tom.  iv.  app.  n.  27. 

Casati  forwarded  to  Alexander  VII.  a  far 
more  detailed,  and,  so  to  speak,  official  report, 
dedicated  "  Alia  Santita  di  N™  Signore  Ales- 
sandro VII.,"  dated  "  dal  Collegio  Romano  li 
5  Dec.  165.5,"  and  signed  "  Delia  S.  V^a  umil- 
issimo  servitore  ed  obedientissimofiglio  in  X^° 
Paolo  Casati  della  Compagnia  di  Gesii." 
This  document  gives  a  far  more  circumstan- 
tial and  satisfactory  account  of  all  the  parti- 
culars. 

"Per  ubbidire,  he  begins,  "ai  cenni  di  V. 
St^,  che  desiderate  una  breve  memoria  di 
quelle  e  passato  nella  risolutione  presa  dalla 
regina  Christina  di  Suecia  di  rinonciare  il 
regno  per  rendersi  cattolica,  sono  necessitato 
farmi  un  passo  a  dietro  per  spiegarne  I'occa- 
sione,  conjorme  alle  notitie  havute  dalla  bocca 
della  stessa  regina,  alia  quale  mi  assicuro 
non  sia  per  essere  se  non  di  gusto  che  la  S'^ 
Vostra  sia  del  tutto  sinceramente  informata." 

[In   obedience   to   the  wish  expressed  by 
your  holiness  to  have  a  brief  account  of  what 
passed  regarding  the  resolution  of  queen  Chris- 
tina of  Sweden  to  resign  the  crown  and  be-       , 
come  catholic,   I  must  go  back  a  step  to  ex-       I 
plain  the  cause  thereof,  conformably  with  the       5 
statements  I  had  from  the  queen''s  own  lips, 
being  assured  that  it  cannot  but  be  gratifying 
to  your  holiness  to  be  truly  informed  of  the 
whole  matter.] 

His  first  notices,  however,  of  the  early 
stages  of  this  transaction  are  not  of  much  im- 
portance: the  author  understood  nothing  of 
the  affairs  of  Sweden  :  it  is  not  till  he  touches 
upon  religious  interests  that  he  is  deserving 
of  attention. 

"  Havendo  acquistato  tanto  di  cognitione, 
comincio  far  riflessione  che  molte  delle  cose 
della  setta  Luterana,  in  cui  era  stata  allevata, 
non  potevano  sussistere,  e  cominciando  ad 
esaminarle,  piu  le  teneva  inconvenienti. 
Q,uindi  comincio  con  piu  diligenza  a  sludiare 
nolle  cose  della  religione  e  delle  controversie, 
e  trovando  che  quella  in  cui  era  nudrita  non 
haveva  apparenza  di  vera,  si  diede  con  straor- 
dinaria  curiositJi  ad  infbrmarsi  di  tutte  et  a 
ponderare  la  difficolta  di  ciascuna.     Impiego 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


589 


in  qiiesto  lo  spatio  di  cinque  anni  incirca  con 
grande  perturbatione  interna  d'animo,  poiche 
non  trovava  dove  fermarsi:  e  niisurando  ogni 
co?a  con  discorso  meramente  humano,  pare- 
vale  che  molte  cose  potessero  essere  mere  in- 
ventioni  politiche  per  trattenere  la  gente  piii 
Bemplice :  degl'  argomenti  che  quelli  d'una 
setta  si  servono  contro  d'un'altra,  clla  si  ser- 
viva  per  ritorcerli  contro  quella  stessa:  cosi 
paragonava  le  cose  di  Mose  nel  popolo  Ebreo 
a  cio  che  fece  Maometto  negli  Arabi.  Dal 
che  nasceva  che  non  trovata  alciina  religione 
che  vera  le  paresse.  Et  io  I'ho  molte  volte 
udita  che  s'accusava  d'essere  stata  troppopro- 
fana  in  volere  investigare  i  piii  alti  misterj 
della  divinita:  poiche  non  ha  lasciatoa  dietro 
alcun  mistero  della  nostra  fede  che  non  liab- 
bia  voluto  esaminare,  mentre  cercava  di  quie- 
tare  I'anima  sua  con  trovare  finalmente  una 
religione,  essendo  che  ogni  sorte  di  libro  che 
tratiasse  di  cosa  apartenente  a  cio,  elle  leg- 
geva,  le  capitarono  anche  molte  cose  degli 
antichi  e  de'  gentili  e  d'athei.  E  se  bene 
ella  non  giunse  mai  a  tal  cecita  che  dubitasse 
dell'esistenza  di  dio  e  sua  unita  con  fame 
concetto  come  di  cosa  maggiore  di  tutte  le 
altre,  pure  si  lascio  empire  la  mente  di  molte 
difficolte  delle  quali  poi  varie  volte  discorre- 
simo.  E  finalmente  non  trovava  altra  con- 
chiusione  se  non  che  nell'  esterno  conveniva 
far  cio  che  fanno  gl'altri,  stimando  tutte  le 
cose  indifferenti,  e  non  importar  piii  seguir 
questa  che  quell'altra  religione  o  setta,  e  bas- 
tar  di  non  far  cosa  che  fosse  contro  il  dettame 
della  ragione  e  di  cui  la  persona  potesse  una 
volta  arrossirsi  d'haverla  fatta.  Con  questo 
s'ando  qualche  tempo  governando,  e  parevale 
d'haver  trovato  qualche  riposo,  massime  che 
haveva  scoperte  altre  persone  (anche  chiamate 
di  lontano)  da  lei  stimate  per  dotte  e  savie 
essere  di  poco  differente  parere,  giacche  erano 
fuori  della  vera  religione  cattolica  da  loro 
riprovata  sin  dalla  fanciullezza.  Ma  il  sig- 
nore  iddio,  che  voleva  havere  misericordia 
della  regina  ne  lasciarla  perire  negl'  errori 
deH'intelletto,  giacche  per  I'altra  parte  ha- 
veva ottima  volonta  e  desiderio  di  conoscere 
il  vero  e  nell'  oprare  talmente  si  lasciava 
guidare  dal  lume  della  retta  ragione,  che  piii 
volte  m'ha  assicurato  di  non  haver  mai  fatto 
cosa  che  giudicasse  non  doversi  fare  ne  di  cui 
possa  arrossirsene  (che*queste  sono  le  sue  for- 
mole  di  parlere,)  comincio  a  farle  apprendere 
che  dove  si  tratta  della  salute  eterna  dell' 
anima,  ogn'  altro  interesse  deve  cedere  e  che 
I'errore  in  cosa  tanto  importante  e  d'eterno 
pregiuditio  :  onde  ripiglio  di  nuovo  il  pensiere 
che  dovea  esservi  qualche  religione,  e  posto 
che  I'huomo  doveva  havere  pure  una  reli- 
gione, tra  tutte  quelle  che  si  sapeva  fossero 
nel  moudo,  niuna  le  sembrava  piii  ragionevole 
della  cattolica;  percio  facendosi  piii  attenta 
riflessione,  trovo  che  li  suoi  dogmi  e  istituti 
non  sono  cosi  sciocchi  come  li  ministri  Lute- 


rani  (li  chiamano  pastori)  vorriano  far  cre- 
dere." 

[Having  acquired  thus  much  knowledge, 
she  began  to  reflect  that  many  things  of  the 
Lutheran  sect,  in  which  she  had  been  broujOfht 
up,  could  not  hold,  and  beginning  to  examine 
them,  she  found  them  more  and  more  incor- 
rect. Hence  she  began  to  give  more  thought 
to  matters  of  religion  and  of  controversy,  and 
finding  that  the  religion  in  which  she  had 
been  reared  did  not  wear  the  appearance  of 
truth,  she  applied  herself  with  unusual  curi- 
osity to  inquire  into  all,  and  to  weigh  the  diffi- 
culties of  each.  She  thus  employed  about 
five  years  with  great  perturbation  of  mind, 
because  she  found  no  point  at  which  she  could 
stop:  and  estimating  all  things  upon  merely 
human  principles,  she  thought  that  many 
things  might  have  been  mere  political  inven- 
tions to  amuse  the  commoner  order  of  minds; 
and  those  arguments  which  one  sect  employs 
against  another  she  turned  back  against  those 
who  used  them  :  thus  she  matched  with  the 
acts  of  Moses  among  the  Hebrew  people  those 
of  Mahomet  among  the  Arabs.  Hence  she 
found  no  religion  that  appeared  to  her  to  be 
true.  And  many  times  I  have  heard  her  ac- 
cuse herself  of  having  been  too  profane  in 
seeking  to  fathom  the  profoundest  mysteries 
of  the  Godhead:  for  she  did  not  pass  over  one 
mystery  of  our  faith  which  she  did  not  seek 
to  examine  in  her  endeavours  to  give  rest  to 
her  mind  by  at  last  discovering  a  religion; 
and  forasmuch  as  she  read  every  kind  of 
book  treating  on  matters  pertaining  to  this 
subject,  she  lighted  upon  many  things  of  the 
ancients,  and  of  the  gentiles,  and  of  the  athe- 
ists. And  though  she  never  fell  into  such 
blindness  as  to  doubt  of  the  existence  of  God 
and  of  his  unity,  which  she  esteemed  superior 
to  everything  else,  still  she  suffered  her  mind 
to  be  beset  by  many  difficulties,  on  which  we 
had  discourse  at  various  times.  Finally  she 
arrived  at  no  other  conclusion  but  that  it  was 
expedient  to  do  outwardly  like  others,  think- 
ing all  matters  indifierent,  and  that  it  signi- 
fied nothing  whether  one  followed  this  or  that 
religion  or  sect,  and  that  it  was  enough  not  to 
do  anything  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  reason, 
and  which  the  individual  might  one  day  blush 
for  having  done.  She  acted  on  these  princi- 
ples for  some  time,  and  thought  she  had  found 
some  rest,  particularly  when  she  found  other 
persons  (likewise  invited  from  a  distance) 
whom  she  esteemed  learned  and  wise,  to  be 
very  nearly  of  the  same  way  of  thinking, 
since  they  were  out  of  the  pale  of  the  true 
catholic  faith,  which  they  repudiated  even  as 
childishness.  But  God,  who  was  willing  to 
have  mercy  on  the  queen,  and  not  to  leave 
her  to  perish  in  the  errors  of  her  intellect, 
since  on  the  other  hand  she  had  the  best  will 
and  desire  to  know  the  truth,  and  in  acting 
thus  submitted  herself  to  the  guidance  of 


590 


APPENDIX. 


sound  reason — for  she  frequently  assured  me 
she  never  had  done  anything  which  she 
judged  she  ought  not  to  do,  or  for  which  she 
should  have  reason  to  blush  (these  were  her 
own  expressions,) — began  to  let  her  perceive 
that  when  the  eternal  salvation  of  the  soul  is 
in  question,  all  other  interests  ought  to  give 
way,  and  that  error  upon  so  momentous  a 
point  is  of  eternal  injury.  She  therefore  re- 
verted to  the  thought  that  there  must  be  some 
religion,  and  granting  that  man  must  have  a 
religion,  of  all  those  she  knew  to  exist  in  the 
world,  none  appeared  to  her  more  rational 
than  the  catholic.  Thereupon  reflecting  more 
attentively  upon  the  subject,  she  found  that 
its  dogmas  and  institutions  are  not  so  silly  as 
the  Lutheran  ministers  (they  call  them  pas- 
tors) would  make  them  appear.] 

As  we  cannot  think  of  inserting  the  whole 
work,  we  must  be  content  with  the  following 
circumstantial  account  of  the  first  meeting  of 
the  Jesuits  with  the  queen. 

"  Partiti  d'Hamburg  doppo  due  giornate  a 
Rendsburg  ci  accompagnammo  col  signor 
senatore  Rosenhan,  che  ritornava  in  Suecia,  e 
con  lui  andammo  sino  a  Roschilt,  dove  sono 
sepolti  li  re  di  Danimarca,  toltone  S.  Canuto, 
il  cui  capo  ea  Ringstede.  Egli  tiro  dritto  a 
Elsenor  per  passare  lo  stretto,  e  noi  andammo 
a  Coppenhagen.  Questa  cognitione  fatta  col 
sig"^  Rosenhan  ci  giovo  poi  in  Stockholm  per 
esser  meno  sospetti :  e  la  regina  un  giorno 
dicendogli  che  non  sapeva  che  concetto  do- 
vesse  farsi  di  quel  due  Italiani,  egli  disse  che 
non  v'era  di  che  temere,  che  erano  buona 
gente,  e  ci  uso  sempre  gran  cortesia.  Heb- 
bimo  pure  fortuna  nel  viaggio  d'unirci  per  al- 
cune  giornate  col  generale  Wachtmeister 
gran  scudiere  del  regno,  il  quale  parimente  ci 
fu  di  non  poca  utilita:  perche  essendo  noi  in 
Stockholm  alii  24  di  Febbraro  conforme  lo 
stile  antico,  et  havendo  io  il  giorno  seguente 
cercato  di  parlare  a  Gio.  Holm,  valetto  di 
camera  di  Sua  Maesta,  per  essere  introdotto 
a  presentare  la  lettera  datami  in  Roma  da) 
padre  vicario  generale,  ne  havendolo  trovato, 
la  sera  detto  generale  fu  occasion  che  Sua 
Maesta  sapesse  il  mio  arrivo.  Mentre  stava 
la  regina  cenando,  due  cavalieri  lamentavano 
che  faceva  freddo,  e  i  generale  Wachtmeister 
gli  sgrido,  dicendo  che  non  havevano  tanta 
paura  del  freddo  du  Italiani  venuti  in  sua 
compagnia.  Udi  la  regina  questa  contesa,  e 
interrogatoli  di  che  contendessero,  udito  ch'- 
ebbe  essere  venuti  due  Italiani,  richiese 
s'erano  musici:  ma  rispondendo  il  generale 
che  erano  due  galant'  huomini  che  andavano 
vedendo  il  paese.  Sua  M^^  disse  che  per  ogni 
mode  li  voleva  vedere.  Noi  subito  fummo  av- 
visati  di  tutto  cio  ed  esortati  ad  andare  il 
giorno  seguente  alia  corte  :  anzi  dal  sig""  Zac- 
caria  Grimani  nobile  Veneto  vi  fummo  con- 
dotti  la  mattina  seguente  e  introdotti  a 
salutare  il  conte  Magnus  de  la  Gardie  primo 


ministro  di  Sua  M^^  per  ottenere  per 
mezzo  suo  I'honore  di  baciar  la  mano  di 
Sua  Mta;  egli  con  somma  cortesia  sia  ci 
accolse  e  ci  assicuro  che  Sua  M'^'^  I'havria 
havuto  molto  a  caro.  Era  I'horo  del  pranso, 
quando  la  regina  usci  nel  Vierkant,  e  noi 
fummo  avvisati  d'accostarci  a  Sua  M^^,  e  ba- 
ciatale  la  mano  fecimo  un  piccolo  complimen- 
to  in  Italiano  (che  cosi  ella  haveva  comandato, 
se  bene  ci  aveva  fatto  avvisare  ch'averia  ris- 
posto  in  Francese,  giacche  noi  I'intendevamo) 
proportionate  all'  apparenza  del  personaggio 
che  rappresentavamo  :  et  ella  con  grandissima 
benign ita  rispose.  Subito  s'invio  il  maresci- 
allo  della  corte  e  con  lui  tuttili  cavalieri  ver- 
so la  sala  dove  stava  preparata  la  tavola,  ed 
io  mi  trovai  immediatamente  d'avanti  alia 
regina.  Ella,  che  la  notte  ripensando  alii 
due  Italiani  e  facendo  riflessione  che  appunto 
era  il  fine  di  Febbraro,  circa  il  qual  tempo  da 
Roma  se  I'era  scritto  che  saressimo  giunti,  era 
venuta  in  sospetto  che  noi  fossimo  quelli  che 
aspettava,  quando  fossimo  poco  lonlani  dalla 
porta  e  che  gia  tutti  erano  quasi  usciti  dal 
Vierkant,  mi  disse  sottovoce :  '  forse  voi  ha- 
vete  qualche  lettera  per  me,'  ed  io  senza  vol- 
tarmi  che  si ;  soggiunse  :  '  non  ne  parlate  con 
alcuno.'  Mentre  noi  il  dopo  pranso  stavamo 
sopra  cio  che  era  seguito  discorrendo,  ecco  so- 
pragiunge  uno  che  in  Francese  ci  fa  varii 
complimenti,  poi  s'avvanza  a  dimandarci  se 
haveriamo  lettere  per  Sua  M^^.  Io  comin- 
ciai  subito  a  dar  risposte  ambigue,  che  non 
havevamo  negotii,  che  non  havevamo  lettere 
di  raccomandalione,  etc.,  sin  a  tanto  che  egli 
alia  fine  disse  per  ordine  tutto  quello  che  nel 
breve  e  fortuito  colloquio  m'haveva  detto  la 
reg'ina.  Allora  m'accorsi  che  da  lei  sola  po- 
teva  esser  mandate :  pure  per  maggior  sicur- 
ezza  lo  richiesi  del  suo  nome,  ed  udito  che 
egli  era  Gio.  Holm,  gli  consegnai  la  lettera. 
La  mattina  seguente,  quasi  due  bore  prima 
del  tempo  solito  d'andar  alia  corte,  ci  avviso 
Giq,  Holm  che  Sua  M^^  voleva  parlarci.  Su- 
bito andammo:  e  appena  erano  entrati  nel 
Vierkant,  dove  era  solo  I'officiale  di  guardia, 
quando  usci  la  regina,  e  mostro  di  meravigli- 
arsi,  si  perche  non  fosse  ivi  ancora  alcuno  de' 
cavaglieri,  si  perche  noi  fossimo  stati  i  primi 
neir  andare  :  e  dopo  haverci  interrogati  d'al- 
cune  poche  cose  intorno  al  nostro  viaggio, 
udendo  I'officiale,  gli»dimand6  se  fosse  com- 
parso  alcuo  de'  segretarii,  e  rispondendo  queg- 
li  che  no,  coinandolli  andasse  a  chiamare  uno 
di  loro,  e  non  torno  che  dopo  un'hora.  Par- 
tite che  ei  fu,  comincio  Sua  Mi^  con  cortesis- 
sime  parole  a  ringratiarci  della  fatica  presa 
da  noi  per  sua  cagione  nel  viaggio,  ci  assicu- 
ro che  qualunque  pericolo  potesse  occorrere 
d'essere  scoperti,  non  temessimo,  perche  non 
haveria  permesso  havessimo  male  alcuno. 
C'incarico  il  segreto  ne  ci  fidassimo  di  per- 
sona, additandoci  nominatamente  alcuni  de' 
quali  dubitava  potessimo  havere  confidenza  in 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


591 


progresso  di  tempo :  ci  diede  speranza  che 
havendo  ella  sodisfattione  il  nostro  viaggio 
non  saria  stato  indarno  :  c'interrogo  dell'  ar- 
rivo  del  padre  Macedo  e  come  noi  fossimo 
stati  eletti  per  andare  cola  :  ci  racconto  come 
fosse  succeduta  la  partenza  del  padre  Mace- 
do   " 

[Leaving  Hamburg,  after  two  days'  stay  at 
Rendsberg,  we  set  out  in  company  with  the 
senator  Rosenhan,  who  was  returning  to  Swe- 
den, and  we  proceeded  with  him  as  far  as 
Roschilt,  where  the  kings  of  Denmark  are 
buried,  with  the  exception  of  S.  Canute, 
whose  head  is  at  Ringstede.  Our  companion 
went  direct  to  Elsinor  to  cross  the  straits,  and 
we  to  Copenhagen.  This  acquaintance  form- 
ed with  signor  Rosenhan  was  of  use  after- 
wards to  us  in  Stockholm,  towards  rendering 
us  less  suspected  ;  and  when  the  queen  said 
to  him  one  day  tiiat  she  did  not  know  what  to 
think  of  those  two  Italians,  he  told  her  there 
was  nothing  to  fear,  they  were  good  people, 
and  he  always  treated  us  with  great  courtesy. 
We  had  the  luck,  too,  to  fall  in,  for  some 
days  on  our  journey,  with  general  VVacht- 
meister,  grand  equerry  of  the  kingdom,  who 
was  likewise  of  no  small  service  to  us;  for 
when  we  arrived  in  Stockholm  on  the  24th 
of  February,  old  style,  and  sought  to  have 
speech  the  next  day  of  Jolin  Holm,  her  majes- 
ty's valet-de-chanibre,  that  I  might  be  intro- 
duced, and  might  present  the  letters  given 
me  in  Rome  by  the  father-general,  but  could 
not  find  him, — the  general  was  that  evening 
the  means  of  letting  her  majesty  know  my 
arrival.  While  the  queen  was  at  supper  two 
gentlemen  complained  of  the  cold,  and  the 
general  upbraided  them,  saying  that  two  Ita- 
lians, who  had  arrived  in  company  with  him, 
had  not  been  so  much  afraid  of  the  cold.  The 
queen  heard  the  altercation,  and  asking  what 
it  was  about,  when  she  heard  that  two  Ita- 
lians had  arrived,  she  inquired  were  they 
musicians :  but  the  general  making  answer 
that  they  were  two  gentlemen  who  were  tra- 
velling to  view  the  country,  her  majesty  said 
that  by  all  means  she  would  see  them.  We 
were  immediately  informed  of  all  this,  and 
advised  to  go  ne.xt  day  to  court.  According- 
ly we  were  conducted  thither  next  morning 
by  Zaccaria  Grimani,  a  noble  Venetian,  and 
introduced  to  salute  count  Magnus  de  la  Gar- 
die,  her  majesty's  prime  minister,  to  obtain, 
through  him,  the  honour  of  kissing  her  majes- 
ty's hand.  lie  complied  with  much  courtesy, 
and  assured  us  it  would  give  her  majesty 
great  pleasure.  It  was  dinner  hour  when 
her  majesty  came  out  into  the  Vierkant,  and 
we  were  desired  to  approach  her  majesty ; 
and  having  kissed  her  hand,  we  made  her  a 
little  compliment  in  Italian,  (tor  so  she  had 
commanded,  giving  us  to  understand  that  she 
would  reply  in  French,  since  we  understood 


it,)  suited  to  our  assumed  characters,  and  she 
replied  with  extreme  urbanity.  Presently 
the  court  marshal  went  in,  and  with  him  all 
the  cavaliers,  to  the  hall  where  the  table  was 
laid,  and  I  found  myself  immediately  before 
the  queen.  She  having  thought  over  the  mat- 
ter of  the  two  Italians  the  night  before,  and 
reflected  that  it  was  precisely  the  end  of  Fe- 
bruary,— about  which  time  it  had  been  writ- 
ten her  from  Rome  that  we  should  arrive, — 
had  come  to  suspect  that  we  were  the  persons 
she  awaited  ;  so  when  we  were  but  a  short 
distance  from  the  door,  and  when  almost  all 
had  left  the  Vierkant,  she  said  to  me  in  a 
whisper,  "  Perhaps  you  have  letters  for  me," 
and  I,  without  turning,  answered,  "  Yes." 
She  rejoined,  "  Do  not  mention  them  to  any 
one."  While  we  were  talking  after  dinner 
about  what  had  occurred,  there  comes  up  a 
person  who  makes  us  various  compliments  in 
French,  and  then  proceeds  to  ask  us  if  we 
had  letters  for  her  majesty  ]  I  immediately 
began  to  make  ambiguous  answers,  that  we 
were  not  engaged  in  business,  that  we  had  no 
letters  of  recommendation,  &c. :  till  at  last 
he  repeated  to  us  all  that  had  passed  in  the 
brief  casual  discourse  we  had  had  with  the 
queen.  I  was  then  convinced  he  could  only 
have  been  sent  by  her.  To  make  more  sure, 
however,  I  asked  his  name,  and  hearing  it 
was  John  Holm,  I  gave  him  the  letter.  The 
following  morning,  about  two  hours  before 
the  usual  time  of  going  to  court,  John  Holm 
informed  us  that  her  majesty  wanted  to  speak 
with  us.  We  went  immediately,  and  had  no 
sooner  entered  the  Vierkant,  where  there  was 
no  one  but  the  officer  on  guard,  than  the 
queen  came  out  and  seemed  surprised,  whe- 
ther it  was  because  there  was  no  other  cava- 
lier there,  or  because  we  had  been  the  first  to 
arrive.  After  having  asked  us  some  few 
things  about  our  journey,  and  hearing  the  of- 
ficer, she  asked  him  had  any  of  the  secreta- 
ries made  his  appearance  :  and  on  his  reply- 
ing in  the  negative,  she  bade  him  go  and  call 
one  of  them,  and  he  did  not  return  for  an 
hour.  W^hen  he  was  gone  her  majesty  be- 
gan very  courteously  to  thank  us  for  the 
trouble  we  had  taken  in  making  the  journey 
for  her  sake,  and  assured  us,  that  whatever 
was  the  risk  of  our  being  discovered,  we  need 
not  be  afraid,  for  she  would  not  suffer  any 
harm  to  befal  us.  She  enjoined  us  to  secre- 
cy, and  not  to  confide  in  any  one ;  mention- 
ing further,  by  name,  some  persons  with  whom 
she  suspected  we  might  grow  confidential  in 
the  course  of  time.  She  encouraged  us  to 
hope  that  if  she  were  satisfied,  our  journey 
would  not  have  been  made  in  vain.  She  ask- 
ed us  about  the  arrival  of  father  Macedo,  and 
how  we  had  been  chosen  to  go  thither.  She 
related  to  us  in  what  manner  the  departure 
of  father  Macedo  had  taken  place  .  .  .  .] 


592 


APPENDIX. 


132.  Relatione  delta  corte  Romava  del  Ca- 
val.  Corraro  1660.  [The  cavalier  Corra- 
ro's  report  on  the  court  of  Rome.] 

Brilliant  hopes  had  indeed  been  conceived 
of  Alexander  VII.  Court  and  state  looked  to 
him  for  their  renovation,  the  church  for  the 
re-establishment  of  her  ancient  discipline : 
even  among  the  protestants  there  were  many 
who  inclined  to  him;  the  amazement,  there- 
fore, was  general,  when  he  so  soon  began  to 
govern  precisely  like  his  last  predecessors. 
His  popularity  gave  place  to  violent  anti- 
pathy. 

The  first  ambassador  the  Venetians  sent  to 
Rome  after  the  embassy  of  congratulation  was 
Geronimo  Giustiniano.  His  dispatches  be- 
long to  the  year  1656.  He  died  of  the  plague. 
Anzolo  Corraro,  then  podesta  of  Padua,  was 
appointed  to  succeed  him.  He  delayed  so 
long  that  another  was  actually  elected  in- 
stead of  him  ;  upon  this,  however,  he  has- 
tened to  Rome  and  resided  there  from  1657  to 
1659. 

The  report  he  made  of  the  court  on  his  re- 
turn did  not  prove  very  favourable.  The 
pope  and  his  family  were  loaded  with  cen- 
sure. 

It  is  not  necessary,  however,  for  a  special 
reason,  that  we  should  make  any  extracts 
from  the  document. 

The  report  excited  so  strong  a  sensation, 
that  it  immediately  found  its  way  to  the  pub- 
lic. 

A  French  translation  of  it  appeared  in  Ley- 
den, — "  Relation  de  la  cour  de  Rome  faite 
I'an  1661  (0)  au  conseil  de  Pregadi  par  I'ex- 
cejlme  Seigneur  Angelo  Corraro :  chez  Lo- 
rens,  1663," — which,  as  far  as  I  have  coni- 
pared  it  with  the  Italian  original,  renders  it 
perfectly ;  nor  is  it  by  any  means  rare  at  the 
present  day. 

It  was  printed  at  the  moment  when  the 
quarrel  between  Chigi  and  Creqiiy  drew  the 
general  attention  towards  Rome :  the  publi- 
cation was  intended  to  kindle  public  feeling 
against  the  pope.  It  is  dedicated  to  Beunin- 
gen,  who  had  not  yet  said,  "  Sta  sol." 

133.  Relatione  da  Roma  delT  eccelenfno  Sigr 
Niccolo  Sagredo.  1661.  [Niccolo  Sa- 
gredo's  report  on  Rome.] 

A  report  of  which  I  met  with  no  authentic 
copy,  and  one  which  is  also  to  be  found  under 
the  name  of  Anzolo  Correro. 

But  as  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  pre- 
ceding report  is  by  Correro,  whose  active  par- 
ticipation in  the  war  against  the  Barberini  is 
mentioned  in  it,  whilst  the  author  of  this  one 
expresses  the  wish  to  be  released  from  his 
twenty-seven  years'  wanderings,  and  allowed 
to  devote  himself  at  home  to  the  education  of 
his  children,— which  certainly  is  not  applica- 


ble to  Correro,  whose  last  employment  had 
been  that  of  podesta  of  Padua — I  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  conclude  that  Sagredo's  is  the  right 
name.  Sagredo  had,  as  we  know,  been  once 
already  sent  to  Rome  and  then  to  Vienna:  he 
now  went  for  the  second  time  to  Rome.  He 
was  in  fact  one  of  the  most  abundantly  em- 
ployed statesmen  of  Venice,  and  was  at  last 
made  doge. 

This  report  is  far  from  being  so  severe  as 
the  preceding  one  :  still  it  is  not  eulogistic : 
it  has  rather  the  character  of  dispassionate 
observation. 

Speaking  of  the  rise  of  the  nephews,  Sa- 
gredo remarks,  that  it  was  curious  how  pope 
Alexander  constantly  inveighed  against  the 
wealth  of  the  Borghesi,  the  Barberini,  and 
the  Ludovisi,  at  the  very  time  he  himself 
spared  no  opportunity  to  enrich  his  own  ne- 
phews. 

Description  of  Alexander.  "Placido  e 
soave  :  nei  negotii  ne  facile  ne  molto  dispos- 
to:  per  natura  e  dubbioso  nelle  risolutioni 
grandi,  osia  per  timore  che  non  rieschino,  o 
perche  mal  volontieri  s'affatichi  nel  procu- 
rarle,  da  ogni  spina,  benche  lontana,  paren- 
dogli  sentirsi  pungere."  [Placid  and  gentle  : 
in  business  neither  easy  nor  of  much  alacrity  : 
he  is  by  nature  dubious  in  questions  of  mo- 
ment, whether  from  fear  of  ill-success,  or  be- 
cause he  does  not  like  the  trouble  of  carrying 
them  through,  seeming  to  feel  pricked  by 
every  thorn,  however  distant.] 

He  thought  he  had  done  enough  to  satisfy 
the  Venetians  by  the  suppression  of  the  or- 
ders before  mentioned,  and  he  even  thought 
there  was  no  danger  to  be  apprehended  from 
the  Candian  war  in  the  long  run.  It  touched 
him  directly  that  Parma  and  Modena  were 
supported  by  France  in  their  pretensions 
against  the  states  of  the  church.  The  Por- 
tuguese affair,  too,  was  not  settled.  "  Vedu- 
tosi  quel  regno  in  mancanza  assoluta  di  ves- 
covi  e  dilapidate  le  rendite  di  tutte  le  chiese, 
si  sono  sentiti  molti  clamori  non  solo,  ma  vi- 
vissime  I'instanze  del  cardi  Orsini  protettore, 
perche  fossero  provedute  :  ma  non  si  e  lascia- 
to  condurre  il  papa  mai  a  farlo."  [The  total 
want  of  bishops  in  that  kingdom,  and  the  ru- 
ined state  of  the  revenues  of  all  the  churches, 
have  occasioned  not  only  numerous  clamours, 
but  very  urgent  'demands  on  the  part  of  the 
cardinal  protector  Orsino  to  have  the  matter 
remedied :  but  the  pope  has  never  been  pre- 
vailed on  to  do  so.] 

We  find  the  popedom  already  at  variance 
with  most  of  the  catholic  states.  There  was 
not  one  that  had  not  an  utter  horror  of  the 
jurisdictional  and  financial  pretensions  of  the 
curia. 

Of  all  that  occurred  in  Rome  our  author 
most  extols  Alexander's  buildings.  We  see 
that  the  public  greatly  preferred  the  Cattedra 
d  i  S.  Pietro  in  St.  Peter's  to  the  Colonnades. 


The  embellishments  in  the  city  itself  were 
often  carried  into  effect  in  a  some  what  violent 
and  arbitrary  manner.  "Moltestrade  della 
citta,  con  getti  di  case  e  di  palazzi  drizzate  : 
levatesi  le  colonne  et  impedimenti  che  stava- 
no  avanti  le  porte  di  particulari :  allargatasi 
la  piazza  Colonna  del  collegio  Romano  ad  is- 
tanza  de'  Gesuiti  col  abbattimento  del  nobilis- 
simo  palazzo  Salviati :  ristrettisi  tutti  i  tavo- 
lati  delle  botteghe  :  opere  tutte  che  come  ries- 
cono  in  fine  di  grand'  ornamento  della  citta, 
cosi  il  peso  delle  medesime  su  la  borsa  de' 
privati  cadendo,  non  puonno  che  delle  mor- 
morationi  partorire,  il  vedersi  gittar  a  terra  il 
proprio  nido,  il  contribuirsi  summe  rilevanti 
per  I'aggiustamento  di  strade  ch'ai  medesirni 
particulari  nulla  profittano,  sotto  colore  che  le 
lore  habitationi  habbiano  a  godere  della  vista 
piu  bella,  non  equivalendo  all'  aggravio  che 
ne  risentono,  et  alia  forza  con  cui  sono  a  con- 
sentirvi  costretti."  [Many  streets  of  the  city 
have  been  straightened  by  pulling  down 
houses  and  palaces ;  the  columns  and  other 
obstacles  before  the  doors  of  private  individu- 
als have  been  taken  away ;  the  piazza  Col- 
onna of  the  Collegio  Romano  has  been  en- 
larged, at  the  solicitation  of  the  Jesuits,  by 
pulling  down  the  magnificent  palazzo  Salvia- 
ti; all  the  shop  signs  have  been  restricted: 
though  all  these  operations  result  in  the  great 
adornment  of  the  city,  yet  as  the  burthen  of 
Ihem  falls  on  the  purses  of  private  individuals, 
it  cannot  fail  to  excite  much  murmuring  to  see 
one's  own  nest  hurled  to  the  ground,  and  to 
be  obliged  to  contribute  considerable  sums  for 
the  arrangement  of  streets  that  are  of  no  ad- 
vantage to  the  individuals  who  pay,  under  the 
pretence  that  their  houses  will  have  the  en- 
joyment of  a  handsomer  view, — no  recom- 
pense for  the  cost  they  are  put  to,  and  the 
force  by  which  they  are  constrained  to  submit 
to  it.] 

134.  Relatione  di  Roma  del  K''  Pietro  Basa- 
dona,  1663.  [Pietro  Basadona's  report 
on  Rome.] 

Written  in  Corraro's  manner,  but  exaggera- 
ted.    I  will  give  a  few  passages. 

First  as  to  the  quarrel  with  France,  un- 
doubtedly the  most  important  occurrence  that 
took  place  during  this  embassy.  "  Quanto 
alle  brighe  correnti,  so  di  havere  nelle 
mie  successive  lettere  dispolpate  leossadital 
materia  quanto  conviene  :  pero  non  devo  ta- 
cere  che  se  I'imprudente  superbia  fece  cadere 
i  Chigi  nella  fossa,  I'ambitiosa  mellonagine 
vi  gli  habbia  miseramente  inviluppati.  Cos- 
toro  si  persuadevano  che  Roma  fosse  il  mondo : 
ma  il  re  di  Francia  a  spese  lore  gli  ha  date  a 
divedere  che  non  havevano  bene  studiata  la 
geografia.  Varie  ciarle  hanno  divolgate  le 
passioni  degli  huomini  circa  I'insolenza  d'ini- 
periali  *  e  di  Don  Mario  contra  rimmunita 
75 


dcir  ambasciatore  Francese.  To  non  diroche 
fossero  innocenti,  ma  eft'ettivamente  affermo 
che  congiunta  alia  loro  mala  volontji  qualche 
colpa  del  caso,  cheaccresceo  sminuiscenondi 
rado  le  humane  operationi,  li  constituisca  per 
rei  et  obligati  a  rendere  puntualmente  soddis- 
fatte  le  pretensioni  che  il  re  di  Francia  puo 
legitimamente  fondare  sulle  ingiurie  pur 
troppo  sostenute  nella  persona  del  suo  minis- 
tro :  e  sicome  io  conobbi  questa  verita  cosi 
contribuii  indefessa  applicatione  per  intepidire 
le  mosse  di  Crequi,  e  prima  che  le  cose  cor- 
ressero  a  manifesta  rovina,  saldare  la  scissura 
col  balsamo  de'  negotiati.  Ma  erano  troppi 
umori  nelle  teste  Chigiarde  e  troppa  ostina- 
tinatione  per  condescendere  ad  una  convene- 
vole  humiiiatione  verso  il  re,  di  cui  non  si  vol- 
evano  temere  le  bravate,  quasiche  fatte  in 
credenza  e  non  durabili  piu  di  una  effimera 
Francese.  Insino  mi  hebbe  a  dire  Sua  B^e 
che  i  cuori  Romani  non  havevano  paura  delle 
smargiassate  de  giovinastri  Parigini.  A\  che 
risposi,  complire  tal  volta  piu  pigliarsela  con 
gli  assennati  vecchioni  che  con  giovinastri 
cervelletti,  i  quali  sogliono  per  isfogare  un 
favorite  capriccio  avventurarsi  anche  sull' 
orlo  de  precipitii,  e  che  il  trescare  con  chi 
ha  de  grill i  in  capo,  esserciti  a  fianchi  e  milioni 
sotto  i  piedi,  non  era  buon  giuoco  per  li  pon- 
tefici,  che  hanno  solamente  le  due  dita  alzate. 
Rappresentai  pivi  volte,  quando  si  vide  che  il 
re  diceva  da  senno,  essersi  pur  troppo  ruinate 
il  dominio  ecclesiasticodai  quattordeci  milioni 
che  spese  nella  guerra  Barberina,  che  i  mil- 
ioni di  cui  la  camera  e  debitrice  passano  cin- 
quanta,  e  che  in  somma  Sua  S^^  senza  rovin- 
arsi  non  poteva  armarsi,  senza  perdersi  non 
poteva  combattere,  anzi  che  senza  combattere 
il  nemico  poteva  rovinarlo.  Ma  vane  furono 
queste  e  cento  alf.re  piii  massiccie  ragioni, 
havendo  troppo  amore  per  non  alontanarsi  i 
parenti  e  troppo  umore  per  il  puntiglio  di 
Castro.  Ed  un  giorno  che  lo  trovai  di  vena, 
mi  disse  queste  formali  parole :  '  Tutti  escla- 
mano  che  si  scameri  Castro,  a  nessuno  dice 
che  si  restituischi  Avignone  :  tutti  espongono 
che  il  re  merita  esser  risarcito  degli  affronti 
presenti  ricevuti,  e  nessuno  park  che  si  rifac- 
ciano  gli  strapazzi  degli  ecclesiastici,  se  fosse 
vero,  come  si  sa  non  essere  che  imperiali  *  e 
nostro  fratello  Mario  habbiamo  *  dati  gli  ordi- 
ni  a  corsi  contro  I'ambasciatore  e  potrebbe  il 
re  pretendere  soddisfattione  contro  questi  due  : 
ma  come  si  entra  Castro  1  e  poi  se  Mario  e 
innocente,  come  si  ha  d'allontanare  da  noi  V  " 
[As  to  the  present  troubles,  I  know  that  I 
have  sufficiently  extracted  the  marrow  of  the 
subject  in  my  successive  letters  :  I  must  not, 
however,  omit  to  say,  that  if  the  imprudent 
pride  of  the  Chigi  made  them  fall  in  the 
ditch,  their  ambitious  blundering  has  misera- 


*  Qu.  Imperiali  l   (See   note  p.  343.)— habbiano  ?— 
Translator. 


594 


APPENDIX. 


bly  smothered  them  in  it.  They  had  taken 
it  into  their  heads  that  Rome  was  the  world  : 
but  the  king  of  France  taught  them,  to  their 
cost,  that  they  had  not  rightly  studied  geog- 
raphy. Passion  has  given  rise  to  various 
idle  reports  about  the  insolence  of  Imperiali 
and  Don  Mario  in  disputing  the  immunities  of 
the  French  ambassador.  1  will  not  say  that 
they  were  innocent,  but  I  do  affirm,  that  be- 
sides their  ill  intentions  there  was  some  fault 
of  accident,  such  as  not  unfrequently  adds  to 
or  takes  from  the  effect  of  human  efforts, 
which  makes  them  culprits,  and  bound  to  ren- 
der punctual  satisfaction  to  the  claims  the 
king  of  France  may  legitimately  ground  upon 
the  injuries  he  has  palpably  sustained  in  the 
person  of  his  ambassador:  and  whereas  I  was 
aware  of  this  truth,  I  was  no  less  indefatigable 
in  my  efforts  to  mitigate  Crequi's  irritation, 
and,  before  matters  were  pushed  to  the  last  ex- 
tremity, to  heal  the  breach  by  negotiation.  But 
the  Chigi  had  too  many  humours  in  their  heads, 
and  too  much  obstinacy,  to  condescend  to  a 
suitable  humiliation  towards  the  king,  whose 
bravadoes  they  would  not  fear,  esteeming 
them  as  mere  words,  and  no  more  lasting  than 
a  French  one-day  fever.  His  holiness  even 
said  to  me  that  Roman  hearts  were  not  to  be 
frightened  by  the  blusterings  of  Parisian  hob- 
bedehoys.  To  this  I  replied,  that  it  was 
sometimes  better  to  have  to  do  with  steady 
veterans,  than  with  hair-brained  boys,  who  to 
indulge  a  whim  would  venture  to  the  very 
verge  of  the  precipice  ;  and  that  to  play  with 
one  who  had  crotchets  in  his  head,  armies  at 
his  side,  and  millions  under  his  feet,  was  a 
bad  game  for  the  popes,  who  have  only  two 
fingers  raised.  I  frequently  represented  to 
him,  when  it  was  seen  that  the  king  was  in 
earnest,  that  the  ecclesiastical  government 
was  too  ruinously  embarrassed  by  the  fourteen 
millions  spent  in  the  Barberini  war ;  that  the 
debts  ofthe  treasury  exceeded  fifty  millions  and 
that  in  fine  his  holiness  could  not  arm  without 
ruining  himself,  nor  fight  without  destroying 
himself,  whereas  the  enemy  could  ruin  him 
even  without  fighting.  But  vain  were  all 
these  and  a  hundred  oiher  more  weighty  argu- 
ments, he  having  too  much  love  for  his  rela- 
tions to  repudiate  them,  and  too  much  wilful- 
ness and  sore-feeling  about  Castro.  One  day 
when  I  found  him  in  the  vein  he  said  to  me 
these  very  words :  "  Every  body  cries  out,  that 
Castro  must  be  given  up,  but  no  one  says  that 
Avignon  must  be  restored :  every  one  de- 
clares that  the  king  deserves  compensation 
for  the  affronts  endured  by  him,  but  no  one 
says  a  word  of  recompense  for  the  insults  in- 
flicted on  the  clergy:  supposing  it  were  true, 
which  is  by  no  means  the  case,  that  Imperiali 
and  our  brother  Mario  ordered  the  proceed- 
ings against  the  ambassador,  and  that  the  king 
might  claim  satisfaction  of  these  two, — stilj, 
what  has  Castro  to  do  with  the  matter  1  and 


then  if  Mario  is  innocent,  why  should  he  be 
repudiated  by  us  ?  "] 

So  it  goes  on;  a  tissue  of  self-sufficient  in- 
vectives; full  of  profound  contempt  for  the 
whole  ecclesiasticial  body  ;  a  wholly  modern 
tone  of  feeling.  The  possibility  of  the  French 
making  themselves  masters  of  Rome  is  already 
contemplated.  At  times  we  are  almost  tempt- 
ed to  doubt  whether  such  things  could  really 
have  been  read  before  the  senate.  But  if  wq 
reflect  that  just  then  violent  attacks  were  di- 
rected from  all  quarters  against  the  Roma  see 
(the  fiercest  satire  appeared,  e.  g.  "  Le  pu- 
tanisme  de  Rome,"  in  which  it  was  said  point 
blank  that  the  pope  must  be  given  a  wife  to 
prevent  greater  evils,  and  that  the  papacy 
must  be  made  hereditary,)  and  that  this  w^as 
the  period  in  which  its  credit  began  generally 
to  decline,  we  shall  then  cease  to  consider 
the  thing  so  improbable.  On  the  whole  our 
author  had  a  very  good  knowledge  of  the  court 
and  the  country :  it  is  worth  while  to  hear 
what  he  says  about  the  States  of  the  Church. 
"  Si  palpa  con  mano,  I'ecclesiasticodominio 
essere  totalmente  aggravate,  si  che  molti  pos- 
sessori  non  potendo  estrarre  da  i  loro  terreni 
quanto  basti  a  pagare  le  publiche  impositioni 
straordinariamente  aggiunle,  trovano  di  con- 
siglio  di  necessita  I'abbandonare  i  loro  fondi 
e  cercare  da  paese  men  rapace  la  fortuna  di 
poter  vivere.  Taccio  de  datii  e  gabelle  sopra 
tutte  le  robe  comestibili,  niuna  eccettuata : 
perche  le  taglie,  i  donativi,  i  sussidii  e  le  al- 
tre  straordinarie  anghere  che  studiosamente 
s'lnventano,  sono  tali  che  eccitarebbono  com- 
passione  e  stupore  se  i  terribili  commissarii 
che  spedisce  Roma  nolle  citta  suddite  con 
suprema  autorita  d'inquirere,  vendere,  aspor- 
tare,  condannare,  non  eccedessero  ogni  cre- 
denza,  non  essendo  mai  mese  che  non 
volino  su  le  poste  grifoni  ed  arpie  col  sop- 
ramantello  di  commissarii  o  della  fabrica  di 
S.  Pietro  o  de  legati  pii  o  de  spogli  o  degli 
archivii  o  di  venticinque  altri  tribunali  Ro- 
mani :  onde  restano  martirizzate  le  borse, 
benche  esauste,  de'  sudditi  impotenti  ad  ulti- 
ma prove.  E  pero,  se  si  pongono  da  parte 
Ferrara  e  Bologna,  con  le  quali  si  usaqualche 
riguardo  e  lequtili  sono  favorite  della  natura 
ed  arte  di  ottimi  terreni  e  di  mercatura  indus- 
triosa,  tutte  le  allre  citlJi  della  Romagna,  della 
Marca,  Umbria,  Patrimonio,  Sabina  e  Terri- 
torio  di  Roma  sono  miscrabili  per  ogni  rispet- 
to:  ne  trovasi  (oh  vergogna  de  Romani  com- 
andanti)  in  alcuna  citta  I'arte  della  lana  o 
della  seta,  non  che  de  panni  d'oro,  se  due  o 
tre  picciole  bioccchedi  Fossombrone,  Pergola, 
Matelica,  Camerino  e  Norcia  n'eccettuo:  e 
pure  facilmente  per  Tabbondauza  della  lana  e 
sfcita  si  potrebbe  iutrodurre  ogni  vantagievole 
mercatura.  Ma  essendo  il  dominio  ecclesias- 
tico  un  terrene  che  si  ha  ad  affitto,  coloro  che 
lo  noleggiano,  non  pensano  a  bonificarlo,  ma 
solamente  a  cavarne  quella  pinguedine  che 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


595 


puo  supremersene  maggiore  che  sia  del  pove- 
ro  campo,  che  sinunto  el  arido  a  nuovi  afRt- 
tuali  non  havra  agio  di  porgere  che  sterilissi- 
ini  sutFragj.  E  pare  arso  I'erario  pontificio  da 
unubissodi  voragine  :  si  hebbe  per  bene  ar- 
mare  per  due  volte,  quasi  che  il  primo  errore, 
che  costo  due  milioni,  fosse  stato  imitabile  per 
qualche  civanzo  alia  difesa  deilo  stato,  quando 
alle  prime  rotture  ogni  prndenza  insegnava  a 
stringere  raccomodamento  per  (non)  dare  pre- 
testo  a  Francia  di  chieder  peggio.  Un  calcolo, 
che  feci  nella  raozzatura  di  quattro  e  mezzo 
per  cento  che  rendevans  i  luoghi  de  monti, 
comme  fanno  di  sette  per  cento  nella 
nostra  zecca,  ridotti  a  quattro  solamente, 
trovai  che  a  un  mezzo  scudo  per  cento 
in  cinquanta  milioni  effettivi  di  debito,  la 
camera,  venne  a  guadagnare  250  m.  scudi 
di  entrata,  che  a  quattro  per  cento  formarebbe 
un  capitale  di  sei  milioni  e  mezzo." 

[It  is  palpable  that  the  ecclesiastical  realm 
is  utterly  overwhelmed  by  its  burthens,  so  that 
many  proprietors,  finding  it  impossible  to  draw 
from  their  estates  enough  to  pay  the  extraor- 
dinary impositions  of  the  state,  take  counsel 
of  necessity,  throw  up  their  possessions,  and 
go  seek  the  means  of  subsistence  in  less  rapa- 
cious countries.  I  say  nothing  of  the  dues 
and  customs  upon  all  eatables,  none  excepted; 
for  the  tolls,  donatives,  subsidies,  and  other  ex- 
traordinary extortions  which  are  studiously 
invented,  are  such  as  would  excite  compassion 
and  amazement,  if  the  terrible  commissioners 
whom  Rome  sends  into  the  aforesaid  cities 
with  supreme  authority  to  inquire,  sell,  carry 
oft',  and  condemn,  did  not  exceed  all  belief, 
there  never  being  a  month,  but  sees  these 
griffins  or  harpies  fly  to  their  posts  in  the  as- 
sumed form  of  commissioners  of  the  works  of 
St.  Peter's,  or  of  pious  bequests,  or  of  spogli, 
or  of  the  archives,  or  of  a  score  of  other  Roman 
boards :  hence  the  exhausted  purses  of  the 
helpless  subjects  are  tortured  to  the  last  de- 
gree. And  thus,  setting  aside  Ferrara  and 
Bologna,  which  are  treated  with  some  con- 
sideration, and  which  are  favoured  by  nature 
and  art  with  excellent  lands  and  with  manu- 
factures, all  the  other  cities  of  Romagna,  the 
March,  Umbria,  the  Patrimony,  Sabina,  and 
the  Territorio  di  Roma  are  wretched  in  every 
respect :  nor  (O !  shame  to  Roman  rulers)  is 
the  manufacture  of  wool  or  of  silk,  not  to 
speak  of  cloth  of  gold,  found  in  any  town, 
two  or  three  petty  villages  of  Fossombrone, 
Pergola,  Matelica,  Camerino,  and  Norcia  ex- 
cepted ;  and  yet  from  the  abundance  of  wool 
and  silk  a  very  profitable  trade  might  be 
created.  But  the  ecclesiastical  territory  is 
an  estate  leased  out  to  tenants  who  do  not 
think  of  improving  it,  but  only  of  squeezing 
the  most  they  can  out  of  the  ill-lated  soil, 
which,  worked  out  of  all  heart,  will  have 
nothing  but  the  most  barren  returns  to  offer 
to  new  tenants.   The  papal  treasury  too  seems 


a  bottomless  pit :  it  was  thought  right  to  take 
up  arms  twice ;  as  if  the  first  error,  which 
cost  two  millions,  was  to  be  imitated  for  any 
advantage  it  promised  in  defence  of  the  state, 
whereas  upon  the  first  breach  every  conside- 
ration of  prudence  demanded  that  an  ac- 
commodation should  be  at  once  concluded,  to 
avoid  giving  France  a  pretext  for  insisting 
on  less  favourable  terms.  By  a  calculation  I 
made  of  the  reduction  of  interest  on  the 
luoghi  di  monti  from  four  and  a  half  per  cent 
(they  pay  seven  per  cent  in  our  mint)  to  four, 
I  found  that  at  half  a  scudo  per  cent  on  fifty 
millions  of  debt  the  treasury  gained  250 
thousand  yearly,  which  at  four  per  cent  would 
form  a  capital  of  six  millions  and  a  half] 

135.  Vita  di  Alessandro  VII.  Con  la  des- 
crizione  delle  sue  adherenze  e  governo. 
1666.  [Life  of  Ale.xander  VII.  With  a 
description  of  his  adherents  and  his  go- 
vernment.] 

This  is  not  a  biography,  at  least  not  such 
an  one  as  Pallavicini  wrote,  but  a  general 
account  of  the  proceedings  of  this  pope,  in 
the  light  in  which  they  were  regarded  in 
Rome,  composed  by  a  well-informed  and  on 
the  whole  a  well-meaning  contemporary. 

"  Egli  e,"  it  says  of  the  pope,  "  veramente 
d'animo  pio,  religioso,  divoto,  e  vorebbe  ope- 
rare  miracoli  per  conservatione  del  christian- 

esimo: ma  e  pigro,  timido,  irresoluto, 

e  molte  volte  mal  opera  per  non  operare." 
[He  is  of  a  truly  pious  mind,  religious  and 
devout,  and  would  fain  work  miracles  for  the 

preservation  of  Christianity but  he 

is  sluggish,  timid,  irresolute,  and  sometimes 
works  amiss  to  avoid  working.]  He  denounced 
nepotism  at  first,  and  afterwards  carried  it  to 
the  highest  pitch.  All  financial  matters  were 
in  the  hands  of  the  nephews  ; — they  enriched 
themselves  very  much ; — the  quarrels  with 
Crequi  were  to  be  imputed  entirely  to  them; 
the  pope  reserved  only  foreign  affairs  to  him- 
self. But  he  paid  too  little  attention  to  them. 
He  held  literary  meetings  at  home  that  took 
up  much  of  his  time :  in  the  evening  Rospi- 
gliosi  spent  an  hour  in  conversation  with  him. 
In  fact  matters  went  on  but  very  indifferently. 
The  pope  gave  his  answers  in  general  terms, 
while  yet  there  was  no  minister  to  whona 
parties  could  address  themselves. 

The  conclusion  is  not  very  cheering.  The 
author  sums  up  in  these  words:  "  L'ambi- 
tione,  I'avaritia  et  il  lusso  dominano  il  pa- 
lazzo :  e  pure  la  pieta,  la  bonta  et  il  zelo 
dominano  Alessandro  VII."  [Ambition,  ava- 
rice, and  luxury  sway  the  palace  ;  yet  piety, 
goodness,  and  zeal  sway  Alexander  VII.] 

136.  Relatione  di  Roma  di  Giacomo  Quirini 
Kr.  1667(8)  23  Febr.— [Report  on  Rome 
by  Giacomo  Quirini.] 

Giacomo  Quirini  passed  three  years  and  a 


596 


APPENDIX. 


half  at  the  court  of  Alexander  VII.,  and 
was  afterwards  accredited  for  a  while  to  Cle- 
ment IX. :  his  report  comprises  this  whole 
period. 

He  first  describes  the  last  years  of  Alex- 
ander VII.,  not  indeed  with  the  animosity  of 
his  predecessors,  but  essentially  to  the  same 
purpose.* 

"In  42  mesi  che  servii  Alessandro  VII, 
conobbi  esservi  il  solo  nome  del  pontefice,  ma 
non  I'uso  del  pontificate,  datosi  quel  capo  alia 
quiete  dell'  animo,  al  solo  pensiere  di  vivere, 
e  con  severo  divieto  ripudiato  il  negotio,  sce- 
mate  tulte  quelle  virtu  che  da  cardmale  pres- 
tantemente  teneva  con  vivacita  di  spirito, 
jngegno  nel  distinguere,  prontezza  nei  partiti, 
disinvoltura  nel  risolvere  e  facilita  supra- 
grande  dell'  esprimersi."  He  depicts  the 
abuses  of  nepotism.  He  predicts  mischief 
from  the  building  of  the  colonnades  of  St. 
Peter's,  the  blame  of  which  is  imputed  to  the 
cavalier  Bernini : — "  rendera  per  sempre  disa- 
bitata  la  citta  Leonina,  spianate  le  case, 
moltiplicate  I'acque  delle  fontane,  scemati  i 
fuochi :  cagiona  in  conseguenza  la  mal'  aria." 
[It  will  forever  depopulate  the  Leonine  city, 
cause  the  houses  to  be  levelled,  the  water- 
works to  be  increased,  hearths  to  be  dimin- 
ished in  number:  malaria  will  be  the  result.] 
He  relates  the  abuses  of  pensions  and  places 
with  special  reference  to  Venice,  from  which 
every  year  the  sum  of  100,000  ducats  found 
its  way  to  Rome.  It  is  remarkable  that 
Alexander  VIL  was,  on  his  side,  very  much 
dissatisfied  with  the  cardinals;  he  complained 
that  they  sided  with  the  temporal  princes, 
even  in  the  affair  of  Castro,  and  that  they 
would  not  even  give  him  good  advice:  "Si 
lagnava  non  esser  dottrina  e  virtu  sodisfacente 
in  quel  porporati,  non  arricordando  mai  ripi- 
eghi  o  partiti  che  prima  lui  non  li  sapesse." 
There  was  an  universal  degeneracy. 

The  conclave  was  overruled  through  Chigi's 
concessions  to  the  Squadrone  volante.  It 
proved  afterwards,  however,  that  Chigi  had 
done  well  in  this  :  to  these  concessions  he 
owed  it  that  Clement  IX.  granted  him  some 
share  in  the  government. 

Quirini  describes  Clement  IX.  as  weak  and 
burthened  with  diseases,  but  firm,  nay  obsti- 
nate in  his  opinion  :  he  sometimes  forbade  his 
ministers  to  revert  to  a  subject  on  which  he 
had  once  made  up  his  mind.  A  musician  of 
Pistoja,  of  the  name  of  Atto,  well  known  in 
Venice,  was  admitted  to  confidential  inter- 
course with  hiin.  Quirini  characterises  as 
heroic  his  determination  to  make  some  re- 
mission of  the  taxes.  "  Mostro  eroica  pieta, 
levando  due  giulj  di  gahella  di  niacinato  dei 
rubiatelli,  privandosi  2  milioni  di  scudi." 

He  proceeds  to  speak  of  the  family  of  Cle- 
ment IX.,  particularly  cardinal  Rospigliosi, 
whom  he  thus  describes. 

•*  See  page  343. 


"Tuttoche  il  giorno  innanzi  della  mia 
partenza  seguisse  la  promotione,  restando  al 
cardinalato  promosso  I'abate  Rospigliosi  in  eta 
di  38  anni  finiti,  cio  non  ostante,  avendolo  per 
due  volte  conosciuto  in  Spagna  e  trattatolo  in 
Roma  con  negotii  diversi  come  coppiere  del 
cardinal  Chigi,  posso  con  distinta  cognitione 
riferire  all'  EE  VV  che  il  papa  parlando  meco 
frequentemente  nolle  audienze  e  lasciandosi 
con  giustizia  rapire  lo  considerava  per  cauto 
ministro,  e  per  consentimento  comune  gli 
attribuiva  merito  e  lode :  et  in  questo  credo 
che  moralmente  non  si  possa  ingannare, 
perche  niun  nipote  di  papa  e  comparso  in 
teatro  pivi  informato  di  lui,  mentre  in  corte 
cattolica  fu  sempre  a  parte  della  lunga  nun- 
ciatura  del  zio.  Nella  secretaria  di  stato  in 
Roma  era  I'unico  direttore,  formando  letiere 
e  risposte  negli  affari  de'  principi.  Insorti 
poi  li  turbini  per  le  pessime  risolutioni  con 
I'ambasciatore  Crechi  fu  prima  espedito  a  S. 
Quirico  e  poi  a  Livorno,  con  intentione  pivi 
tosto  di  portar  le  lusinghe  di  palazzo  che  di 
soddisfare  I'ambasciator  duca :  et  aggiustato 
in  fine  il  negotio  fu  nella  legatione  di  Chigi 
spedito  in  Francia  a  consultare  le  formalita 
del  trattamento:  e  ritornato  in  Roma  col 
titolo  d'internuncio  passo  in  Fiandra:  et  as- 
sunto  al  pontificate  papa  Clemente  crede  con 
la  speranza  e  con  I'opinione  di  poter  concilare 
le  difl^erenze  conservando  nello  stesso  tempo 
gli  ornamenti  della  pace  e  rimuovere  i  peri- 
coli  della  guerra,  dove  gli  espedi  la  plenipo- 
tenza  per  aggiustare  i  dispareri  vertenti  tra  le 
corone.  Nelli  di  cui  viaggi  et  impieghi 
siccome  nei  primi  giorni  profuse  con  grande 
generosita  molt'  oro :  cosi,  caduto  mortal- 
mente  infermo  in  Susa,  convenne  con  prodi- 
galita  dispensare  infinite  contante,  a  segno 
che  140  m.  scudi  ne  risente  d'aggravio  la 
camera  apostolica.  Nel  resto  il  naturale  suo 
e  melanconico:  uomo  di  poche  parole  e  riti- 
rato  in  se  stesso:  et  in  tanti  anni  di  conversa- 
tieni  e  d'anticamera  si  dimostro  con  tutti  in- 
differente,  non  palesande  sviscerata  amicitia 
o  cenfidenza  con  alcuno,  essende  piu  tosto 
raisurato  che  sostenuto  nei  discorsi :  et  bora  a 
causa  del  patimento  sotferto  resta  per  qualche 
memento  predominate  da  certa  fissatione  de' 
pensieri,  e  tende  nel  negotio,  nolle  visite  e 
neir  agitation  della  corte  s'applica  e  diver- 
tisca:  con  tutto  cie  dirige  la  scretaria  di 
stato  il  cardl  Azzolini  sottoscrivendo  le  stesso 
card'e  gli  ordiiii  alle  legetieni  non  mene  che 
alle  nunciature  de'  principi.  Sin  qui  resta 
poi  dalla  beneficenza  del  papa  proveduto  di 
30  m.  scudi  di  pensioni  e  badie  che  teneva  il 
pontefice,  di  quattre  mila  scudi  per  la  morte 
del  card'*?  Palotta,  e  di  dodici  m.  scudi  della 
legatione  d'Avignone  come  cardinal  padrone." 
[Notwithstanding  that  the  promotion  took 
place  the  day  before  my  departure,  on  which 
occasion  the  abbate  Rospigliosi  was  made 
cardinal  in  his  39th  year,  still,  as  I  had  known 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


597 


him  twice  in  Spain,  and  had  dealings  with 
him  at  various  times  in  Rome  as  cupbearer  to 
cardinal  Chigi,  I  can  distinctly  relate  to  your 
excellencies  that  that  pope,  frequently  con- 
versing with  me,  spoke  with  just  warmth  of 
him  as  a  courteous  minister,  and  one  who,  by 
common  consent,  was  deserving  of  high  praise. 
And  in  this  I  think  it  morally  impossilile  he 
can  be  mistaken;  for  no  pope's  nephew  ever 
appeared  on  the  stage  better  informed  than 
he,  since  he  was  all  along  employed  in  his 
uncle's  long  nunciature  at  the  Spanish  court. 
He  was  sole  director  in  the  secretaryship  of 
state  at  Rome,  dictating  all  answers  and  re- 
plies in  the  aifairs  of  foreign  princes.  When 
the  troubles  arose  in  consequence  of  the  very 
injudicious  measures  pursued  towards  the 
ambassador  Crequi,  he  was  sent  first  to  S. 
Quirico,  and  afterwards  to  Leghorn,  rather 
as  the  bearer  of  palace  flatteries,  than  with  a 
view  to  give  satisfaction  to  the  ambassador 
duke.  When  this  afl^air  was  at  last  settled, 
he  was  sent  in  Chigi's  legation  to  France,  to 
arrange  the  formalities  of  the  treaty;  and 
on  his  return  to  Rome  he  was  dispatched  to 
Flanders  with  the  title  of  internuncio.  On 
the  accession  of  pope  Clement  he  entertained 
confidential  hopes  of  preserving  peace  and 
preventing  war,  being  employed  as  plenipo- 
tentiary to  adjust  the  differences  between  the 
two  crowns.  In  his  journeys  and  employ- 
ments he  scattered  gold  with  lavish  genero- 
sity;  and  on  being  seized  with  a  deadly 
illness  at  Susa,  he  thought  proper  prodigally 
to  expend  a  vast  amount,  so  that  the  apostolic 
treasury  suffered  to  the  amount  of  140,000 
scudi.  His  character  is  melancholy:  he  is  a 
man  of  few  words,  and  retired  within  him- 
self; and  during  so  many  years  of  intercourse 
and  ante-chamber  commerce,  he  has  shown 
himself  indifferent  to  all,  never  manifesting 
any  cordial  or  confidential  friendship  for  any 
one,  and  has  always  been  rather  measured 
than  bold  in  his  discourse.  At  present,  in 
consequence  of  the  sufferings  he  has  endured, 
there  are  moments  when  he  labours  under  a 
certain  stagnation  of  thought,  and  then  he 
plunges  into  business,  and  endeavours  to 
amuse  himself  with  visits  and  the  bustle  of 
the  court.  In  consequence  of  all  this,  the 
secretaryship  of  state  is  directed  by  cardinal 
Azzolini,  who  signs  the  orders  to  the  lega- 
tions, as  well  as  to  the"  nunciatures  at  the 
courts  of  princes.  Up  to  this  time  he  has 
been  provided  by  the  pope's  beneficence  with 
pensions  and  abbeys,  formerly  held  by  the 
pope,  to  the  amount  of  three  thousand  scudi ; 
he  has  derived  four  thousand  scudi  from  the 
death  of  cardinal  Palotta,  and  twelve  thou- 
sand scudi  from  the  legation  of  Avignon,  as 
cardinal  padrone.] 

137.  Relatione   della   corte   di  Roma  al  re 
christianissimo  dal  S^  di  Charme  1669. 


[Report  to  the   king  of  France  on  the 
court  of  Rome,  by  monsieur  de  Charme.] 

A  report  which  has  been  printed  both  in 
French  and  Italian,  but  which  (and  perhaps 
this  is  the  very  reason  why  it  was  printed) 
contains  very  little  of  importance. 

The  disorders  of  the  apostolic  camera  are 
here  also  set  forth,  and  it  is  remarked  how 
little  they  were  remedied  by  the  restrictions 
imposed  by  Clement  IX.  on  his  nephews; 
how  little,  too,  was  the  efliiciency  of  any  con- 
gregation, and  how  a  general  bankruptcy 
was  to  be  feared. 

Grimani's  remarks  on  the  dearth  of  able 
men,  the  good  intentions,  but  little  energy, 
of  Rospigliosi,  and  the  state  of  the  prelature 
and  the  country  are  here  confirmed. 

There  are  editions  of  this  work  in  which 
several  things  have  been  taken  unaltered  from 
Grimani. 

I  rather  doubt,  however,  that  this  work 
was  the  production  of  a  French  ambassador ; 
if  so,  its  author  must  have  been  the  duke  de 
Chaulnes,  whom  we  find  mentioned  in  the 
"Negotiations  relatives  a  la  succession  d'Es- 
pagne,  II."  p.  579,  as  ambassador  to  Rome : 
at  any  rate,  it  is  the  work  of  a  cotemporary 
who  was  not  uninformed. 

138.  Relatione  della  corte  di  Roma  del  sig^ 
Antonio  Grimani,  amhasciulore  della  re- 
publica  di  Venetia  in  Roma  durante  it 
pontijicato  di  Clemente  IX.  1670.  [Re- 
port on  the  court  of  Rome  by  Signer 
Antonio  Grimani,  ambassador  from  the 
republic  of  Venice  during  the  pontificate 
of  Clement  IX.] 

Quirini  expressed  himself  somewhat  dubi- 
ously as  to  the  virtues  of  Clement  IX.  The 
experience  people  had  had  of  Alexander  VII. 
might  have  made  him  cautious.  On  the 
the  other  hand,  Crimani  bursts  out  into  un- 
bounded eulogy,  at  least  as  regards  the  pope's 
moral  qualities.  "  Veramente  la  mansuetu- 
dine,  la  modestia,  la  piacevolezza,  la  modera- 
tione,  la  clemenza,  la  candidezza  dell'  animo, 
la  purita  della  conscienza  sono  doti  sue  par- 
ticolari."  [In  truth,  gentleness,  modesty, 
amiability,  moderation,  clemency,  candour, 
and  purity  of  conscience  are  his  special 
gifts.]  He  declares  he  never  knew  a  better 
man. 

He  first  relates  the  moderation  displayed 
by  Clement  in  providing  for  his  nephews.  It 
appears,  however,  that  there  were  objections 
alleged  on  this  head  in  Rome.  Grimani 
iven  thought  that  the  Pistojese  would  re- 
venge themselves  at  some  future  time  on  the 
nephews  for  the  unexpected  repulse  they  had 
received. 

This  much  however,  is  certain,  that  Cle- 
ment made  no  serious  efforts  to  reform  other 


598 


APPENDIX. 


abuses :  the  cry  was  soon,  that  if  another 
Sixtus  V.  did  not  arise,  the  papacy  was  in 
danger  of  utter  ruin. 

Grimani  enumerates  the  most  prominent 
evils:  the  sale  of  offices,  whence  resulted 
the  dearth  of  able  men ;  bad  financial  econo- 
my;  above  all  the  neglect  of  the  monks.  "Al 
presente  i  religiosi  sono  tenuti  in  un  concetto 
si  vile  che  da  per  loro  si  allontanano  di  coni- 
parir  nella  corte  per  non  ricevere  affronti  da' 
cortigiani  pivi  infimi.  Le  porpore  e  vescovadi 
si  tengono  vilipesi  su  le  spalle  de'  religiosi,  e 
nelle  concorrenze  un  pretuccio  ignorante  e 
vitioso  ottenara  il  premio  sopra  il  religioso 
dotto  e  da  bene.  I  nipoti  non  curano  de' 
religiosi:  perche  non  possono  da  questi  esser 
corteggiati  come  da'  preti.  Se  si  parla  di 
aggravj,  i  monaster]  sono  i  primi :  se  di  ri- 
forma,  non  si  parla  di  preti,  ma  di  religiosi. 
In  somma,  si  toglie  affatto  ad  ogni  uno  la 
volonta  di  studiare  e  la  cura  di  defender  la 
chiesa  dalle  false  opinioni  che  vanno  semi- 
nando  i  nemici  di  roma  :  de'  quali  moltipli- 
candosi  giornalmente  il  numero,  e  deterio- 
randosi  quello  de'  religiosi  dotti  et  esemplari, 
potrebbe  in  breve  soifrirne  non  poco  detri- 
mento  la  corte.  Onde  al  mio  credere  fareb- 
bono  bene  i  pontefici  di  procurar  di  rimettere 
i  regolari  rel  pristino  posto  di  stima,  parteci- 
pandolidiquando  in  quando  cariche  e  dignita, 
tanto  piu  ch'essendo  grande  il  numero  possono 
scegliere  i  soggetti  a  loro  piacere :  e  cosi 
nelle  religioni  vi  entrarebbono  huomini  emi- 
nent!, dove  che  tengono  a  vile  hoggidi  di 
coprirsi  le  spalle  d'un  cappucino  i  piii  falliti 
mercanti,  ne  si  veggono  entrar  ne'  monasterj 
che  gente  mecanica."  [The  regular  clergy 
are  at  present  held  in  such  contempt  that 
they  are  loath  to  appear  at  court,  that  they 
may  not  be  insulted  by  the  lowest  courtiers. 
It  seems  to  be  considered  that  the  purple  and 
and  the  episcopal  robes  would  be  disgraced  if 
put  on  the  shoulders  of  monks  and  friars  ;  and 
in  all  competitions,  an  ignorant  and  vicious 
fellow,  if  he  be  a  priest,  will  carry  off  the 
prize  in  preference  to  a  learned  and  worthy 
member  of  a  religious  order.  The  nephews 
have  no  regard  for  monks,  because  they  do 
not  pay  them  court  as  the  priests  do.  If  bur- 
thens are  to  be  imposed,  the  monasteries  are 
the  first  to  be  visited  with  them;  if  the  ques- 
tion of  reform  be  entertained,  the  priests  are 
never  talked  of,  but  the  monks.  In  fine,  all 
love  for  study,  and  care  for  the  defence  of  the 
church,  are  effectually  smothered  by  the  false 
ideas  sown  by  the  enemies  of  Rome :  those 
enemies  daily  increasing  in  numbers,  whilst 
that  of  learned  and  exemplary  monks  dimij 
nishes,  the  court  may  soon  suffer  no  little 
detriment.  Wherefore,  in  my  opinion,  the 
popes  would  do  well  to  endeavour  to  restore 
the  regular  clergy  to  their  former  credit,  by 
bestowing  employments  and  dignities  on  them 
from  time  to  time,  the  more  because  there 


being  a  great  number  of  them,  selections 
might  be  made  from  them  at  pleasure.  In 
this  way  men  of  eminence  would  be  induced 
to  enter  the  orders,  whereas,  now-a-days,  the 
most  broken  traders  scorn  to  cover  their 
shoulders  with  the  hood,  and  none  but  handi- 
craftsmen will  enter  the  monasteries.]  But, 
unfortunately,  no  remedy  for  this  state  of 
things  was  to  be  expected  from  Clement 
IX. :  he  was  far  too  lukewarm,  of  too  easy  a 
temper. 

After  the  description  of  the  pope,  the  am- 
bassador passes  on  to  his  nearest  kindred. 
First  he  speaks  of  cardinal  Rospigliosi,  of 
whom  it  was  hoped  "  quod  esset  redempturus 
Israel."  He  points  out  why  this  hope  had 
been  disappointed.  "  Tre  cose  per  mio  cre- 
dere sono  quelle  che  fanno  camminar  col 
piede  di  piombo  il  cardinal  predetto,  accusato 
di  lentezza  di  genio  e  di  mancanza  d'applica- 
tione.  La  prima  e  il  gran  desiderio  di  voler 
far  bene  ogni  cosa  e  di  dar  gusto  a  tutto  il 
mondo,  cosa  che  difficilmente  puo  riuscire  ad 
un'  huomo  che  non  e  assoluto  padrone.  La 
seconda  e  che  la  sua  volonta  viene  imbrig- 
liata  e  trattenuta  dal  papa,  il  quale,  se  bene 
ama  e  considera  non  amore  estraordinario 
questo  nipote,  gode  pero  di  fare  il  tutto  a  suo 
modo:  onde  dubioso  il  Rospigliosi  d'incontrar 
nelle  sue  risolutioni  le  negative  dell  papa  e 
dair  altra  parte  volendo  sodisfare  gl'interes- 
sati,  fugge  le  occasioni  di  concludere  cosa 
alcuna.  E  finalmente  gli  noce  ancora  la 
capacita  del  proprio  intendimento,  particolar- 
mente  in  quelle  cose  che  dipendono  da  lui : 
poiche  abbondando,  come  si  e  detto,  di  ri- 
pieghi  capaci  da  sostenere  il  posto  di  nipote, 
da  si  gran  copia  nasce  la  gran  penuria  nelle 
risolutioni,  perdendo  la  maggior  parte  dell' 
hore  piu  pretiose  a  meditare  e  crivellare  le 
materie,  et  intanto  che  si  medita  e  crivella 
il  modo  da  eligere  senza  raancare  le  piii 
adequate,  il  tempo  vola  e  le  accasioni  fug- 
gono."  [There  are  three  things  in  my 
opinion  that  make  the  aforesaid  cardinal 
leaden-paced,  accused  as  he  is  of  sluggishness 
of  mind  and  want  of  application.  The  first 
is  his  great  desire  of  doing  every  thing  well, 
and  pleasing  everybody, — a  thing  which  no 
man  can  very  readily  accomplish  who  is  not 
absolute  master.  The  second  is,  that  his  will 
is  bridled  and  retarded  by  the  pope,  who, 
though  he  regards  his  nephew  with  extraor- 
dinary affection,  is  fond,  for  all  that,  of  doing 
everything  in  his  own  way :  the  consequence 
is,  that  Rospigliosi,  fearful  of  having  his 
resolutions  met  by  the  pope's  veto,  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  wishing  to  satisfy  parties 
interested,  shuns  occasion  to  adopt  any  con- 
clusion. Lastly,  the  very  power  of  his  own 
understanding  is  prejudicial  to  him,  especially 
in  those  matters  which  depend  on  himself. 
For  whereas  he  abounds,  as  I  have  said,  in 
expedients  adapted  for  maintaining  the  post 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


599 


of  nephew,  a  great  practical  penury  springs 
from  this  mental  abundance,  the  most  valu- 
able time  being  for  the  most  part  consumed 
in  pondering  and  sifting  his  subject;  and 
while  he  is  doing  this,  and  striving  not  to 
miss  one  grain,  time  rolls  on,  and  the  oppor- 
tunity slips  away.]  The  justice,  however, 
must  not  be  denied  him  of  admitting  that  he 
had  not  enriched  himself;  "havendo  trascu- 
rato  rnolte  occasioni  d'arricchirsi,  e  I'havrebbe 
possulo  fare  senza  scrupolo  e  con  buona 
coscienza"  [but  had  let  slip  many  opportuni- 
ties, when  he  might  have  clone  so  without 
scruple,  and  with  a  clear  conscience.]  It  was 
thought,  indeed,  that  Rospigliosi  favoured 
Chigi,  particularly  with  a  view  to  himself 
becoming  pope  one  day  through  his  aid.  The 
ambassador  confutes  this  opinion. 

It  is  remarkable  iiow  the  character  and 
tone  of  thought  of  the  pope  and  the  cardinal 
padrone  were  reflected  in  the  subordinate 
members  of  the  court.  They  were  not  with- 
out good  intentions  and  capacity,  but  from  one 
cause  or  another  they  could  give  no  practical 
proof  of  them.  "  Di  due  ministri  si  serve 
particolarmente  il  cardinale  nelle  cose  che 
corrono  alia  giornata.  L'uno  e  monsignore 
Agustini,huomo  prudente  e  di  vita  esemplare, 
che  puo  dirsi  di  lui  come  di  Giobbe  Vir 
simplex  et  timens  deum,  ma  del  resto  lento, 
lungo  e  irresolute  e  tanto  inclinato  a  voler 
far  bene  che  fa  poco  per  lo  dubbio  di  non  far 
male  :  onde  con  questa  natura  ha  saputo  dare 
cosi  bene  nell'  humore  del  padrone  che  lo 
decanta  per  un'  oracolo  e  lo  stima  il  principal 
ministro  della  corte,  benche  quelli  che  con- 
tinuamente  lo  sentono  nelle  congregationi, 
ne  fanno  altro  concetto,  e  lo  confessano  bene 
per  un  soggetto  mediocre,  ma  non  piii  oltre, 
e  della  stessa  opinione  e  ancora  il  papa. 
L'altro  e  mons""  Fiani,  a  cui  fu  dato  il  carico 
di  segretario  della  consulta,  officio  voramente 
che  ricerca  gran  contidenza  col  card^  padrone: 
onde  con  ragione  Rospigliosi  scelse  questo 
huomo  che  conosce  il  dovere  dell'  amicitia  e 
che  in  effetto  non  puo  desiderarsi  maggior 
capacita  nel  governo,  tuttavia  inhabiie  quasi 
di  esercitare  il  suo  officio  per  esser  podagroso  e 
infermo,  proiongando  per  questo  ogni  cosa  con 
gran  rammarico  della  corte,  dalla  quale  vien 
poco  accettato,  tanto  piii  che  si  e  vociferate 
haver  le  mani  inclinate  a  ricever  presenti,  ma 
per  me  credo  che  questa  sia  una  vera  malignita 
di  dettatori." 

[The  cardinal  particularly  employs  two 
ministers  in  the  current  matters  of  the  day. 
The  one  is  monsignor  Agustini,  a  sensible 
man  and  of  exemplary  life,  of  whom  it  may 
be  said  as  of  Job  "  Vir  simplex  at  timens 
Deum,"  but  on  the  other  hand  slow,  procras- 
tinating, and  irresolute,  and  so  possessed  by 
the  desire  to  do  well,  that  he  does  nothing 
for  fear  of  doing  ill.  With  such  a  character 
he  accords  so  well  with  his  patron's  humour, 


that  the  latter  cries  him  up  for  an  oracle,  and 
esteems  him  the  principal  member  of  the 
court :  though  those  who  hear  him  constantly 
in  the  congregations  are  of  a  different  way 
of  thinking,  owning  him  indeed  to  be  a  man 
of  middling  ability,  but  nothing  more  :  which 
is  also  the  opinion  of  the  pope.  The  other  is 
monsignor  Frani,  to  whom  was  committed 
the  secretaryship  of  the  consulta,  an  office 
which  really  requires  great  trust  on  the  part 
of  the  cardinal  padrone.  Rospigliosi  has 
therefore  rightly  selected  his  man,  who  knows 
what  is  due  to  friendship,  and  who  really  has 
all  the  capacity  that  can  be  desired  for 
government,  though  almost  unfitted  for  dis- 
charging his  functions,  being  gouty  and  in- 
firm ;  so  that  he  protracts  everything,  to  the 
great  annoyance  of  the  court  with  which  he 
is  not  much  in  favour,  the  more  so  as  he  is 
reported  to  have  a  ready  hand  to  receive  pre- 
sents: but  for  my  part  I  believe  this  to  be  a 
malicious  calumny.] 

It  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  the  further 
details  respecting  the  papal  family,  since  it 
never  attained  to  any  influence.  The  pope's 
brother,  Don  Camillo  Rospigliosi,  would  have 
deserved,  as  our  author  says,  to  have  been 
canonised  in  his  lifetime,  had  such  been  the 
custom.  He  had  five  sons,  of  whom,  how- 
ever, only  two  need  be  named :  the  second, 
Don  Tommaso,  who  had  already  conceived 
the  idea  of  promoting  the  manufactures  of 
the  ecclesiastical  states ;  and  the  youngest, 
Giambattista — "giovine  di  bellissimo  aspetto 
e  d'un  cervello  acuto  e  penetrante"  [a  very 
comely  youth  of  acute  intellect] — who  was 
married  to  a  Pallavicini  of  Genoa,  and  founded 
the  house  of  Rospigliosi.  It  is  enough  to 
give  merely  a  general  description  of  the  new 
relations  entered  into  by  these  nephews. 
"  Fra  tutti  li  pontefici  che  sono  siati  nel 
Vaticano,  non  se  ne  e  forse  veduto  mai  alcuno 
pill  politico  e  piii  prudente  nel  mantenersi 
con  i  suoi  parenti  come  fece  Clemente  IX.,  il 
quale  godeva  di  esser  con  lore,  ma  non  gia 
di.darsi  in  preda  di  loro :  anzi  quanto  piii  li 
mostrava  segni  di  affetto  e  di  ottima  voionta, 
tanto  maggiormente  li  teneva  indietro  senza 
parteciparli  in  modo  alcuno  i  segreti  de'  suoi 
pensieri.  Alia  buona  intentione  del  papa  di 
torre  via  dalla  chicsa  lo  scandolo  introdotto 
da  lungo  tempo  modiante  la  communicatione 
di  quasi  tutta  I'autorila  del  Vaticano  che  i 
pontefici  hanno  costumato  di  partecipare  ai 
loro  nipoti,  e  andata  congiunta  la  bonla  del 
nipotismo :  perche  si  puo  dire  con  buona 
ragione  che  ami  in  Roma  si  sono  veduti  pa- 
renti da  papa  piii  modesti,  piu  humili,  piu 
caritativi  emenodisinteressatide'  Rospigliosi, 
e  quel  che  piu  importa,  tntti  dotati  d'una 
stessa  bonta  e  modestia,  che  pero  sarebbe 
stato  un  disumanarsi  di  lasciarlt  d'amare: 
anzi  si  puo  dire  giustamente  che  il  papa  non 
li  amo   mai   quanto    sarebbe    necessano  al 


600 


APPENDIX. 


merito  delle  loro  ottime  qualitn,  havendoli 
teniili  piu  tosto  come  stranieri  che  come 
parent!  per  non  comunicare  con  essi  loro 
alcuna  cosa  di  conseguenza:  con  che  si 
rendeva  infelice,  mentre  dali'  una  parte  si 
privava  volontariamente  delta  sodisfattione 
necessaria  a'  principi  di  sfogarsi  con  i  con- 
giunti,  e  dall'  altra  si  vedeva  privo  di  potersi 
aprire  con  i  domestici,  che  per  lo  piii  erano 
gente  idiota  e  di  spirito  ben  mediocre.  Si 
crede  che  il  papa  non  confida  le  cose  piii 
importanti  della  corte  che  colla  persona  del 
cardi  Chigi,  il  quale  come  astuto  et  accorto  ha 
saputo  benissimo  guadagnarsi  il  suo  afFetto." 

[Of  all  the  popes  who  have  been  seated  in 
the  Vatican,  never  perhaps  was  there  one 
more  politic  and  prudent  in  his  bearing  to- 
wards his  relations  than  Clement  IX. ;  he 
enjoyed  their  society,  but  never  let  them  get 
the  upper  hand  of  him:  nay,  the  more  he 
lavished  his  affection  upon  them,  the  more  he 
kept  them  back  and  never  suffered  them  in 
anywise  to  participate  in  his  secret  thoughts. 
With  the  pope's  laudable  intention  of  abolish- 
ing the  scandal  long  introduced  into  the 
church,  by  the  delegation  of  almost  the  whole 
authority  of  the  Vatican,  were  joined  all 
the  good  points  of  nepotism :  for  it  may  be 
affirmed  that  never  were  there  seen  in  Rome 
a  pope's  relations  more  modest,  humble, 
charitable,  and  disinterested,  than  the  Ros- 
pigliosi,  and,  what  is  more  important,  all 
endowed  with  such  goodness  and  modesty 
that  it  would  be  confessing  one's  self  not  hu- 
man to  avoid  loving  them  :  it  may  therefore 
be  said  that  the  pope  never  loved  them  as 
their  excellent  qualities  deserved,  treating 
them  rather  as  strangers  than  as  relations,  in 
never  imparting  to  them  any  thing  of  conse- 
quence. He  made  himself  unhappy  by  this, 
on  the  one  hand  voluntarily  depriving  himself 
of  the  enjoyment,  necessary  to  sovereigns,  of 
unbosoming  themselves  to  their  kindred ; 
whilst  on  the  other  hand  he  was  debarred 
from  the  possibility  of  unburthening  himself 
to  those  of  his  household,  who  were  for  the 
most  part  simple  folks  and  persons  of  very 
ordinary  capacity.  It  is  thought  that  the 
pope  never  confides  the  more  important  mat- 
ters of  the  court  to  any  one  but  cardinal  Chi- 
gi, who,  being  astute  and  skilful,  has  known 
very  well  how  to  win  his  good-will.] 

There  follows  a  description  of  the  cardinals, 
and  of  the  ambassadors  who  resided  at  the 
court.  But  the  individuals  are  too  insignifi- 
cant, and  the  interests  discussed  are  too  tran- 
sient, to  allow  of  our  dwelling  upon  them. 

139.  Relatione  dallo  stato  delle  cose  di  Roma 
del  rnese  di  Sell.  1670.  (Alt.  9  leaves.) 
[Report  on  the  state  of  Roman  affairs  in 
the  month  of  September  1670.] 

Besides  the  Venetian  reports,  and  those 


professing  to  be  French,  there  are  Spanish 
also:  undoubtedly  this  report  was  drawn  up 
for  Spain.  Mention  is  made  in  it  of  another 
which  was  sent  to  the  Spanish  court,  and  this 
is  alleged  as  reason  for  omitting  certain  mat- 
ters contained  in  it  from  the  one  before  us. 

Clement  X.:  "la  sua  natura  e  placida: 
perche  non  viene  alcuno  a  suoi  piedi  al  quale 

egli  non  desideri  di  fare  qualche  gratia 

Va  ristrettissimo  nelle  spese  e  parchissimo 
nel  dare  a  suoi."  [His  character  is  gentle : 
no  one  approaches  his  feet  to  whom  he  does 
not  wish  to  do  some  favour.  .  ,  .  He  is  very 
parsimonious  in  his  expenditure,  and  very 
sparing  of  gifts  to  his  followers.]  Cardinal 
Altieri:  "opera  tutto  da  se,  e  poca  influenza 
riceve  da  altri.  Sono  secoli  che  non  si  e 
veduto  un  nepote  di  pontefice  ne  di  maggior 
autorita  ne  d'abilita  ed  integrita,"  [He  does 
everything  of  himself,  and  is  very  little  influ- 
enced by  others.  For  ages  there  has  not  been 
seen  a  pope's  nephew  of  greater  weight,  or  of 
greater  ability  and  integrity.]  We  perceive 
that  under  this  reign,  too,  most  of  the  public 
functionaries  had  been  left  unchanged. 

But  the  most  important  matter  related  by 
this  author  is  the  division  in  the  court.  Chigi, 
Barberini,  and  Rospigliosi  were  most  closely 
connected  with  Altieri.  The  Spanish  am- 
bassador had,  above  all,  contributed  to  this. 
Opposed  to  these  allies  were  the  Squadronists, 
that  is,  the  cardinals  of  Innocent's  creation,  who 
had  had  so  much  influence  in  the  last  papal 
election,  and  who  under  the  two  former  reigns 
had  carried  their  friends  into  office.  To  this 
party  belonged  Omodei,  Ottoboni,  Imperiali, 
Borromeo,  and  Azzolino.  The  queen  of  Swe- 
den entered  with  great  warmth  into  the 
disputes  of  these  two  factions.  We  know 
how  highly  she  esteemed  Azzolino.  In  this 
report  she  is  called  his  faithful  servant,  and 
she  is  charged  with  a  thousand  intrigues  in 
favour  of  the  Squadronists. 

140.  Memorie  per  descrivere  la  vita  di  ClC' 
mente  X  Pontefice  Massimo,  da  Carlo 
Cartari  Orvietano,  decano  degli  avvo- 
cati  consistoriali  e  prefetto  delV  archivio 
apostolico  di  castello  S.  Angelo  di  Roma. 
(Alt.  211  pages.)  [Memoirs  towards  a 
life  of  Clement  X.  collected  by  Carlo 
Cartari  Orvietano,  dean  of  the  consisto- 
rial  advocates,  and  prefect  of  the  aposto- 
lic archives  in  the  castle  of  S.  Angelo  in 
Rome.] 

Composed  immediately  after  the  death  of 
the  pope,  and  finished  in  Oct.  1676 :  the 
author  expressly  binds  himself  to  avoid  all 
flattery  and  to  speak  the  simple  truth.  "  Da 
qucsti  fbgli  sara  I'adulatione,  mia  nemica 
irreconciliabile,  affatto  sbandita,  alia  sola  ve- 
rita  Candida  e  pura  attenendomi."  According 
to  the  author's  intention  it  is  the  only  coUec- 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


601 


tion  to  be  used  at  a  future  time  by  anotlier 
"vv  titer. 

At  first  it  would  seem  as  though  this 
declaration  was  only  the  language  of  mo- 
desty. 

The  pope's  father,  old  Lorenzo  Altieri,  is 
admirably  described :  Cartari  had  been  well 
acquainted  with  him:  he  speaks  of  him  as  a 
man  of  majestic  deportment,  but  modest  with- 
al, as  his  very  countenance  denoted.  Though 
only  a  collector,  our  author  cannot  refrain 
from  subjoining  a  concetto  in  the  style  of  his 
age  ;  "di  altrettanto  bella  canitie  nell'  ester- 
no  ricoperto  quanto  di  una  candidezza  di 
costumi,  di  una  rara  pieta  a  raeraviglia  do- 
tato." 

Emilio  Altieri  was  born  in  1590:  took 
his  doctor's  degree  in  1611 :  was  for  a  while 
in  the  studio  of  Pamfili,  who  was  after- 
wards pope.  In  1624  he  went  to  Poland  with 
that  bishop  of  Nola,  Lancellotti,  whose  in- 
struction has  come  down  to  us.  On  his 
return  he  was  made  bishop  of  Camerino  in 
place  of  his  brother  Giovan  Battista,  who  was 
advanced  to  the  college  of  cardinals.  It  is 
said,  though  Cartari  does  not  mention  the 
fact,  that  Emilio  himself  had  been  already  de- 
signed for  the  cardinalate ;  he  was  better 
liked  than  his  brother ;  but  he  had  the  self- 
command  to  quit  Rome  at  that  moment,  in 
order  not  to  stand  in  his  brother's  way.  In- 
nocent X.  sent  Emilio  as  nuncio  to  Naples, 
and  it  is  asserted  that  he  was  instrumental 
there  in  allaying  the  disturbances  excited  by 
Massaniello.  Alexander  VII.  made  him  se- 
cretary of  the  congregation  de'  vescovi  e 
regolari,  a  career  which  every  one  had  found 
extremely  tedious.  It  was  not  till  his  79th 
year  that  he  obtained  important  promotion. 
On  the  29th  of  November  1669,  Clement 
nominated  hmi  cardinal,  but  that  pope  had  not 
time  even  to  give  him  the  official  hat:  Altieri 
entered  the  conclave  without  having  received 
it,  and  on  the  29th  of  April  1670,  he  was 
himself  elected  pope.  He  refused  the  dignity 
for  a  while,  he  declared  there  were  others 
more  deserving,  and  even  pointed  out  a  car- 
dinal, Brancacci,  by  name :  at  last,  however, 
he  accepted  the  supreme  authority. 

Such  was  the  advanced  age  of  the  new 
pope :  he  had  not  one  nephew;  he  was  forced 
to  adopt  one,  to  share  the  weight  of  affairs 
with  him. 

"  Ritrovavasi  S.  Beatitudine  nell'anno  ot- 
tantesimo  di  sua  eta :  onde  per  questa  cagione 
e  per  imitare  i  suoi  antecessori,  quali  ben 
conoscendo  la  pesante  mole  del  pontificato 
stimarono  necessario  di  deputare  per  proprio 
sollievo  alcuno  de'  cardinal  col  titolo  di  sopri- 
antendente  generale  dello  state  eccleciastico, 
si  compiacque  a  dichiarare  I'lstesso  giorno  a 
questa  laboriosa  carica  il  cardi  Paluzzo  Pa- 
luzzi  degli  Albertoni  suo  attinente,  permulan- 
dogli  quel  cognome  coU'  altro  d'AllierL" 
76 


[ he  was  pleased  to  appoint  on  the 

same  day  to  this  arduous  post,  cardinal 
Paluzzo  Paluzzi  degli  Albertoni,  changing 
his  surname  at  the  same  time  for  that  of 
Altieri.] 

Let  us  now  proceed  to  the  transactions  of 
the  pontificate.  The  author  speaks  first  of 
those  pertaining  to  Rome  itself 

The  arrival  of  the  envoys  of  Ferrara  and 
Bologna  to  tender  their  allegiance  : — Disco- 
very of  the  monument  of  Constantino  at  the 
foot  of  the  steps  of  St.  Peter's : — Decoration 
of  the  bridge  of  St.  Angelo  with  ten  angels  in 
Carrara  marble  : — Building  of  the  Altieri 
palace,  on  which  there  were  expended  about 
300,000  scudi;  which,  however,  were  not 
squandered  away,  since  they  benefited  the 
poor : — erection  of  a  second  fountain  in  the 
piazza  S.  Pietro,  which  the  pope,  however, 
did  not  live  to  see  finished  : — these  are  the 
principal  points  on  which  Cartari  dwells. 
Speaking  of  the  palace,  he  describes  the 
library  also.  "  Vedesi  in  sito  quasi  il  piii  alto 
elevato  del  medesimo  palazzo  un  vaso  per 
libraria,  altretanto  capace  quanto  vago  per 
la  veduta  delia  citta  e  della  carnpagna,  in 
maestose  scanzie  riempite  della  generosita 
del  cardl  Altieri  di  prctiosi  libri  d'ogni  scienza, 
che  giungono  al  numero  di  12,000."  [Almost 
at  the  top  of  the  palace  there  was  an  apart- 
ment for  a  library,  as  remarkable  for  its 
extent  as  for  the  beauty  of  the  view  obtained 
from  it  of  the  city  and  surrounding  country; 
its  majestic  ranges  of  shelves  were  fitted  up 
by  the  liberality  of  cardinal  Altieri  with  pre- 
cious books,  in  every  department  of  knowledge, 
to  the  number  of  12,000.]  Well  do  I  know 
it ;  I  have  climbed  its  steps  many  a  time  !  Of 
the  fountains :  "  Transportata  la  fontana  di 
Paolo  V  con  machine  meravigliose,  quasi 
dirsi  tutte  d'un  pezzo,  dal  sito  vecchio  dove  si 
ritrovava  all'  altro  dove  hoggidi  si  vede  stabi- 
lita  in  corrispondenza  degl'ingressi  laterali 
del  teatro,  per  accompagnamento  della  mede- 
sima  ordino  se  ne  fabricasse  un'  altra  afl!atto 
simile  verso  il  giardino  de  Cesi,  come  fu 
eseguito."  [The  fountain  of  Paul  V.  was 
transported  by  prodigious  machines,  in  one 
piece,  so  to  speak,  from  its  old  site  to  that 
which  it  now  occupies,  corresponding  to  the 
site  entrances  of  the  theatre ;  and  to  match  it 
he  ordered  another  precisely  similar  to  be 
constructed  towards  the  Cesi  garden,  which 
was  done.]  But  the  most  remarkable  thing 
he  relates,  is  about  the  mosaic  attributed  to 
Giotto,  the  Navicella  di  S.  Pietro.  After  it 
had  frequently  changed  its  site  since  the 
destruction  of  the  portico  of  the  ancient  basi- 
lica where  it  originally  stood,  having  been 
curried  into  the  palace  by  Paul  V.,  by  Urban 
VIII.  into  the  church,  and  by  Innocent  X. 
back  again  to  the  palace,  where  Alexander 
VH.  again  found  it  inconvenient,  as  it  appear- 
ed impossible  to  remove  it  as  it  was,  it  was 


602 


APPENDIX. 


thought  better  to  take  it  to  pieces,  putting  the 
stones  belonging  to  each  figure  into  a  sepa- 
rate bag.  It  was  proposed  by  cardinal  Bar- 
berini  in  the  reign  of  Clement  X.  to  have  it 
restored  from  a  copy  taken  under  Urban  VIII. 
Upon  this  it  was  put  together  once  more,  and 
placed  in  the  lunette  over  the  middle  door  of 
the  hall.  But  how  it  fared  in  this  situation 
we  may  gather  from  Cartari's  words.  "  Per- 
che  il  vano  non  era  capace,  fu  detto  che  lasci- 
andosi  le  figure  nel  proprio  essere,  potevano 
restringersi  i  spatii :  come  fu  diligentemente 
esequito."  [The  recess  not  being  large  enough, 
it  was  suggested  that  the  figures  might  be 
left  of  their  original  size,  but  the  spaces  dimi- 
nished: and  this  was  carefully  done.]  Thus 
we  see  tbat  the  new  master  was  not  without 
reason  regarded  by  some  persons  as  the  real 
executor  of  the  work. 

At  last  the  author  arrives  at  matters  of 
state,  but  on  this  subject  he  is  very  defec- 
tive. He  tells  us  that  in  spite  of  all  his  finan- 
cial difficulties,  Clement  X.  would  never  have 
recourse  to  a  reduction  of  the  monti,  in  consi- 
deration of  the  numerous  families,  and,  above 
all,  of  the  pious  institutions  that  would  sufl^er 
thereby  : — "  ben  considerando  il  danno  che  a 
tante  famiglie  ed  in  particolare  a  luoghi  pii 
ne  resultarebbe  ;"  he  preferred  retrenchment, 
and  even  the  cardinal  nephew  offered  to  give 
up  his  salary  as  sopraintendente  dello  stato. 
Some  money  was  sent  notwithstanding  to 
Poland,  which  was  sorely  pressed  by  the 
Turks ;  on  one  occasion  30,000,  on  another 
16,000,  and  once  more  70,000  scudi.  A  sepa- 
rate collection  had  been  made  among  the 
cardinals. 

This  is  the  only  mention  I  find  of  foreign 
affairs.  The  affairs  of  the  ecclesiastical  states 
are  not,  however,  very  profoundly  treated. 
"  Si  adopero  alia  libera  introduzione  delle 
merci  forestiere,  e  furono  rivocate  tutte  le 
esenzioni  delle  gabelle :  si  diedero  ordini  circa 
gli  officii  vacabili  della  dataria  e  frutti  di 
essi : — si  estinse  la  gabella  del  quatrino  degli 
artisti: — si  dichiaro  che  alii  Romani  et  altri 
nobili  dello  stato  ecclesiastico  sia  lecito  di 
esercitar  commerci  senza  pregiudizj  della 
nobilta."  [He  laboured  for  the  free  intro- 
duction of  foreign  goods,  and  all  exemptions 
from  the  customs  were  repealed :  regulations 
were  made  as  to  the  officii  vacabili  of  the 
dataria,  and  their  proceeds, — the  tax  of  the 
quatrino  degli  artisti  was  abolished  : — it  was 
declared  that  it  was  lawful  for  the  Roman  and 
other  nobles  of  the  ecclesiastical  state  to 
engage  in  commerce  without  prejudice  to 
their  nobility.]  This  is,  in  fact,  all  he  says 
of  any  importance. 

He  hardly  alludes  to  any  transactions  of 
the  papacy  in  reference  to  the  internal  aflTairs 
of  the  catholic  church. 

141.  dementis   Decimi  Pontificis  Maximi 


vita.    (Alt.  pp.  288.)    [Life  of  pope  Cle- 
ment X.] 

Cartari  supposed  there  would  be  many  who 
would  write  the  life  of  Clement  X.,  and  to 
such  he  dedicated  his  materials.  An  author 
was  soon  found  to  undertake  the  task,  but  he 
was  a  Jesuit,  and  wrote  by  order  of  Oliva,  his 
general.  Cardinal  Pauluzzi  Altieri  furnished 
him  with  the  materials. 

Although  this  author  does  not  name  Car- 
tari, it  is  plain  he  had  his  work  before  him. 
He  frequently  does  no  more  than  translate 
and  amplify  it. 

If  Cartari  purposely  avoided  flatteries,  not 
so  the  Jesuit  writer.  He  relates,  that  in  the 
year  Clement  X.  was  born,  there  was  a  vio- 
lent overflow  of  the  Tiber,  "  quasi  prsesentiret 
imperantis  urbis  fluvius  augendam  ab  exorto 
tum  infante  Romanam  gloriam,"  [as  though 
the  imperial  stream  predicted  the  augmenta- 
tion of  Roman  glory  by  the  infant  then  born.] 

Sometimes,  however,  his  additions  are  more 
interesting.  He  recounts  that  characteristic 
anecdote  of  Clement's  spontaneously  giving 
way  to  his  brother. 

In  the  latter  chapters  he  enters  into  the  af- 
fairs of  the  church.  "Innumeros  in  callem 
salutis  reduces  illo  regnante  vidit  Hungaria, 
quam  catholicam,  ut  Francisci  cardlia  Nerlii 
verbis  utar,  pene  totam  effecit."  [In  his  reign 
immense  numbers  were  brought  back  to  the 
path  of  truth  in  Hungary,  which,  to  use  the 
words  of  cardinal  Francis  Nerli,  he  made  al- 
most wholly  catholic]  Truly  a  startling  hy- 
perbole, for  neither  was  Hungary  in  that  day 
by  any  means  so  catholic,  nor  did  Clement  X. 
contribute  much  to  make  it  so.  "  Ad  veram  re- 
ligionem  in  Hibernia  conservandam  ac  propa- 

gandamsolertem  industriamcontulit: 

plurimos  in  Vaticanum  regressos  Boemia  et 
caetera  Boemise  regna  atque  inter  hos  magnos 
principes,  plurimos  Rhjeti  atque  iis  finitimae 
valles,  niagnam  illoruni  vim  HoUandia,  majo- 
rem  vidit  Gallia."  [He  laboured  industri- 
ously for  the  preservation  and  propagation  of 
the  true  religion  in  Ireland In  Bo- 
hemia and  the  kingdoms  connected  with  it  a 
vast  number,  among  them  great  princes,  re- 
traced their  steps  to  the  Vatican,  so  likewise 
did  numbers  in  Rhsetia  and  the  neighbouring 
vallies,  multitudes  in  Holland,  and  still  more 
numerous  converts  in  France.]  All  this,  how- 
ever, is  in  very  general  terms. 

Whilst  he  extols  the  pope's  justice  and  his 
love  for  his  subjects,  he  excuses  him  for  hav- 
ing raised  contributions  for  the  Poles  in  their 
struggles  against  the  Turks,  by  impositions  on 
the  clergy,  and  for  having  raised  new  loans. 
He  abolished  oppressive  taxes,  and  instead  of 
them  imposed  burthens  on  articles  of  luxury, 
on  foreign  wines,  and  tobacco ;  with  regard  to 
his  relations,  too,  he  displayed  the  grestest 
moderation.     What  if  he  had  enabled  them  to 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


603 


build  the  Altieri  palace?  think,  on  the  other 
hand,  how  few  estates  the  Altieri  family  had 
laid  their  hands  on  :  "  Quam  minimum  in  spa- 
tium  contrahantur  Alteriis  principibus  sub- 
jecta  oppida  et  rura,  cum  latissime  pateat 
aliorum  ditio." 

142.  Nuovo  governo  di  Rima  sotto  il  ponti- 
ficalo  di  papa  Clemente  X.  (Barb.  17 
leaves.)  [New  government  of  Rome  un- 
der the  pontificate  of  Clement  X.] 

This  document  gives  an  account  of  the  fa- 
mily affairs  of  Pauluzzi,  and  his  singular  ele- 
vation to  the  position  of  papal  nephew. 

The  pope's  brother,  the  head  of  the  house 
of  Altieri,  had  lefl  only  a  daughter,  and  had 
ordered  that,  if  she  married,  her  husband 
should  take  the  name  of  Altieri. 

Cardinal  Pauluzzi's  nephew  married  this 
heiress  of  the  house  of  Altieri.  By  this  means 
the  two  families  were  united. 

All  the  other  relations — for  instance,  the 
Gabrielli,  who  were  the  next  of  kin — were 
thrown  into  the  background. 

On  the  whole,  the  government  was,  from 
the  first,  less  lenient  than  the  former  one, 
which  was  in  fact  owing  to  the  circumstance 
that  Clement  IX.  had  burthened  with  debt 
even  those  branches  of  revenue  which  till  his 
time  had  always  been  reserved.  Already  the 
little  army  began  to  be  disbanded.  The  au- 
thor thinks  that  even  the  trifling  diminution 
effected  by  Clement  IX.  in  the  taxes  would 
oblige  the  state  to  divest  itself  of  all  armed 
force. 

He  also  complains  of  the  mode  of  adminis- 
tration,— of  the  recklessness  which  was  al- 
ready become  habitual  with  the  rulers  of  the 
ecclesiastical  states.  "  Vedendosi  odiati  et 
abborriti  tanto  piu  s'infierano,  e  tiratosi  il  cap- 
pello  sugli  occhi  non  guardano  in  faccia  a  nes- 
suno,  e  facendo  d'ogni  erba  fascio  non  pen- 
sano  che  al  proprio  interesse  senza  minima 
apprensione  del  publico."  [The  more  they 
find  themselves  abhorred,  the  more  dogged 
they  become, — slouching  their  hats  over  tiieir 
brows  and  looking  no  one  in  the  face.  All  is 
fish  that  comes  to  their  nets,  and  they 
care  for  nothing  but  their  own  interest,  not 
giving  the  slightest  thought  to  that  of  the 
public] 


143.  Relatione  dello  stato  presente  della  corte 
di  Roina,fatta  alVecC^o  principe  di  Ligni 
governatore  di  Mdano  daW  III'""  Sr  Fe- 
der.  Rozzoni  inviato  straord''^''  da  S.  E. 
alia  corte  appresso  Clemente  X.  (24 
leaves.)  [Report  on  the  present  state  of 
the  court  of  Rome,  presented  to  the  prince 
di  Ligni,  governor  of  Milan,  by  Federigo 
Rozzoni,  his  excellency's  ambassador  ex- 
traordinary to  Clement  X.] 


Written  somewhat  later  than  the  foregoing 
report. 

The  position  of  parties  had  already  under- 
gone another  change.  Rospigliosi  and  Chigi 
were  neglected  by  the  reigning  house,  which 
sought  the  alliance  of  the  Squadronists. 

The  mutual  relations  of  the  pope  and  cardi- 
nal Altieri  are  thus  described  : — 

"  II  papa  non  ha  applicatione  alcuna,  si  per 
la  cadente  sua  eta,  como  anche  per  esser  sue 
connaturale  attendere  alia  propri  quiete  e  sot- 
trarsi  dalle  cure  gravi  che  potrebbero  turbare 
la  serenita  dell'  animo  suo,  solo  inclinato,  a 
vivere  tranquillamente.  Egli  percio  non  puole 
sapere  le  amministrationi  della  giustitia  ne 
altri  negotii  politici  della  corte  e  dello  stato 
ecclesiastico  :  onde  il  ricorrere  a  lui  non  giova 
punto  a  quelli  che  da  suoi  ministri  vengono 
oppress! :  e  per  havere  pretesto  piij.  colorito 
di  non  ingerirsi  in  simili  affari,  piu  volte  si  fa 
stimare  ammalato,  non  tralasciando  per  questo 
le  sue  domestiche  conversationi,  che  dopo  de- 
sinato  giornalmente  si  prende  con  giuochi  di 
carte  e  godimento  di  suoni  e  canti. 

"  Lascia  il  governo  della  chiesa  totalmente 
al  cardinale  Altieri,  et  in  esso  non  si  ingerisce 
se  non  quanto  e  necessario  per  la  sua  appro- 
vatione  in  voce  o  scritto  :  nel  resto  ha  rasseg- 
nato  in  tal  maniera  che  piii  volte  I'ha  temuto 
e  nascostamente  ha  fatto  fare  elemosine,  re- 
gali  e  cose  simili:  ma  la  collatione  de'  bene- 
ficii,  vescovati  et  elettione  de'  soggetti  alia 
porpora  resta  al  totale  arbitrio  di  esso  cardi- 
nale :  il  quale  e  uomo  flemmatico,  e  difticil- 
mente  si  sdegna  esternamente,  e  quando  cid 
fa,  cessa  di  vendicarsi.  Ha  molt'  attitudine  a 
sostenere  la  carica  che  tiene,  et  in  fatti  vuole 
sapere  et  indrizzare  tutti  gli  affari  grandi  e 
piccoli  non  solo  della  corte  ma  ancora  di  tutto 
lo  stato  ecclesiastico,  il  che  da  alcuni  si  attri- 
buisce  a  grande  avidita  di  suoi  interressi, 
nelli  quali  e  vigilantissimo,  non  lasciando  pas- 
sare  occasione  alcuna  di  non  approfittarli: 
ogni  giorno  in  tal'  here  determinate  da  audi- 
enza  a  tutti  i  ministri  della  corte  et  alii  loro 
segretarj,  et  esso  da  le  regole  et  istruttioni 
non  solo  generali  ma  anche  particolari,  di 
modo  che  li  giudici  et  il  medesimo  governa- 
tore non  hanno  nelle  loro  cariche  arbitrio 
alcuno. 

"  II  principale  ministro  nel  medesimo  car- 
dinale e  stato  et  e  I'abbate  Piccini,  soggetto 
di  deboli  parti  et  inferiori  natali,  che  prima 
della  promotion  di  Clemente  Decimo  era  suo 
camcriere :  onde  per  introdutione,  anzi  per 
I'arbitrio,  conforme  la  comune  stima,  che  ha- 
veva  de'  voleri  di  esso  cardinale,  ha  congre- 
gate un'annua  entrata  di  12  m.  scudi  et  un 
capitale  di  200  m.,  havendo  altrettanto  empito 
il  capo  di  fumo  quanto  la  borsa  d'oro.  Pero 
al  presente  e  cessata  tant'  aura  sua,  vogliono 
alcuni  per  punti  politici  e  non  gia  peiche  si 
sia  diminuita  la  sua  gran  fortuna  dull'  unione 
delli  quattro    regj    ambasciatori :    ancorche 


604 


APPENDIX. 


detto  abbate  Piccini  unitamente  col  commis- 
sario  della  camera  chiamato  monsr  Zaccaria 
siano  li  piu  intimi  del  cardinale  :  quanto  a  cio, 
spetta  air  interesse,  mostrandosi  esso  cardi- 
nale da  questo  alieno,  volendo  lasciar  cadere 
sopra  di  questi  due  ministri  o  torcimanni 
I'opinione  volgare  di  molto  interessato." 

[The  pope  shows  no  application — both  from 
his  declining'  age,  and  because  it  is  his  nature 
to  look  to  his  own  quiet,  and  to  withdraw  him- 
self from  grave  cares,  that  might  ruffle  the 
serenity  of  his  soul,  the  only  desire  of  which 
is  to  live  tranquilly.  Hence  he  cannot  be  ac- 
quainted with  the  administrationof  justice,  or 
with  other  business  of  state  in  the  dominions 
of  the  church ;  so  that  those  who  are  op- 
pressed by  his  ministers  are  nothing  helped 
by  having  recourse  to  him.  To  give  himself 
a  more  colourable  pretext  for  not  meddling  in 
such  matters,  he  frequently  feigns  illness,  not 
omitting,  for  all  that,  his  private  conversa- 
zioni, in  which  every  day  after  dinner  he 
enjoys  himself  with  cards,  and  music,  and 
singing. 

[He  leaves  the  government  of  the  church 
entirely  to  cardinal  Altieri,  interfering  no 
more  than  is  necessary  to  give  his  assent  by 
voice  or  in  writ-ng :  in  other  respects,  he  has 
so  entirely  resigned  matters  into  his  hands, 
that  frequently  he  has  been  afraid  of  him,  and 
has  made  a  secret  of  his  alms-gifts,  and  so 
forth ;  but  the  collation  to  benefices  and  bishop- 
rics, and  the  election  of  candidates  for  the 
purple,  rest  exckisively  with  the  cardinal, 
who  is  a  phlegmatic  person,  and  is  not  easily 
roused  to  any  outward  show  of  anger;  and 
when  he  is,  he  forbears  to  revenge  himself. 
He  is  very  well  qualified  for  the  post  he  fills  ; 
and  in  fact  he  aims  at  knowing  and  directing 
all  things,  great  and  small,  pertaining  not 
only  to  the  court,  but  even  to  the  whole  stale. 
This  is  by  some  imputed  to  his  great  avidity 
in  the  pursuit  of  his  own  interests,  of  which 
he  is  most  watchful,  not  letting  any  profitable 
opportunity  escape  him.  He  gives  audience 
every  day  at  an  appointed  hour  to  the  minis- 
ters of  the  court  and  their  secretaries,  and 
gives  them  orders  and  instructions,  not  merely 
general,  but  special;  so  that  the  judges  and 
the  governor  himself  can  exercise  no  discre- 
tion in  their  several  offices. 

[Tiie  cardinal's  principal  minister  has  all 
along  been  the  abbate  Piccini,  a  man  of  weak 
parts  and  low  birth,  who  had  been  the  cham- 
berlain of  Clement  X.  before  his  promotion. 
Having,  therefore,  the  means  of  prompting — 
nay,  as  it  is  commonly  thought,  of  determin- 
ing— the  wishes  of  the  said  cardinal,  he  has 
got  together  an  annual  income  of  12,000 
scudi,  and  a  capital  of  200,000,  and  his  head 
is  as  full  of  smoke  as  his  purse  is  of  gold  :  for 
at  present  he  has  ceased  to  be  in  such  great 
vogue,  as  some  say  on  political  grounds,  and 
not  because  his  high  fortune  has  been  dimin- 


ished by  the  union  of  the  four  royal  amhassa- 
dors ;  although  the  said  abbate  Piccini  and 
the  commissioner  of  the  treasury,  monsignor 
Zaccaria  by  name,  are  the  cardinal's  most  in- 
timate counsellors.  After  all,  this  is  for  a 
cloak  to  private  interest,  to  which  the  cardi- 
nal affects  to  be  averse,  wishing  to  shift  off 
upon  these  two  ministers,  or  interpreters,  the 
popular  opinion  of  his  extreme  interested- 
ness.] 

144.  Relatione  della  corte  di  Roma  del  N.  H. 
Piero  Mocenigo.  che  fu  ambascialore  a 
papa  Clemente  X,  fatta  Vanno  1675. 
(44  leaves.)  [Report  on  the  court  of 
Rome  by  N.  H.  Piero  Mocenigo,  formerly 
ambassador  to  pope  Clement  X.] 

P.  Mocenigo  had  previously  been  in  Eng- 
land; he  now  went  to  Rome,  which  offered 
him  so  totally  different  an  aspect,  especially 
in  a  commercial  point  of  view.  There  he 
soon  became  involved  in  violent  altercations 
with  the  house  of  Altieri :  he  put  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  ambassadors,  whom  it  was  at- 
tempted to  deprive  of  some  of  their  privileges. 
No  wonder  that  he  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  much  edified  by  what  he  heard  and  saw. 
He  divides  his  report  into  three  parts. 
I.  "  La  qualita  di  quella  corte,  sua  autorita 
cosi  spirituale  come  temporale,  con  aggiunta 
dell'  erario  e  delle  forze.  Tutto  il  reflesso," 
he  begins,  "  dei  pensieri  de'  regnanti  e  rivolto 
a  non  lasciar  la  propria  casa  esposta  alle  per- 
secutioni  et  al  ludibrio  della  poverta.  Di  cio 
■deriva  che  la  tramontana  di  quella  corte  e 
I'interesse  private,  e  cola  non  s'applica  la  pub- 
lico bene  che  colla  speciosita  delle  appa- 
renze."  [The  character  of  this  court,  its  au- 
thority both  spiritual  and  temporal,  with  re- 
marks on  the  treasury  and  the  forces.  The 
whole  thought  of  the  rulers  is  bent  on  pre- 
serving their  own  fortunes  from  the  outrages 
and  scorn  of  poverty.  Hence  the  cynosure  of 
this  court  is  private  interest,  and  the  public 
welfare  is  pursued  only  in  specious  appear- 
ance.] The  favour  shown  to  the  great  fami- 
lies had  now  the  effect  of  preventing  all  ad- 
vancement of  the  inferior  nobility,  and,  above 
all,  of  the  middle  class.  They  had  not  money 
enough  to  raise  themselves  by  their  own 
strength,  and  were  yet  too  independent  to  de- 
base themselves  to  the  servility  of  the  indi- 
gent class. 

"  Flattery,"  says  P.  Mocenigo,  "is  here  at 
homo  ;  nevertheless  there  are  here  many  peo- 
ple who  console  themselves  for  their  disap- 
pointments by  backbiting  and  slander,  acting 
on  the  maxim,  that  one  cannot  be  mistaken  if 
he  thinks  the  worst." 

Important  congregations ; — of  the  inquisi- 
tion, ecclesiastical  immunities,  the  council, 
the  propaganda,  bishops  and  orders,  the  in- 
dex.— If  the  court  wishes  to  refuse  anything, 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


605 


it  refers  it  to  these  coisfregations  ;  they  abide 
by  their  canons  and  the  practice  of  the  last 
century :  thus  the  merest  trifles  are  magni- 
fied into  importance.  But  if  tiie  court  is  fa- 
vourably disposed,  it  takes  the  matter  into  its 
own  hands. 

This  absolute  power  of  the  court  is  particu- 
larly manifested  in  secular  affairs.  Cardinals 
would  never  have  approved  of  the  carrying  on 
of  war. — (This,  we  may  add,  had  for  a  long 
while  ceased  to  be  the  case.) 

The  condition  of  the  country  grew  daily 
worse.  Within  the  last  forty  years,  says  the 
author,  the  number  of  the  inhabitants  has  di- 
minished by  one-third :  where  there  were 
formerly  reckoned  one  hundred  hearths,  there 
are  now  but  sixty ;  many  houses  are  pulled 
down,  though  this  is  forbidden  by  the  consulta ; 
day  by  day  less  land  is  cultivated  ;  marriages 
are  on  the  decrease  ;  parents  seek  an  asylum 
for  their  children  in  the  convents. 

He  estimates  the  interest  on  the  public  debt, 
that  is,  on  the  monti  and  officii  vacabili,  at 
2,400,000  scudi ;  the  deficit,  at  several  hun- 
dred thousand. 

H.  "  II  presente  governo  di  Clemente  X, 
sua  casa,  sacro  collegio,  e  corrispondenze  con 
principi."  [The  present  government  of  Cle- 
ment X.,  his  household,  the  sacred  college, 
and  correspondence  with  princes.] 

Clement  X. — He  gave  audience,  it  is  true, 
at  the  appointed  hours  to  the  datary,  the  segre- 
tario  de'  brevi,  the  secretaries  of  state,  and 
cardinal  Altieri,  but  he  only  went  through  the 
formality  of  signing.  Every  thing  unpleasant 
was  concealed  from  him  ;  this  was  the  grand 
object  of  cardinal  Altieri's  efforts.  The  am- 
bassador asserts  that  the  pope  had  no  know- 
ledge of  the  aflairs  of  the  world.  "  In  Roma 
si  dice  che  benedicere  e  sanctificare  sia  del 
pontefice,  reggere  e  gubernare  sia  dell'  Al- 
tieri." [In  Rotne  they  say  that  the  pope's  busi- 
ness is  to  give  his  benediction  and  to  sanctify, 
to  reign  and  to  govern  is  cardinal  Altieri's  ] 

Cardinal  Altieri:  "  di  complessione  delica- 
ta:  .  .  .  .  la  sua  natura  e  ardente,  impetuosa 

e  di  prima  impressione Assuefatto  alia 

cortesia  Romanesca  di  non  negare  cosa  alcuna, 
anzi  di  concorrere  con  parole  ofKciose  ad  esau- 
dire  le  instanze  facilmente,  poi  quando  ha  pon- 
derato  il  negotio,  da  indietro,  anco  col  negare 
I'impogno,  e  da  nelle  scandescenze.  ...  Da 
poca  speranza  vien  soUevato,  come  per  con- 
trario  da  pocotimore  abbattuto."  [of  a  delicate 
constitution  :  ....  his  character  is  ardent, 
impetuous,  and  obedient  to  first  impressions. 
....  He  is  habituated  to  the  Romish  cour- 
tesy of  refusing  nothing,  and  of  even  showing 
a  prompt  alacrity,  with  abundance  of  obliging 
words  on  hearing  requests ;  but  when  he  has 
weighed  the  matter,  he  retracts,  even  denying 
his  engagement,  and  giving  way  to  passion. 
....  He  is  elevated  by  slight  hopes,  and,  on 
the  other,  depressed  by  inconsiderable  alarms.] 


We  see  plainly  in  these  expressions  the  opera- 
tion of  personal  dislike. 

The  other  personages  are  described  in  the 
very  same  spirit.  Laura  Altieri,  to  whom  the 
family  owed  its  fortune,  was  not  happy  in  it, 
he  says.  She  was,  therefore,  never  allowed 
to  approach  the  pope's  feet.  This  I  scarcely 
believe. 

The  author's  testimony  is  less  suspicious 
when  he  describes  the  union  of  the  court  with 
the  Squadronists.  We  have  already  seen  how 
it  was  prepared.  Barberini,  Rospigliosi,  and 
Chigi  were  now  in  less  consideration  ;  the 
Squadronists  insisted  particularly  on  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  curia  as  to  foreign  courts,  and 
they  had  completely  gained  Altieri  over  to 
them.  The  author  asserts  that  to  him  were 
ascribable  the  embarrassments  in  which  the 
court  was  entangled. 

He  enters  minutely  into  these,  with  his 
usual  tone  of  irritation. 

The  court  was  obliged  to  propitiate  the  em- 
peror now  and  then  with  spiritual  presents, 
Agnus  Dei,  &,c.  The  court  had  so  many 
quarrels  with  France  that  it  would  gladly  see 
her  involved  in  war.  How,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, should  the  pope  effect  a  peace  ? — 
Spain  complained,  among  other  things,  that 
the  bandits  of  Naples  were  allowed  refuge  in 
the  states  of  the  chuixh,  and  that  the  stolen 
property  was  even  permitted  to  be  sold  there. 
'•  Ma  non  segli  danno  orecchie :  perche  cosi 
comple  alia  quiete  di  quel  confini,  promessa  e 
mantenuta  dai  medesimi  banditi."  [But  no 
heed  is  given  to  these  complaints ;  for  this 
state  of  things  is  necessary  to  the  quiet  of  those 
frontiers,  which  is  promised  and  maintained 
by  the  banditti  themselves.]  The  court  of 
Rome  neglected  to  urge  the  Poles  strenuously 
to  war  against  the  Turks,  lest  it  should  be 
obliged  to  afford  them  aid  therein.  It  would 
not  grant  the  Czar  that  title,  and  therefore 
would  not  form  any  alliance  with  him,  great 
as  was  the  assistance  that  might  be  expected 
from  him  against  their  hereditary  enemy. 
"  Per  timer  d'ingombrarsi  in  obligatione  di 
rimettere  e  contribuire  soccorsi  raaggiori  si 
sono  lasciate  cadere  le  propositioni  fiitta  da 
un'  inviato  Polacco,  che  I'armi  del  re  sareb- 
hero  pas.sate  il  Danubio,  enlrate  nella  Bul- 
garia, e  promettevano  di  portar  la  guerra  nelle 
viscere  dell'  imperio  Ottomano."  [For  fear 
of  incumbering  themselves  with  obligations  to 
contribute  larger  subsidies,  they  neglected  the 
propositions  made  by  a  Polish  envoy,  that  the 
king's  army  should  pass  the  Danube,  enter 
Bulgaria,  and  undertake  to  carry  the  war  into 
the  heart  of  the  Ottoman  empire.]  I  only 
notice  this,  because  it  shows  that  such  hopes 
were,  even  by  that  time,  entertained  :  fur  it 
is  not  easy  to  conceive  what  the  court  of  Kome 
could  have  done  in  furtherance  of  the  matter, 
especially  when  the  papal  treasury  and  terri- 
tory were  in  the  condition  above  described. 


606 


APPENDIX. 


The  court  would  not  concede  to  the  kinnf  of 
Portugal  the  patronage  of  his  transmarine 
churches,  nor  grant  the  duke  of  Savoy  an 
indult  for  filling  the  vacant  bishoprics  in  his 
dominions.  Even  in  Tuscany  and  in  the 
smaller  principalities  this  claim  to  ecclesiasti- 
cal independence  was  set  up. 

The  incameration  of  Castro  proved  even 
injurious.  The  interest  on  the  debts  thus 
taken  upon  itself  by  the  treasury  amounted  to 
90,000  sc,  while  the  farmer  of  the  revenue 
paid  only  60,000.  The  answer  in  Rome  was, 
that  was  not  the  way  for  a  prince  to  calculate. 

III.  "  Corrispondenze  colla  Republica ;" 
very  short,  and  relating  chiefly  to  personal 
disputes.  "  Impiego  scabrosissimo."  All  in 
the  same  spirit. 

In  Venice  they  had  already  been  prepared 
for  a  report  of  this  kind.  Before  Mocenigo's 
return  there  appeared  a  "  Lettera  scriita  a 
Venetia  da  soggetto  ben  informato  sopra  I'am- 
basceria  (another  hand  has  added  to  this, 
'infame')  del  S^  Kav""  Mocenigo,"  in  which 
the  little  man  with  the  big  wig,  with  his  ever- 
lasting talk  about  England,  is  very  severely 
handled.  He  was  now  closeted  day  and  night 
with  a  literary  man,  blackening  the  court  of 
Rome  in  his  report:  "  un  governo,  migliore 
del  quale  per  i  principi  secolari  non  e  stato  da 
S.  Pietro  in  qua,  piacevole,  moderato,  senza 
puntiglio."  [A  government  than  which  there 
has  been  none  better  for  secular  princes  from 
the  days  of  St.  Peter  till  now, — easy,  mode- 
rate, and  far  from  captious.] 

Mocenigo  has  certainly  exaggerated :  but 
we  must  not  therefore  reject  all  he  says. 

After  all,  every  one  carries  the  colour  of  his 
own  opinions  into  the  account  he  gives  of 
things :  it  is  for  us  to  discriminate  between 
object  and  subject. 

145.  Scrittura  sopra  il  governo  di  Roma. 
(MS.  Rom.)  [Essay  on  the  government 
of  Rome.] 

This  is  to  be  found  among  writings  relating 
to  the  years  between  1670 — 80,  and  belongs 
somewhere  to  that  period  ;  it  is  quite  as  des- 
ponding as  the  lamentations  of  Sachetti.  I. 
"  Sopra  il  cattivo  stato  de'  popoli.  Come  mai 
in  ogni  pontificate,  s'ha  da  trover  modo  di 
metter  100  et  anco  1.50  m.  scudi  in  una  casa, 
e  non  e  possibile  di  levarne  50  m.  di  peso  agli 

aggravati  popoli II  peggio  e  non  voler 

permettere  i  modi  honesti  di  riempire  le  borse 
con  procacciarsi  per  mezzo  di  lecite  mercan- 
tie  quel  guadagni  ch'altri  con  I'autorita  inde- 
bitamente  s'appropria."  [On  tlie  unhappy  con- 
dition of  the  people.  In  every  pontificate  it 
is  contrived  to  bestow  one  hundred,  or  even 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  scudi  on  one 
house  ;  but  it  is  never  found  possible  to  take 
off  fifty  thousand  from  the  burthens  of  an 
oppressed  people The  worst  is,  that 


people  are  not  allowed  to  fill  their  purses  by 
honest  means,  in  acquiring  in  lawful  traffic 
those  gains  which  others  unduly  monpolize 
through  influence  with  the  government]  II. 
"  Sopra  la  gran  poverta  et  il  gran  lusso."  A 
rhetorical  contrast.  III.  "  Dell'  annona  e  del 
vino."  Chiefly  respecting  the  abuses  of  the 
annona.  "  I  ministri  del  principe  vogliono  far 
da  mercanti.  Quindi  tanti  fallimenti  di  mer- 
canti  e  di  fornari,  tanti  sconcerti  nelle  case  e 
nelli  luoghi  pii,  il  cui  loro  maggior  avere  con- 
siste  in  terreni,  e  tanti  grani  lasciati  marcire 
ne'  granari  a  chi  non  ha  voluto  soccombere 
all'  estorsione  di  si  detestabil  trafico."  [The 
ministers  of  the  sovereign  will  play  the  part 
of  merchants ;  hence  so  many  bankruptcies  of 
merchants  and  bakers,  so  many  embarrass- 
ments of  houses  and  luoghi  pii,  whose  chief 
property  consists  in  lands  ;  and  so  much  grain 
left  to  rot  in  granaries,  because  people  would 
not  submit  to  the  extortions  of  so  detestable  a 
traflic]  IV.  "  Del  ritardamento  della  giusti- 
tia  e  de'  frutti  de'  luoghi  di  monte."  The 
depositarii  de'  monti  too  are  accused  of  em- 
bezzlement and  dishonesty.  V.  "  Sopra  I'irre- 
verenza  nelle  chiese :" — he  says,  it  was  the 
same  as  in  the  theatres.  VI.  "  Sopra  il  fasto 
de'  banchetti  palatini."  VII.  "  Sopra  I'abuso 
del  cermoniale."  The  author  disapproves  of 
the  frequent  employment  of  the  epithet  Sanc- 
tissimus;  he  is  incensed  that  people  should 
dare  to  say  of  the  Corpus  Christi  proces- 
sion "  Sanctissimus  Sanctissima  portat." 
VIII.  "  Sopra  I'immunita  ecclesiastica :" — 
he  complains  that  criminals  find  asylum  in 
the  churches.  IX.  "  Sopra  le  lordure  delle 
strade."  The  report  is  well-meaning,  obser- 
vant on  the  whole,  but  not  profound. 

146.  Vita  del  servo  di  dio  papa  Tnnocentio  XI 
raccolta  in  tre  libri.  (MS.  Rom.)  [Life 
of  the  servant  of  God,  pope  Innocent  XL, 
comprised  in  three  books.] 

A  very  handsome  copy  in  114  leaves,  pro- 
bably put  into  some  later  pope's  own  hands. 

The  first  book  embraces  the  early  life  of 
Innocent  XL  The  author  had  taken  the 
trouble  to  collect  authentic  information  on  the 
subject.  He  denies  that  the  pope  made  a 
campaign  in  his  youth  :  the  question  had  been 
put  to  his  holiness  himself  On  the  other 
hand  he  relates  that  it  was  cardinal  Cueva 
who  pointed  out  to  the  young  man  (who  had 
been  recommended  to  him  by  the  governor  of 
Milan)  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the 
career  of  the  curia. 

The  second  book  contains  the  earlier  mea- 
sures of  this  pope's  reign,  his  financial  econ- 
omy, abolition  of  useless  offices,  lowering  the 
rate  of  interest  on  the  monti  (even  for  the  cor- 
porate bodies),  restrictions  on  usury,  which 
was  carried  on  especially  in  the  Ghetto,  new 
taxes  on  the  ecclesiastical  fees.     His  maxim 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


607 


was :  "  essere  egli  non  padrone,  ma  amminis- 
tratore  delle  cose  alia  santasede  spettanti  con 
I'obbligo  rigoroso  di  distribuirle  non  secondo 
la  gratia  de'  parent!  ma  conforme  la  legge 
della  giustitia.  .  .  .  Egli  medesimo  disse  che 
da  cardinale  haveva  cominciato  ad  esser  po- 
vero  e  da  papa  era  divenuto  mendico."  [That 
he  was  not  master  but  administrator  of  the 
things  pertaining  to  the  holy  see,  and  was 
strictly  bound  to  distribute  them,  not  from 
motives  of  family  preference,  but  in  accord- 
ance with  the  laws  of  justice.  .  .  .  He  said 
himself  that  from  the  time  he  became  cardinal 
he  began  to  be  poor,  and  as  pope  he  had  be- 
come a  beggar.]  The  author  moreover  alludes 
to  the  affairs  of  England,  and  does  not  hesitate 
to  say  that  king  James  wished  to  make  Eng- 
land catholic.  "Volendo  ricondnrre  al  Ro- 
mano cortile  i  suoi  sudditi,  comincio  a  servirsi 
nel  ministero  di  cattolici." 

In  the  third  book  the  part  taken  by  Inno- 
cent XI.  in  the  Turkish  war  is  considered, 
and  his  personal  qualities  are  described.  He 
is  presented  to  us  as  he  was,  energetic,  heed- 
less of  consequences,  and  honourable.  His 
manners  and  habits  are  described  with  much 
penetration,  far  better  than  in  the  little  work 
of  Bonamicus,  quoted  by  Lebret,  and  which  is 
in  fact  only  a  shallow  panegyric. 

We  have  here  too  remarkable  instances  of 
the  opposition  excited  by  the  measures  of  this 
pope.  What  huge  objections  were  raised 
against  the  draught  of  a  bull  for  the  abolition 
of  nepotism  !  "  II  volgo  vedendo  riformati 
molti  ministri  in  palazzo  et  unite  le  loro  cari- 
che  ad  altri  ministerj,  che  il  papa  non  inclina- 
va  a  spendere  ne  a  beneficare  con  gratie, 
senza  pensare  piu  oltre  biasimava  '1  genio  di 
Innocenza  come  incapace  della  conditione  del 
principe."  [The  populace  seeing  many  offices 
in  the  palace  abolished,  and  their  functions 
superadded  to  others  ;  and  seeing  too  that  the 
pope  was  not  disposed  to  be  lavish  of  his 
bounty,  without  further  reflection  inveighed 
against  Innocent,  as  wanting  the  spirit  becom- 
ing a  sovereign.]  This  dissatisfaction  was 
exhibited  from  time  to  time  in  various  shapes. 

147.  Memoriale  del  1680  al  papa  Innocenzo 
XI  concernente  il  governo  e  gli  aggravj. 
(Bibl.  Vallic.)  [Memorial  of  the  year 
1680,  to  pope  Innocent  XI.  concerning 
the  government  and  the  public  burthens.] 

People  acknowledge,  says  this  document, 
the  holy  zeal  of  the  pope.  But  unhappily  the 
fruit  of  his  proceedings  is  universal  discontent. 
Numerous  families  have  been  ruined  by  the 
reduction  of  the  interest  on  the  monti, — the 
cardinals  are  not  listened  to;  no  favour  is 
shown  to  the  temporal  sovereigns ;  the  pre 
lates  are  robbed  of  their  hopes  ;  the  poor  are 
without  alms ;  Rome  is  one  great  theatre  of 
misery. 


Who  would  imagine  it  ?  No  sooner  does  a 
pope  give  ear  to  the  incessant  outcries  against 
nepotism,  and  abolish  it,  than  forthwith  it  is 
called  for  again.  "  Onde'  e,"  says  this  me- 
morial after  stating  some  reasons,  "  che  sia 
una  gran  fortuna  per  un  principe  I'aver  pa- 
rent! buoni  e  capaci  del  governo:  poiche 
avendo  questi  piii  potent!  motivi  de!  ministri 
d'interessars!  nella  riputatione  e  gloria  di  lui, 
possono  anco  con  maggior  sincerita  e  fran- 
chezza  dire  i  loro  pareri."  [Wherefore  it  is 
a  great  good  fortune  for  a  sovereign  to  have 
relations  who  are  good  and  endowed  with  a 
capacity  for  government;  for  as  they  have 
more  powerful  motives  than  ministers  to  take 
an  interest  in  his  reputation  and  glory,  they 
can  also  speak  their  thoughts  with  more  sin- 
cerity and  frankness.] 

148.  Oda  satirica    contra   Innocenzo    XI. 

(Library  of  Frankfort  on  Main,  MS.  Glau- 
burg.  n.  31.)  [Satirical  ode  against  In- 
nocent XI.] 

The  foregoing  works  observe  some  modera- 
tion in  their  expression  of  dislike :  but  whe- 
ther a  real  fault  or  a  mere  rumour  gave  occa- 
sion for  censure,  it  found  vent  in  the  most  vi- 
olent outbreaks,  such  as  the  following  : 

"  lo  non  ritrovo  ancor  ne'  vecchi  annali 
bestia  peggior,  che  sotto  hipocrisia 
col  sangue  altru!  tingesse  e'l  becco  e  I'ali. 
Per  altri  era  zelante,  ma  concesse 
al  nepote  pero  che  il  gran  comprasse 
due  scud!  il  rubbio  e  nove  lo  vendesse." 

[I  find  no  mention  even  in  ancient  annals 
of  a  more  cruel  and  hypocritical  monster, 
with  beak  and  wings  tinged  in  the  blood  of 
its  victims.  With  others  he  was  fanatically 
rigorous,  but  he  allowed  his  nephew  to  buy 
up  corn  at  two  scud!  the  rubbio,  and  to  sell  it 
again  at  nine.] 

149.  Discorso  sopra  la  soppressione  del  col- 
legia de''  secretari  apostolici  fatta  per  la 
/S'<^  di  N.  S^^  Innocenzo  XL  [Discourse 
on  the  suppression  by  pope  Innocent  XL 
of  the  college  of  the  apostolic  secreta- 
ries.] 

Notwithstanding  all  this  violent  opposition, 
Innocent  proceeded  in  his  reforms.  The  dis- 
course before  us  shows  how  he  set  about  them 
in  individual  cases. 

It  describes  in  the  first  place  the  origin  of 
these  segretari,  whom  we  meet  with  since 
the  schism,  and  the  mischiefs  connected  with 
their  existence.  These  are  attributed  chiefly 
to  the  fact  that  no  administrative  functions 
belonged  to  the  office.  "  I  possessor!  degli 
officii  di  fatto  non  hanno  amministratione  o 
servitio  alcuno  nella  speditione  dei  negozj : 


608 


APPENDIX. 


mentre  cosi  il  segretario  di  brevi  come  quello 
delle  lettere  o  brevi  a  principi,  come  versali 
nel  meotiere,  si  soglioiio  deputare  ad  arbitrio 
del  papa  fuori  del  collegio,  ne  rofficio  porta 
eeco  la  prelatura  conferendosi  a  persona  secu- 
lari  per  lo  piii  inesperte  et  in  eta  tenera,  a 
guisa  di  quelli  altri  officii  popolari  i  quali  so- 
no  in  commercio  per  il  solo  commodo  et  inter- 
esse  borsale." 

[The  holders  of  these  offices  have  in  fact 
no  administrative  duties,  nor  any  share  in  the 
dispatch  of  business:  for  the  "segretario  di 
brevi"  and  the  segretario  for  letters  or  briefs 
to  princes,  being  versed  in  the  business,  act 
directly  upon  the  pope's  instructions  without 
the  intervention  of  the  college ;  nor  does  the 
office  imply  admission  to  the  prelature,  being 
bestowed  on  laymen  for  the  most  part  young 
and  inexperienced  ;  just  like  the  other  popu- 
lar offices,  which  subsist  only  for  convenience 
and  pecuniary  advantage.] 

The  rate  of  interest  being  enormous,  the 
treasury  having  to  pay  40,000  scudi  yearly 
for  200,000  received  by  it ;  Innocent  resolved 
to  suppress  the  college,  and  appointed  a  con- 
gregation to  investigate  the  claims  of  the 
shareholders. 

The  pope  would  pay  back  only  as  much  as 
had  been  actually  received  by  the  treasury : 
the  shareholders  demanded  at  least  as  much 
as  the  current  price  of  the  offices.  The  con- 
gregation could  not  come  to  any  decision. 

Our  author  is  of  opinion  that  the  pope  was 
bound  only  to  the  payment  of  the  nominal 
price ;  he  finds  this  principle  established  by 
the  practice  of  the  Roman  see. 

I  have  met  with  other  writings  also  be- 
longing to  this  subject,  e.  g.  "Statodella 
camera  nel  presente  pontificate  d'  Innocenzo 
XI ;"  but  they  consist  of  figures,  and  do  not 
admit  of  extracts  being  made  from  them. 

150.  Scritture  politiche,  morali  e  satiriche 
sopra  le  massime,  istituto  e  governo  del- 
la  campagnia  di  Gesu.  [Political,  moral, 
and  satirical  writings  concerning  the  max- 
ims, the  institution,  and  the  government 
of  the  society  of  Jesus.] 

A  collection  of  all  kinds  of  writings  relat- 
ing to  the  order,  some  of  which,  for  instance 
a  consulta  of  Acquaviva,  are  satirical  and 
pure  invention;  but  others  are  entirely  in 
earnest,  and  derived  from  the  best  sources. 

The  most  important  is,  "  In  nomine  Jesu. 
Discorso  sopra  la  religione  de'  padri  Jesuiti  e 
loro  modo  di  governare:"  this  occupies  by  it- 
self nearly  400  leaves.  It  was  composed  in 
the  generalship  of  Noyelle,  that  is  to  say,  be- 
tween 1681  and  1686.  It  is  certainly  unfa- 
vourable to  the  order,  but  at  the  same  time  it 
is  manifest  from  every  word  that  the  author 
was  most  accurately  acquainted  with  its  con- 


dition since  the  middle  of  the  century.  He 
takes  the  following  course. 

I.  He  arranges  the  defects  he  notices  un- 
der certain  headings.  1.  "Di  alcune  loro 
massime  :"  such  for  instance  as  the  idea  that 
their  order  was  the  most  illustrious,  that  all 
its  prayers  were  heard,  that  all  who  died  in  i 
the   order   were   unquestionably   saved.      2. 

"  Delia  loro  avidita  et  interesse."  Their  coz- 
ening tricks  to  obtain  bequests — a  multitude 
of  stories  are  related  of  their  way  of  fishing 
for  presents — their  trafficking,  and  various 
other  worse  things.  He  dwells  most  on  their 
trade ;  but  he  takes  too  narrow  a  view,  em- 
bracing only  Rome  and  the  ecclesiastical 
states.  3.  "  Del  loro  governo."  The  abuse 
of  the  monarchical  power.  The  deposition  of  ' 
Nickel,  see  p.  304.  4.  "  Qualita  proprie  del 
governo."  For  instance,  "Flagello  sordo," 
which  means  that  those  who  were  punished 
were  not  even  told  for  what  offence;  denun- 
ciation without  previous  warning ;  the  supe- 
rior often  employed  an  inferior  in  the  duty  of 
inspection,  which  was  destructive  of  all  order. 

5.  "  Governo  in  ordine  ai  loro  convittori  e 
scolari."     Their  dishonouring    punishments. 

6.  "  La  moltitudine  delle  regole."  They 
were  often  contradictory ;  there  was  no  one 
who  knew  them  all. 

II.  Next,  after  repeated  discussion  of  cause 
and  effect,  the  author  endeavours  to  point  out 
the  remedies  for  these  evils.  It  is  remarka- 
ble that  under  the  latter  head  he  names,  as 
the  most  important  of  all,  the  appointment  of 
vicars-general,  which  had  so  often  been  called 
for,  but  which  the  order  would  never  consent 
to :  "  Constituire  un  vicario  generale  per  le 
provincie  della  Spagna,  Germania,  Francia  et 
Indie, — cacciar  sangue  ad  un  corpo  troppo 
pinguc, — leggi  certe  a  delitti  certi."  [To 
appoint  a  vicar-general  for  the  provinces  of 
Spain,  Germany,  France,  and  the  Indies, — • 
bloodletting  of  the  too  plethoric  body, — fixed 
laws  for  stated  offences.] 

III.  He  then  returns  to  his  first  method  of 
enumerating  the  defects  of  the  institution  un- 
der various  heads.  A  multitude  of  particu- 
lars are  mentioned  that  bear  the  stamp  of 
more  or  less  authenticity.  Perhaps  the  most 
important  section  is  the  last,  "  Delle  loro  In- 
diche  missioni,"  founded  upon  the  letters  ex- 
tant in  the  papal  archives,  and  executed  with 
great  care,  the  originals  being  separately  in- 
dicated. In  this  section  the  acts  of  disobedi- 
ence to  the  pope,  of  which  the  Jesuits  had 
been  guilty,  are  enumerated,  even  so  long  be- 
fore Pere  I^orbert. 

Assuredly  this  document  is  unfavourable  to 
the  Jesuits ;  but  at  the  same  time  it  is  ex- 
ceedingly instructive.  It  unveils  the  faults 
of  the  institution  with  shrewdness  and  pene- 
tration, so  that  we  get  a  far  clearer  insight 
into  its  internal  economy  that  would  other- 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


609 


wise  be  possible.  It  cannot  be  said  to  be  ab- 
solutely hostile,  for  it  recognises  the  good  as 
well  as  the  evil.  We  perceive  from  it,  how- 
ever, what  storms  were  already  gathering  in 
men's  minds  against  the  order. 

151.  Relatione  di  Roma  di  Gio.  Lando  Sr, 
inviato  straordinario  per  la  ser^"<^  rep"'^  di 
Venetia  ad  Innocentio  XI  et  amh^  stra- 
ord^io  ad  Alessandro  VIII  in  occasione 
della  canonizazione  di  S.  Lorenzo  Gius- 
tiniani.  1691.  (17  leaves.)  [Report  on 
Rome  by  Gio.  Lando,  envoy  extraordinary 
from  the  most  serene  republic  of  Venice 
to  Innocent  XL,  and  ambassador  extraor- 
dinary to  Alexander  VIII.  on  the  occasion 
of  the  canonization  of  St.  Lorenzo  Gius- 
tiniani.] 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  no 
report  worthy  of  the  name  on  the  important 
reign  of  Innocent  XL,  none  by  which  we 
might  be  impartially  enlightened  on  the  re- 
sult of  that  pope's  measures.  The  business 
of  the  republic  was  managed  in  the  first  years 
of  that  reign,  from  1678  to  1633,  by  cardinal 
Ottobon,  a  Venetian,  afterwards  Alexander 
VIII.,  who  never  returned  to  Venice,  and 
therefore  made  no  report.  After  him  came 
Giovanni  Lando,  but  without  any  properly  of- 
ficial character.  It  is  true,  Lando  neverthe- 
less drew  up  a  final  report,  but  not  till  Alex- 
ander was  dead  and  a  conclave  had  again  as- 
sembled. Besides  this,  his  report  unfortunate- 
ly departs  from  the  tone  generally  prevailing 
in  those  of  Venice. 

He  begins  by  discussing  the  divine  right  of 
the  popedom,  and  laments  that  its  power  was 
not  universally  acknowledged.  Nay,  the 
number  of  the  heretics  exceeded  that  of  the 
catholics.  The  accursed  quietists  even  had 
set  up  their  operations  in  Rome  !  They 
would  not  believe  at  the  court  of  Rome  that 
they  were  themselves  to  blame  for  this,  yet 
the  case  was  so.  Even  now  a  man  who 
strove  in  the  church's  cause  with  profound 
erudition  or,  through  the  holiness  of  his  ex- 
ample, was  far  less  esteemed  than  the  canon- 
ist who  wrote  in  defence  of  the  pope's  dignity. 
Their  exaggerations,  however,  had  the  very 
result  of  making  secular  princes  set  them- 
selves against  the  court  of  Rome. 

After  having  made  an  attempt  himself  to 
define  the  limits  of  the  temporal  and  the  spi- 
ritual authority,  he  slowly  approaches  secular 
affairs.  He  draws  a  melancholy  picture  of 
the  condition  of  the  ecclesiastical  state:  "de- 
solate negli  abitanti,  spiantato  nella  coltura, 
ruinate  coll'  estorsioni,  niancanted'industria" 
[stripped  of  inhabitants,  its  cultivation  ne- 
glected, ruined  by  extortions,  destitute  of 
trade  and  manufactures.]  He  estimates  the 
debts  at  42,000,000.  Alexander  VIII.  had 
reduced  the  expenditure  by  200,000  scudi,  and 
77 


thereby  restored  the  balance  between  the 
outgoings  and  the  income.  The  pope  had  a 
vein  of  gold  in  the  dataria.  Nevertheless, 
this  money  by  no  means  stayed  in  Rome :  it 
came  in  by  retail  and  went  out  wholesale  : 
Innocent  XI.  had  certainly  paid  out  two  mil- 
lions of  scudi  in  aid  of  the  Turkish  war  in 
Hungary.  Of  the  forty-two  millions  of  debt, 
fifteen  perhaps  had  been  contracted  on  behalf 
of  Christendom. 

He  finds  that  Rome  was  still  the  common 
country  and  the  general  muster-ground  for  all 
nations.  Still  every  one  came  thither  in  pur- 
suit of  his  own  interest.  Few  Germans  or 
Frenchmen  were  seen  there,  because  their 
promotion  was  not  dependent  on  the  court  of 
Rome,  and  no  Spaniards  but  those  of  the  low- 
er classes:  were  all  the  Italian  princes  in 
like  manner  to  dispose  of  the  ecclesiastical 
appointments  in  their  own  domains,  the  court 
of  Rome  would  be  ruined.  But  as  a  set-off 
against  this,  Italy  had  the  patronage  of  the 
papacy.  "  Tutta  la  corte,  tutte  le  dignitn, 
tutte  le  cariche,  tutto  lo  stato  ecclesiastico 
resta  tra  gli  Italiani."  [The  whole  court,  all 
dignities,  all  high  offices,  the  whole  ecclesias- 
tical state  are  in  the  hands  of  the  Italians.] 
And  how  much  resulted  from  this  !  Seeing 
the  insecurity  of  succession  in  all  the  Italian 
houses,  the  welfare  of  Italy  depended  wholly 
and  solely  on  the  union  of  Venice  and  Rome. 
He  takes  occasion  to  dilate  on  the  necessity 
of  a  good  understanding  between  those  two 
governments.  He  is  of  opinion  that  much 
might  be  conceded  on  the  part  of  Venice. 
The  protection  afforded  to  unruly  frati,  and 
certain  claims  to  jurisdiction,  were  taken  in 
very  bad  part  in  Rome. 

Now  these  as  we  see  are  all  very  good 
practical  remarks,  that  bespeak  an  honest 
character,  but  they  cannot  satisfy  us,  who 
seek  for  more  positive  information,  respecting 
the  administration  of  the  state.  The  follow- 
ing is  all  that  concerns  the  two  popes  under 
whom  he  serves,  which  is  told  us  by  Lando,  a 
queer  writer  by-the-by,  whose  darling  figure 
of  speech  is  the  anacoluthon.  "Quando  io 
rifletto  a  quelle  che  ho  sentito  a  risuonare 
senza  ritegno  contro  Innocenzio  XI,  il  quale 
veniva  accusato  di  non  dare  audienza,  d'as- 
prezza,  di  crudelta,  d'inflessibile  nemico  di 
principi,  di  studioso  di  controversie,  d'irreso- 
luto  e  tenace,  di  distruttore  delle  diocesi  e 
beni  ecclesiastic! :  perche  stava  molti  anni 
senza  provederli,  perche  aveva  calati  li  monti 
senza  sollevare  lo  stato  coll'  avvanzo  risulta- 
tone,  per  avore  tenuta  ferma  I'estorsione  che 
chiamano  dell'  annona,  peressere  stato  indul- 
gente  a'  quietisti,  e  tante  altre  cose  con  che 
non  vi  era  persona  che  non  esclamasse  contro 
di  lui :  e  pareva  all'  ora  al  volgo  indiscreto 
che  non  fossero  virtu  d'alcuna  importanza  al 
pontificate,  quale  memorabilissimo  d'una  cos- 
tante  alienatione  del  suo  sangue  ed  un'  illi- 


610 


APPENDIX. 


bata  disinteressatezza  per  lasciare  intatto 
tutto  quello  era  della  camera,  fuorche  impie- 
gato  nelle  guerre  contro  sfl'infedeli :  e  s'aug- 
uravano  all'  ora  un  pontefice  che,  se  bene  un 
poco  indulgente  alii  suoi,  lo  fosse  anco  per 
gl'altri,  e  che  fosse  dotato  di  quelle  virtu  che 
all'ora  si  giudicavano  pivi  necessarie,  perche 
pareva  mancassero!  Ma  veduto  poi  che  as- 
sonto  Alessandro  VIII,  benche  tutio  umanita, 
facile  all'  audienze,  dolce,  compassionevole, 
pieghevole,  rispettoso  aprincipi,  nemicod'im- 
pegni,  sbrigativo,  franco  nei  negotii  ed  in 
tutte  le  sorti  di  speditioni,  benefice  alio  stato, 
sollevato  di  200  mila  scudi  di  gabella  e  dell' 
angaria  dell'  annona,  che  ha  fulminato  li 
quietisti,  che  ha  finite  quietamente  il  negotio 
molestisimo  del  quartiere,  ha  soccorso  lui  pure 
la  guerra  contro  il  Turco,  ed  ha  fatto  ancora 
altre  attioni  importanti  nella  gran  brevita  del 
suo  pontificate  ad  ogni  modo,  perche  all'  in- 
contro  ha  mostrato  affetto  alii  suoi  nipoti,  per- 
che ha  volute  fidarsi  di  lore  piu  che  degl'altri 
nelle  cariche,  perche  ha  voluto  provederli  con 
qualche  larghezza  ma  di  molto  inferiore  a 
quella  hanno  fatto  tanti  altri,  e  perche  in  ques- 
ta  parte  ha  mostrato  un  poco  d'umanita  e  la 
tolleranza  del  sangue,  e  stato  anche  egli  ber- 
saglio  d'invettive  maligna  e  continue  fin  alia 
morte,  ma  equalmente  ingiuste  dell'  uno  e 
deir  altro." 

[When  I  reflect  on  what  I  have  heard  un- 
reservedly advanced  against  Innocent  XL, 
who  was  accused  of  not  giving  audience,  of 
harshness,  cruelty,  inflexible  enmity  to  prin- 
ces, of  love  of  controversy,  of  irresolution  and 
obstinacy,  of  being  a  destroyer  of  dioceses  and 
ecclesiastical  property,  because  he  remained 
many  years  without  appointing  to  them,  be- 
cause he  had  suppressed  the  monti  without 
relieving  the  state  by  any  resulting  advantage, 
because  he  had  upheld  the  so  called  extortion 
of  the  annona,  because  he  had  been  indulgent 
to  the  Quietists,  and  so  many  other  things  that 
there  was  not  one  who  did  not  exclaim  against 
him  :  and  it  then  appeared  to  the  rude  vulgar 
that  there  was  no  virtue  of  any  importance  in 
that  pontificate,  which  was  most  memorable 
for  a  constant  alienation  of  its  own  blood,  and 
for  an  unsullied  disinterestedness  in  leaving 
untouched  all  that  belonged  to  the  treasury, 
except  what  was  employed  in  the  wars  against 
the  infidels :  and  they  now  longed  for  a  pope, 
who,  if  even  a  little  indulgent  to  his  own  tbl- 
lowers,  would  be  so  likewise  for  others,  and 
who  should  be  endowed  with  those  virtues 
which  were  now  deemed  most  necessary,  be- 
cause it  appeared  that  they  were  wanting. 
But  after  the  accession  of  Alexander  VIII., 
though  all  humanity,  easy  of  access,  gentle, 
compassionate,  amiable,  regardful  of  princes, 
averse  to  pledges,  shunning  quarrels,  frank  in 
business  and  in  all  sorts  of  contracts,  a  well 
doer  to  the  state,  relieving  it  from  taxes  to 
the  amount  of  200,000  scudi  and  from  the 


vexation  of  the  annona,  who  crushed  the 
Quietists,  who  quietly  put  an  end  to  the  very 
unpleasant  business  of  the  quarter,  who  him- 
self too  aided  the  war  against  the  Turks,  and 
did  other  important  actions  of  every  kind  in 
his  very  brief  pontificate  ;  because  on  the  con- 
trary he  showed  affection  for  his  nephews,  be- 
cause he  was  pleased  to  trust  them  more  than 
others  in  grave  employments,  because  he  de- 
sired to  provide  for  them  with  some  liberality, 
but  with  much  less  than  so  many  others  before 
him,  and  because  on  this  score  he  displayed 
some  human  feeling  and  the  tolerance  of  blood, 
he  too  was  made  the  mark  of  malicious  invec- 
tives that  never  ceased  till  his  death  :  but  they 
were  equally  unjust  in  the  one  case  as  in  the 
other.] 

Lastly  he  refers  to  his  own  services,  stating 
that  he  had  written  in  the  course  of  his  official 
duties  upwards  of  seven  hundred  dispatches. 

These  may  possibly  contain  more  facts. 
They  are  to  be  found  partly  in  Venice,  partly 
in  Vienna. 

152.  Confessione  di  papa  Alessandro  VIII 
fatla  al  suo  confessor e  il  padre  Giuseppe 
Gesuita  negli  ultimi  estremi  della  sua 
vita.  (MS  Rom.  21  leaves) — [Confes- 
sion of  pope  Alexander  VIII.  made  to  his 
confessor  father  Giuseppe,  a  Jesuit,  in 
his  very  last  moments.] 

G.  B.  Perini,  a  scriptor  in  the  Vatican  ar- 
chives, narrates  in  sober  seriousness  that  he 
found  this  document  among  other  papers  be- 
longing to  the  times  of  Alexander  VIII.  He 
writes  this  on  the  9th  of  November,  1736, 
when  no  one  could  have  any  interest  in  slan- 
dering a  pope  who  had  so  many  successors. 
The  little  work  is  therefore  worth  considera- 
tion, in  spite  of  its  ominous  title.  What  does 
the  pope  confess  in  it] 

He  begins  by  saying  that  he  had  never 
regularly  confessed  since  1669 :  he  would  do 
so  now,  since  a  heavenly  voice  had  assured 
him  of  absolution.  Hereupon  he  confesses  to 
conduct  such  as  follows : — he  had  availed  him- 
self of  the  permission  once  granted  him  by 
pope  Clement  to  sign  in  his  stead,  to  make 
the  most  unwarrantable  concessions  ;  he  had 
prompted  pope  Innocent  XL  to  the  steps  he 
had  taken  against  France,  and  yet  had  privily 
conspired  with  the  French  against  the  pope ; 
when  himself  advanced  to  the  papacy,  he  had 
knowingly  and  deliberately  promoted  incom- 
petent, nay,  abandoned  men,  had  given  no 
thought  to  anything  but  the  enrichment  of  his 
followers,  and  winked  at  the  sale  of  justice 
and  mercy  in  the  palace ;  with  other  things 
of  the  same  kind. 

It  is  plain  enough  this  is  no  confession  of  a 
pope;  that  would  run  quite  differently,  it 
would  reveal  far  other  particulars.  I  am  of 
opinion  that  it  is  one  of  those  lampoons,  so 
frequent  in  those  limes,  which  may  embody 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


611 


an  opinion  that  had  gained  currency  respect- 
ing Alexander,  but  by  no  moans  the  truth.  It 
got  mixed  up  in  all  likelihood  with  the  au- 
thentic writings  of  the  period  where  it  was 
found  by  some  zealous  clerk  of  the  archives, 
and  taken  for  genuine.  In  the  Venetian  ar- 
»  chives  likewise,  I  lighted  upon  many  spurious 
documents. 

153.  Relatione  di  Dornenico  Contarini  K. 
Roma  1695  5  Luglio  (Arch.  V.  18 
leaves.) — [Report  by  Dornenico  Conta- 
rini.] 

Contarini  had  already  been  employed  at  the 
French  and  the  imperial  court  when  he  was 
sent  to  the  pope's.  His  mission  was  originally 
to  Alexander  VIIL,  whom  however  he  found 
so  ill  that  he  could  not  be  presented  to  him. 
His  report  is  devoted  to  an  account  of  Innocent 
XII. 

Antonio  Pignatelli  (born  161.5)  was  sprung 
from  the  ducal  family  of  Montelione  in  Na- 
ples, and  entered  the  prelature  at  an  early 
age.  He  was  made  vicelegate  of  Urbino,  in- 
quisitor of  Malta,  and  governor  of  Perugia,  a 
career  which  was  not  indeed  to  be  despised, 
but  which  offered  little  that  could  satisfy  am- 
bition. Pignatelli  was  sometimes  tempted  to 
give  up  the  ecclesiastical  career  altogether. 
At  last,  however,  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  a 
nunciature,  which  appeared  to  him  the  surest 
road  to  promotion.  He  was  nuncio  to  Flo- 
rence, eight  years  to  Poland,  and  to  Germany  ; 
the  latter  nunciature  usually  led  to  the  cardi- 
nalate.  But,  says  Contarini,  whether  it  was 
the  influence  of  inauspicious  stars,  or  the  dis- 
like of  the  then  government  of  Clement  IX., 
instead  of  being  rewarded  he  was  recalled, 
and  sent  as  bishop  to  Lezze  on  the  outermost 
confines  of  Naples.  Under  these  circumstan- 
ces he  had  to  exert  the  whole  strength  of  his 
mind  and  the  most  manly  firmness ;  and  in 
fact  the  moderation  and  resignation  he  dis- 
played threw  the  whole  court  into  amazement. 
With  supernatural  cheerfulness  he  returned 
thanks  even  for  that  appointment,  "since  he 
should  now  no  longer  have  to  bear  the  heavy 
burthen  of  those  nunciatures."  Contarini  sets 
it  down  that  Clement  IX.  banished  Pigna- 
telli to  that  bishopric,  and  that  Clement  X. 
recalled  him  to  Rome  :  it  is  stated,  however, 
by  Roman  writers,  that  both  events  occurred 
under  Clement  X.  Be  this  as  it  may,  whether 
cardinal  Altieri  was  desirous  of  repairing  an 
act  of  injustice  of  his  own  or  of  another's  doing, 
he  placed  Pignatelli  by  his  uncle  as  maestro 
di  camera:  Innocent  XI.  found  him  in  that 
office  and  confirmed  him  in  it. 

But  now  his  fortunes  took  a  sudden  start. 
He  was  made  cardinal  in  the  year  1681,  and 
immediately  afterwards  bishop  of  Faenza,  le- 
gate of  Bologna,  and  archbishop  of  Naples. 
Upon  the  death  of  Innocent  XI.  he  was  al- 
ready thought  of  in  the  conclave ;  after  the 


decease  of  Alexander  VIII.  the  French,  con- 
trary to  all  expectation,  were  in  favour  of  him, 
a  Neapolitan.  The  reason  of  this  was,  that 
they  had  need  of  a  man  of  mild  and  quiet  dis- 
position. He  was  therefore  elected,  though 
not  till  after  a  tedious  conclave,  which  lasted 
five  months  and  wearied  all  the  cardinals. 

Innocent  XII.,  too,  retained  Panciatichiand 
Albano,  the  secretary  of  briefs  and  the  datary 
whom  he  found  in  office,  though  they  were  the 
creatures  of  his  predecessor.  The  nomina- 
tion of  Spada  to  be  secretary  of  state  was  uni- 
versally approved  ;  it  was  made  by  the  advice 
of  Altieri.  It  was  only  the  nephews  of  Alex- 
ander VIII.  whom  Innocent  XII.  did  not  con- 
firm in  their  posts  :  he  adhered  in  all  respects 
to  the  example  of  Innocent  XI.  "  Andava 
procurando  il  papa  d'imitare  Innocentio  XI, 
di  cui  e  creatura  et  aveva  preso  il  nome,  for- 
zandosi  servisse  al  modello  del  suo  la  forma  di 
quel  governo,  levandoli  pero  quel  la  parte  che 
neir  austerita  e  rigidezza  non  era  stata  lau- 
data."  [The  pope  endeavoured  to  imitate  In- 
nocent XL,  whose  creature  he  was,  and  whose 
name  he  had  assumed,  taking  the  practice  of 
that  pope's  government  as  a  model  for  his 
own,  only  omitting  the  austerity  and  harsh- 
ness which  had  not  been  approved  of  in  it.] 
He  strove,  as  we  see,  by  greater  gentleness, 
to  surpass  his  model.  He  was  easy  of  access ; 
his  public  audiences  for  the  poor  particularly 
won  him  a  good  name  ;  although  they  did  not, 
as  the  latter  expected,  lead  to  a  speedy  termi- 
nation of  their  differences,  still  they  kept  the 
tyranny  of  the  nobles  in  check.  "Tutticon- 
fessavano  che  questo  publico  ricorso  portava 
un  gran  freno  a  tutti  li  ministri  e  giudici: 
mentre  era  troppo  facile  la  strada  di  avvicin- 
arsi  air  orecchie  del  principe  e  di  scoprirli 
quelle  che  in  altri  tempi  era  impedito  o  dalla 
autoritii  o  dall'  astutia  di  chi  s'appressava  al 
papa."  [It  was  confessed  on  all  hands  that 
this  public  hearing  was  a  great  check  upon 
all  the  ministers  and  judges,  by  facilitating  an 
approach  to  the  ear  of  the  sovereign,  and  af- 
fording the  means  of  laying  before  him  what 
in  other  times  had  been  shut  out  by  the  influ- 
ence or  the  craft  of  those  around  the  pope.] 

An  unlucky  accident  for  a  while  suspended 
his  activity,  but  it  was  soon  resumed. 

The  French  question  was  settled  ;  the  most 
important  reforms  were  begun.  There  ap- 
peared a  bull  respecting  nepotism,  in  which  it 
was  provided  that  the  benefices  and  ecclesias- 
tical revenues  for  the  future  to  be  bestowed 
on  a  pope's  nephew  should  not  exceed  the  sum 
of  12,000  scudi.  Innocent  XI.  abolished  the 
sale  of  such  important  offices  as  those  of  the 
chierici  di  camera,  and  paid  back  the  price, 
1,016,070  scudi.  "  He  thereby  divested  money 
of  its  might,  and  again  afl'orded  virtue  a 
chance  of  mounting  to  the  higii  places."  Many 
other  reforms  were  now  looked  for.  "  The 
pope,"  says  Contarini,  "has  nothmg  before 


612 


APPENDIX. 


his  eyes  but  God,  the  poor,  and  the  reform  of 
abuses.  He  lives  most  abstemiously  ;  he  de- 
votes every  hour  to  the  duties  of  his  office, 
without  regard  to  his  health.  He  is  irre- 
proachable in  his  habits,  conscientious,  regard- 
less of  his  relations'  interest,  full  of  love  for 
the  poor,  endowed  with  all  the  high  qualities 
to  be  desired  in  the  head  of  the  church.  Could 
he  always  act  for  himself,  he  would  be  one  of 
the  first  of  popes." 

Every  one,  however,  was  not  pleased  with 
his  conduct.  Contarini  regrets  that  Innocent 
had  no  nephews  who  could  feel  a  personal  in- 
terest in  their  uncle's  fame,  and  that  his  min- 
isters had  too  much  latitude, — "  vedendosi 
offuscate  quelle  grandi  e  risplendenti  virtu 
dalla  solertia  de'  ministri  troppo  pratici  dell' 
arte  della  corte,"  [his  noble  and  resplendent 
virtues  being  obscured  by  the  craft  of  minis- 
ters too  well  versed  in  the  arts  of  the  court.] 
It  is  charged  against  these,  that,  in  order  to 
divert  the  zeal  of  Innocent  XII.  into  another 
channel,  they  contrived  to  fix  his  attention  e.x- 
clusively  on  the  relie£  of  the  poor.  The  hos- 
pital of  the  Lateran  was  proposed.  This  soon 
engrossed  all  the  pope's  thoughts.  "  Questo 
chiodo  fermo  I'ardente  volonta  del  papa  di 
riformare."  [This  put  a  stop  to  the  pope's 
ardent  desire  to  reform.] 

The  author  is  persuaded  that  the  pope  had 
saved  and  laid  by  about  two  millions  of  scudi. 
He  is  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  purity  of 
his  intention  :  he  calls  him  a  man  of  blame- 
less and  faultless  morals. 

154.  Relazione  di  Roma  di  Nicolo  Erizzo 
K'-  1702  29  Ottobre.  (40  leaves.)  [Re- 
port on  Rome  by  Nicolo  Erizzo.] 

Nicolo  Erizzo  had  already  accompanied  P. 
Mocenigo  in  his  embassy  to  Clement  X.:  he 
was  now  himself  made  ambassador;  he  reached 
Rome  before  the  death  of  Innocent  XII.,  and 
remained  there  during  the  first  years  of  the 
reign  of  Clement  XI.  His  report  derives 
double  value  from  the  fact  that  he  had  already 
been  long  acquainted  with  Rome. 

He  treats  first  of  former  popes,  and  after 
some  general  remarks  comes  to  Innocent  XI., 
— "  that  holy  man,  whose  highest  merit  cer- 
tainly did  not  consist  in  his  science  and 
learning,  but  who  on  the  other  hand,  possess- 
ed financial  knowledge,  and  who  not  only 
effected  the  restoration  of  the  balance  be- 
tween expenditure  and  income,  but  was  also 
able  to  afford  liberal  aid  to  the  emperor  and 
the  Poles  in  their  struggle  against  the 
Turks."  Alexander  VIII.  at  least  did  not 
bestow  the  money  of  the  treasury  on  his  ne- 
phews. On  the  other  hand  he  lost  enor- 
mously by  the  failure  of  the  house  of  xMerli, 
and  many  persons  ascribed  his  death  to  that 
cause.  Innocent  XII.  closed  up  the  gulf  of 
nepotism ;  although  he  did  so  much  for  the 


poor,  though  he  remitted  a  tax,  and  erected 
buildings  for  the  court,  and  constructed  har- 
bour works,  still  he  left  behind  a  considerable 
sum  in  the  treasury.  But  he  lived  too  long 
for  the  college  of  cardinals,  whom  on  his 
part  he  did  not  prize  very  highly.  He 
seemed  to  them  to  sacrifice  the  interests  of 
the  holy  see  to  his  obsequiousness  towards 
the  royal  courts. 

At  last  he  died  on  the  27th  September, 
1700,  and  the  cardinals  eagerly  rushed  to  the 
business  of  the  conclave.  Their  purpose  was 
to  elect  a  pope  who  should  make  good  the 
injuries  they  thought  they  had  sustained. 
They  fixed  their  eyes  on  cardinal  Marescotti, 
"  a  man  of  stout  heart,  worthy  to  rule,  obsti- 
nate in  his  principles,  and  of  inflexible  deter- 
mination." Erizzo  calls  him  a  great  man. 
He  was  supported  by  the  imperial  and  the 
Spanish  ambassadors.  But  excessive  zeal  is 
often  dangerous  in  the  election  of  a  pope,  and 
it  was  fatal  to  Marescotti.  The  French,  who 
feared  his  open  hostility,  succeeded  in  throw- 
ing him  over.  Upon  this  a  multitude  of  others 
were  proposed ;  but  there  were  objections  to 
them  all :  one  was  too  vehement,  another  too 
gentle,  a  third  had  too  many  nephews;  the 
friends  of  the  Jesuits  opposed  cardinal  Noris, 
because  he  had  dealt  somewhat  severely  with 
them  in  his  history  of  Pelagianism.  The  hot 
zelanti  (here  so  designated  for  the  first  time) 
would  gladly  have  elected  CoUoredo,  but  the 
others  thought  him  too  austere.  At  last, 
when  the  news  arrived  of  the  death  of  Charles 
IL,  "the  cardinals,"  says  Erizzo,  "were 
moved  by  the  hand  of  God,  so  that  in  one 
moment  they  desisted  from  their  passions,  and 
from  the  hopes  with  which  each  had  flattered 
himself,  and  turned  their  eyes  on  cardinal 
Albani  with  that  instinctive  movement  which 
is  the  strongest  evidence  of  divine  prompt- 
ing." Cardinal  Albani  refused  the  dignity; 
Erizzo  is  of  opinion  that  his  refusal  was 
genuine,  and  meant  in  earnest.  At  last  he 
gave  way,  apparently  more  from  scruples, 
and  to  avoid  being  longer  entreated,  than  of 
his  own  free  will. 

Erizzo  now  proceeds  to  describe  the  family 
and  the  personal  character  of  the  newly 
elected  pope. 

Albani's  family  came  from  Urbino.  When 
the  aged  Francesco  Maria  of  Urbino  resolved 
to  surrender  his  duchy  before  his  death  to 
Urban  VIII.,  he  sent  an  Albani — the  same 
who  had  counselled  him  to  that  step — to 
make  it  known  to  the  pope.  Twice  he  sent 
him.  On  the  first  occasion  he  repented,  and 
called  back  his  ambassador.  Erizzo  asserts 
that  he  also  changed  his  mind  on  the  second 
occasion,  and  sent  contrary  orders ;  but  that 
Albani  this  time  did  not  attend  to  them,  but 
delivered  the  act  of  abdication  to  Urban  VIII. 
without  further  hesitation.  For  this  he  was 
made  senator  of  Rome,  and  his  son  became 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


613 


maestro  di  camera  to  cardinal  Barberini :  he 
was  the  father  of  Giovan  Francesco  Albini, 
the  new  pope. 

Giovan  Francesco  Albani  applied  himself  to 
literature  and  to  the  ecclesiastical  profession  ; 
fortune  so  far  favoured  him  that  he  soon  had 
personal  access  to  the  popes  of  his  day. 
"Under  Innocent  XI.,"  says  Erizzo,  "he 
learned  to  form  his  decisions  with  more  de- 
liberation than  he  was  by  nature  inclined  to 
do,  and  to  persist  in  whatever  he  had  under- 
taken. Under  Alexander  he  acquired  freer 
and  bolder  habits  of  negotiation ;  he  was 
found  to  be  at  once  wary  and  determined, 
prompt  and  deliberate,  and  in  outward  ap- 
pearance well  disposed  to  every  body :  these 
arts  he  next  practised  under  Innocent  XII. 
That  suspicious  old  man  could  endure  neither 
his  datary  nor  his  secretary  of  state:  Albani 
alone  had  free  access  to  him,  and  contrived 
to  make  himself  equally  indispensable  to  the 
pope  and  to  the  court." 

The  first  step  of  Clement  XL,  after  his 
election,  was  to  notify  to  tlie  ambassadors 
that  he  must  repeal  many  innovations  intro- 
duced under  his  predecessors  ;  he  summoned 
the  governatore  to  the  coronation,  which  the 
governors  of  Rome  had  always  avoided  on 
account  of  the  disputes  for  precedency ;  he 
abolished  all  asylums  : — the  ambassadors  said 
that  he  did  so  only  to  make  an  impression  on 
the  court. 

The  appointments  he  now  made  were  in 
Erizzo's  opinion  not  very  happy.  Clement 
surrounded  himself  exclusively  with  weak 
men.  "Felicitato  il  coraggio  di  questi  suoi 
ordini  dal  successo  e  dal  rispetto  de'  regj  rap- 
presentanti,  non  credette  Sua  S"-^  d'aver  bi- 
sogno  a  palazzo  de'  rainistri  di  gran  valore  : 
onde  chiamovvi  per  segretario  di  state  il 
cardinale  Paulucci  di  cortisima  esperienza, 
ed  elesse  per  datario  il  cardinale  Sacripante, 
infaticabile  e  diligentissimo  per  quell'  impiego, 
ma  non  insignito  che  della  qualita  di  buon 
curiale.  Indi  diede  a  monsr  Olivieri  suo  pa- 
rente  la  segretaria  de'  brevi,  che  aveva  digia 
egregiamente  esercitata  sotto  di  lui  stesso :  e 
pose  nelle  cariche  che  piii  lo  avvicinavano,  li 
antichi  suoi  amici  e  parenti,  come  mons^  Pa- 
racciani  gran  legista,  monsr  Origo  per  segre- 
tario delle  lettere  latine  e  Maffei  per  coppiere 
confidente,  tutta  gente  di  pochissima  estra- 
zione,  urbinati  o  delli  vicini  municpj,  che  non 
avendo  veduto  se  non  Roma  hanno  per  conse- 
guenza  pochissima  cognizione  delli  principi  e 
molto  meno  poi  degli  afFari  del  mondo.  Non 
voile  pvesso  di  se  cardinal!  di  grande  testa 
ne  ministri  che  da  essi  dipendessero,  pre- 
ferendo  la  sua  quiete  e  la  sua  autorita,  a  (jue' 
consigli,  che  non  gli  potevano  venire  dalle 
suddette  persone  domestiche  non  esercilate 
nelli  maneggi  e  digia  tra  lore  gelose  e  dis- 
cord!. Meno  voile  Don  Orazio  suo  fratello, 
padre  di  tre  figlioli  di  grande  aspettazione. 


uomo  d'una  singolare  modestia  ed  integrita, 
lasciatolo  alle  sue  angustie  per  pompa  dell'- 
osservanza  della  holla  contro  il  nipotismo,  che 
la  S^^  Sua  giuro  nel  giorno  della  sua  esal- 
tazione  con  aspetto  d'evitarne  interamente 
lo  scandolo,  il  quale  pero,  per  sentimento 
di  molti,  semper  vetabitur  et  retinebitur 
semper." 

[His  boldness  in  these  arrangements  being 
crowned   with  success,  and  with  the  respect 
of   the    royal    representatives,    his    holiness 
thought  there  was  no  need  of  ministers  of 
much   ability  in  the    palace:   wherefore   he 
promoted  to  the  secretaryship  of  state  cardinal 
Paulucci,  a  man  of  very  brief  experience, 
[  and  he  chose  for  datary  cardinal  Sacripante, 
a  man  of  indefatigable  diligence  in  that  post, 
but  not  distinguished  by  any  qualities  beyond. 
'  those  of  a  good  routine   officer.     Then    he 
gave  to  his  relation,  monsignor  Olivieri,  the 
secretaryship  which  had  formerly  been  admi- 
I  rably  managed  by  himself;  and   he  put   into 
'  the   offices  nearest  his  own   person  his   old 
■  friends    and    relations, — such   as   monsignor 
I  Paracciani,  a  great  legist ;  monsignor  Origo, 
j  whom   he   made  secretary  for  Latin  letters, 
'  and  MalTei,  as  his  confidential  cupbearer  ;  all 
of  them  persons  of  very  low  extraction,  from 
Urbino  or   the  neighbouring  boroughs,  who 
j  having  never  seen  more  than  Rome,  had  con- 
sequently very  little  knowledge  of  foreign 
sovereigns,  and  much  less  of  the  affairs  of 
the   world.     He   does  not  desire   near   him 
cardinals  of  great  ability,  nor  ministers  who 
should   depend  on  them,  preferring  his  own 
quiet  and  his  own  authority  to  those  counsels, 
which   he   is  sure  of  not  hearing  from   his 
aforesaid  servants,  who  have  had  no  practice 
in  public  life,  and  who  are  moreover  jealous 
and   at   variance   among   themselves.       Nor 
will  he  admit  to  him  his  brother  Don  Orazio, 
the  father  of  three  sons  of  great  promise  ;  a 
man  of  rare  modesty  and  integrity,  whom  he 
has  left  in  his  narrow  fortune  from  an  osten- 
tatious parade  of  observing  the  bull  against 
nepotism,  which   his  holiness  swore  on   the 
day  of  his   elevation,  with  the  intention  of 
avoiding  entirely  the  scandal  of  this  prac- 
tice ;  a  practice  which,  nevertheless,  as  many 
think,  will  always  be  forbidden  and  always 
retained.] 

Very  great  difficulties  immediately  pre- 
sented themselves.  The  dispute  about  the 
Spanish  succession  was  become  exceedingly 
dangerous  to  the  court  of  Rome.  Clement 
XI.  acted  at  first  very  vacillatingly.  The 
ambassador  thinks  his  whole  conduct  tracea- 
ble to  an  excess  of  cunning.  His  chief  ob- 
ject, he  thinks,  in  proposing  an  Italian  league 
to  the  Venetians  was  to  sound  the  intentions 
of  Venice. 

From  these  political  and  general  conside- 
rations Erizzo  passes  on  to  the  affairs  of  the 
church,  particularly  to  the  controversies  that 


614 


APPENDIX 


were  incessantly  plied  between  Venice  and 
Rome.  Rome,  he  says,  is  of  a  two-fold  cha- 
racter, the  one  holy,  in  so  far  as  the  pope  is 
the  guardian  of  the  sanctuary  and  of  tlie  di- 
vine law;  this  must  be  revered  :  the  other  is 
secular,  in  so  far  as  the  pope  seeks  to  extend 
his  power,  whicfi  has  nothing  in  common  with 
the  practice  of  the  first  ages  ;  against  this  it 
behoves  men  to  be  on  their  guard.  He  cannot 
digest  the  thought  that  Venice  had  been  passed 
over  in  a  promotion  of  cardinals  in  the  last 
reign.  He  laments  that  the  republic  no  longer 
possessed  as  formerly  the  patronage  of  her 
own  bishoprics ;  how  many  poor  nobles  would 
she  then  be  able  to  succour"! — now  the  sub- 
jects of  Venice  seek  to  arrive  at  places  by 
indirect  means,  and  even  through  the  efforts 
of  foreign  princes.  Cardinal  Panciatichi  had 
introduced  into  the  practice  of  the  dataria  the 
maxim,  that  precisely  those  persons  would  be 
favoured,  who  were  most  independent  of  the 
princes  in  whose  dominions  the  benefices  were 
situated.  He  looks  on  it  as  an  abuse  that  the 
pope's  nephevv^s  should  possess  so  much  share 
in  the  ecclesiastical  property  of  his  native 
land :  why  too  were  they  so  readily  granted  the 
rank  of  Venetian  nobili ! — Other  states,  even 
the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany  liad  lists  of  nuncios 
presented  to  them  out  of  which  they  might 
select  one ;  but  such  an  honour  was  not  done 
the  republic  ; — the  title  of  Carissimo  too  was 
refused  by  Rome  to  the  doge  of  Venice.  We 
see  that  new  subjects  of  quarrel  were  con- 
tinually arising  in  addition  to  the  old  ones. 

The  ambassador  therefore  recommends  his 
republic  to  give  its  serious  attention  to  Roman 
affairs.  If  a  pope  could  now  no  longer  be  as 
helpful  as  formerly,  yet  he  could  still  do  much 
mischief,  especially  if  he  was  young,  spirited, 
and  economical. 

155.  Relatione  del  N.  U.  Gio.  Franc.  Mo- 
rosini  K^  fu  ambasciatore  al  sommo 
pontejice  Clemente  XI.  1707  17  Dec. 
(36  leaves.)  [Report  of  Gio.  Franc.  Mo- 
rosini,  formerly  ambassador  to  pope  Cle- 
ment XL] 

Morosini,  Erizzo's  successor,  was  from  Jan. 
1702  till  Nov.  1706,  at  the  court  of  Clement 
XI.  whose  government  then  first  fully  dis- 
played its  peculiar  character. 

Morosini  relates  with  what  zeal  Clement 
XI.  imitated  the  example  of  his  most  re- 
nowned predecessors.  Even  the  tears  wnth 
which  he  refused  the  papal  dignity  were  not 
without  a  precedent.  He  fulfilled  all  those 
outward  observances  which  afford  a  good  ex- 
ample. "  Vita  sobria  e  regolata :  frequent! 
pubbliche  devotioni  alia  scala  santa,  a  visite 
di  chiese,  al  servitio  negli  hospital] :  somma 
edificatione  et  accuratezza  nei  riti  sacri  e 
nelle  piti  solenni  ed  humili  funtioni,  ai  quali 
vuol  supplire  anche  con  pregiuditio  della  sa- 


lute. Al  paragone  pure  dell'  interesse  com- 
parisce  egualmente  incolpabile :  prima  con- 
sultore,  poi  esecutore  delle  holla  del  nipotismo. 
Con  ogni  facilita  dona  ai  vescovi  poveri  le 
sue  propine,  e  nudrisce  del  proprio  molti  ope- 
rarj  ed  opere  pie.  Nella  scelta  de'  vescovi, 
sopra  tutto  essentiale  al  servitio  della  chiesa, 
con  la  debita  pesatezza  procede,  cercando 
I'informationi  dai  fonti  pm  sinceri,  senza  dar 
luogo  che  molto  parcamente  al  favore.  Ne 
esamina  talvolte  alcuno  egli  stesso  ad  usanza 
dei  papi  antichi.  Dell'  altre  dignita  pari- 
menti  e  beneficj  ecclesiastici  va  cosi  misurato 
ed  attento  nella  distributione  che  anche  sopra 
gli  stessi  suoi  congiunti  vuol  che  si  scorga 
giustificata  la  convenienza  d'accomodarli  dal 
requisito  di  studj  e  costumi  comendabili." 

[His  life  is  sober  and  well  regulated  :  he  is 
constant  at  public  worship  at  the  scala  sancta, 
in  visits  to  the  churches,  and  in  attendance  at 
the  hospitals :  he  is  most  strictly  and  edify- 
ingly  attentive  to  sacred  rites  and  to  the  most 
solemn  and  humble  duties,  even  to  the  injury 
of  his  health.  He  appears  likewise  a  para- 
gon of  disinterestedness:  he  was  first  adviser 
and  then  executor  of  the  bull  respecting  ne- 
potism. He  bestows  his  gratuities  with  great 
alacrity  on  poor  bishops,  and  supports  many 
pious  works  and  workmen  at  his  own  expense. 
He  proceeds  with  due  deliberation  in  the  se- 
lection of  bishops,  a  matter  of  vital  importance 
to  the  church,  seeking  information  at  the  most 
authentic  sources,  without  giving  room,  ex- 
cept very  sparingly,  to  favour.  He  sometimes 
himself  examines  episcopal  candidates,  after 
the  manner  of  the  ancient  popes.  He  pro- 
ceeds with  the  same  care  in  the  distribution 
of  other  dignities  and  ecclesiastical  benefices, 
exacting  even  of  his  own  relations  that  they 
own  the  propriety  of  conforming  to  the  re- 
quired standard  in  point  of  acquirements  and 
laudable  morals] 

In  the  same  spirit  Clement  dealt  with  juris- 
dictional matters,  that  is  to  say,  with  all  the 
zeal  demanded  of  him  by  his  office ;  he  even 
gained  ground  in  some  points.  The  new  king 
of  Spain  was  induced  to  solicit  his  permission 
to  summon  clergymen  before  the  secular  tri- 
bunals, and  to  levy  tithes.  The  king  of  Po- 
land sent  some  members  of  the  higher  clergy 
to  be  tried  before  the  pope's  tribunal.  The 
viceroy  of  Naples  submitted  to  the  papal  or- 
ders, after  long  resistance,  at  the  critical  mo- 
ment when  the  Germans  were  advancing 
upon  lower  Italy:  "  un  trionfo  che  sara  regis- 
trato  nelli  annali  della  chiesa,  [a  triumph 
which  will  be  registered  in  the  annals  of  the 
church.]  Savoy  and  Lorraine  were  there- 
fore beset  with  the  more  vigour.  The  pope 
knew  how  to  seize  the  favourable  moment. 
"Studiosissimo  d'ingrandire  con  i  motivi  di 
pieta  la  potenza."  [Most  intent  on  augment- 
ing liis  power  from  pious  motives.]  Morosini 
finds  the  whole  court  pervaded  by  a  similar 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


615 


spirit.  They  would  admit  of  no  distinction 
between  church  and  state :  the  church  was 
everything  :  every  congregation  was  styled 
holy,  be  the  subject  of  its  deliberations  what 
it  might :  no  distinction  was  made  between 
pastors  of  the  church  and  prelates  of  the 
court ;  the  former  were  even  excused  from 
their  spiritual  functions,  and  employed  in 
matters  of  state.  Piety  moreover  was  used  as 
a  sort  of  coin  indispensable  towards  advance- 
ment in  life.  Four  of  the  congregations  are 
distinguished  as  particularly  deserving  of  at- 
tention : — the  inquisition,  which  merited  all 
support,  since  it  watched  over  pure  doctrine, 
only  it  was  a  startling  thing  that  the  worst 
heresy  was  to  be  met  with  precisely  in  Rome 
(he  means  quietism  ;) — the  propaganda  ;  un- 
fortunately there  were  now  but  few  who 
would  devote  themselves  with  all  their  hearts 
to  the  missions ; — the  congregation  of  the 
bishops  and  orders,  which  exercised  a  very 
necessary  supervision,  especially  over  the  lat- 
ter;— and  that  of  immunities;  this  was  set 
up  like  a  sentinel  as  it  were  to  watch  the 
bounds  between  the  temporal  and  the  spiritual 
authority :  were  everything  to  proceed  as  it 
desired,  the  power  of  temporal  sovereigns 
would  be  totally  destroyed. 

Morosini  now  directs  his  attention  to  the 
state.  He  repeats  the  complaints  so  frequent 
for  some  time  previously,  respecting  the  de- 
cline of  population  and  of  agriculture.  The 
pope  would  gladly  have  introduced  improve- 
ments, such,  for  instance,  as  the  cultivation  of 
the  Campagna;  but  all  this  ended  merely  in 
brilliant  projects.  The  ambassador  remarks 
that  the  spiritual  dignity  increased  the  tem- 
poral authority.  The  power  of  the  senate  he 
considers  a  burlesque  upon  the  name.  The 
barons  were  subjected  to  the  same  punish- 
ments as  the  lowest  of  the  people ;  the  pope 
kept  them  under  rigorous  inspection,  know- 
ing very  well  that  there  was  something  vio- 
lent in  the  nature  of  the  body. — At  last  our 
author  comes  to  speak  of  politics.  I  must  ex- 
tract verbatim  the  most  important  passage, 
which  treats  of  the  relation  of  the  pope  to 
France  and  the  emperor,  upon  which  every- 
thing once  more  depended  in  those  days. 

"  iie  il  papa  abbia  avuto  mano  o  partecipa- 
tione  nel  testamentodi  Carlo  H,  ionon  ardiro 
d'asserirlo,  ne  e  facile  penetrare  il  vero  con 
sicurezza.  Bensi  adurro  solo  due  fatti.  L'uno 
che  questo  arcano,  non  si  sa  se  con  verita,  fu 
esposto  in  un  manifesto  uscito  alle  stampe  in 
Roma  ne'  primi  mesi  del  mio  ingresso  all'  am- 
basciata,  all'  ora  che  dall'  uno  e  I'altro  par- 
tito  si  trattava  la  guerra  non  meno  con  I'armi 
che  con  le  carte.  L'altro  che  il  papa  non 
s'astenne  di  far  pubblici  elogi  al  christianis- 
simo  d'essersi  ritirato  dal  partaggio,  ricevendo 
la  monarchia  intiera  per  il  nipote.  Fatto  ri- 
flesso  a  tali  premesse,  non  pare  che  rendano 
stupore  le  conseguenze  vedutesi  di  direttione 


fluttuante  e  fra  se  stessa  contrraia,  non  po- 
tendo  mai  riuscir  uniform!  attioni  nate  da  di- 
versi  principj  :  e  tali  eraiio  I'obbligo  da  una 
parte  d'ostentar  indilFerenza  propria  di  padre 
comune,  e  I'occulto  affetto  et  impegno  preso 
dall'  altra  nel  giudicare  senza  maggior  pesa- 
tezza  li  vantaggi  et  il  merito  della  causa. 
Considero  piamente  la  S^*^  Sua  il  decoro  e 
beneficio  della  religions  nell'  escludere  gli 
eretici  dall'  usurpato.  Concepi  speranza,  fa- 
cilitata  dal  genio  a  Frances!,  che  o  non"  vi  sa- 
rebbe  guerra  o  si  farebbe  inutilinente  contro 
le  fbrze  di  quell'  invilta  natione :  e  dandosi  a 
credere  che  la  monarchia  si  manterebbe  unita, 
non  stimo  in  un  tal  vaticinio  meritar  disprezzo 
errando  con  la  finezza  Spagnola,  la  quale  in 
tal  caso  ebbe  ragioni  di  necessita  piu  che  di 
politica.  L'esito  instrui  dell'  altre  pondera- 
tioni  che  dovevano  avanzarsi.  S'ammasso, 
scoppio  e  tuttavia  infuria  fatale  agl'inimici  et 
agli  amici  quel  fiero  nembo  che  la  gelosia, 
I'astio,  I'interesse  eccitarono  nelle  potenze 
collegate  ad  abbatere  la  macchina  sospettata 

nella  Francia  di  monarchia  universale 

Riusci  ad  ogni  modo  per  molto  tempo  ai  Fran- 
ces! lo  studio  di  mantenersi  nel  credito  d'in- 
vincibili  appresso  il  papa,  il  quale  pieno  di 
confidenza  seguendo  tacitamente  i  loro  con- 
sigli  veniva  dagl'incauti  lodato  d'una  condotta 
che  oscurasse  quella  d'ogni  altro :  perche 
dove  la  Ser™=^  Republica  in  particolare  osser- 
vando  una  sincera  neutralita  pareva,  patisce 
danni  nelle  sostanze  de'  sudditi,  aggravj  al 
decoro  e  lo  sdegno  d'ambi  li  partiti :  egli  all' 
incontro  col  professare  neutralita  e  minacciare 
assieme  di  romperla  immantinente  contro  quel 
partite  che  I'ofTendesse,  ma  intendendosela 
occultamonte  con  Frances!,  era  da  quest!  col- 
tivato  et  occorrendo  difeso  senza  dispendio,  da 
Cesare!  trattato  con  riguardo  per  non  fornirlo 
d!  pretest!  a  deponer  anche  I'apparenza  di 
neutrale  :  furon  immuni  per  un  pezzo  1!  suoi 
stati :  vide  rispettate  le  censure  in  mezzo  all' 
arm!,  e  comparse  flotte  di  eretic!  ne'  suoi  mar! 
senza  il  minimo  oltraggio.  Ma  il  rovescia- 
mento  della  fortunaFrancese,  particolarmente 
in  Italia,  ha  fatto  scorgere  se  meritasse  allora 
encomi!  o  la  condotta  o  la  sorte,  e  se  le  sane 
e  sincere  insinuationi  fatteli  da  VV  EE  repli- 
car  spesso  col  mezzo  dei  loro  ministri  di  soda 
indifferenza  come  padre  comune  per  renders! 
arbitro  e  venerato  a  beneficio  proprio  e  della 
christianita  e  d'aumentare  le  sue  truppe  sotto 
buoni  official!  per  appoggiar  raeglio  il  respetto 
contro  I'altrui  intemperanza,  dovessero  sbrac- 
ciarsi  come  consigli  infelici,  anche  nell'  espe- 
rienza  di  chi  1!  porgeva.  II  frutto  d'aver  pre- 
ferite  art!  piu  obblique  e  studj  d'economia,  li 
peggior  consigliera  della  politica,  fu  di  soffrir 
dopo  e  tutt'ora  cio  ch'e  noto,  ma  quel  ch'e 
piij,  con  apparenza  di  non  sotfrir  senza  colpo 
nel  tribunals  della  fama,  ch'e  sovrano  anche 
a!  principi.  Spedi,  come  adduce  in  sua  difesa 
nuncj   estraordinarj   per  la  pace  universale 


616 


APPENDIX. 


senza  riguardo  a  spesa  et  all'  ingiuria  dell' 
eschisione  incontrata  a  Vienna:  propose  leghe, 
accordi,  armistitij  per  la  quiete  particolare  di 
questa  provincia,  ma  fuor  di  tempo  e  dopo  che 
le  dimostrationi  di  partialita  del  principle  e 
nel  progresso  notate  introdussero  il  verme  nei 
migliori  semi :  onde  I'essersi  reso  una  volta 
sospetto  fu  un  spogliar  il  zelo  di  autorita  e 
constituire  per  sempre  impotente  il  principal 
instrumeiitodella Concordia.  Difficile  riuscira 
in  effetto  alia  S^^  Sua  il  purgar  questa  impu- 
tatione,  anzi  quella  d'aver  contribuito  a  tirare 
nel  suo  senso  tutti  li  principi  d'ltalia  appresso 
quali  voleva,  notoria  essendo  la  condotta  non 
solo  di  quelli  di  Parma,  suo  feudatario,  ma 
della  casa  di  Fiorenze :  onde  la  sola  cautela 
costante  della  Ser™*  Republica  ha  data  sog- 
getione  al  papa  e  documento  agli  altri,  mer- 
candone  pero  immeritata  odiosita  appresso 
Francesi  che  sopra  di  lei  fu  da  Sua  6°^ 
scaricata." 

[I  will  not  pretend  to  affirm  whether  or  not 
the  pope  had  hand  or  part  in  the  will  of 
Charles  II.,  nor  is  it  easy  to  arrive  at  the 
truth.  I  will  mention,  however,  but  two 
facts.  The  one  is  that  this  secret  was  pub- 
lished, whether  with  truth  or  not  is  not  known, 
in  a  manifesto  which  issued  from  the  Roman 
press  in  the  first  months  of  my  embassy,  at 
the  time  when  war  was  actually  waged  be- 
tween the  two  parties.  The  other  fact  is, 
that  the  pope  did  not  abstain  from  publicly 
eulogizing  the  most  Christian  king  because 
he  had  discountenanced  the  partition,  and  re- 
ceived the  monarchy  entire  for  his  nephew. 
Reasoning  from  these  premises,  we  can  hardly 
wonder  at  the  consequences  we  see  to  have 
resulted  from  fluctuating  and  discordant  plans, 
for  uniformity  of  action  can  never  spring  from 
diversity  of  principles :  and  even  such  were 
the  obligations  on  the  one  hand  to  manifest  the 
indifference  belonging  to  the  common  father, 
and  on  the  other  the  secret  bias  and  the  en- 
gagement entered  into  without  more  mature 
deliberation  as  to  the  advantages  and  the 
merits  of  the  cause.  His  holiness  piously 
considered  the  honour  and  profit  to  religion  of 
shutting  out  the  usurpation  of  the  heretics. 
He  conceived  hopes,  encouraged  by  the 
French  character,  either  that  there  would  be 
no  war,  or  that  it  would  be  waged  in  vain 
against  the  forces  of  that  unconquered  nation  ; 
and  as  there  was  reason  to  hope  that  the  mon- 
narchy  would  be  preserved  entire,  he  did  not 
think  himself  wrong  in  such  an  anticipation, 
miscalculating  the  Spanish  subtlety,  which  in 
such  a  case  was  justified  by  necessity  rather 
than  by  policy.  The  event  taught  other  con- 
siderations, which  ought  to  have  been  pre- 
viously weighed.  There  gathered,  burst,  and 
still  rages,  fatally  to  friends  and  foes,  that 
fierce  thunder-cloud  of  jealousy,  envy,  and 
interest,  which  urged  the  confeder!},te  powers 
to  defeat  the  suspected  machinations  of  France 


for  universal   monarchy For   a  long 

while  the  French  fully  succeeded  in  keeping 
up  their  credit  for  invincibility  with  the  pope, 
who,  in  the  fulness  of  his  confidence,  impli- 
citly following  their  counsels,  was  praised  by 
thoughtless  persons  for  a  conduct  that  Would 
have  tarnished  the  reputation  of  any  other : 
for  whilst  the  most  serene  republic  in  parti- 
cular, observing  a  strict  neutrality,  suffered 
losses  in  the  substance  of  its  subjects,  wrongs 
to  its  honour,  and  the  resentment  of  both  par- 
ties, he  on  the  other  hand  professing  neutrality, 
and  at  the  same  time  threatening  to  break  it 
immediately  against  any  party  that  should  of- 
fend him,  but  all  the  while  having  a  secret 
understanding  with  the  French,  his  friendship 
was  cultivated  by  the  latter,  and  he  found 
himself  defended  without  cost,  and  he  was 
treated  with  consideration  by  the  imperial 
party,  in  their  desire  to  avoid  furnishing  him 
even  with  a  pretext  to  lay  aside  the  appear- 
ance of  neutrality  :  his  states  enjoyed  immu- 
nity for  a  while ;  he  saw  his  censures  re- 
spected in  the  midst  of  war,  and  heretic  fleets 
appeared  in  his  seas  without  offering  him  the 
slightest  insult.  But  the  reverses  of  fortune 
sustained  by  France,  particularly  in  Italy, 
made  it  clear  whether  the  aforesaid  enco- 
miums were  due  to  conduct  or  to  chance,  and 
whether  the  sound  and  sincere  suggestions 
repeatedly  made  by  your  excellencies  through 
your  ministers  to  the  pope,  that  he  should,  as 
the  common  father,  observe  a  stedfast  indif- 
ference, so  as  to  make  himself  a  revered  ar- 
biter, to  his  own  benefit  and  that  of  Christen- 
dom, and  that  he  should  augment  his  troops 
under  good  officers,  the  better  to  sustain  the 
respect  due  to  him  against  the  waywardness 
of  others,  should  have  been  rejected,  as  coun- 
sels proved  inauspicious  even  by  the  experi- 
ence of  those  who  tendered  them.  The  fruits 
of  having  preferred  oblique  practices  and  de- 
vices of  economy,  the  worst  counsellor  in  po- 
litics, were  the  suffering,  since  and  now,  what 
is  notorious ;  and  what  is  still  worse,  to  have 
the  justice  of  all  these  sufferings  confirmed  by 
the  verdict  of  fame,  which  is  the  sovereign 
even  of  princes.  He  sent,  as  he  states  in  his 
defence,  nuncios  extraordinary,  for  the  ratifi- 
cation of  a  general  peace,  without  regard  to 
expense  or  to  the  injurious  exclusion  encoun- 
tered at  Vienna  :  he  proposed  leagues,  agree- 
ments, and  armistices  for  the  special  repose 
of  this  province ;  but  he  did  so  unseasonably, 
and  after  the  demonstrations  of  partiality  wit- 
nessed in  the  beginning  and  in  the  progress 
of  events  had  let  the  canker  into  the  best 
seeds :  hence  his  having  rendered  himself 
once  suspected,  robbed  him  of  the  prestige  of 
his  authority,  and  made  the  principal  instru- 
ment of  concord  for  ever  impotent.  His  holi- 
ness, indeed,  will  find  it  hard  to  purge  him- 
self of  this  imputation,  as  well  as  of  that  of 
having  contributed  to  draw  over  to  his  own 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


617 


views  all  the  princes  of  Italy  with  whom  he 
had  influence ;  notorious  being  the  conduct 
not  only  of  Parma,  his  feudatory,  but  also  of 
the  house  of  Florence  :  hence  it  was  solely 
the  constant  prudence  of  the  most  serene  re- 
public that  kept  the  pope  in  check,  and  gave 
a  lesson  to  others,  in  return  for  which,  how- 
ever, it  incurred  the  undeserved  enmity  of 
the  French,  which  was  dischargecL-upon  it  by 
his  holiness.] 

156.  Lorenzo  Tiepolo  K''  Proc^  Relation  di 
Roma  1712.  (40  leaves.)  [Lorenzo  Tie- 
polo's  report  on  Rome.] 

The  contests  between  the  spiritual  and  the 
temporal  jurisdiction  excited  more  and  more 
attention  every  year.  L.  Tiepolo  begins  with 
this  subject. 

But  he  treats  it  with  unusual  earnestness. 
The  question,  he  says,  was  purposely  con- 
fused ;  to  unravel  it,  to  assign  to  sovereigns 
their  own,  and  yet  not  to  violate  the  reverence 
due  to  the  papal  see,  this  doubly  demanded 
the  grace  of  God. 

First  he  describes  anew  the  personal  cha- 
racter of  Clement  XI.  He  too  admires  the 
erudition,  the  zeal,  the  affability,  and  the 
moderation  of  that  pope:  still  it  was  possible, 
he  says,  that  these  qualities  might  he  assumed, 
not  from  the  only  unfailing  motives,  real  vir- 
tue, but  from  human  considerations,  and  that 
therefore  they  might  not  receive  God's  bless- 
ing; it  might  be  that  the  zeal  with  which  the 
pope  devoted  himself  to  the  business  of  the 
state,  was  associated  with  too  high  an  estima- 
tion of  his  own  merit,  and  aimed  less  at 
things  themselves  than  at  tlie  applause  and 
the  honour  to  be  derived  from  them. — Praise 
was  all  powerful  with  him.  His  physician, 
for  instance,  made  use  of  this  weakness  to 
maintain  his  influence  over  him :  flattery 
incited  him  to  uphold  the  honour  of  the  holy 
see  ;  thence  it  was  that  he  paid  so  little  re- 
gard to  the  rights  of  sovereigns  and  states ; 
the  persons  about  him  even  dared  to  speak  in 
so  scurrilous  a  manner,  as  was  neither  con- 
sistent with  the  pope's  high  station,  nor  per- 
haps with  Christian  charity. 

From  the  pope  he  proceeds  to  his  ministers, 
whom  our  author  no  more  than  his  predeces- 
sors considers  peculiarly  distinguished,  de- 
scribing them  as  fitted  only  for  a  subservient 
station  and  not  for  the  conduct  of  affairs.  1. 
Cardinal  Albani.  The  pope  had  waited  till 
after  his  mission  to  Germany,  before  he  would 
make  him  cardinal.  The  court  approved  of 
this  nomination,  because  they  thought  it  would 
afford  them  a  channel  of  access  to  the  pope 
and  an  interest  with  him  ;  Clement  XI.,  how- 
ever, allowed  the  cardinal  little  or  no  influ- 
ence, ("  e  certo  che  I'autorita  del  card'e  nipote 
non  apparisce  a  quel  sogno  che  per  I'ordinario 
s'baveva  veduto  in  quella  corte";.  2.  The 
78 


secretary  of  state  cardinal  Paulucci,  a  tho- 
roughly good  man,  of  no  great  ability,  depend- 
ing with  a  sort  of  awe  upon  the  pope.  3. 
Corradini,  auditore  di  papa:  "dotto  nel  dritto, 
ma  di  non  uguale  esporienza  negli  interessi 
dei  principi : — forte  nell'  impegno,  ma  pieghe- 
vole  alia  ragione :"  [learned  in  the  law,  but 
not  of  equal  experience  in  the  interests  of 
sovereigns; — siedtast  to  his  engagements,  but 
docile  to  reason :]  the  only  one  who  might  be 
thoroughly  depended  on  ;  it  was  advantageous 
to  bring  matters  before  him  in  which  one  was 
decidedly  in  the  right;  this  was  not  so  advi- 
sable in  doubtful  matters;  he  was  not  on  good 
terms  with  the  nephew;  it  was  even  thought 
that  the  latter  had  helped  him  to  the  cardinal- 
ate  to  get  rid  of  his  vicinity  to  the  pope.  4. 
Orighi,  secretary  of  the  consulta,  Corradini's 
rival,  and  for  this  reason  a  close  ally  of  the 
nephew ;  "  pare  che  piii  con  I'accortezza  et 
adulatione  che  con  la  fermezza  et  ingenuita 
abbia  avanzato  la  sua  fortuna"  [he  appears  to 
have  advanced  his  fortunes  rather  by  shrewd- 
ness and  adulation  than  by  firmness  and  sin- 
cerity]. 5.  Cardinal  Sagripante,  the  datario, 
who  had  grown  rich  only  by  thrift,  strict  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duties,  taking  no  share  in 
politics.  The  dataria  was  daily  losing  more 
and  more ;  even  in  Spain  people  would  no 
longer  submit  to  its  cozening  practices ;  thence 
it  came  to  pass,  that  those  cardinals  who  had 
not  learned  how  to  manage  their  property 
judiciously,  could  no  longer  maintain  the  an- 
cient splendour  of  their  rank — "  si  puo  dire 
essere  un  vero  distintivo  dell'  abbadie  de' 
cardinali  il  ritrovare  le  case  in  abandono  e  le 
chiese  dirocate."  [It  may  be  pronounced  to  be 
a  true  character  of  cardinal's  husbandry  to 
find  houses  left  to  decay  and  churches  in 
ruins.] — Were  a  papal  election  to  take  place, 
the  creatures  of  Clement  XI.  would  hardly 
attach  themselves  very  closely  to  cardinal 
Albani,  so  little  influence  had  he. 

Tiepolo  now  proceeds  to  sketch  the  aspect 
of  politics.  His  views,  as  we  have  said,  are 
of  a  politico-ecclesiastical  character;  he  in- 
vestigates the  disputes  between  the  court  of 
Rome  and  the  temporal  sovereigns: — it  was 
said  the  pope  had  an  equal  love  for  all ;  it 
would  be  more  correct  to  say  he  had  an 
equally  feeble  love,  and  equally  low  esteem 
for  all. 

"  E  ben  vero  che  se  pochi  si  hanno  preso  a 
tal  punto  quest'  assunto  di  far  pompa  di  supe- 
riorita  sopra  i  principi,  e  forza  di  dire  che 
anche  pochi  pontefici  hanno  havuto  la  stbrtuna 
uguale  al  presente  di  non  poter  uscire  dagl' 
impegni  volontariamente  con  gli  stessi  princi- 
pi presi,  se  non  con  qualche  diminutione  de, 
suo  honore.  Pure  se  ha  qualche  interna  in- 
clinatione,  quest'  e  riposta  verso  la  Francia, 
benche  quella  corte  replicatamente  si  dolga 
delle  sue  partialita  verso  la  casa  d'Austria, 
e  in  fatti  in  piii  incontri  I'evento  ha  compro- 


618 


APPENDIX. 


vato  i  suoi  lamenti,  ma  perche  ha  havuto  tutta 
la  parte  il  timore.  In  cio  la  corte  di  Vienna, 
o  sia  a  caso  o  per  la  cognitione,  rilevata  del 
vero  temperamento  del  pontefice  lia  nel  trat- 
tar  seco  fatta  la  profittevole  scielta  delie 
minaccie  e  deile  apprensioni." 

[Truth  compels  us  so  say,  that  if  few  popes 
have  carried  to  such  an  extent  the  ostenta- 
tious assumption  of  superiority  over  princes, 
so  likewise  few  have  been  equally  unfortunate 
as  the  present  pope,  in  net  being  able  to  get 
out  of  engagements  voluntarily  entered  into 
with  sovereigns  without  a  certain  loss  of  hon- 
our. If  he  has  any  inward  leaning,  it  is 
certainly  in  favour  of  France,  although  that 
court  has  repeatedly  complained  of  his  parti- 
ality to  the  house  of  Austria,  and  indeed  on 
several  occasions  the  fact  confirmed  their 
complaints,  but  this  Was  entirely  the  result  of 
timidity.  The  court  of  Vienna,  whether  by 
accident  or  from  knowledge  of  the  pope's  real 
constitution  of  mind,  in  dealing  with  him, 
made  a  profitable  use  of  threats  and  fears.] 

He  proceeds  in  these  general  remarks  upon 
the  several  states  successively  till  he  comes 
to  Venice,  on  the  aftairs  of  which,  now  cer- 
tainly of  no  wide  range  of  importance,  he 
dwells  at  most  length. 

157.  Relatione  di  Andrea  Corner  K^  ritor- 
nato  dalV  amh^i<^  di  Roma  1724  25  Luglio. 
(24  leaves.)  [Andrea  Corner's  report  of 
his  embassy  to  Rome.] 

We  have  seen  what  vehement  antipathies 
Clement  XI.  provoked,  in  spite  of  the  best 
intentions  and  the  most  irreproachable  prac- 
tice. From  this  report,  however,  in  which  he 
once  more  figures,  we  see  that  after  his  death 
the  public  voice  respecting  him  was  mightily 
changed.  Then  every  one  admired  him ; 
even  those  who  shortly  before  had  censured 
joined  in  the  general  applause.  People  now 
discovered  what  they  had  never  before  ima- 
gined, that  if  he  sometimes  promised  more 
than  he  was  able  to  perform,  this  was  really 
the  result  of  good-nature.  It  came  to  light 
that  he  had  distributed  out  of  his  private  for- 
tune the  most  liberal  alms;  their  combined 
amount  during  the  twenty  years  of  his  sway 
reaching  to  a  million  of  sc,  a  sum  he  might 
with  a  safe  conscience  have  bestowed  on  his 
house.  Corner  relates,  that  shortly  before 
Clement's  death  he  begged  pardon  of  his  ne- 
phew cardinal  Annibal,  for  not  having  left 
his  family  belter  provided  for.  "  Parera  che 
il  pontificate  di  Clemente  sia  stato  efhmero, 
quando  fu  do'  piii  lunghi."  [It  would  be 
thought  that  Clement's  pontificate  was  ephe- 
meral, whereas  it  was  one  of  the  longest.] 

The  change  that  was  expected,  took  place 
in  the  conclave.  The  whole  college,  with 
five  exceptions,  had  been  renewed  under  Cle- 
ment XL,  but  as  cardmal  Albani  had  had  no 


greater  part  in  the  nominations  than  in  the 
administration  in  general,  the  cardinals  divi- 
ded according  to  their  respective  nations. 
Paulucci,  secretary  of  state,  as  we  know,  to 
the  former  pope,  was  first  proposed :  but  the 
imperial  ambassador  count  Althan  declared 
that  his  master  would  never  recognise  Pau- 
lucci as  pope,  this  he  submitted  to  their  emi- 
nences for  their  consideration.  Now  some 
friends  of  the  house  of  Albani  had  already 
before  this  cast  their  eyes  on  Michael  Angelo 
Conti ;  one  of  them,  monsignor  Riviera,  was 
secretary  to  the  conclave.  He  first  spoke  on 
the  subject  to  cardinal  Spinola,  who  after  he 
had  reconnoitred  the  ground,  and  found  that 
Conti  was  not  disliked,  gladly  put  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  party  and  proposed  him. 
Count  Althan  immediately  demanded  instruc- 
tions of  his  court.  It  now  turned  out  to 
Conti's  advantage  that  he  had  been  nuncio  in 
Portugal,  and  had  there  gained  the  favour  of 
the  queen  Maria  Anna  of  Austria,  sister  to 
Charles  VI.  The  Austrian  court  was  on 
Conti's  side,  and  the  support  of  the  whole 
Austrian  connection,  namely  Portugal  and 
Poland,  might  be  relied  on.  The  Spanish 
ambassador  too  consulted  his  court:  its  an- 
swer was  not  favourable,  but  it  arrived  too 
late;  Innocent  XIII.  had  meanwhile  been 
already  elected  (May  8,  1721). 

Innocent  possessed  excellent  qualities,  both 
for  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal  government: 
only  he  was  of  a  sickly  habit  of  body,  for 
which  reason  he  was  sparing  in  giving  audi- 
ence. This,  however,  made  the  tact  of  hav- 
ing an  audience  of  him  a  thing  of  importance 
in  itself;  and  one  answered  instead  of  many. 
He  apprehended  very  justly,  and  gave  deci- 
ded answers.  The  ambassador  of  iVJalta,  says 
Corner,  will  long  remember  liow  upon  his 
making  a  somewhat  impetuous  appeal  to  the 
pope  for  aid,  his  holiness  gave  him  his  bless- 
ing on  the  spot,  and  rang  his  bell  by  way  of 
dismissing  him.  When  the  Portuguese  am- 
bassador solicited  the  promotion  of  Bicchi  to 
the  cardinalate.  Innocent  at  last  would  not 
hear  him  any  more,  "  non  ritrovando  merito 
nel  prelate  e  passando  sopra  tutti  li  riguardi 
che  potea  avere  per  una  corona  di  cui  era 
stato  protettore"  [not  finding  the  prelate  de- 
serving, and  overlooking  all  the  partiality  he 
might  have  entertained  for  a  crown,  of  which 
he  had  been  the  protector.] 

The  Roman  families  related  to  Innocent, 
which  had  hoped  for  advancement  from  him, 
found  themselves  much  deceived:  even  his 
nephew  had  dithculty  in  obtaining  the  income 
of  12,000  ducats,  which  was  now  the  usual 
income  of  a  nephew. 

The  pope's  chief  endeavour  was  to  settle 
the  disputes  respecting  the  ecclesiastical  ju- 
risdiction, but  in  this  he  by  no  means  fully 
succeeded.  It  was  only  with  the  imperial 
court  a  better  understanding  was  effected ;  a 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


610 


result  naturally  to  be  expected,  in  consequence 
of  the  circumstances  of  Innocent's  election. 

15S.  Relatione  del  N.  H.  Pietro  Capello  10 
ritornuto  iVamhasciator  tli  Roma  1728  6 
Marzo.  (14  leaves.)  [Report  of  Pietro 
Capello's  embassy  to  Rome.] 

Innocent  XIII.  died  on  the  7th  of  March, 
after  a  i-eign  of  little  more  than  thirty-four 
montlis. 

Capello,  whose  embassy  began  in  Innocent's 
lifetime,  agrees  with  the  description  given  of 
him  by  his  predecessor.  He  considers  him 
pacific,  sound  in  his  judgment,  deliberate,  and 
firm.  He  conarms  the  rumour  that  the  nomi- 
nation of  Dubois  to  be  cardinal,  to  which  he 
had  suffered  himself  to  be  persuaded  in  consi- 
deration of  the  man's  power  and  influence, 
caused  Innocent  painful  scruples  in  his  last 
moments.  "  La  di  lui  morte  fu  ben  un'argo- 
nieuto  delle  piii  morali  riflessioni :  mentre 
attaccato  da  scrupoli  di  coscienza,  tarlo  che 
nou  lascia  di  rodere  anco  la  mente  dei  papi, 
non  pote  mai  lasciarsi  persuadere  a  compire 
la  nomina  di  quattro  cardinal!  nella  vacanza 
d'altrettanti  cappelli:  e  per  quelle  si  e  potuto 
iscoprire,  fu  giudicato  che  non  sentisse  di 
consumare  una  tale  elettione  forse  per  penti- 
mento  d'averne  eseguita  alcun'  altra  con 
maniere  atte  a  turbare  la  di  lui  delicata  con- 
scienza.  Tale  non  ordinario  accidente  par- 
tori  funeste  consequenze  alia  di  lui  casa,  a 
favor  della  quale  non  resto  alcun  partito  da 
(iispouere  dopo  la  di  lui  morte  :  ma  con  tutto 
vio  vi  fu  universale  argomento  per  giudicar 
molto  bene  di  sua  persona,  che  dimostro  per 
tali  suoi  ottimi  sentimenti  un  spirito  egual- 
mente  nobile  che  rassegnato." 

[His  death  afforded  a  striking  subject  for 
moral  reflection.  Being  assailed  by  scruples 
of  conscience,  a  moth  that  fails  not  to  fret 
even  the  mind  of  a  pope,  he  could  never  be 
persuaded  to  nominate  four  persons  to  receive 
the  vacant  cardinals'  hats  :  and  as  far  as  could 
be  discovered,  he  was  probably  disinclined  to 
consummate  such  an  election,  from  his  repent- 
ance at  having  once  before  made  one  in  a 
manner  calculated  to  trouble  his  tender  con- 
science. So  unusual  an  incident  produced 
fatal  consequences  to  his  house,  which  could 
command  no  party  after  his  death  ;  but  for  all 
this  there  was  every  reason  to  judge  very 
well  of  him,  who  by  such  admirable  senti- 
ments displayed  a  spirit  equally  noble  and 
resigned.] 

Innocent  was  succeeded  on  the  29th  of 
May  1724  by  Benedict  XIII.  Capello  thinks 
him  very  different  from  his  predecessor ;  es- 
pecially determined  and  impetuous  in  all 
ecclesiastical  matters. 

He  notices  few  distinguished  personages  in 
the  college  of  cardinals,  no  strong  faction,  nor 
any  prospect  of  the  formation  of  one  under 


Benedict,  since  the  jealousy  between  Coscia 
and  Fini  was  enough  to  prevent  it.  There 
was  a  crown  faction,  but  it  had  no  real  stabi- 
lity. A  great  sensation  had  been  produced  at 
court  by  the  fact  that  the  duke  of  Savoy  had 
at  last  reached  his  ends.  Capello  concludes 
from  this,  that  at  Rome  everything  was  to  be 
obtained  with  the  help  of  time :  all  that  was 
necessary  was  quiet ;  a  man's  zeal  in  his  own 
cause  should  never  be  allowed  to  break  out 
into  complaints. 

Capello  now  enters  more  minutely  into  the 
interests  peculiarly  Venetian.  First  he  again 
lays  it  down  that  Venice  must  assume  a  more 
imposing  and  dignified  attitude  at  Rome. 
He  again  explains  how  the  pope  was  to  be 
dealt  with.  The  aim  should  always  be  in- 
sensibly to  gain  his  good  will  by  ecclesiastical 
concessions.  He  then  enters  into  the  con- 
sideration of  temporal  affairs,  particularly  of 
trade.  It  is  evident  that  in  the  beginning  of 
the  eighteenth  century  the  Roman  state  very 
earnestly  devoted  its  thoughts  to  commercial 
and  manufacturing  improvements. 

The  inhabitants  of  Dulcignote  and  Ragusa 
carried  on  a  trade  with  Ancona,  which  was 
not  at  all  agreeable  to  the  Venetians.  In 
particular  they  imported  thither  a  great  deal 
of  wax,  an  article  formerly  brought  from 
Venice,  and  which  now  began  to  be  manufac- 
tured also  in  the  ecclesiastical  states. 

Innocent  XII.  began  the  building  of  S. 
Michel  a  Ripa:  Clement  XI.  enlarged  it:  it 
was  now  become  important  for  the  woollen 
and  silk  manufactures.  "  Dalla  figura  d'un' 
ospitale,  dove  per  carita  alimentavano  molti 
giovani,  fu  convertita  con  amplificatione  di 
sito  e  con  grandissima  giunta  di  fabriche  in 
una  casa  di  commercio,  nella  quale  a  presents 
si  travagliano  le  manifatture  di  lana  e  di 
seta."  The  cloth  of  S.  Michel  already 
rivalled  that  of  France,  and  was  exported  by 
way  of  Ancona  to  Turkey  and  Spain.  I  will 
extract  the  whole  passage.  "  In  questo  son- 
tuoso  edificio  vi  si  e  introdotto  la  fabrica  degl' 
arazzi  con  egual  perfettione  di  quelli  che  si 
travagliano  in  Fiandra  et  in  Francia  :  e  vi  e 
fondato  un  lanificio,  nel  quale  vi  entra  la  lana 
et  escono  i  panni  perfetionati  di  tutto  punto. 
La  fabrica  di  seta  dipendente  da  questo  luogo 
s'esercita  in  piii  contrade  di  Roma,  e  quelle 
della  lana  sono  in  tanti  generidivise,  con  idea 
d'addattarle  all'  uso  del  paese  per  havernecon 
un  spaccio  facile  il  pronto  ritratto.  Si  fabri- 
cano  in  S.  Michele  tutti  li  panni  per  le  mili- 
tie,  li  scoti  per  servitio  de'  monasterj,  le  tele 
di  tutti  i  generi  per  il  vestiario  delle  ciurme, 
e  li  panni  sono  divisi  in  varii  generi  che  res- 
tano  distribuiti  per  una  data  quantitu,  con  ob- 
lige alii  mercanti  di  fame  I'esito.  Di  recente 
si  e  dato  anco  mano  alia  fabrica  di  panni  colo- 
rati  ad  uso  di  Francia,  che  passano  in  Ancona 
e  Sinigaglia  per  concambio  alle  mercantie  che 
vengouo  di  Turchia.     In  somma,  la  casa_^di 


620 


APPENDIX. 


S.  Michele  e  una  delle  pivi  vaste  idee  che  pos- 
sa  esser  compita  da  un  principe  grande,  e 
sarebbe  sicuramente  I'emporio  di  tutta  I'ltalia, 
se  non  fosse  costituita  in  una  citta  dove  ad 
ogn'  altra  cosa  si  pensa  clie  al  commercio  et 
alia  mercatura,  essendo  diretti  questi  gran 
capitali  da  una  congregatione  di  trecardinali, 
tra  quali  vi  e  il  segretario  di  stato,  sempre 
occupato  e  divertito  ne'  piii  gravi  affari  del 
governo.  Con  tutto  cio  qiiesta  casa  di  com- 
mercio sussite  con  floridezza,  e  colli  suoi  tra- 
vagli  s'alimentano  migliara  di  persone  rica- 
vandosi  dalle  sue  manifatture  pronto  il  ritrat- 
to.  La  fabrica  degl'  arazzi  si  mantiene  da  se 
stessa,  perche  si  lavora  ad  uso  de'  particolari, 
et  il  maggior  effetto  di  questi  lavori  si  e  quel- 
le desiderabile  a  tutti  li  stati,  che  il  danaro 
non  esca  ad  impinguare  I'astere  nationi." 

[The  manufacture  of  hangings  has  been 
introduced  into  this  sumptuous  edifice,  and 
carried  to  as  high  a  perfection  as  in  France 
and  Flanders :  a  wool-factory  too  has  been 
established  there,  into  which  the  wool  enters 
in  the  raw  state,  and  comes  out  in  cloth  of 
the  most  finished  quality.  The  manufacture 
of  silk  depending  on  this  place  is  carried  on 
in  several  districts  of  the  Roman  states,  and 
that  of  wool  is  divided  into  various  kinds 
adapted  to  the  usage  of  the  country,  so  as  to 
have  a  prompt  supply  without  an  inconveni- 
ent occupation  of  space.  There  are  manu- 
factured in  S.  Michel  all  kinds  of  cloths  for 
the  soldiery,  for  the  use  of  the  monasteries, 
and  for  the  crews  of  the  galleys ;  and  they 
are  divided  into  various  classes,  which  are 
distributed  in  a  given  quantity,  with  an  obli- 
gation on  the  part  of  the  merchants  to  dis- 
pose of  them.  Of  late  they  have  also  begun 
to  make  coloured  cloths  in  the  French  style, 
which  are  put  oif  in  Ancona  and  Sinigaglia, 
in  exchange  for  the  goods  imported  from 
Turkey.  In  fine,  the  establishment  of  S. 
Michel  is  one  of  the  grandest  conceptions  that 
could  be  worked  out  by  a  great  sovereign, 
and  it  would  certainly  be  the  emporium  of  all 
Italy,  were  it  not  placed  in  a  city  where  they 
think  of  anything  rather  than  of  trade  and 
commerce ;  the  great  capital  of  this  institu- 
tion being  managed  by  a  congregation  of 
three  cardinals,  one  of  whom  is  the  secretary 
of  state,  whose  attention  is  continually  en- 
grossed by  the  gravest  concerns  of  govern- 
ment. For  all  that,  the  establishment  is  in  a 
flourishing  condition,  and  supports  thousands 
of  persons,  its  manufactures  realizing  a  prompt 
return.  The  manufacture  of  tapestry  is  main- 
tained by  itself,  because  it  is  for  private  cus- 
tomers :  the  best  ellect  of  these  works  is  that 
so  very  desirable  one  for  all  states,  that  the 
money  is  not  sent  out  of  the  country  to  en- 
rich foreign  nations.] 

How  curious  to  find  a  Venetian  advising 
his  native  city  to  copy  a  manufacturing  insti- 
tution of  the  pope's !     Already,  too,  establish- 


ments for  intellectual  culture  had  been  form- 
ed, which  he  also  recommends  for  imitation. 
"  Oltre  le  arti  mecaniche  vi  sono  pure  le  arti 
liberal!,  che  servono  ad  ornamento  ed  utilita 
dello  stato.  II  solo  nome  di  Roma  ed  il  cre- 
dito  degli  antichi  suoi  monumenti  attrae  a  se 
stessa  molte  estere  nation  et  in  particolare 
gl'oltramontani.  Sono  in  quella  citta  insti- 
tuite  molte  academie,  dove  oltre  lo  studio 
delle  belle  lettere  non  meno  fiorisce  quelle 
della  pittura  e  scoltura  :  oltre  quella  di  Cam- 
pidoglio,  che  sussiste  sotto  la  protettione  di 
quel  rettaglio  d'autorita  esercitata  con  tanto 
credito  ne'  secoli  passati  da  quella  insigne  re- 
publica.  Ve  ne  sono  pure  anco  dell'  allre  in- 
stituite  e  governate  dall'  estere  nationi,  trale 
quali  si  distingue  quella  che  sussiste  col  nome 
della  corona  di  Francia."*  [Besides  the  me- 
chanical, there  are  the  liberal  arts,  which 
serve  for  the  adornment  and  advantage  of  the 
state.  The  mere  name  of  Rome,  and  the 
fame  of  its  ancient  monuments,  attract  to  it 
many  foreign  nations,  and  particularly  the 
ultramontanes.  There  have  been  instituted 
in  this  city  many  academies,  in  which  the 
study  of  painting  and  sculpture  flourishes,  no 
less  than  that  of  polite  letters ;  besides  that 
of  the  Campidoglio,  which  subsists  under  the 
protection  of  the  remnant  of  that  commanding 
influence  so  nobly  exercised  in  past  ages  by 
that  illustrious  republic,  there  are  others 
also  founded  and  governed  by  foreign  nations, 
among  which,  that  which  bears  the  name  of 
the  crown  of  France  holds  a  distinguished 
place.] 

The  author  thinks  that  a  similar  academy 
should  be  established  in  Venice.  That  city 
also  possessed  the  finest  monuments  of  anti- 
quity. Even  Bologna  had  been  able  to  at- 
tempt something  of  the  kind  with  great  suc- 
cess ! 

There  were  associated  in  those  days  with 
the  tendencies  pointed  out  by  Correr  some 
others  of  a  similar  kind,  of  which  other  docu- 
ments give  us  an  account. 

159.  Osservaiioni  della  presente  situatione 
dello  stato  ecclesiastico  con  alciini  proget- 
ti  Mtili  al  governo  civile  ed  economicoper 
ristabilire  Verario  della  rev''"  camera  apos- 
tolica  dalli  passati  e  correnti  suoi  discajyi- 
ti.  (MS.  Rom.)  [Observations  on  the 
present  situation  of  the  ecclesiastical 
states,  with  some  useful  projects  of  civil 
and  financial  administration  to  repair  the 
past  and  present  deficiencies  of  the  apos- 
tolic treasury.] 

In  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century 
the  nations  of  the  whole  south  of  Europe  ar- 
rived at  the  conviction  that  they  were  in  a 
bad  condition,  that  they  had  been  unwarrant- 

[*  I  suspect,  that  this  passage  is  incorrectly  pointed. — 
Translator.] 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


621 


ably  neg'lected,  and  a  craving  need  was  felti 
for  the  introduction  of  a  better  state  of  things. 
How  niucii  was  written  and  devised  in  Spain  | 
for  the  re-e^tablishment  of  the  finances  and  of 
trade.  The  "  Testamento  politico  d'un  acca- 
demico  Fiorentino,"  Colonia,  1734, — a  woric 
setting  forth  the  means  by  which  trade,  agri- 
culture, and  the  exchequer  might  be  amelio- 
rated,— is  still  well  thought  of  in  the  ecclesi- 
astical states.  It  is  indeed  a  well-intentioned, 
able,  ami  striking  work,  full  of  sound  observa- 
tions. But  these  efforts  were  not  confined  to 
private  individuals.  We  find  in  the  collec- 
tions of  those  times  a  host  of  projects,  calcu- 
lations, and  plans  to  the  same  end,  of  a  more 
or  less  official  character.  The  Osservationi 
before  us  are  of  this  class;  they  were  intended 
for  Clement  XII.  himself,  and  belong  to  the 
same  period  as  the  Political  Testament.  The 
author  makes  it  his  special  business  to  point 
out  the  disorders  and  abuses  which  called  for 
abolition. 

After  dwelling  a  while  on  the  melancholy 
fact  that  so  many  assassinations  took  place  in 
the  ecclesiastical  states  (a  full  thousand  year- 
ly, even  exclusively  of  Rome  and  the  four 
legations),  and  urging  the  necessity  of  in- 
quiring what  preventive  measures  were  taken 
by  other  sovereigns,  the  author  comes  to  the 
question  of  finance.  He  states  the  yearly  de- 
ficit to  be  120,000  scudi,  and  he  makes  the 
following  proposals: — 1.  The  discharge  of  the 
officers  who  drew  heavy  pay  without  even 
residing  in  their  garrisons.  2.  Retrenchment 
in  the  expenditure  of  the  palace.  3.  The  di- 
rect administration  of  the  dogana  by  the  go- 
vernment instead  of  farming  it  out, — a  system 
which  he  moreover  condemns  on  the  ground 
that  the  farmers  opposed  the  prohibition  of 
foreign  manufactures.  4.  The  restriction  of 
the  influence  of  subordinate  functionaries, 
who  had  an  interest  in  the  augmentation  of 
the  taxes.  He  remarks  that  the  annona  could 
not  maintain  itself,  because  there  was  now  so 
mucli  importation  from  Turkey  and  from  the 
North,  that  the  corn-dealer  could  not  bear  up 
against  the  competition.  What  enrages  him 
beyond  measure  is,  that  so  much  money 
should  be  sent  out  of  the  country  lor  cattle, 
oil,  and  wine,  all  of  them  articles  produced  in 
superfluity  at  home.  What  did  it  signify, 
though  they  cost  somewhat  dearer,  so  that 
money,  "  the  blood  of  the  state,"  was  in  due 
circulation  1  The  shareholders  in  the  monti, 
who  drew  their  interest  without  residing  in 
the  country,  should  at  least  be  taxed,  as  was 
the  case  with  the  absentee  feudal  proprietors 
in  the  neighbouring  kingdom  of  Naples. 

He  regards  the  state  of  the  March,  which 
was  yearly  decreasing  in  population,  as  parti- 
cularly deplorable.  He  ascribes  it  especially 
to  the  very  heavy  burthens  imposed  on  the 
exportation  of  grain.  This  was  altogether 
prohibited  between  the  months  of  June  and 


October,  and  in  other  months  it  was  only 
allowed  on  the  payment  of  tolls,  the  amount 
of  which  were  of  trifling  importance  to  the 
treasury,  whilst  the  efiect  of  them  was  to 
make  the  foreigner  prefer  seeking  cheaper 
corn  elsewhere.  The  fair  of  Sinigaglia 
proved  mischievous  ;  it  made  the  surrounding 
districts  dependent  on  foreign  parts.  For 
evidence  of  this,  one  need  but  visit  Urbino, 
the  March,  and  Umbria,  where  neither  arts 
nor  prosperity  were  any  longer  to  be  found, 
but  every  thing  was  in  deep  decay. 

The  author  conjures  the  pope  to  appoint  a 
congregation  of  a  few  but  chosen  members, 
who  should  search  out  means  for  remedying 
these  evils  ;  above  all,  to  select  only  able  and 
honest  functionaries,  and  to  chastise  those  of 
a  different  character.  "Such,"  he  con- 
cludes, "  are  the  hopes  of  the  subjects  of  your 
holiness." 

160.  Provedimenlo  per  lo  stato  ecclesiastico. 
(MS.  Rom.) — Autograph  instructions  for 
state  functionaries. 

We  see  that  here,  too,  projects  were  con- 
ceived for  the  introduction  of  the  mercantile 
system  which  was  then  in  such  high  esteem 
in  the  rest  of  Europe.  Had  they  been  but 
carried  out  with  spirit,  perhaps  a  certain  im- 
pulse would  have  been  given  to  the  trade  and 
manufactures  of  the  land.  But  the  misfor- 
tune of  the  Roman  administration  was,  that 
each  succeeding  pope  so  gladly  pursued  mea- 
sures the  very  opposite  to  tliose  of  his  prede- 
cessor. An  example  of  this  is  afforded  us  by 
the  document  before  us. 

The  importation  of  foreign  cloth  from  Ve- 
nice, Napoli,  and,  above  all,  from  Germany, 
increased  in  the  year  1719  to  that  degree, 
that  Clement  XI.  was  induced  to  prohibit  it 
absolutely.  The  two  decrees  to  that  effect 
— namely,  of  August  7,  1719,  and  August  1, 
1720 — are  mentioned  also  by  Vergani  (Delia 
importanza  del  nuovo  sistema  di  finanza), 
Vergani,  however,  undoubtedly  errs  in  saying 
that  they  produced  no  effect.  As  early  as 
1728,  Pietro  Capello  noticed  the  improvement 
that  had  taken  place  in  Roman  industry.  In 
this  Provedimento,  composed  under  Clement 
XII.,  it  is  expressly  averred,  that  manufac- 
tures had  greatly  increased  in  direct  conse- 
quence of  that  prohibition.  It  was  confirmed 
by  Innocent  XIII.  and  by  Benedict  XIII.  "  In 
pochi  anni  si  eressero  a  proprie  spece  de'  par- 
ticolari  in  molte  citta  e  terre  dello  stato  fa- 
briche  nuove  di  lanificii,  di  valche,  di  spurghi, 
di  tintorie  et  altre,  in  specie  a  Roma,  Narni, 
Perugia,  Rieti,  Tivoli,  Alatri,  Veroli,  Segni, 
Subiaco,  S.  Severino,  Giulianello."  [In  the 
course  of  a  few  years  there  were  erected  in 
many  towns  and  districts  of  the  state,  at  the 
cost  of  private  individuals,  new  manufacto- 
ries of  woollens, (•)  dye-stufis, 


622 


APPENDIX. 


and  so  forth,  particularly  in   Rome,   Narni, 
&c.] 

But  a  congregation  appointed  by  Clement 
XII.  in  the  year  1755  was  induced  to  with- 
draw this  prohibition,  and  again  to  admit  the 
importation  of  cloth  at  a  duty  of  12  per  cent, 
in  the  provinces  and  20  per  cent,  in  Rome. 
The  consequence  was, — at  least,  as  asserted 
by  the  document  before  us, — that  the  recently 
established  manufactories  were  ruined.  Our 
MS.  calculates  that  a  sum  of  100,000  scudi 
was  sent  out  of  the  country  for  cloth.  It  ex- 
presses a  desire  for  the  renewal  of  the  prohi- 
bition, and  for  its  extension  also  to  silk  goods ; 
but  I  do  not  find  that  this  wish  was  realized. 

161.  Altri  provedimenti  di  cormnercio.    (MS. 
Rom.) 

Confirmation  of  the  momentary  rise  of 
manufactures  since  the  issuing  of  the  above 
prohibition  : — the  old  complaints  against  the 
prohibition  of  exportation.  A  multitude  of 
tilings  came  from  Tuscany ;  but  if  any  one 
should  think  of  shipping  one  bushel  of  corn 
thither,  he  would  bring  upon  himself  confisca- 
tion of  his  property,  excommunication,  nay, 
loss  of  life.  Moreover,  an  extreme  confusion 
of  the  currency  had  gained  ground  in  the 
ecclesiastical  states  as  well  as  in  Germany. 
The  papal  coin  was  too  heavy,  though  Inno- 
cent XI.  and  Clement  XL  had  issued  some  of 
a  lighter  form.  A  great  quantity  of  foreign 
money,  on  which  much  loss  was  sustained,  got 
into  circulation.  The  pope  was  urged  on  his 
part  also  to  coin  lighter  money,  as  he  had 
already  begun  to  do  with  regard  to  the  zec- 
chini. 

Several  other  documents  of  the  same  tenor 
lie  before  us.  To  give  abstracts  of  them 
would  lead  us  into  too  minute  detail.  It  is 
enough  to  remark,  that  the  ecclesiastical 
states  participate  in  the  same  views  and  prin- 
ciples as  to  trade,  manufactures,  and  finance, 
which  had  taken  hold  of  the  rest  of  Europe, 
though  they  were  prevented  from  ripening 
into  any  considerable  result  by  circumstances, 
by  the  nature  of  the  constitution  and  incura- 
ble abuses,  by  the  listlessness  of  the  aristo- 
cracy, the  charms  of  mere  enjoyment  without 
any  ulterior  object,  and  the  "dolce  far  niente." 
Winckelmann,  the  German,  was  enraptured 
when  he  arrived  in  Italy  shortly  after  this 
period.  The  habits  of  life  there  dawned  upon 
him  like  an  emancipation  from  the  busy  ac- 
tivity and  the  strict  subordination  of  his  native 
regions.  The  sciiolar's  views  were  right  in 
reference  to  himself;  he  had  need  of  studious 
leisure  ;  he  wanted  to  draw  freer  breath  ;  and 
these  were  things  attainable  for  the  moment 
and  for  the  individual.  But  a  nation  can  never 
become  flourishing  and  mighty,  otherwise  than 
by  putting  forth  its  entire  strength. 


162.  Relazione  28  9*'-«  1737  del  N.  U.  Aluise 
Mocenigo  IV.  K^  e  Proc^  ritornato  di 
Roma. — (Arch.  Ven.)  [Report  of  the 
embassy  to  Rome  of  Aluise  Mocenigo  IV.] 

This  document  acquaints  us  with  the  ob- 
stacles thrown  by  the  government  in  the  way 
of  commercial  prosperity.  Mocenigo  is  by  no 
means  a  caviller  :  he  admits  the  increase  of 
trade  in  Ancona,  and  even  expresses  soine 
anxiety  on  the  subject:  he  thinlis  the  admin- 
istration of  justice  in  a  sound  condition,  parti- 
cularly in  the  Rota;  but  he  declares  the  ad- 
ministration to  be  rotten  from  the  foundation: 
falsification  of  documents  was  the  order  of  the 
day ;  the  expenditure  was  greater  than  the 
income ;  there  was  no  prospect  of  better 
things.  Pope  Clement  had  resorted  to  the 
lotto;  but  the  ambassador  pronounces  it  perni- 
cious in  the  highest  degree  ("  I'evidente  ester- 
minio  e  ruina  de'  popoli"). 

His  opinion  of  pope  Clement  XII.  is,  that 
he  was  more  distinguished  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  a  cavalier  and  of  a  stately  prelate, 
than  for  the  talent  or  the  energy  to  bear  the 
heavy  burthen  of  the  pontificate.  He  des- 
cribes him  and  his  government  only  in  the 
few  following  lines.  "  II  pontificate  presente 
influisce  piuttosto  le  nobili  intraprese  e  la 
magnificenza,  tale  essendo  stata  sempre  I'in- 
clinazione  del  papa  sino  dalla  sua  gioventu,  e 
tuttavia  neU'eta  sua  cadente  e  rovinosa  sos- 
tenuta  dal  genio  e  dagli  esempj  del  cardie  Cor- 
sini  nipote,  che  piii  ancora  si  distingue  nell' 
inclinazione  per  le  belle  arti  e  per  il  modo 
affabile  di  trattare  che  per  un  fondo  di  vera 
suflicienza  negli  afFari  del  govei'no.  La  serie 
dei  successi  nel  cadente  pontificate,  in  cui  per 
lo  pill  ha  governato  I'Eminenza  Sua,  rende 
chiara  testimonianza  a  questa  verita,  e  si  puo 
dire  che  i  dissapori  violenti  occorsi  quasi  con 
tutte  le  corti  avrebbono  dovuto  opprimere  il 
cardl  nipote,  se  egli  non  fosse  state  sostenuto 
da  un  credito  fondato  in  un  cuore  disinteres- 
sato  e  mancante  piuttosto  per  difettodi  talento 
che  di  cattiva  volonta.  Vero  e  clie  Roma  non 
scusa  in  lui  la  premura  con  cui  vuole  in  ogni 
caso  disporre  di  tutti  gli  aftari  politici,  geloso 
sino  air  eccesso  della  sua  autoritu,  e  quindi 
aver  egli  allontanato  dal  ministero  il  cardie 
Riviera,  il  piii  capace  di  tutti  per  gli  aflari  di 
state,  ed  aver  ivi  sostituito  il  card^  Firau  per 
disponerne  a  piacere  e  senza  contrasto.  Per 
altro,  sia  inclinazione,  sia  virtii,  certa  cosa  e 
ciie  durante  tutto  il  pontificate  di  Clemente 
XII  nel  corso  di  sette  anni  con  la  disposizione 
assoluta  delli  tesori  pontificj  la  casa  Corsini 
non  ha  aumentate  le  rendite  sue  patrimonial! 
di  8  m.  scudi  annul,  esempi  ben  raro."  [The 
present  pontificate  chiefly  affects  noble  enter- 
prises and  magnificence,  for  such  has  always 
been  the  pope's  taste  from  his  youth,  and  it  is 
still  fostered  in  his  declining  and  decrepid  age 
by  the  mental  character  and  the  example  of 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


623 


his  nephew,  cardinal  Corsini,  who  is  more  dis- 
tinguished for  his  fondness  for  the  fine  arts, 
and  for  his  affable  manner  of  dealing,  than  for 
real  capacity  in  matters  of  government.  This 
truth  is  clearly  evidenced  by  the  series  of 
events  which  have  taken  place  in  the  declin- 
ing pontificate,  in  which  his  eminence  has  for 
the  most  part  had  the  rule ;  and  we  may  be 
assured  tliat  the  violent  dissensions  which 
have  occurred  with  almost  all  the  courts,  must 
have  overwhelmed  the  cardinal  nephew,  if  he 
had  not  been  upheld  by  the  credit  granted  to 
the  disinterestedness  of  his  heart,  which  failed 
rather  from  defective  talents  than  from  ill 
intentions.  Rome,  however,  does  not  excuse 
him  for  the  eagerness  with  which  he  insists  in 
every  case  on  disposing  of  all  political  matters, 
and  his  excessive  jealousy  on  the  subject  of 
his  own  authority,  in  consequence  of  which 
he  removed  from  the  ministry  cardinal  Rivi- 
era, the  ablest  of  all  in  affairs  of  state,  and  pat 
cardinal  Firan  in  his  place,  in  order  that  he 
might  himself  do  as  he  pleased  without  con- j 
tradiction.  In  other  respects,  whether  it  were  ' 
from  inclination  or  from  virtue,  certain  it  is, 
that  during  the  whole  pontificate  of  Clement ! 
XII.,  in  the  seven  years  they  have  had  the 
absolute  disposal  of  the  papal  treasures,  the! 
Corsini  family  have  not  increased  their  patri- j 
monial  estates  by  8000  scudi, — a  very  rare ' 
example.]  i 

The  pope's  nephew  was  again  possessed  of 
great  power,  though  he  did  not  enrich  himself 
The  secretary  of  slate  was  wholly  dependent ' 
on  him,  nor  might  any  one  venture  to  rely  on  ' 
the  expressions  of  the  latter,  if  he  was  not ! 
sure  of  the  nephew. 

Mocenigo  passes  from  the  home  affairs  to  I 
the  relations  with  foreign  courts,  which,  as  \ 
already  hinted  at,  were  daily  becoming  more' 
difiicult.  I  will  extract  the  whole  of  this  por-  i 
tion,  as  important  towards  the  history  of  the  ! 
ecclesiastical  controversies.  I 

"Lacortedi  Napoli  anela  continuamente ! 
air   abolimento   della  solita  investitura   con 
argomenti  legali,  istorici   e  natural!:  ne  sa- 
rebbe  diflicile  che  vi  riuscisse,  quando  il  re  \ 
Don  Carlo  acconsentisse  ad  unasolenne  rinun- ' 
zia  di  ogni  sua  pretesa  sopra  Castro  e  Ronci- 1 
glione.     Ma  questo  non  e  il  tutto:  mentre  i 
Napolitani  condotti  dalle  scuole  dei  loro  giu- 1 
risconsulti  sono  talmente  avversi  alia  corle  di  | 
Roma  che    ogni   cosa   studiano  per  sottrarsi 
dalla  dipendenza  del  papa  nel   temporale  :  e 
quindi  ogni  giorno  escono  nuovi  regolamenti 
e  nuove  pretese  cosi  ben  sostenute  dai  scrit- 
tori  loro  valenti  che  la  corte  Romana  n'e  piu 
che  mai  imbarazzata  e  gia  si  vede  nella  neces- 
sita  di  rilasciarne  una  gran  parte  per  mettere 
in  salvo  il  resto.     II   punto  si   e  che  queste 
riforme  tendonoprincipalmentead  impinguare 
I'erario  regio  e  quindi  a  scemare  le  rcndite  e 
I'autorita  ponteficia  in  quegli  stati.     II  padre 
Galliani,  uomo  di  profonda  dottrina  ed  erudi- 


zione,  e  in  Roma  il  grande  propugnatore  per 
la  corte  di  Napoli,  tanto  piu  efficaco  quanto 
nelle  sue  lunghe  consuetudini  in  quella  mctro- 
poli  ha  penetrato  nel  piii  fondodei  misteri  del 
papato,  e  proveduto  d'una  memoria  felicissima 
tutto  ha  presente  per  prevalersene  nell'  oppor- 
tunita. 

"11  grande  appoggio  della  corte  di  Napoli  e 
quella  di  Spagna,  dove  I'irritamento  parve 
tempo  fa  giunto  all'  eccesso  e  dette  occasion! 
a  quelle  strepito.se  proposition!  di  riforma  della 
dataria  e  ristabilimento  del  juspatronato  regio, 
delle  quali  ebb!  piu  volte  I'onore  di  trattenere 
V''a  Serenita  nei  riverenti  miei  dispacci,  e  che 
ora  si  vedono  gia  concluse  con  aggiustamento 
piu  utile  per  la  corte  di  Spagna  che  per  quella 
di  Roma. 

"  La  corte  di  Torino  con  costante  direzione 
nel  maneggiodegli  aftari  politic!,  protetta  dalle 
bolle  e  concession!  di  Benedetto  XIII,  non  si 
e  mai  lasciata  rilasciare  un  momento  da  que! 
fondamenti  che  per  essa  sono  inconcuss!  e 
troppo  facilmente  attaccatidel  presente  ponti- 
ficato.  II  cardie  Albani,  uomo  per  sagacitji  e 
risoluzione  senza  pari,  ha  sin  ora  sostenuto  con 
tutta  I'efBcacia  le  ragioni  di  quella  corte,  a 
segno  che  no  lascio  mai  giungere  ad  effettua- 
zione  le  minaccie  fatte  dal  pontefice  presente, 
e  secondo  tutte  le  apparenze  ne  deve  sortire 
fastoso  col  successore. 

"  Anco  la  corte  di  Francia  pati  alcuni  mo- 
tivi  di  querela  per  le  vicende  della  Polonia  : 
ma  furono  cose  di  si  poco  momento  che  puo 
ella  .sola  contarsi  affezionata  e  stabile  al  pre- 
sente pontificato,  e  cio  perche  negl!  affari 
ecclesiastici  poco  o  nulla  piu  resta  da  discu- 
tere  con  Roma,  osservandosi  pontualmente 
dall'  una  e  dall'  altra  parte  !  concordat! 
e  la  prammatica,  ma  principalmente  per- 
che la  corte  di  Roma  va  con  essa  piu  cauta 
che  con  qualsivoglia  altro  nell'  introdurre, 
sostenere  e  resistere  alle  novita  che  intervenir 
potessero.  II  sempre  mai  lodevole  card's 
Fleuri,  grand'  esemplare  nel  ministero  poli- 
tico, ha  saputo  tener  sempre  soggetta  la  poli- 
tica  alia  religione  senza  mai  confondere  I'au- 
torita spirituale  con  la  temporale  :  e  questo  fa 
che  durante  il  suo  ministero  la  corte  di  Roma 
sia  si  trattenuta  nei  limit!  devoti  e  quasi  con 
una  perpetua  condescenza  a  segno  che  I'av- 
rebbe  costituito  I'arbitro  di  tutte  le  sue  dif- 
ferenze,  se  gli  altri  potentati  non  avessero 
tenuita  la  grande  equitJi  e  I'imparzialita  di 
quell'  eroe  nel  ministero  politico. 

"  Gravissimi  furono!  sconcerti,  tuttavia  non 
appianat!  ancora,  con  la  corte  di  Portogallo, 
dove  il  carattere  di  quel  re  fa  che  acquistano 
giornalmente  vigore  ed  insistenza  le  sue  pre- 
tese quanto  piu  si  contrastano  :  e  per  diria  con 
chiarezza,  le  differenze  insorte  col  Portogallo 
e  con  la  Spagna  avendo  da  qualche  tempo 
sospese  le  rendite  opulentissime  di  que'  vast! 
regni,  ha  quasi  scompaginata  la  corte  e  la  citta 
di  Roma,  dove  migliaja  di  famiglie  da  qualche 


624 


APPENDIX. 


anno  in  qnasonoridotte  dall'opulenzaalla  po- 
vertaetantealtre  dallasiifficienzaallamiseria. 
Questo  fa  che  la  disposizione  d'infinili  beneficj 
in  Spdgna,  in  Portogallo  e  nel  regno  di  Napoli 
rimanendo  sospesa,  anzi  correndo  apparenza 
che  rimaner  possa  all'  autoritji  teinporale  di 
que'  regnanti,  gran  numero  dei  loro  sudditi 
secolari  e  regolari  altre  volte  consacrati  a  sos- 
tenere  la  corte  di  Roma  presentemente  I'ab- 
bandonano,  e  gran  numero  ancora  dei  Romani 
stessi  vengono  condotti  a  coltivar  le  ponenze 
straniere  dall'  avidita  e  necessita  loro.  Parti- 
colare  e  curiosa  e  stata  la  condotta  della  corte 
di  Roma  verso  le  pretese  di  questo  principe  di 
aver  il  cardinale  nato  il  patriarca  di  Lisbona. 
Fu  considerate  da  quel  re  come  condizione 
indispensabile  dell'  accomodamento  delle  ver- 
tenze  che  corrono  tra  le  due  corti,  di  godere 
una  tal  distinzione,  ed  il  papa,  usando  in  cio 
dell'  antico  costume  Romano,  si  e  dimostrato 
alcune  volte  del  tutto  alieno,  altre  quasi  pro- 
penso  di  soddisfare  le  premure  del  re.  La 
cosa  non  e  ancora  decisa,  ed  in  ogni  maniera 
che  venglii  consnmata  fornira  argomenti  non 
indifFerenti  di  discorsi  e  forse  di  querele  tra  gli 
altri  principi. 

"  Altre  volte  il  pretendente  faceva  un'  og- 
getto  massimo  della  corte  di  Roma,  la  quale 
si  lusingava  moltosopra  I'appoggio  delle  corti 
di  Francia  e  Spagna,  dacche  si  riunirono  am- 
bedue  nella  casa  di  Borbon :  ma  in  oggi  sco- 
pertasi  la  gelosia  tra  la  linea  primogenita  e  la 
cadetta  e  conosciutosiche  la  reginadi  Spagna 
non  ha  veramente  altre  mire  che  I'ingrandi- 
mento  dei  proprj  figli,  I'esule  pretendente  e  la 
degna  sua  famiglia  divengono  presto  a  molti 
oggetto  pill  grave  ancora  che  di  conforto. 

"  L'imperatore  ha  falto  e  fa  tuttavia  tremare 
il  presente  ministero  di  Roma,  vedendosi  egli 
stesso  dar  mano  ad  introdurre  nei  suoi  stati 
d'ltalia  quelle  riforme  d'abusi  che  devono  col 
tempo  servire  di  esempio  sommamente  pregiu- 
diciale  ai  Romani :  e  cio  cli'e  peggio  per  loro, 
appena  ha  introdolto  le  sue  truppe  nella  Tos- 
cana,  che  ivi  pure  si  veggono  incamminate  le 
rnedesime  direzioni,  a  segno  che  di  tutti  gli 
stati  esteri  al  dominio  Romano  non  se  ne  vede 
pur  uno  continuar  ciecamente  sul  piede  dei 
secoli  passati.  La  corte  di  Vienna  profes- 
sando  tempo  fa  acri  motivi  di  querela  per  le 
distinzioni  usate  a  Spagnoli,  poco  amati  dal 
popolo  Romano,  si  e  totalmente  attratto  il 
favor  d'esso  popolo  in  Roma  e  nellostato  sotto 
il  pontificate  presente  col  maneggio  accortis- 
simo  de'  suoi  ministri  ed  emissarj,  ch'e  cosa 
maravigliosa  I'udire  in  universale  il  popolo 
Romano  dichiarato  in  lavore  dell'  imperatore. 
Tuttavia  in  oggi  tanta  e  la  forza  dell'  inter- 
esse  della  famiglia  Corsini  che  non  vi  e  sagri- 
ficio  che  non  si  faccia  alline  di  guadagnarsi 
I'amicizia  di  Cesare  :  di  che  TEcc'""  ISenato 
ne  ha  abbondanti  prove  nelle  direzioni  de'  ne- 
gozj  vertenti." 

[The  court  of  Naples  struggles  incessantly 


for  the  abolition  of  the  accustomed  investiture 
by  arguments  from  law,  from  history,  and 
from  the  nature  of  things ;  nor  would  it  be 
very  unlikely  to  succeed,  if  the  king  Don 
Carlo  would  consent  solemnly  to  renounce 
all  pretensions  to  Castro  and  Ronciglione, 
But  this  is  not  all;  for  the  Neapolitans,  in- 
structed in  the  school  of  their  juris-consults, 
are  so  averse  to  the  court  of  Rome,  that  they 
try  every  means  to  withdraw  from  their  de- 
pendence on  the  pope  in  temporal  things ; 
hence  every  day  produces  new  regulations 
and  new  claims,  so  well  supported  by  their 
able  writers,  that  the  court  of  Rome  is  more 
than  ever  embarrassed,  and  already  finds  it- 
self compelled  to  let  go  a  part  that  it  may 
not  lose  the  whole.  The  fact  is,  these  re- 
forms tend  to  enrich  the  royal  treasury,  and 
hence  to  diminish  the  papal  revenues  and  in- 
fluence in  those  states.  Padre  Galliani,  a 
man  of  profound  erudition,  is  the  great  cham- 
pion of  the  court  of  Naples  in  Rome,  and  his 
efficiency  is  the  greater,  inasmuch  as  by  long 
practical  experience  in  that  metropolis  he  has 
fathomed  the  secrets  of  the  papacy  to  the  very 
bottom,  and  being  endowed  with  a  very  happy 
memory,  he  has  everything  at  hand  to  use  as 
occasion  requires. 

[The  great  prop  of  the  court  of  Naples  is 
that  of  Spain,  where  irritation  appears  for 
some  time  to  have  risen  to  excess,  causing 
those  boisterous  outcries  for  reform  in  the  da- 
taria,  and  for  the  re-establishment  of  the  roy- 
al right  of  patronage,  of  which  I  have  several 
times  had  the  honour  to  make  mention  to  your 
serenity  in  my  respectful  dispatches,  and 
which  now  seem  to  have  been  put  a  stop  to 
by  an  arrangement  more  advantageous  to  the 
court  of  Spain  than  to  that  of  Rome. 

[The  court  of  Turin,  in  its  whole  course  of 
policy,  protected  by  the  bulls  and  concessions 
of  Benedict  XIIL,  has  never  for  a  moment 
parted  from  those  bases,  which  it  now  finds 
too  easily  assailed  by  the  present  pontificate. 
Cardinal  Albani,  a  man  of  unequalled  sagaci- 
ty and  resolution,  has  till  now  upheld  the 
cause  of  that  court  with  complete  efficacy, 
insomuch  that  he  never  allowed  the  threats 
(if  the  present  pope  to  be  put  in  force,  and 
according  to  all  appearances  he  will  carry  it 
with  a  high  hand  with  the  pope's  successor. 

[The  court  of  France  too  had  some  grounds 
of  quarrel  on  account  of  the  affairs  of  Poland  ; 
but  they  were  of  so  little  moment,  that  this 
court  may  be  accounted  the  only  one  well 
disposed  and  steadfast  to  the  present  pontifi- 
cate, and  this  because  its  ecclesiastical  affairs 
present  little  or  no  matter  for  discussion  with 
Rome,  both  sides  punctually  observing  the 
concordat  and  the  pragmaiique,  but  chiefly 
because  the  court  of  Rome  deals  more  cau- 
tiously with  the  French  court  than  with  any 
other  in  introducing,  upholding,  and  resisting 
whatever  innovations  may  present  themselves. 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


625 


The  ever  to  be  extolled  cardinal  Fleniy,  that 
great  and  exemplary  statesman,  has  always 
known  how  to  keep  politics  subordinate  to  re- 
ligion, without  ever  confounding  the  spiritual 
with  the  temporal  authority  :  in  consequence 
of  this,  the  court  of  Rome  has  always  during 
his  ministry  confined  itself  within  due  limits, 
and  observed,  so  to  speak,  a  continual  conde- 
scension, insomuch  that  it  would  have  consti- 
tuted him  the  umpire  of  all  its  difficulties,  if 
the  other  potentates  had  not  feared  the  jus- 
tice and  impartiality  of  that  hero  in  states- 
manship. 

[Very  serious  were  the  disagreements,  not 
yet  adjusted,  with  the  court  of  Portugal,  the 
character  of  the  king  giving  daily  increased 
vigour  and  intensity  to  his  pretensions  in  pro- 
portion as  they  are   opposed :  and   to  speak 
plainly,  the   difficulties    with    Portugal  and 
Spain  having  for  some  time  suspended  the 
very  abundant  income  from  those  vast  realms, 
have  almost  broken  up  the  court  and  city  of 
Rome,  where  thousands  of  families  have  with- 
in the  last  few  years  been  reduced  from  opu- 
lence to   poverty,  and  as  many  more  from 
competence   to  destitution.     Hence,    as   the 
disposal  of  an  immense  number  of  benefices 
in   Spain  and  Portugal   and  the  kingdom  of 
Naples  remains  suspended,  and  as  there  is 
rather  a  probability  that  they  will  fall  perma- 
nently under  the  temporal  authority  of  the 
respective  rulers,  a   great   number  of  their 
subjects,  secular  and  regular,  formerly  devot- 
ed to  the  court  of  Rome,  now  abandon  it :  and 
great  numbers  besides  of  the  Romans  them- 
selves are  induced  by  their  cupidity  and  their 
need  to  cultivate  the  favour  of  foreign  powers. 
Singular  and  curious  was  the  conduct  of  the 
court  of  Rome  with  respect  to  the  claims  of 
that  sovereign  to  have  the  cardinal  his  son 
made  patriarch  of  Lisbon.     It  was  considered 
by  the  king  as  an  indispensable  requisite  for 
the  accommodation   of  the  matters   current 
between  the  two  courts,  that  his  own  should 
enjoy  such  a  distinction,  and  the  pope,  adher- 
ing in   this  to  ancient  Roman   usage,  some- 
times appeared  altogether  averse  to  the  pro- 
posal, and   at  others   almost  eager  to  satisfy 
the  demands  of  the  king.     The  matter  is  not 
yet  decided,  and   in  whatever    way  it  may 
turn  out,  it  will  furnish  no  insignificant  sub- 
ject of  discussion,   and    perhaps   of  quarrels 
among  the  other  sovereigns. 

[Formerly  the  pretender  was  an  object  of 
the  highest  interest  to  the  court  of  Rome, 
which  tiattered  itself  much  with  hopes  of  the 
support  of  the  courts  of  France  and  Spain, 
since  the  two  had  become  united  in  the  house 
of  Bourbon :  but  in  this  day,  since  the  jea- 
.,  lousy  between  the  eldest  and  the  junior 
branch  has  been  disclosed,  and  since  it  has 
come  to  be  known  that  the  queen  of  Spain 
has  really  no  other  object  in  view  than  the 
aggrandisement  of  her  own  sons,  the  exiled 
79 


pretender  and  his  excellent  family  are  almost 
become  to  many  rather  a  burthen  than  hope- 
ful objects. 

[The  emperor  has  caused  and  still  causes 
the  present  ministry  of  Rome  to  tremble,  be- 
ing seen  himself  to  set  tiie  example  of  intro- 
ducing into  his  Italian  states  those  reforms  of 
abuses  which  must  in  time  furnish  a  prece- 
dent highly  prejudicial  to  the  Romans :  and 
what  is  worse  tor  them,  no  sooner  did  his 
troops  enter  Tuscany  than  the  same  measures 
were  entered  on  there ;  so  that  of  all  the 
states  beyond  the  dominion  of  Rome  not  one 
continues  to  walk  blindly  in  the  ways  of  past 
ages.  The  court  of  Vienna  having  some  time 
since  very  hotly  taken  up  the  question  of  the 
distinctions  conferred  on  the  Spaniards,  who 
are  little  liked  by  the  Roman  people,  com- 
pletely won  for  itself  the  favour  of  the  people 
in  the  city  and  in  the  states  under  the  present 
pontificate,  through  the  very  judicious  man- 
agement of  its  ministers  and  emissaries ;  so 
that,  marvellous  to  relate,  the  whole  Roman 
people  has  declared  in  favour  of  the  emperor. 
At  the  same  time,  so  strong  is  the  interest  of 
the  Corsini  family  in  the  present  day,  that 
they  omit  no  sacrifice  to  gain  the  emperor's 
friendship,  of  which  the  most  excellent  senate 
has  had  abundant  proofs  in  the  current  course 
of  affairs.] 


163.  Relazione  del  N.  H.  Franc.  Venier  Kr 
ritornato  amhasciat.  da  Roma,  1744,  24 
Apr.  [Report  of  Francesco  Venier's  em- 
bassy to  Rome.] 

Unfortunately  only  two  loose  leaves  relat- 
ing to  Benedict  XIV. 

Venier  affirms  that  the  cardinals  had  never 
really  wished  to  have  this  pope:  "inalzato 
anzi  dalle  sue  rare  virtu,  dalle  vicende  di 
quel  conclave,  dalle  sue  note  lunghezze,  che 
da  un'  efficace  favore  de'  Cardinal!  che  lo 
esaltarano.  Fu  opera  sola  del  divino  spirito" 
[his  elevation  was  due  rather  to  his  rare  vir- 
tues, to  the  vicissitudes  of  this  conclave,  and 
to  its  well  known  protracted  length,  than  to 
any  active  good  will  of  the  cardinals  who 
promoted  him.  It  was  the  sole  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit] 

"  II  papa,"  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  dotato  di 
cuore  aperto  e  sincere  trascuro  sempre  ogn' 
una  di  quelle  arti  che  si  chiamano  romanes- 
che,  e  lo  stesso  carattere  che  fece  conoscere 
senza  riserva  allora  che  era  prelato,  fu  quelle 
del  cardi  Lambertini  e  si  puo  dire  quelle  del 
papa." 

[The  pope,  endowed  with  an  open  and  hon- 
est heart,  always  eschewed  every  one  of 
those  acts  which  are  called  Romish  ;  and  the 
same  character  he  unreservedly  exhibited 
when  prelate  was  that  of  cardinal  Lamberti- 
ni, and  by  all  means  that  of  the  pope.] 


626 


APPENDIX. 


164.  Relazione  di  Aluise  Mocenigo  IV  Kav^ 
ritornato  amhasciat.  di  Roma,  1750,  14 
Apr.  [Report  of  the  embassy  of  Aluise 
Mocenigo  IV.  to  Rome.] 

This  is  not  the  ambassador  of  1737,  who 
was  the  son  of  Aluise  Mocenigo  the  third ; 
the  ambassador  of  1750  was  the  son  of  Aluise 
Mocenigo  the  first. 

Unfortunately  he  contented  himself  with 
filling  three  leaves :  I  will  extract  the  most 
important  passages  in  full,  seeing  the  scanti- 
ness of  authentic  information  respecting  the 
court  of  Rome  at  this  period. 

"  II  regnante  Benedetto  XIV  non  solo  non 
e  mai  stato  neU'impiego  di  nunziature  presso 
alcuna  corte,  ma  ne  pur  ha  sostenuto  alcuna 
legazione :  egli  essendo  vescovo  d'Ancona  e 
stato  fatto  cardinale,  et  essendo  arcivescovo 
di  Bologna  fu  assonto  al  supremo  grado  in  cui 
regna.  Possede  per  pratica  fatta  sin  dagli 
anni  suoi  piu  freschi  I'ordine  della  curia,  e 
non  se  ne  scorda  certamente,  oltre  di  che  si 
picca  d'esser  perfetto  canonista  et  ottimo  le- 
gale, non  ammettendo  egli  in  cio  differenza 
dair  esser  suo  di  decretalista,  studio  che  non 
lascia  al  di  d'oggi  ancora.  Percio  egli  e  par- 
zialissimo  del  suo  uditore  monsre  Argivilliers, 
perche  si  dirige  colle  stesse  dottrine.  Con- 
formandosi  dunque  le  massime  del  papa  con 
quelle  del  suo  uditore,  si  rende  questi  nel  pon- 
tificato  presente  uomo  d'importanza,  quando 
particolarmente  per  I'esercizio  suo,  ch'e  ris- 
tretto  alle  sole  civili  ispezioni,  non  avrebbe 
altro  che  il  vantaggio  di  vedere  in  ogni  giorno 
il  monarca  ed  ora  entra  a  dir  parere  negli  af- 
fari  di  stato.  Per  dir  vero,  egli  e  uonao  di 
probita,  ma  di  nessuna  esperienza  negl'  inte- 
ressi  dei  principi,  austero  ed  inaccessibile, 
scarso  di  corrispondenza  forastiere  non  solo 
ma  ancora  tra  li  stessi  palatini.  Per  I'aura 
di  favore  ch'ei  gode  sembra  che  contrast)  al 
cardl  Valenti  segretario  di  stato  I'accesso 
vantaggioso  presso  del  papa,  che  la  gran 
mente  di  quel  porporato,  quando  voglia  gli 
prema  et  a  lui  convenga,  in  mezzo  alle  piu 
difficili  determinazioni  e  massime  sempre 
possiede  ed  ottiene.  Ed  eccomi  al  caso  di 
superfluita  e  repetizione.  Di  questo  sogget- 
to,  perspicace  nella  coltura  degli  affari  politi- 
ci  e  di  stato,  ministro  d'esperienza  accorto  e 
manieroso,  avran  detto  quello  conviene  li 
miei  ecc™'  predecessori,  e  circa  questo  non 
altro  posso  aggiungere  se  non  ch'egli  col  nuo- 
vo  posto  di  camerlengo  di  S.  Chiesa,  conferit- 
ogli  da  S.  St^^  in  tempo  della  mia  ambasciata, 
ha  fermato  anche  dopo  la  vita  del  pontefice 
quel  ben  onorifico  e  lucroso  posto,  che  lo  ren- 
dera  ancora  necessario  e  ricercato  quando 
forse  dopo  di  aver  dimessa  la  secretaria  di  sta- 
to I'emulazione,  I'invidia  e  li  mal  content!  av- 
rebbero  potuto  spiegar  la  loro  forza  ed  il  loro 
sdegno.  Va  ora  esente  da  questi  sfoghi,  non 
perche  sia  da  ogni  parte  circondato :  ma  sa 


egli  far  fronte  e  scansar  ogni  assalto :  se  a 
lui  giova,  cimenta  :  in  caso  diverse  non  cura. 
Oltre  al  nominato  uditor  del  papa,  poco  o  ni- 
ente  amico  suo  vi  e  ancora  monsr  Millo  data- 
rio,  con  il  quale  benche  a  mio  tempo  apparis- 
sero  riconciliati  in  amicizia,  in  sostanza  non 
lo  erano,  ed  il  detto  datario  e  piuttosto  del 
partite  dell'  uditore.  Questi  tre  soggetti  si 
possono  dir  quelli  che  nel  presente  pontifica- 
te abbino  ingerenza  ed  intelligenza  negli  af- 
fari dello  stato.  Ma  se  li  due  prelati  sono  ac- 
cetti  per  I'esposto  di  sopra  ed  il  cardi  sa  ren- 
ders! necessario  per  le  tante  ragioni  ben  note, 
pero  arrivano  dei  moment!  che  il  papa  ascolta 
gli  uni  e  I'altro  e  poscia  tutto  a  sua  volonta  e 
talento  difterentemente  risolve.  Per  questo 
ancora,  se  vi  sono  degli  altri  ben  distinti  sog- 
getti tra  1!  palatini,  non  contano  gran  cosa 
nel  presente  pontificate  o  almeno  in  rapporto 
ai  gravi  aftar!  dello  stato.  Uno  e  il  cardie 
Passionei,  studiosissimo  ed  amante  delle  sci- 
enze,  pratico  ministro  per  le  nunziature  sos- 
tenute,  e  non  ha  altra  ingerenza  che  nella 
secretaria  dei  brevi.  Del  giovane  prelate 
monsr  Mercantonio  Colonna  maggiorduomo  il 
zio  cardl  Girolarao  promaggiorduorao  e  uno  tra 
1!  prediletti  del  papa :  ma  egli  non  si  da  pena 
d'altro  che  di  quelle  cose  che  interressino  le 
particolari  sue  brame.  II  segretario  alle  zi- 
fre  monsre  Antonio  Rota,  conosciuto  dal  papa 
e  dair  universale  di  tutto  il  sagro  collegio  ed 
a  parte  dalle  congregazion!  coram  sanctissimo 
per  un'  uomo  della  piu  scelta  politica  et  un 
pensamento  il  piu  fino,  che  per  I'aggiustatez- 
za  deir  estero,  dove  abbia  ad  esservi  un  trat- 
to  d'accortezza,  altro  non  ha  migliore,  tal- 
mente  conosciuto  necessario  che  con  distinto 
modo  si  ammette  anche  podagroso  nelle  oc- 
correnti  congregazion!,  non  ha  pero  maggiori 
ispezioni  che  quelle  del  suo  carico  o  le  avven- 
tizie." 

[The  reigning  pope,  Benedict  XIV.,  not 
only  has  never  been  employed  in  a  nunciature 
to  any  court,  but  has  never  even  discharged 
any  legation ;  when  bishop  of  Ancona  he  was 
made  cardinal,  and  when  archbishop  of  Bolog- 
na he  was  raised  to  the  supreme  rank  in 
which  he  reigns.  He  is  versed  by  long  prac- 
tice from  his  earliest  years  in  the  routine  of 
the  curia,  and  he  certainly  does  not  forget  it ; 
besides  which,  he  piques  himself  on  being  a 
finished  canonist  and  an  excellent  lawyer,  and 
makes  no  less  pretensions  as  a  decretajist,  his 
studies  in  which  capacity  he  keeps  up  to  this 
day.  For  this  reason  he  is  very  partial  to  his 
auditor,  Monsignor  Argivillers,  because  he 
acts  upon  the  same  principles.  This  conform- 
ity of  opinion  between  the  pope  and  his  audi- 
tor renders  the  latter  a  man  of  importance 
during  the  present  pontificate,  whereas,  in  the 
mere  discharge  of  his  ofiice,  which  is  confined 
to  civil  inspections  only,  he  would  enjoy  no 
other  advantage  than  that  of  daily  seeing  the 
sovereign,  and  now  he  is  admitted  to  speak 


LATER  EPOCHS. 


627 


his  opinion  in  affairs  of  state.  To  say  the 
truth,  he  is  a  man  of  probity,  but  of  no  expe- 
rience in  foreign  affairs,  austere  and  inacces- 
sible, sparing  of  his  intercourse,  not  with  in- 
ferior people  only,  but  with  men  of  the  fore- 
most rank.  From  the  high  favour  he  enjoys, 
he  seems  to  dispute  with  cardinal  Valenti, 
secretary  of  state,  the  advantageous  footing 
with  the  pope,  which  the  great  mind  of  that 
dignitary,  whenever  he  is  so  pleased,  always 
obtains  tor  him  in  all  occasions  of  most  import- 
ance and  difficulty.  But  I  am  running  into 
superfluity  and  repetition.  My  very  excellent 
predecessor  will  have  told  you  all  that  was 
requisite  about  this  luminous  politician  and 
statesman,  this  experienced  and  courteous 
minister,  and  I  have  nothing  to  add  respect- 
ing him,  but  that  the  place  of  chamberlain  of 
the  holy  church  has  been  newly  conferred  on 
him  by  his  holiness  during  my  embassy,  and 
that  he  has  had  coniirmed  to  him,  even  after 
the  pope's  lifetime,  that  very  honourable  and 
lucrative  post,  which  will  render  him  still 
necessary,  and  sought  after,  even  though, 
when  he  shall  have  lost  the  secretaryship  of 
state,  rivalry,  envy,  and  ill-will  should  seek 
to  try  their  strength  to  his  disadvantage.  At 
present  he  is  exempt  from  these  annoyances ; 
not  that  he  is  guarded  on  all  sides,  but  he 
knows  how  to  make  head  and  ward  oft' every 
assault:  if  it  suits  him,  he  engages;  if  not, 
he  gives  no  heed.  Besides  the  popes  before- 
named  auditor,  there  is  also  (no  great  friend 
to  Valenti)  Monsignor  Millo,  the  datary ; 
though  these  two  were  outwardly  friends  in 
my  time,  they  were  not  so  in  reality,  and  the 
datary  is  rather  of  the  auditor's  party.  These 
three  persons  may  be  said  to  be  all  who  in 
this  pontificate  are  privy  to  and  participate  in 
affairs  of  state.  But  if  the  two  prelates  are 
in  favour  for  the  reasons  above,  and  the  car- 
dinal knows  how  to  make  himself  necessary 
upon  so  many  well-known  grounds,  still  there 
are  moments  when  the  pope  hears  them  all, 
and  afterwards  decides  difterently  from  them 
of  his  own  will  and  device.  Again,  if  there 
are  other  very  distinguished  men  among  the 
leading  personages,  they  are  of  no  great 
weight  in  the  present  pontificate,  at  least  as 
regards  matters  of  state.  One  such  is  cardi- 
nal Passionei,  a  most  ardent  lover  of  the  sci- 
ences, a  minister  of  experience  from  the  nun- 
ciatures he  has  filled,  and  yet  he  has  no  voice 
except  in  the  secretaryship  of  briefs.  Cardi- 
nal Girolamo,  promaggiordumo,  uncle  of  the 
young  prelate,  Monsignor  Marcantonio  Col- 
onna,  the  maggiorduomo,  is  one  of  the  pope's 
favourites ;  but  he  takes  no  trouble  about  any 
matters  but  such  as  concern  his  private  desires. 
The  secretary  of  accounts,  Monsignor  Antonio 
Rota,  known  by  the  pope  and  the  whole  sacred 
college,  and  especially  by  the  congregazioni 
coram  sanctissimo,  for  a  man  of  the  choicest 
policy  and  the  most  subtle  shrewdness,  so  that 


for  any  foreign  arrangement,  where  a  stroke  of 
cleverness  were  necessary,  his  better  there 
could  not  be,  though  his  indispensable  value 
is  so  well  known  that  his  presence  is  specially 
required  in  the  congregations  notwithstanding 
his  gout,  yet  has  no  more  important  matters 
under  his  control  than  those  of  his  office  or 
casualties.] 

165.  Girolamo  Zulian  Relazione  di  Roma 
15  Decembre  1783.  [Girolamo  Zulian's 
report  on  Rome.] 

Towards  the  close  of  the  republic,  the  dis- 
position towards  this  kind  of  political  business 
declined. 

The  reports  became  briefer ;  the  observa- 
tions they  contain  are  not  to  be  compared  for 
penetration  and  comprehensiveness  with  those 
of  the  older  reports. 

Zulian,  whose  report  is  the  last  I  have  met 
with,  no  longer  treats  at  all  of  politics,  of  for- 
eign affairs,  or  of  the  personal  characteristics 
ofPius  VI. :  he  confines  himself  merely  to  a 
few  leading  points  of  the  internal  administra- 
tion. 

The  papal  treasury,  he  tells  us,  showed  a 
considerable  deficit,  which  was  further  in- 
creased by  the  extraordinary  expenditure,  the 
building  of  the  sacristy  of  St.  Peter's,  and  the 
works  in  the  Pontine  marshes,  which  together 
might  have  already  cost  two  millions:  at- 
tempts were  made  to  cover  this  deficit  by  an- 
ticipations and  creation  of  paper  money. 
Moreover,  much  money  went  out  of  the  coun- 
try. "  Le  canapi,  le  sete,  le  lane  che  si  es- 
traggono  dallo  state,  non  compensano  li  pesci 
salati,  li  piombi,  le  droghe  e  la  immensa  serie 
delle  manifatture  che  si  importano  in  esso  da 
Geneva  specialmente  e  dalla  Francia.  II 
gran  mezzo  di  bilanciar  la  nazione  dovrebbe 
essere  il  commercio  de'  grani :  ma  la  neces- 
sita  di  regolarlo  per  mezzo  di  tratte  affine  di 
proveder  sempre  I'annona  di  Roma  a  prezzi 
bassi  lo  rende  misero  e  spessodannoso.  Quindi 
restaoppressa  I'agricultura  e  spesso  succedeno 
le  scarsezze  del  genere  che  obligano  a  comprare 
il  formento  fuori  dello  state  a  prezzi  gravis- 
simi.  E  comune  opinione  pertanto  che  questo 
commercio  cumulativamente  preso  pochissimo 
profitto  dia  alia  nazione.  Resta  essa  debitrice 
con  tutte  quasi  le  piazze  colle  quali  e  in  re- 
lazione, e  da  cio  deriva  in  gran  parte  quella 
rapida  estrazion  di  monete  che  mette  in  dis- 
credito  le  cedole  e  forma  la  poverta  estrema 
della  naziome.  Si  considera  che  il  maggior 
vantaggio  di  Roma  sta  coUa  piazza  di  Vene- 
zia  per  li  varj  generi  che  lo  state  pontificio 
tramanda  a  quelle  di  vostra  Serenita."  [The 
cordage,  silks  ,and  woollens  exported  from  the 
state,  do  not  counterbalance  the  salt-fish, 
lead,  drugs,  and  manufactures  in  immense 
quantities  which  are  imported  into  it  from 
France,  and  particularly  from  Genoa.  The 
grand  means  of  adjusting  the  balance  of  the 


628 


APPENDIX. 


national  commerce  should  be  the  corn  trade  ; 
but  the  necessity  of  regulating  it  artificially, 
so  as  always  to  provide  for  the  supply  of  Rome 
with  corn  at  a  low  price,  makes  the  trade  a 
languishing  and  often  a  losing  one.  Thus 
agriculture  is  oppressed,  and  dearths  frequent- 
ly occur  of  such  a  nature  as  to  make  it  neces- 
sary to  purchase  corn  from  abroad  at  very 
heavy  prices.  Accordingly  it  is  the  common 
opinion,  that  this  trade  taken  altogether  af- 
fords extremely  little  profit  to  the  nation.  It 
is  debtor  to  almostall  those  places  with  which 
it  is  in  connexion,  whence  follows  in  a  great 
measure  that  rapid  outgo  of  cash  which  brings 
down  the  commercial  credit  of  the  nation,  and 
causes  its  extreme  poverty.  It  is  thought 
that  Venice  is  the  most  profitable  customer 
Rome  has,  from  the  various  kinds  of  commodi- 


ties furnished  by  the  papal  states  to  that  of 
your  serenity.] 

It  is  well  known  what  measures  Pius  VI. 
adopted  for  the  relief  of  the  country.  They 
are  here  considered,  but  without  any  very  pro- 
found views. 

Zulian  remarks,  that  Pius  VI.  had  made  the 
cardinals  still  more  insignificant  than  they 
were  before.  On  his  return  from  Vienna  he 
put  them  off  with  obscure  and  scanty  informa- 
tion. To  this  indeed  it  may  be  replied  that 
he  had  but  little  to  impart.  The  fact  how- 
ever is  not  true.  Pallavicini,  the  secretary 
of  state,  a  superior  man,  could  not  accomplish 
much  in  consequence  of  his  frequent  ill 
health.  The  author  states  that  Rezzonico 
was  the  person  who  had  most  influence  with 
Pius  VI. 


INDEX. 


Absolution  of  the  Spanish  regent,  257 ;  of  the 
Venetians,  2G2  ;  of  Henri  IV.  of  France,  230. 

Abyssinia,  catholic  missions  to,  tfcc.  305. 

Accolti,  Benedetto  delli,  legate  at  Ancona,  128.;  — 
Benedetto,  plots  against  the  life  of  Pius  IV.,  115. 

Accorombuona,  Villoria,  141. 

Adrian  VI.  of  Utrecht,  succeeds  Leo  X.,  42;  his 
reputation  and  personal  character,  ib. ;  the  Itin- 
erarium  Adriani  by  Ortez,  43,  n.;  Adrian's  neu- 
trality in  the  wars  of  Christendom,  and  zeal 
against  the  Turks,  his  efforts  for  Church  reform, 
ib. ;  liis  unpopularity,  his  epitaph,  44.  app.  407. 

iEneas  Sylvius  (Pius  II.)  vainly  preaches  a  cru- 
sade, 27. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  strength  of  protestantism  in,  164. 

Akbar,  emperor  of  Hindostan,  Geronimo  Xavier, 
Jesuit  missionary  at  the  court  of,  303. 

Alamanni,  poems  of,  153. 

Albani,  Gianfrancesco,  pope  Clement  XI.,  379, 
380 ;  app.  612. 

Alberich  of  Barbiano,  124. 

Alberoni,  cardinal,  prime  minister  of  Spain,  380. 

Albert  V.,  duke — See  Bavaria. 

Albert,  margrave  of  Bradenburg,  98. 

Albigenses,  barbarous  slaughter  of  the,  25, 

Aldobrandino,  Salvestro,  father  of  Clement  VIII., 
229  ; —  Bernardo,  2"i9;  —  Giovanni,  cardinal,  t6. ; 

—  Ippolito,  pope  Clement  VIII.,  ib. ;  —  Ippolito, 
cardinal,  app.  560  ;  —  Olimpia,  sole  heiress  of  the 
house,  app.  560.  574  ;  Pietro,  an  eminent  lawyer, 
229;  —  Pietro,  cradinal  nephew  under  Clement 
VIII.,241 ;  his  administration  251 ,  252, 254,  255, 
app.  450  ;  Tominaso,  philologist,  229 ;  —  Aldo- 
brandini  family,  332.  345. 

Aldrovandi,  Ulisse,  natural  historian,  152. 

Aldus  Manutius,  152. 

Alexander  III.,  pope,  336  ;  —  VI.,  pope,  his  profli- 
gacy and  unprincipled  ambition;  his  son  Cesar 
Borgia;  their  dealings  wilh  the  Guelph  and 
GhibeUine  factions,  30  ;  the  atrocities  perpetrated 
by  the  pope  and  his  son,  31  ;  Alexander  dies  by 
poison  intended  for  a  cardinal,  31,  app.  400  ; 
failure  of  his  attempt  to  found  a  hereditary  do- 
minion in  his  hou.'se,  31 ;  his  exactions,  33.  130  ; 

—  VII.,  cardinal  Fabio  Chigi,  pope,  his  election, 
342 ;  keeps  his  nephew  aloof  till  overcome  by 
the  arguments  of  Oliva,  ib. ;  the  congregatione 
di  state  under,  343  ;  Alexander's  apathy  and  ir- 
resolution, ib;  his  reception  of  queen  Christina, 
356;  financial  measures,  358,  app.  583 — 588. 
592— 596;  — VIII.,  pope,  373;  his  early  death, 
378. 

Alfonso  II.,  duke  of  Ferrara,  236—239. 


Alkmar,  heroic  defence  made  by  the  people  of,  181. 

Allatio,  Leone,  sent  by  Gregory  XV.  to  take  pos- 
session  of  the  Heidelberg  library,  296,  app.  524, 

Allen,  William,  an  English  Jesuit,  founds  the  col- 
lege of  Douay,  187  ;  made  a  cardinal  by  Sixtus 
v.,  209. 

Altieri,  Emilio,  pope  Clement  X.,  375 ;  app.  601  ; 
—  cardinal  Pauluzzo  Puluzzi,  375,  app.  601 — 
605. 

Alva,  duke  of,  his  campaign  against  pope  Paul  IV., 
98 — 100;  receives  the  cardinal's  hat  from  Pius 
v.,  122;  sent  to  put  down  the  rebellion  in  the 
Netherlands,  178  ;  principles  of  his  pohcy,  179, 

Amadis  de  Gaule,  66.  153. 

Amadis,  see  Tasso,  Bernardo. 

Ambrogio,  secretary  to  Paul  III.,  84. 

America,  Spanish,  Catholicism  in,  167;  missionary 
establishments  in,  302,  303. 

Ancients,  the  literature  of,  34,  35  ;  imitation  of, 
gives  place  to  a  native  modern  literature,  153; 
the  Jesuits  rival  the  classical  learning  of  the 
protestants,  171. 

Anchin,  abbey  of,  189. 

Ancona,  123.  128  138.  144.  148.  620, 

Angclo,  castle  of  St.  47.  83.  151.  316, 

Anglo  Saxons,  21. 

Annates  and  tithes  of  the  see  of  Rome,  27,  32, 
130. 

Anne  of  Austria  queen  of  Louis  XIII.,  Bucking- 
ham's supposed  passion  for,  312  ;  Arnaud  d'An- 
dilly  intimate  with,  368  ;  —  of  Denmark,  wife  of 
Augustus  of  Saxony,  202. 

Antiquities  of  Rome,  150,  151,  app.  406,  576, 

Anta«iano,  Silvio,  105.  159. 

Antonio  dei  Pagliarici  of  Siena,  57  ;  —  fra,  of  Vol- 
terra,  ib. 

Antwerp,  city  of,  182  ;  siege  and  capture  of,  193. 

Apollo  Belvidcre,  151. 

Aquapendente,  259. 

Aquaviva,  Claudin,  general  of  the  Jesuits,  197; 
character  and  rule  of,  244.  250.  265. 

Aqueducts  of  Rome,  150. 

Aquila,  bishop  of,  61. 

Arabians,  their  conquests,  20,  21 ;  their  cultivation 
of  literature  and  science  in  the  middle  ages,  34. 

Araoz,  Jesuit  preacher  in  Valencia,  77, 

Architecture,  modern  sacred,  156. 

Aremberg,  duke  d',  killed  at  Heiligcrlce,  178. 

Argento,  Gaetano,  founder  of  a  scliool  of  jurispru- 
dence hostile  to  the  claims  of  the  papal  see,  381. 

Aria  Cattiva,  app.  360.  577. 

Arian  kings  established  themselves  in  the  West, 
20. 


630 


INDEX. 


Arigfone,  auditor  di  rota,  158. 

Ariosto,  his  praise  of  Bembo,  34  ;  charm  of  bis 
poetry,  ib;  Leo  X.'s  friendship  for,  ib.;  con- 
trasted with  Tasso,  155  ;  quoted,  237  n. 

Aristocracy  of  Europe  generally,  most  flourishing 
in  the  17th  century,  345. 

Aristotle,  Arabian  translators  of,  34 ;  Italian  fol- 
lowers and  opponents  of,  154.  369, 

Armada,  the  Spanish,  208—210. 

Arnaud,  Antoine,  the  elder,  369  ;  —  Angelique,  ab- 
bess of  Portroyal,  368  ;  —  d'Andilly,  celebrated 
Jansenist,  368,  369  ;  —  the  abbe  Antoine,  Janse- 
nist,  369. 

Arras,  bishop  of,  190,  191 ;  insurrection  of,  190. 

Arl,  Italian,  35. 154. 

Assassinations,  621.  See  Henri  III.,  William  of 
Nassau,  &c. 

Astulphus,  king  of  the  Lombards,  threatens  Rome, 
20. 

Astrology,  34.  84. 

Astronomy,  of  the  Arabians,  34;  taught  by  the 
Jesuits,  171. 

Augier,  Edmund,  Jesuit  orator,  180. 

Augsburg,  bisropric  and  city  of,  165.  201  ;  con- 
fession of,  163.  184.  269  ;  diets  of,  47. 169.  175  ; 
peace  of,  165.  172.278,279.  310.  321. 

Augustine,  St..  75.  110.  247.  367,  368.  382. 

"  Augustinus,"  the,  of  Jansenius,  367. 

Augustus,  elector  of  Saxony,  202. 

Aulic  council,  278. 

Austria,  religious  affairs  of  59.  164.  197, 198.  278. 
281.  309:  Jesuits  established  in,  by  Ferdinand 
I.,  169  ;  Bohemia,  &c.,  293.  295  ;  house  of,  in- 
fluence of,  207.  30C,  307.  319.  321.  377,  382. 

Autosdafe,  76. 121. 

Azpilcueta,  Spanish  canonist.  158. 

Azzolini,  cardinal,  342.  344.  357. 

Babylon,  patriarch  of,  304. 

Baden,  the  margrave  Jacob  von,  converted  to  Ro- 
manism, 203  ;  margrave  Wilhelm  of,  296, 

Bad'?n.B:iden,  margrave  Philip  of,  174. 

Baglioni,  Roman  family  of,  30,  31.  124.  129. 

Bajns  of  Louvain,  247. 

Bamberg,  fluctuations  of  religious  systems  in,  164. 
197.  276. 

Bandino,  P.  Ant.,  on  the  tone  of  opinion  at  the 
court  of  Leo  X.,  37. 

Banditti,  Italian,  126.  139,  140;  extirpation  of,  by 
Sixtus  v.,  142,  143;  their  reappearance,  224. 
app.  483. 

Barba,  Bernardino  dclla,  128,  129. 

Barberini  family,  31.5.  333.  .335.  345;  Barberino, 
cardinal  Maffco,  pope  Urban  VIII.,  316;  —  car- 
dinal Francesco,  nephew  of  Urban  VIII.,  317. 

Barcelona,  treaty  of,  47.  52.  63. 

Bari,  duchy  of,  99, 

Barnabiles,  order  of,  66. 120. 

Baronius,  Cesar,  the  annalibl  of  the  church,  153. 
158.  230.254.  257. 

Barozzi,  architectural  canon  of,  156. 

Barriere  Jean  de  la,  ascetic  institution  of,  204. 

Bartholomew's  day,  St.,  massacre  of  protestants  in 
Paris  on,  122.  181.  209.  238. 

Bascinno,  tbunder  of  the  monastery  of  Monte  Cor- 
ona, 64  n, 

Basic,  council  of  27,  28.  109  ;  bishop  of,  188. 

Bathi,  Giuliano,  54. 

Bavaria,  the  dukes  of,  G3  ;  protestant  movement  in, 


1G4;  Catholicism  of  the  duke  of,  168;  extension 
of  civil  rights  in,  172  ;  Albert  V.  of,  172,  173, 
174.  183.  199.  202  n. ;  duke  Ernest  of,  bishop  of 
Freisingen  and  archbishop  of  Cologne,  194; 
duke  William  of,  203;  Maximilian  I.  of,  211. 
246.  277.  279.  290.  296,  297.  322 ;  the  duchy 
overrun  by  the  Swedes,  324. 

Beam,  church  property  restored  in,  289  ;  factions 
of  Beaumont  and  Grammont  in,  291. 

Bedmar,  cardinal,  Spanish  minister,  311. 

Belgians  in  the  service  of  Philip  II.  in  Germany, 
194. 

Belgium,  its  reconversion  to  Catholicism,  193 ; 
modern  kingdom  of,  394. 

Bellarmine,  cardinal,  celebrated  controversialist, 
158.216.250.258.292. 

Bembo,  Pietro,  his  literary  merit,  34.  54.  56. 

Benedict  XIII.,  pope,  app.  619;  —  XIV.,  cardinal 
Prospero  Lambertini,  381.  app.  625,  626. 

Benedictines,  many  eminent  popes  of  the  order  of, 
25 ;  rule  of  St.  Benedict  of  Nursia,  64  ;  in  the 
Netherlands,  189;  the  French,  286;  contest 
with  the  Jesuits  for  the  restored  monasteries  of 
their  order,  32!. 

Bcneiices,  collation  to,  &c.,  32.  43.  112,  113.  133; 
nomination  to  German,  203  ;  Spanish,  387. 

Bentivoglio,  Giovanni,  3:2  ;  —  cardinal  Guido,  me- 
moirs of,  app.  500. 

Berne,  city  of,  188;  its  protestant  inhabitants  dri- 
ven out  by  Charles  Emanuel  of  Savoy,  207. 

Berni,  his  recast  of  the  Orlando  Innamorato,  153. 

Berulle,  cardinal  Pierre  de,  286  ;  his  important  in- 
fluence on  the  French  pulpit,  ib. ;  his  co-opera- 
tion against  England,  3il, 

Betthune,  cardinal,  318  n. 

Bibbiena,  cardinal,  35.  37. 

Biberach,  a  protestant  town  with  a  catholic  council, 
200. 

Bible,  the,  the  immediate  guide  of  the  German 
theologians,  38;  the  Vulgate,  56.  72;  the  Janse- 
nist version,  370;  Italian  version  of,  54. 

Bishops,  pre-eminence  of  the  Roman,  20;  nomina- 
tion to  sees  in  Germany,  England,  Spain,  28; 
Italian,  33;  pastoral  duties  of,  56;  temporal 
powers  of,  60;  residence  of,  question  of  their 
divine  right,  112;  prince  bishops  of  Germany, 
164.  174,  et  scq. ;  protestant  German,  1 64  et  seq. ; 
eminent  Flemish,  190. 

Boccaccio,  instrumental  in  reviving  the  study  of 
ancient  literature  in  Italy,  37. 

Bodeghem,  Bartholomew,  of  Delft,  175. 

Bohemia,  dukes  of,  23  ;  advances  made  by  the 
theologians  of,  to  Erasmus,  38 ;  protrstants  of, 
48  ;  Jesuits  in,  169  ;  privileges  of  the  Utraquists, 
278.  294;  defensive  measures  of  the  Bohemians, 
281  ;  the  elector  Frederick  king  of,  290;  their 
return  to  Catholicism,  293.  app.  537. 

Boiardo,  his  Rinaldo,  35 ;  his  Orlando  Innamorato 
recast  by  Berni,  153 ;  quoted,  237. 

Bologna,  conference  at,  49 ;  council  transferred 
from  Trent  to,  87  ;  council  of  Bologna  protested 
against  by  Charles  V.,  90  ;  municipality  of,  123. 
1.32.225;  university  of,  144;  school  of  painting 
of,  155  ;  informafione  di,  app,  514. 
Bolngnctto,  cardinal,  158;  his  mission  to  Stephen 

Balliory,  king  of  Poland,  266.  app.  490. 
Bona,  queen  of  Poland,  99. 

Bonelli,  cardinal,  nephew  of  Pius  V.,  118. 
Boniface,  St.  the  German  apostle,  21  ;  —  VIIL, 


INDEX. 


631 


pope,  his  bull  of  excommunication  resisted  by 

the  Frencli,  26. 
Bonn,  invasion  of,  by  the  elector  of  Cologne,  194. 
Books,  prohibition  of,  heretical,  48.  76.  173.  258. 
Borghcse,  cardinal,  elected  pope  (Paul  V.,)  255 ; — 

cardinal,  nephew  of  Paul  V.,  255.  332.  app.  512; 

—  family,  the,  255.  332.  345. 

Borgia,  Cesar,  ambition  and  monstrous  crimes  of, 
30,  31 ;  app.  31)9 ;  his  league  with  Louis  XII., 
39 ;  —  Lucreiia  app.  399  ;  —  Francis,  duke  of 
Gandia,  viceroy  of  Barcelona,  converted  by  Loy- 
ola, 77.  81 ;  general  of  the  Jesuits,  244.  68  n. ; 

—  cardinal,  318.  324. 
Boris  Godunov,  273. 

Borromeo,  Carlo,  St.,  nephew  of  Pius  IV.,  disinter- 
ested piety  of,  107;  promotes  the  election  of 
Pius  v.,  115;  his  proceedings  in  his  bishopric 
of  Milan,  119;  influence  of  his  memory,  158. 
188  ;  —  Federigo,  cardinal,  158. 

Boucher,  Jean,  democratic  harangues  of,  216.  234. 

Bourbon,  the  constable  Charles  due  de,  killed  in 
storming  Rome,  47  ;  —  cardinal  of,  211;  —  fam- 
ily, established  in  Naples,  380. 

Bourbons,  restoration  of  the  French,  and  sequel 
the.-eof,  392. 

Bourdelot,  queen  Christina's  physician,  353. 

Brabant  reduced  by  the  prince  of  Parma,  193 ; 
Peter  Pectius  of,  291. 

Bramante,  Roman  architect,  36. 

Brandenburgh,  elector  of,  28;  Lutheranism  es- 
tabhshed  in,  51.  165  ;  Joachim  of,  60;  Albert  of, 
98 ;  tiie  margraves  Joachim  and  Christian 
Ernest  of,  280. 

Breda,  siege  of,  309. 

Bremen,  archbishop  of,  23.  165;  Henry  Sa.xe 
Lauenberg,  archbishop  of,  195.  202. 

Bri.xen,  bishopric  of,  199. 

Bruccioli,  Italian  translator  of  the  Bible,  54. 

Burges,  192,  19.3. 

Bruno,  Giordano,  condemned  to  the  stake  for  his 
philosophic  tenets,  154. 

Brunswick,  house  of,  165. 

Brussels  submits  to  Philip  II.  193;  modern, 
394. 

Bucer  at,  the  conference  of  Ratisbon,  59.  61. 

Buckingham,  Villiers  duke  of,  300.  307  ;  fiilure  of 
his  e.vpcdition  against  the  isle  of  lihe,  312; 
assassinated,  ib. 

Bugenhagen,  founder  of  Lutheranism  in  Denmark, 
163. 

Bulls,  various  papal,  32,  n.,  33,  n.,  66,  n.,  74. 
95.  117.  120.  123.  132.  143.  145.  239.241.  382. 
385. 

Buoncompagno,   Ugo,  pope  Gregory  XIII.,  134 ; 

—  Giacomo,  son  of  Gregory  XIII.,  135.  139.  app. 
468. 

Buonfigliulo,  Rudolfo,  137. 

Busseto,  congress  at,  between  Paul  III.  and  Charles 

5.  v.,  86. 

Cabrera,  history  of  Philip  II.,  191. 

CsBcilia  Metella,  the  tomb  of,  150. 

Caesar,  worship  of,  18. 

Cajetan,  Cardinal,  42. 

Culatagircma,    Fra    Donaventura,   general   of  the 

Franciscans,  251. 
Calendar,  the  Gregorian,  136. 
Calvin,    John,    at   first    considered    a    Lutheran, 

82 ;    held   in    high   consideration    in    Geneva, 

166. 


Calvinism,  countries  where  it  gained  footing,  165, 
166. 

Calvinists,  particular  animosity  of  Rome  against 
the,  75.  280  ;  divisions  of  the,  into  Episcopalians, 
Puritans,  Armenians,  and  Gomarists,  288. 

Camaldoli,  order  of,  61. 

Camerino  seised  by  Paul  III.  and  conferred  on 
his  grandson,  85 ;  resumed  by  him,  and  given 
to  the  church,  89. 

Campagna,  breed  of  horses  of  the,  123, 

Campanella  put  to  the  torture,  154. 

Campeggio,  Cardinal,  legate,  his  memorial  to  the 
emperor,  Instructio  data  Ccesari,  app.  435. 

Campian  and  Parsons,  Jesuits,  their  secret  mission 
to  England,  187. 

Canisius,  Peter  a  Jesuit,  one  of  the  first  of  the 
order  to  visit  Germany,  77  ;  his  catechism  autho- 
rized, 171, 172.  198;  his  mission  to  the  German 
spiritual  electors,  174. 

Canon  law,  the,  256.  388. 

Canonization,  159.  292. 

Canossa,  Antonio,  executed  for  a  design  to  murder 
Pius  IV.,  115. 

Capello,  Bianca,  grandduchess  of  Tuscany,  mur- 
der and  suicide  committed  by,  app.  578  ;  —  Polo, 
31,n.app.  398.  401. 

Capistrano,  a  minorite,  and  iEneas  Sylvius,  a 
crusade  preached  by,  27. 

Capuchins,  the  order  of,  a  branch  of  the  Francis- 
can, 64.  194.203.261.298. 

Caracci  school  of  painting,  the,  155. 

Caraccioio,  life  of  Paul  IV.  by,  37,  n.,  54,  n.,  102, 
n.,  app.  455;  Vita  S.  Cajelani  ThienBBJ,  54,  n., 
64,  n. 

Caraffa,  cardinal  Giovan  Pietro  [Paul  IV.]  mem- 
ber of  the  Oratory  of  Divine  Love,  54.  57.  62 ; 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  order  of  Theatines, 
65;  Loyola  resides  in  his  convent  in  Venice, 
70  ;  at  the  council  of  Trent,  73  ;  chief  commis- 
sioner of  the  inquisition,  74. 89 ;  —  cardinal  Carlo, 
nephew  of  Paul,  IV.,  97 — 101;  tried  and  exe- 
cuted by  order  of  Pius  IV.,  106,  app.  458;  — 
Carlo,  papal  nuncio  in  Germany  under  Gregory 
XV.,  293,  294.  388,  n.,  309,  310,  app.  537.  550  ; 
duke  of  Palliano,  97.  100;  his  crimes  and  sen- 
tence, lOG; — marquis  of  Montebello,  97.  107;  — 
his  marchesa,  101 ;  —  A.,  nuncio  to  the  Rhenish 
states,  app.  554. 

Carbonari,  the,  393. 

Cardinals,  see  Conclaves;  schemes  of  church  re- 
form drawn  up  by,  57 ;  at  the  council  of  Trent, 
72;  six  appointed  inquisitors,  74;  corrupt  no- 
mination of,  83  ;  ambition  of  the,  127  ;  congre- 
gations of,  145.  158.  252.  343;  qualifications 
for  the  dignity,  145  ;  general  character  of  the 
body  of,  157—161  ;  number  of,  145.  571. 

Carinthia,277.  309. 

Carlovingian  dynasty,  21,  22. 

Carnesecchi  of  Florence,  57  ;  burnt  by  the  inquisi- 
tion of  Rome,  118. 

Carniola,  277.  309. 

Caroline,  queen  of  Naples,  387. 

Carpi,  cardinal,  his  letter  to  the  emperor  Charles 
v.,  86;  his  words  in  his  last  illness,  110. 

Carranza,  archbishop  of  Toledo,  sentenced  and 
executed  by  the  inquisition  of  Rome,  120  ;  part 
taken  in  his  prosecution  by  Fra  Felice  Perelti, 
(Sixtus  V.)  141. 

Carvalho,  Portugese  minister,  expels  the  Jesuits, 
384,  385. 


632 


INDEX. 


Casa,  Giovanni  della,  prints  the  first  '  Index,'  76. 
Casale,  besieged  by  the  Spaniards,  318 — 320. 
Casati  and  MiiUnes,  Jesuits,  sent  from  Rome  lo 
Christina  of  Sweden,  354 ;    Casati's  report  to 
Alexander  VII.,  588-591. 
Casimir,  count  palatine,  a  restless  but  inefficient 

champion  of  protestantism,  194. 
Cassoni,  count,  secretary  of  state  to  Innocent  XI., 

377. 
Castelvetri  flies  to  Germany,  75. 
Castro,  Francesco  di,  263  ;  the  war  of,  334 — 338. 
Catechism,  the  Roman,  121  ;  of  the  Jesuit  Cani- 

sius,  171.  198;  of  the  Jesuit  Augier,  180. 
Catharine  of  Arrogan,  wife  of  Henry  VIII., 
divorce  of,  52  ;  —  de  Medici  married  to  Henri 
II.,  50;  intolerance  of,  180;  devises  the  mas- 
sacre of  St.  Bartholomew,  181;  endows  a 
convent  of  Capuchins  in  Paris,  204 ;  app.  436, 
437. 
Catholicism,  general  spread  of,  in  the  west,  20 ; 
views  of  some  Italian  divines  analogous  to 
protestantism,  53 — 57  ;  beginning  of  a  regene- 
ration of,  57 — 64 ;  the  cause  of,  aided  by  the 
establishment  of  new  orders,  64,  65  ;  propagation 
of,  66;  compared  with  protestantism,  73  ;  final 
separation  of,  from  protestantism,  74  ;  obstacles 
to  its  complete  triumph,  82;  the  protestant 
element  rejected  from  Catholicism  by  the  de- 
crees of  the  council  of  Trent,  114;  spirit  of 
rigid  Catholicism,  115;  new  energetic  spirit 
of,  122 ;  exemplified  in  "the  intellectual  ten- 
dency of  the  age,  152 — 157  ;  and  in  the  hie- 
rarchy,  157 — 162;  its  capacities  for  contest 
with  protestantism,  167,  168;  beginning  of 
a  cnunter  reformation  in  favour  of  Catholicism 
in  Germany,  171 — 177;  struggles  of  catholic- 
ism  in  various  parts  of  Europe,  184 — 188;  its 
projrress,  194 — 203;  influence  of  in  France,  the 
Ligue,  &c.,  203 — 207 ;  in  Savoy  and  Switzer- 
land, 207  ;  attempts  of,  on  England,  208—210; 
ecclesiastico-polJtical  theory,  214 — 217;  second 
period  of  the  counter-reformation,  Poland  and 
the  adjoining  countries,  266 — 268;  Sweden,  268 
— 273,  274;  attempts  on  Russia,  273;  Ger- 
many, '.^76— 282  ;  Switzerland,  282,  283 ;  rege- 
neration of,  in  France,  284 — 287  ;  monarchical 
spirit  of,  288  ;  general  outspread  of: — Bohemia 
and  the  hereditary  dominions  of  Austria,  293  — 
295  ;  the  empire,  296,  297;  France,  298;  Unit- 
ed Netherlands,  299  ;  Catholicism  in  England, 
299—301;  catholicmissions,  302— 305;  bounds 
forever  set  to  Catholicism,  327;  philosophical 
estimate  of  its  present  prospects,  395. 
Catholics,  see  Catholicism,  Papacy,  Rome,  &c. 
Cecchini,  cardinal,  340;   autobiography  of,  app- 

573. 
Celibacy  of  the  secular  clergy,  25.  64. 
Cerroui,  family  of,  Guelphs,  divided  into  two  hos- 
tile branches,  Rinaldi  and  Ravagli,  126. 
Cesi,  cardinal,  337. 
Chancery,  the  papal,  33,  n.  58;  the  cancellaria 

completed  by  Julius  II.,  149. 
Chapters,  privileges  aud  immunities  of,  113.  203  ; 

endowments  of,  transferred  to  protestants,  165. 
Charlemagne  overthrows  the  kingdom  of  the 
Iiombards,  gives  strenuous  support  to  the  see 
of  Rome,  the  pope  crowns  him  ernperor  of  the 
west,  22, 
Charles  Martel,  21 ;  —  V.,  (he  emperor,  his  claim 
on   Lombardy,  his  treaty  with  Leo  X.  for  the 


re-conquest  of  Milan,  his  forbearance  towards 
Luther,  40,  41 ;  his  inefiectual  embassy  to  his 
former  tutor,  Adrian,  VI.,  42;  he  consolidates 
his  power  in  Italy  by  the  treaty  of  Barcelona, 
47 ;  his  tolerant  spirit,  his  desire  for  a  general 
council,  his  conference  with  Clement  VII.  at 
Bologna,  49  ;  decides  the  dispute  between  Fer- 
rara  and  the  church  in  favour  of  the  former,  49  ; 
his  ardent  desire  tor  a  reconciliation  of  religious 
differences,  59 ;  opposition  to  his  conciliatory 
projects,  63 ;  prepares  for  war  against  the  pro- 
testant princes  of  Germany,  72 ;  unites  in  a 
league  witli  Paul  III.  and  the  Venetians  against 
the  Turks,  holds  a  conference  at  Nice  with 
Paul  HI.  and  Francis  I.,  gives  his  natural 
daughter  Margaret  in  marriage  to  Ottavio 
Farnese,  85  ;  his  Italian  relations  in  the  reign  of 
Paul  III.,  86,  87  ;  is  deserted  by  the  pope  in  his 
war  against  the  protestants,  is  reduced  to  extre- 
mities, but  signally  recovers  himself,  87  ;  gains 
the  victory  of  Muhlberg,  and  captures  the  two 
protestant  leaders,  88  ;  publishes  the  Interim  in 
Germany;  a  proposal  made  to  nominate  him 
the  successor  of  Paul  III.  in  the  see  of  Rome, 
90,  91  ;  enmity  between  him  and  Paul  IV.,  96  ; 
he  sends  Alva  to  invade  the  Roman  territory, 
98 ;  —  II.,  king  of  Spain,  379 ;  —  III.  of  Spain, 
recognised  by  Clement  XI.,  380  ;  banishes  the 
Jesuits,  385 ;  —  I.  of  England,  projected  marriage 
of,  when  prince  of  Wales,  with  an  infanta  of 
Spain,  300,  301  ;  his  actual  marriage  with  Hen. 
rietta  of  France,  307;  bis  reign,  310 — 313,  app- 
528  ;  —  VIII.  of  France,  40  ;  —  IX.  of  France, 
136;  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  181  ; — X. 
of  France  deposed,  395 ; — the  archduke,  of 
Austria,  184.  199,  200 ;  —  of  Sweden,  duke, 
269—273, 
Chastel,  Jean,  attempts  to  assassinate  Henri  IV,,  234. 
Cha,tiIlon,  marshal  de,  298. 
Chieregato,  papal  nuncio,  instructions  to,  by  Adrian 

VI.,  43. 
Chigi,  house  of,  149,  app.  593—595;  the  Chigi 
library,  146;  —  cardinal  Fa  bio,  371 ;  elected  pope, 
see  Alexander  VII. ;  —  Don  Mario,  brother  of 
Alexander  VII.,  343 ;  —  Flavio,  cardinal  padrone, 
343 ;  —  Agostino,  343. 
China,  Jesuit  missionaries  in,  303. 
Choiseul,  the  duke  de,  384. 

Christ,  his  lile  and  teaching,  17  ;  "o/  the  benefits 
bestowed  by"  56  ;  Caspar  Contarini  on  the  law 
of,  57;  Loyola's  views  of  the  royal  character  of, 
67;  the  atonement  of,  justification  by,  Luther's 
views  on  the,  68;  Cuntarini's,  54,  55;  righte- 
ousness of,  72,  73  ;  theLord's  Supper,  33.  60. 
Christendom,  state  of,  on  the  dowfall  of  the  Ro- 
man empire,  19;  and  subsequently  to  the  time 
of  Hildebrand,  20 — 22  ;  struggle  to  limit  the 
power  of  the  church  throughout,  26  ;  invaded  by 
the  Turks,  43.  See  Europe. 
Christianity  in  the  Roman  Empire,  17 — 19;  how 
affected  by  its  fall,  19  ;  hostility  of  the  Arabs  to, 
20;  diff'usion  of,  in  the  west,  21.  25;  contempt 
for,  in  Rome,  36;  tiie  same,  according  to 
Erasmus  and  Luther,  37  ;  the  reformation  and 
its  causes,  39,  et  seq. ;  the  three  great  forms  of, 
in  the  west  forever  parted,  82. 
Christina,  queen   of   Sweden,  account    of,  350 — 

358;  allusion  to,  377,  n.  app.  587 — 591. 
Chrodegang,  rule  ot^  64. 
Chrysostom,  St.,  quoted,  18. 


INDEX. 


633 


Chrytrteus,  liis  treatise  on  the  confession  of  Augs- 
burg, 1S5. 
Church,  early  government  of,  and  constitution  of 
the,  17 — 20  ;  the  papacy  in  connexion  with  the 
Frankish  empire,  20 — 22;  its  relation  to  the 
German  emperors,  and  internal  improvement 
of  the  hierarchy,  22 — 2G ;  condition  of,  in  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  contrasted, 
26,  27  ;  account  of,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
28;  growlli,  a  secular  spirit  in,  32,  33;  opposi- 
tion to  the  papacy  in  Germany,  37,  38;  political 
affairs  of  Europe  conducive  to  the  reformation, 
39,  40;  Adrian  VI.  attempts  a  reform,  43; 
resolutions  of  the  diet  of  Spires  respecting  the 
dissensions  in  the,  46 ;  the  emperor  Charles  V. 
proposes  a  general  council,  48;  the  peace  of 
Kadan,  the  second  grand  epoch  in  t!ie  establish- 
ment of  Lutheranism,  51 ;  beginning  of  a  rege- 
neration of  Catholicism,  53  ;  opinions  analogous 
to  protestantism  considered  in  Italy,  53 — 57  ; 
attempts  at  reform  in  the  Romish  church,  and 
a  reconciliation  with  protestanfs,  57  ;  failure  of 
the  attempts,  62,  63 ;  estabhshment  of  new 
monastic  orders,  64  ;  rise  of  Jesuitism,  6^,  see 
Jesuitism  ;  details  of  the  council  of  Trent,  71 — 
73.  108 — 115;  remodelling  the  inquisition  of 
Rome,  74 ;  austere  discipline  established  by 
Pius  v.,  1 1  7  ;  fund  established  by  Sixtus  V.  for 
the  use  of  the  church,  147;  church  music,  157; 
the  counter-reformation,  162,  et  seq.,  266 — 323; 
restoration  of  the  balance  of  the  two  confessions, 
324;  church  and  state,  19;  ecclcsiastico-political 
theory,  214. 
Cistercians,  order  of,  204. 

Civilization  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centu- 
ries contrasted,  26 — 28;  of  the  early  part  of  tlie 
sixteenth  century,  34 — 37. 
Civita  Vccchia,  port  of,  96.  316. 
Clario,  Isidore,  56. 

Classics,  the  study  of,  revived  in  Italy,  34 — 37. 
Clavius,  Christophorus,  136.  158,  159. 
Clement  VII.,  when  cardinal  Giulio  Medici,  enters 
Milan  with  the  imperial  troops,  41  ;  supports 
the  election  of  Adrian  VI.,  is  himself  elected 
Adrian's  successor,  44;  his  reign,  44 — 52; 
summary  reflections  on  his  reign,  53;  his 
successful  attack  on  the  liberty  of  Ancona,  128; 
finances  and  taxes  of,  131  ;  buildings  erected 
by,  347  ;  see  app.  405—431 ;  —  VI 1 1.,  cardinal 
Ippolito  Aldobrandini  elected  pope,  229;  his 
earlier  history  and  character,  229,  230;  his 
reign,  230 -254;  app.  499— 504;  —  IX.,cardi. 
nal  Rospigliosi,  elected,  344;  his  reign,  ib.  app. 
596 — 600;  —  X.,  pope,  various  particulars  con- 
corning,  app.  600 — 606;  —  XI ,  cardinal  Gian- 
franc  Albani,  pope,  his  reign,  379,  380,  app.  612 
—618;  —  XII.,  pope,  380;  —  XIII.,  pope,  his 
ineffectual  efforts  to  maintain  the  order  of 
Jesuits,  384;  his  death,  3^6; —  XIV.,  Lorenzo 
Ganginelli,  pope,  his  character,  386  ;  suppresses 
the  order  of  Jesuits,  ib. 
Clement,  Jacques,  assassin  of  Henri  III.,  211.  216. 
Clergy,  the,  early  became  a  distinct  class,  19  ; 
completciv  subjected  to  the  popes,  25  ;  celibacy 
of,  25.  64  ;  marriage  of,  60  ;  the  regular  clergy, 
33.  64.  70.  119.  261 ;  the  secular  clergy,  204  ;  pro- 
testant  clergy,  163 — 166;  the  clergy  in  the 
acme  of  their  power  towards  the  close  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  213  ;  their  immunities,  259 
—261.  381. 

80 


Cleves,  William  duke  of,  165.  196;  religious  di- 
visions in,  282. 
Clovis,  miracles  said  to  have  occurred  to,  20. 
Clugny,  monastic  rule  of,  25.  64. 
Cologne,  164,  165,  169.  201  ;  the  elector  Gebhard 
Truchses   of,   183.    194;   superseded    by   duke 
Ernest  of  Bavaria,  195,  196.  276.      See  app. 
554. 
Colonna,  Roman  family  of,  29.  97.  144.  345,  346; 
app.  563.  575;  the   protlionotary  Colonna,  exe- 
cuted by  Sixtus,   IV.,  29  ;  Vittoria  Colonna,  55, 
56,  n. ;  Vespasiano  and  his  wife  Giuiia,  55  ;  — 
Marc  Antonio,  89;  — Ascanio,  cardinal,  128. 
228;  the  contestabile,  M.  A.  144. 
Commandini   conjectures    that   Archimedes    had 

written  on  gravitation,  152. 
Commendone  quoted,  110.  n.  160.  164.  app.  463. 
Commerce  of  the  Roman  states,  123.  app.  620.  627. 
Commolet,  p6re,  Jesuit,  249. 
Communes  of  the  ecclesiastical  states,  124. 
Communion,  the,  according  to  the  Roman  form, 

276,  277  ;  in  two  kinds,  60. 109.  165.  186. 
Como,  cardinal  Gallio  di,  137.  144.  157.  app.  468. 
Compositions,  church,  at  Rome,  57.  133. 
Conclaves,  papal,  22.  92.  225  et  seq.  254.  342,  app. 

472.  493.  497,  498. 
Concordats,  papdl,  with  Germany,  27  ;  of  Vienna, 
ib.;  with  Francis  I.  of  France,  27  ;  with  Spain, 
381;  with  Napoleon,  .390  et  seq. 
Conde,  the  prince  of,  179.  205.  —  another,  235. — 

another,  376. 
Confession,  auricular,  71.78.80.213;   manual  of 
confessors,  215 — See  Professio  Fidei,  Augsburg, 
Geneva,  &,c. 
Confiscation  of  the  property  of  protestants  in  Ger- 
many proposed,  48. 
Congregations,  monastic,  of  Italy,  64;   of  cardi- 
nals, 145;  of  the  Jesuits,  246. 
Congregatione  di  statu,  343. 
Conrad  II.,  the  emperor,  wide  range  of  his  con- 
quests, 23. 
Conscience,  cases  of,  80. 
Constance,  council  of,  26. 
Constantinople,  20. 

Contarelli,  datary  under  Gregory  XIII.,  134. 
Contarini,  Gasper,  cardinal,  cardinal  Pole's  opinion 
of  him,  his  tract  on  justification,  54  ;  his  papers 
on  reform  of  abuses  in  the  church,  57 ;  his  life 
and  character,  59,  60  ;  appointed  legate  to  Ger- 
many, 60;  his  proceedings  at  the  diet  of  Ratis- 
bon,  71  ;  failure  of  his  endeavours,  63;  instruc- 
tions to  him  from  Paul  III.  as  to  the  council  of 
Trent,  72;  his  opinions  advocated  there,  72,  73; 
app.  434;  —  Giulio,  bishop  of  Belluno,  72  ;  — 
Marco  Antonio,  on  the  papal  court,  83 ;  —  Nicolo, 
241,242.  257  n.;  — Aluise,  323.  app.  556.  580  ; 
—  Domenico,  611  ;  —  Pietro,  app.  545. 
Conte,  Natal,  an    author  of  the  latter  part  of  the 

sixteenth  century,  153. 
Conti,  cardinal,  Innocent  XIII.  app.  618. 
Contrario,  Ercole,  put  to  death  by  Alfonso  II.  of 

Ferrara,  238. 
Controversies    between    the   Jesuits  and  Domini- 
cans, 247,  248;  between  the  Jesuits  and  Janse- 
nists,  382. 
Cordara,  Julius,  history  of  the  Jesuits  by,  app.  521. 
Corduba,  Don  Gonzales  do,  315. 
Cornero,  relatione  of,  app.  618. 
Corpus  Christi,  the  festival  of,  198. 
Correggio,  paintings  by,  357. 


634 


INDEX. 


Corsini,  cardinal,  app.  622 ;  family,  623,  624. 

Cortesius,  54 ;  his  work  on  scholastic  philosophy, 
153. 

Cosmo  de'  Mediei,  see  Medici. 

Cossacks,  the,  276. 

Cotton,  p6rc,  Jesuit,  confessor  to  Henri  IV,,  250. 

Councils  of  the  church,  see  Basle,  Constance,  &c. 

Courtray,  Jesuits'  college  at,  191.  193. 

Cracow,  274 ;  protestant  cemetery  at,  desecrated, 
275. 

Crequy,  de,  French  ambassador  at  Rome,  his  quar- 
rel with  the  Roman  see,  373.  app.  592,  593. 

Cross,  the,  19.  151. 

Cruciata,  the,  28. 

Crusade,  the  first,  25;  ineffcctoal  attempts  to 
preach  one  in  the  15th  century,  27. 

Curia,  the  papal,  32.  124,  125.  157—162.  225.  381. 
385. 

Curione,  Celio  Secundo,  escapes  from  the  officers 
of  the  inquisition,  75. 

Dandolo,  M.,  his  report  concerning  Paul  III.  and 

Julius  III.,  app.  4.52. 
Dante  Alighieri,  153. 
Dataria,  pa|.al,  33.  133.  203. 
David,  Jean,  Jesuit  of  Courtray,  193. 
Debt   of  the  ecclesiastical   slates,  330 — See    Fi- 
nances. 
Descartes,  at  the   court  of  Christina  of  Sweden, 

351. 
Decretals  of  the  popes,  256. 
Delfino,  G.,  his  rcldlione  di  Roma,  147.  243.  app. 

501 
Delft,  assassination  of  William  prince  of  Orange 

at,  193. 
Demetrius,  the  false,  273. 
Denmark,  the   reformed   church  of,  51.  163;  the 

king  of,  a  champion  of  protestantism,  308;  is 

defeated  at  the  battle  of  Lutter,  309. 
Deo,  Johannes  a,  286. 
Desmond,  the  earl  of,  Irish  rebellion  headed  by, 

187. 
Dietrichstein,  cardinal,  294.  325. 
l)illingen,  university  of,  165.  170.  175. 
Disfiensation,  papal,  32.  57  ;  dispensations  or  in- 

dults  of  the  emperors,  203. 
Dogana, the  130.  133. 
Domenichino,  155, 
Dominic,  St.,  life  of,  67. 

Dominicans,  order  of,  67.  74.  248,  249,  250.  263. 
Donato,  Leonardo,  doge  of  Venice,  219.  221.  258. 

261. 
Donauwerth  execution,  the,  279, 
Doria,  family,  the,  88;  palaces,  155. 
Douay,  Jesuits'  college  at,  189. 
Drania,  Italian,  35. 
Drownings  of  heretics  in  Venice,  76. 
Dunkirk  submits  to  Philip  II.  192. 

Eastepn  empire  and  church,  20;  the  patriarchate, 
22;  overthrown  by  Mahomet  II.  27. 

Echter,  Julius,  bishop  of  Wurzburg,  196,  197. 

Eck,  doctor,  61.  63. 

Edict  of  1562  tolerating  the  protcKt^nts  in  France, 
166;  of  Nantes,  250.  284;  its  revocation,  376. 

Education  of  poor  orphans  at  Venire,  65;  theolo- 
gical in  the  university  of  Pari-;,  69;  the  Jesuit 
pystcm  of,  71.  78.  82.  169—171  ;  in  Germany, 
170;  Portroyal  system  of,  370. 

Edward  III.  of  England,  refuses  tribute  to  Rome, 


and  is  supported  by  his  parliament,  26  ;  —  VI., 
90. 

Egmont,  count,  execution  of,  178. 

Egypt,  design  of  Sixtus  V.  upon,  219. 

Eichsfcld,  Catholicism  restored  at,  176. 

Elizabeth,  queen,  at  first  not  decidedly  protestant, 
104;  puts  down  the  Irish  rebellion,  187;  un- 
wise conduct  of  Paul  IV.  towards,  104;  hostility 
of  Gregory  XII I.  to,  136;  Sixtus  V.,  209;  league 
of  Spain,  Pius  V.,  &c.,  against,  180,  181  ;  the 
destruction  of  the  Spanish  armarida,  208 — 210; 
religious  persecutions  in  her  reign,  208. 

Emanuel,  king  of  Portugal,  concessions  to,  from 
Leo  X.,  28. 

England,  early  disputes  of,  with  Rome,  26 ;  con- 
duct of  Henry  VII.  with  regard  to  the  church, 
28;  disputes  between  Henry  VIII.  and  Cle- 
ment VII.,  51  ;  Henry  VIII.  declares  himself 
head  of  the  English  church,  ih.;  Edward  VI., 
queen  Mary  persecutes  the  protestants,  120; 
Elizabeth  re-establishes  protestantism,  104; 
Calvinism  of  the  English  church  under  Edward 
VI.,  166;  catholic  nobility  of  England,  168; 
Armada,  &c. — See  Elizabeth;  rebellious  spirit 
of  the  catholics  in,  214;  state  of  Catholicism  in, 
186.  299;  combination  of  Richelieu  and  Philip 
IV.  against,  311;  the  constitution  of,  327;  its 
aristocratical  character,  344  ;  victories  of  Marl- 
borough, 379;  established  church  of,  377;  ca- 
tiiolic  emancipation.  394 — See  app.  492.  528. 

Epernon,  duke  of,  206. 

Erasmus,  his  amazement  at  the  pagan  spirit  of  ihe 
Roman  courtiers,  37;  his  edition  of  the  New 
Testament;  advances  made  him  by  the  Bohe- 
mian brethren,  38;  defended  against  the  school- 
men by  Adrian  VI.,  42;  his  temperate  and  wise 
advice  to  the  emperor  Charles  V.  in  opposition 
Caraffa,  48. 

Ernest  of  Bavaria,  194,  195.  199.  276. 

Este,  house  of,  96;  Alfonso  II.  of  Ferrara,  237 — 
239;  Don  Cesare,  the  heir  of  Alfonso,  ineffec- 
tually resists  the  papal  forces,  241  ;  he  is  ex- 
communicated, and  forced  to  abdicate,  242; 
cardinal  di,  app.  500;  Leonora  di,  character  of, 
238;  Lucrecia  di,  the  patroness  of  Tasso,  238  ; 
her  hatred  to  Don  Cesare  d'Este  ;  her  unnatural 
co-operation  in  the  ruin  of  her  house,  242  ;  mar- 
quis Filippo  di,  239. 

Esterhazy,  count  palatine  of  Hungary,  295 ;  elected 
king,  app.  553. 

Etrees,  cardinal  d',  his  despatch  to  M.  de  Louvois, 
377  n. 

Eu,  in  Normandy,  Jesuit  college  at,  203. 

Eucharist,  adoration  of  the,  285 — See  Communion. 

Eugcnius  IV.,  pope,  condition  of  the  city  of 
Rome  in  his  day,  149  ;  his  tax  on  wine,  app.  574. 

Kurope,  civilization  of  in  the  fourteenth  and  fif- 
teenth centuries,  and  formation  of  tlie  national 
lunguages,  26;  connexion  of  the  reformation 
with  the  political  state  of,  39 — 53;  long  wars 
occasioned  by  the  rivalry  of  Charles  V.  and 
Francis  1.,  93,  et  passim;  religious  systems  of, 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  82 ;  state  of  religion 
throughout  during  the  reign  of  pope  Sixtus  V., 
16,3 — 168;  changes,  effected  in  the  constitution 
of  some  states  by  the  reformation,  166;  moral 
and  political  state  of,  at  the  close  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  214;  jealousy  of  Spain  through, 
out,  218,  219";  equilibrium  of,  restored  by  Henri 
IV.  2G5;  the   thirty   years'  war  of  Germany, 


INDEX 


635 


313;  conflicting  political  rclationi  of,  305;  the 
Spanish  succession,  and  wars  of  Louis  XIV., 
377  et  serj.;  altered  state  of,  381. 

Eusebius  on  the  rapid  outspread  of  Christianity,  18. 

Excommunication,  bulls  of,  26.  180.  205.  261. 

Exorcism,  rite  of,  270. 

Faber,  Peter,  his  companionship  with  Ignatius 
Loyola  at  the  university  of  Paris,  and  its  con- 
sequences, 69,  70 ;  successful  at  Louvain,  77. 

Faenzj,  30.  77.  125.  127. 

Faith,  doctrinal  views  of,  55.  61.  72,  73.  113.  120. 

Fano,  city  of,  124 ;  the  holy  union  ot',  127;  resist- 
ance of,  to  the  papal  sussidio,  132. 

Farnese,  cardinal  Alessandro,  pope  Paul  III.,  62 
n.  83;  — Pier  Luig'i,  son  of  Paul  III.  85.  88,  89. 
93.  128 ;  —  Ottavio,  85,  92,  93  ;  —  Vittoria,  63 ; 
—  cardinal  Alessandro,  87.  89, 90,  9 1  ;  —  Orazio, 
88;  Alessandro,  prince  of  Parma,  governor  of 
the  Netherlands,  191  193.  227  ;  —  cardinal,  147. 
253 ;  the  Palazzo  Farnese,  83.  149 ;  —  Odoardo, 
334—338;  Farnesi,  family  of,  119.  334. 

Fast,  observance  of,  60. 

Felix,  pope,  27  n.  29. 

Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  28 ;  court  of,  66 ;  —  king  of 
Naples,  28  ;  —  I.,  the  emperor,  grants  liberty  of 
conscience  to  Germany,  46 ;  letter  from  Clement 
VII.  to,  50;  concludes  the  peace  of  Kadan,  51 ; 
his  policy,  105.  108;  his  proceedings  as  to  the 
council  of  Trent,  109,  110;  his  patronage  of 
the  Jesuits,  1 69 ;  —  the  archduke  (afterwards  the 
emperor  Ferdinand  II.)  promotes  the  counter 
reformation,  277;  represents  the  emperor,  at 
the  diet  of  Ratisbon,  280  ;  his  edict  of  interpo- 
sition, 280;  joins  the  catholic  league;  281  ; 
elected  emperor,  290;  persecutes  the  protestants, 
294;  his  position  in  1629,319;  desires  his  son 
to  be  elected  king  of  the  Romans,  322 ;  his 
general  Wallenstein,  320.  323. 

Fermo,  city  and  archbishopric  of,  139,  140.  144. 

Ferrara,  disputes  of  the  church  with,  49;  under 
Alfonso  11.236 — 240;  conquest  of,  by  Clement 
VIII.,  240—243. 

Ferrari,  a  Barnabite,  66. 

Feuillantines,  austerities  of  the  order  of,  285. 

Finances  of  the  see  of  Rome,  129.  146.  330. 

Finland,  272,  273. 

Flaminio,  M.  A.  one  of  the  protestant-like  theolo- 
gians of  Italy,  55,  56. 

Fleury,  cardinal,  625. 

Florence,  29.  47.  86,  87,  88.  97.  254— see  Medici; 
the  Florentine  memoirs,  226;  council  of,  268. 

Flour,  tax  on,  132. 

Folengo,  Ginvan  Battista,  a  Benedictine,  his  pro- 
testant  theology,  56. 

Fontana,  Domenico,  144.  151. 

Forli,  town  of,  30.  123.  125. 

France,  the  reign  of  Charlemagne,  22;  reign  of 
Philip  le  Bel,  26  ;  the  pragmatic  sanction,  27  ; 
Milanese  war,  41,  et  seq.;  religious  parties,  177. 
182;  the  Ligue,  203;  the  reformed  churches 
of,  165;  civil  wars,  206.  230;  the  Galilean 
church,  see;  feeling  of  nationality  opposed  to 
the  hierarchy  in,  265;  regeneration  of  Catho- 
licism in,  284. — See  the  several  Kings,  Riche- 
lieu &c. 

Francesco  Maria,  last  duke  of  TJrbino,  323. 

Francis  I.  of  France,  his  corcordat  with  Leo  X., 
27.  39 ;  defeats  the  Swiss  at  Marignano,  39 ; 
loses  Milan,  41 ;  conference  and  league  at  Mar> 


seillos  with  Clement  VII.,  49;    allied  at  once 

with   the   protestants  and   with  the   pope,  50; 

fosters   the  dissensions  of  the  church,  50;  his 

conference  at  Nice  with  Charles  V.  and  Paul 

III.,  85. 
Francis,  St.,  66. 
Franciscans  and   Capuchins,  64.  188.  194.  204. 

261.  298. 
Franconia,  164.  170.  196. 
Frankfurt,  170. 
Franks,  empire  of  the,  20. 
Frederick,  elector  pulatine,  280.  290,  291. 
Freewill,  doctrine  of,  248. 
Fregoso,  cardinal  Fcderigo,  57. 
Freiburg,  canton  of,  188.  207. 
Friars,  the  mendicant,  33.  64. 
Frumento,  monsignor,  134. 
Frundsberg,  George,  leader  of  the  imperial  forces 

against   Rome,   46;    dies   of  apoplexy   on  the 

march,  47. 
Fulda,  Balthazar   von   Dernbach,   abbot   of,   176. 

196. 
Furstenberg,  Theodore  von,  restores  Catholicism 

in  Paderborn,  195. 

Gaetano,  legate  from  Sixtus  V.  to  France,  211.  224. 

Galesini,  life  of  Sixtus  V.  by,  app.  486.  ' 

Galliani,  app.  624. 

Galilean  church  submissive  to  Rome,  21.24;  re- 
sists the  pope's  bulls  of  excommunication,  26; 
concordat  between  Leo  X.  and  Francis  I.,  27. 
39  ;  demands  of  the  French  prelates  at  Trent, 
109;  clergy  of,  284;  question  of  introducing 
the  inquisition,  212;  the  regale  maintained  by 
Louis  XIV.,  375;  peace  restored  with  Rome, 
378 ;  Catholicism  restored  by  Napoleon,  383. 

Gambara,  cardinal,  91. 

Ganganelli,  cardinal  Lorenzo,  pope  Clement  XIV., 
386. 

Gardle,  count  Magnus  de  la,  355. 

Gaul,  the  bishops  of,  21. 

Geneva,  the  calvinist  church  of,  166  ;  alliance  with 
Bern  and  Freiburg,  1 88 ;  attacked  by  Charles 
Emanuel  of  Savoy,  207. 

GenoT,  the  Doria  family,  88;  affairs  of,  86.257 
331.  359.  385. 

George,  St.,  the  company  of,  124. 

Geraldine,  Irish  insurgent,  187. 

Gerard,  Balthazar,  assassinates  William  of  Orange, 
192. 

Geremia,  don,  a  Theatine,  101. 

Germany,  nations  of  which  early  embraced  Chris- 
tianity, 20;  new  empire  founded  by  Charle- 
magne, 22  ;  catholic  hierarchy  established  in, 
23;  greatness  of  the  emperor  Henry  III.,  23, 
24 ;  humiliation  of  Henry  IV.  by  pope  Gregory 
VII.,  24;  papal  concessions  to,  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  28 ;  opposition  to  the  papacy  in,  26.  37 ; 
Luther's  rising  influence  in,  41;  increased  de- 
mands for  church  reform  in,  43  ;  cardinal  Cam- 
peggio's  plan  for  putting  down  the  reformation, 
48 ;  the  peace  of  Kudan  and  its  momentous  im- 
portance for  German  protest:intism,  51  ;  confe- 
rence of  Ratisbon,  59.  61—63;  war  between 
Charles  V.  and  the  protestant  princes,  73;  his 
victories  over  them,  74.  86;  Charles  V.  publishes 
the  Interim,  90;  the  protestants  of,  ally  them- 
selves  with  Henry  II.  of  France,  93;  German 
protestant  troops  in  the  service  of  Paul  IV.,  98; 
protestantism  propagated  by  German  soldiers, 


636 


INDEX. 


103;  Ferdinand  I.  conciliates  the  protestanls, 
105 ;  protestantism  in,  about  the  year  15G3,  163, 
1C4;  first  Jesuit  schools  in,  1(19 — 171;  be- 
ginning oftliecounter-rerormalion  in, 172 — 177 ; 
resistance  of  the  protestants,  181 — 184;  progress 
of  the  counter -reformation,  194— 203.276— S.'^S  ; 
personal  superiority  of  the  catholic  princes  in, 
289  ;  aflairs  of  the  electorate,  palatine,  gene- 
ral war,  «fec.  290,  291  ;  outspread  of  Catholicism 
in  Bohemia  and  Austria,  293;  in  the  empire, 
transfer  of  the  electorate,  296,  297  ;  augmented 
power  of  the  house  of  Austria,  306;  victories  of 
Wallenstein,  313;  power  of  the  emperor  Ferdi- 
nand in  the  year  1629,  319  ;  victories  of  Gusta 
vus  Adolphus,  320.  323  ;  diet  of  Ratisbon,  327  ; 
peace  of  Westphalia,  326 ;  wars  against  Louis 
XIV.,  378— 380 ;  the  emperor  Joseph  II.,  387; 
wars  of  Napoleon,  392. 

Gerohus,  prior,  prediction  of,  25. 

Gervaso,  Pacifico  di  S.,  capuchin  prior,  204. 

Gessi,  cardinal,  instruction  of  Paul  V.  to,  app. 
.510. 

Ghent,  treaty  of,  173  ;  revolutionary  spirit  of,  189  ; 
submits  to  Alexander  Farnese,  192 ;  Jesuits  es- 
tablished in,  193. 

Ghibellines — See  Guelphs. 

Giiislieri,  Michele,  pope  Pius  V.,  115;  interview 
between  him,  as  grand  inquisitor,  and  Fra  Fe- 
lice Peretti,  afterwards  Sixtus  V.,  140. 

Giberto,  minister  of  Clement  VII,,  46.  54.  57,  58. 
119;  app.  433,434. 

Ginetti,  legate  of  Urban  VIII.,  325. 

Giunti,  L.  A.,  life  of  Ludovico  Ludovisi,  app.  523. 

Giustiniani,  Hieronimo,  522  ;  —  Paolo,  64  ;  —  Ma- 
rino, Venetian  ambassador,  51.  60.  63. 

Gmunden,  Lutheran  burghers  of,  200. 

Gnostics,  the,  68. 

Goa,  tlie  capital  of  Catholicism  in  India,  302. 

God,  early  local  notions  of,  17  ;  doctrine  of  the  par- 
ticular decrees  of,  247. 

Gondi,  cardinal,  mission  on  behalf  of  Henri  IV. 
to  Rome,  231. 

Gonzaga,  Ferrante,  89; — (or  Colonna)  Giulia, 
beauty  of,  55 ;  —  house  of,96 ;  —  Carlo  de  Nevers, 
due  de  Rethel,  313,  314.  322. 

Gosweinstein,  pilgrimages  to  the  sanctuary  of  the 
Holy  Trinity  at,  197. 

Gottotredi,  Alessandro,  Jesuit  general,  364. 

Grace,  doctrine  of,  55,  56.  73.248. 

Gradenigo  relatione  of,  app.  405. 

Granvclla,  cardinal,  quoted,  n.  86. 

Gratz,  town  of,  184.277. 

Greece,  121. 

Greek  church,  22.  268.  273,  274,  275.  382 ;— col- 
lege at  Rome,  136; — learning,  revival  of  in 
Italy,  34.  152. 

Greeks,  the  modern,  123.  126. 

Gregory  the  great  sends  Augnstin  to  England,  21  ; 
—  II., pope, his  Utter  totheemperor  Lfo  the  Isau- 
rian,  21  ;  — VII.  (Hildebrand)  times  and  cha- 
racter of,  24  : —XIII.,  pope,  134-139.  193.  145. 
148.  181.  186. 1S8.  199.  201.  205.  256  ;  —  XIV., 
pope,  226  ;  —  XV.,  pope,  291  ;  —  of  Tours,  21. 

Grignan,  M.  de.  Ambassador  at  Rome,  85  n. 

Griraani,  Antonio,  relatione  of,  359,  app. 597. 

Griaons,  the,  283  ;  slaugliter  in,  by  Giacopo  Robns- 
telli,  291  ;  troops  sent  to,  by  Gregory  XV.,  306; 
by  Richelieu,  307  ;  the  Valtelline,  joined  to,  309. 

Gritti,  Giovanni,  146,  147  n.  app.  488. 


Cropper,  Doctor  Johann,  169  ;  and  Pflug,  59.  63. 
73. 

Guariui,  Battista,  author  of  II  pastor  Fido,  237. 

Guastalla,  duke  of,  his  claim  to  Mantua,  314. 

Guelphs  and  Ghibellines,  30.  87.  89.  125,  126.  224. 

Guercino,  a  priest,  and  leader  of  banditti,  142  ;  — 
the  painter,  156. 

Guicciardini,  Girolamo,  letter  of,  86  n. 

Guidi,  Alessandro,  359. 

Guido  Reni,  paintings  of,  157. 

Guise,  the  duke  of,  his  campaign  in  Italy,  99 ;  re- 
turns to  France,  99  ;  routs  the  German  allies  of 
the  Huguenots  at  Auneau,  205  ;  becomes  virtual 
sovereign  of  Paris,  206  ;  assassination  of,  and  its 
consequences,  211.  216;  —  Charles  de.  Cardinal, 
87  n.  203  ;  at  the  council  of  Trent,  112;  exas- 
peration of  Sixtus  V.  at  his  assassination,  211 ; 
—  family  of,  97.  104.  203—207.  209. 

Gustavus  Vasa,  of  Sweden,  163;  "the  brood  of," 
185. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  of  Sweden,  320.  323,  324. 

Haarlem,  resistance  and  surrender  of,  181. 
Hainault  and  Namur,  Catholicism  in,  189. 
Halle,  Jesuits  established  at,  170. 
Hamericourt,  Gerhard  de,  bishop  of  St.   Omer, 

189. 
Hammer,  Johann,  German  Jesuit,  195. 
Harlai,  archbishop  of  Paris,  377.  382. 
Havet,  Antoine,  a  Dominieian  bishop  of  Namur, 

Heidelberg,  protestant  university  of,  170;  the  li- 
brary given  to  the  pope,  296. 

Heinsius,  Nicolaus,  351. 

Henrietta  of  France,  queen  of  Charles  I.  307.  327. 

Henriquez,  doctrines,  248. 

Henri  II.  of  France,  his  marriage  with  Catherine 
de  Medicis,  50 ;  his  anti-Austrian  policy,  93  ; 
alliance  with  Paul  IV.,  96  ;  parties  at  his  court, 
97; — III.  v.'hen  dukeof  Anjou,  defeats  the  Hu- 
guenots,  180;  and  the  Ligue,  203-207  ;  his  as- 
sassination of  the  Guises,  211.  220;  his  mur- 
der  by  Jaques  Clement,  21 1.  216;  —  IV.,  king  of 
Navarre,  excommunicated  by  Sixtus  V.,  205; 
nevertheless  adhered  to  by  many  catholics,  218  ; 
his  cause  espoused  by  the  Venetians,  219  ;  Six- 
tus V.  relents  towards  him,  222,  223  ;  whilst  the 
legate  persists  in  his  opposition  to  him,  224;  his 
catholic  adherents  urge  him  to  become  recon- 
ciled with  Rome,  227;  his  absolution,  230; 
Jean  Chastel's  attempt  to  assassinate  him,  234  ; 
he  aids  Clement  VII F.  in  the  conquest  of  Fer- 
rara,  241  ;  makes  war  on  Savoy,251 ;  the  edict  of 
Nantes,  250.  284  ;  he  banishes  the  Jesuits,  234  ; 
he  recalls  them,  265.  285;  iiis  queen  Mary  de 
Medicis,  287  ;  his  political  situation, 284  ;  —  III. 
emperor  of  Germany,  23,  24  ;  —  IV.,  24.  53  ;  — 
1 1 1.,  of  England,  25  ;  —  VII.,  28.  210 ;  —  VIII., 
28  ;  his  hostility  to  Luther,  his  quarrel  with 
Rome,  52. 

Heresies,  accusation  of,  made  from  personal  en- 
mity, 75  ;  heresy  of  kings  absolves  subjects  from 
their  allegiance,  217,  218. 

Heretical  books — See  Books. 

Heretics,  the  pope's  right  to  pardon,  75. 

Hermits  of  the  sixteenth  century,  65;  of  Montser- 
rat,  67. 

Ilerzogenbuch,  canons  of,  193. 


INDEX. 


637 


Hesse,  Landgrave  Philip  of,  50.  59,  60;  —  William 
IV.  of,  202. 

Hierarchy  of  Rome — See  Curia. 

Hierony mites:,  relig^ious  fraternity  of,  38. 

Hilary,  St.,  legend  of,  20. 

Hiidosheim,  bishopric  of,  195. 

Holland,  struggles  of,  for  independence,  177.  181. 
188-194;  United  Netherlands,  299;  a  Spanish 
army  surprised  at  VVesel,  319  ;  prosperous  pe- 
riod of,  326. 

Holy  Ghost,  the,  72.  74. 

Horn,  count,  beheaded,  178. 

Hosius,  cardinal,  184.  267. 

Huguenots,  their  strength  in  the  year  1600  ;  284  ; 
edict  of  Nantes  tolerating  tiie,  250.  284  ;  schism 
among  the,  288. 

Hund,  VViguleus,  169. 

Hungary,  early  submissivencss  of,  to  Rome,  23  ; 
invaded  by  the  Turks,  43.  46.  121.  251  ;  the 
protcslants  of,  48.  163.  278;  the  peasantry  cath- 
olic, 170;  Jesuits  in,  ih. ;  civil  war,  281  ;  elec- 
tion of  a  king  of,  app.  552. 

Hus.«,  John,  294. 

Hyacinth,  capuchin  friar,  297. 

IcEL.vND,  tlie  reformed  church  in,  163. 

Iconoclasts,  the,  20.  189. 

Idolatry,  decline  of,  17,  18. 

Illuniinali,  the,  68. 

Imbize,  demagogue  of  Ghent,  190.  192. 

Indies,  East,  Jesuit  misssionaries  in  the,  302. 

Indulgences,  sale  of,  38. 

Ingoldstadt,  catholic  church  and  university  of, 
165.  169,  170.  172.  201  ;  diet  of,  172. 

Innocent  III.,  pope,  261 ;  — VIII.,  letter  of  Lo- 
renzo de  Medici  to,  29  ;  pawns  the  papal  tiara, 
130;  — IX.,  227;— X.,  338—341;  buildings 
in  Rome  erected  by,  348 ;  finances,  &c.,  358. 
363.  app.578— 582;  — XL,  375—378.  app.  607 
—610;— XII.  378.  app.  611;— XIII.,  app,  619. 

Inquisition,  the  Spanish,  120;  revival  of  the,  at 
Rome,  74  ;  increased  severity  of,  under  Paul  IV., 
102  ;  in  the  Netherlands,  177  ;  attempt  to  intro- 
duce it  into  France,  212. 

Insbruck,  city  of,  138. 

Interdict,  261. 

Interim,  the,  published  by  Charles  V.  90. 

Ireland,  insurrections  in,  136;  Gregory  XIII.  pre- 
pares an  expedition  to,  under  Stukely,  186 ;  final 
subjection  of,  327, 

Isis,  worship  of,  17. 

Italian  language,  34. 

Italy,  kingdom  of  the  Lombards,  20  ;  temporal 
dominions  of  the  popes,  28.  123 ;  state  of,  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  26 ;  in  the  sixteenth,  28  ; 
strenuous  revival  of  ancient  literature  in,  34 ;  lan- 
guage of,  34  ;  poetry,  the  arts,  &c.  under  Leo 
X.,  34  ;  under  Sixtus  V.,  151  ;  its  independence 
forfeited  by  the  appeal  for  foreign  intervention, 
39 ;  state  of  religious  feeling  in,  37 ;  opinions 
analogous  to  protestantism,  53 ;  literary  and 
devotional  societies  of,  ib. ;  new  monastic  orders, 
64;  municipal  institutions,  124 ;  banditti,  142; 
foundation  of  new  families,  331 — 334. — See  the 
several  popes,  Charles  V.  «Soc.  &c. 

Ivan  Vasiljovitsch,  273. 

James  I.  of  England,  reign  of,  299—302.  307. 
Jansenists,  origin  and  doctrines  of  the,  367 — 370 ; 


disputes  with  Rome,  367,  368. 

Jansenius  or  Janse,  367. 

Japan,  proceedings  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries  in, 
304. 

Jacobins,  the,  or  Dominicans,  see  the  latter. 

Jaureguy,  a  Biscayan  fanatic,  his  attempt  to  assas- 
sinate the  prince  of  Orange;  his  blasphemous 
vow,  192. 

Jay,  Le,  Jesuit,  79. 169. 

Jerusalem,  Ignatius  Loyola  at,  68  ;  tomb  of  Christ 
at,  220. 

Jesi,  town  of,  127. 

Jesuit?,  the,  history  of  Ignatius  Loyola,  66 — 71  ; 
distinguish  themselves  at  the  council  of  Trent, 
73;  progress  of  the  institution,  77 — 81;  first 
schools  of,  in  Germany,  169 — 171  ;  English 
Jesuits,  187.  208;  Flemish,  190.  193;  in  Ger- 
many, 194,  195,  196.  277.  279  ;  in  France,  204, 
205  ;  commotions  in  the  order,  243 — 251 ;  part 
taken  by  them  in  the  disputes  between  Rome 
and  Venice,  258,  259.  261 ;  expelled  from  Ve- 
nice, 261 ;  refused  readmission,  263  ;  issue  of 
the  affairs  of,  264  ;  their  efforts  in  Poland,  275  ; 
their  recal  to  France,  285 ;  their  foreign  mis- 
sions, 302 — 305 ;  changes  in  the  order  about 
the  middle  of  the  17th  century,  363 — 367;  sup- 
pression of  the  order,  383 — 367.  app.  520. 

Jews,  monotheism  of  the,  18;  burnt  by  the  crusa- 
ders, 25  ;  of  the  Italian  sea  ports,  r<23. 

John  of  Austria,  don,  victorious  over  the  Turks, 
121;  sent  to  the  Netherlands,  182;  designed  as 
leader  of  the  expedition  against  England,  186; 
his  administration  in  Flanders,  190;  —  king  of 
Sweden,  185, 186  ;  —  XXIII.,  pope,  anecdote  of, 
159. 

Joseph  II.,  the  emperor,  387  ;  —  p6re,  Richelieu's 
confidant,  322. 

Jovius,  patronised  by  Leo  X.,  34. 

Joyeuse,  Henri  de,  cardinal,  204.  262,  263, 

Jubilees,  27.  129.  135.  149. 

Juliers,  the  state  of  religion  in,  282. 

Julius  II.,  pope,  his  reign,  31,  32;  rebuilds  St. 
Peter's,  36 ;  restores  the  Vatican,  149  ;  his  alli- 
ance with  the  Swiss,  39 ;  dispute  with  Louis 
XIL,  40;  his  financial  affairs,  &c.  124.  130. 
app,  401 ; —  III.  78  ;  election  and  reign  of,  92, 
93;  policy  of,  towards  England,  103;  financial 
aff"airs  of,  132. 

Justification,  doctrine  of,  54 — 57,  61.  72, 73. 

Juvencius,  his  account  of  Jean  (^hastel,  234  ;  his 
history  of  the  Jesuits,  247  n.  250  n.  app.  521. 

Kadan,  peace  of,  51. 

Kammergericht,  the,  170.  202,  203.  278. 

Kings,  controversies  respecting  the  authority  of, 

214.  217.  288. 
Koster,  Franz,  astronomer,  171. 

L^TUs,  Pomponius,  82. 

Lainez,  studies  at  Paris  with  Loyola,  68,  69.  77; 

at  the  council  of  Trent,  73. 112;  his  educational 

views,  171. 
Lalaing  goes  over  to  the  Spanish  party,  191,  192. 
Lambertini,    cardinal    Prospero,    pope    Benedict, 

XIV.,  381. 
Lamormain,  Jesuit,  325. 

La  Motte,  Pardieu  de,  governor  of  Gravelines,  190. 
Lando,  Giovanni,  ambassador  from  Venice  to  la- 

nocent  XL,  app.  610. 


638 


INDEX. 


Landriano,  legate  in  France,  226. 

Landsbergf,  treaty  of,  281. 

Laocoon,  the,  36.  151.  app.  406. 

Latin,  gives  place  to  modern  European  languages, 
34  ;  study  of  Ciceronian,  54. 

La  Chaise,  pere,  282. 

Lavallette,  pere,  a  Jesuit,  failure  of  a  commercial 
house  in  Martinique  connected  with,  384. 

Lazari,  Dionysius,  on  the  state  of  Catholicism  in 
England,  528. 

League,  see  Sixteen,  Civil  war  of  the  League,  203. 

Learning,  revival  of,  in  Italy  and  Europe,  34. 

Leipsig,  victory  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  at,  323. 

Le  Mailre,  celebrated  Jansenist,  368. 

Lentailleur,  John,  abbot  of  Anchin,  189. 

Leo  in.  pope,  21; — IX.  24  ;  —  X.,  his  concordat 
with  Francis  I.  27.  40;  his  concessions  to  Ema- 
nuel of  Portugal,  28;  intellectual  tendency  of 
his  age,  34—37 ;  atTairs  of  his  reign,  39—41  ; 
scepticism  of  his  court,  37  ;  his  financial  affairs, 
130;  — XL,  255. 

Leopold,  reforms  the  churches  of  Tuscany,  387. 

Lepanto,  victory  of,  121. 

Lerma,  duke  of,  Spanish  minister,  262. 

Lesdiguieres,  224;  turns  Roman  Catholic,  298. 

Less  and  Hamel,  Jesuits  of  Louvain,  248  n. 

Leti,  Gregorio,  biography  of  Sixtus  V,  by,  app. 

Leyden,  resists  the  duke  of  Alva,  182. 

Lichtenslein,  prince,  294. 

Liege,  bishopric  of,  195. 

Lilio,  Luigi,  his  proposals  for  a  reform  of  the  cal- 
endar, 136, 

Lipsius,  Justus,  194. 

Literary  Societies  of  Italy,  53.  349.  357. 

Lithuania,  Lutherans  of,  184 ;  Jesuits  in,  275 ; 
Gustavus  Adolphus  in,  320. 

Livonia,  Lutheranism  in,  163;  Jesuits  in,  275; 
conquered  by  Gustavus  Adolphus,  320. 

Locke,  John,  theory  of,  260. 

Lombards,  kingdom  of  the,  21. 

Lombardy,  power  of  the  Venetians  in,  29  ;  the 
claim  of  Charles  V.  to  and  subsequent  contest, 
40,  et  seq. 

Lope  de  Vega,  216. 

Lopez,  Portuguese  Jew,  adviser  of  Sixtus  V.  148. 

Lorenzo  de  Medici,  anecdote  and  letter  of,  28  ;  his 
sons,  39. 

Loreto,  city  of,  144;  chapel  of  the  Virgin  at,  220. 
356. 

Lorraine,  cardinal  de,  at  the  council  of  Trent, 
109;  house  of,  203, 

Lothairc,  elector  of  Trier,  276. 

Louis  the  Moor,  96 ;  —  XI.  of  France,  27  ;  —  XII., 
40;  —XIII.,  minority  of,  287.291  ;  his  reign, 
320 ;  marches  into  Italy  to  settle  the  succession 
of  Mantua,  318 ;  —  XIV.,  reign  of,  370  ;  —  XV., 
385. 

Loyola,  Ignatius,  history  of,  66 — 71  ;  his  memorial 
against  heresies,  74 ;  his  further  progress  after 
the  establishment  of  his  order,  77  ;  his  laws  for 
the   government   of  the   order,  77,  78,  79  ;  his 
spiritual  exercises,  80,  81  ;  extent  of  the  order  at 
his  death,  82;    Maffci's  life  of,  158;    Thomist 
doctrine  recommended   by,  247;  his  canoniza- 
tion, 292. 
Lubeck,  bishopric  of,  165. 
Lucca,  city  of,  257. 
Lucerne,  Jesuits  in,   188;  catholic  alliance  with 


t'ne  VValJ  cantons,  207;  the  nunciature  esta- 
blished at,  282. 

Ludovici,  his  Triumph  of  Charlemagne,  37  n. 

Ludovisi,  house  of,  333  ;  —  Alessandro,  pope  Gre- 
gory XV.,  291  ;  —  cardinal  Ludovico,  nephew  of 
Gregory  XV.,  292.  324.  333 ;  his  life  by  Giunti, 
app.  523, 

Luines,  de,  French  minister,  289.  291. 

Lunden,  archbishop  of,  62  n. 

Luther,  his  horror  at  the  irreligion  of  the  Roman 
ecclesiastics,  37  ;  his  disgust  at  the  sale  of  indul- 
gences, 38;  Maximilian  I.  recommends  him  to 
the  protection  of  the  elector  of  Saxony,  40 ;  he 
is  kept  concealed  in  the  Wartburg,  41 ;  his  re- 
newed activity,  44  ;  his  doctrines,  73  ;  embassy 
from  the  Ratisbon  conference  to,  62;  his  disgust 
at  any  amalgamation  of  the  two  creeds,  63  ;  con- 
trast between  him  and  Loyola,  68 ;  his  study  of 
St.  Augustine,  369. 

Luxembourg,  duchy  of,  190;  M.  de,  his  mission 
from  Henri  IV.  to  Rome,  222. 

Lyons,  city  of,  Jesuits'  college  in,  1 80 ;  its  acqui- 
sition of  the  territory  of  Bresse,  251 ;  Capuchins 
in,  204. 

Macchiavelli,  32. 35, 36 ;  —  legate  of  Urban  VIII. 
in  Cologne,  326. 

Macedo,  Antonio,  a  Jesuit,  the  first  confidant  of 
queen  Christina's  inclinations  towards  Catholi- 
cism, 354,  355. 

Madruzzi,  cardinal,  157.  226.  278. 

Maestricht,  treaty  of,  191. 

Maffei,  Jesuit  historian,  158. 

Magdeburg,  proteslant  archbishop  of,  203 ;  taken 
by  Tilly,  323. 

Magius,  Jesuit  provincial,  198. 

Mainz  or  Mayence,  city  of,  164;  Daniel  Brendel, 
elector  of,  175;  university  of,  170;  John  Adam 
von  Bicken,  elector  of,  276;  John  Schweikard, 
elector  of,  276.  288.  296;  Catholicism  re-estab- 
lished in,  276. 

Malaspina,  papal  nuncio  in  Germany,  158. 194,  270. 

Malatest',  Roberto,  138;  — family,  30,  31. 

Maldachina,  donna  Olimpia,  sister-in-law  of  Inno- 
cent X.,  339.  341.  360,  app,  575, 

Maldonat,  his  exposition  of  the  Bible,  180. 

Malelactors,  right  of  asylum  for,  at  Rome,  253. 

Malherbe,  genius  of,  288. 

Malvasia,  the  Discorso  of,  517. 

Manbelli,  family  of,  Guelphs,  acted  as  a  voluntary 
police,  126. 

Manfred i,  family  of,  30, 

Manrique,  bishop  of  Carthagena,  245,  246 ;  grand 
inquisitor,  248, 

Mantica,  auditor  di  rota,  158, 

Mantuan  succession,  war  of,  312.  318,  819.  322. 

Marcellus  II,,  cardinal  Marcello  Cervini,  pope,  94, 
95, 

March  of  Ancona,  the,  see  Ancona. 

Marco  of  Padu;i,  54, 

Mariana,  Jesuit,  on  the  kingly  authority,  215;  on 
the  society  of  Jesus,  244, 245 ;  his  doctrines,  248, 

Marino,  town  of,  29,  app.  519. 

Maronites,  305. 

Marot,  Clement,  his  mention  of  the  duchess  of  Fer- 
rara,  77. 

Marriage,  papal  dispensations  of,  43  ;  of  priests,  60. 
109. 165  ;  mixed  marriages,  275, 

Marseilles,  attack  on,  in  1524,  45. 


INDEX. 


039 


Martin,  St.,  legend  of,  20. 

MartjT,  Peter,  Vermifjli,  a  refugee  from  Itnly,  75. 

Martyrs,  the  early  Christian,  lb,  ]9. 

Mary  of  England,  queen,  120;  —  wife  of  William 
III.  of  England,  .377  ; —  Stuart,  queen  of  Scot- 
land, 104  208,  209;  — de'  Mtdici,  queen  of 
Henri  IV.,  regent  of  France,  286,  287.  291. 

Mascambruno,  forgeries  of,  361. 

Mass,  "  of  pope  Marcelius"  composed  by  Pier  Luigi 
Palestrina,  157. 

Materialism,  37. 

Matthias,  the  emperor,  281,  282. 

Matthiffi,  Dr.  .lohann,  instructor  of  queen  Christina 
of  Sweden,  352. 

Matthieu,  French  Jesuit,  205. 

Maurice,  duke  of  Saxony,  88.  03. 

Maximilian  I.,  the  emperor,  protects  Luther,  40; 
contempt  felt  for  him  by  pope  Julius  II.,  app. 
401  ;  —  II.  1 67.  183  ;  —  of  Bavaria,  see  Bavaria. 

Mayenne,  duke  of,  leader  of  the  Ligue,  232. 

Mazarin,  cardinal,  339.  342.  373. 

Mechlin  or  Malines,  182. 

Medici,  the,  of  Florence,  29.  47; —  Lorenzo  de',  28, 
29.39;— Cosmo  de',  76.  94.100.  118;  — Giu- 
liano  de'  37  ;  —  Pietro  de',  39  ;  —  Giovanni  de' 
pope  Leo  X.,  40;  —  Giulio  de',  pope  Clement 
VII.,  41  ;  —  Catherine  de'  —  Mary  de'  see  Ca- 
therine, Mary  ; —  Giovanni  Angelo,  pope  Pius 
IV.,  105;  —  Giangiacomo,  marquis  of  Marig- 
nano,  105;  —  cardinal  Ippolilo  de',  app.  436. 

Meiners  on  the  revival  of  letters,  38  n. 

Mclancthon,  at  the  conference  of  Ratisbon,  59.  61. 

Memmingen,  preceptory  of  St.  Antliony  in,  165. 

Menard,  Nicolas  Hugo,  286. 

Mendez,  Alfonso,  Jesuit  putriarch  of  iEthiopia,  305. 

Mendicant  orders,  privileges  granted  them  by  Six- 
tus  IV.,  3.3  ;  furnish  the  most  formidable  assail- 
ants of  the  papacy,  38;  licentiousnes.s  oi'the,33 

Mendoza,  don  Diego,  Spanish  ambassador  at  Rome, 
88,  89. -.'11. 

Mercy,  order  of,  286. 

Metz,  city  of,  28. 

Mexico,  university  of,  302. 

Miani,  Girolamo,  a  Venetian  senator,  founds  an 
orphan  asylum,  65. 

Michael  Angelo  Buonarotti,  36.  348. 

Micheli,  Venetian  ambassador,  on  protestantism  in 
France,  166. 

Middle  ages,  intellectual  character  of  the,  34, 

Milan,  archbishop  of,  23  ;  ducal  family,  see  Sforza  ; 
war  ofi  39  H  seq. ;  Spani.sh  rule  in,  45;  its  suf- 
ferings from  war,  66;  the  inqiiisition  in,  76; 
Carlo  Borromeo,  archbishop  of,  119;  affairs  of, 

.  308. 

Milensio,  fra  Felice,  deputed  to  the  diet  of  Ratis- 
bon, instead  of  the  nuncio,  280,  281  ;  app.  511. 

Minio,  Marco,  on  the  early  Italian  drama,  35  n. ; 
Relatione  of,  app.  403. 

Minucci,  Minuccio,201,  202,  203.  app.  49^. 

Miracles  of  St.  Hilary  and  St.  Martin,  of  the  10th 
century,  159. 

Mirandola,  storming  of,  by  Julius  II.,  32. 

Missal,  the  Roman,  121.  175. 

Missions  of  the  Jesuits,  302  ;  the  Propaganda,  292. 

Modena,  76;  the  territory  a  fief  of  the  empire, 
239  ;  Girolamo  da,  56  ;  Tommaso  da,  61. 

Molina,  Luis,  Jesuit,  his  controversial  work  in  op- 
position to  the  doctrine  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas, 
247;  his  disputes  with  the  Dominicans,  248 ;  the 


Molinist  controversy  virtually  decided  by  the  see 

of  Rome,  382. 
Molino.  Domenico,  219. 
Monaldeschi,  put  to  death  by  Christina  of  Sweden, 

356 ;  app.  588. 
Monastic  orders,  new,  64  ;  seclusion  of  monks  and 

nuns  commanded  by  Pius  V.,  118;  moiite  de' 

frati  or  tax  on,  133;    decline   of   the  German 

convents,  165;  suppression  of  certain,  proposed 

by  Alexander  VIII.,  363;  app.  584. 
Moncontour,  battle  of,  180. 
Montagna,  John,  Jesuit,  193. 
Montaigne's  visit  to  Ferrara,  236. 
Montalto,  bishopric  o'i  144  ;  —  cardinal,  pope  Sixtus 

v.,  141  ;  —  cardinal,  confided  in  by  Sixtus  V., 

145.  255  ;  —  marquis  oi;  147. 
Monttcatino,  of  Ferrara,  237,  238.  241. 
Monte,  cardinal,  pope  Julius  III.,  92; — cardinal, 

94.  100. 
Monte  Corone,  monastery  of,  64. 
iVlonteteltri,  Eoman  family  of,  31, 
Montfbrt,  Simon  de,  leader  of  the  crusade  against 

the  Albigenses,  25. 
Montigny,  Emanuel  de,  191. 
Montmorency,  the  constable  de,  letter  of,  91. 
Montorio,  papal  nuncio,  296. 
Montserrat,  hermits  of,  67. 
Moravia,  Jesuits  in,  170;  Moravian  brethren,  167. 

278.  295. 
Morone,  bishop  of  Modena,  58.  61.  102.  110,  111, 

112.  app.  448. 
Morosini,  Andrea,  259  ;  —  legate  of  pope  Sixtus  V. 

in  France,  205.  211.222. 
Moscow,  city  and  church  of,  273. 
Moulart,  .Matthieu,  bishop  of  Arras,  190. 
Muhlhausen,  government  of,  2(17. 
Mundcn,  bishopric  of,  becomes  protestant,  165. 
Munich,  Jesuits    in,   170.   172;    captured  by  the 

Swedes,  324. 
Municipal  institutions,  124. 
Munster,  religious  affairs  of,  1 65 ;  Ernest  of  Bavaria 

elected  bishop,  195;  Jesuits  in,  195. 
Muretus,  158. 
Music,  Italian,  156. 
Musa,  victorious  Saracen  leader,  20. 
Mysticism,  Gnostic,  the  Alumbrados  of  Spain,  Lo- 
yola, 68. 

Namur,  state  of  religion  in,  189. 

Nantes,  edict  of,  284. 

Naples,  king  Ferdinand  of,  28  ;  designs  of  Francis 
I.  against,  44;  influence  of  Juan  Valdez  in,  5S; 
troubles  in,  88  ;  Henri  II.  sends  an  army  against, 
98;  ecelesia.'-tical  affairs  of,  120;  the  regent 
Ponte,  256 ;  don  Carlos,  king  o^,  380. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  389. 

Nardi,  the  historian,  54. 

Narni,  Girolamo  da,  his  eloquence  as  a  preacher, 
292.  362. 

Nassau,  count  of,  194. 

Natural  history,  study  of,  155. 

Navagero,  cardinal  Bernardo,  36  ;  Relatione  of, 
app.  456. 

Navarre,  see  Henri  IV. 

Negro,  Girolamo,  app.  407. 

Nepotism,  29.  100.  102.  145.  342,  ef  passim. 

Neri,  Filippo,  founder  of  the  Oratory,  158.  286. 

Nestorian  Christians  of  St.  Thomas,  304. 

Netherlands,  cruelties  of  Alva,  and  reaction  caused 


640 


INDEX 


by  them,  1G6  ;  details  of  this  subject,  178,  179  ; 

resistance  to  the  Spanish  arms,  ISl,  183  ;  crisis 

inthe,  188— 194. 
Neuburg,  Louis  count  palatine  of,  202.  280. 
Nevers,  Lonis  Gonzag-a,  due  de,  his  mission  from 

Henri  IV.  to  Clement  VIII.,  233,  see  Gonzaga. 
Nice,  congress  at,  65. 
Nicholas  I.,  pope,  2-2  n. ;  —  V.,  buildings  at  Rome 

by,  149.  app.  398. 
Nickel,  Goswin,  general  of  the  Jesuits,  superseded 

by  the  order,  364. 
Nicoletti,  Andrea, quoted,  311  n.  314  n.;  his  life  of 

Urban  VIII.,  app.  565. 
Nobi!i,  Jesuit  missionary  in  India,  303. 
Nobles,  power  of  the   aristocracy  at  its  height  in 

the  17lh  century,  344  ;  Roman,  app.  516. 
Nordlingen,  protestants  predominant  in,  16.5. 
Normandy,  protestants  of,  166. 
Nuns,  seclusion  of,  118;  of  Calvary,  285  ;  Carme- 

lite,  285;  Ursuline,  286  ;  sisters  of  charity,  287. 
Nurnberg,  city  of,  164. 

OcHiNo,  Bernardino,  Franciscan,  preaches  justifica- 

tion  through  grace,  56.  75. 
Odescalchi,  family  of,  375. 
Oettingen,  convents  and  livings  of,  seized,  165. 
Olahus,  Nicolaus,  archbishop  of  Grau  in  Hungary, 

169.  ^^^    . 

Oliva,  rector  of  the  Jesuit  college  in  Rome,  342  ;  is 

elected  by  the  order  to  supersede  the  general, 

364. 
Olivarez,  count  d',  Spanish  ambassador  at  Rome, 

223,  224 ;  administration  of  Spain  under,  301. 

307,308.311.314. 
Olmutz,  Jesuit  college  at,  170. 
Omcr,  St.,  bishops  of,  18:1 ;  Jesuit  college  at,  189. 
Opilz,  Joshua,  protestant  preacher  at  Vienna,  198. 
Orange,  William  of  Nassau,  prince  of,  178.  181; 

firslstadtholder,  182  ;  price  set  on  his  head,  192  ; 

attempt  of  Jaurcguy   to  assassinate  him,  192; 

shot  by  Balthazar  Gerard,  193. 
Oratories  and  cells,  their  romantic  sites,  64. 
Oratory  of  Divine  Love,  54.  57.  65,  66  ;  congrega- 
tion of  the,  158. 
Orfino,  bisliop   of,    Tommaso,   visitation   of    the 

churches  of  Rome  and  Naples  by,  120, 
Orlandinus,  his  history  of  the  Jesuits,  app.  520. 
Orphan  asylums  established  in  Venice,  65. 
Orsini  family,  30,  31.  144.  345 ;  —  palace  at  Cam- 

pofiore,  149. 
Orsino,  cardinnl  Camillo,  governor  of  Parma,  91. 

102 ;  —  Giuiio,  99  ;  —  Latino,  138  ;  —  duke  Vir- 

ginio,  144. 
Osnabruck,  bishopric  of,  195. 
Ossat,  D',  plenipotentiary  of  Henri  IV.  at  Rome, 

235.241.243. 
Otho  the  Great,  23. 
Ottobuono,  cardinal,  342.  344. 
Oxenstierna,  chancellor  of  Sweden,  269.  357. 

Paderiiorn,  164.  195.  276. 

Padua,  Marco  of,  54  ;  anatomical  science  in,  153. 

Paez,  a  Portuguese  Jesuit,  raalies  important  con- 
versions in  Abyssinia,  305. 

Paganism,  downfall  of,  19. 

Pagiiaricci,  Antonio  dei,  57,  76, 

Painting,  Italian  seiiools  of,  36.  ir>5. 

Palatinate,  the,  adopts  the  reformed  religion,  51  ; 
Casimir  marches  to  Cologne,  194  ;  afi'airs  of,  163. 


170 ;  the  elector  Frederick,  joins  the  union,  280  ; 
seizes  the  crown  of  Bohemia,  290  ;  is  defeated  at 
the  Weissberg,  291 ;  transfer  of  the  electorate, 
296.  307.  app.  506. 
Paleslrina,   Pier    Luigi,    musical    composer ;    his 

"  mass  of  pope  Marcellus,"  157. 
Paliavicini,  cardinal.  History  of  the  council  of  Trent 
by,  app.  443;  Life  of  Alexander  VII.  by,  342; 
app.  586  ;  —  family  of  Genoa,  344;  — secretary 
of  state  under  Pius  VI.,  628. 
Palliano,  Caraffa,  duke  of.  97.  100.  107. 
Pamfili,    cardinal.    Innocent   X.,   338;  —  Camillo, 

nephew  of  Innocent  X.,  339. 
Pancirola,  cardinal,  343.  563. 
Paniquarola  at  Ferrara,  238. 
Panvinius  on  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  36  n. 
Papacy,  the,  its  early  history,  17-22;  Hildebrand- 
ism,  24  ;  posture  of,   in  the   fourteenth  and  fif- 
teenth centuries  compared,  26-28;  extension  of 
its  dominions,  28  ;  causes  of  the  increase  of  the 
papal  power,  39  ;  supremacy  of  the  pope,  56.  60. 
114.   259;    papal    authority    derived     through 
St.  Peter,  58  ;    the  papacy    itself  instrumental 
to  its  own    severest  losses,  51,  52.  104;  exclu- 
sive right  of  interpreting  the  decrees  of  Trent, 
114;  resources  of  the    papacy  for  contest  with 
protestantism,   167  ;    the   popes  abandon   their 
views  of  secular  ambition,  168  ;  relation  of  the 
papacy  to  the  temporal  power,  372  ;  later  epochs 
of  the  papacy,  374  ;  see  the  several  Popes,  Nepo- 
tism, &c. 
Paris,  Loyola  at  the  university  of,  69 ;  arms  against 
the  prince  of  Conde  and  the  protestants,  179  ; 
resistance  of,  to  the  Jesuits,  179;  the  duke  of 
Guise  becomes  master  of,  206;  Henri  IV.  be- 
sieges, 224 ;  a  Parisian  moderate  party  opposes 
the  Ligue,  232;  and  welcomes  Henri  IV.,  234; 
royal   library   of,  app.  493 ;  massacre,  see  St. 
Bartholomew. 
Parma,  32.  39,  40.  88.  91.  93.  132;  see  Alessandro 
Farnese,   prince   of;  acquired    by    the   Spanish 
prince  Don  Carlos,  380. 
Parsons,  the  Jesuit,  his  secret  mission  along  with 

Campion  to  England,  187.  214,  215. 
Pasquin,  the  well  known  Roman  satirist,  42. 
Patriarchs,  metropolitan,  19. 
Patrizi,  Francesco,  155.  237.  162. 
Paul,  St.  at  Athens,   18; —  II.,  pope,  life  of,    by 
Paul  Canensius,  37  n.; — 111.  (see   Alessandro 
Farnese,)  honourable  conduct  at  the  commence- 
ment  of  his   reign,  58;  his  inclination  for  re- 
form of  the  church,  59;  his  views  with  respect 
to  the  conference  at  Ratisbon,  61  ;  his  pontificate, 
83—92;  his  financial  affairs,  131,  132.  147;  app. 
449 — 454;  —  IV.,  cardinal  Giovanni  Fietro  Ca- 
raffa, his  pontificate,  95 — 103;  progress  of  pro- 
testantism in  his  reign,  104,  105;  finances  of, 
133;  contrasted    with  his  successor,  106;  app. 
455*,  456;  —  V.  cardinal  Borghese,  his  character 
and    pontificate,    254 — 263;    aids    the   catholic 
princes  of  Germany,  290  ;  his  death  by  apoplexy, 
291  ;  advances  made  to  him  by  James  I.  299; 
his  fiivourite  author,  316;  his  improvements  in 
Rome,  36S.   app.  508.   512; — St.  Vincent  de, 
287. 
Pazmany,  archbishop  of  Hungary,  295.  325. 
Penitenziaria  of  Rome,  32.  43. 
People,  the  sovereignty  of  the,  215. 
Pepin  d'Herislhal,"21  ;  —  Ic  Brcf,  ih. 


INDEX. 


641 


Perelti,  Felix,  cardinal,  pope  Sixtns  V.,13t} ;  —  Pe- 

retto,  father  of  Felix,  ib.  app.  47!  et  seq. 
Perez,  Hurtado,  Jesuit  rector  at  Olmulz,  170. 
Peroto  assassinated  by  Cesar  Borgia,  31, 
Perron,  cardinal  du,  250. 

Persecution  in  Germany,  294 ;  at  Venice,  76 ;  in 
Eng'iand,  120;  of  catholics  and  Jesuits  by  queen 
Eliziibeth,  208;  of  priests  and  Jesuits  by  James 
I.,  300 ;  of  protcstants  in  Poland,  275;  in  the 
Netherlands,  166.  177. 
Persico,  Antonio,  140. 

Perucria,  123;  its  revolt  against  Paul  III.,  128. 
Pescara,  imperial  general   in    Italy,  45;  Vittoria 

Colonna,  marehesa  di,  55. 
Peter,  the  apostle,  17.  58. 
Peter's,  St.,  cathedral  of,  36.  150,  151.  348. 
Peter's  pence,  21.  27. 
Petrarch,  lil. 

Pflug,  Julius,  at  the  conference  of  Ralisbon,  59, 
Pfyffer,  Ludwig-,  188. 

Philip  le  Bel,  26  ;  —  II.  of  Spain,  hostility  of  Paul 
IV.  against,  96;  disposed  to  a  good  understand- 
ing with  Pius  IV.,  Ill  ;  remonstrates  with  Pius 
v.,  117;  cordial  agreement  of  his  government 
with  Rome,  120 ;  revolt  of  the  Netherlands 
against,  177;  urged  to  war  by  Gregory  XIII.  136; 
his  intense  adherence  to  Catholicism  and  its  con- 
sequences, 167,  168;  proceedings  of  his  general 
Alva  in  the  Netherlands  177—179  ;  recals  Alva, 
181  ;  sends  thither  his  brother  Don  John  of  Aus- 
tria, 182;  contributes  towards  the  expenses  of 
Stukeley's  Irish  expedition,  187;  and  to  the 
establishment  of  the  Jesuits  in  Switerland,  188  ; 
conquers  Portugal,  191 ;  Philip  at  first  distrust- 
ful  of  the  Jesuits,  at  last  becomes  their  de- 
cided protector,  193;  his  connexion  with  the 
French  Ligue,  205;  attempts  on  England,  Span- 
ish armada,  208 — 210;  confederates  with  the 
Ligue  and  the  pope  against  Henri  IV.,  211;  ap- 
proves of  the  seemingly  antimonarchical  doc- 
trines of  the  Jesuits,  216;  his  power  excites 
jealousy  throughout  Europe,  218;  sends  his 
troops  into  Britany,  227;  — III.  262  ;  —  IV., 
311;  —  v.,  war  of  the  Spanish  succession,  379 
—381. 
Philology  promoted  by  the  Propaganda,  292. 
Philosophy,  Italian  schools  of,  37.  155.  161.  368. 
Piacenza  or  Plaeentia,  32.  39,  40.  88—90.  132. 
Piccinardi  beheiided  by  Paul  V.  for  his  life  of  Cle- 
ment VIII.  255. 
Piccolomini,  Alfonso,  bandit  leader,  138,  139;  — 

Jesuit  general,  364. 
Pigna  of  Ferrara,  237. 
Pignatelli,  Antonio,  pope  Innocent  XII.,  378.  app. 

611. 
Pilgrimages,  165;  revived  in  Germany,  171.  277; 

to  Rome,  on  the  jubilee  of  1450,  27. 
Pimentel,  Don  Antonio,  ambassador  from  Spain  to 

queen  Christina  of  Sweden,  355. 
Pisa,  university  of,  77. 

Pius  II.,  iEiicas  Sylvius,  27;  his  scanty  finances, 
129;  —  IV.,  Cardinal  Giovanni  Angelo  Medici, 
105—115;  financial  measures  ot;  133,  134; 
public  buildings  of,  149.  app.  457—464  ;  —  Car- 
dinal  Michele  Ghislieri,  116—122;  financial 
measures,  133,  134  ;  ferocious  order  to  his  gem^- 
ral,  180;  other  allusions  to,  183;  app.  464— 466; 
—VI.,  387. 389 ;  app.  627, 628 ;  —  VII., 389— 392. 
Plurality  of  livings,  113. 
81 


Poetry — See  Italy. 
Poictiers,  diocese  of,  298. 

Poland,   kingdom  of,  163;  Sigismund   Augustus, 
king  of;   163;  Stephen   Bathory,  king  of,  219. 
267  ;  Sigismund  III.,  210;  spread  of  Catholicism 
in,  267;  wars  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  in,  320; 
Russian  power  over,  3H2.  app.  449. 
Pole,  Reginald,  cardinal,  at  Venice,  54 — 57.  61  ; 
at   the  council  of  Trent,  72 ;  sent  as  legate  to 
England,  103.  107. 
Pomerania,  protestants  of,  51. 
Pomponazzo,  Pietro,  philosophy  of,  37.  162. 
Pontine  marshes,  the,  144. 
Population  of  Rome,    159;  particulars  of,  in  the 

17th  century,  345—347. 
Porcari,  Stephen,  insurrection  of,  app.  397. 
Porta,  scientific  labours  of,  259. 
Portroyal,  adoration  of  the  Eucharist  in,  285 ;  Jan- 

senist  fraternity  of,  368. 
Portugal,  its  ecclesiastical  orders  of  knighthood, 
28 ;  the  Jesuits  received  in,  77 ;  conquered  by 
Philip  II.,  191  ;  discoveries  and  conquests  of  the 
Portuguese,  302 ;  later  affairs  of,  373.  381.  384. 
Possevin,   Antonio,  Jesuit,   his  attempt  to  convert 

king  John  of  Sweden,  185,  186. 
Powsinsky,  Bartholomeus,  papal  envoy,  269. 
Pragmatic  sanction,  the,  27. 
Prague,   Jesuits'  college  at,  169;  conversions  to 

Catholicism  at,  294;  treaty  of,  325. 
Predestination,  doctrine  of,  247. 
Press,  restrictions  on,  by  the  Inquisition,  see  Books. 
Primates,uiiknown  in  the  early  Christian church,20. 
Priuli,  Luigi,  54. 

Professio  Fidei,  the,  114.  121.  195.  198. 
Propaganda,  the,  292,  293. 
Protestantism — See  Luther,  Calvin,  &c. 
Protestants — See  the  several  nations, 
Prussia,  Lutheranism  established  in,  163;  church 
property  secularized  in,  16.'J.  321  ;   Polish  Prus- 
sia, 268;   designs   of  Ferdinand    II.   on    319; 
strength  of,  in  more  recent  times,  382 ;  in   the 
19th  century,  392,  393. 
Public  opinion,  53,219. 
Pultusk,  college  of,  184. 
Purgatory,  165. 
Puritans,  the,  327. 

QuEDLWBURG,  abbey  of,  165. 

Queutin,  St.,  battle  of,  99, 

Quirini,  Giacomo,  references  to,  343  ;  accounts  of 

the  courts  of  Alexander  VII.  and  Clement  IX. 

by,  app.  595. 

Raesfeld,  dean  of  iWunster,  195. 

Ratiaele  d'Urbino,  36. 

Raitlcnau,  Wolf  Dietrich  von,  prince  bishop  of 
Salzburg,  200. 

Ranzuu,  Ileinrich,  202. 

Ratisbon,  conference  of,  61  etseq.;  ecclesiastical 
schools  at,  174;  Catholicism  in,  201  ;  diets  of, 
279.  320. 

Ravenna,  125,  127.  137. 

Reformation,  its  causes,  37  ;  connexion  wilh  poli- 
tics  in  its  earlier  stages,  39 — 53;  decree  ofFer- 
dinand  I.  the  first  great  official  recognition  of^ 
46;  peace  of  Kadan  a  momentous  event  for,  51. 

Rcggio,  city  of,  32,  239. 

Religious  military  orders,  28.  64. 

Religious  peace,  the — See  Augsburg. 


642 


INDEX. 


Republican  character  of  the  Roman  curia,  160;  of 
the  Huguenot  body,  289  ;  spirit  of  Ghent,  189. 

Retz,  cardinal  de,  370. 

Reuchliii,  author  of  the  first  Hebrew  grammar,  38. 

Revolution,  the  English,  377 ;  the  French,  388. 

Rhetius,  John,  Jesuit  of  Cologne,  169. 

Rhine,  electorates  of  the,  164  et  seq.  276  et  seq.; 
refusal  to  open  the,  to  Dutch  commerce,  291. 

Rhodes,  capture  of,  by  the  Turks,  43. 

Riario,  Girolamo,  nephew  of  Sixtus  IV.,  29. 

Ricci,  the  Jesuit,  his  mission  to  China,  303 ;  —  Lo- 
renzo, general  of  the  Jesuits,  385. 

Richardot,  Francois  dc,  bishop  of  Arras,  189. 

Richelieu,  administration  of  cardinal,  307,  308. 
311,312.  318;  imprisons  St.  Cyran,  368. 

Righteousness,  twofold,  73. 

Rimini,  123.  125. 

Ritual,  the  Roman,  25.  74.  119.  175.  537. 

Rocci,  papal  nuncio  at  the  diet  of  Ratisbon,  322. 

Rochelle,  la,  siege  of,  312,  313. 

Rocheomo,  his  apology  for  the  French  Jesuit,  249. 

Rodcrigo,  Simon,  one  of  the  first  two  Jesuits  sent 
to  Portugal,  77. 

Rodolph  11.,  the  emperor,  zealous  Catholicism  of, 
197  ;  grants  Modena  and  Reggio  to  Alfonso  of 
Ferrara,  239  ;  persecutes  the  protestanls,  278, 
279;  insurrection  against,  281. 

Rohan,  Fran9ois  de,  90  n.;  duke  de,  Huguenot 
leader,  290.  308. 

Romagna,  123,  124.  app.  519. 

Rome,  ancient  mythology  and  empire  of,  17;  city 
of,  stormed  by  the  imperial  forces  under  Bour- 
bon, 47  ;  Alva  threatens,  98, 99  ;  its  edifices,  149. 
347  ;  Vatican  and  other  libraries,  349. 

Romillon,  Jean  Baptiste,  f  iunds  the  order  of  The 
Fathers  of  Christian  Doctrine,  286. 

Rospigliosi,  cardinal,  secretary  of  state  under  Alex- 
ander VII.,  344 ;  elected  pope  Clement  IX.,  ib. ; 

'    app.  496,  597. 

Rotto,  Giovan  Battista,  one  of  the  school  of  Italian 
protestantism,  56. 

Rucillai,  his  tragedy  of  Rosmunda,  his  Bees,  35. 

Russia,  designs  of  Rome  on,  272. 

Rusticucci,  cardinal,  157. 

Sacchetti,  cardinal,  338;  his  mission  from  Urban 

VIII.  to  Spain,  app.  534. 
Sacchinu?,  Franciscus,  History  of  the  Jesuits  by, 

app.  520. 
Sacraments,  the,  74. 
Sadolet,  cardinal,  54.  57. 
St.  Cyran,  Du  Verge,  abbot  of,  associate  of  Janse- 

nius,  367. 
Saint  Gall,  abbot  of,  283. 
Saints,  worship,  relies,  and  images  of,  197. 
Sales,  S.  Frangois  de,  monastic  discipline  of,  286. 
Salmasius  at  llie  court  of  Christina  of  Sweden,  351. 
Salmeron,  the  Jesuit,  71.  73. 
Salt,  tax  on,  in  Rome,  12S. 
Salviati,  cardinal,  157. 
Salzburg,  city  ot^  28. 
Sannazaro,  the  Arcadia  of,  35. 
San  Severina,   cardinal   Santorio,   150.   157.   212. 

227;  his  autobiography,  app.  494. 
Santafiore,  count,  monstrous  order  of  Pius  V.  to, 

122. 
Sanuto,  Marino,  ccmmentarii  di,  29  n.  42  n. 
Saracens,  their  conquests,  20. 
Sardinia,  380,  381.  393. 


Sarpi,  Fra  Paolo,  character  of,  259;  his  political 
controversy  with  the  Jesuits,  260,  261.  265  ; 
criticism  on  his  History  of  the  council  of  Trent, 
app.  437. 

Sarrazin,  abbot  of  St.  Vaast,  191. 

Sauli,  cardinal,  262. 

Savonarola,  fra  Geronimo,  40. 

Savoy,  dukes  of,  120.  167;  Charles  Emanuel  of, 
his  designs  on  Geneva,  207.  app.  529 ;  seizes 
Salnzzo,  212;  political  affairs  of,  257.  309.  318  ; 
claim  of  the  duke  to  the  city  of  Montferrat,  314, 
see  Sardinia. 

Saxe  Lauenburg,  Henry  of,  183.  195.  202. 

Saxony,  John  Frederick,  elector  of,  88 ;  reformed 
church  established  in,  46.  51 ;  Maurice  of^  88. 
93  ;  Augustus,  elector  of,  202  ;  affairs  of,  279. 
app.  505. 

Scepticism  fashionable  in  Rome,  37. 

Schomberg,  marshal,  220  n. 

Schwartzenburg,  count,  174. 

Scotland,  religious  contests  in,  104 ;  Calvinist 
church  of,  166. 

Scriptures — See  Bible  and  Testament. 

Sega,  nuncio  to  Spain,  186;  legate  in  France,  231. 

Seripando,  general  of  the  Auguslines,  73. 

Serra,  powerful  Guelph  family  of,  126. 

Sfondrato,  cardinal,  elected  Gregory  XIV.,  226  ;  — 
Ercole,'duke  of  Montemarciano,  ih. 

Sforza,  cardinal,  225  ;  Sforzas,  dukes  of  Milan,  29, 
30.  45. 

Sicily,  380. 

Siena,  university  of,  76  ;  city  of,  86.  100. 

Sigismund  Augustus,  king  of  Poland,  163. 

Sigismund  III.,  king  of  Poland,  210.  268;  becomes 
king  of  Sweden,  268,  269  ;  commotions  in  Po- 
land under,  274—276. 

Simony,  43.  57. 

Sin,  utility  of,  56 ;  Jesuit  views  of,  366. 

Sirleto,  cardinal,  136.  158. 

Sixteen,  the  league  of  the,  in  Paris,  206.  232. 

Sixtus  IV.,  pope,  29,  30.  32  ;  his  financial  expedi. 
ents,  130; —  V.,  Felix  Peretti,  cardinal  Montalto, 
his  history  and  administration,  139 — 151.  219 — 
225 ;  his  animosity  against  queen  Elizabeth,  209 ; 
his  notions  as  to  the  secular  power  of  the  papacy, 
215,  app.  471  et  seq. 

Smalcalde,  league  of,  attacked  by  Charles  V.,  87. 
166. 

Societies,  literary,  of  Italy,  53.  350. 357;  devotional, 
53;  political,  219. 

Soleure  or  Solothurn,  188. 

Somasca,  congregatione  di,  66. 

Sorbonne,  the,  1 11 .  206.  2 1 6.  234. 

Soriano,  the  Relatione  of,  46  n.  49  n.  52  n.  84  n. 
121  n.  124  n. 

Soubise,  prince  de.  Huguenot  leader,  308. 

Spada,  papal  nuncio  in  Paris,  311;  —  G.  B.,  his 
description  of  Rome,  app. 

Spain,  Ferdinand  I.  of  Castile,  23  ;  the  Altoshomes 
of,  25  ;  kingdom  of  Arragon,  ib.;  church  patron- 
age of  the  king,  28;  chivalry  and  romance  of, 
45.  66  ;  the  popes  jealous  of,  93.  96  ;  bishops  of, 
at  Trent,  108;  the  decrees  of  Trent  received  in, 
120  ;  povirer  of  the  Spanish  grandees,  344. — See 
Charles  V.,  Philip  II.,  &c. 

Spinola,  commander  in  the  Netherlands,  262. 

Spires,  diet  of,  in  1526,  46  ;  Jesuits  in,  170. 

Spon,  his  visit  to  Rome  in  1674,  350. 

Squadrone  Volante,  the,  342. 


INDEX. 


643 


Squillace,  Spanish  minister,  384. 

State,  CO  ordination  ot'  Chureii  and,  19 ;  theory  of, 
214.260. 

Statues,  celebrated  ancient,  36.  1.5 J.  app.  406. 

Stein,  arclibishop  Joliann  von,  of  Trier,  170. 

Strada,  Francesco,  Jesuit,  77. 

Stralendorf,  liCopold  von,  176. 

Strasburg-,  city  ot,  28. 

Strozzi,  Pietro,  98. 

Stukeley,  'I'homas,  his  Irish  expedition,  186. 

Styria,  184.  197,277.309. 

Suabia,  Catholicism  in,  170. 

Suarez  of  Coimbra,  Jesuit  professor,  215. 

Sully,  duke  de,  262. 

Supremacy,  question  of  the  pope's,  58.  214.  258. 

Surius,  sacred  history  by,  173. 

Sweden,  Lutheranism  established  in,  36. 163  ;  CJus- 
tavus  Vasa  and  John  his  successor,  163.185; 
Antonio  Possevin,  Jesuit,  at  the  court  of,  185; 
Sigismund,  king- of,  268;  confession  of  Augsburg 
proclaimed  in,  ib. ;  duke  Charles  defeats  Sigis- 
mund, 273. — See  Gustavus  Adolphus,  Christina, 
&c. 

Switzerland,  persecuted  Italians  take  refuge  in, 
75  ;  Collegium  Helveticum  in  Milan,  120.  283  ; 
nunciature  in,  188.  282 ;  the  golden  or  Borro- 
mean  league  in,  207;  Spanish  party  in,  283; 
Jesuits  in,  188. — See  Geneva,  &c. 

Swiss  in  the  papal  service,  127;  defeated  at  Marig- 
nano,  39 ;  defeated  by  the  German  lansknechts, 
99. 

Sylvius,  jEneas,  see  Pius  II. 

Syria,  220. 

Tasso,  Bernardo,  153;  —  Torquato,  spirit  of  his 

poetry,  155  ;  at  Ferrara,  237,  238. 
Taxes  at  Rome,  see  Finances. 
Telesius,  philosophy  of,  l40.  154. 
Tempesti,  Casimiro,   biography  of  Sixtus  V.  by, 

app.  475. 
Templars,  Knights,  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  28. 
Temples,  pagan,  converted  into  Christian  churches, 

19. 
Testament,  New,  Erasmus  edits  the  Greek,  38. 
Theatines,  the  order  of,  64. 
Theodosius  the  Great,  19. 
Theology  of  the  Germans,  37  ;  systems  of,  247. 
Theresa,  St.,  her  rule,  285. 
Tliiene,  St.,  Gaetano    da,   54;  character  of,   64; 

founds  the  order  of  Theatines,  65. 
Thomas  Aquinas,  215  n.  247.  383. 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  38. 
Thomas,  St.,  Nestorian   Christians  of,  in  India, 

304. 
Thomists,  the  doctrines  of  the,  247. 
Thoulouse,  city  of,  180. 

Thungen,  Nethard  von,  bishop  of  Bamberg,  276. 
Tiepolo,  Lorenzo,  Relatione  di,  app.  617 ;  —  Paolo, 

Tilly,  count,  imperial  general,  313.  323. 

Tithes,  papal,  see  Annates. 

Titles,  ceremonious,  153. 

Toledo,  cardinal  Juan  Alvarez  de,  74;  Francesco, 

134. 
Tolentino,  bishopric  of,  144. 
Torella,  countess,  66. 
Torres,  bishop,  nuncio  in  Poland,  158. 
Tosco,  cardinal,  159. 
Tournay,  Jesuits  in,  193. 


Trade  of  the  Jesuits,  365. 

Tradition  of  the  church,  72. 

Trent,  the  council  of,  its  first  sittings,  71 74; 

transferred  to  Bologna,  87 ;  latter  sitting,  108 

114;  decrees  of,  173.175. 177.265;  the  professio 
Jictei  drawn  up  at,  ib. ;  Sarpi's  Ilistrry  of,  app. 
437  ;  Pailavicini'.s,  app.  437. 

Treves  or  Trier,  1 64. 

Trinita,,  count  della,  116. 

Trinity,  Loyola's  vision  of  the,  68;  doctrine  of, 
155. 

Tropea,  Teofilo  di,  75, 

Truchsess,  cardinal  Otho,  165  ;  —  Gebhard,  elector 
and  archbishop  of  Cologne,  183.  194. 

Turkey,  Jesuit  missions  in,  305. 

Turks,  wars  with  the,  see   Europe;    proposals  of 
Paul  IV.  to  Solyman,  98;  defeated   at  Lepanto 
by  Don  John  of  Austria,  121 ;  threaten  Hunearv 
307.  ' 

Tuscany,  the  inquisition  in,  76;  Cosmo  named 
grand  duke  of,  119 — See  Medici. 

Tyrol,  Catholicism  of  the,  163.  199  ;  the  Jesuits  in 
the,  170. 

Umiliati,  order  of  the,  119. 

Unigenitus,  the  bull,  382. 

Universities,  Italian,  oppressed  by  the  inquisition 
76. 

Unierwalden,  the  landamman  Melchior  Lussi  of 
188. 

Upsal,  archbishop  of,  269. 

Urban  VII.,  Giambattista  Castagna,  225;  —  VIII., 
cardinal  Maffeo  Barberini,  315—319.  323—327  ; 
his  court  and  family,  333,  334;  war  of  Castro, 
334 — 338;  buildings,  348 ;  for  various  details, 
see  app.  451—453. 545—550. 554—573 ;  —  bish- 
op of  Laibach,  confessor  to  the  emperor  Ferdi- 
nand I.,  patronises  the  Jesuits,  169. 

Urbino,  ducal  state  of,  31.  40;  escheat  of,  328. 

Utrecht,  archbishopric  of,  383. 

Valdez,  Juan,  of  Naples,  his  religious  tenets,  55. 
Valentmi,  Filippo,  an  Italian  of  protestant  views, 

75. 
Valentinian  III.,  edict  of,  20. 
Valiere,  Agostino,  bishop  of  Milan,  158. 
Valle,  marehesa  della,  100. 
Valtelline,  the,  app.  549 — See  Grisons. 
Vasa,  see  Gustavus,  John,  &lc. 
Vasto,  the  marquis  of,  governor  of  Milan,  86. 
Vatican  palace,  the,  36.  149 ;  printing  office  of  the 

145. 
Vega,  Lope  di,  216. 
Venice,  the  sea  coast  of  the  papal  states  wrested 

from,  by  Julius  II.,  31 ;  literary  societies  in,  54; 

con.stitution  of,  218;  orphan  asylums  of,  65;  the 

inquisition  in,  76;  the  Jesuits  in,  76.  261  ;  war 

with   the  Turks,  85.   121;  school   of  painting, 

154;  affairs  of,  passim,  and  app.  401.  560.  583; 

dispute  with  Rome,  256;  Relatione  of,  see  app. 

passim. 
Verger,  du,  abbot  of  St.  Cyran,  associate  of  Janse- 

nius,  367. 
Vermigli,  Peter  Martyr,  an  Italian  of  protestant 

views,  75. 
Verona,  churches  of,  119. 
Vervins,  peace  of,  251. 
Vettori,  Francesco,  quoted,  40 ;  history  of  Italy  by, 

app.  431. 


644 


INDEX. 


Vida,  Latin  poet,  34; — Ottonel,  on  church  go- 
vernment, 56. 

Vienna,  concordat  of,  27  ;  the  bishop  of,  proposes 
extreme  measures  against  protestant  innovations, 
58;  Jesuits  in,  169. 171  ;  prohibition  of  protestant- 
ism in,  by  Rudolph  II.,  198. 

Vieta,  works  of,  <.'6U. 

Villanova,  Francisco,  Jesuit,  77. 

Villeie,  pdre,  of  Bordeaux,  298. 

Villeroi,  due  de,  262. 

Visconti,  Monsignorino,  murder  of,  105. 

Visitation,  order  of,  286. 

Vitelleschi,  Mutio,  general  of  the  Jesuits,  364. 

Vitelli,  noble  family  of,  30,  31 ;  cardinal,  101. 

Viltoria,  John,  Jesuit,  171. 

Vossius,  Isaac,  at  the  court  of  Christina,  351.  353. 

Vulgate,  the,  72. 

Wald  cantons,  207. 

Waldeck,  Bernard  von,  195  n. 

Waldenses,  166. 

Wall,  Spanish  minister,  384. 

Wallenstein,  celebrated  imperial  general,  313.  323. 

Walloons,  the,  168.  189. 191,  192. 

Waither,  Hans,  defeats  the  Swiss,  99. 

Weller,  Gerhard,  Jesuit,  197. 

Westphalia,  Lulheranism  in,  183;  catholic  clergy 

restored,  194;  peace  of,  326.  351. 
Wiborg,  Lutheran  bishopric  of,  163. 


William  III.  and  Mary,  accession  of,  377. 

Wittenberg,  university  of,  48.  165. 

Wladislaw  III.  of  Poland,  his  designs  on  Moscow, 

289  ;  —  IV.,  tolerance  of,  326. 
Wolsey,  cardinal,  28.  51  n. 
Works,  sanctification  by,  69.  73.  248. 
Worms,  diet  of,  41. 
Wurteniburg,  duke  of,  restored  to  his  dominions 

by  Philip  of  Hesse,  50  ;  convents  of,  confiscated, 

165;  the  duke  of,  joins  the   protestant  union, 

280. 
Wurlzburg,  reformed  church  of,  164;  Jesuits  in, 

170;  Juhus  Echter,  bishop  of,  ib.  288.  294;  ca- 

tholicism  re-established  in,  196. 

Xavier,  St.  Francis,  his  association  with  Loyola, 
69 ;  invited  to  Portugal  by  king  John,  77  ;  his 
missionary  labours,  302  ;  his  canonization,  293 ; 
—  Geronimo,  303. 

Ypres,  Jesuits  of,  193. 

Zamoyski,  chancellor  of  Poland,  §67.  272.  274. 
Zanetti,  Guido,  given  up  by  the  Venetians  to  Pius 

v.,  119. 
Zebrzydowsky,  palatine  of  Cracow,  274,  275. 
Zorzi,  Marin,  Relatione  of,  app.  402. 
Zug,  canton  of,  207. 
Zutphen  conquered  by  the  Spaniards,  194. 


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1843. 


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;ffl!:^6^     IN   THIRTEEN  VOLUMES.     •*^^^^ 


THE  CHEAPEST  WORK  ON  SURGERY  VET  PUBLISHED 

DRUITT'S  modern"  SURGERY. 

A  NEW  EDITION  NOW  READY, 

WITH  153  SPLENBID  CUTS. 

IN  ONE  VOLUME,  OCTAVO. 

Lea  &  Blanchard  beg  to  inform  the  Profession  that  they  have  now  ready 
a  New  and  much  improved  Edition  of 

THE 

PRINCIPLES    AND  PEACTICE 

OF 

MODERN    SURGERY. 

BY  ROBERT  BRUITT, 

SUKGEOX. 

FROM   THE   THIRD    LONDON    EDITION. 

ILLUSTRATED   WITH   ONE    HUNDREB   AND   FIFTY-THREE 
WOOD   ENGRAVmeS. 

WITH  NOTES  AND  COMMENTS 

BY 

JOSHUA  B.  FLINT,  M.D.-M.M.  S.S., 

LATE  PROFESSOR  OF  SURGERY  IN  THE  MEDICAL  INSTITUTE  OF  LOUISVILLE. 

It  will  be  seen  this  work  has  been  materially  modified  and  extended  by  the 
author.     He  states  that — 

"  In  bringing  out  a  Third  Edition  of  the  present  work,  my  first  impulse  is,  to 
express  my  great  satisfaction  at  the  very  favourahle  reception  which  this  humble 
contribution  to  Surgical  Literature  has  universally  met  with.  The  rapid  sale  of 
two  large  editions  in  England,  and  the  republication  of  the  work  in  America, 
lead  me  to  believe  that  I  have  been  successful  in  attaining  the  objects  which  I 
set  before  myself  in  writing  it ;  those  objects  being  to  produce  as  complete  a 
system  as  possible  of  Surgical  Science  and  Practice,  in  the  smallest  practicable 
compass;  to  be  biassed — wh'ero  matters  are  disputed — neither  by  name,  school, 
nor  party;  but  to  collect  facts  and  opinions  from  every  attainable  source,  to  com- 
pare and  weigh  them  carefully,  and  to  state  the  result  with  conscientious  impar- 
tiality; and  lastly,  to  lay  down  no  rules  for  practice  which  were  not  amply 
tested  by  experience,  or  which  were  without  the  recommendation  of  some  sound 
British  authority. 

"The  present  edition  is  about  fifty  pages  longer  than  its  predecessor.  But  the 
additions  are  solely  confined  to  the  practical  departments,  whilst  those  chapters 
which  treat  of  theory,  or  pathological  principles,  are  rendered  somewhat  shorter 
than  before. 

"  With  respect  to  the  sources  from  which  the  materials  are  gathered,  I  may 
say  that  I  have  taken  as  a  foundation  those  doctrines  which  the  present  genera- 
tion has  inherited  from  John  Hunter,  Pott,  B.  Gooch,  J.  Bell,  and  the  other 
great  masters  of  the  latter  end  of  the  last  century.  The  main  body  of  the  work 
is  supplied  by  the  labours  of  Astley  Cooper,  Abernethy,  Travers,   Law- 


DruiWs  Surgery. 

EENCE,  Guthrie,  and  the  other  great  surgeons  of  our  own  times  ;  nor  must  the 
writings  of  Liston,  Herbert  Mayo,  Samuel  Cooper,  Sir  Charles  Bell,  nor 
the  admirable  course  of  Lectures  delivered  at  King's  College  by  Joseph  Henry 
Green  be  omitted ;  but  most  deeply,  indeed,  am  1  indebted  to  Sir  B.  Brodie's 
masterly  contributions  to  almost  every  department  of  Surgery.  My  pages  will 
also  be  found  to  contain  many  references  to  Professor  Fergusson's  excellent 
'  Practical  Surgery,'  in  which  I  believe  the  art  of  Operative  Surgery  to  be,  in 
most  points,  carried  to  the  highest  possible  pitch  of  simplicity  and  refinement." 

This  edition  has  been  materially  improved  in  its  appearance,  so  as  to  corre- 
spond with  the  edition  of  "Fergusson's  Operative  Surgery,"  "  Wilson's  Ana- 
tomy," "  Churchill's  Midwifery,"  and  "•  Carpenter's  Physiology;"  and  the 
number  of  the  cuts  have  been  increased,  as  will  be  perceived  by  the  following  list. 
It  has  been  introduced  into  many  Colleges  as  a  Text  Book,  in  connection  with 
Fergusson's  Surgery. 


LIST    OP    WOOD   CUTS 

IN  DRUITT'S  SURGERY. 


FIG. 
1. 


Fibrine  as  seen  under  the  microscope. 

Pus  globules  as  seen  under  the  microscope. 

Mucous  pus  as  seen  under  the  microscope. 

Softening  ofthe  brain,  showing  the  granules 
mixed  with  broken  nerve  lubes. 

Roller  bandage  applied  to  foot  and  leg. 

Miliary  tubercle  as  seen  under  the  micro- 
scope. 

Malignant  growths,  showing  the  granules 
and  nucleated  cells  of  which  they  are 
composed. 

Interrupted  suture. 

Twisted  suture. 

Quilled  suture 

Syphilitic  caries  of  cranium. 

Apparatus  for  treatment  of  rupture  of  tenJo- 
achillis. 

Ganglion  formed  by  the  synovial  sheath  of 
the  flexor  tendon  of  a  finger. 

Chronic  inflammation  of  bone. 

Abscess  of  bone. 

Necrosis. 

18.  Caries. 

Osteo-sarcoma  of  femur. 

Fractured  bone,  united. 

Bandage  for  fracture  of  the  lower  jaw. 

Stellate  or  figure  of  8  bandage  for  fracture 
of  clavicle. 

Clavicle  bandage. 

Fracture  of  neck  of  scapula. 

Fracture  of  acromion. 

Fracture  of  surgical  neck  of  the  humerus. 

Fracture  of  surgical  neck  of  the  humerus 
united. 

Fracture  of  the  head  of  the  humerus,  with 
dislocation  forwards,  under  the  pectoral 
muscle. 

Fracture  of  the  lower  extremity  of  the  hu- 
merus. 

Fracture  of  the  internal  condyle  of  the  hu- 
merus. 

Fracture  of  Uie  external  condyle  of  the  hu- 
merua. 


PIG. 

32.  Fracture  of  the  external  condyle  of  the  hu- 

merus within  the  capsular  ligament. 

33.  Fracture  of  the  olecranon. 

3-1.  Fracture  of  coroooid  process  of  ulna. 

35.  Fracture  of  lower  extremity  of  radius. 

36.  Fracture  and  dislocation  of  bones  of  the 

pelvis. 

37.  Descent  of  the  neck  of  the  thigh-bone  in 

advanced  life. 

38.  Changes  incident  to  the  neck  of  the  thigh- 

bone in  old  age,  and  which  might  be  mis- 
taken for  united  fracture. 

39.  40.  Fracture  of  neck  of  tlie  thigh-bone  inter- 

nal to  the  capsule. 

41.  Fracture  of  the  neck  of  the  thigh-bone  ex- 

ternal to  capsule. 

42.  Liston's  splint  for  fracture  of  femur. 

43.  Apparatus  for  fracture  of  neck  of  femur 

applied. 

44.  45.  Oblique  fracture  through  the  great  tro- 

chanter. 

46.  Fracture  of  the  femur  just  below  the  iro 

chanters,  showing  the  extreme  shortening 
and  hideous  projection  forwards,  which  is 
the  consequence  of  ill  treatment. 

47.  Fracture  of  the  sliaft  of  the  femur,  showing 

the  influence  of  the  psoas  and  iliacus  in 
tilling  the  upper  fragment  forwards. 

48.  Fracture  of  the  condyles  of  the  femur  into 

the  knee-joint. 

49.  Bandage  for  fractured  patella. 

50.  Fractured  patella,  ligamentous  union. 

51.  Tailed  bandage  for  fracture  of  the  leg. 

52.  Macintyre's  leg  splint  for  fractured  leg. 

53.  The  same  applied. 

54.  Dupuytren's  splint  and  bandage  for  fracture 

of  internal  malleolus. 

55.  Disease  of  the  hip-joint. 

56.  Disease  of  the  hip-joint,  advanced  to  a  de- 

struction of  the  acetabulum  and  capsular 
ligament,  and  dislocation  of  the  bone  up- 
wards. 

57.  Dislocation  of  the  jaw. 


Wood  Cuts  in  DruiWs  Surgery. 


5S.  Dislocation  of  ihe  sternal  extremity  of  the 
clavicle,  and  dislocation  forwards  of  the 
shoulder-joint  on  the  left  side;  and  dislo- 
cation of  the  acrominal  end  of  the  clavicle 
with  dislocation  of  the  shoulder  down- 
wards on  the  right  side. 

59,  60.  Dislocation  of  the  humerus  into  the  ax- 
illa. 

61,  62.  Dislocation  of  the  humerus  forwards. 

63.  Dislocation  of  the  humerus  upon  the  dorsum 

scapulae. 

64.  do.  do.  do.  do. 

6.J.  Partial  dislocation  of  the  humerus  upwards. 

66.  Method  of  reducing  luxation  of  the  humerus 

into  the  axilla,  by  pulleys. 

67.  do.  do.  do.  do. 
by  the  heel  in  the  axilla. 

68.  do.  do.  do.  do. 
by  the  method  of  Mr.  White. 

69.  do.  do.  do.  do. 
by  the  knee  in  the  axilla. 

70.  71.  Dislocationof  elbow— both  bones  of  fore- 

arm backwards. 
72,  73.  Dislocationof  ulna  alone  backwards. 

74.  Dislocation  of  the  radius  alone  forvirards. 

75.  Dislocation  of  the  radius  backwards. 

76.  Dislocation  of  the  first  phalanx  of  the  fore- 

finger; with  a  piece  of  tape  fastened  with 
the  clove  hitch  to  effect  extension. 

77.  Dislocation  of  the  hip-joint  upwards  on  the 

dorsum  ilii. 

78.  Method  of  reducing  the  above. 

79.  80.  Dislocation  of  the  hip-joint  backwards. 

81.  Method  of  reducing  the  above. 

82.  Dislocation  of  hip-joint  downwards. 
S3.  Method  of  reducing  the  above. 

84,85.  Dislocation  of  the  hip-joint  upwards  and 

forwards. 
SG.  Method  uf  reducing  the  above. 

87.  Dislocation   of  the  femur  upwards  on  the 

space  between  the  anterior  spinous  pro- 
cesses of  the  ilium. 

88.  Dislocation  of  the  knee. 

89.  Dislocation  of  ankle  inwards,  with  fracture 

of  the  lower  end  of  fibula. 

90.  Simple  dislocation  of  the  tibia  forwards. 

91.  Partial  dislocation  at  the  ankle-joint,  the 

end  of  the  tibia  resting  in  part  upon  the 
astragalus,  but  a  larger  portion  of  its  sur- 
face resting  on  the  os  naviculare,  (see 
Cooper  on  Dislocations,  p.  13,  Phila.  1844.) 

92.  Simple  dislocation  of  the  astragalus. 

93.  Aneurismal  varix. 

94.  Varicose  aneurism. 

9.5.  Aneurism  by  anastomosis. 

96.  Method  of  extirpating  erectile  tumours  by 

ligature. 

97.  Twisted  suture,  for  cure  of  varicose  veins. 

98.  Angular  curvature  of  the  spine  from  caries 

of  the  bodies  of  the  vertebrae. 
99,100.  Dislocation  and  fracture  of  the  vertebras. 

101.  Treatment  of  fistula  lachrymalis  by  the  stile. 

102.  Healing  stage  of  ulcer  of  the  cornea. 

103.  Nodules  of  lymph  effused  in  symphylitic 

iritis. 


121. 
iot> 


134 
135 

1136 
'l37. 


Extraction  of  cataract. 

Operation  for  strabismus. 

Nasal  polypus. 

Perforation  of  the  antrum  with  a  trocar  for 

abscess  of  that  cavity. 
Hare-lip. 

Fissure  of  the  palate. 
Forceps  for  extracting  teeth  of  upper  jaw. 
Forceps  for  extracting  teeth  of  lower  jaw. 
Key  fur  exiraciing  teeth. 
Conical  curved  lube  for  trachea. 
Bronchocele. 
Dupuytren's  forceps  for  strangulating  the 

septum  in  artificial  anus. 
Common  oblique  inguinal  hernia. 
Direct  inguinal  hernia. 
Congenital  omental  hernia. 
Hernia  infantilis,  showing  its  two  sacs. 
Variety  of  hernia  infantilis,  in  which  the 
sac  is  apparently  formed  of  tunica  vagina- 
lis, but  its  communication  with  the  testicle 
closed. 
Inguinal  hernia. 
123.  Surgical  anatomy  of  femoral  or  crural 

hernia. 
Obturator  or  thyroid  hernia. 
Section  of  a  prolapsed  rectum— the  whole 
substance  of  the  bowel  everted  and  coming 
down. 
Puncture  of  bladder  by  the  rectum. 
Stricture  of  the  urethra. 
Enlarged  prostate,  catheter  in  the  urethra. 
130,  131.  Weiss's  screw  lithotrite. 
Lateral  operation  of  lithotomy. 
Diagram  exhibiting  an  internal  view  of  the 
parts  of  the  neck  of  the  bladder  concerned 
in  lithotomy. 
Paraphymosis. 
Talipes  equinus. 
Talipes  varus. 

13S.  Parts  concerned  in  venesection  at  the 

elbow,  sliowing  the  veins  at  the  bend  of 

the  elbow,  and  the  relation  of  the  brachial 

artery  to  the  basilic  vein,  and  the  nerves. 

Tourniquet. 

Amputation  of  the  thigh,— flap  operation. 
Amputation  of  the  leg— flap  operation. 
Amputation  of  the  arm,  circular  method. 
Amputation  of  the  forearm— flap  method. 
Amputation  of  the  wrist. 
Amputation  of  the  finger  at  the  last  joint. 
Amputation  of  the  finger  at  the  metacarpal 
joint. 
.  Amputation  of  the  head  of  a  metacarpal 

bone. 
.  Amputation  through  the  tarsus,— Chopart's 
operation. 
Ligature  of  common  carotid. 
Surgical  anatomy  of  the  arteries  of  the  fore- 
arm and  palm  of  the  hand. 
.  Surgical  anatomy  of  the  femoral  artery. 
Surgical  anatomy  of  the  posterior  tibial  ar- 
tery. 
.  Surgical  anatomy  of  the  anterior  tibial  ar- 
tery. 


NEW  MEDICAL  WORKS. 

LEA  AND  BLANCHARD  HAVE  JUST  PUBLISHED, 
ALISON'S  PATHOLOGY,  A  NEW  WORK. 

OUTLINES  OF  PATHOLOGY  AND  PRACTICE  OF  MEDICINE.  By  William  Pultenpy  Ali- 
son,  M.  D.,  Prnfpssor  <if  the  Practice  of  Medicine  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  &c,  &c.  In 
three  Parts — Part  1.  Preliminary  Observations. — Part  2.  Inflammatory  and  Febrile  Diseases. — 
And  Part  3.  Chronic  or  Non  Febrile  Diseases.    In  one  volume  ootavo. 

THE  SECOND  EDITION  OF  DUNGLISON'S  PRACTICE  OF  ME- 
DICINE. 

THE  FIFTH  EDITION  OF  DUNGLISON'S  HUMAN  PHYSIOLOGY. 

THE  FOURTH  EDITION  OF  DUNGLISON'S  MEDICAL  DICTION- 
ARY. 

SIR  ASTLEY  COOPER  ON  HERNIA,  WITH  PLATES. 
CHAPMAN'S  LECTURES  ON  THE  MOST  IMPORTANT  DISEASES 
OF  THE  THORACIC  AND  ABDOMINAL  VISCERA. 


THE  FOLLOWING  WORKS  WILL  BE  PUBLISHED  DURING 

THE  SEASON. 
ASHWELL  ON  THE  DISEASES  OF  WOMEN. 

A  PRACTICAL  TREATISE  ON  THE  DISEASE-^  OF  WOMEN,  Illiistrated  by  ca'?es  derived 
from  Hospital  and  private  practice.  By  Samuel  Ashwell,  [M.  D.,  Obstetric  Physician  and  Lec- 
turer to  Guy's  Hospital,  &c  &c.  With  Notes  and  Additions  by  Paul  Goddard,  M.  D,  Demon- 
strator of  Anatomy  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  &c.  &c.  In  one  vol.  octavo,  in  three 
parts.    Part  1.  Functional  Diseases. — Part  2  &  3.  Organic  Diseases. 

CH.4PMAN  ON  ERUPTIVE  FEVERS,  &c.  &c. 

A  NEW  VOLUME  OF  LECTURES.  By  Professor  Chapman,  embracing  Small-Pox  and  other 
Eruptive  Diseases. 

ANATOMICAL  ATLAS. 

The  third  part  of  SMITH  AND  HORNER'S  ANATOMICAL  ATLAS  is  now  at  press,  and  the 
fourth  and  fifth  will  shortly  follow,  'i  he  whole  work  will  be  ready  by  the  first  of  October,  in 
one  splendid  volutne,  or  done  up  in  five  parts.  The  publishers  rearet  the  delay  in  the  comple- 
tion of  this  work,  but  it  has  arisen  from  their  great  desire  to  exhibit  the  most  perfect  work  on 
Anatomy  yet  published  with  Wood  Illustrations,  m  accmiiplishing  which  they  have  spared  no 
labour  or  e.xpense.  No  work  has  been  published  exhibiting  the  extensive  microscopical  views 
to  be  presented  in  this  volume.     See  the  Prospectus. 

CYCLOPEDIA  OF  PRACTICAL  MEDICINE. 

By  Drs.  Forbes,  Tweedie,  Conolly,  and  Diiiiglison.  The  first  piaht  parts  of  this  work  have  been 
published,  and  a  part  is  regularly  issued  every  two  weeks.  The  parts  now  ready  embrace  arti- 
cles from  Abdomen  lo  Fevers.    See  the  Prospectus  for  particulars. 

DUNGLISON  ON  HUMAN  HEALTH. 

Human  Health,  or  the  inftuence  of  Atmosphere  and  Locality,  Change  of  Dieiand  Climate,  Seasons, 
Food,  ('liiihiiig.  Bathing,  Mineral  Springs,  Exercise.  Sleep,  Corporeal  and  Intellectual  Pursuits 
on  Healthy  Man.     By  Robley  Duiiglisuii.     One  vol.  8vo.,  is  nearly  ready. 

A  new  edition  of  DUNGLISON'S  MEDICAL  STUDENT,  revised.    In  one  vol.  12mo.,  is  at  press. 

SIMONS'  MEDICAL  CHEMISTRY.  In  one  vol.  octavo.  With  additions  and  numerous  Cuts,  is 
preparing, 

BRODIE'S  CLINICAL  LECTURES  ON  SURGERY.  Embracing  cases  from  public  and  private 
practice,  with  aildilional  Cases,  Notes,  and  Illustrations  by  the  American  Editor.  In  one 
vol.  8vo.,  to  be  published  hereafter. 

JONES  AND  TODD  ON  THE  EAR.  With  notes  and  additions  by  Dr.  Hays.  In  one  volume, 
with  Illustrations,  is  preparing. 

0/*  Several  other  valuable  Works  are  also  preparing  for  the  Profession.  .^ 


*-'«-04  32m 


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